Chapter 162
“D*mn it……”
Royce let out a voice filled with despair.
In his sight, the burning Southwest Port was visible.
He felt like killing his past self from a few hours ago, who believed that he could easily carry out a delaying tactic.
The defensive line, which he thought could hold off a landing with Shin Jeong-hyeok’s support, was instantly destroyed by the unconventional tactic of a flying battleship, and the city had already almost fallen into enemy hands.
[Royce. Is it true that Southwest has fallen?]
Paul’s whisper echoed in his ears.
Royce clenched his teeth.
Looking at the scenery of the city engulfed in flames, he gripped his sword.
It was a difficult reality to accept, but he had to.
The fact that Southwest, the largest port city in the south and a coastal city with the best defense facilities, had already fallen into Drakan’s grasp.
And the fact that he had already been defeated.
A heavy word flowed out of Royce’s mouth.
“I-It’s true.”
[D*mn it!]
Paul’s curse stormed into Royce’s ears.
Royce gritted his teeth as he heard the curses.
Who would have known that battleships could fly in the sky!
Even now, looking at the flying battleship raining down fire from the sky, Royce turned his gaze.
Anyway, his mission had failed.
But he didn’t want to die a glorious death here along with Southwest Port.
This is because, for users, especially those who play games for a living, their characters are no different from their entire fortune.
If he died here, he would have nothing left.
Thinking so, Royce looked at the surviving defeated soldiers and said.
“Retreat, we retreat. Retreat and plan for the future.”
Retreat and plan for the future!
In this current situation, what a sweet phrase that sounds so reasonable and rational!
The moment the defeated soldiers flocked to Royce’s words.
Kwa-gwang!
From afar, a storm of crimson aura flew in and exploded.
“Kyaaak!”
The users caught in the aura explosion screamed.
Seeing that, Royce froze stiff on the spot.
A crimson aura storm.
There was only one user in Ard World who possessed such a skill.
Overlord Drakan.
The nineteenth Over-Ranker and the strongest in the human realm.
It was proof that he had appeared in this place.
The moment Royce’s whole body turned cold seeing that.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
A cold voice came from beyond the burning alleyway.
Along with the cold voice, he appeared, breaking through the flames.
A sharp-looking man wearing black armor and wielding a crimson sword.
Overlord Drakan finally revealed himself.
“You must be Royce.”
Drakan laughed coldly.
Royce.
The commander-in-chief of Southwest Port and a Knight user who had risen to the rank of High-Ranker.
Information about him had already been inputted into Drakan’s head.
Because understanding the opponent’s commander was the most basic part of war.
Drakan immediately reached out his hand and said.
“Dark Chains.”
As soon as Drakan finished speaking, black chains erupted from the ground, binding Royce’s entire body.
Bound by the Dark Chains, Royce struggled and screamed in defiance as he gave the order.
“A-Attack! He’s alone! Attack him!”
But the users did not follow Royce’s order.
There were no users here who didn’t know Drakan’s notoriety, and there were no users who didn’t know that he was a high-level user who possessed the physical capabilities to wipe out everyone here without a scratch if he wanted to.
Therefore, the users could not help but hesitate to point their swords at Drakan.
Drakan laughed as he looked at the enemy users staring at him with fear in their eyes.
That gaze directed at him in the previous game had finally been resurrected here and now.
Drakan raised the Iron Blood Executor.
The crimson greatsword, a symbol of the Steel Monarch’s authority, was overflowing with Drakan’s trademark crimson aura.
“Get out of the way. I’m not interested in small fry like you.”
At Drakan’s words, the defeated soldiers parted like the parting of the Red Sea.
They couldn’t trust his words, but they didn’t want to die.
At the end of the path was Royce, bound by the Dark Chains.
Thud.
Drakan’s footsteps echoed like thunder in Royce’s ears.
“D-Don’t come closer. D-Don’t come closer, I said!”
Royce screamed and struggled, but he couldn’t escape Drakan’s binding skill.
Dark Chains.
The contract skill that Drakan had received directly from the Dark God was not a CC skill that could be easily released.
Drakan’s appearance, walking like a grim reaper with a sneer, was truly the embodiment of fear on the battlefield.
“I-I surrender! I-I’ll do it! Surrender!”
Royce eventually uttered the word surrender.
It was a word that flowed from a seemingly rational judgment that his character, his entire fortune, had to survive to plan for the future.
At the word surrender, the corners of Drakan’s mouth rose.
The moment Royce saw that and felt a glimmer of hope.
“Your surrender is worthless.”
Drakan said this in a nonchalant voice.
At those words, the hope disappeared from Royce’s eyes.
And with that, Drakan mercilessly swung the Iron Blood Executor, and soon after, Royce met his death on the spot and was forcibly logged out.
[You have defeated Royce, the branch manager of the Simseong Iron Stars Guild’s Southwest branch.]
Along with that, a short notification window announcing Royce’s death appeared in Drakan’s view.
Southwest Port had finally fallen completely into Drakan’s hands.
Drakan looted the items Royce left behind and looked around.
The remaining users were staring at him.
“W-Will you, will you spare us?”
One of them mustered the courage to ask.
Drakan laughed at the question.
“I told you. I’m not interested in small fry like you.”
The moment the users were relieved by Drakan’s words, he added.
“But whether our allied users will be uninterested in you, well, I’m not so sure.”
The moment Drakan finished speaking, users of the Dark Alliance emerged from the alleyways.
“For the Alliance!”
“Long live Drakan-nim!”
“L-Look, there’s an enemy!”
“Kill them!”
Intoxicated by the fervor of victory, the users of the Dark Alliance immediately rushed towards the enemy, and soon screams echoed through the burning alleyways.
Hearing the screams, Drakan plunged the Iron Blood Executor into the ground and immediately sent a whisper to Ignis.
[I’ve captured Southwest Port. Ignis. The enemy’s main force is all heading towards Southwest Port where I am now. This is our chance.]
Drakan.
His cold voice lingered in the ears of Ignis, who was waiting in the Great Forest.
Hearing Drakan’s whisper, Ignis closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them.
“Is it finally my turn?”
[Yes. Vice Chairman Shin Jeong-hyeok foolishly brought all his main forces to attack me. By now, their rear must be completely empty as I predicted. This is the perfect opportunity to stab them in their soft underbelly.]
A deep smile appeared on Ignis’s lips as he listened to Drakan’s words.
Finally, the time had come for his second army, which he had been waiting for, to take action.
“Understood. I will carry out Drakan-nim’s orders.”
Ignis said so and ended the whisper.
“Did the Overlord give the order?”
Just then.
The space next to him distorted, and a witch with flowing purple hair and a black pointed hat suddenly appeared.
The Witch Circe.
The last loyal follower who had served Drakan since the previous game, and now an NPC freed from the shackles of the Forest of Monsters with a Hive Mind Heart Fragment, had appeared.
“Yes.”
Ignis said, looking at the NPC in front of him.
The Witch Circe.
Ignis didn’t know the full extent of her strength, but it was clear that she was at least at the level of an Over-Ranker, and even just her ability to control the monsters in the Forest of Monsters like her own limbs was a significant addition to their forces.
Circe asked Ignis again.
“What are the orders?”
“Attack.”
A small smile finally appeared on Circe’s lips upon hearing Ignis’s answer.
“The day has finally come for this humble servant to be of use to the Overlord.”
A loyalty bordering on madness glimmered in Circe’s eyes as she said so.
Looking at Circe, Ignis gave the order to the waiting second army users and NPCs.
“Advance.”
Ignis’s order was immediately relayed to the entire second army through whispers, and soon the entire second army began to advance beyond the borders of the Great Forest towards the south.
The second army, composed of orcs, undead, humans, and monsters, truly resembled an army of evil that would only appear in legends.
And at the forefront was the Flame King Ignis, engulfed in flames.
The Dark Alliance’s second army, which began its advance in this way, easily captured the southern border fortress, which had become an empty shell after its main forces had left, and began to advance towards the southern inland, breaking through the poorly defended rear with unstoppable momentum.
And all this information was being relayed to the Southern Army’s command, heading towards Southwest, and to Shin Jeong-hyeok, who stood at its apex.
Southern Army Camp.
Within the massive barracks used as the command center, shouts of rage were currently erupting.
It was Shin Jeong-hyeok’s voice.
“What? Southwest was breached in a single day? What the h*ll are you all doing!”
Shin Jeong-hyeok.
The first shocking news he received was the shocking fact that Southwest had been breached by Drakan’s attack in just one day.
Next to Shin Jeong-hyeok, the Assassination King Layla chimed in.
“That’s what I’m saying. Southwest was being guarded by Paul’s subordinate, Royce, but I never thought it would be breached so easily.”
The Assassination King Layla’s gaze shifted towards the Axe King Paul.
For her, the crushing defeat of the Southwest battle was a golden opportunity.
A golden opportunity to defeat Paul and rise as the sole Guild Master of the Simseong Iron Stars Guild.
After all, the misfortune of a competitor is often one’s own happiness, and Layla was putting pressure on Paul, determined not to miss this opportunity.
And Paul, the target of that pressure, was practically going crazy.
The defenses of Southwest Port were certainly not lacking.
“T-That’s because, Boss, they brought a flying battleship or something…… I mean, common sense dictates that a ship can’t fly in the sky, right?”
Silence fell upon the barracks at Paul’s words.
His words made sense.
A battleship flying in the sky was something that couldn’t be understood even with the common sense of Ard World.
Until Drakan introduced the flying battleship, that is.
“Still, isn’t it a bit too much for it to be breached in a single day?”
However, Layla didn’t stop the pressure.
Regardless of the flying battleship, wasn’t it too much for the entire defense line to collapse in a single day? It was a perfectly valid and reasonable criticism.
Therefore, Paul had nothing much to say this time.
Even Paul himself thought that, honestly, being breached in a single day was too much.
And as Shin Jeong-hyeok’s insides burned at the sight,
[Vice Chairman Shin!]
A whisper reached Shin Jeong-hyeok’s ears.
An informant of the Simseong Iron Stars immediately sent him a whisper.
Realizing this, Shin Jeong-hyeok immediately asked back.
“What is it?”
[Urgent report!]
“Urgent report?”
Shin Jeong-hyeok’s eyebrows twitched at the words “urgent report,” and soon even more shocking news reached his ears.
[Ignis, Ignis has emerged from the Great Forest with a large army, breached the border, and is currently advancing into the southern inland! With only the rear forces, it’s impossible to s-stop them!]
The moment he heard that shocking news.
A roar of rage erupted from Shin Jeong-hyeok’s mouth.