The Final Boss Has Returned 137

Chapter 137

[Aerial Mobile Fortress Modification]

This is a large-scale construction project to modify the underground foundation supporting the Floating Castle Voltaha and the Steel Palace, the heart of Voltaha, transforming it into an all-weather Aerial Mobile Fortress that floats in the sky.

The Aerial Mobile Fortress is the pinnacle of magic engineering. It’s an Airborne Early Warning aircraft capable of wide-range reconnaissance and detection of the entire battlefield while floating in the sky, a military satellite, and a mobile operation command center.

[Estimated Construction Time: 30 Days]

[Construction Cost]

[1,000,000,000 Gold]

[Mythical Grade Magic Stone or equivalent material item]

[10 Legendary Grade Magic Stones or equivalent material items]

[Enables aerial navigation for Floating Castle Voltaha.]

[Capable of detecting and tracking enemies within a 5000km radius.]

[Equipped with the highest grade magic barrier function.]

[Weapon of Mass Destruction ‘Iron Wrath’ available for use.]

[Equipped with functions as a mothership for aerial battleships and a military wyvern airfield.]

The price of the Aerial Mobile Fortress, when I checked, was a whopping 1 billion gold!

I hesitated at the overwhelming price, even more expensive than the Dimensional Gate, which was openly said to be blessed by the gods.

‘Did they make this for me to clear alone?’

That was my immediate thought after seeing the information.

Legacy Quest.

This quest, also known as the Awakening Quest, was clearly designed to be tackled by individual users.

Of course, it was true that the difficulty of the Legacy Quest was determined by the grade of the inherited Legacy.

But wasn’t this a bit too much?

My gaze shifted towards Shin Ha-yeon.

Shin Ha-yeon, who caught my eye, smiled.

Shin Ha-yeon.

If it weren’t for her, and my ability to mobilize near-infinite funds, the possibility of me clearing this quest alone would be practically 0%.

‘It’s not on the level of the Overlord Quest, but my finances could have been in danger again.’

I recalled the Overlord Quest.

The horrible memory of pouring a massive amount of funds into that quest, only for it to turn into debt and force me onto a deep-sea fishing vessel, still made me shudder.

It got to the point where I would wake up in a cold sweat from nightmares about tuna fishing boats.

Of course, the cost of building the Aerial Mobile Fortress wasn’t as enormous as the Overlord Quest, the Continental Unification War, but it was still a colossal amount.

1 billion gold wasn’t chump change.

If it weren’t for Shin Ha-yeon, I wouldn’t have even dreamt of clearing this quest.

The funds I could manage were considerable.

This was because I was the King of the Iron Blood Kingdom, encompassing the East and North, and the leader of the Dark Alliance, formed by six allied races.

The budget I could handle, as someone who ruled a nation beyond just a guild, was significant. However, both the alliance and the nation had considerable maintenance costs and various budgetary demands commensurate with their size. So, using a lump sum of 1 billion gold at once was difficult.

Of course, it wouldn’t be impossible if I levied all sorts of taxes like in the previous game, but I had already decided not to choose that path.

Levying taxes just to complete one Mobile Fortress would be a critical blunder that would destroy all the hard work I had done so far. It would be a short-sighted move, blinded by immediate gains, abandoning the bigger picture – a foolish and stupid act.

I shook my head and blinked.

‘Come to think of it, Eugene, that bastard also finished his Legacy Quest recently.’

Suddenly, I remembered the video of Eugene completing his Legacy Quest, which I had watched a while ago while enduring the pain in my stomach.

Apostle of the End.

It was a quest to annihilate the Cult of the End, a pseudo-religious group that served the final boss of the previous game, and prevent the resurrection of the Apostle of the End.

The video, which showed the entire Lightwing Guild eliminating the cult leader who wielded the power of gray chaos, quickly surpassed 100 million views.

And at the end of that quest, Eugene acquired his ultimate skill, ‘Ultimate Light.’

‘Ultimate Light, a terrifying skill.’

I frowned, thinking about Ultimate Light.

Ultimate Light!

That ultimate skill, a Mythical grade skill possessed by Eugene and on par with the Overlord’s Sword, was a super-powerful area-of-effect skill.

Like my Steel Rain, it was a skill that relentlessly rained down a bombardment of light from the sky. The characteristic of this skill was that it also had the function of healing allies hit by the light.

‘It’s truly a despicable skill.’

An all-purpose, all-weather skill that heals and attacks simultaneously!

I grimaced as I recalled the horrifying scene from the previous game: the Iron Blood Alliance’s army being erased like pencil markings upon being hit by Ultimate Light, while the dying Revolutionary Army was revived by the same light.

Not only was I annoyed that the bastard had regained that Ultimate Light, but he also obtained an Awakening Skill as a reward for completing his Legacy Quest.

He revealed his Awakening Skill through a video.

Eugene’s Awakening Skill, which I saw, was ‘Solar Manifestation.’

It manifested a sun made of light above the battlefield, providing debuffs to enemies and buffs to allies as a passive effect, and allowing him to attack with a beam called ‘Solar Bombardment’ as an active effect. It was a kind of summoning skill that possessed both passive and active effects.

‘Avatar of Radiance, Hero’s Strike, then Ultimate Light, and finally Solar Manifestation.’

I gritted my teeth, recalling each of his ultimate skills and Awakening Skill one by one.

Avatar of Radiance, which drastically increased his attack power, defense power, and stats, as well as providing a wide-area buff to surrounding allies.

And Hero’s Strike, whose attack power increased proportionally to the number of allies present!

Eugene.

None of the skills he possessed were easy to handle.

While most of his ultimate skills were buff skills, Eugene’s stats and combat endurance, amplified by stacking all those buffs, were beyond imagination.

A literal zombie or cockroach, impossible to kill no matter how much you hit him!

That was Eugene’s fighting style.

If he simply relied on stats, I wouldn’t have struggled so much against him in the previous game.

Moreover, he possessed troublesome cheat skills that made him stronger with more allies and provided wide-area buffs to surrounding allies.

‘I need the Overlord’s Sword.’

The conclusion was the Overlord’s Sword.

A top-tier attack skill in Ard World that could ignore even Eugene’s overwhelming combat endurance and amplified stats and inflict damage!

I needed that skill.

Of course, I also needed the yet-unknown Awakening Skill that I would obtain after completing the Legacy Quest.

Awakening Skill.

Although I didn’t know its contents, considering the astronomical cost and the extreme difficulty of the quest, which was impossible to clear alone, there was a high probability that it would be at least on par with Eugene’s Awakening Skill, ‘Solar Manifestation.’

And to obtain these two skills, the completion of the Aerial Mobile Fortress construction, as stated in the quest information window, was necessary.

‘Still, its functions are tempting. It’ll be worth the price.’

I smiled, looking at the specs of the Aerial Mobile Fortress.

If I could deploy an aerial fortress with a detection range of 5000km in the sky above the battlefield, it would be like activating a map hack in war.

Not only that.

The mobile fortress, operating at an altitude where the enemy couldn’t shoot it down, and the aerial battleships using it as their mothership would be more than enough to make my army the rulers of the sky.

Air superiority!

There was no need to explain how important it was to control the air in warfare.

Of course, it was impossible to end a war solely with air power, and the final decisive battle would ultimately be fought by ground troops. However, it was impossible to underestimate the power of the air force in war.

In any case, the Aerial Mobile Fortress, capable of everything from reconnaissance to attack, was a strategic asset that concentrated over-technology enough to dominate the skies of Ard World, where wyverns were the most advanced aerial units.

“Shin Ha-yeon.”

“Yes, Drakan-nim.”

When I called her name, Shin Ha-yeon scurried up the stairs and gently caressed my hand resting on the armrest.

“Is something the matter? You look troubled.”

In response to Shin Ha-yeon’s concerned words, I adjusted the settings of the status window to show her the specs and required cost of the Aerial Mobile Fortress.

“I need this to complete the Legacy Quest.”

The enormous required cost surprised even me, who usually didn’t bat an eye at most expenses!

However, even after seeing the cost, the smile etched on Shin Ha-yeon’s lips didn’t waver in the slightest.

“We should be able to prepare everything except one.”

“That one is, as expected, the Mythical Grade Magic Stone.”

Everything except one can be prepared!

I responded to Shin Ha-yeon, who said this with an unchanging, smiling face, without any change in her expression.

“Yes, that’s right.”

Shin Ha-yeon nodded in agreement at my words.

Mythical Grade Magic Stone.

Indeed.

The most problematic part of the cost was this.

Legendary grade material items or 1 billion gold would definitely be easy for Shin Ha-yeon, who possessed the financial power of a chaebol, to acquire, even if it might be difficult for me.

I had been continuously realizing, while living with Shin Ha-yeon, that the wealth possessed by chaebols was so immense that ordinary people couldn’t even fathom it.

However, unlike Legendary grade items, which could at least be obtained with money, Mythical grade items weren’t something you could simply buy with money.

In the first place, there were no idiots who would put Mythical grade items up for auction, and there was no record of a Mythical grade item ever appearing in the auction house.

This was because Mythical grade items, the highest tier in Ard World, whether skills or items, could only be obtained as rewards from long chain quests or by defeating powerful boss monsters.

“Mythical grade, huh.”

I frowned.

Mythical grade items weren’t like pebbles lying around on the street. Where could I possibly find one?

While thinking this and looking at the quest window, a quest caught my eye.

[Ard World’s Counterattack]

[Grade: Mythical]

It was the Mythical grade quest, Ard World’s Counterattack, whose final objective was the elimination of the Hive Mind.

‘The Hive Mind must be a monster that has ascended to the level of a demi-transcendent being, right?’

Hive Mind.

One of the Four Lords of Gehenna, the cause of the Great Cataclysm, and the true mastermind behind it all.

As the final boss of Phase 2, it was certain that it was a monstrous boss monster, possessing power equal to or greater than the Undead King, and having reached the realm of a demi-transcendent being.

‘If I kill the Hive Mind, a Mythical grade material item might drop.’

And if I defeated such a being, a Mythical grade material item might drop.

Having reached that thought, I stood up from my seat.

“Shin Ha-yeon.”

“Yes, Drakan-nim.”

“First, gather some information about the Mythical grade quest.”

“Understood.”

I instructed Shin Ha-yeon to gather information on the Mythical grade quest.

Even though the Hive Mind existed, I had to prepare for the possibility, however slim.

The starting point of the Mythical grade quest might not be easily found, but it was better to move than to sit idly by.

Furthermore, with the information network of Jeil E&M, boasting the best in the industry, they might actually be able to find it.

“And what next?”

Shin Ha-yeon whispered to me.

I looked at her and said,

“We’re going to the Broken World.”

Hive Mind.

It was time to kill it and end Phase 2, even if it was just for the sake of clearing the Legacy Quest.