The Final Boss Has Returned 133

Chapter 133

[It all started 10 years ago.]

The video started with Libery’s words!

In the video, translucent figures were seen rising one by one on the ground of Voltaha Castle, slowly rising into the sky.

[I, who served the Monarch, and the Steel Knights were awakened from our eternal slumber through an unknown phenomenon called the ‘Great Cataclysm.’]

Listening to Libery’s words, I finally understood why he was still alive now, a thousand years later in game time.

Libery and the Steel Knights!

They were already dead, but they were resurrected as ghost-like beings due to the aftermath of the Great Cataclysm.

‘The Great Cataclysm must have completely messed up Ard World.’

The Great Cataclysm.

A major incident that occurred 10 years ago, when the dimensional barrier of Ard World completely collapsed.

This setting is the fundamental reason why the Ard World of Ard Saga Second is completely different from the previous game.

From the continent’s topography to the concept of dungeons!

Everything was different between the previous game and Second, and it could practically be considered a different game.

Anyway, dungeons with the setting that the dead were resurrected due to the Great Cataclysm were more common than one might think.

But I never thought Libery would be one of those cases.

While I was thinking about the Great Cataclysm, the cinematic video continued to unfold like a panorama.

[But we were not the only ones who were resurrected. Louis, the First Knight Commander of the Revolutionary Army. He was also resurrected with us.]

With Libery’s words, the screen changed.

Unlike the Steel Knights, white, hazy figures were seen rising from the ground.

It was the Revolutionary Army.

‘Louis?’

Louis.

A name I haven’t heard in a long time.

As Libery said, Louis was a prominent NPC on the Revolutionary Army side, serving as the First Knight Commander of the Revolutionary Army in the previous game.

Louis, the former crown prince of the Luden Kingdom, which I personally destroyed, joined the Revolutionary Army with a thirst for revenge against me and bothered me quite a bit until the final battle.

It wasn’t for nothing that I remembered him as soon as I heard his name.

Well, he did die at my hands in the final battle surrounding Voltaha Castle, but anyway, that wasn’t the important thing now.

[He has occupied the Steel Palace with his Revolutionary Army and sits on the Steel Throne, mocking the Monarch to this day.]

With Libery’s words, the video showed white and black spirits fighting on the ground of the floating Voltaha Castle, amidst a strong wind.

[Kill all those resurrected Iron Blood Specters! Stop them from taking the Steel Palace!]

[We are the Revolutionary Army! We will serve the will of the revolution even in death!]

The Revolutionary Army!

The specters of the Revolutionary Army proudly uttered their name, and at the forefront of them was Louis.

Like Libery, his appearance was obscured by a cloud-like form, but unlike the other Revolutionary Army specters, the one shining more brilliantly was wielding ‘Holy Power’.

‘Come to think of it, that guy was a Paladin.’

I narrowed my eyes, focusing on Louis in the cinematic.

Louis.

He fanatically served Eugene, the only one who could stand against me in the previous game, when he joined the Revolutionary Army, and his loyalty was recognized by the Goddess of Light and the Pantheon, allowing him to change his class to Paladin.

But that was when he was alive, and now that he had become a kind of undead being, he shouldn’t be able to use Holy Power.

Holy Power and the undead were a combination of extreme opposites.

Even the Undead King, the pinnacle of the undead, was actually damaged by Holy Power during the raid, albeit only a scratch.

Of course, the Undead King, being the Undead King, immediately recovered from the damage caused by Holy Power and continued fighting.

Anyway, but to be able to use Holy Power even after becoming a specter?

I continued to watch the ongoing video carefully.

The video showed the specters of the Steel Knights and the Revolutionary Army continuing to fight each other.

In the battle of the specters, divided into light and darkness, black and white, I realized that Louis wasn’t the only specter using Holy Power.

A considerable number of specters in the Revolutionary Army were using Holy Power to pressure the specters of the Steel Knights.

Well, the First Knight Division of the Revolutionary Army was a knight order formed by Paladin NPCs who fanatically served Eugene.

If Louis, a former Paladin, could wield Holy Power, it was reasonable to assume that other Paladin specters from the First Knight Division could also use it.

‘Does this mean they might not be just ordinary undead?’

I narrowed my eyes.

Undead using Holy Power had never appeared before.

The fact that they could use Holy Power suggested that they were not ordinary undead, but something else.

Anyway, the specters of the Steel Knights began to lose ground against the specters of the Revolutionary Army using Holy Power.

After the specters of the Steel Knights were defeated, the spirit that seemed to be Louis was seen entering the interior of the Steel Palace, now marked by the passage of time, and sitting on the now rusted Steel Throne.

‘The Steel Throne……’

I was lost in thought while watching the cinematic video.

The Steel Palace, the Hall of Iron Blood, and the Steel Throne.

The places where I stayed in the previous game were still there, preserving their original form, albeit with traces of time.

[Oh Monarch, I beseech you, please drive out those who dare to defile you and reclaim the Steel Palace. Voltaha Castle awaits your return.]

With Libery’s explanation, the cinematic video ended by showing the Steel Palace occupied by Louis and the specters of the Revolutionary Army, and Voltaha Castle surrounded by numerous monsters.

At the same time, a notification window appeared before my eyes.

[A quest has occurred.]

[Reclamation]

[Grade: Legendary]

-After a long voyage, you have finally arrived at the floating Voltaha Castle, the place where the legend of the Steel Monarch began. However, the floating Voltaha Castle, which you once ruled, is illegally occupied by the specters of the old Revolutionary Army, and Louis, the former First Knight Commander of the Revolutionary Army, sits on the Steel Throne, mocking your legend.

Lead Libery and the specters of the Steel Knights to reclaim the Steel Palace and expel Louis who sits on the Steel Throne.

It is time to show those specters of the past who dare to trample your legend underfoot who the true owner of the legend is.

[You cannot refuse this quest.]

[You have accepted the quest.]

As expected, after the cinematic video ended, the quest window appeared and was automatically added to the quest list with a notification that it could not be refused.

[From now on, all of the Steel Knights, including Libery, will follow the orders of the returned Monarch.]

With that, Libery knelt before me and bowed his head.

Countless black figures appeared behind him.

They were all specters of the Steel Knights.

I smiled as I watched them.

“It really brings back memories.”

The Legacy Quest.

It was the moment when the meaning of the quest, which was to look back on my own actions, truly came to life.

Memories of leading the Steel Knights and chastising the entire world in the previous game flashed through my mind.

I stood there and pondered the cinematic video and the contents of the quest again.

‘The quest’s grade is Legendary, the original intention must have been for me to wipe out the Revolutionary Army specters alone with the Steel Knights.’

Ard Saga was a game with infinite freedom, but there were certain patterns in the quests, and there were also corresponding orthodox methods and intentions.

Therefore, it was natural for veteran users to be able to read the orthodox methods and intentions of the quests.

And I, a veteran among veterans, was able to immediately grasp the original intention of this quest, ‘Reclamation,’ by combining the quest content and the cinematic.

Except for special cases, Legacy Quests were mostly designed to be carried out by individual Legacy users.

This ‘Reclamation’ quest I received was also originally designed as a series of quests to be carried out by me alone.

Of course, since it was a Legendary grade quest, there were quests that required unreasonable costs such as building an airship to proceed to the next stage, but essentially, that was the story.

‘But now I’m not alone. I have a raid party.’

However, I had a raid party now.

Although I didn’t bring Ignis and JDG, the raid party’s power was still considerable.

This meant that I already possessed power beyond what the quest had anticipated.

But I wasn’t foolish enough to charge straight into the floating castle with the raid party.

They were my fandom, and this expedition was a kind of fan meeting.

Of course, it was a bit of a rough schedule for a fan meeting, but the important thing was to clear the quest safely.

I searched my memory.

Voltaha Castle was one of the most familiar places to me.

I had invested a huge amount of gold in Voltaha Castle, the core base and capital of the Iron Blood Alliance, to install various facilities, including defense facilities.

Those facilities were worth the money, and even the Revolutionary Army during the final battle had a hard time capturing Voltaha Castle.

‘And there was also a secret passage among them.’

I recalled my memories again.

Among the numerous facilities I had installed with a huge amount of money, there was also a secret passage.

A passage leading directly from the Steel Palace to the outskirts of the castle!

It was a facility added in case of emergency, but it was an unfortunate facility that was abandoned and unused during the final battle because it became meaningless to use it.

If that passage, which only responded to me, the owner of the Iron Blood Alliance, still remained, it might be possible to clear the quest almost effortlessly.

The secret passage was equipped with powerful magical devices to prevent anyone but me from opening it, so the specters of the Revolutionary Army would have no way of knowing about its existence.

Having thought that far, I spoke to Libery.

“Libery.”

[Yes, Monarch.]

“Is the Wolf’s Den still there?”

The Wolf’s Den!

It was a forest in the beginner field near Voltaha Castle, where beginners who hunted animals like rabbits and deer first encountered aggressive monsters like foxes and wolves.

I, too, had passed through the Wolf’s Den to reach other dungeons and fields when I was a beginner.

And the exit of the secret passage I had built was located in that very Wolf’s Den.

[Of course.]

“Then lead the way.”

[Your command is my will.]

Libery stood up after hearing my words.

I smiled as I watched him.

The Wolf’s Den.

It was time to start clearing this quest from that place where the exit of the secret passage was located.