The Final Boss Has Returned 130

Chapter 130

“Finding Voltaha Castle, which has disappeared into the sky, that is what I dare to ask of you, my Lord.”

[A quest has occurred.]

[Floating Castle Voltaha]

[Rank: Legendary]

-Voltaha Castle is a historical place that was with the Steel Monarch from the beginning to the end of his legend. Steel Monarch Drakan made his name known throughout the world by usurping the throne of the Saxon Kingdom in Voltaha Castle. When he unified the entire world, it was the center of the world, and Drakan also met his end in Voltaha Castle.

Thus, your Voltaha Castle, steeped in your blood and sweat, was not only ruined by the Great Cataclysm, but also flew up into the sky. Now, reclaim Voltaha Castle, which has become a floating castle where monsters roam.

It’s time to return to the starting point of the legend of the Steel Monarch.

[Quest cannot be refused.]

[You have accepted the quest.]

As expected, the Legacy Quest could not be refused.

I frowned as I read the quest details.

‘A floating castle?’

A floating castle!

It wasn’t common in fantasy works, but it was a cliché that often appeared.

Since a land floating in the sky was a non-existent entity in reality, it was an element that could well express ‘fantasy.’

However, it was a story that had never appeared in Ard World.

A floating castle, which had never been described in the numerous legends handed down in Ard World, would appear here.

But the problem wasn’t the floating castle.

How on earth would one find a castle floating in the sky?

If it were on the ground, there would be at least a possibility, but searching the entire vast sky was close to impossible in this world without satellites.

“How do I find it?”

The first principle of quest strategy.

It was to get clues from the NPC who gave the quest.

I followed that principle and asked Circe a question, and she answered me politely.

“I’ve already prepared a guide, so please don’t worry, my Lord.”

Saying that, she took something out of the air and placed it on the table.

It was a small piece of stone contained in a transparent crystal ball filled with water, and the piece of stone was floating inside the crystal ball, pointing towards the ceiling.

I checked the information of the item Circe had presented.

[Sky Guide]

[Rank: Mythical]

[Category: Other]

[Durability: 1000/1000]

[An item created by the witch Circe by directly imbuing magic into a piece of wall brick from Voltaha Castle.]

[It always points to the location of Voltaha Castle.]

An extremely simple item description!

However, this item was the key item that would be the key to solving this quest.

Along with that, a question came to my mind.

‘They give me the key item this easily?’

I opened the quest window and checked the rank again.

The word written on the quest rank window was ‘Legendary.’

And in Legendary difficulty quests, it was almost unheard of for an NPC to hand over a key item like this immediately.

It was no exaggeration to say that in almost 99.9% of cases, there was a prerequisite quest attached that would make you run dungeons repeatedly just to create the key item, or to obtain rare materials.

But they give me the key item right away?

There was only one case like this.

They would tell me where the floating castle is, but getting there wouldn’t be easy!

‘Since Floating Castle Voltaha is a floating castle, it would naturally be in the sky.’

I recalled the obvious fact once again.

Floating Castle Voltaha is floating in the sky.

However, Ard World wasn’t a world where satellites or spaceships existed, but rather a fantasy world based on the fantasy we all know well.

Therefore, there were limits to the means of flying in the sky.

Of course, the sky wasn’t completely off-limits thanks to the Wyvern Riders, but both flight magic and Wyverns had limitations in their flyable altitude.

In other words, it meant that there was a high probability that Floating Castle Voltaha was located at an altitude much higher than the flyable altitude.

‘But that doesn’t matter to me.’

However, it didn’t matter to me.

Because I could mobilize Bone Dragons.

Even if the floating castle was at an altitude unreachable by Wyverns or flight magic, Bone Dragons could reach it.

However, apart from the possibility, whether it was easy to access the floating castle was another matter.

Couldn’t there be flocks of flying monsters flying around near the floating castle?

In the current situation, where it was unknown what dangers lurked near the floating castle, it was too risky to gamble with only Bone Dragons.

“What I’ve prepared isn’t just a guide.”

Circe’s words reached my ears.

She took something else out of the air and placed it next to the guide.

It was a blueprint depicting something resembling a huge ship.

[Ancient Airship Blueprint]

[Rank: Legendary]

[Category: Blueprint]

[Durability: 100/100]

[A legacy left by the ancient magic civilization, it depicts the design of a giant ship that can fly in the sky using magical power.]

It was an airship.

And as soon as I saw the blueprint, I realized the true purpose of this quest.

‘It’s telling me to pour in a tremendous amount of money.’

It was gold!

The cost of building an airship was sure to be astronomical.

To a level befitting the ‘Legendary’ rank of the quest.

But it was also the easiest solution for me.

So I smiled and put the guide and blueprint into my inventory.

“Thank you for preparing so thoroughly.”

“You’re welcome. This much preparation is only natural for you, my Lord.”

Circe bowed politely after receiving my thanks, and I said to her,

“Will you be joining me on this expedition to the floating castle?”

Circe.

She was a considerable powerhouse even in the previous game.

But now, according to the setting, over a thousand years had passed.

I had no idea how much stronger she had become in those thousand years.

She might have become at least an Over-Ranker, or even as strong as the Undead King.

If she, such a powerful being, joined the quest, conquering the quest would be as good as guaranteed.

“My heart aches to join you on the battlefield, my Lord, but unfortunately, I cannot do so now. The reason I was able to live for a thousand years is because I assimilated my life with the ley lines flowing through this land, and therefore, I cannot leave this land.”

After hearing her explanation, I was silent for a moment.

I had expected one of two possibilities.

Either she was a moderately strong person who could assist me by my side, or she had become too strong and couldn’t join me for some reason.

Unfortunately, it seemed she was the latter.

“I apologize, my Lord.”

Her apology reached my ears.

Circe bowed her head deeply, her face clearly filled with sincere regret.

I looked at her and smiled faintly.

It was because the image of Circe from the previous game overlapped with her current appearance.

“No, you don’t need to apologize. I know your loyalty well.”

Loyalty points don’t lie.

Therefore, I sometimes trusted NPCs more than users.

After hearing my words, Circe looked dazed for a moment, then smiled faintly.

“Thank you for recognizing my loyalty, my Lord. I will strive to be your first loyal subject, always.”

After hearing her words, I said I understood and rose from my seat.

Now it was time to move on to the next quest.

▄ ▄ ▄

Airship!

As Drakan expected, recreating the legacy of the magical civilization required an astronomical amount of gold.

Specifically, it was about twice the cost of building a dimensional gate, so it was definitely a cost befitting a Legendary grade quest key item.

Moreover, the airship was enormous.

It was impossible to hide the construction of an airship comparable in size to an aircraft carrier, and Drakan had no intention of hiding the fact of its construction.

Rather, he intended to attract the users’ attention by publicly constructing the airship.

And that attraction of attention was successful.

“Is that the airship?”

“Is it true that Drakan’s quest this time is set in the sky?”

“Didn’t you see the video? Drakan himself said that the Legacy Quest is about searching for a floating castle.”

“A floating castle…… I’d love to go there once.”

It wasn’t just the existence of the airship that drew the users’ attention.

A floating castle!

A land floating in the sky, a field possible only in a fantasy world, unseen in reality, was also a content that attracted the users’ attention.

Of course, this was also possible because Drakan had revealed part of the quest content to the users.

‘The past and present are different.’

Drakan thought, looking at the users’ attention focused on the airship and the floating castle.

Six years ago, during the previous game, it would have been unimaginable to publicly reveal the quest strategy process in real time or share information about quests or new regions with all users.

Named users proceeded with quests privately and only sold the videos to cable broadcasters after succeeding in the quest. Most ordinary users only learned about the success or failure of named users’ quests later through rumors or notification windows in the game.

That’s how much mysticism was the trend in the previous game.

Eugene.

The reason he was able to quickly gain popularity among users was because, unlike other named users, he didn’t insist on mysticism.

He made his quests public and shared the information he had learned without hesitation with ordinary users.

Existing hardcore users, including Drakan, ridiculed Eugene, calling him a sucker, but in the end, Eugene succeeded in the World Revolution with the public sentiment he gained through it.

Of course, it wasn’t just for such sentimental reasons that Drakan revealed the quest content.

‘These days, it’s actually more beneficial to make it public.’

As Drakan thought, in Second, it became a world where it was actually more beneficial to the user themselves to make things public.

The biggest difference between the previous game and Second was the video platform represented by ‘Ard Live,’ and the video platform had a structure where the higher the number of views, the higher the amount of money paid.

Simply put, the era had come where it was more profitable to attract attention by first making things public, rather than monopolizing information or quests within the game.

Therefore, mysticism was destroyed in Second, and numerous named users broadcast their quests live or shared the information they had learned without being told to do so.

Solely for the purpose of increasing views.

Of course, there were cases where they didn’t share really important information, but compared to the past when only hardcore users monopolized important information, it was a world of difference.

Drakan thought about the users’ attention focused on him and smiled with satisfaction.

Thus, not long after Drakan revealed the construction of the airship and the quest content.

[Airship construction is complete.]

The completed airship revealed itself.