The Final Boss Has Returned – Chapter 78
After clearly defining my relationship with Shin Hayeon, I clasped her hand and set off once more, referencing the map of the Dark Elf Kingdom.
Shin Hayeon was humming a tune, sounding inexplicably pleased, while I kept walking toward our destination, checking the map with my other hand.
[The summon 'Dice' has slain a Forest Ogre.]
[You have received distributed experience.]
[1000 gold has been distributed.]
Of course, dealing with bothersome monsters and clearing the path was being handled competently by Dice, the summon I had received from the Undead King.
While not on the level of the Archlich or the Undead King, who commanded legions of undead, Dice was still a Lich of quite a high level, capable of controlling undead numbering roughly a regiment. Because of that, the undead summoned by Dice took care of most ordinary monsters, and Dice personally dealt with the high-level ones, so there was practically nothing blocking our way forward.
That was also the reason Shin Hayeon was humming so cheerfully.
I unfolded the map.
If the map of the Dark Elf Kingdom given by the Undead King was accurate, we weren't far from the kingdom's border village now.
Close enough to reach before the day ended in game time.
I put the map back into my inventory.
It was right when I was thinking I could finish the quest today.
Space distorted in front of me, and a skeleton draped in black robes appeared.
It was the Lich, Dice.
[My Lord Apostle.]
"What is it? Have you found a Dark Elf?"
[Yes.]
I smiled at Dice's answer and continued pushing through the bushes.
After walking a short while like that.
"Human, from here onward is the domain of the Dark Elf Kingdom. Turn back."
Shin Hayeon and I were finally able to encounter Dark Elves.
Dark Elves rose from the rustling bushes and aimed crossbows at us!
Their dark skin, just like the Dark Elves appearing in other games, comics, and novels, and their gazes turned toward me, Shin Hayeon, and my summon, the Lich Dice.
"Mark of the Demon God."
I used a skill for the first time in a while on the Dark Elves who were wary of us.
Demon God of Darkness!
The Mark of the Demon God, the sole contract skill bestowed by him, manifested once more.
A black demonic emblem appeared on the back of my left hand, and along with it, a message rose before my eyes.
[The Demon God of Darkness smiles in satisfaction.]
The Demon God of Darkness!
Along with the message that he was satisfied, the Dark Elves lowered their arrows.
"That mark...... So you are the Demon God's Contractor."
"That's right. I am the Demon God's Contractor, and I heard your circumstances from the Undead King."
"The Undead King?"
At my words, a Dark Elf male who appeared to be the leader of the group asked with a surprised expression, and I naturally continued my answer.
"Yes. The Undead King. He has already joined the Ancient Alliance as well. Anyway, I heard you requested outside help because of the calamity that struck five years ago. If you Dark Elves join the Ancient Alliance, I may be able to resolve that calamity for you."
"That is not something I can decide."
The Dark Elf responded to my words like a civil servant sitting at a community service center saying it wasn't his jurisdiction, but since I had already expected as much, it wasn't particularly surprising.
"Then I would like to meet the Queen. That is something you can decide, isn't it?"
"Follow me."
After a brief exchange, I held Shin Hayeon's hand tightly and followed behind the Dark Elf.
Now, it was time to meet the Queen and get serious about progressing the quest.
* * *
[You have discovered Night Haven.]
[First Discovery Bonus!]
[Your level has increased.]
[Your level has increased.]
[All stats have increased by 20.]
[Fame has increased by 2330.]
[Night Haven was the second-largest city of the Dark Elf Kingdom and had served as the kingdom's gateway for exchange with the outside world until the isolation policy was implemented two thousand years ago.]
[Afterward, over the course of the two thousand years in which the isolation policy was enforced, the city's scale gradually diminished, but after the calamity that struck the kingdom five years ago, it became the kingdom's temporary capital when the Queen and the Council of Elders fled here.]
Night Haven!
Enjoying the first discovery bonus notification that I hadn't heard in a long time, I was able to enter, together with Shin Hayeon, a massive stone building at the center of the city under the guidance of the Dark Elves.
Inside the building, adorned with carvings of intricate geometric patterns.
There, I was meeting the Dark Elf Queen, Idun, seated upon a stone throne.
Idun, possessing a radiant beauty with sparkling silver hair resembling moonlight, opened her fine lips.
"Are you the Demon God's Contractor?"
"Yes."
The moment I answered, notification windows covered my vision.
[The quest 'The Tragedy of the Dark Elf Kingdom' has been completed.]
[Your level has increased.]
[Your level has increased.]
[Your level has increased.]
[All stats have increased by 30.]
By fulfilling the quest objective of 'Making Contact with the Dark Elf Queen,' the quest had been completed.
At the ever-pleasant level-up notification, I smiled and spoke to the Queen.
"I heard from the Undead King. That a calamity has befallen your kingdom. If I resolve it for you, can you acknowledge me as an Apostle and participate in the Ancient Alliance?"
"If you can resolve the calamity consuming our territory and former capital, I shall gladly acknowledge you as an Apostle and join the alliance."
[A quest has been generated.]
[The Calamity of the Dark Elf Kingdom]
[Grade: Legendary]
[The calamity that arrived through a rift in Moonlight City five years ago still lives and breathes at the heart of the kingdom, threatening the Dark Elves.]
[Over the past five years, the calamity that nested in Moonlight City has steadily expanded its forces. The Dark Elves have waged fierce battles against the advancing calamity but have only managed to maintain the status quo.]
[The Dark Elves have grown weary in this war with no visible chance of victory, and the kingdom's supplies are gradually running dry.]
[If you aid the kingdom, destroy the calamity, and put an end to this war, Queen Idun will readily acknowledge you as an Apostle and join the Ancient Alliance.]
[Quest Completion Conditions]
[Destruction of the 'Gate']
[Moonlight City Recapture]
[Will you accept the quest?]
The main quest had finally revealed itself!
I accepted the quest as it was.
"I will take care of this matter."
[You have accepted the quest.]
At the same time as the quest acceptance notification, the very moment I was sharing the quest with Shin Hayeon, my party member.
"Contractor, what is your plan for dealing with them from here on?"
Idun addressed me.
I looked at the Dark Elf Queen and smiled.
"An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and numbers for numbers."
"Numbers?"
"I will call upon the Undead King's army."
I smiled, picturing the undead.
This worked out perfectly.
I needed to use this opportunity to check exactly how strong the undead forces were.
The battle with the Northern Expeditionary Force had ended in a single blow, so it was insufficient as a test of strength; this battle would serve as a measure to properly gauge the undead's power.
Moreover, the front line had reached a stalemate due to evenly matched forces!
In such a situation, breaking through a deadlocked front required the introduction of additional forces.
At my words, Idun's expression hardened strangely, but I paid her little mind and called for Dice, who was standing respectfully behind me.
"Dice."
[Did you call for me, my Lord Apostle?]
"I wish to speak with the Undead King."
[I shall obey your command.]
Receiving my command, Dice chanted some spell, and soon his entire body was engulfed in blue flames. Then, a sinister voice completely unlike Dice's flowed from his jawbone.
[Did you summon Us, Apostle?]
The Undead King!
He possessed a skill that allowed him to deliver his message using the body of a specific undead belonging to his army as a medium, and he had used that skill to reveal himself before me.
"Undead King. As the Apostle of Darkness, I command you. Dispatch your army to the Dark Elf Kingdom immediately."
[The purpose?]
"The destruction of the calamity that has befallen the Dark Elf Kingdom."
[In accordance with the promise of the alliance, the Apostle's enemy is my enemy. I obey your command. The undead army, with the Archlich as its commander, shall board the Ghost Fleet and cross the sea toward the Southern Great Forest this very moment. Before the Army of the Dead, the calamity of the Dark Elves shall meet its destruction.]
The Undead King obeyed my command willingly, and soon the blue flames surrounding Dice died out.
The skill had been severed.
The Dark Elf Queen's expression was steeped in shock at that sight, and I smiled at her.
* * *
Northern Arde World. The Land of Death.
The Land of Death, brimming with energy due to the explosive growth of the undead user population, was a frozen wasteland ravaged by blizzards.
Eternal winter!
The winter brought by Drakan had turned the entire north into frozen ground, but not all of the north was frozen.
The southernmost tip of the Land of Death.
Here, the only place in the undead territory that remained unfrozen, there was a port.
The Port of Death!
This port, the home base of the Ghost Fleet—the proud navy of the Undead King—was unusually crowded with undead swarming to board the ghost ships floating upon the sea.
The Undead King!
Having received Drakan's order, he had immediately mustered a great undead army led by the Archlich and was loading them onto the fleet.
[We depart.]
Once the Archlich confirmed the last undead had boarded and gave the order, the ghost ships simultaneously unfurled their tattered sails. Soon, they began cutting swiftly through the cold currents of the northern sea, and after a long voyage, they finally reached the beach leading to the Great Forest.
Not long after, the Army of the Dead—ill-suited for the Great Forest teeming with vibrant life—began marching toward the Dark Elf Kingdom.
The terrible environment of the Great Forest, called the Green Desert, which would inflict environmental debuffs upon any living being, as well as the monsters prowling within it, were all ground to dust before that undead army.
And so, the first thing the undead army did upon finally arriving at the Dark Elf Kingdom was erect an Obelisk—a structure serving as an antenna to receive the Undead King's power and will!
[Clack, clack-clack.]
Skeleton workers carried construction materials with clattering bones, while Liches established magic circles on the building walls.
Unlike human workers, the undead never tired no matter how much they labored, so construction continued around the clock. Finally, the moment the Obelisk stood tall in the middle of the jungle.
Fwoosh.
Blue flames blazed like torches at the tip of the Obelisk, and the power of death began encroaching upon the jungle.
Trees turning black and dying in an instant, and the earth drying up!
Seated upon the Skull Throne in the north, the Undead King surveyed the southern Great Forest within the Obelisk's sphere of influence and sent a message through Dice, Drakan's summon.
[We have arrived.]