Chapter 65
War!
What Shin Jeong-hyeok said to Rio unexpectedly hit the mark.
There was only one reason why JDG and Drakan were able to monopolize the headlines like this.
It was war.
Until Drakan broadcasted the Lawless Port Recapture Battle, there hadn’t been a large-scale battle that could be called a war in Ard Saga Second.
The content that most streamers broadcasted did not deviate much from the categories of dungeons or adventures.
That’s why people were so enthusiastic about the war where Drakan fiercely burned down the city in the Lawless Port Recapture Battle and fought against the Merfolk underwater.
Rio’s mind was racing.
Of course, Drakan didn’t gain popularity just by waging war.
Large-scale content with user participation!
Drakan opened up the war for user participation, turning it into a festival, and countless users were able to satisfy their desire for fun by participating in the war.
‘User participation is too inefficient.’
Rio shook his head.
User participation event!
On the surface, it could be considered a decent plan.
However, there was one disadvantage to the user participation event that couldn’t be ignored, and that was the low return on investment.
Even though the saying goes to share even a single bean, there were many people in the world who didn’t want to share even that one bean.
Moreover, sharing a quest, especially a large-scale quest, with others?
That was literally impossible, and it could be said that Drakan and Shin Ha-yeon, who were doing such a thing, were abnormal.
The amount of money they had poured into Ard Saga Second so far while doing such things was truly astronomical.
Compared to that, the rewards they had received so far were not much.
It was the epitome of inefficiency, a play style that pursued the end of inefficiency that neither Vice Chairman Shin Jeong-hyeok nor Changwang Rio could understand.
Of course, in return, they changed the public opinion of users positively in a short period of time, but conversely, it meant that all they had left was public opinion.
And from the standpoint of Simseong Milky Way Guild and Changwang Rio, who already had a sufficient fandom, there was no need to increase favorable public opinion.
Furthermore, since Simseong Milky Way Guild wasn’t an elite force, and as the overlord of the North, they could mobilize enough troops and NPC factions from allied guilds to form a large army, so there was no need to mobilize general users.
In any case, for various reasons, in the current situation of Simseong Milky Way Guild, there were more disadvantages than advantages to allowing general user participation.
Rio continued to rack his brains.
Even though he was scolded by Shin Jeong-hyeok, Rio was also basically the master of a top ten guild!
Rio finally came to a conclusion.
‘Hit the Undead.’
Undead!
The group that controlled about a third of the territory in the northern region, which was Simseong Milky Way Guild’s territory!
The Undead army ruled by the Undead King never left their territory, which was called the ‘Land of Death.’ But because of that, it also became a good source of experience for users, and the Undead’s territory was famous as a honey hunting ground.
Moreover, in the background setting of Ard World, the history of northern pioneering was the history of subjugating the Undead, and the Undead were a symbol of fear to the northern NPCs.
‘If it’s a war with the Undead and the Undead King, it’s a guaranteed issue even without user participation.’
Rio smiled.
If he could wage war against such an Undead army, and furthermore, defeat the Undead King, the leader of the Undead Legion and a mythical grade boss monster famous from the previous game!
Without playing inefficiently like Drakan, he could monopolize the achievements with only himself and his friendly forces, including his guild, and succeed in creating buzz and issues!
Rio inwardly scoffed at Drakan and Shin Ha-yeon, who allowed the participation of general users.
Rio was going to show them this time.
The fact that he could achieve better results without playing inefficiently like them, giving away to others like fools!
‘I need to accept the Undead-related quest that I refused before.’
Rio recalled the quest he had previously refused, which was about waging an all-out war against the Undead army.
A little while later, Rio logged into the game, and soon after, a video was uploaded to the official channel of Simseong Milky Way Guild.
[This is the quest I received, ‘War with Death.’]
[I, and Simseong Milky Way Guild, will start a war with the Undead from today, and the final goal of this war will be the Undead King.]
A video uploaded to the official channel of Simseong Milky Way Guild!
This video, where Over-Ranker Changwang Rio personally appeared to show the contents of the quest he received and declared war with the Undead and the Undead King raid, spread instantly, and countless people showed interest in the ‘War with Death.’
Undead King!
A mythical grade monster and the pinnacle of the Undead!
Countless users were enthusiastic about Rio’s declaration to hunt the named monster that had been famous since the previous game.
But until then, people didn’t know.
That the Undead were included in the Dark G*d’s six children, and therefore, were related to the mythical grade quest that Drakan received!
Not long after Rio accepted the quest, declared war, and actually moved his troops, a skeletal Undead Eagle with only bones left flew up from the Skeletal Castle at the World’s End.
It was a messenger sent by the Undead King to Drakan, the contractor of the Dark G*d.
▄ ▄ ▄
Undead King!
A monster called the final boss of the North and the leader of the Undead Legion, a mythical grade monster!
Since I was a veteran among veterans, a former top-ranked player, I knew very well what kind of monster the Undead King was.
‘The Undead King is the best named monster in the North.’
The Undead King, known to have been the king of an ancient kingdom, attempted a forbidden ritual thousands of years ago in Ard World’s time to achieve immortality by sacrificing the people of his kingdom, but failed. And as a side effect, he was turned into an Undead along with the people of his kingdom, becoming the best named monster in the North with this legend.
Even excluding the ancient kingdom legend, which was the birth story of the Undead King, numerous legends of the North were intertwined around the Undead King.
‘The legend intertwined with Kazan is famous.’
The most famous legend intertwined with the Undead King was his confrontation with the Arch Druid Kazan!
Two thousand years ago, the Arch Druid Kazan was famous for the legend of sealing the cold of the North, which was so cold that it was difficult for people to live, and turning it into a habitable land.
He had a seven-day and night battle with the Undead King, and although he couldn’t k*ll the Undead King, he succeeded in inflicting a fatal blow on the Undead King and sealing his power with a great ritual that cost him his own life.
Therefore, even today, two thousand years later in Ard World’s time, the Undead King was unable to move a single step from the Skeletal Castle built in a place called the World’s End, sitting on the Skull Throne.
The reason why I knew so much about the Undead King was because he was the only monster I failed to raid in the previous game.
Of course, I heard that Eugene also attempted a raid later and failed, so it seems that I wasn’t the only one who lost face.
Anyway, the messenger sent by the Undead King was now in front of me.
The Undead King’s messenger I met after hurriedly heading to Lawless Port on Kraken was none other than a Skeletal Eagle!
[You are the contractor of the Dark G*d. I am the Undead King.]
As soon as it saw me, a blue light appeared in the empty sockets of the Skeletal Eagle, and then a spooky voice flowed out from the Skeletal Eagle.
It was the voice of the Undead King.
[I heard a rumor that you are trying to revive the ancient alliance?]
The ancient alliance!
Those words flowed out from the Undead King’s mouth, and I looked at the Skeletal Eagle and asked back.
“So what if I am?”
[If you fulfill my request, I will personally recognize you as an apostle and let you join the ancient alliance.]
“What is the request?”
As soon as I finished speaking, a video appeared.
It was a cinematic video that I should be used to by now.
After all, the Merfolk Kingdom quest was also a legendary grade quest, so the quest given by the famous Undead King couldn’t be anything but a legendary grade.
As I was thinking that, the video started.
The background of the video was a coniferous forest that grew densely enough to pierce the sky!
In that forest, an old druid wearing a bear skin took out a spear made of branches from a clear spring.
[The restoration of Mistilteinn is finally complete.]
Mistilteinn!
It was a legendary grade spear that the Arch Druid Kazan used to defeat the Undead King!
The legendary weapon that was said to have been broken in half and lost its power when Kazan defeated the Undead King at the cost of his own life. That Mistilteinn was now held in the hands of the old druid, boasting its vitality.
[You, our proud hero of the North, with this spear, you will be able to finish the task that the Arch Druid couldn’t two thousand years ago.]
The old druid handed the branch spear to the other person.
And the person who received the spear was surprisingly a user I knew well.
Changwang Rio!
The master of Simseong Milky Way Guild, the overlord of the North, and one of the twenty Over-Rankers!
It was the first time in my numerous gaming experiences that a user appeared in a cinematic video, but I could instinctively figure out the content of the quest.
This was a conflicting quest and an antagonistic quest.
Yes, just like when Eugene received the Rebellion Quest six years ago, and I received the Rebellion Suppression Quest!
The core of this quest was clearly to interfere with each other’s quests.
While I was guessing the content of the quest like that, the location of the video had already changed.
Snow Castle, the center of the North!
In the Grand Plaza, Rio was standing in front of countless users and NPCs, holding Mistilteinn.
[Today, we are going to start a war with death. The long history of the North, which has been confronting the Undead, will now come to an end today. When this war is over! The North will be completely human territory! I, Rio! Will stab the Undead King to death with this Mistilteinn!]
People were enthusiastic about Rio’s speech as he raised the spear to the sky, and the video ended with the scene of a large-scale expeditionary force starting to march towards the Land of Death, the territory of the Undead.
[A quest has occurred.]
As soon as the video ended, a quest notification rang as if it had been waiting.
[War of Eternal Winter]
[Grade: Legendary]
[Since the Undead King performed the forbidden ritual, the North has been completely the territory of the Undead for countless years. However, with the appearance of the Arch Druid Kazan two thousand years ago, everything changed.]
[The Arch Druid Kazan sealed the winter of the North with a terrible ritual, summoned humans to defile the Undead King’s territory, and finally committed the atrocity of inflicting a fatal blow on the Undead King and sealing his power at the cost of his own life.]
[And today, the cursed legacy left by the Arch Druid is threatening the survival of the Undead.]
[The cursed branch Mistilteinn has been resurrected, and the humans of the North, unaware of their place, have formed the so-called ‘Northern Expeditionary Force’ and are invading the territory of the great Undead King.]
[Unseal the winter seal to return eternal winter to the North, complete the Soulfire Sword Levateinn, and burn the cursed branch Mistilteinn to defeat the Northern Expeditionary Force.]
[Now is the time to teach them who the true owner of the North is.]
[Quest Objectives]
[Complete ‘Levateinn’]
[Unseal the ‘Winter Seal’]
[Repel the Northern Expeditionary Force]
[Do you accept the quest?]
The quest completion conditions alone were similar to those of the Merfolk Kingdom. No, there were three, which was even more!
And each one of them didn’t look easy.
‘Unseal the winter seal, complete Levateinn, and use it to repel the Northern Expeditionary Force!’
I was appalled by the ridiculous difficulty of this quest.
Just like with the Merfolk Kingdom, the difficulty of the quest was truly merciless.
Moreover, the enemy wasn’t just an NPC this time.
It was a user!
And not just any user, but an Over-Ranker.
If I made a mistake in fighting against a user, the carefully built tower of public opinion could collapse.
However, I couldn’t give up the Apostle’s Path quest either, so it was truly a dilemma.
I sighed as I looked at the message asking if I would accept the quest.
In any case, I had to accept the quest first.
“I accept the request.”
[You have accepted the quest.]
After accepting the quest, I logged out right there.
Because I needed some kind of countermeasure for this new quest I received.
