The Final King Has Returned - Episode 7
[The messages from the Transcendents that accumulated during the tutorial have been unlocked.]
[The Goddess of Light is astonished by your exploits.]
[The Demon God of Darkness admires your selfish monopolization.]
[The God of War shows interest in your tales of conquest.]
…….
I laughed heartily as I looked at the countless messages filling my vision, still rising ceaselessly even now.
[The 'King of the Sea' admires your goblin massacre and grants you 100 points.]
Among them were messages granting me points.
That was right. These messages from the Transcendents, along with the hardcore system, were the most important content in Arth Saga Second.
According to the lore of Arth Saga, the Great Upheaval that took place over a decade ago from Second's timeline had completely changed the world of Arth.
Countless other worlds overlapped and collided with the world of Arth, creating dimensional rifts everywhere. As these rifts weakened the barriers, the gods and demon kings who, during the previous game's timeline, could only exert influence indirectly through contracts and oracles became able to intervene far more aggressively in the world of Arth.
And the content born from that very setting was what I was looking at right now—these messages.
Transcendents who could only be reached through indirect means like contracts or oracles in the previous game now observed users directly in Second, sending messages, issuing quests, and granting points to actively exert their influence over the world of Arth.
[The God of War proposes a contract to you.]
[The Demon King of Despair proposes a contract to you.]
[The Demon King of Hatred proposes a contract to you.]
…….
Even amidst all this, the Transcendents kept sending me messages.
This time, they were contract proposals.
The Transcendent content newly introduced in Second was diverse.
From the Transcendents' reactions to a point shop where you could purchase various convenience items anytime, anywhere!
And the core of that Transcendent content was the contract.
Contract.
By the timeline of Arth Saga Second, obtaining power through direct communication with demon kings or gods was no longer the exclusive domain of hidden classes like the Saintess or the Hero.
In Second, any user at all could form a contract with them and borrow their power as long as they managed to catch the interest of the Transcendents in the world of Arth.
Moreover, showing outstanding performance in the tutorial could draw the attention of many Transcendents and earn you contract offers. Since succeeding in a contract with a Transcendent meant starting from a different line than users who couldn't form one, countless users were said to be twisting themselves into knots every day to stand out in the tutorial.
And in my case, since I was a user boasting a record shining at 6th place in the tutorial overall ranking, love calls from Transcendents were pouring in too numerous to count.
Of course, both my legacy and my monopolization of the tutorial were far, far removed from good alignments, so contract offers from demon kings outnumbered those from gods several times over.
I examined each and every contract offer that came to me one by one.
'The King of the Sea—this guy is Leviathan, right? He's decent, but his authority is skewed toward the sea, so his usefulness is limited. The Demon King of Hatred. He's good at everything else, but his personality is so fickle that you never know which way he'll jump.'
I began striking down the countless contract requests that had poured down on me one by one.
Since there were plenty of requests anyway, making the best choice among them was important to me.
I looked at the flood of contract applications and agonized over them repeatedly.
When you received contract offers from Transcendents, you could remain in the Reward Room until you accepted one. Therefore, with a calm mind, I carefully compared the pros and cons of various Transcendents and continued to deliberate deeply for a long while.
A contract could not be reversed, so it was fine to be as cautious as possible.
At that very moment while I was agonizing like that.
[The Demon God of Darkness is watching you.]
A notification window rose before my eyes.
Seeing that notification, I sucked in a sharp breath.
'The Demon God of Darkness!'
The Demon God of Darkness. I knew very well who that existence was.
The Transcendents of the world of Arth were largely divided into two factions.
The Manshinjeon, the faction of gods—Transcendents residing in the heavens with good and light alignments!
And the Bokmajeon, the faction of demon kings—Transcendents with evil and darkness alignments living in the demonic realm!
These were the two great forces of the Transcendents.
And Yujin, that bastard, had signed a contract with Luminus, the Goddess of Light and leader of the Manshinjeon.
Well, since he had been the Hero—a hidden class under Luminus's protection—since the previous game, it was almost inevitable that he would become Luminus's contractor in Second, inheriting the legacy of the Hero.
Moreover, Yujin didn't have just Luminus's contract.
Many gods under Luminus in the Manshinjeon were also aiding him.
And I had obtained all of this information from his official channel on Arth Live.
Watching videos of his exploits was a painful and revolting affair, but I held back my rising disgust for the sake of revenge, and it was worth it.
Anyway, to defeat someone who was essentially receiving support from the entire Manshinjeon including Luminus, I too needed backing on a comparable level.
And the Demon God of Darkness—the owner of the notification window that rose before my eyes—was an existence capable of fulfilling that very wish.
The moment I was glaring at the message sent by the Demon God of Darkness.
The cosmic space surrounding me was instantly engulfed in darkness.
Endless darkness.
Within it, a pair of oppressive red irises rose.
The Demon God of Darkness. He had appeared in person.
[The Demon God of Darkness proposes a contract to you, who possesses the legacy of Steel Lord Drakan.]
Looking at the single line of text that rose, I smiled.
I already knew.
Yujin.
To defeat the one who held a contract with Luminus, the Goddess of Light and leader of the Manshinjeon, I needed a contract with the Demon God of Darkness!
That was why I accepted the longed-for proposal from the Demon God right then and there.
"I accept the contract."
[You have contracted with the Demon God of Darkness.]
As countless notification windows rose simultaneously with the end of my single sentence—including achievement completions and stat increases—I smiled.
Now, it was time to advance toward the world of Arth.
* * *
At that very moment when Drakan was agonizing for a long while over contract proposals in the Reward Room.
News that Steel Lord Drakan, the former strongest player of the previous game, had returned was spreading across the internet and social media at an astonishing speed.
The first things posted were several GIFs and screenshots uploaded to social media by a newbie user who had finished the tutorial.
They contained an animated GIF of Drakan wielding a dark red sword at insane speed while beating down dire wolves, a screenshot with the nonsensical value of "Tutorial Dungeon Clear Contribution: 98%" written on it, and a caption saying that Drakan had returned.
The newbie user's post began spreading rapidly through likes, and soon after, when the tutorial overall ranking was updated and the name Drakan was confirmed to have taken 6th place, the entire internet finally caught fire.
"Is that Drakan really the real Drakan?"
"Hey, among all the people with the name Drakan, he's the only one with the skill to rank 6th in the tutorial rankings!"
Stronghold, the starting point for human users where Drakan was expected to arrive, was packed to capacity with users who had flocked there upon hearing the rumors.
Whether in a positive or negative sense, it was because Drakan was a named user who had left his mark on the history of Arth Saga.
At that moment when users had gathered in the square where newbies arrived, packed shoulder to shoulder with nowhere to step.
"Lord Yujin!"
"Lord Yujin has come!"
"It's Lord Yujin!"
Like the miracle of Moses, the sea of crowds parted to both sides.
The crowds looked toward the edge of the square at a man of such beauty that the term "face genius" suited him perfectly, and let out cheers.
Hero Yujin!
The pinnacle of Arth Saga!
He had finally arrived at Stronghold to meet his powerful rival from the past.