Chapter 80
Ard Live, Drakan’s Official Channel.
Drakan’s dedicated support team received and edited the footage from the Dark Elf quest as soon as it ended, uploading it to his official channel. The user response to the video was explosive.
[Drakan is strong, huh?]
[No, but was Drakan always this good?]
[He’s wiping them out even without Ignis lol]
[Wow~ I was level 90 when Drakan’s first video came out, when did he get so far ahead? ;;;]
[Seeing as his firepower isn’t that strong even with the Avatar, it doesn’t seem like the Rune of Regression. He probably cleared the Legacy Quest to get the skill, right? Is there a video of that?]
[If you go to the Hot Clip Chart, it’s still 2nd or 3rd place. Go check it out.]
Drakan!
He had finally succeeded in defeating enemies solely with his own strength, and with an overwhelming performance at that.
Of course, even before this, Drakan, as a former top-ranked player, showcased physical abilities that were on a different level compared to users of the same level. However, as he was still not ranked among the top players, he often relied on Ignis or other users in important battles.
Drakan’s anti-fans used that to criticize him, calling him a coward and whatnot, but as of today, that controversy was over.
The Unclean One battle video that Drakan uploaded had that much impact.
[What level is Drakan? Has he ever disclosed it?]
[He uploaded it once a long time ago, but not recently.]
[Judging from the video, he’s definitely not max level and is below the rankers, but his skills and physical abilities are insane.]
[There was an analysis video saying he’s in the late 200s or early 300s, but comparing him to Rio, his combat power seems similar to a ranker just before 400.]
[If he’s stronger than his level, isn’t he just a ranker? Crazy.]
He easily surpassed the level of users in the 380s, commonly referred to as ‘max level,’ and was even comparable to most rankers!
The fact that Drakan, who was known to have never officially reached max level, showed this level of performance in the 300s was a shock to the users.
The video exploded with comments, and Ard Live’s issue creators, who were prowling the internet for hot topics, began to churn out speculative videos one after another.
[Today, we’re going to analyze Drakan’s battle video. First of all, the performance Drakan is showing is unimaginable for a user who hasn’t reached max level yet. No matter how much you say he used two ultimate skills, this is ridiculous.]
[When I analyzed Drakan before, I said his physical abilities were almost unrivaled, and among the best at the same level. With the stats and skills Drakan has accumulated now, and if he can maintain this pace, I can confidently guarantee this. We might be able to see the twenty-first Over-Ranker.]
The 21st Over-Ranker!
The anticipation that a new transcendent being might be born was subtly spreading among those who saw Drakan’s video.
At this point, two years after the launch of Ard Saga Second, the Over-Rankers, as well as the High-Rankers, were mostly fixed and unchanging.
It was that difficult for a latecomer to catch up to the frontrunners, and it was considered nearly impossible to join the ranks of the Over-Rankers, the leaders among the leaders, the ultimate veterans of this game. That’s why people, knowingly or unknowingly, began to place their hopes on Drakan.
Drakan!
Maybe he could break through the solid wall of veteran Over-Rankers!
The rebellion of the underdog was always a guaranteed box office hit, so public attention was focused on him. And just as people were debating Drakan’s video,
A video was uploaded to the Simseong Milky Way official channel, which had been strangely silent since the expedition’s failure.
Surprised by the sudden upload, users subscribed to the Simseong Milky Way channel clicked play and were horrified after confirming the video’s content.
[As of this moment, our Simseong Milky Way Guild and the Northern Alliance declare war on Drakan and Lawless Port.]
Changwang Rio!
He had finally drawn his spear against Drakan and declared war.
▄ ▄ ▄
There are winners, and naturally, there are losers.
Reality is neither a perfect zero-sum game nor a win-win, but at least the war against the Undead was an event close to a zero-sum game where either Drakan or Rio would suffer a loss, and the one who was defeated in that war was not Drakan, but Rio.
If Rio had been an individual, it would have ended with his own downfall.
However, Rio was not just an individual, but an Over-Ranker and the guild master of Simseong Milky Way, one of the top ten guilds, and at the same time, he was being sponsored by Shin Jeong-hyeok, the vice chairman of Simseong Group.
Due to Drakan’s leniency, which was unclear whether it was capriciousness or mercy, permanent character deletion was prevented at the last moment, but after that, Rio’s life, intertwined with all the responsibility, turned into h*ll.
“Hey, what the h*ll happened? Drakan? Drakaaann? Not even Ignis, but you got beaten one-on-one by that washed-up b*stard, and after all the money we poured in, you lost the war with that? Hey, you b*stard. Are you out of your mind right now? Huh?”
The rage of Vice Chairman Shin Jeong-hyeok, Rio’s sponsor and the de facto owner of Simseong Milky Way Guild, exploded.
It would have been different if it were anyone else, but the one who spoiled the almost-cooked rice was none other than Drakan, the user sponsored by Shin Ha-yeon.
Shin Jeong-hyeok already had an inferiority complex towards Shin Ha-yeon. To him, that incident was like pouring oil on a burning house.
That day, in the vice chairman’s office located in Simseong Town, unspeakable curses flew along with ashtrays, and Rio had to get six stitches above his right eyebrow at the hospital.
Rio’s misfortune didn’t end there.
Rio’s reputation among northern users plummeted in an instant.
It was Drakan who brought eternal winter to the north, but it was Rio who provided the cause!
This was because such rumors spread among the general users of the north.
Of course, no one in the north was unaware of the fact that the real reason was that they had secretly allowed people in through connections or bribes while outwardly preventing general users from participating in the Undead King raid, trying to keep the rewards for themselves, and not only were they caught, but they even failed.
The morale and power of Simseong Milky Way Guild and its allied guilds had also declined due to the aftermath of the failed expedition.
Although Simseong Group’s support had not yet been cut off, so they were maintaining their existence, there were even rumors circulating that they would collapse if Simseong’s sponsorship ended.
Yes, that was the case.
Until someone unidentified hired Karun, the Over-Ranker known as the strongest Dark Gamer, the “Black King,” and handed him the ‘Fisherman’s Diary,’ the starting item for the Mermaid quest.
“What’s the reason you’re giving this to me?”
“The decisive factor that allowed Drakan to dominate the eastern sea was the subjugation of the Merfolk. And the Merfolk and the Mermaids are sworn enemies, and the Mermaid Kingdom is located under the northern sea. Joining hands with them is the first goal, that’s what my employer told me to tell you.”
“The first goal?”
“Drakan. The first goal to achieve in order to k*ll him. Were you planning to just sit still like this?”
At the words of the Black King Karun, the desire for revenge that had been deeply buried in Rio’s heart flared up like a wildfire.
That’s right.
All of this was because of Drakan.
The winter that came to the north, the failure of the expedition, being cursed at by Vice Chairman Shin Jeong-hyeok and having his right eyebrow split open by a flying ashtray. And not just that? The downfall of Simseong Milky Way Guild, the loss of reputation among northern users.
It was all because of that d*mn Drakan, Shin Ha-yeon, and JDG.
Such thoughts were creeping out of Rio’s mind.
“My employer told me to tell you.”
Karun’s words reached Rio’s ears.
“Don’t you want revenge?”
Revenge!
Sparks flew from Rio’s eyes when he heard those words.
The two words, revenge, were exactly what Rio wanted to hear and the path he had unconsciously dreamed of.
Of course, defeat itself wasn’t a big problem, as the saying goes, defeat is a common matter in war.
What appeared after the defeat against Drakan. From the trivial matter of being cursed at by Vice Chairman Shin, to the bigger issue of losing the reputation of northern users and falling into the abyss.
Changwang Rio!
The guild master of Simseong Milky Way!
It was only natural for him to feel anger and a desire for revenge towards Drakan, the one who had made all his hard work to achieve that glorious title go to waste.
“If you want revenge, I’ll help you. That’s what I was hired to do.”
Shh.
With a grin, Karun looked at Rio and smiled.
Rio looked at the old diary on his office desk and said,
“Who is your employer?”
“You know we can’t just reveal that kind of information in our line of work, right?”
Karun replied to Rio in a nonchalant voice.
Dark Gamer!
In the previous game, they were the idols of all users because they could enjoy the game and earn money, but with the advent of Ard Live and streamers in Second, Dark Gamers rapidly declined.
The main source of income for Dark Gamers was selling items and gold for money, but with the launch of Ard Live in the era of Second, the profits from streaming overwhelmingly surpassed the profits from selling items and gold.
As their position weakened, Dark Gamers started not only selling items and gold, but also working as bus drivers providing power leveling, dungeon guides, and so-called ‘mercenaries’ similar to fixers or private investigators, and the man who reached the pinnacle of those Dark Gamers was none other than the Black King Karun in front of him.
The Black King Karun, there was nothing wrong with his words.
One of the most important things in mercenary work was trust!
Therefore, Dark Gamers made it a principle not to reveal the identity of their employer unless requested by the employer themselves.
“And it’s not like you’re the only one who holds a grudge against Drakan.”
“That’s also true.”
Rio nodded at Karun’s words.
Although it had been diluted a lot now, Drakan was an undeniable public enemy in the previous game, and therefore, even in the current era of Second, there were many people who were sharpening their knives towards Drakan.
Perhaps the employer who hired the Black King Karun was also one of them.
Thinking so, Rio stared intently at Karun.
The Black King Karun!
A maverick user who stubbornly stuck to the path of Dark Gamer and solo play even in the era of streamers, and in the previous game, he was a man who proudly sat in one of the Ten Strong seats with the nickname ‘Lone Wolf’!
If he helped, maybe revenge against Drakan could be achieved.
Thinking so, Rio put the Fisherman’s Diary that Karun had placed on the desk into his inventory.
“Then, what do we do first?”
The flames of revenge were burning in Rio’s eyes as he spoke to Karun.
