Chapter 66
The top floor conference room of the Jeil Content Hub building.
In that now familiar place, everyone who always gathered was assembled: the Drakan support team, Shin Ha-yeon, and even Ignis, all having received my summons.
Today’s meeting topic was the quest I received!
Since everyone had already been briefed on the quest details, the meeting proceeded quickly.
“These are the videos Changwang Rio uploaded to the Simseong Milky Way Guild’s official channel. Please take a look.”
Along with Team Leader Lee’s words, who was in charge of the briefing as always, the video began to play.
[This is the quest I received, ‘War with Death’.]
[Starting today, I and the Simseong Milky Way Guild will wage war against the undead, and the ultimate goal of this war is to become the Undead King.]
The first video was a short clip of Changwang Rio declaring his intention to defeat the Undead King!
And the second video was the expedition departure announcement video, which I had also seen in the cinematic.
The internet’s reaction to the video was explosive.
[Hey, Rio is finally doing something lol. Was he scared?]
[Wow, it’s been a while since we’ve heard from him. I thought he quit the game.]
[What are you talking about? He did the Thunderbird raid just recently; quit the game?]
[The Undead King raid, I think we did that in the previous game.]
[Nope, we failed back then. The healing didn’t work, and it was a total mess.]
[Right, back then famous Rankers like Eugene and Drakan poured all their raid teams into it, but not a single team succeeded.]
[Whatever, he’ll figure it out. Whether he fails or succeeds, I’ll just watch from the sidelines.]
I frowned as I read the comments and asked Team Leader Lee,
“Are regular users participating in this expedition?”
“Not really. More than half of the users participating in this Undead expedition force are members of Simseong Milky Way and its allied guilds. The other regular users are either Dark Gamers hired by Simseong Milky Way, their acquaintances, or those who paid a participation fee through unofficial channels.”
I laughed at Team Leader Lee’s words.
Changwang Rio!
He was foolish enough to exclude regular users.
I scoffed at him.
Of course, from Changwang Rio’s perspective, it was probably the best and most rational choice.
In today’s world, where people don’t even want to share a single bean, if the Undead King is the goal, it’s at least a Legendary grade quest. Who would want to share the rewards of such a quest!
Even without the participation of regular users, a Named Monster like the Undead King would still generate a considerable amount of buzz. Moreover, as the leading guild of the North, they would have a large force at their disposal. He probably made this decision because he didn’t want to share the rewards with others.
In fact, not only Rio, but the majority of users would be thinking the same thing.
There’s no need for me to do good deeds for others!
This quest is my quest, so there’s no need to share it with others and reduce my reward!
I’ll monopolize this all and take it all for myself!
Thoughts like these.
That’s what I thought six years ago, and I managed and ruled the world that way, and eventually failed miserably.
Small greed, big loss!
The me from six years ago was so focused on the small profits in front of me that I couldn’t see the bigger picture and eventually collapsed. I learned a lesson from that failure.
Even if the immediate profit seems large, you need the courage to give it up to draw the bigger picture. Only then will you be able to reap greater rewards in the future.
I learned this painfully from my sworn enemy, that d*mn Eugene, who sent me to a fishing vessel in the middle of the ocean.
As the saying goes, the enemy is the best teacher!
My teacher was Eugene.
“If there are no regular users, then I can feel free to crush them. It’s just a conflict during the quest.”
I smiled.
I knew very well that there was no penalty for PK between players carrying out conflicting quests.
In other words, even if I fought the Northern Expeditionary Force and killed them, it would be safe to assume that Eugene would have no grounds to intervene.
The only thing Eugene hated was forced and one-sided PK, and such PK always came with a penalty. But in this case, it was a clash during a quest.
Moreover, Rio thankfully formed the expedition force only with the guild’s forces and related personnel, excluding regular users, so I didn’t have to worry about negative public opinion.
If regular users were involved, this fight would have become regular users versus Drakan, and it would have been a huge burden on me whether I won or lost.
However, thanks to his greed excluding regular users, this fight became Simseong Milky Way versus Drakan, and regular users would become spectators watching this fight. And from the perspective of the regular users who became spectators, they wouldn’t care who wins as long as it’s an entertaining fight.
The saying “The winning side is my side” perfectly fits the current situation.
‘I should thank him.’
I thanked Changwang Rio and smiled.
It was time to teach Changwang Rio the lesson I learned from my teacher six years ago.
▄ ▄ ▄
Thanks to Changwang Rio excluding the participation of regular users, the decision to tackle the quest was made quickly and without any objections.
Since the decision to tackle the quest was made, the only thing left was to discuss how to do it.
“According to the information gathered, the Winter Forest is the suspected location of the Winter Seal. The Winter Forest is a vast field where high-level monsters frequently appear, and it’s also a place where retired NPC Druids spend their twilight years. It is expected that the undead will have difficulty operating in this area.”
“There was little information on Levateinn, but we found a few meaningful passages in the legends passed down in the North. Levateinn is a weapon of death forged by tempering the essence of ten thousand specters with the Flame of Souls, and it is said to have the power to burn anything.”
“The Northern Expeditionary Force is currently advancing through the northern border into the Land of Death. There is still a considerable distance to the World’s End where the Undead King resides, but their morale is high as they are defeating the undead army blocking their path with consecutive victories.”
Information related to the quest objectives continued to pour out from Team Leader Lee’s presentation.
I was grateful that I had signed a contract with Jeil E&M, as I was able to sit here and listen to information that would have taken ages to obtain if I were acting alone.
“Let’s exclude the information on Levateinn for now and focus on the Winter Forest.”
“We can’t deploy an army to the Winter Forest, but we can dispatch an expedition.”
Team Leader Lee responded to my words as if agreeing with me.
He was right.
As someone who only possessed the Pirate Archipelago and Lawless Port, I lacked the capacity to send an expedition force to the North, even with the support of JDG.
To have the capacity to deploy a large-scale army to other regions, I would have to swallow the entire Gasan Kingdom.
Of course, it would be possible if I mobilized the Merfolk Kingdom, but the problem is that the seabed of the North is the territory of the Mermaid Kingdom.
If I mobilized the Merfolk, I might end up having to fight the Mermaids, so mobilizing them was also impossible. A two-front war was a taboo among taboos.
“I don’t think we need to dispatch an expedition. For this kind of operation, it might be better to move with a small elite force.”
After finishing my sentence, I looked at Ignis, and he smiled awkwardly at my words.
“It seems I have to join again.”
“We’re on the same page now. I like it.”
“It’s an honor.”
Ignoring Ignis’s words, I turned to Shin Ha-yeon, who was sitting next to me, and said,
“Executive Director Shin.”
“Yes, Drakan-nim.”
“I need an elite party. Like the one we had for the Pirate King raid.”
I recalled the Pirate King raid.
The elite party formed by gathering all the best streamers of Jeil E&M!
I still couldn’t forget the thrill of that party that easily sent the Pirate King to the afterlife.
Of course, it wasn’t as good as in the previous game, but it was the best party play I had experienced in the Second era.
“Okay. I’ll do it. But……”
“But?”
“I want to go with you, is that okay?”
I smiled at Shin Ha-yeon’s cautious question.
I wondered why she was asking so carefully, but it was just a question of whether it was okay for her to come along.
As far as I was concerned, it didn’t matter whether she came or not.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Thank you, Drakan-nim.”
Shin Ha-yeon smiled faintly at my words and then took out her smartphone from her pocket and made a call.
It was the moment the Northern expedition party was being assembled.
▄ ▄ ▄
[Welcome to Ard Saga Second, user.]
My vision brightened with the monotonous notification sound.
Perhaps because I logged out at the port of Lawless Port, I could hear the cries of seagulls.
And among them, a skeletal eagle, undeniably out of place, floated in the air with its gaunt appearance.
A blue light flickered in the empty sockets of the skeletal eagle.
It was the Undead King.
[You have returned, Contractor.]
“I can’t go to the North alone, can I? I was late gathering my companions.”
I answered calmly to the Undead King’s words, and he didn’t reply.
It didn’t take long for all the party members to gather.
Ignis and Shin Ha-yeon, of course, and the Steel Wall Knight Queen Honey, who served as the tank during the Pirate King raid and would also be the main tank of the party this time, and the Alchemist Ma Boo-jang, who would be the party’s healer.
It would have been better if PantyWarrior and FlyingMan had joined as well, but unfortunately, their schedules didn’t match, so they couldn’t join us.
“It’s good to see you again, Drakan-nim.”
“Good to see you too, Drakan.”
I shook hands with the Knight Queen Honey and the Alchemist Ma Boo-jang, who appeared to be in his mid-30s, whom I met again after the Pirate King raid.
[Party created.]
[Ha-yeon-nim joined Drakan-nim’s party.]
[Ignis-nim joined Drakan-nim’s party.]
……
After forming the party and sharing the quest, I put on the cold-resistant robe I had prepared in advance and said to the Undead King’s messenger, the skeletal eagle,
“Preparations are complete. Where should we go first?”
[I shall personally open the gate to Skeletal Castle.]
The moment the skeletal eagle’s eerie voice echoed, its skeletal body was engulfed in a blue light and flared up. Soon after, space distorted, and a swirling blue crack appeared.
Beyond the crack, a blizzard was constantly raging, and through it, I could see a glimpse of a massive black castle and the fortress within.
It was Skeletal Castle, the Undead King’s stronghold.
I walked towards the crack without hesitation.
