The Final Boss Has Returned
Episode 92
Lawless Port Granado!
After Drakan's reinforcements departed for the east, the Northern Alliance Army's offensive grew even fiercer.
BOOM! CRASH!
The fortress cannons mounted atop the Black Wall spewed fire.
Shells flew over the heads of the Northern Alliance soldiers swarming like black ants, exploding as they struck the ground, yet the alliance forces continued charging toward the Black Wall.
“Rapid Growth.”
“Blessing of Nature.”
“Root Summon.”
As the Druids behind those soldiers chanted spells, the earth shook and thick roots surged forth, spanning the wall.
Tree roots that sprouted in an instant!
Climbing up those roots, the alliance forces assaulted the wall.
“Stop them!”
Seeing that scene, Ignis's voice echoed across the top of the wall. The members of JDG and its allied guilds atop the wall, along with the users gathered to defend Lawless Port, unleashed their skills and killed the soldiers climbing up.
BOOM! CRASH!
The fortress cannons continued to spew fire.
The Lawless Port siege had dragged on for over twenty days in game time!
No matter how much their supplies continued, the endless waves of enemies, combined with Rio's order for an all-out offensive upon realizing the existence of reinforcements, were gradually reversing the tide of battle.
Rio gazed at the wall, which was gradually falling, and spoke.
“Master Druid.”
“Speak, Great Warrior of the North.”
“The time has come. Please destroy the gate.”
“It shall be done.”
At Rio's words, the old man draped in reindeer hide—Master Druid—stepped forward.
Behind him, countless Druids followed the Master Druid's lead and stepped forward!
Lawless Port's gate had already lost much of its defense due to the prolonged siege.
Just one blow!
A single, powerful blow was needed.
The moment the long chant flowing from Master Druid's lips ended.
“Wrath of the World Tree.”
A massive tree erupted from the earth and struck the gate directly.
KWA-BOOM!
The earth shook and a thunderous roar echoed.
Along with it, Lawless Port's gate, which had held out for so long, finally collapsed.
“Attack! All-out attack! Seize Lawless Port!”
The moment they saw that, at Rio's command, the Northern Alliance Army flooded through the breached gate.
Ignis saw that scene and wildly fired off skills to stop the alliance army's advance, but it wasn't enough.
‘Damn it!’
Just when Ignis's towering pride was about to crack.
A massive shadow was cast over the fierce battlefield.
“What?”
“W-what is that?”
Users looked up at the sky at the shadow that suddenly covered their heads, and there was a massive dragon made of bone.
Bone Dragon!
One of the strongest undead in the Immortal King's possession!
He had appeared on the battlefield.
[Kyaaaaaaaaaaah!!]
The Bone Dragon's roar echoed across the entire battlefield!
Notification windows rose before the eyes of the entire alliance army stricken by the Dragon Fear contained within.
[You have been hit by the Bone Dragon's Dragon Fear.]
[All stats temporarily decrease by 5%.]
Some merely suffered stat decreases, while low-level soldiers in some cases even suffered status ailments like stun or immobilization on the spot, but that wasn't what mattered.
“T-they're coming. I-it's them!”
A green wave surging from afar!
That spectacle, as if a forest itself were charging, was actually the orcs of the Skyceiling Mountain Range surging endlessly.
Orcs with heads one or two sizes larger than humans and bodies twice as large, charging atop ferocious wolves—it was truly no different from a scene in a horror movie.
“Brothers! A glorious battle awaits us! Let us wet our throats with the blood of these human scum!”
And at the words of Orc Great Chieftain Botan, who stood at their vanguard, the orcs let out war cries.
And that wasn't all.
Undead appearing from the south!
The simultaneous appearance of the two reinforcements, radiating eerie auras, spread shock throughout the Northern Alliance Army.
Rio laughed hollowly at the sight.
Drakan!
He had intended to capture Lawless Port before Drakan arrived and entrench themselves inside!
But in the end, Drakan's reinforcements had arrived.
[We've arrived.]
A cold voice reached Ignis's ears from where he was burning the Northern Alliance Army atop the wall.
It was Drakan's voice.
[Lead the troops out. From now on, we take Rio's head.]
“Understood.”
A smile spread across Ignis's lips.
The time for counterattack had finally come.
* * *
The plains before Lawless Port.
Drakan's reinforcement army that had returned leading great forces, the Lawless Port defense forces, and the Northern Alliance Army clashed with one another.
On the battlefield where spears and blades flew chaotically, skills ran rampant, and permanent character death had become common, Drakan and JDG had undoubtedly seized the initiative.
From the moment they failed to capture Lawless Port before Drakan arrived, Rio and the Northern Alliance's defeat was already a foregone conclusion.
“Hahahahahahaha! The screams of humans delight me!”
Orc Great Chieftain Botan, wielding a glaive and indiscriminately slaughtering humans!
Countless orcs following Botan cut down humans like scythed rotten straw.
Behind them, buffs from orc shamans fell upon the orc warriors, and curses descended upon the enemies.
[Kyaaaaaaah!]
The same was true in the air where the tide of battle was turning.
The Northern Alliance Army's Wyvern Riders were also being unilaterally pushed back by JDG's Wyvern Riders, led by the Bone Dragon.
The Northern Alliance soldiers evaporating whole under the breath the Bone Dragon poured onto the ground alongside its shriek was truly nothing short of a nightmare.
It wasn't just orcs.
Undead, Dark Elves, and finally Vampires too!
With Drakan's total reinforcements joining together with JDG and Lawless Port's forces who had been on the defensive until now, the war situation was completely overturned.
At this point, it was no exaggeration to call this not war, but EXP farming!
Rio clenched his teeth as he watched the Northern Alliance soldiers dying meaninglessly.
‘I've failed.’
Rio accepted the current reality with his reason.
His grand plan to get revenge on Drakan, restore Vice Chairman Shin Jeong-hyuk's trust, and further swallow the entire East with Lawless Port as his base to become the king of a kingdom encompassing both North and East had ended in failure.
If things continued like this, he would undoubtedly be recorded as the second Over Ranker after Black King Karun to meet a 'permanent death,' and he would lose all the fame he had built up until now.
But while his head understood this fact, his heart refused to accept it.
‘I can't be the only one to die.’
Rio's eyes burned with vengefulness.
After all, even a ruined ship still has its keel—Rio was already a super-class powerhouse who had risen to the position of Over Ranker!
Though this was a war that was already as good as lost, Rio possessed the skill to drag at least one person down with him into the abyss of character deletion.
‘Drakan! Even if I die, I'll die with you!’
Grind.
Rio gnashed his teeth.
Drakan!
If it hadn't been for him, Rio would never have ended up in this situation.
Not content with suddenly interfering with his quest, Drakan had driven him to this current situation—Rio could never forgive him.
He intended to grab Drakan's ankle even in death.
“Kuaack!”
As Rio swung his spear, a soldier screamed.
‘Drakan, where are you?’
Rio stabbed and swung his spear like a madman, searching for Drakan.
At that moment, a rough-looking man wearing black armor and wielding a dark-red sword, smiling, entered Rio's field of vision.
Drakan!
He had finally found his target.
“Divine Spear Flash!”
Having found Drakan, Rio stomped on the ground and used his ultimate skill.
Divine Spear Flash!
When his ultimate skill endowed with extreme speed manifested, aura whirled and condensed on Rio's spear blade, and Rio, holding the spear with immense condensed aura, leaped toward Drakan's chest as if taking flight.
A smile spread across Rio's lips.
The fact that he could kill the one who had driven him to this state made Rio's heart pound.
If he could kill that bastard, he would have no regrets even in defeat!
At that moment.
Rio and Drakan's eyes met.
Smirk.
A smile curled at Drakan's lips.
And from Drakan's shadow, a figure rose up.
“Shadow Rampage.”
Dark Elf Queen Idun!
She was an NPC with Over Ranker-level strength like Rio, and she had been hiding in Drakan's shadow using Stealth from the very beginning.
Black aura reminiscent of shadows flared from the daggers in both of Idun's hands, and soon countless blades of shadow rose and collided with Rio's whirling spear blade, causing an explosion.
KWAA-BOOM!
A thunderous roar that shook heaven and earth!
The critical strike Rio had unleashed was neutralized by Idun's Shadow Rampage, and seeing that scene, the smile on Drakan's lips deepened.
“It's been a while. Rio.”
“Dra-kaaan!!”
A roar burst from Rio's mouth.
The fact that he had missed the perfect opportunity to kill Drakan made rage boil up inside Rio.
“Rio took the bait. Come finish him.”
Drakan sent a whisper to Ignis, loud enough for Rio to hear. The enraged Rio swung his spear but was blocked by Idun's twin blades.
Clang! Clang!
The moment sparks flew as Idun's twin blades clashed with Rio's spear, a rift opened in the air near Drakan and someone appeared.
They were Black Warlock Khalid, who had opened the rift, and Flame King Ignis, with flames wrapped around both hands.
With this, the Over Ranker-level forces joining Drakan's side numbered three!
“We greet the Apostle.”
The moment Rio counted them up.
A bat flying down from the sky before Drakan transformed directly into human form.
A handsome man with a pale face!
It was Vampire King Nosferatu.
With this, the number of super-class powerhouses joining Drakan's side was four!
Meanwhile, he was alone now.
Of course, considering the entire Northern Alliance, there were the Great Chieftain of the Northern Tribal Alliance and the Master Druid, but they were already fighting against comparable strong warriors—Orc Great Chieftain Botan and Merfolk King Nereus—so they couldn't come to help him.
A hollow laugh flowed from Rio's lips.
Black King Karun.
He had already seen footage of Karun meeting his death.
Though the circumstances were different, he too had fought an outnumbered battle against three strong warriors of the same level and eventually died.
The miserable fate of a pathetic death, unable to even touch a hair on Drakan's head despite having him right before his eyes, had finally come for him.
He wanted to deny it.
But he couldn't deny it.
Rio gripped his spear tightly.
In his field of vision were Flame King Ignis, Black Warlock Khalid, Dark Elf Queen Idun, and Vampire King Nosferatu.
Despair settled in Rio's eyes.
Drakan looked at Rio and spoke.
“I'm different from Eugene. So I won't show mercy a second time.”
Sparing Rio once during the Undead Quest had been enough.
Letting him live yet again would truly be no different from being a pushover, and Drakan was no pushover like Eugene, so he had no intention of leaving behind future troubles.
Thinking so, Drakan spoke coldly.
“Kill him.”
The four strong warriors, having received Drakan's order, raised their power.
Watching them, Rio gripped his spear firmly again.
He had no chance of winning.
Rio knew that fact well, but even so, he didn't want to meet his death helplessly like this.
He wanted to die putting up at least a final struggle.
Thinking so, Rio vented the pent-up rage boiling from the depths of his heart.
“Uaaaaaaaaah!!!”
And it did not take very long for Rio's final struggle to come to an end.