The Final Boss Has Returned — Episode 6
The tutorial dungeon currently housed twenty users.
A dungeon where, befitting the level of beginners, only goblins existed as monsters—yet an untimely whistle was ringing out noisily, over and over.
[Beeeeeeep!!]
“Ugh, it’s so loud I’m gonna die. Which bastard has been doing that since earlier?”
One user, listening to the sharply ringing whistle, burst out in complaint.
“How about you stop worrying about that useless noise and find some monsters instead?”
His friend in the party chuckled and advised him, prompting the user to shout in an irritated voice.
“I gotta see monsters to find them!”
And indeed.
It had already been nearly two hours since they entered the dungeon, yet they hadn’t seen so much as a single strand of a monster’s fur.
“Could this be a bug?”
“Where in Ard Saga are there bugs? Talk some sense.”
His friend replied to the male user.
Indeed.
Ard Saga was a truly perfect game where things like bugs did not exist.
They said it was because a supercomputer with the world’s greatest performance managed the game, but the male user shook his head before his thoughts could reach that far.
“A dungeon without monsters makes sense? That damned noise too—this is definitely a bug. Seriously.”
“That may be true, but….”
[Beeeeeeep!]
The moment the sword-wielding user was about to explode with complaints toward customer service, the whistle rang out once more.
“Aaaaargh!!”
“Hey, calm down. Seriously.”
“I’m gonna report it! I’m reporting this!”
Just as the male user was throwing a fit at the whistle—
[The tutorial dungeon raid has been completed.]
An unbelievable notification appeared before the two users’ eyes.
They hadn’t done anything, hadn’t seen a single monster, had merely walked through the forest!
To think the tutorial dungeon raid was over!
Whether the two users were shocked by this reality they couldn’t believe even seeing with their own eyes or not, the system faithfully carried out its task, continuously sending the results as notifications to every user in the tutorial dungeon.
[Calculating raid contribution.]
[Raid contribution calculation complete.]
[Tutorial Dungeon Raid Contribution Rankings]
[1st Place. Drakan (98%)]
[2nd Place. Johnson (0.8%)]
[3rd Place. Amy (0.5%)]
……
And when they finally saw the announced contribution, their jaws dropped.
The raid contribution of the user named Drakan, who had taken 1st place, was an absurd figure of a whopping 98%.
“What kind of crazy result is this?”
“He soloed it? He took everything? In the tutorial dungeon?”
The battle tutorial from just before surfaced in the mind of the user shocked by the unbelievable results window.
His figure wielding a black-red sword, radiating murderous intent, massacring dire wolves!
The user who recalled Drakan’s figure muttered in a trembling voice.
“It was that guy!”
“What are you talking about?”
“The guy who caught all the wolves earlier! It was definitely that guy’s doing! Just how crazy of a veteran is he? And for a veteran of that level to not have returned to the game yet—does that even make sense?”
Just as the user said, almost all rankers and named players from the previous game had returned within six months of Ard Saga Second’s release.
Even the rankers who hadn’t returned within that window had all come back within a year.
It wasn’t just the rankers.
The numerous hardcore users called veterans had also mostly returned within a year of Ard Saga Second’s release.
They knew.
Just how precious a resource time was in a game.
How important it was to push ahead early, build a foundation, and seize a ranker position to become a veteran.
That was why those who were good at the game had returned quickly the moment Second launched.
Therefore, now that two years had passed since release, the new users encountering the tutorial were mostly newbies, or else casual users among returning players.
Into such a peaceful tutorial, a ranker-level returning user had suddenly barged in!
This was truly on the level of an ecosystem destroyer.
The user checked the nickname on the results window he had casually skimmed once more, then froze stiff on the spot.
“Drakan….”
If the owner of that nickname was truly a ranker-level returning user.
His identity could only be one.
“Has… Drakan returned?”
Drakan, the Steel Sovereign.
The mighty foe the Hero Yujin had first encountered, the head of the guild alliance that had ruled Ard World before the Hero Yujin, the guild master of the Ironblood Alliance, and the ruthless continental hegemon who had once held the continent in the palm of his hand!
The former top ranker Drakan had finally broken his long hiatus and returned!
The user, realizing this unbelievably shocking fact, trembled with both hands.
At that very moment.
A notification window appeared before the eyes of all users in the tutorial dungeon.
[All tutorials have been completed.]
[Moving to the reward room.]
* * *
[Calculating raid contribution.]
[Raid contribution calculation complete.]
[Tutorial Dungeon Raid Contribution Rankings]
[1st Place. Drakan (98%)]
[2nd Place. Johnson (0.8%)]
[3rd Place. Amy (0.5%)]
……
[Congratulations! You have cleared the tutorial dungeon with overwhelming raid contribution!]
I looked at the contribution results window with a satisfied expression.
[You have achieved the achievement ‘First Place from the Tutorial!’]
[All stats have increased by 5 as an achievement reward.]
[You have achieved the achievement ‘Monopolizing from the Tutorial!’]
[All stats have increased by 6 as an achievement reward.]
The satisfied smile on my lips deepened as I saw the subsequent achievement notifications.
Perhaps thanks to taking 1st place with a 98% dungeon raid contribution, achievement notifications had popped up twice in a row.
It was a bit of a shame I couldn’t hit 100%, but this much was still a decent result.
Anyway, notifications of stat increases always brought me pleasure.
Because I could feel that I was inching closer to Yujin, that bastard, even if only faintly.
[Tutorial dungeon raid rewards will be distributed in the reward room.]
I ignored the notification window explaining information I already knew, lost in thought.
‘By now, the users in this dungeon probably know that I’ve returned.’
Ard Saga allowed duplicate nicknames, and the same was true for Ard Saga Second.
But there was no way they didn’t know that the only Drakan capable of the overwhelming 98% tutorial dungeon raid contribution and the skill I’d shown during the combat tutorial was me.
And the news of my return would spread quickly across the internet.
That was a good thing for me.
Because I had no intention of hiding my identity.
No, on the contrary, I wanted to let that bastard Yujin know that I had returned.
‘Now everyone will know.’
I smiled, imagining the expression that bastard Yujin would make upon hearing the news of my return.
Right then.
[All tutorials have been completed.]
[Moving to the reward room.]
As the notification window appeared, the surrounding scenery changed in an instant.
Outer space.
I floated alone in a dark blue void where shining stars were visible in the distance.
This was the space that beginners who completed the tutorial passed through to receive rewards before heading to their starting base in Ard World—a kind of waiting room.
[Calculating tutorial comprehensive clear rank.]
[Tutorial comprehensive clear rank calculation complete.]
[Congratulations. Your tutorial comprehensive clear rank is SSS-grade.]
My tutorial comprehensive clear rank that appeared shortly after was the highest, SSS-grade!
It was an obvious result if there ever was one, so I wasn’t particularly impressed.
[Rewards are being distributed.]
[Your level has increased.]
[Your level has increased.]
……
[You have acquired the title ‘Tutorial Conqueror.’]
But at the rewards given afterward, a smile naturally formed on my lips.
Level-up notifications were always welcome.
Moreover, since I’d even received a title this time, I felt even better.
[The all-time tutorial comprehensive ranking has been updated.]
[Your all-time tutorial comprehensive ranking is 6th place.]
My eyebrows twitched upon seeing the all-time tutorial comprehensive ranking that appeared shortly after.
‘6th place?’
After all this, 6th place? Then just who the hell is above me!
I had thought I’d be at least 2nd place, but as I was bewildered by the unexpected result, a window appeared before my eyes.
[All-Time Tutorial Comprehensive Ranking]
[1st Place. Yujin]
[2nd Place. Berda]
[3rd Place. MuscleJjangMan]
[4th Place. Sharp]
[5th Place. Elena]
[6th Place. Drakan]
……
My face hardened as I saw the ranking window, then soon began to tremble.
My excited heart from just moments ago didn’t simply cool down in an instant—it was now blazing fiercely.
I had wondered who was above me, but to think it was those damned bastards in Yujin’s group.
I gritted my teeth loudly, etching each of those unforgettable nicknames above me into my mind one by one as I took a deep breath.
This was only the beginning!
I would advance even faster from now on, driving Yujin, that bastard, and his entire group to ruin to complete my revenge!
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, cooling my head and controlling my madly racing heart and surging emotions as I thought about the reward room.
As far as I knew, the reward room’s functions were not limited to this.
Because handing out some EXP and doling out titles was something that could easily be done when summoning players to the starting base.
The reward room’s true function started now.