The Final Boss Has Returned - Chapter 54
The Port of Lawless Harbor!
With countless ships lined up endlessly behind me, I stepped up onto the podium.
During that time, Sin Hayeon had poured out money without restraint, somehow mustering enough force to be worthy of the name “fleet.”
If it hadn’t been for her money, it would have been impossible to amass such fleet power in such a short time.
Most were ships retrofitted from merchant vessels into warships, and even after building this fleet, compared to the full force of the Pirate Alliance, it amounted to at most thirty percent. However, I had also built a decisive weapon, and crucially, with the Fishmen on our side, it wouldn’t be too disadvantaged on the sea.
Thinking so, I turned my gaze forward.
Countless users were lined up before me, stretching so far that the end was not visible.
Watching that sight, I smiled.
It was because the scene reminded me of old memories—the sight of the Guild Alliance and the Iron-Blooded League’s armies stretching endlessly, a scene I had witnessed countless times in the previous game.
Yes, this is how it should be.
Thinking so, I tapped the magical loudspeaker a couple of times and then opened my mouth to it.
“Thank you all for taking the time to come fight alongside me despite your busy schedules.”
My voice boomed and echoed across all of Lawless Harbor.
“When this war is over! You will no longer have to tell your lovers, friends, or acquaintances that you just ran around in circles in dungeons. When this war is over, if anyone asks you for a heroic tale from Arde World, answer them like this: ‘I blew the pirates’ heads off right beside that damned bastard Drakan!’”
Laughter blossomed among the crowd at my words.
Watching that sight, I smiled inwardly with satisfaction and said,
“I take this opportunity to pray for the souls of those pirate bastards who will face us. I will dye the Eastern Sea red with their blood. Especially the Pirate King! I will definitely split that bastard’s head in two!”
As I finished my speech, cheers and applause erupted from the crowd.
I watched that sight and laughed awkwardly.
I had countless experiences giving speeches before war, but this was the first time I had received such fervent cheers and applause like at a celebrity concert.
Yes, just like the speech that bastard Yujin gave after establishing the Revolutionary Army.
‘If I consider that he saw this sight countless times, then from the very beginning, I could never have defeated Yujin.’
Yujin.
In the previous game, people flocked behind him like clouds, and every user cheered when he gave a speech.
Six years ago, all users of Arde World had supported Yujin, so from the beginning, I had been fighting an unwinnable battle.
This was all a tragedy caused by my past self being stupid and blinded by short-term gains right before my eyes, obsessed only with quest clearing, and I had no intention of repeating past mistakes.
As I reflected on the reasons for my defeat anew, I watched the users boarding the ships.
Pirate King!
The time to settle the score with him was gradually approaching.
* * *
Eastern Sea!
A shadow was cast over the vast ocean where endless blue seas stretched no matter where one looked.
A drake—a flying monster with red scales and a body twice as large as a wyvern, flapping its wings—was flying, cutting through the sea breeze.
“Ah, what am I doing right now? I’m scouting. Scouting. Why am I doing it myself? There are so many other amazing people here besides me, but with my standing, how could I refuse?”
The armored man riding atop the drake looked up into the air and chattered incessantly.
A chat window flickered before the man’s eyes, updating in real time.
[LOL Flying Man is scouting hahaha]
[Shows Jeil’s class, sending Flying Man to scout?]
[Well, this lineup is indeed insane]
Flying Man with 7 million subscribers!
A hidden class Drake Knight, a high-ranker who achieved an SS-rank based on the Combat Information Archive, and the ruler of the skies famous for taming and riding a Fire Drake!
He was also among the streamers participating in this expedition under Jeil E&M, hailed as the greatest user in Arde World when it came to aerial combat.
“Ah, yes. Thank you for the donation.”
The moment Flying Man spat out his donation thanks.
Beyond the semi-transparent chat window, a massive armada filling the horizon revealed itself.
In the center of the armada was a colossal black warship, obviously extraordinary, larger than ten other ships combined, cutting through the waves majestically and advancing forward.
In Flying Man’s field of vision as he looked at the fluttering Jolly Roger flag symbolizing the Pirate Alliance, chat messages kept coming up.
[The pirates are here!]
[Wow, look at the number of ships, it’s insane. At a glance, looks like triple our side?]
[How do we win this?]
Pirate Alliance!
The viewers burst into laughter as if amused while watching their great fleet.
“I think my scouting mission ends here.”
Flying Man smiled faintly, turned the drake’s head, and sent a whisper to the main force following behind. That whisper was immediately relayed to Ignis aboard the flagship of the Lawless Harbor fleet following behind, the Steel Wing.
“Flying Man says he’s found the enemy fleet.”
“The scale?”
“He says three times our size.”
Drakan, who received the information through Ignis, smiled.
“As I expected, he moved the fleet.”
Drakan had already seen through Pirate King Drake’s strategy.
Pirate King!
He probably hadn’t sent the fleet expecting to win in a fleet battle either.
Of course, winning would be nice, but even if he lost, it was undoubtedly the Pirate King’s thinking to deplete as much strength as possible to lead the landing battle favorably, and Drakan had already seen through that fact.
And Drakan had absolutely no intention of being dragged into the Pirate King’s intentions and wasting his forces.
“Deploy the Wyvern Unit and the Fishman Unit.”
“Understood.”
The Fishmen and Wyvern units received Drakan’s order and sortied immediately.
Steel Wing!
The flagship of the Drakan Fleet, this vessel was a massive ship with a deck so spacious one might mistake it for an airfield—a floating airfield, in other words, an aircraft carrier.
An aircraft carrier carrying the Wyvern Unit!
This massive ship was precisely the decisive weapon Drakan had prepared for victory in the naval battle.
The cost of constructing this aircraft carrier alone was an astronomical amount that easily reached into the billions in real-world money!
An amount enough to buy more than ten legendary-grade items called “endgame gear” had been invested into this warship, and thanks to that, they had managed to construct Arde World’s first aircraft carrier within the deadline.
It could truly be called the victory of capital.
“Skreeeeee!”
“Skree!”
Wyverns carrying riders and mages let out piercing cries, kicking off the flight deck of the Steel Wing and soaring into the sky.
And that wasn’t all.
Beneath the sea, Fishmen already riding sea turtles and whales, led by a kraken, were swimming leisurely toward the direction of the enemy fleet.
Drakan watched that sight and smiled.
Now it was time to show the Pirate Alliance bastards the fiery might of a carrier strike group.
* * *
A black colossal warship where a massive Jolly Roger fluttered majestically.
The Pirate King’s flagship, the Invincible!
This ship, both the symbol of the Pirate King and the terror of the Eastern Sea, now had someone else riding it instead of its master, the Pirate King.
It was none other than Cortez, captain of the Crystal Skull Pirates and the supreme commander appointed for this naval battle.
Cortez stood at the bow, twitching the corners of his mouth as he gazed at the endlessly stretching horizon.
“What about them? Haven’t found them yet?”
“That is correct.”
A subordinate pirate answered Cortez’s words.
Having heard the answer, Cortez stroked his finely groomed mustache and said,
“If the information that they’ve departed is accurate, we should be running into them by now.”
Cortez muttered to himself and clicked his tongue.
He had moved the fleet immediately upon obtaining information that Drakan’s fleet departed from Lawless Harbor, so it was normal to encounter them around now.
But for some reason, not even the tip of the enemy fleet’s nose was visible.
It was a bit strange, but not a bad thing.
Cortez whistled.
Except for the fact that the enemy fleet was not visible, every situation was extremely satisfactory.
The flow of ocean currents, the sunny weather without a single cloud in sight, and the Pirate Alliance’s great armada stretching endlessly to the sides and behind the Invincible!
Truly, all conditions for victory were in place.
Cortez smiled.
Thanks to Drakan, the Pirate Alliance’s number two, Edward, and number three, Riac, had died, creating a temporary power vacuum in the highest echelons of the Pirate Alliance.
If he achieved the feat of crushing Drakan’s fleet in such a state?
He might be able to aim for the number two spot that the deceased Edward had held, instead of being number three.
Ambition for fame.
That’s right. Cortez had requested command of the fleet from the Pirate King because of his ambition for fame.
However, that didn’t mean Cortez had blindly jumped into a battle with no chance of victory merely because of his ambition.
He had his own calculations.
‘The outcome of a naval battle is decided by the fleet, after all. Drakan, that bastard will fall before me without even reaching the Pirate Archipelago!’
Cortez smiled as he gazed at the horizon where the enemy fleet would appear.
Having brought out seventy percent of the warships possessed by the Pirate Alliance, the fleet under his command boasted such terrifying quantity and quality—enough to turn Lawless Harbor into ashes with bombardment—that it could be called an impregnable fortress on the sea.
A force so fearsome that even the Gasan Kingdom’s navy couldn’t defeat it in a head-on battle!
That was precisely the strength of the fleet Cortez possessed.
Moreover, he had even brought along a hidden weapon used for dealing with sea monsters to counter the Fishmen bastards, so with this level of force, even if the bastard controlled sea monsters and Fishmen with his miraculous skills as rumored, this was a force that could readily win.
Cortez thought so.
At that very moment.
“What’s that?”
Something like black dots gathering in the distant blue sky came into Cortez’s view.
The moment Cortez narrowed his eyes.
A subordinate pirate ran up in a panic and shouted at Cortez.
“Captain! Captain Cortez!”
“What is it?”
“A report from the lookout! Wy-wyverns have appeared in the sky!”
“Wyverns?”
Cortez’s eyebrows twitched at the subordinate pirate’s words.
Wyverns over the open sea where even the nearest land was seven days away by ship?
Considering wyverns’ cruising range, this was impossible.
“What kind of nonsense is that?”
“I-it’s true!”
The moment the subordinate pirate answered Cortez’s words.
Boom!
A deafening roar echoed in Cortez’s ears.
He looked up at the sky.
Far away, the wyverns flying through the sky unleashing magical bombardment toward the fleet came into Cortez’s view.
“Th-this is, i-impossible! This is impossible!”
Cortez denied reality.
Magical bombardment using wyverns in the open sea!
This was practically shattering the common sense of naval warfare that Cortez had held until now.
In that moment while Cortez was in a state of panic.
Fwaaaaash! Splash! Boom!
This time, the calm seawater began to surge up violently in an instant.
Fishmen!
The moment had come for them—the race ruling the ocean floor—to arrive on the battlefield following the Wyvern Unit under Drakan’s command.