The Final Boss Has Returned 42

Chapter 42

The people gathered here, especially those who have risen to the rank of executive within the Infinite Eugene Church, are mostly Eugene’s fanatics, to say the least.

The fanatics of the Infinite Eugene Church!

They were among those who understood Eugene better than anyone else.

The fact that Eugene doesn’t attack Drakan first!

That’s because there’s no justification to attack Drakan yet.

However, that doesn’t mean that the Infinite Eugene Church is going to sit idly by and watch the potential threat of Drakan, who has signed a contract with Jeil E&M.

Eugene and the Infinite Eugene Church were separate entities, and although the Infinite Eugene Church was voluntarily supporting Eugene, he didn’t directly control the church.

Therefore, Lexus knew all too well that even if he helped the Merfolk and killed Drakan, as long as he manipulated public opinion well, it would mainly be the fanatics like him who would be criticized, and Eugene wouldn’t be significantly affected.

After all, this wasn’t Eugene’s order, but rather a ‘deviation’ by a ‘part of the extreme fandom.’

‘He must be eliminated, even if it means doing this!’

Drakan!

If only he could eliminate the potential threat to Eugene’s hegemony, the one who would emerge as a real threat once he completed the Apostle of Darkness quest, before he even had a chance to sprout!

If only he could contribute to Eugene-nim’s future!

The Infinite Eugene Church was full of fanatics who would gladly endure such criticism for Eugene’s sake.

And Lexus was one of those fanatics.

Of course, going straight into the sea and contacting the Merfolk was a daunting task, but Lexus himself was also quite the seasoned explorer!

Although the chances of finding the Merfolk in the vast ocean were slim, Lexus believed it was a worthwhile gamble if it meant eliminating Drakan.

Of course, Lexus wasn’t completely thoughtless, so he planned to carry out the operation secretly, leading only a small elite group of followers.

“Anyway, both of your ideas were truly excellent.”

After praising the executive who proposed the plan and the executive who had a contract with the Sea Goddess, the atmosphere in the conference room became amicable, and soon the Infinite Eugene Church’s Eastern Conference concluded.

After the meeting, one of the executives who attended, Lee A-ron, immediately logged out.

Whirr.

The capsule door opened, revealing a spacious room.

‘Lee A-ron,’ who emerged from the capsule, immediately picked up his smartphone on the drawer and made a call.

Ring ring ring ring ring.

As soon as the ringing tone ended with a click, ‘Lee A-ron’ spoke in a respectful voice.

“Manager Kim, I have an urgent report.”

▄ ▄ ▄

In the now-familiar conference room, the familiar members were gathered for a meeting.

“The key is this Scylla. One of the two guardian beasts of the Merfolk. If we reconstruct the information about Scylla based on Drakan-nim’s quest cinematic, the testimony of Merfolk Prince Nereus, and the legends of Ard World, it’s a giant monster specializing in sonic attacks, and its expected patterns are as follows.”

Team Leader Lee was giving a raid briefing based on the information he had gathered about Scylla, and Ignis was sitting next to me, listening intently to his briefing.

I crossed my arms, lost in thought as I gazed at the massive form of Scylla displayed on the presentation screen.

Scylla!

The guardian beast of the Merfolk!

A giant six-headed Sea Serpent!

He was the one I considered the biggest obstacle in this quest.

The majesty of the monster I saw in the cinematic and the information I heard from Nereus were truly formidable.

A monster that might be even more powerful than the Thunderbird, the raid boss monster that Simseong Milky Way Guild had just defeated, due to the underwater environment!

That was Scylla.

“If the Scylla raid is successful, it will be the first case of a successful underwater raid in Ard Saga Second.”

“That’s quite tempting.”

Ignis responded to Team Leader Lee’s words, licking his lips.

I looked at Ignis and smiled.

I still can’t face Scylla with my current power.

Therefore, I was planning to mobilize JDG and Ignis to deal with Scylla on my behalf once again.

After all, boss monster raids were the flower of Ard World, so to speak.

Especially, the stronger the boss monster, the greater the fame of the guild or party that conquered it.

Even six years ago, the money earned from broadcasting boss monster raids live through specialized game cable channels was substantial, but now, with the advent of the internet broadcasting platform Ard Live, the situation is even more lucrative.

In particular, the real-time streaming of monster raids by large guilds, like the top ten guilds, was like raking in money with a shovel.

‘I heard that Simseong Milky Way made well over hundreds of millions with the Thunderbird raid this time.’

Hundreds of millions from streaming!

It was a truly unreal amount.

So it was natural for Ignis to be interested in the Scylla raid.

Well, it wasn’t a bad thing for me either.

It was enough to boast about the pie I couldn’t eat and use Ignis to my advantage.

Just then, as the meeting continued.

The door to the conference room opened and someone appeared.

A man in a neat black suit, Manager Kim, the secretary who had brought me to Shin Ha-yeon before.

“Executive Director-nim. I apologize. I came here with an urgent report, despite the rudeness.”

“What report?”

Shin Ha-yeon asked Manager Kim with a cold expression that I could never get used to, a stark contrast to how she treated me.

“Can I speak here……?”

“It’s fine. Everyone here can keep their mouths shut. And if they can’t, well, we can make them.”

A heavy silence fell over the room at Shin Ha-yeon’s words.

If they can’t keep their mouths shut, they can be made to.

As expected of a chaebol heiress, her ambition was extraordinary.

After hearing her words, Manager Kim finally took a breath and spoke in a calm tone.

“We received a report from an informant. The Eastern Branch of the Infinite Eugene Church is planning to contact the Merfolk and interfere with Drakan-nim’s quest.”

The explanations that Manager Kim began to unravel were enough to plunge the conference room into an even heavier silence.

The Infinite Eugene Church!

The fact that they were planning to interfere with my quest, even mobilizing the contractor of the Sea Goddess, left everyone in the conference room speechless.

And I instinctively realized.

The informant Manager Kim was talking about was a spy!

‘They must have infiltrated a spy within the Infinite Eugene Church.’

If it wasn’t a spy, they wouldn’t have been able to find out about their internal affairs so quickly.

Moreover, the Infinite Eugene Church didn’t have strict membership requirements like a guild.

The Infinite Eugene Church was a fandom that anyone could join, and leaving was also free.

It was an organization optimized for planting spies.

Of course, the reason I was able to figure this out right away was because I had also planted spies in other guilds and eliminated spies within our guild when I was waging wars before becoming a top ranker.

Furthermore, I had even infiltrated spies into Eugene’s faction, the Revolutionary Army, when I was fighting against him.

Information was crucial in war, and the spies who could gather that information were even more important.

Well, I lost the fight against Eugene despite planting spies, but anyway, that wasn’t important right now.

‘Shin Ha-yeon, her grudge against Eugene must be deeper than I thought.’

I thought as I looked at Shin Ha-yeon’s profile.

I remembered Shin Ha-yeon’s eyes when she mentioned Eugene when we first met.

Remembering her gaze filled with anger towards Eugene, just like mine, I smiled.

Thinking that it was indeed a good decision to join forces with her, I spoke.

“I was wondering why there hadn’t been any interference, but it’s finally here.”

I wasn’t particularly surprised by the fact that the Infinite Eugene Church was trying to interfere with my quest, even mobilizing the contractor of the Sea Goddess.

Rather, I was wondering why it hadn’t happened sooner.

I had experienced countless obstructions and interference before becoming a top ranker, so I was very familiar with such dirty tricks.

Well, Eugene, that fool, was obsessed with fair and square confrontations, so he didn’t engage in such underhanded tactics at all, but the Infinite Eugene Church was different.

Eugene’s fanatics, whom I had experienced nauseatingly in the previous game!

They were the Infinite Eugene Church, the ones who would gladly jump into fire with a smile at Eugene’s single word.

There was no way those guys would leave me alone, Eugene’s biggest rival, the former villain, the former top ranker, and the dangerous individual who, according to the ‘Analysis King’s’ analysis, had a high probability of becoming his future adversary.

They would definitely try to eliminate me by any means necessary.

After all, Ard Saga Second was a hardcore game with only one life!

If they killed me, it would be like removing an obstacle blocking Eugene’s path, a significant achievement for Eugene’s fanatics.

Well, they might receive some criticism, but they probably calculated that they could get away with it by insisting that the Infinite Eugene Church and Eugene were separate entities.

“I’m a little flattered that they seem to acknowledge me as a big shot……”

Shin Ha-yeon burst into laughter at my words.

Her cold face melted like spring snow, and she rolled her wheeled chair towards me with a smile and whispered.

“So, Drakan-nim. What are we going to do?”

“We’ll use them.”

I answered Shin Ha-yeon’s question without hesitation.

“To the point that they’ll regret trying to play tricks on me.”

I added with a smile.

The position of a top ranker wasn’t something you could achieve through child’s play.

Until I reached that position!

I had overcome countless dirty tricks and interference from numerous enemies, sometimes crushing opponents with strategies, and finally claimed the top ranker position in the previous game after a bloody struggle.

To dare try to play tricks on me with underhanded tactics!

I could say that they were a hundred years, no, a thousand years too early.

‘How cute.’

I scoffed at the Infinite Eugene Church for trying to play tricks on me, and Shin Ha-yeon spoke to me again.

“How are you going to use them?”

“We’ll feed them false information through various channels, making them misjudge my situation.”

“What kind of false information are you talking about?”

Ignis asked as soon as I finished speaking.

I looked at Ignis and Shin Ha-yeon alternately and continued.

“The details of my quest have already become the talk of the town. There’s probably no Ard Saga player who doesn’t know about it. Naturally, the Infinite Eugene Church would also know.”

The revival of the Merfolk Kingdom!

I could guarantee that there were almost no players who didn’t know about the content of the quest I was undertaking.

Nereus had appeared on the docks filled with players and openly explained the quest, and Ard Live streamers, including the Analysis King, had analyzed the content of my quest and written all sorts of conjectures about the possibility of success, so if you didn’t know about my quest, you might as well be a spy.

Quite naturally, the Infinite Eugene Church would also be well aware of the content of my quest.

“And any sensible player would guess that my quest isn’t the kind that can be completed quickly.”

As I said that, I recalled the opinions of the streamers who had analyzed my quest video.

The recovery of the guardian beast.

And the war with the Merfolk!

Most streamers estimated that it would take at least three months, and possibly six months to a year or more, for me to achieve these two goals alone.

Of course, regardless of their speculation, I had already revived Kraken and was just one step away from convening the Merfolk Tribal Council.

And no one in Ard World knew about Kraken’s revival except for Nereus and his close associates.

This was because Nereus had decided to reveal the fact of Kraken’s revival when he convened the Tribal Council.

Furthermore, since both Shin Ha-yeon and I were contractors of the Demon Court faction, the Transcendent Beings of the Pantheon side couldn’t peek into our situation.

“And the fact that I skipped one quest is still unknown to other players.”