Chapter 74
[I will give you a Lich as a summon.]
The Undead King replied to my words.
A Lich!
In terms of NPCs, it’s a monster with the power of a high-ranking mage and an immortal mage who doesn’t d*e unless the Life Force Vessel is destroyed!
If I could have such a Lich as a summon, well, it was a little disappointing, but it wasn’t impossible to return Levateinn.
‘If he gives me a useful summon, it’s certainly not a bad deal.’
Having judged so far, I took out Levateinn from my inventory.
“Alright. I’ll return it.”
[An excellent decision.]
As soon as I finished speaking, Levateinn floated above my hand!
The blue flame that was in the shape of a sword transformed into a single fireball and then flew towards the Undead King, setting him on fire.
The Undead King, engulfed in blue flames all over his body!
His right hand moved, and then he summoned a crystal ball filled with red liquid and slowly floated it towards me.
[This is the promised reward.]
[You have acquired the item ‘Lich Dice’s Life Force Vessel’.]
Lich Dice’s Life Force Vessel!
Having received the item I wanted, I immediately checked the item information.
[Lich Dice’s Life Force Vessel]
[Grade: Hero]
[Category: Miscellaneous]
[Durability: 10000/10000]
[A crystal ball containing the life force of Lich Dice, who was a great mage in his lifetime.]
[As long as the Life Force Vessel exists, Lich Dice can resurrect within 24 hours even after death.]
[Item Effects]
[Magic Power +100]
[Health +100]
[Dark Attribute Damage +1%]
[Dark Attribute Resistance +10%]
[Summon/Recall Lich Dice: You can summon/recall Lich Dice.]
[This item allows you to summon Lich Dice even when it is stored in your inventory.]
Lich Dice’s Life Force Vessel!
Seeing the effects of the item, I smiled involuntarily.
Not only could I summon a Lich, but it also had the benefit of a considerable stat increase, and most importantly, the message that the item’s effects are applied even when it’s not equipped and stored in the inventory!
A generous item with no downsides had rolled into my hands.
“I’ll make good use of Lich Dice.”
[Yes. As for the remaining reward, you can take one item from my treasure vault. The same applies to your companions.]
Hearing the Undead King’s additional reward, I nodded.
Well, it was as expected, and since the item would be from the Undead King’s treasure vault, it would be at least Hero grade, at most Legendary grade, so there was no real loss to be had.
Just as I thought I had finished speaking and was about to turn around.
[And since you’ve joined the alliance, there’s something I want to tell you.]
The Undead King spoke to me.
“What is it?”
At my question, the Undead King looked at me and spoke again.
[It’s about the Dark Elves.]
▄ ▄ ▄
Dark Elves!
One of the six races mentioned in the Apostle’s Path quest that I had to subjugate!
The clue to them had just flowed from the Undead King’s mouth.
I stopped in my tracks and looked at the Undead King, and he stared back at me, his jawbone clicking.
[In the past, about five years ago in the living’s time, the Dark Elf Kingdom sent an envoy to me.]
“And so?”
[The Dark Elf envoy told me that although the Dark Elf Kingdom had been pursuing a policy of isolation, a serious problem had arisen within the kingdom that they could not solve on their own, so they were asking for help from me, their old ally.]
As soon as the Undead King finished speaking, an image appeared before my eyes.
The now-familiar cinematic cutscene!
I quietly watched the scene.
The scene began in a forest.
Not just any forest, but an endless rainforest!
In the midst of it was the Dark Elf Kingdom.
A city of massive stone buildings gathered together, much like those of the Mayan or Aztec civilizations!
Inside the city, Dark Elves could be seen actively moving around.
At that moment, a huge crack, like glass, began to appear in the air.
Seeing this, the Dark Elves shouted.
“A rift!”
“It’s a special-grade rift! Summon the soldiers!”
A rift!
In the lore of Ard World, after a certain incident called the “Great Cataclysm” that occurred about ten years ago, rifts, along with dungeon gates, had become a common phenomenon seen everywhere in the world.
Simply put, it was a phenomenon where dimensional rifts opened, and monsters poured out from them!
That was called a rift, and in Ard Saga Second, rifts sometimes opened randomly on the field, unleashing waves of monsters.
Anyway, the size of a rift and the magical waves emanating from it could be used to estimate its scale, and the rift that appeared above the Dark Elf city was enormous enough to be considered special-grade.
So it was natural for the Dark Elves to be in a state of emergency.
The moment the Dark Elves in the scene gathered, wielding weapons such as spears, swords, bows, and magic staffs.
The crack in the air widened, and a giant eye blinked open inside it, followed by tentacles protruding out.
‘Tentacles?’
I narrowed my eyes as I watched the scene.
A monster with a large eye and tentacles?
There was no such monster in my knowledge.
Of course, there could be monsters that hadn’t appeared yet, but anyway, while I was searching through the monster database in my head, the scene continued.
The tentacles descended from the rift!
The Dark Elves shot magic and arrows at the tentacles, but not even a scratch appeared on them.
At that moment.
An ominous purple smoke flowed out from the tentacles, and the bodies of the Dark Elves who came into contact with the purple smoke began to warp grotesquely.
Tentacles sprouted on their faces, and their waists bent at unnatural angles. When the transformation of the Dark Elves was complete, what remained there were no longer Dark Elves.
[For the Great One!]
[This world will be cleansed by the Great One!]
[We are one!]
The transformed Dark Elves, uttering unknown words, began to slaughter those who hadn’t yet transformed with the weapons in their hands!
The remaining Dark Elves resisted, but in the end, they were either poisoned by the purple smoke and transformed, or they met their deaths at the hands of the transformed Dark Elves.
A truly horrific scene, like h*ll on earth!
The high-ranking Dark Elf NPCs who were watching this scene began to converse.
“Your Majesty. The enemy’s offensive is severe. We must leave this place now.”
“How can a king abandon the capital!”
“But now, we can no longer withstand the enemy’s offensive. Sadly, those who have transformed are no longer our kin. If you wish to save the remaining kin, Your Majesty must make a decision.”
“I understand.”
At the advice of what appeared to be a subject, the Queen decided to retreat, and the Dark Elves who hadn’t yet transformed began to leave the city like an ebbing tide.
A thick purple mist lingered over the city as the Dark Elves left, and soon tentacles and flesh began to cover the city.
Just at that moment.
[‘Create the ‘Gate’.]
The eye inside the rift in the air spoke for the first time.
[Understood.]
[Your will be done.]
[All according to the will of the Great Providence!]
As the eye spoke, the transformed Dark Elves prostrated themselves and bowed, and finally, the tentacles retracted, the rift closed, and the scene ended.
‘This is not just a simple race quest.’
And I realized as soon as I saw the scene.
Dark Elves!
Whatever the content of the quest related to them, it wouldn’t end with a simple race quest!
‘It must be a quest related to the mastermind behind the Great Cataclysm.’
And I instinctively knew it.
The Great Cataclysm!
The disaster that occurred about ten years before the start of Second, the disaster that turned the entire world upside down!
I thought it must be a quest related to the cause and the mastermind behind that disaster.
‘The Great Providence, the Great One, and the Gate. It’s a typical quest pattern that will clearly lead to summoning the Great One or Providence through an object called the Gate.’
Through the keywords that appeared in the scene, I immediately deduced the ultimate goal of the quest and the mastermind behind it.
The Great Cataclysm!
If the confrontation between the two factions of light and darkness was a classic main story element that had been passed down from the mythical age to the present, the Great Cataclysm was a new main story element created in Ard Saga Second.
Through the Great Cataclysm, Ard World was completely transformed from its previous form, and numerous background settings were added.
From the support of the Transcendent Beings and the contract system on a small scale, to the changes in the continent’s terrain and the concept of ‘dungeons’ on a large scale!
In other words, the cause of all changes lay in the Great Cataclysm, which shook the dimensions and caused otherworldly beings to flow into Ard World. It was such a significant event that even the Pantheon and the Demon Court, who had been fighting for countless years since the mythical age, entered a state of tacit truce, which could be read as a cold war. The mastermind behind the Great Cataclysm was an important plot point.
And today, the clue to that plot point had finally fallen into my hands.
Of course, this one quest wouldn’t completely reveal the mastermind behind the Great Cataclysm, nor would it eliminate all the anomalies caused by the Great Cataclysm.
But at least the fact that I had found a clue that even Eugene hadn’t been able to find made my heart pound with excitement.
While I was conducting numerous analyses and thoughts in a split second.
[A quest has occurred.]
A quest had occurred, and I scanned the contents of the quest that appeared next.
[The Tragedy of the Dark Elf Kingdom]
[Grade: Legendary]
[After the failure of Sion’s plan to rebuild the Dark Empire two thousand years ago, the Dark Elves have lived peacefully in the Great Southern Forest, cutting off contact with the outside world and maintaining a policy of isolation and self-sufficiency.]
[However, the Great Cataclysm did not spare the Dark Elf Kingdom, and Moonlight City, the capital of the Dark Elf Kingdom, was destroyed and contaminated five years ago by unknown enemies that emerged from a large-scale rift.]
[In response, Queen Idun of the Dark Elves broke the principle of the isolation policy that had lasted for two thousand years for the first time and sent an envoy to the Undead King, their old ally, but the Undead King gave a negative answer to the envoy, and the Dark Elf envoy had to return without any results.]
[Five years have passed since then, and you have heard this news from the Undead King.]
[If you want the Dark Elves to join the alliance, it would be best to first contact the Queen and find out what has happened in the past five years.]
[Quest Objective]
[Contact the Dark Elf Queen]
[Will you accept the quest?]
Seeing that the objective was to contact the Queen, there must be more quests after this.
Thinking so, I accepted the quest.
“I accept.”
[Quest accepted.]
After accepting the quest, I turned my gaze towards the Undead King.
“Undead King.”
[Why do you call me, Apostle?]
“I want to find the Dark Elves. Do you have any information you received from the envoy who came five years ago?”
[The envoy said that since Moonlight City was destroyed, they were heading to Night Haven, the kingdom’s second city.]
“Where is this Night Haven?”
Moonlight City!
And Night Haven!
I had never heard of either city.
Well, it was only natural.
Dark Elves!
Since the previous game, there had been many rumors about the existence of such a race, but no user had actually witnessed them.
In such a situation, it was natural that I wouldn’t know about Moonlight City or Night Haven.
[I shall give you a map of the Dark Elf Kingdom.]
The Undead King waved his right hand as before, and a map floated in front of me.
I grabbed the map as it was.
[You have acquired the Dark Elf Kingdom Map.]
I put the acquired map into my inventory and finally asked the Undead King if he could dispatch a Lich and a Death Knight to Lawless Port to act as job instructors. The Undead King readily agreed to my request.
Thus, the meeting with the Undead King came to an end.
