The Final Boss Has Returned - Episode 66
The conference room on the top floor of the Jeil Contents Hub building.
At that now-familiar place, the Drakan support team who had received my call, not to mention Sin Hayeon and Ignis, and all the usual members had gathered.
Today's meeting topic was precisely the quest I had received!
Since they had already been given the full details of the quest, the meeting proceeded quickly.
"These are the videos Spear King Rio uploaded to the Simseong Milkyway guild's official channel. Please take a look."
Along with the words of Team Leader Yi, who was in charge of the briefing again today, the video began to play.
["This is precisely the quest I received, 'War Against Death.'"]
["From today, I and the Simseong Milkyway guild will enter into war against the undead, and the final objective of this war will be the Undying King."]
The first video was a short clip where Spear King Rio announced the subjugation of the Undying King!
And the second video was the expedition departure announcement video we had also seen in the cinematic.
And the internet's reaction to that video was truly explosive.
["Yo, Rio is finally doing something lol. Did he chicken out?"]
["Wow, it's been forever since we heard from him. I thought he quit the game."]
["What are you talking about? He did the Thunderbird raid not long ago; quit my ass;"]
["I think that Undying King raid was in the previous game."]
["Nah, they failed back then. I think heals weren't even going in and it was a total mess."]
["Right, back then Yujin, Drakan, and all those high-ranked rankers filled the raid parties, but not a single party succeeded."]
["Well, he'll figure it out. Whether he fails or not, I'll just lie back and watch."]
I looked at those comments, narrowed my brow, and asked Team Leader Yi.
"Are regular users participating in that expedition too?"
"Not exactly. The users participating in this undead expeditionary force are more than half from Simseong Milkyway and its allied guilds. As for the remaining regular users, they are either dark gamers hired by Simseong Milkyway, or their acquaintances, or if not that, they have unofficially joined by paying a participation fee through some route or another."
I smiled at Team Leader Yi's words.
Spear King Rio!
That bastard had really stupidly excluded regular users from participating.
I scoffed at him.
Of course, to Spear King Rio, that must have seemed like the best and most rational choice.
In a world where people don't even want to split a single bean, if the Undying King is the goal, it must be at least a Legendary-grade quest. Who would want to share the rewards of such a quest!
Even without user participation, a named boss like the Undying King would secure considerable buzz anyway. Moreover, since it was the hegemon guild of the North, they must have plenty of troops they could mobilize. He must have done it calculating that there was no need to force regular users in and hand out rewards to others.
Actually, not just Rio, but the vast majority of users would be thinking the same thing.
There's no need for me to do something that only benefits others!
This is my quest, so there's no need to share it with others and reduce my reward!
I'm going to monopolize all of this and take everything for myself!
That's the kind of thinking I mean.
Yes, that was exactly what I had been thinking six years ago, and I ran the guild and ruled the world that way, only to crash and burn in the end.
Small greed leads to great loss!
That was exactly me six years ago—focusing only on small gains before my eyes, unable to see the big picture, and ultimately collapsing. And I learned my lesson from that failure six years ago.
Even if the immediate gain looks large, only with the courage to give it up can you paint the big picture. Only then could greater rewards come to me later.
I learned that bitterly from that damned Yujin, my mortal enemy who had sent me to a deep-sea fishing vessel.
As they say, an enemy is the greatest teacher, is it not!
My teacher was none other than Yujin.
"If there are no regular users, it's fine to beat them without hesitation. After all, it's a collision during a quest."
I smiled.
I knew very well that PK occurring between players carrying out opposing quests incurred no penalty.
In other words, even if I fought and killed the Northern expeditionary force members, it could be considered that there was no room for Yujin to intervene.
Yujin—that bastard hated nothing more than artificial, one-sided PK, and such PK always carried penalties. But this time, it was a collision during a quest.
Moreover, thanks to Rio conveniently excluding regular users and composing the expeditionary force solely of guild forces and related persons, I had no burden of public opinion turning bad.
If regular users had been included, this fight would have become regular users versus Drakan, and whether I won or lost, it would have been a huge burden on me.
But because his greed excluded regular users, this fight had become Simseong Milkyway versus Drakan, and regular users would watch this fight as spectators. And from the perspective of those regular users who had become spectators, as long as the fight was interesting, they wouldn't particularly care who won.
As they say, the winning side is your side—those words fit this situation perfectly.
'I should express my gratitude to him.'
I smiled, expressing my thanks to Spear King Rio.
The time had come to teach that bastard Spear King Rio the lesson I had learned from my teacher six years ago.
* * *
Thanks to Spear King Rio excluding regular users from participating, the decision to tackle the quest was made quickly and without dissent.
Since the decision to clear the quest had been made, what remained now was the matter of how to clear it.
"As a result of information gathering, the place where the Winter Seal is presumed to be is Winter Forest. Winter Forest is a vast field where high-level monsters frequently appear, and it is also where retired NPC Druids spend their later years. It is expected to be a place where undead activity is difficult."
"There was almost no information on Laevatein, but we found several meaningful passages from the legends passed down in the North. Laevatein is said to be a weapon of death forged by refining the essence of ten thousand specters with soul flames, possessing the ability to burn anything."
"The Northern expeditionary force is currently crossing the northern border and advancing into the Land of Death. There is still a considerable distance to the End of the World where the Undying King resides, but they are defeating the undead armies blocking their path with consecutive victories, so their morale is sky-high."
Information related to the quest objectives continued to pour out from Team Leader Yi's presentation.
To think I could sit and listen to information that would have taken forever to obtain if I had been acting alone—I was reminded once again that signing a contract with Jeil E&M had been the right choice.
"Excluding information on Laevatein since there is none, first, Winter Forest."
"We cannot deploy an army to Winter Forest, but dispatching an expedition party is possible."
Team Leader Yi responded as if chiming in with my words.
Team Leader Yi was right.
With territories consisting only of the Pirate Archipelago and Lawless Harbor, even with JDG's assistance, I still lacked the capability to send an expeditionary force all the way to the North.
To possess the capability to deploy large-scale armies to other regions, I would have to swallow the entire Gasan Kingdom.
Of course, it would be possible if I mobilized the Fishman Kingdom, but the problem is that the northern seabed is the domain of the Mermaid Kingdom.
If I mobilized the fishmen, I might end up having to fight the mermaids, so mobilizing the fishmen was impossible as well. A war on two fronts was the greatest of taboos.
"I don't think we necessarily need to dispatch an expedition party. For an operation like this, it might be better to move with a small elite force instead."
I finished speaking and looked at Ignis, and Ignis smiled awkwardly at my words.
"I suppose I must accompany you this time as well."
"You catch on immediately now. I like it."
"It is an honor."
Brushing off Ignis's words, I turned to Sin Hayeon, who was sitting beside me.
"Director Sin."
"Yes, Lord Drakan."
"I need an elite party. Just like during the Pirate King raid."
I recalled the time of the Pirate King raid.
The elite party made by gathering all of Jeil E&M's top streamers!
I still couldn't forget the thrill of that party which had easily sent the Pirate King to the afterlife.
Of course, it wasn't on the level of the previous game, but among all the party play I had experienced in the era of Second, it had been the best.
"Very well. I'll arrange as many as you need. However..."
"However?"
"I would like to go as well, would that be alright?"
I smiled at Sin Hayeon's cautious question.
I had been wondering why she was being so cautious, and it turned out to be a question of whether she could come along.
As for me, it didn't particularly matter whether she went or not.
"I don't mind."
"Thank you, Lord Drakan."
Sin Hayeon smiled slightly at my words and replied, then took out a smartphone from her pocket and made a call.
The moment the Northern raid party was being assembled had truly arrived.
* * *
["Welcome to Ard Saga Second, User."]
My vision brightened along with a monotone notification sound.
Perhaps because the place where I had logged out was the harbor of Lawless Harbor, I could hear the screeching cries of seagulls.
And in the midst of it, a skeletal eagle—whose alien appearance was obvious to anyone—floated in the air in its bony form.
A blue light flickered in the hollow eye sockets of the skeleton eagle.
It was the Undying King.
["You've returned, Contractor."]
"It's not like I can go to the North alone, is it? I was late gathering my comrades."
I answered the Undying King calmly, and the Undying King made no response to my words.
It didn't take much time for all the party members to be assembled.
Today's party members were Ignis and Sin Hayeon, of course, as well as the Iron Wall Knight Queen Honey, who had served as the tank during the Pirate King raid and would play the role of the party's main tank this time as well, and the Alchemist Mabujang, who would take on the healer role.
It would have been better if Pants Warrior and Flying Man had joined as well, but unfortunately, those two had schedule conflicts and couldn't be with us.
"It is good to see you again, Lord Drakan."
"I'm counting on you again this time, Mr. Drakan."
I shook hands with the lady knight Queen Honey, whom I was meeting again since the Pirate King raid, and with the Alchemist Mabujang, who appeared to be in his mid-thirties.
["A party has been created."]
["Hayeon has joined Lord Drakan's party."]
["Ignis has joined Lord Drakan's party."]
…….
Having finished forming the party and sharing the quest, I lastly equipped the cold-weather robe I had prepared in advance, then looked at the skeleton eagle, the emissary of the Undying King, and spoke.
"Preparations are complete. Where must we go first?"
["I shall personally open a gate leading to Skeleton Castle."]
The moment the skeleton eagle's eerie voice resonated, the eagle's body, nothing but bone, was enveloped in blue light and blazed. And soon after, space distorted and a swirling blue rift appeared.
Beyond the rift, a snowstorm raged endlessly, and through it, a massive black castle wall and the ancient fortress within were faintly visible.
It was Skeleton Castle, the stronghold of the Undying King.
I strode toward the rift without hesitation.