The Final Boss Has Returned
Chapter 59
"Berserk Sword."
*Vwoom! Kwagwang!*
As Drakan activated the skill, the reddish-black aura condensed around the Ironblood Executor erupted all at once.
Watching the pirates blocking his path fall in a single blow, Drakan used a skill once more.
"Steel Storm."
*Ironblood Executor!*
Drakan's beloved blade, drenched in the enemy's blood, cried out again.
And with it, a reddish-black aura rose like a storm and devoured the pirates charging from the front.
A storm of aura that minced enemies like blades!
Pirates dying without even being able to scream!
Drakan watched that sight and took a Mana Potion out from his inventory.
*Gulp. Gulp.*
The moment the refreshing sensation of the Mana Potion passed down Drakan's throat.
[Your level has increased.]
The level-up notification, pleasant no matter when he heard it, rang in Drakan's ears.
*Heh.*
The smile lingering at the corners of Drakan's mouth deepened.
Although he hadn't fully regained the strength of his prime, Drakan thought that this was still quite satisfying gameplay as he advanced forward.
Pirate King Drake!
Behind Drakan, who was moving toward the heart of the stronghold where the final objective of the quest awaited, numerous troops including Ignis were following.
* * *
Naval Decisive Battle!
A war being fought over the hegemony of the Eastern Sea!
Depending on how one looked at it, the initiative in this fight—which could be said to have started from the Lawless Harbor Recapture—was held by none other than Drakan.
The front gate of the stronghold was smashed to pieces by a single blast of Ignis's Inferno. As the enemy army led by Drakan stormed inside the stronghold, the flustered Pirate King sent a messenger to call Block and the main forces of the Pirate Alliance waiting at the harbor.
But that was the worst possible choice.
"EXP! Items!"
"Wipe out the pirate bastards!"
"Brothers! I'm going to try the pirate sweep mission without taking a single hit!"
The massive army of users who had completed their landing without any resistance, taking advantage of the gap when the main force was away, immediately clashed with the Pirate Alliance troops who should have become the relief force.
Backed by the large-scale publicity of Drakan, JDG, and the streamers affiliated with Jeil E&M, the number of users gathered from all over Ard World was truly at a level where the term "human wave tactics" was no exaggeration.
The pirates were helplessly trampled without even being able to put up proper resistance against such a massive user army, and Block, who was leading the main force, had his throat pierced by the spear of the Sea King Nereus and met his death.
"Waaaah!"
"We won!"
"Let's beat up the Pirate King too!"
Victory!
Intoxicated by the sweetness of an easily obtained victory, the users immediately rode that momentum and began to advance once more.
And it didn't take long for the Tidal Blade Fortress to be covered by the users' cheers.
* * *
"Kuaaack!"
I cut down a pirate whose number I could no longer even remember and roughly caught my breath.
Before my eyes, a giant door carved with undulating waves was visible. It was precisely the stone gate leading to the "Hall of the Sea," the place where the Pirate King officially gathered his subordinates to hold assemblies.
However, the door was closed now, so I couldn't check the interior.
"Didn't you say the probability of the Pirate King being here was the highest?"
"That is correct."
Before my words even finished, Ignis, the man wreathed in flames beside me, answered.
"There is still no information that the Pirate King has fled elsewhere."
"There aren't any particular spells placed on the door either."
While Ignis and I were conversing, Shin Ha-yeon, who had been examining the stone gate, approached me and whispered.
Hearing those words, I raised the Ironblood Executor and used a skill.
"Steel Storm."
At the same time as the feeling of mana draining away, a whirlwind of aura that rose from the Ironblood Executor became a storm and battered the stone gate.
*Kwagwang!*
With a thunderous roar, the stone gate collapsed, and soon the scenery beyond entered my vision.
A vast stone hall.
In its center, an NPC was sitting on a golden throne. An eyepatch covered one eye, a middle-aged man in typical pirate captain attire.
Pirate King Drake!
It was him.
"In the end, it has come to this."
The Pirate King sitting on the throne muttered in a low voice.
There was no one by his side, which was only natural.
It was because the named pirates had all died earlier in the stronghold defense battle.
Before the Pirate King could open his mouth to say more, I flicked my right hand.
It was the attack signal.
With that, the streamers behind me fired skills at the Pirate King.
*Kwagwakwakwang!*
Colorful skills flew in, explosions ringing out as smoke billowed up.
"To attack before even speaking, truly discourteous."
*Thud, thud.*
A dark figure walked out from within the smoke.
It was the Pirate King. His clothes were slightly torn, but his body was intact.
Of course, I hadn't expected to deal a fatal blow to the Pirate King with the surprise attack just now.
The Pirate King was, after all, a powerhouse of Over Ranker grade!
With this level of attack, it was impossible to land a fatal blow on the Pirate King.
But it should have been enough to get on his nerves.
I spoke to the Pirate King with a smile.
"I'm not a good protagonist who attacks after listening to all the prattling of the final boss."
[WTF. Crazy hahaha]
[So that's why he attacked right away just now?]
[Never knew Drakan was such a concept freak;]
[What concept freak? It's just practical]
[Real talk, rather than waiting for him to spew that dialogue, striking first is better, yeah]
[Drakan. Look at this treachery]
[Well, sweet potato protagonists aren't popular these days. Soda is the best.]
Before my words even finished, chat messages flashed and rose up without rest, and donations exploded several times.
I skimmed through the chat rapidly and laughed.
There was no reason to wait for the enemy to attack in the first place.
A game is neither a movie nor a novel. If there was an opening, I had to stab first and see.
"And I'm planning to keep being discourteous going forward, so deal with it yourself."
The moment my words ended.
Ignis's eyes beside me flashed wide open.
"Primordial Inferno."
*Flash!*
The orange flames wreathed around Ignis's body swept through the entire space along with a blinding flash.
It was literally a sea made of fire!
Above the sea of fire with surging orange flames, Ignis wreathed in flames stood proudly like a god of fire.
[Your stats have increased by 40% due to the effect of the skill 'Primordial Inferno'.]
[Your attack power has increased by 30% due to the effect of the skill 'Primordial Inferno'.]
[Your defense has increased by 30% due to the effect of the skill 'Primordial Inferno'.]
…….
Along with that, numerous messages floated before my eyes.
Ignis's second ultimate skill that granted buffs to allies, debuffs and continuous damage to enemies, and a super-special buff to Ignis himself!
Primordial Inferno had finally revealed its form.
"Truly, discourteous."
On the face of the Pirate King who had taken the Primordial Inferno head-on, an expression as if he'd bitten into a bug surfaced.
The Pirate King's gaze turned toward me.
"But even if I die, I shall drag you to hell with me. Cursed Bullet!"
The moment his words ended, the Pirate King drew a pistol toward me.
Cursed Bullet!
It was the ultimate skill the Pirate King possessed, but there was no way I wouldn't have prepared for this skill.
"Iron Wall Shield."
Just before the Pirate King activated his skill by surprise, a female knight player clad in full steel armor sprang out in front of me and used her skill.
Streamer Queenhani!
Her class was the Hidden Class 'Knight of the Iron Wall,' boasting 8 million subscribers.
She was a tanker specialized in defense, and also the user who took the main tanker position in this Pirate King raid.
*Swish swish swish!*
In the blink of an eye, a massive semi-transparent silver shield unfurled before me, and soon the Cursed Bullet fired by the Pirate King struck head-on against the Iron Wall Shield Queenhani had unfurled.
*Kwagwang!*
The bullet and shield collided with a thunderous explosion, and soon cracks began to form on the Iron Wall Shield before it shattered completely, scattering into dust.
But the bullet too lost its power and fell to the ground.
'She boasted that she could even block the Pirate King's ultimate skill, and as expected, she was worth her salt.'
I smiled as I watched that scene.
Because I remembered how Queenhani had confidently asserted during the pre-raid meeting that with her defense, she could block the Pirate King's ultimate skill.
"What is this!"
When his bullet was blocked by Queenhani's Iron Wall Shield, only then did the Pirate King show a flustered expression for the first time, and I didn't miss that brief opening.
"Kill him."
I pointed my finger precisely at the flustered bastard.
A death sentence was passed on the Pirate King.
* * *
*Kwagwang!*
Before Drakan's order even finished, countless skills poured toward the Pirate King, and from the front, Panty Warrior charged while holding a greatsword.
"Berserk Bear Charge!"
As Panty Warrior activated the skill, red light flowed from the broad back of his rugged naked body.
The pattern that emerged on his back was precisely the form of a bear.
Borrowing the bear's power, Panty Warrior charged at the Pirate King exactly like an enraged bear.
Panty Warrior!
He wasn't walking around wearing only panties without reason.
His class was not a simple warrior, but the Hidden Class 'Savage Warrior.'
A warrior who engraved sorcerous tattoos on his bare body and displayed superhuman strength through the power of those tattoos, and to maximize the Savage Warrior's power of amplifying strength through tattoos, it was more advantageous to go naked.
That was precisely one of the reasons why Panty Warrior went around wearing only panties.
"The barbaric bastard!"
The Pirate King swung his cutlass with an irritated expression to block Panty Warrior's charge, but Panty Warrior's attack didn't end there.
"Tiger's Claw!"
Yellow light flowed from the tiger tattoo engraved on Panty Warrior's left chest, and a fierce aura settled on his greatsword.
The moment the Pirate King tried to swing his cutlass with an irritated expression to counter Panty Warrior's threatening attack.
"Shield Throw!"
Queenhani. She used her skill and threw the shield in her hand, hitting the Pirate King's head, and Drakan immediately kicked off the ground and leaped up, swinging the Ironblood Executor toward the Pirate King.
But the Pirate King couldn't react to that attack.
Because having been hit by the Shield Throw, he was afflicted by the abnormal status 'Unconscious,' commonly known as a stun.
The moment the stunned Pirate King faltered lasted one second!
During that one second, countless attacks poured down on the Pirate King.
As Ignis waved his hand, the surging flames of the Primordial Inferno flared up and bound the Pirate King, and soon fireballs poured from the sky and struck the Pirate King.
That wasn't all.
Led by the ice magic Shin Ha-yeon used, countless ranged skills battered the Pirate King's body as if striking a fortress in a siege battle.
"Kuaack! Ack! Ack!"
A pathetic scream burst from the Pirate King's mouth as he was being ganged up on.
Unable to endure the continued ganging up any longer, the Pirate King, furious out of his mind, shouted at Drakan's party.
"Y-you bastards! Hey, Drakan. Stop ganging up on me with so many people and let's fight one-on-one, fair and square!"