The Final Boss Has Returned — Chapter 82
As soon as the Simseong Milky Way Guild’s declaration of war video went up, the internet went wild.
User versus user, large-scale all-out war!
The very fact that Rio had thrown the first punch against none other than Drakan, whom he had clashed with in the North, brought forth an enormous issue, enough to overshadow every other topic.
[Honestly, Rio isn’t wrong. Drakan did do something. You can’t fix a person’s nature, lol]
[What bullshit is this? Didn’t you see him kneel in the interview before? What did Drakan even do wrong in Second? Honestly, the Northern winter was unavoidable; look at him nitpicking that and acting like this, tsk tsk. Rio’s pathetic]
[Shill spotted~]
[Honestly, if it were Eugene-nim, maybe, but isn’t it a bit much for Rio to say that?]
[Fr, he didn’t let regular users participate in the Undead Expedition either, and now he does this. He’s scared and pathetic]
[Honestly, not being able to trust Drakan is a fact. I need to join this expedition.]
[Isn’t Drakan going to upload a rebuttal video?]
At that very moment, while users online were arguing back and forth over Rio’s declaration of war, Drakan uploaded his rebuttal video.
[I heard Rio has dared to declare war on me. I will not make any excuses for my actions. No matter what I say, people will only believe what they want to believe.
However, there’s one thing I simply must say: Rio talking about justice is laughable. If I had known he would spout such nonsense after I showed mercy and spared him, I would have killed him from the start. Those bastards blocked regular users from participating because they wanted to monopolize the Undead King for themselves, and now they’re talking about justice? Isn’t that bullshit that not even a passing dog would believe?
Besides, isn’t Eugene the one who protects justice in Arde World? Eugene isn’t saying anything to me now, so I simply cannot understand why that bastard Rio is pointlessly provoking me.
Justice or whatever—I don’t know much about that. That’s Eugene’s concern. What I can offer is victory. If you want to win, if you want to beat that bastard Rio who wraps his ugly greed in the banner of justice and deceives users, and if you want an interesting war, then come to Lawless Port. Come and join my side.
And Rio, there will be no next time for that bastard. He will die by my hand.]
Drakan!
He had hit Rio’s weakness precisely.
Enforcing justice!
That was the unique authority of Eugene, who held hegemony over Arde World, and in his rebuttal video, he pointed out that what Rio was doing now was a clear overreach of authority.
He also justified himself by bringing up the fact that Eugene, the protector of justice in Arde World, had not yet imposed any sanctions on him.
Starting with that video from Drakan, announcements and videos were uploaded stating that streamers affiliated with Jeil E&M were all heading to Lawless Port. Soon after, Sin Hayeon stepped forward and began controlling public opinion on the internet on behalf of the Jeil Group.
From the mobilization of Jeil E&M-affiliated streamers to media play, online communities, and social media!
Under Sin Hayeon’s command, the Jeil Group’s public opinion maneuvers, truly conducted on all fronts, completely turned the flow of internet sentiment toward Drakan’s side.
Of course, public opinion hadn’t shifted to Drakan’s side solely due to Sin Hayeon’s power.
Drakan!
As he had said, Rio talking about enforcing justice despite Eugene’s existence, and his previous actions during the Northern expedition where he had restricted regular users’ participation to monopolize the gains among themselves, had sown doubt among the users.
Rio!
Whether he had truly started this war thinking only of justice!
Whether, just as Drakan said, he was wrapping up his own greed and using other users as cannon fodder!
Moreover, it was an undeniable fact that Eugene had not imposed any sanctions on Drakan and that the two had even appeared to grow closer lately, so public sentiment did not easily tip in Rio’s favor.
As a result, just as many people were heading north, crowds were also flooding into Lawless Port.
The Northern Navy, led by Black King Karun and centered around Vikings and Mermaids!
And the Northern Army, with King of Spears Rio at the forefront, followed by Warriors and Druids!
Thus, the Northern armies were advancing toward Lawless Port by both sea and land, crushing everything in their path.
* * *
[Dark Territory]
[Rank: Legend]
-As an Apostle, you have rallied the fishmen, undead, and dark elves to restore half of the ancient alliance, and the Demon God of Darkness is greatly satisfied with your achievements in faithfully carrying out the contract.
However, that does not mean you should rest on your current laurels.
Half of the alliance has gathered, and sufficient military force has been built. Now is the time.
East, North, West, Central, South—anywhere is fine. Become the ruler of a region and turn that land into a territory ruled by darkness, a Dark Territory, and establish the foundation for the reconstruction of the Dark Empire.
The Demon God’s blessing and the ancient alliance shall be with you.
Once the Dark Territory is declared, word shall reach the races that have not yet joined, and they too shall join the alliance.
[Quest Objectives]
-Claim rulership over one region
-Declare a Dark Territory
The moment I logged into the game and the Dark Elf quest ended, I looked at the quest bestowed by the Demon God and smiled.
This was an opportunity.
An opportunity to overturn the tide of war in one fell swoop!
I had originally planned to swallow up the Gasan Kingdom and become the ruler of the East, but plans are always fluid.
If the Northern Alliance bastards’ goal was to abandon the now-useless North and seize the lands of the East, they would undoubtedly have mobilized all their forces from the North. If so, the current North was no different from no man’s land.
If I were to take over the unclaimed North in reverse and declare it a Dark Territory?
The other three races would immediately join the alliance, and Rio would be unable to handle my explosive increase in military power!
Moreover, since Rio’s goal was ultimately me, that bastard would have led his army all the way to the East only to end up like a dog that chased a chicken but stared at the roof instead.
Thinking so, I slowly walked toward Lawless Port.
And at the port of Lawless Port, three massive aircraft carriers and so many warships that they covered the horizon were anchored.
I caught sight of familiar faces standing atop a platform—everyone except Ignis, who was in charge of defending Lawless Port, and some streamers affiliated with Jeil E&M.
From Sin Hayeon to Flyingman, Panty Warrior, and Queen Hani!
Looking at the countless regular users visible beyond them, I climbed onto the platform and spoke.
“I won’t say much. I will send every last one of those Northern stragglers approaching Lawless Port to the bottom of the sea and turn them into shark bait. Let’s teach those bastards who dare touch me, Lawless Port, and this East a firm lesson!”
The moment my speech ended, cheers filled the entire port.
Listening to those cheers, I boarded the fleet’s flagship, the aircraft carrier *Steel Wing*.
The war was beginning now.
* * *
Northern Fleet!
Cutting through the waves, one particularly massive warship was visible among the Vikings’ fleet heading east.
It was the flagship of the Northern Fleet and their aircraft carrier, the *Frost Flight*.
The vast, expansive deck of the *Frost Flight*!
Upon it stood a man in black armor, a greatsword on his back, gazing at the horizon.
The very man who had received a request from Berda and was helping Rio!
It was Black King Karun, who had risen to the pinnacle of dark gamers.
“So, Drakan has chosen naval warfare.”
Black King Karun was analyzing the information he had just received inside his head.
Drakan. That bastard had abandoned Lawless Port and taken to the fleet.
He had chosen a naval battle.
Of course, the Northern fleet’s strength was relatively inferior to Drakan’s fleet.
However, it wasn’t at a level that would heavily influence victory or defeat.
Though the enemy had three aircraft carriers, this side also possessed one, and unlike during the previous naval decisive battle, they were thoroughly prepared with anti-air measures to deal with wyvern squadrons.
And if they had fishmen on that side, this side had mermaids.
Furthermore, the national power of the Mermaid Kingdom was superior to that of the Fishman Kingdom!
If they could win the underwater battle, inflicting damage on the enemy fleet wouldn’t be difficult either.
Cutting flesh to break bone!
A strategy of giving up flesh to take the enemy’s bones—that was the naval battle Black King Karun was aiming for.
Of course, if Drakan committed additional forces, the outcome would be unpredictable, but the main force of the Northern armies was the army anyway.
If the enemy had gone all-in on their navy, then even if they lost the naval battle, grinding down their forces here would be a gain from the perspective of the overall grand strategy.
Moreover, compared to the enemy side, which had only the Fishman King as an Over Ranker-class powerhouse, this side had two—the Mermaid Queen and himself—so they had advantages as well.
Drakan.
Whatever he was thinking, he had placed Ignis in Lawless Port.
“Of course, if they bring in undead, the situation would change…”
Undead!
Black King Karun had some idea of their power.
However, for a user to move the forces of another faction usually consumed a value called “Contribution.”
And Berda speculated that Drakan had consumed almost all his Contribution moving the undead army to the Southern Great Forest.
It made sense; after all, he had transported massive forces from the North all the way to the South for a quest, so an enormous amount of Contribution must have been spent.
Besides, since Drakan hadn’t had the time to perform more undead-related quests to accumulate Contribution, Berda’s assessment was that the probability of undead participation was negligible.
Karun gazed at the horizon.
Since the naval decisive battle waged by Drakan, the paradigm of naval warfare in Arde World had completely changed.
With the emergence of aircraft carriers and fishman forces, an era of combat beyond visual range had dawned.
Only an aircraft carrier could face another aircraft carrier, and to win at sea, one had to invest even more money.
The so-called Red Queen Effect!
That was what was unfolding on the seas of Arde World.
And this was precisely why King of Spears Rio had squeezed out one last bit of support and resources from Vice Chairman Sin Jeong-hyeok to build an aircraft carrier.
Vice Chairman Sin Jeong-hyeok, stung by his own wounded pride, had supported Rio when the King of Spears declared that this time he would cut off Drakan’s head and bring down JDG, and they had ultimately succeeded in constructing even a single aircraft carrier.
Karun stared at the churning sea with cold eyes.
Now, beyond the horizon, the preliminary battle that would decide the victory or defeat of this naval war would begin.