The Final Boss Has Returned 138

Chapter 138

We Strike the Hive Mind!

Thus, Drakan made a plan and descended to the ground with the expedition members who wished to go.

Contrary to Drakan’s expectations, a surprisingly large number of users remained on the floating castle.

Large-scale construction was underway on the floating castle, and above all, many high-level monsters still remained on the field.

Thus, construction continued steadily on the floating castle after Drakan left, and finally, facilities began to be completed one by one.

[The new class ‘Magic Engineer’ has been opened.]

-Magic Engineer is a production class that uses ‘Magic Engineering’, a study that combines engineering and magic.

Unlike other production classes such as blacksmiths or enchanters, Magic Engineers can manufacture various items using machinery or create elaborate machinery itself.

[The Magic Engineer’s job change quest can be performed at the ‘Sky Shipyard’ in Voltaha, the Floating Castle.]

[The new class ‘Steel Knight’ has been opened.]

-Steel Knights are the direct elite knights of the ruthless tyrant Steel Monarch Drakan from long ago. They were a symbol of fear to the populace, sweeping across the world under Drakan’s command.

However, on the day Voltaha Castle, the last stronghold of the Iron Blood Alliance, fell to the Revolutionary Army, the Steel Knights’ lineage was severed with the death of Steel Knight Commander Libery.

But now, after a thousand years, Steel Monarch Drakan has arrived at Voltaha, which has become a floating castle, and has taken in the spirits of Libery and the Steel Knights. Finally, the Steel Knights have reappeared in the Ard World.

[Unlike typical knights, Steel Knights are a special class that possess domineering and powerful offensive skills.]

[This is a faction-specific class. Only users belonging to the ‘Dark Alliance’ can change jobs.]

[The Steel Knight’s job change quest can be performed at the ‘Steel Knights Headquarters’ in Voltaha, the Floating Castle.]

[New possibilities have opened up in the Ard World. Participate in the new history.]

Magic Engineer and Steel Knight!

People’s attention was focused on Voltaha, the Floating Castle, with the new classes that had been opened after a long time.

Although the majority of high-level users were in the Broken World, there were still users remaining in the Ard World who had not yet reached the level required to go to the Broken World. Considering the characteristic of Ard Saga Second, where countless newbies join every day, new classes always attracted people’s attention.

“Magic Engineer?”

“Hul, Magic Engineer is open?”

“Is this for real?”

Magic Engineer.

A class that deals with ‘Magic Engineering’, a study that combines magic and engineering, commonly found in fantasy novels.

Most core users who had played Ard Saga were aware of the existence of Magic Engineering.

In fact, Magic Engineering was sometimes applied to artifact production, but this was the first time a class with Magic Engineering itself as its main skill had been opened.

Magic Engineering.

The fact that the key to going from medieval fantasy to steampunk had finally been dropped, the fact that the possibility of transitioning from manual labor like blacksmithing, enchanting, and tailoring to mechanical industry had opened up, naturally drew people’s attention.

That wasn’t all.

Steel Knight!

Users of the Dark Alliance were excited about the new faction-specific class that had appeared once again.

This was because a new faction-specific class had appeared following Black Magician, Necromancer, Dark Knight, and Dark Priest.

Moreover, the fact that the newly opened class was related to Drakan, the representative user of the faction, further attracted the attention of the Dark Alliance users.

This was the first time a class deeply related to Drakan, or rather, a specific user, had been opened as a ‘job’.

Hero Eugene.

Even he, who currently reigned as the top ranker, had not achieved this feat, but Drakan had done it.

Anyway, thanks to the opening of the new classes, the demand for users who wanted to go to Voltaha, the Floating Castle, increased exponentially.

If the previous demand to go to Voltaha, the Floating Castle, was a kind of fantasy tourism demand based on the scenery of the floating castle that could not be seen in reality, this time, a real demand for new classes had arisen.

“How do you get to the floating castle?”

“Do you fly there on a Wyvern?”

“I saw on the broadcast that it’s an altitude unreachable by Wyverns?”

And the increased demand naturally led users to find ways to get to the floating castle on their own.

Floating Castle!

There was only one way to get to Voltaha, which floats at an altitude unreachable even by Wyverns.

To ride an airship.

And Drakan had already anticipated this situation and built a new facility on the outskirts of Snow Castle.

It was an airport where flights to Voltaha Castle operated.

The so-called Snow Castle Airport!

It was the first airport to appear in the Ard World.

[Construction of Snow Castle Airport has been completed.]

[A new flight to Voltaha, the Floating Castle, has been established.]

Seeing the notification window that appeared as soon as the airport construction was completed, countless people flocked to Snow Castle, the central hub of the north.

Soon, passenger airships made at the Sky Shipyard descended and carried the users heading to Voltaha, the Floating Castle.

The sight that greeted the users who arrived at Voltaha, the Floating Castle, by airship was a single gigantic castle floating in the sky.

It was the moment when the ruined Voltaha, the Floating Castle, was truly reborn as a city.

▄ ▄ ▄

While Voltaha, the Floating Castle, was becoming a hot topic among mid-level to low-level users.

Most high-level users were in the Broken World.

Broken World!

The home of the Hive Mind!

And there, the stage for the first Mythical grade quest open to all users in the Ard World, large-scale battles were taking place day after day.

Of course, there were battlefields led by the Eight Great Guilds, but there were also many cases where small and medium-sized guilds, individuals, or parties received quests and roamed around.

Drakan.

While he was performing quests in the floating castle, the Broken World quest had also progressed considerably.

This was natural in a way, because everyone from the top ranker Eugene to the Over-Rankers excluding Drakan, as well as numerous high-level users, were all in the Broken World.

The end content that people often talk about in games.

The content that max-level users enjoy was the Broken World.

Broken World.

The base camp of the Dark Alliance, built under the leadership of Ignis, had long since become a large city as countless users flocked to it.

And Drakan, who arrived there, was listening to Ignis’s briefing at the expedition headquarters in the base camp.

“Currently, the phase progress of the Broken World is estimated to be over 50%. The location of the Hive Mind has also been identified.”

After listening to Ignis’s briefing, Drakan opened the contribution ranking.

And there, he saw Eugene’s name proudly ranked first.

He also saw Ignis, ranked third below him.

“Third place in contribution, you’ve worked hard.”

“It’s nothing much.”

Ignis smiled faintly at Drakan’s polite greeting.

Third place!

That’s right.

Regardless of Drakan’s absence, Ignis had effectively commanded the users and NPCs of the Dark Alliance to achieve this level of success.

Through his performance in this Broken World, Ignis was able to receive high praise as an independent user, separated from Drakan after a long time.

That wasn’t all.

It wasn’t just the Hive Mind’s monstrous minions that were in the Broken World.

The ancient inhabitants of the Broken World!

The remains of their civilization, which had possessed a highly advanced magical civilization capable of opening dimensional gates, were scattered throughout the Broken World.

And thanks to the various and rich content, including powerful alien artifact items found in these ruins, there was a seismic shift in the previously fixed ranker hierarchy.

Not only was the Combat Information Archive being actively rewritten, but users who were close to the Over-Ranker positions, which had become vacant due to the deaths of the Black King and the Spear King, began to appear.

“The number of new job max-level users rising to ranker and high ranker status is increasing.”

That wasn’t all.

The new classes that Drakan had unlocked!

From Black Magician to Necromancer, rankers and high rankers finally began to emerge from the classes that had received a lot of attention.

Especially in the case of Necromancer, which had received a lot of attention even before the class appeared, and now had a population comparable to other popular classes, not only rankers, but also high rankers were not uncommon.

Moreover, Necromancer was the only class that could wage a war of attrition against the Hive Mind’s minions, whose specialty was overwhelming numbers, by using their corpses.

Therefore, coupled with the environment of the Broken World, Necromancer users began to grow exponentially.

So, for high-level users, the Broken World was truly a land of opportunity, and the reason why so many high-level users headed there.

“I’ve already given instructions to recruit rankers who are highly likely to become new Over-Rankers, so you don’t have to worry.”

Shin Ha-yeon whispered in Drakan’s ear in a sweet voice.

This information had already been grasped by Shin Ha-yeon, and she also knew well that securing the third Over-Ranker was more important than anything else.

This was because increasing the number of Over-Rankers was the first step towards hegemony in the Ard World and increasing the chances of a successful rebellion.

Thanks to this, Shin Ha-yeon had been keeping an eye on promising candidates who were considered Over-Ranker candidates for a long time and had been continuously attempting to recruit them.

Of course, other management companies were also desperate to recruit these rankers, but no management company could stop Jeil E&M, which boasts the best information network and capital in the industry.

Drakan nodded at Shin Ha-yeon’s words.

This was because such corporate matters were not his responsibility, and it was also because he trusted Shin Ha-yeon completely.

“Where is the Hive Mind?”

“It’s on the Primeval Plateau.”

Ignis immediately answered Drakan’s question.

Primeval Plateau!

The place where the Conquest Lord Hive Mind resides, the home base of the monster race that is currently invading all dimensions, including the Ard World, and the most sacred place considered by the ancient inhabitants of the Broken World.

Drakan was briefly silent at Ignis’s words and then replied.

“We haven’t attacked even though we’ve identified the final boss. Why is that?”

Hive Mind!

The reason why they haven’t attacked yet despite already identifying the location of the final boss of Phase 2!

In response to Drakan’s question, which asked a natural question, Ignis slowly answered.