The Final Boss Has Returned 31

Chapter 31

The Black Tower!

The headquarters of the Black Ring Society since ancient times, a dark fortress hiding countless secrets!

The basement of this Black Tower was a restricted area, inaccessible to outsiders, including players.

But who am I?

I am the contractor of the Dark God, the player who earned the loyalty of the Black Ring Society and obtained the title of Elder of the Black Ring Society.

There was no area in the Black Tower that I couldn’t access.

[Entering the 1st Basement Floor of the Black Tower.]

The basement of the Black Tower, which I entered with a dull system message, had a gloomy atmosphere.

Broken beakers and burnt magic books were scattered everywhere!

And the uncollected debris and skeletons added to the eerie atmosphere.

A chilling sight that would have made timid players scream!

I looked at the scene indifferently and continued down deeper into the basement.

‘The quest definitely said it was at the deepest part of the basement!’

Recalling the contents of the quest, I continued down.

And finally…….

[Entering the 5th Basement Floor of the Black Tower.]

On the 5th basement floor of the Black Tower, I found a heavy and massive steel door engraved with the symbol of the Dark God, which looked undeniably suspicious.

‘It won’t budge!’

I pushed, but the steel door wouldn’t budge!

Considering that other doors opened without special locking mechanisms or were destroyed, this door was the most suspicious.

[The Dark God smiles.]

The Dark God’s message appeared just in time!

Seeing that message, I quietly raised my left hand and activated the skill.

“Dark God’s Seal.”

[The door of the Dark Vault reacts to the Dark God’s Seal.]

The moment the symbol of the Dark God appeared on my left hand!

Wooong!

The heavy door vibrated heavily, and then slowly began to open.

[Discovered the hidden location, Dark Vault.]

[All stats increased by 1.]

[Completed the quest ‘Legacy of Darkness’.]

[Level Up!]

[All stats increased by 10.]

The always pleasant notification of stat and level increase!

The interior of the Dark Vault that opened along with it was surprisingly bare.

A stone chamber that was completely empty, with no mountains of glittering gold and silver treasures or legendary items!

On the stone altar in the center, a single sheet of paper and a book were placed.

‘I thought there would be at least one legendary item, even if there wasn’t a mountain of gold and silver treasures.’

Thinking so, I quietly approached the stone chamber and picked up the unfolded sheet of paper.

[Sion’s Letter]

[Grade: Legendary]

[Category: Miscellaneous]

[A letter left by the Apostle of Darkness, Sion, for the descendant who will one day discover this vault. It contains his will.]

The identity of the paper was Sion’s letter!

I carefully read the letter, which I guessed was the quest starting item.

[Descendant of the future.]

[My name is Sion, contractor of the Dark God and Apostle of Darkness.]

[If you are reading this letter, descendant, it means that you are the contractor of the Dark God, just like me. And I would already be dead.]

[I am writing this assuming my death.]

[My dream was a world where the followers of darkness, who had to hide in the shadows of Ard World since the mythical age, could walk freely under the bright sun. For that world, I did everything I could to revive the ancient alliance and rebuild the Dark Empire.]

[But my efforts, my plans, were thwarted by the Hero Leonhardt. The utopia I dreamed of collapsed, and I failed.]

[Descendant.]

[I failed. So, using my failure as nourishment, I hope you will build a world where the followers of darkness can proudly walk freely.]

The contents of the quest were simple.

He failed, so he wanted me to inherit his will and rebuild the Dark Empire!

It was the same content, without a single deviation from what I expected.

‘There’s not much useful information!’

The letter didn’t contain any useful information that could be guessed as a clue for the next quest.

In other words, this letter was just a medium item that triggered the quest.

[Quest has occurred.]

[Apostle’s Path]

[Grade: Myth]

[The mythical utopia that all followers of darkness longed for! The Dark Empire!]

[The previous contractor and Apostle of Darkness, Sion, did his best to build that world, but ultimately failed.]

[But his will has finally been passed on to you, the contractor of the Dark God, through this letter.]

[To begin the reconstruction of the Empire, you must revive the ancient alliance between the Apostle of Darkness, the Six Children of Darkness, and the Black Ring Society.]

[And to revive the ancient alliance, you must first subjugate all six races.]

[If you subjugate all six races, you will finally be able to ascend to the true position of the Apostle of Darkness and revive the ancient alliance.]

[Quest Objective]

[Subjugate the Six Races]

[Subjugation Status]

[Merfolk=Unfulfilled]

[Undead=Unfulfilled]

[Vampire=Unfulfilled]

[Lycansrope=Unfulfilled]

[Orc=Unfulfilled]

[Dark Elf=Unfulfilled]

Finally, the large-scale quest appeared!

Looking at the quest, I smiled.

The Divine Quest!

It was because its true form had finally been revealed before me.

Its grade was Myth!

It was a quest grade I had never seen before, even having played the previous game, and the highest grade among the six grades of the Ard Saga series.

Considering that the quest grade was synonymous with difficulty, it was sure to be incredibly difficult and incredibly frustrating, but it was a quest that I had to undertake to become an adversary on par with Eugene.

‘Merfolk are included too.’

I looked at the Merfolk in the subjugation status window and thought.

‘Very good!’

Closing the quest window, I picked up the book next to it and checked the title.

The title of the book was ‘Research on the Ancient Dark Empire’!

The author was Sion.

‘This must be the real hint for the quest.’

Seeing the title of the book, I immediately came to a reasonable conclusion through my numerous gaming experiences.

If the letter was the quest starting item, this book was the key item that would hold the real hints for the ‘Apostle’s Path’ quest!

So I opened the book and started reading quickly.

[Acquired information about the Six Children of Darkness.]

[Acquired information about the Apostle of Darkness.]

[Magic Power increased by 3.]

Savoring the information acquisition messages that kept appearing and the occasional sweet stat increase messages, I finally finished reading the book, and the result appeared before my eyes as a notification.

[Completed reading the book ‘Research on the Ancient Dark Empire’.]

[Special stat ‘Knowledge’ has been created.]

[Knowledge increased by 10.]

[Ancient Dark Empire related facilities will be added to the constructible facilities list in Management Mode.]

Ancient Dark Empire facilities!

Looking at the notification, which was practically a reward for completing the book, I smiled and opened the internal affairs management window.

The 500 million gold fund that Shin Ha-yeon handed over!

It was time to pour that enormous amount of money into the reconstruction of Lawless Port Granado.

▄ ▄ ▄

Management Mode!

Management Mode was a function that allowed you to manage territories, castles, cities, etc. that you owned, a convenience feature given to players who became lords.

Unlike NPC lords, player lords could use Management Mode to adjust various tax items, take out loans, invest, sell land or houses, conscript soldiers, train troops, and handle everything related to territory management.

In other words, Management Mode was a content that temporarily changed the genre of Ard Saga from MMORPG to construction and management simulation.

Anyway, there were numerous functions in Management Mode, but the most necessary one for me right now was the construction item!

As soon as I turned on Management Mode, I pressed the construction item while looking at the 3D hologram map of Lawless Port Granado that appeared before my eyes and the floor plan next to it.

[Current Funds: 511,843,210 Gold]

The first thing that appeared was the truly enormous amount of funds!

‘To think I’d be handling hundreds of millions of gold before even becoming a Grand Duke!’

I happily smiled, reminiscing about the past in the previous game where I cleared quests, accumulated contribution points in the Kingdom of Saxony, grew from a castle lord to a lord with a territory, and then to a Grand Duke who commanded those lords.

Whether it’s a game or reality, most problems can be solved with money!

And I had more than enough money.

Smiling, I pressed the current facility status button right below the construction item.

[Black Market]

[A deeply rooted black market that cannot be left out of Granado’s history.]

[An area where various dangerous goods and secret smuggled goods are traded, generating large profits but negatively affecting the city’s security.]

[This building needs repairs. The following effects are limited.]

[High-quality material items can be traded.]

[High-risk smuggled goods are distributed to the market.]

[Secret auctions are held irregularly.]

Starting with the Black Market, most of the currently existing facilities were listed endlessly, and most of them had a message saying that repairs were needed.

I checked all the buildings that needed repairs with my hand.

[Total Repair Cost: 20,000,000 Gold]

[Do you want to proceed with the repairs?]

The total repair cost of the buildings that came out was 20 million gold.

It was an outrageously expensive price, but I pressed the repair proceed button without any hesitation.

[Proceeding with repairs.]

[Total Estimated Repair Completion Time: 14 days]

[Large-scale building repair work will increase the city’s development level.]

[Once all repairs are completed, Lawless Port Granado will regain its original form.]

Along with that, various notification windows followed!

I waved my hand and turned off the notification windows.

There were still many places where money needed to be spent.

I didn’t turn on Management Mode just to restore Lawless Port Granado to its original form.

[List of Constructible Buildings]

[City Hall] [Grade: Normal]

[A beautiful white mansion that symbolizes the authority of the lord.]

[Administrative tasks such as quest distribution, city management, faction management, and appointment of administrative officials can be handled. Can be upgraded to a Royal Palace later.]

[Construction Cost: 3,000,000 Gold]

[Estimated Construction Time: 7 days]

[City quests can be distributed.]

[Alliance formation becomes possible.]

[City zone reorganization becomes possible.]

[Administrative officials can be appointed for each city zone.]

[Training Camp] [Grade: Normal]

[A defense facility that trains novices and disorganized soldiers into elite troops. You can conscript Granado residents and organize them into a regular army. The combat power of the Training Camp Commander greatly influences the rank of the soldiers.]

[Construction Cost: 2,000,000 Gold]

…….

[Shipyard] [Grade: Rare]

[A facility where you can build ships to navigate the rough eastern seas or modify them for specific purposes. Depending on the level of the facility, you can acquire shipbuilding skills.]

[Construction Cost: 5,000,000 Gold]

[Estimated Construction Time: 12 days]

…….

[Luxury Casino] [Grade: Mysterious]

[A casino that is the pinnacle of entertainment and pleasure. In addition to the gambling hall, various performance facilities are located here, generating large profits but negatively affecting the city’s security.]

[Construction Cost: 8,000,000 Gold]

[Estimated Construction Time: 7 days]

…….

[Luxury Hotel] [Grade: Mysterious]

[Estimated Construction Time: 8 days]

[Construction Cost: 7,000,000 Gold]

[Accommodation that provides high-quality services, unlike inns, and is preferred by the rich and nobles. Security can be guaranteed to guests, but high maintenance costs are incurred.]

…….

Up to this point, it was a general construction list.

And finally, the Black Magic related buildings that I was looking forward to started to appear.