The Final Boss King Has Returned - Episode 85
“I have no obligation to reveal my employer’s identity.”
“Well, I figured as much. Wasn’t all that curious anyway.”
I shrugged at Karun’s words.
It wasn’t a question I’d asked expecting an answer, and more than anything, I’d already guessed who his employer was.
Berda.
She was almost certainly the one footing the bill.
“But I can tell that this ‘employer’ of yours doesn’t like me very much.”
Karun remained silent at my words.
“Of course, there’s no hard evidence, but the back of my head keeps itching. It feels like that ‘employer’ who hired you is trying to stab me in the back, just like during the old Church of Infinite Yujin scandal.”
Karun’s face stiffened slightly at my remark.
He was still expressionless, of course, but he was clearly flustered.
[Wasn’t Karun on Rio’s side?]
[What, so it’s just a three-way war?]
[OMG, did Yujin send him???]
The chat window lit up with activity the moment I finished speaking.
The seed of doubt I’d planted was beginning to sprout.
[Chat is a mess, stop getting fired up over unconfirmed stuff]
[What do you mean unconfirmed, it’s obvious]
[Then who sent the Black King? lol lmao]
Of course, there were opinions dismissing it as a conspiracy theory, but perhaps because it was my stream, the majority of viewers began to sympathize with the “reasonable doubt” I’d raised, and soon Yujin’s name started coming up.
Yujin, who was he?
Was he not a Top Ranker who claimed it was his duty to protect the “Justice of the Arth World”!
Of course, unless there was solid evidence, Yujin wouldn’t act on mere suspicion alone, and with Berda behind this he was even less likely to—but that was separate from the emotions the users were feeling.
There was only one reason Yujin had gained popularity!
It was because he was the so-called “Police of the Arth World,” who did not tolerate injustice and punished wrongdoing on behalf of others.
Yet now, when I was suspected of suffering “injustice,” the fact that he wasn’t lifting a finger was enough to tarnish his reputation, and furthermore, make users question his dominance.
Of course, with zealous supporters like the Church of Infinite Yujin, public opinion about him wouldn’t collapse easily, but as they say, a journey of a thousand li begins with a single step; it was enough to gradually widen the cracks and gnaw away at it.
Besides, if there were no precedent it might be different, but there was already the precedent of me falling victim to the Church of Infinite Yujin’s schemes during the Merfolk Quest, to the point that I made even Yujin issue an official apology.
In other words, the conditions were ripe to cast reasonable doubt on this incident.
‘I’ve cast the bait, so soon the story will flesh itself out.’
I smiled inwardly as I watched the endlessly scrolling chat.
Berda—what she wanted was obvious.
To use the Black King Karun to move the Spear King Rio, and kill me before I could grow!
If I were in her position, cutting down a future threat before it could sprout would have been perfectly natural, but from the receiving end, it was hardly pleasant.
So this was both a warning and a very petty piece of revenge I was sending Berda.
Full-scale revenge was still impossible, but even so, taking a beating while knowing exactly who was throwing the punches didn’t suit my nature.
I felt like my temper would ease a bit only after that woman got a taste of some suffering too.
Karun was silent.
He seemed to have instinctively realized that opening his mouth now would cost him dearly.
Well, if he lacked even that much sense, he wouldn’t have made it as an Over Ranker.
“Well, forget it then. I never expected to hold a conversation with a mere hunting dog anyway.”
[Hunting dog lolololol]
[Bro really picks such old-fashioned words lol]
[This is why I watch you, sir!]
[User ‘LiberatedDrakan’ has donated 100,000 KRW.]
[User ‘FierceBug’ has donated 300,000 KRW.]
[User ‘DarkMagicBoomIsComing’ has donated 200,000 KRW.]
The moment I said that, chat messages and donations flooded in, and Karun’s expressionless mask finally cracked.
“Drakan!!”
A roar burst from Karun’s mouth.
As if unleashing all the anger he’d been holding back, he kicked off the deck and shot toward me at breakneck speed, shouting.
“I’ll kill you!!”
Karun charged at me with ferocious momentum, wrapping aura around his massive greatsword!
But unfortunately for him, his wish would not be fulfilled.
“How dare you target the Apostle!”
[It seems you wish to die.]
The Merfolk King and the Dark Knight Commander!
The two superhumans standing before me had blocked Karun’s path.
Karun’s greatsword was stopped by the two warriors’ weapons, and unable to achieve his goal, Karun bit his lip in frustration.
I watched that sight and gave them an order.
“Kill that bastard.”
He was someone who’d tried to kill me anyway, and now he had thrown the first punch and declared war on me.
There was no need to show mercy any longer.
No, rather, what I needed now was a refreshing, cathartic resolution.
The moment my order fell, the Dark Knight Commander, the Merfolk King, and the Arch Lich moved.
Boom! Crash!
The Merfolk King’s spear, the Dark Knight Commander’s sword, and the Arch Lich’s magic slammed into Karun’s body.
Karun bit his lip and swung his greatsword, but against the combined assault of three powerhouses of the same rank, he was helpless.
“Strike of Fenrir!”
Driven into a corner, Karun finally used his ultimate skill.
Strike of Fenrir!
It was Karun’s ultimate move that ignited a wolf-shaped aura from his greatsword, a skill known for its tremendous destructive power, but against three superhumans, it was futile.
[Absolute Shield.]
Along with the Arch Lich’s eerie voice, a semi-transparent barrier appeared before them!
When Absolute Shield—a top-tier magic of the shield series—clashed with the Strike of Fenrir, a deafening roar and shockwave erupted, and through that shockwave the Merfolk King and Dark Knight Commander rushed in to attack Karun.
Karun desperately defended against the two’s attacks, but with the Arch Lich’s magic joining in, he eventually became overwhelmed, allowing more and more attacks through.
At that moment.
[Death Slash.]
The Dark Knight Commander’s ultimate skill manifested.
Death Slash!
As its name suggested, a dark aura evoking death flew in the form of a black streak and struck Karun’s body directly.
Boom!
With a thunderous roar, Karun’s body was blown away by the Death Slash.
[Bone Prison.]
Karun, sent flying from his position, seemed afflicted by a status ailment and couldn’t easily rise from his fallen state; seizing that opening, the Arch Lich’s Bone Prison spell succeeded in restraining him.
Restrained by an object made of pure white bone—closer to shackles than a prison—Karun had swords and spears wrapped in aura aimed at his neck.
It was the work of the Merfolk King and the Dark Knight Commander.
I watched that sight and clapped my hands together.
Karun, now unable to do anything, glared at me as if to kill me, and I spoke to him.
“Soon, you’ll become the first Over Ranker to die in Arth World history. Congratulations.”
[Savage af lololol]
[Wow, look at that, an Over Ranker still can’t beat NPCs lololol]
[Black King pathetically begging for a 1v1 lol]
[If you’re that mad, bring your friends too lolol]
The chat shook violently again the instant my line ended.
Over Ranker!
Among the countless users playing Arth Saga Second, there were only twenty of them—transcendent superhumans beyond the beyond!
Since the Combat Information Archive appeared and the concept of Over Ranker was born, not a single Over Ranker had died until now.
That’s right—until now.
I looked at Karun and spoke.
“Any last words?”
At my words, Karun maintained his silence and glared at me, and I looked at him and pointed my thumb down.
“Guess not. Kill him.”
Spears and blades pierced Karun’s body the moment I finished speaking, and so he met his “permanent death” inside the game.
* * *
After the hardcore system was introduced in Arth Saga Second, it was no longer a rare sight for a character to be deleted in a single death.
Unlike the previous game, dead characters could no longer revive!
The flood of complaints that had stormed the customer service center and Arth forums in the early days of Second’s service had now subsided.
If Arth Saga were a normal game, they would have said “if you don’t like it, quit,” but unfortunately, Arth Saga Second was the only one of its kind in the world—a vibrant world virtually indistinguishable from reality, created by combining a virtual reality so perfect it could not be distinguished from true reality, and NPCs equipped with AI so perfect they could not be distinguished from humans.
Stimulated by Arth Saga’s perfect virtual reality implementation technology, other game companies and IT firms were developing various VR and AR technologies, but compared to the technology of Miracle Entertainment, which had created Arth Saga, theirs remained at a pitiful level that was embarrassing to even call virtual reality.
Unlike Arth Saga’s perfect virtual reality, which implemented all five senses and was indistinguishable from reality, other companies’ virtual reality couldn’t even get out of low-resolution footage output through head-mounted displays, let alone capsules.
For people already accustomed to a virtual reality identical to the real thing, the crude products of other companies—embarrassing to even call virtual reality—naturally could not serve as substitutes, and the same was true for PC and console games.
Arth Saga was something that transcended games, which is why its user base did not collapse because of something like a hardcore system.
Because there was no substitute that could replace Arth Saga, users couldn’t simply rage quit, and eventually had no choice but to keep playing Arth Saga, like taking bitter medicine.
No, rather, with the emergence of Arth Live, the number of users actually increased compared to the previous game despite the hardcore system, to the point that some even praised the hardcore system for being realistic.
Anyway, two years later, in the current era, the hardcore system had become part of the world of Arth.
Yes—that was until the Black King Karun died.
[Drakan killed the Black King Karun!!]
[Drakan didn’t kill him. His subordinate monsters did (serious face)]
[Real]
[The wannabe-cool guy calling it real]
[No way, an Over Ranker was just a user like us after all, gets stabbed and dies lol]
[You die in one hit, I die in one hit, for real]
[Isn’t Karun screwed now? What’s a dark gamer gonna do for a living if he gets his character deleted lol]
[Why worry about Karun? He’s got crazy experience. He probably made bank and owns several buildings~]
[Wasn’t Drakan totally styling on Karun? I seriously thought I was watching a movie]
[Next cow]
[Cows can talk now?]
The Black King Karun!
His death was enough to agitate even the users of the Arth World, who had grown accustomed to “permanent death.”
One Top Ranker, and below him, twenty Over Rankers!
And the Ten Great Guilds that ruled the Arth World!
Since Arth Saga Second launched, this solid structure that had hardened over the past year or so was being shaken for the first time by a shocking major event.
Who could have predicted that an Over Ranker would die, that their character would be deleted!
It was fortunate that the deceased Over Ranker was the Black King Karun, famous as a solo player, so the repercussions were somewhat lessened, but even so, the impact of an “Over Ranker’s death” was by no means trivial.
However, the repercussions of this naval battle were not limited to that alone.