The Final Boss Has Returned - Chapter 87
["Kill all who resist! Occupy the North! By the Undead King's command!"]
Liches and Death Knights!
Countless high-ranking undead led the lower undead, moving organically and rapidly devouring the villages of the North one by one as they advanced.
And above them, the Undead King sat upon a throne of bones, surveying the entirety of the North as if playing a real-time strategy game and issuing commands one by one.
"Undead!"
"The undead are here!"
With unstoppable momentum!
Truly, faced with the Army of the Dead charging down with such speed, both users and NPCs alike were bewildered at first and then tried to resist; but it was impossible to stand against the undead with forces amounting to less than a handful.
The villagers of the border towns in the northern Deadlands, falling into the clutches of the undead in an instant without even a chance to put up a resistance worthy of the name, trembled in terror.
The undead, and the Undead King!
It was because dreadful legends about them had long overflowed in the North.
Recalling legends such as the undead devouring human blood and hearts, the people of the North trembled in fear. But the undead did not cause any particular harm to the northern villagers who surrendered.
["The Undead King has commanded that the lives of the living who surrender be spared. You may continue your livelihoods."]
["We are not barbarians. Those who resist shall meet death, but those who do not shall preserve their lives."]
And that was precisely the Undead King!
No, it was thanks to Drakan, who stood above him, having issued the order.
Kill those who resist, but do not kill those who surrender!
It was only natural, in a way, for Drakan wanted to conquer the North, not destroy it.
At the undead's promise to guarantee their lives, neither the villagers nor the users believed it at first.
But the undead forces were not comprised solely of NPCs.
Users!
Numerous users who had created undead characters to class-change into Necromancers had participated in this invasion of the North, lured by quests; and human users asked the undead users whether the information that they would be spared if they surrendered was true.
"Hey, is it true that we'll be saved if we surrender?"
["Yes, it's true. The Undead King ordered that humans who surrender not be killed. The NPC undead absolutely cannot disobey the Undead King's words, so you can take it as a total fact."]
The undead users kindly explained in response to the human users' questions.
The Undead King had personally commanded that those who surrendered without resisting be spared!
True to their word, the undead did not interfere with their daily lives unless they truly resisted; and as such rumors gradually spread, villages began to surrender to the Army of the Dead instead.
"We surrender."
["Your surrender is accepted."]
And not only the NPCs, but also the users remaining in the North initially felt resistance toward undead rule. However, once they realized that the undead truly did nothing other than 'govern', they rather stopped paying it much mind.
This was because, now that all users affiliated with the Simseong Milky Way Guild had withdrawn, from the perspective of the ordinary northern users who remained, it hardly mattered who ruled the North.
Of course, the Army of the Dead's march was not swift every single day.
["If you surrender, your lives shall be spared."]
"Surrender? What a laugh. How dare corpses like you set foot here, knowing not where you are!"
The closer they approached the heart of the North, the larger the cities, the fiercer the resistance.
Skabir, a fortress city of considerable size, renowned even in the North, and one of the strategic strongholds leading to Snow Castle, the center of the North!
Norgan, the NPC lord of Skabir, refused the surrender offer sent by the undead envoy.
Because if Skabir fell, it was tantamount to a highway opening toward Snow Castle.
As a proud Northener, he could not hand over this fortress to those undead scum.
At Norgan's reply, the undead envoy sneered and spoke.
["Then all we shall give you is naught but ash and dust."]
Immediately after.
Countless undead surged against the castle walls.
The liches' magic battered the fortress without regard for day or night, and endless undead swarmed forth.
Skabir's army proudly slaughtered the undead, but the undead knew neither fear nor the concept of morale.
Slay one undead, and two surged forth; slay two, and this time ten rushed in.
Under the ceaseless, endless onslaught of undead, Skabir eventually fell; and the city's elders, including Norgan, were reduced to ash and dust just as the undead envoy had promised.
The Army of the Dead that had captured Skabir continued to advance.
Snow Castle.
The Army of the Dead was not far from reaching the great city that served as the heart of the North and practically functioned as its capital.
* * *
Budonghang!
Generally a term meaning a port that does not freeze over, but in the North, it was the name of a certain harbor.
The largest port in the North, and the only harbor that maintained an ice-free state throughout the four seasons even in the frigid North, thanks to the warm current flowing through it!
As befitting the North's largest harbor, Budonghang's defenses were quite formidable, but with wyvern bombardments pouring from three carriers and the combined assault of krakens and fishmen, Budonghang—whose main forces had all been drawn away—could not endure.
"So this is Budonghang. It's really been a while."
I smiled as I looked upon the harbor city, smoke still rising here and there, unable to fully recover from the scars of battle.
"Arch Lich."
["Speak, O Apostle."]
The moment my words ended, the Arch Lich appeared alongside a spatial rift and prostrated himself humbly before me.
"How far has the Army of the Dead advanced?"
To my question, the Arch Lich, having kept a moment of silence, spoke.
["The Undead King reports that they have reached the doorstep of Snow Castle."]
"Swift."
["It is thanks to the foolish humans of the North having drawn away all their main forces."]
To my words, the Arch Lich spoke politely.
It was indeed as he said.
Spear King Rio, blinded by vengeance, had led the majority of the North's main forces toward Mubeophang in an attack move, making the current North practically an empty stronghold.
Had the North's forces been intact, the Undead King's army would have had to anticipate considerable losses even if they committed their full strength.
"Very well. Then you, the Bone Dragon, and the Captain of the Black Knights are to join the assault on Snow Castle."
["I shall obey the Apostle's command."]
Having received my command, the Arch Lich opened a spatial rift and vanished.
I watched the Arch Lich disappear and smiled.
[The Dark Demon God gives a meaningful smile.]
As if mimicking me, the Dark Demon God sent a message.
The moment I waved away the message window.
"Lord Drakan."
Sin Ha-yeon appeared behind me and called out to me.
"What is it?"
"Yujin has sent a proposal to mediate a truce."
"What?"
* * *
Slam!
The table shook as if it would shatter.
Spear King Rio!
His cheeks trembled with rage as he struck the table.
"Not only did Karun die and our navy suffer a crushing defeat at sea, but Drakan went to the North, the North has become swarming with undead, and now Yujin has sent a proposal to mediate a truce?"
"That is correct."
At Rio's words, Kaian, the vice guild master of the Simseong Milky Way Guild, nodded heavily.
"Uaaaaaaaaah!!"
At the fact that this unbelievable reality was real, a shout of rage burst from Rio's lips.
Defeat at sea!
That much was possible.
The original plan was to trade flesh for bone, but Drakan was no ordinary opponent, and their naval forces held a comparative advantage, so defeat was possible.
But Rio did not want to believe everything that had happened since.
Karun dead, Drakan—that bastard who was his target—suddenly heading north was infuriating enough, but now even the undead were causing trouble!
And what? A truce? A mediation proposal?
To Rio, who had rushed here and was now near Mubeophang, this was like a bolt from the blue.
"Really, at this point it's clear the heavens are determined to screw me over."
Rio laughed emptily.
Because there was no way he could be this unlucky.
How could not a single thing go his way!
For the first time in his life, Rio resented a god he had never even believed in.
"What shall we do?"
"About what?"
"The truce negotiations."
"What do you mean, what to do!"
A voice of rage flowed from Rio's lips.
Truce?
Now, when he hadn't even managed to strike a blow, what the hell was there to end?
If he ended the war like this, he was simply finished.
Vice Chairman Sin Jeonghyeok!
Notorious for his pettiness—his heart narrower than a fish's gallbladder—there was no way he would let this failure slide.
He was already in his bad books due to one failure.
If he failed a second time in this situation... what lay beyond was too terrible to even imagine.
Moreover, his towering pride as an Over Ranker could not accept ending everything here.
Drakan.
That bastard had to die.
Furthermore, he had a quest that must be completed.
Conquest of the East!
If he completed just that quest, he could become a 'King.'
But now, to abandon all this and stop the war!
No matter that it was in Yujin's name, this was unacceptable.
Of course, Rio was not acting without calculation.
Yujin!
If he had truly wanted to stop the war, he would have intervened at the time of the declaration, or mobilized Five Eyes' forces to 'enforce' rather than 'propose' something.
But the fact that he had made a 'proposal' meant that, from Yujin's standpoint, he could not force Rio's position.
Of course, it was only a proposal in name; if Rio refused Yujin's proposal, public opinion supporting Yujin would swarm up to attack him.
Ending the war ambiguously like this would surely wound the towering pride of Sin Jeonghyeok, who already felt inferior to Sin Ha-yeon; and Vice Chairman Sin would surely crush him this time—him who had wounded his pride twice.
And to Rio, Sin Jeonghyeok's power, the authority he wielded, was far more terrifying than public opinion.
Having completed all these calculations, Rio spoke coldly to Kaian.
"Tell him to get lost."
A flame of madness blazed in Rio's eyes.