Chapter 145
The Valley of Origins Capture!
The capture, which had naturally drawn the attention of all users in Ard World, and even all those interested in Ard Saga Second, ended with the victory of Eugene and Drakan, as expected.
[Honestly, wouldn’t it be weirder if they lost with this kind of power? lol]
[Of course they should have won lol]
[Seriously, the two top dogs of Ard World joined forces, if they lost they should commit suicide lol]
[Still, the eye candy was amazing, agree? Yeah, agree~]
[Didn’t expect both of them to go in with their ultimates activated from the start lol]
As soon as the capture ended, the internet was flooded with talk of the capture, with GIFs and clips being shared everywhere.
Drakan, and Eugene!
The performance the two of them showed in the capture was truly worthy of being called one of the best in the history of Ard Saga Second.
Eugene!
The top-ranked player of Ard World, showed everyone in the capture why he was at the apex of Ard World, without reservation.
Not only did he spread area-of-effect buffs to all users present through Solar Manifestation, but the sight of him shaking the enemy lines with Solar Bombardment was enough to leave people in awe.
But what surprised people the most was Hero’s Strike.
[Is that Hero’s Strike for real?]
[I only heard about his specs, but it’s truly amazing;]
[No, but how can you even win against a skill like that? lol]
Hero’s Strike!
A skill with a truly fraudulent effect, its power increasing proportionally to the number of allies on the battlefield!
Of course, unlike most other high-ranking users, Eugene had openly revealed his specs and skills, so many people were well aware of the skill’s effect.
But despite that, excluding the previous game, Eugene had never actually used his ultimate skill, so it was true that there was an underestimation of him, knowingly or unknowingly.
Especially thanks to the Infinite Eugene Church’s internal malicious fandom, who had stirred up aggro by praising Eugene, such public opinion had increased even more, but today’s battle completely wiped out the underestimation.
Hero’s Strike.
As the name of the skill suggested, the users were awestruck by the strike that shook heaven and earth, where the enemy forces were annihilated, the sky split, and the earth overturned by the slash that extended from the golden shining holy sword.
[I was there, and I really thought I’d gone crazy;;]
[Seriously, the light was flashing and the enemies were evaporating lol Is this really a skill a user can have?]
A surreal sight of the enemy forces being wiped out every time Hero’s Strike flew!
And at the sight of the Alpha Mind, which had been holding on until the end, being hit by Hero’s Strike and dying, the users who were present all felt a thrill at once.
But it wasn’t just Eugene who received attention in the capture.
[Drakan was really strong too, right?]
[Has it been a year since Drakan started the game? How the h*ll did he get this far?]
[Crazy;; Form is temporary, but class is eternal, is that it?]
Drakan!
As he intended, he solidified his image as Eugene’s antithesis and a challenger for hegemony in this capture.
Drakan’s appearance, clad in Iron Blood Avatar, flashing here and there across the battlefield, slaughtering monsters, and dealing tremendous damage alongside Eugene in the final Alpha Mind capture, was enough to match his image as Eugene’s antithesis, no less than the power of Hero’s Strike.
Furthermore, the fact that it took less than a year for Drakan to reach his current position gave people even more hope.
Objectively speaking, Drakan’s current power was far inferior to Eugene’s, but the fact that Drakan had risen to a level comparable to Eugene’s in just one year was a factor in his high evaluation.
[Eh, but Sword Emperor fights better;]
[He’s at the average level of an Over-Ranker, right?]
[The idiots are starting to praise Drakan again lol Ugh, disgusting lol]
Of course, there were those who thought Drakan was being overestimated.
The Infinite Eugene Church!
Eugene’s malicious fandom actively tried to muddy the waters of the public opinion that was highly evaluating Drakan.
The most compared target in such mudslinging was Sword Emperor Argen.
Sword Emperor Argen.
The strongest Over-Ranker and the user closest to EX rank.
The performance of the Sword Emperor, who is ranked 0th when it comes to the next EX-rank Ranker, was truly overwhelming.
Compared to such a Sword Emperor, the performance Drakan showed was something that other Over-Rankers could also do, and therefore, the mudslinging by the Infinite Eugene Church wasn’t entirely wrong.
Of course, as shown in the confrontation with Changwang Rio, Drakan’s physical abilities were incomparably superior to other Over-Rankers, so super plays appeared more frequently in the capture than other Over-Rankers, but in any case, Drakan was currently just an Over-Ranker.
However, their attempts to muddy the waters weren’t very successful.
[lol The Eugene-tards are going with the Eugene-boosting again lol Look how disgusting lol]
[No, but lol Why are they comparing him to Sword Emperor? Is he the same as that old-timer, who’s been playing for years, and Drakan-nim who hasn’t even been playing for a year? lol]
[No, and besides, Drakan hasn’t even finished his Legacy Quest yet? They’re mudslinging by comparing this;;]
Drakan!
The opinion that he couldn’t be compared one-on-one with other Over-Rankers became the dominant one among the anti-Infinite Eugene Church and Drakan’s fandom, the Black Cows.
As they said, it hadn’t even been a year since Drakan returned to the game, and above all, Drakan hadn’t even properly completed his Legacy Quest yet.
The Legacy Quest.
Considering that the specs of a character are worlds apart depending on whether this quest, given to non-legacy users as the ‘Awakening Quest,’ is cleared or not, their argument that a one-on-one comparison was unfair was valid.
[Eugene-tards, just wait, once Drakan-nim finishes his Legacy Quest, he’ll be able to go one-on-one with Eugene lol]
[No, are the Black Cows really not human but beasts? How can they even think that after seeing this capture?]
Thus, the ongoing internet topic, as always, ended with a war between the Black Cows and the Infinite Eugene Church, the fandoms of Eugene and Drakan.
While the war of public opinion continued online day after day.
Drakan and Eugene, the Five Eyes and the Dark Alliance, the two major forces, were heading beyond the Valley of Origins to the Primeval Plateau.
▄ ▄ ▄
[You have discovered the Primeval Plateau.]
[Primeval Plateau]
[The Primeval Plateau is the homeland and holy land of the ancient inhabitants who once lived in the Broken World.]
[The ancient inhabitants built numerous cities and temples on the Primeval Plateau, but due to the invasion of the Hive Mind, most of the ancient ruins have been contaminated or destroyed, and only traces of their prosperous era remain.]
[Countless eons ago, the Hive Mind that invaded the Broken World began its invasion from the Primeval Plateau, the heart of the ancient inhabitants.]
[The appearance of the Primeval Plateau, which had been a holy land for a long time, is now gone, and all that remains is the Conquest Lord Hive Mind and its direct forces.]
[First Discovery Bonus!]
[All stats have increased by 234.]
[Fame has increased by 32321.]
I erased the notification window that popped up as soon as I entered the Primeval Plateau.
After a struggle with Eugene over who would enter the Primeval Plateau first, I became the first to step foot on the Primeval Plateau.
“Congratulations on the first discovery.”
Looking at Eugene behind me, smiling brightly, I felt my stomach churn.
This was because I didn’t want to add another heartwarming anecdote to the bastard’s reputation by yielding the reward.
Well, I’d better think of it as a trade-off for the significant increase in stats and fame.
Especially the stat increase was significant, and considering the system of Ard Saga Second, where character specs are determined by various factors including stats instead of levels, this might actually be more advantageous.
If Eugene, that bastard, had these stats, he would have been that much ahead of me, so it was a give-and-take situation.
“Yes.”
I nodded at Eugene’s words and looked at the scenery of the Primeval Plateau.
The Primeval Plateau.
As befitting its name, it was a vast and desolate grassland that stretched endlessly, where the cloudy sky of the Broken World seemed even closer.
Scattered stone pillars and rocks that looked like ruins……
Conquest Lord Hive Mind.
Unlike the description that said the final boss of Phase 2 was here, there wasn’t even a single ant to be seen on the Primeval Plateau.
“This is suspicious.”
Eugene said this next to me.
He was right, it was suspicious.
The Valley of Origins.
That place, which was the entrance to the Primeval Plateau, was swarming with monsters to a truly disgusting degree.
It was an endless horde that made the numbers we’d faced so far look like a joke, to the point where I was worried I might lose my voice from shouting skill activation words.
I realized why Eugene had sought out allied forces while directly capturing the Valley of Origins.
While the Five Eyes’ forces were strong enough to break through the Valley of Origins, doing so would have resulted in significant losses.
‘It’s a shame that I couldn’t deplete the Five Eyes’ forces, but the Legacy Quest is a quest that must be cleared no matter what.’
I looked at the scene and felt regret, but since the Legacy Quest had to be cleared anyway, I let go of that regret.
And anyway, the Five Eyes would soon be divided.
This was because I held the trump card that could divide them in my hand.
However, it wasn’t time yet, so I was just keeping it hidden.
Anyway, it was suspicious that there was no one at the main base after breaking through such a disgusting force.
Shouldn’t there be at least a welcoming party?
I thought for a moment and then slowly said to Eugene.
“Let’s build a forward base first and send out a reconnaissance team to scout the surroundings.”
There was no answer to be found by worrying now.
Of course, I had a few guesses, but it was dangerous to proceed based on guesses alone.
Building a forward base first and sending out a reconnaissance team to scout the surroundings and gather information was the top priority.
It was a very orthodox strategy, but in an uncharted otherworld like the Broken World, taking risks and venturing out recklessly could lead to a dead end.
Moreover, I wouldn’t be alone, Eugene was here now, and there were countless users following behind him.
If I took on the risk and ventured out in such a situation and things went wrong, all the blame would surely fall on me.
Furthermore, the opponent was no ordinary foe.
Conquest Lord Hive Mind.
As the final boss of a phase, it was clear that he would be no pushover.
“Yes, you’re right, Drakan-nim. Let’s do that.”
Eugene also readily agreed to my words.
While Eugene was a pushover, he wasn’t completely stupid.
He had this much foresight.
If he was stupid, he wouldn’t have been able to drive me out during the World Revolution.
The moment I was thinking that.
[The Dark God delivers an oracle.]
[A quest has occurred.]
A meaningful notification window appeared before my eyes.