◈ Episode 474. Sovereign? Something More (1)
System messages were output across the entire radius where the Dragon Fear reverberated. Meaning it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say virtually every player on the Arcana Continent learned of it.
“Dragon Lord Black Abyss Dragon I Hoyeol……?”
“What the heck, I Hoyeol’s class was Dragon Lord?!”
“Class? Then is Black Abyss Dragon just some kind of modifier?”
“Class or whatever, I don’t really know, but it’s insane, right? Whether he became a Dragon Lord or a Black Abyss Dragon, it feels like a different dimension from a Dragon Knight? Skal, isn’t that so pitiful for him?”
“More importantly, did everyone see that?! Him flying into the sky just now!!”
Three dragons.
And the spectacle of a single Black Abyss Dragon, larger than those three dragons combined, traversing the skies above the Arcana Continent. Some had even recorded it.
When they touched the play button, dragons moved vividly on the screen.
“Man, it was filmed well but… It’s such a waste that this is the Arcana Continent. If it were reality, we could’ve shown this amazing sight to the world through a live broadcast.”
“We can just upload it to NetTube when we get back.”
“Right. Even if it’s not live, it’ll get a ton of views, won’t it?”
See, there was no need to package the video’s title extravagantly.
Just the simple message that had come to mind. “Dragon Lord Black Abyss Dragon I Hoyeol” would be enough.
“Well, something like this needs to be known by everyone in the world!” Even such a shocking conversation by “someone” was brief.
“Excuse me, it looks like the meeting is over?”
Finally, the officers of the Holy War Allied Forces emerged from the temporary headquarters. As expected, the thunderous Dragon Fear must have been a source of strength for them too.
“Their expressions are different from when they went in.”
“Of course! The Supreme Commander has joined us, hasn’t he?”
“Right? Just his presence alone makes me feel incredibly secure.”
The Daybreak Set effect.
The morale that had reached its maximum value had been taking effect for a while now.
But he couldn’t rest easy.
Even if others hadn’t noticed.
‘……Nam Taemin, you mustn’t let your guard down.’ Nam Taemin, who had been making this resolution to himself, whispered softly.
“Hyung.”
“Hmm?”
“The Supreme Commander. Ho-yeol, he wasn’t any different from usual, right?”
What’s this guy suddenly talking about?
“Well, yeah? Though honestly, I’m still not used to the long hair.”
Nam Cheolmin let out a heh-heh laugh.
Literally.
Other than his long, flowing hair, Ho-yeol hadn’t changed.
Nam Taemin nodded at the words of his older brother, whom he trusted more than anyone.
“Yeah. If hyung says so, then it must be so.”……
But.
Then whose was the alien scent I picked up that day? The Supreme Commander, Ho-yeol, said it was simply because he wasn’t used to a newly acquired skill. ‘Could it really be the influence of a simple skill? If so.’ Grandfell Claudi…….
The rest is omitted.
What could that long name possibly mean?
Barbarian.
Was it the influence of a simple, ignorant class?
If not that, then was it because of his bloodline?
“Something’s bothering you, huh?”
Nam Cheolmin could read the worry on his younger brother’s stiff face.
Of course, he didn’t ask in detail.
If it were something he could share, Tae-min.
You would’ve brought it up first.
Nam Cheolmin shrugged his shoulders.
“Guess I need to work even harder?”
“……Suddenly? You? Doing what?”
“What else?”
Therefore, the only thing Nam Cheolmin could do for his younger brother.
Was to offer the next best alternative as an analyst.
Nam Cheolmin took out his tablet and checked the plan again.
“Think about it carefully, Taemin. Unlike usual when Demon Kings or great evils were running rampant, the goal of this battle is simple, right? If we succeed in the Calamity Beast Raid, that’s the end of it.”
Nam Taemin immediately understood his meaning.
“If it ends, then after that, as expected……?”
“Yeah, we’ll be free to do whatever, won’t we?”
“If need be, we can go support another side?”
“Of course, if you’re confident you won’t be a burden.”
“That’s a given!”
Those who cut into the brothers’ conversation were.
The remaining two pillars of the great alliance.
Hisagi and Leonie.
“We’ll have to work hard too, Miss Leonie.”
“At what?”
“We can’t fall behind Taemin, who’s running ahead alone, so we’ll have to somehow break the shell in this Calamity Beast Raid. Let’s knock on the door of Wonder together.”
“……What is this guy saying?”
Leonie was momentarily dumbfounded.
Before long, the Holy War Allied Forces dispersed to their positions.
Without underestimating the weight of Ho-yeol, who alone shouldered one axis of the continent.
However, including Nam Taemin.
Not a single person in the Holy War Allied Forces.
Could advance south of Antonyum, where Ho-yeol was.
A field of view stretching thousands of li.
Players who were serving as scouts.
They spotted at the edge of the horizon the Calamity Beast.
No, the Calamity “Beasts.”
“Wait. Those bastards, something’s weird!!”
Because the threat of a multi-boss raid was looming.
*AAU Korea Branch.
It was unfortunate, but.
Reality and the Arcana Continent were completely different worlds.
They couldn’t exchange information and news in real-time.
Seong Hyeonjun muttered softly.
“If it were General Manager Yusra, it would be possible, but…….”
He was the General Manager who could open a portal and travel between reality and the Arcana Continent by himself. Exchanging stories in real-time would be as easy as lying down and eating rice cakes for him.
“But he won’t have the time for that.”
Yusra General Manager and player, I Hoyeol.
He would have every right to boast of his achievements and act arrogant at least once.
Ever since he fully revealed himself.
Wasn’t he someone who never lost his original intention even once?
Yun Sugyeom replied.
“If he were greedy for achievements, above all else, he would’ve changed his player ranking information to public first? There’s no more intuitive way to prove one’s strength than rankings.”
“Well, that’s true.”
“After all, he’s someone who considers levels to be mere numbers. Alright, enough about the General Manager who must be struggling right now…… So, what does everyone think?”
The conference room.
The two weren’t slacking off as usual.
An emergency update.
And one involving Calamity Beasts, a situation where they could finally earn their keep.
In the eyes of the AAU members, vitality circulated more than fatigue.
Wasn’t that only natural?
Yun Sugyeom smirked.
“Hyeonjun, you’ve changed since you got a taste of the Magic Tower life, huh?”
AAU was a group that had strangely been treated like a white elephant.
In truth, they couldn’t voice complaints about that.
Because it was true.
However.
“Is it showing, sunbae?”
“Yeah, your eyes are completely blazing.”
“I was treated like an esteemed guest at the Magic Tower, so I have to work hard!”
Ever since Ho-yeol took office as General Manager Yusra.
And AAU was incorporated into the Holy War Allied Forces.
The negative evaluations of the past gradually began to subside.
“Right, we have to do something too!”
“The players are fighting desperate battles four times busier than us, aren’t they? We want to help them somehow. They let us, who had nowhere to go, onto the same boat.”
“Exactly. Now is better than leaving right on the dot!”
“……Hyeonjun, even so, that’s a bit much.”
Yun Sugyeom couldn’t agree with Seong Hyeonjun’s last remark either.
But that didn’t mean they weren’t pouring in their all.
Perhaps thanks to that, the meeting yielded productive results.
“As you know, boss monsters are on a different level. Even if they’re the same level as normal monsters, their HP is on a completely different dimension. Of course. They’re things that require dozens or hundreds of players of similar levels to hunt.”
“Right. The effects that accompany them are considerable too.”
“Yeah, they basically change the field.”
Then it was natural for one concern to follow.
“Minimum level 1,000. Well, if it’s just one, tens of thousands might somehow charge in and offset the level difference. There’s no beating numbers. But if there’s more than one……?”
Yun Sugyeom answered heavily.
“They might cause a crash.”
They were once developers of Arcana Continent Chronicles.
It was an idea only AAU employees could come up with.
Seong Hyeonjun stammered.
“R-right? Having more than one boss monster appear in a single field was taboo even back in the Continent Chronicles days. Because we don’t know what results would occur if the boss monsters’ influences collide!”
Seong Hyeonjun sought agreement earnestly.
“So wouldn’t that setting remain faintly? A feeling like the Calamity Beasts acknowledging each other as too strong and avoiding each other on their own……?”
It might be correct.
“If he hadn’t been in the update notes, that is.”
“He?”
“The Sovereign of Calamity Beasts, Oxidin.”
Seong Hyeonjun’s speculation was sharp.
Boss monsters might possess an instinct to avoid each other.
But what if they were moving according to an irresistible command?
Yun Sugyeom opened his lips ominously.
“Perhaps… the taboo that had persisted since the Arcana Continent Chronicles days has already been broken. What results that might bring is something no one can guess.”
*Southern Antonyum.
[Achievement: King of All Things, Mounting a Dragon]
[Effect: Proficiency in all mounts increases to maximum]
[Duration: Permanent]
I stood tall atop the Black Abyss Dragon’s head and looked around.
Behind me was the gaping maw of Behemoth, still open menacingly. Before me were Calamity Beasts gradually revealing themselves. And finally, beside me.
“*Growl*.”
There were dragons that hadn’t yet escaped the influence of evil……!
Truly chilling.
If it were just one, I could somehow pretend to be unfazed.
But there were three of them.
‘……To be blunt, if they rushed me, I don’t have the confidence I could handle them?’
So my gaze naturally shifted.
‘Black Abyss Dragon. How did you do that?’
To the Black Abyss Dragon, my materialized legend.
I had conceded the throne of the Dragon Lord to you, my avatar, but.
Honestly, I didn’t have high expectations. ‘Because the legend of my Black Abyss Dragon had so much empty hype to begin with.’
But the power of a legend changes purely based on how widely it reverberates……. Thanks to that, the Black Abyss Dragon seemed capable of fully wielding the Dragon Lord’s abilities.
Of course.
“Do not weep sorrowfully, my kin.”
The Black Abyss Dragon’s chatter was as grandiose as befitting my avatar.
“The earth does not yet desire rain.”
……Right, when dragons weep, rain does fall.
They seemed to be crying in a different sense, though.
Anyway, amazing, Black Abyss Dragon.
‘So it’s not a Hidden Class for nothing.’
King of All Things.
The power to make dragons follow, even dragons not in their right minds due to evil.
Even if all three are hatchlings, it’s an incredible ability.
This was exactly why I declared I would handle the southern Calamity Beasts alone.
A flickering vision.
[The Calamity Beast ‘Turtle of Myriad Weight’ has appeared on the Arcana Continent.]
[The Calamity Beast ‘Wooden Horse of Agony’ has appeared on the Arcana Continent.]
[The Calamity Beast ‘Viper of the Sea Sunrise’ has appeared on the Arcana Continent.]
Calamity Beasts revealing themselves.
Each of them was larger than an average mountain at the back.
The sight of such huge things advancing amicably together felt alien.
But that was surely the [『Wonder』] of Oxidin, who had been reborn as a Tyrant.
The very reason I stepped out alone was.
To smash that arrogant Oxidin’s Wonder head-on.
I opened my lips.
“Is it not laughable?”
To the point that I was glad no one was listening.
“Unable to earn anyone’s respect. The sight of proclaiming oneself the monarch of beasts. But even that is incomparably crude.”
To the degree that had someone been listening, it would spark a controversy over my personality.
You hurl harsh words without hesitation, Grandfell.
But this time, you did well.
‘I had to go this far.’
The reason Oxidin and the Calamity Beasts began rampaging?
It was to turn all players of Arcana Continent Chronicles into enemies as the new mastermind of the Arcana Continent. That must be the direction of the update that Raymond Sean wants.
So I had to smash it to pieces. ‘So that bastard can never harbor foolish thoughts again.’
Raymond Sean is already no different from a demon.
Naturally, there is no mercy.
And there’s no need to mention the intensity of the execution either.
‘So, who the hell are you calling Calamity Beasts?’
Kraaaaah—!
The ferocious Dragon Fear echoing across the continent.
Before the dragons, kings of all things who had lost their reason.
Did things like an oversized turtle, horse, and snake.
Think they had the right to call themselves Calamity Beasts?
‘And what was that?’
Hidden Class, Tyrant?
I don’t know what abilities it possesses.
Whatever it is, can it surpass Dragon Lord, a Hidden Class?
‘Our class-change difficulty is on a whole different dimension from the start.’
And finally.
Oxidin, if you’ve just now stepped into the realm of Wonder.
I’m already called the 『Grandmaster of Wonder』.
“Keep your silence.”
So even if it’s disappointing.
Don’t think of begging me for teachings, Oxidin.
There is no seat for you in my lecture hall.
Yes, what begins from this moment is not discipline for you.
“Keep this in mind.”
The three dragons with their mouths closed.
Toward those young hatchlings.
I recited as if teaching them.
“Correct your posture and bear witness.”
To the young dragons, truly…….
“This is precisely the bearing of a king who looks down upon all things.”
You certainly are instilling good taste in them, Grandfell……!