The King of the End Has Returned — Episode 51
“Quite the ride!”
At the center of the battlefield, I laughed as I looked out over the burning sea from atop the sea turtle’s shell.
The sight of the Pirate Alliance fleet burning was truly a refreshing spectacle, one that felt like ten years of indigestion clearing right up.
Merfolk!
Their combat strength exceeded my expectations.
Not only were the pirates unable to stop their attacks, which they launched freely beneath the waves, but decisively, every time the guardian beast Kraken surged above the water’s surface, an enemy ship would sink—a sight that was truly a spectacle to behold.
It was enough to remind me of pirate movies I’d watched as a kid!
The tide of battle had already turned in our favor, and the pirates were on the verge of a crushing rout.
And I smiled at the sight.
Victory!
I had tasted it countless times in the previous game as well, but the flavor of victory was always sweet, always fresh, never growing old.
Just as I was savoring the sweetness of victory.
[Quest ‘Crossroads of Fate’ has been completed.]
A quest completion notification appeared.
[Your level has increased.]
…….
[You have reached Level 200.]
[Your stats have increased by 40.]
‘Finally, level 200!’
I smiled as I read the level notification.
Level 200.
In Ard Saga Second, this was the benchmark where one could finally say they had just shed their beginner status.
Of course, thanks to the various quests and achievements I’d completed, my accumulated stats were at an incomparably higher level than other users in the same tier.
But even with such high stats, I couldn’t be satisfied.
Yujin… No, even if not Yujin specifically, it was because I knew just how absurd the stats of the twenty Over Rankers currently reigning at the absolute pinnacle of the game were.
Ard Saga Second was a game where, unlike its predecessor, level wasn’t everything!
What mattered more than level were various other factors including achievements, quests, items, skills, and unique traits, as well as the stats one possessed.
And those called Rankers usually possessed at least twice the stats of ordinary users in the same level bracket.
In the case of Over Rankers, it was even more than that.
So there was no way I could be satisfied with just this much.
As I vowed to push myself even further, another message floated before my eyes.
[The War Legacy ‘Steel Storm’ is unlocked.]
[Steel Storm]
[Grade: Legendary]
[War Legacy Level: Beginner Stage 1]
[The Steel Lord Drakan, a master of swordsmanship, reached a realm where he did not simply fire aura like a sword beam, but shaped his aura into the form of a storm. He named this technique Steel Storm.]
[Across countless battlefields, Drakan’s Steel Storm devoured and tore apart the tyrant’s enemies, instilling hope in his allies and terror in his foes.]
[Steel Storm is one of Drakan’s secret techniques, a powerful skill that shapes aura into a storm to sweep across a wide area. However, proportional to its power, it consumes an enormous amount of aura.]
Steel Storm!
The wide-area skill I had frequently used in the previous game had been unlocked.
I smiled as I looked at the unlock message, and then another notification window appeared in my vision.
[A quest has occurred.]
[Decisive Naval Battle]
[Grade: Legendary]
[At the Crossroads of Fate, you chose not to submit to the Pirate Alliance. Having sunk the Pirate Alliance’s fleet in the waters before Lawless Harbor, you have now crossed a river from which there is no return.]
[Having become your mortal enemy, Pirate King Drake will show no further mercy and will not stop his fleet until he kills you and burns Lawless Harbor to the ground.]
[The only choice you can make is to fight and defeat him. Crush and subjugate the Pirate King and the Pirate Alliance, and seize dominion over the Eastern Sea.]
The notification window that appeared this time was the next quest!
Just as I had predicted, it was a quest encouraging all-out war against the Pirate King and the Pirate Alliance.
[The quest cannot be refused.]
[You have accepted the quest.]
I smiled as I looked at the acceptance message.
The Pirate King.
Because the final chapter of the long journey to bring him down was finally coming into view before my eyes.
* * *
“Let’s create the greatest event on earth.”
As usual, at the strategy meeting held in the conference room ahead of a major quest, the first to speak was, surprisingly, Sin Hayeon.
Sin Hayeon!
It was the first time she, who usually just sat in her seat observing the meeting, had voiced an opinion first, so I looked at her sitting beside me and asked,
“The greatest event on earth? What do you mean?”
“We don’t only have Ignis and JDG as users affiliated with Jeil E&M.”
The moment I heard Sin Hayeon’s words, I realized her intention.
“You want to gather all users affiliated with JDG?”
“Yes. And of course, we’ll have the Eastern users—no, general users—participate as well.”
I smiled at Sin Hayeon’s words.
She was right. The users of Jeil E&M weren’t just me, Ignis, and JDG.
There were many so-called ‘major corporate’ streamers with over one or two million subscribers, and famous High Rankers who were active under management contracts with the Jeil Group.
Having all of them participate was a completely different story from having a few well-known users join the fight.
While not on the level of the Infinite Yujin Church, the streamers affiliated with Jeil E&M each had their own fandoms, and if they joined, their fandoms would surely follow.
I knew all too well that the effect of this kind of collaboration event wasn’t 1+1=2, but rather 3 or more, so I could guess just how large-scale the event Sin Hayeon was planning would be.
I thought back to the Lawless Harbor recapture battle.
Even though only JDG and Ignis had participated, many users had gathered. If on top of that, all streamers affiliated with Jeil E&M joined?
The scale would surely grow to a size difficult for me to imagine.
Imagining that far, I smiled.
Truly, these were the best possible conditions.
“So, you’ll definitely win this time too, right?”
Squeak.
Sin Hayeon rolled her office chair over to my side and spoke.
I burst out laughing at her words and said,
“Do I have to give you that obvious answer again? You don’t have much faith.”
At my words, Sin Hayeon smiled faintly, as if amused.
* * *
From the Infinite Yujin Church scandal to the meeting between Drakan and Yujin!
Due to the series of events, the level of interest and buzz around Drakan had risen to a height incomparable to the time of the Lawless Harbor recapture.
If the Lawless Harbor recapture had been a temporary event, the series of incidents beginning with the Infinite Yujin Church scandal had been as thrilling as watching a drama, capturing the attention of countless people.
The finishing touch was, of course, the meeting with Yujin, and what kept Drakan in the spotlight until the end was the opening of the new race, the ‘Merfolk.’
A new race opening!
It was an unprecedented feat that not even ‘Yujin’ had accomplished, with no precedent in the previous game either, and users were wild with excitement.
Because for users who had been growing tired of playing the existing three races—Elf, Dwarf, and Human—the new option of Merfolk breathed fresh air into the game.
Thus, it was only natural that Pearl Square in Daehwacho—the starting point of the Merfolk race and the capital of the Merfolk Kingdom—was packed with new users.
“Is this Daehwacho?”
“Whoa, it’s really an underwater city?”
“Wow, the field scenery is automatically making me admire it!”
Users who had chosen the Merfolk were amazed by the scenery of Daehwacho, the massive city built beneath the sea, and were also surprised by the Merfolk trait allowing them to swim freely through the emerald waters. They exclaimed in admiration at the scenery of the Eastern seabed, so completely different from the land above and perfectly befitting the image of ‘fantasy.’
“Now this is fantasy!”
“Agreed!”
“This is all thanks to Lord Drakan’s grace!”
Fun!
The reason users played games was for fun, and the choice of Merfolk provided such users with a refreshingly different kind of fun to their heart’s content.
It was only natural, in a way, that public opinion among users flowed toward Drakan, who had opened the playable race of Merfolk.
But things didn’t end there.
A video of the great fleet led by the Pirate Alliance being swept away in a single stroke using the Kraken and the Merfolk was uploaded to Drakan’s official channel, and users went wild once again.
Undefeated at Sea!
It was an epithet always attached to the name of the Pirate Alliance, a word that well displayed their might where no rival existed upon the sea, but that name too was doomed the moment Drakan uploaded the video.
Because following Drakan’s command, the Kraken and the Merfolk army crawling up from the sea had smashed the Pirate Alliance’s ships, burned them, and mercilessly slaughtered the pirates.
[So satisfying!]
[As expected, the East belongs to Lord Drakan~]
[So the Merfolk quest was for this? Man, never saw that coming lololol]
The Pirate Alliance, an opponent no one had dared to even challenge until now.
Those who saw them being powerlessly crushed—especially Eastern users who had suffered countless damages directly or indirectly at the hands of the pirates—showed absolute support for Drakan.
The end of that video was a new quest.
Decisive Naval Battle!
People went absolutely wild over the contents of the quest signifying all-out confrontation with the Pirate King, bearing legendary difficulty.
Drakan’s accumulated achievements until now had been amazing enough to draw people’s eyes, but war against the Pirate King was a story of a different dimension.
The Pirate King!
If Drakan could lead a war against them to victory—possessing military might rivaling a nation’s navy, practically ruling the seas of the East—
Not only would the public opinion of Eastern users, who had longed day and night to wipe out the Pirate Alliance and the Pirate King, fall into Drakan’s hands, but so would the hegemony over the Eastern Sea, serving as a stepping stone to reach a position beyond that of a mere top prospect.
Thus, the Ard Forum blazed once again with discussions about the Decisive Naval Battle quest, and after countless debates, only one question remained.
Drakan. Having always shown amazing feats, what method would he use to face the Pirate King this time!
And the answer to that question flowed out from an unexpected source—not from Drakan, but from another streamer who had never even met him.
“Brothers! Today too, I’ve completed the mission of clearing three dungeons wearing only panties.”
A muscular man wearing only panties was smiling as he looked up at the sky, his greatsword plunged into the ground.
Of course, just as most users who spoke toward empty air tended to be, he too was a streamer currently broadcasting live on Ard Live.
[His concept is insane lolll]
[This is why I’m a devoted follower of the Panty Warrior]
[Today’s stream is pure gold too lolll]
[A real man who runs three dungeons in just panties… A man crazy for his concept… Panty Warrior…]
In the vision of the muscular warrior user who wore only panties, commonly known as the “Panty Warrior,” chat messages were appearing and refreshing without rest.
Ever since Ard Saga Second was released and the Ard Live service began, there had been countless users hoping to gain wealth and fame through Ard Live.
Even now, new users were opening channels and starting broadcasts, but becoming a so-called ‘major corporate’ streamer with over a million subscribers was as difficult as plucking a star from the sky.
And the Panty Warrior was a mega streamer belonging to the top 0.1% of such Ard Live streamers, boasting a whopping ten million subscribers.
His concept—exposing his rugged, muscular bare body as it was, wearing nothing but a single pair of panties for armor and wielding a greatsword—was enough to draw attention,
and yet, the sight of him succeeding in solo clearing dungeons that should require a party dressed in such attire possessed considerable entertainment value as content.
Thus, it was no simple luck or coincidence that the Panty Warrior held ten million subscribers.
And now, the Panty Warrior was continuously speaking to his subscribers.
“I’d normally end the stream now, but today I have one announcement left. It’s a collaboration event proposed by the company. Homework—yes, that’s right. It is homework, but honestly, this time I’m really fired up to do it.”
‘Homework’—a sort of jargon used on Ard Live referring to content requested from outside sources like advertisements or sponsors that a streamer took on rather than their own content.
The Panty Warrior smiled as he watched the endlessly scrolling chat and spoke naturally.
“What kind of homework, you ask? You all know Drakan got the Decisive Naval Battle quest, right? I’m going to be participating in it this time too. Ah, it’s not just me going…”
The Panty Warrior smiled as he gazed at the chat window.
“Every single streamer affiliated with Jeil E&M—without exception—is heading to Lawless Harbor.”
“If you enjoyed the broadcast, please subscribe and like”—with those words that all streamers habitually tacked on as a closing, the Panty Warrior’s broadcast ended.
But the ripple effect of the broadcast was nothing short of a nuclear bomb.