Chapter 91
[The Vanished Lycansrope Tribe]
[Grade: Legend]
Ten years ago, when the Great Cataclysm occurred, the Lycansrope tribe bravely fought against it. However, they completely vanished at some point in the world that had changed due to the Great Cataclysm.
Nosferatu, the Blood King who interacted with the Lycansrope tribe, is suspicious of their disappearance. The Blood King, who agonized over whether they were swept away by the currents of the Great Cataclysm and flown to another dimension, has requested you, the Apostle of the Dark God, to find their whereabouts.
The last place the Lycansrope tribe was seen is the Wolf’s Den in Monster Land.
Will you accept the quest?
The quest that appeared was, as I expected, a quest to find the whereabouts of the Lycansrope tribe.
Mythical Grade Quest, Apostle’s Path!
The path to its final stage had finally appeared before my eyes.
“I accept.”
[You have accepted the quest.]
After accepting the quest, I stood in place and spoke while looking at the leaders of the five races.
“As the Apostle of Darkness and the leader of the alliance, I command you.”
Their gazes turned towards me.
I continued speaking, examining each of the leaders’ faces.
“Deploy all troops, excluding the Undead, to Lawless Port in the East.”
“Is it war, Apostle?”
Bortan, the Orc High Chieftain, growled fiercely at my words.
“Yes, it’s war. Even at this moment, the remnants known as the Northern Alliance are daring to invade my territory, Lawless Port.”
I said in a nonchalant voice.
My words were true.
While I was capturing Snow Castle, Rio’s Northern Alliance forces had already arrived at Lawless Port and begun the siege.
Of course, I had already anticipated this situation. I had appointed Ignis as the temporary lord and Shin Ha-yeon had generously ‘donated’ funds to the territory. With that money, Ignis had built a cosmic defense structure. However, Rio’s forces were not to be underestimated, as he had mobilized almost all of his main force, leaving the North defenseless. If we delayed, Lawless Port could fall.
Of course, now that I had swallowed the entire North, losing Lawless Port wouldn’t be a huge loss, but I was the kind of person who didn’t want to give even a single hair to the enemy.
Furthermore, the profits from Lawless Port, where the casino had properly taken root, were truly enormous, so I had to protect it.
“The Undead will leave half of their forces in the North in case of unforeseen circumstances.”
[Understood.]
Although I had declared the Dark Sanctuary in the North, not all of the North was yet in my hands.
Between a third and half of the territory still remained.
In this situation, if I pulled out all my main forces, there was a risk that the hegemony in the North, which I had secured with great effort, would fall back into the enemy’s hands.
Therefore, in order to maintain hegemony in the North, it was necessary to leave a garrison in the occupied territories.
“And the rest of the forces, including half of the Undead, will all head to Lawless Port.”
At my words, the leaders of the five races each bowed and obeyed me.
I smiled as I looked at them.
Now, it was time to finally end the tiresome feud with Rio.
▄ ▄ ▄
After Changwang Rio’s refusal to mediate!
Because of this, online public opinion was turning quite unfavorable towards Rio.
Eugene!
In Ard Saga, a mere Over-Ranker had dared to refuse the mediation proposal of someone who held a position close to a sanctuary.
[Is Rio crazy? How can he refuse our God God God-nim’s proposal?]
[Either he’s incredibly greedy, or he’s gone mad after having his quest interfered with by Drakan;]
[Honestly, our God Drakan-nim was right lol. This bastard’s justice or whatever is just a facade for his own selfish desires lol]
[For real, Drakan humbly accepted the mediation~]
[Honestly, they’re the Infinite Eugene Church, but this time I agree with the Black Cow bastards. Disgusting bastard]
Regardless of the internal unity of the Northern Alliance forces, an overwhelming amount of criticism was being poured onto Rio!
Even the oil and water fandoms of Drakan and Eugene were temporarily acknowledging each other, to the extent that Rio was being treated almost as a public enemy.
This was even more of a severe backlash because the justification Rio had initially used to attack Drakan was the ‘execution of justice.’
Execution of Justice!
The fact that he had raised that flag, which only Eugene and his allies, the Five Eyes, could proudly raise in Ard Saga, and yet had directly refused Eugene’s proposal, was more than enough to earn the users’ disapproval.
And Drakan, who had already anticipated this flow of public opinion, had ordered Ignis to recruit users. Ignis’s user recruitment was gaining a decent response, and the number of users joining Lawless Port was meaningfully increasing.
At that moment.
[The Dark Sanctuary has been declared in the North.]
[The power of darkness spreads throughout the North.]
Declaration of the Dark Sanctuary!
The notification window that appeared to all users connected to Ard Saga drew everyone’s attention to the North.
[Dark Sanctuary?]
[Does anyone know what that is?]
[I don’t know either;]
[Analysis King just uploaded a video, saying it’s the preliminary stage to rebuilding the Dark Empire.]
[Oh, the Dark Empire lol]
[Holy c*ap lol. Was that why Drakan suddenly went to the North?]
[Breaking News, Drakan…… captured Snow Castle and occupied more than half of the North……]
[Oh lol. So Drakan becomes the ruler of the North?]
[Isn’t this the first time someone’s swallowed a whole region in Second?]
[In the previous game, Drakan was the first to take over a country lol]
[He’s doing what even Eugene hasn’t managed to do yet lol. Crazy lol]
[Our Eugene-nim isn’t unable to do it, he just chooses not to?]
Soon after, issue creators who delved into the myths and legends of Ard Saga found the meaning of the Dark Sanctuary in Sion’s legend and uploaded videos explaining its identity one after another. However, that wasn’t the truly important thing.
Drakan!
People were shocked by the fact that he had achieved the feat of becoming the overlord of a region, something that even Eugene had yet to accomplish.
Unlike the previous game, in Second, it was still NPCs, not users, who were driving the world of Ard Saga.
The power of the Ten Great Guilds was significant, but they had not yet reached the level of power of the NPC nations established in Ard Saga.
Of course, there were near-certain speculations circulating that if the full potential of Eugene and the Five Eyes were revealed, they could easily overthrow a nation, but Eugene had not yet made any official moves to swallow the Central region where he was located.
In such a situation, Drakan had devoured an entire region for the first time in Second and even declared the Dark Sanctuary.
Drakan’s actions so far had been unconventional, but this was shocking enough to overshadow all his previous actions.
Drakan had done what no one, not even Eugene, had managed to do!
While users were buzzing about this, another piece of news arrived.
[Did you guys see Orcs moving in the Skyreach Mountains? Are they moving or something?]
[The Undead are moving too?]
[Uh, Orcs and Undead are gathering at the passage connecting the East and the North;;]
Drakan!
Following his orders, the forces of the Orcs, Vampires, Undead, and Merfolk were gathering at the border between the East and the North.
And that wasn’t all.
The Dark Elves in the Great Southern Forest were also heading north to the East, along with the Undead army that had been stationed there after the completion of Drakan’s Dark Elf Kingdom quest.
A force more than enough to easily crush the Northern Alliance!
That massive force finally began its march towards the East.
And at the forefront was Drakan, and this news quickly reached the ears of the Northern Alliance.
“Enemy forces are advancing from the North. Their estimated strength is at least 1.5 times ours.”
Rio’s lips trembled with rage as he heard the report from Kaian, the vice guild master of Simseong Milky Way.
Estimated strength of at least 1.5 times!
That meant only one thing.
If they arrived here, there would be no hope.
‘Could it be that his heading North wasn’t simply to induce a division of forces and disrupt our rear?’
Declaration of the Dark Sanctuary followed by the gathering of Orc forces!
Upon hearing this news, Rio felt as if he had been hit hard on the back of the head.
Drakan!
He finally realized the true reason why Drakan had headed North.
He hadn’t simply landed in the North to disrupt the rear.
Power.
He had gone North to call for reinforcements, powerful enough to completely wipe out the Northern Alliance.
Rio realized only after being hit on the back of the head that this was what he had been aiming for from the beginning.
If Rio had known in advance that Drakan was hiding this card!
He would have agreed to the ceasefire negotiations long ago.
However, Rio had misjudged the situation, and in the end, that misjudgment had come back to him like a boomerang.
“In order to defeat them, we need to capture Lawless Port quickly.”
Rio let out a hollow laugh as he heard Kaian’s words.
It’s often said that siege requires at least three times the defending force.
This meant that the defensive capabilities of a well-built fortress were that outstanding.
However, the defensive capabilities of Lawless Port surpassed even that outstanding meaning.
The tall, black walls surrounding the entire city!
These walls weren’t just unique in color; they also possessed a special ability to randomly curse soldiers attacking them.
Of course, the curses were at a level that the Druids in the alliance could dispel, but it was still a loss for the Northern Alliance as it meant a waste of their forces.
And that wasn’t all.
From the Grand Magic Defense Barrier, which is usually only installed in important fortresses, to the fortress cannons installed on the walls!
It possessed an incredible defensive capability, enough to be believed to be the capital of a nation.
If it were a land city, it could be besieged to cut off supplies and starve them to death, but Lawless Port was a maritime city.
It could receive abundant supplies through the Pirate Archipelago.
Originally, the Northern Alliance’s navy, mainly composed of Vikings and Merfolk, should have been carrying out a commerce raiding operation to disrupt the maritime supply lines. However, the Northern Alliance’s navy had been utterly destroyed in the naval battle with Drakan, and control of the Eastern and Northern seas had already completely fallen into Drakan’s hands.
Furthermore, the problem didn’t stop there.
No matter how good the defensive capabilities of a fortress were and how uninterrupted the supply lines were, if the defending forces’ capabilities were lacking, the fortress would easily fall.
Just like the Northern capital, Snow Castle, which had been easily captured after its main forces had been withdrawn, leaving only the weaklings behind.
However, much to the regret of Rio and the Simseong Milky Way Guild, the defensive forces protecting Lawless Port were the elite of the elite.
Over-Ranker, Flame Sorcerer Ignis!
And one of the Ten Great Guilds, JDG!
Khalid, the Grandmaster of the Black Ring Society, an NPC Black Magician with power rivaling an Over-Ranker!
The defensive forces of Lawless Port, which included these elite troops, the Rankers belonging to Jeil E&M, and the users who were still voluntarily joining, were truly enough to make Lawless Port an impregnable fortress.
“If we can’t capture Lawless Port before Drakan arrives here……”
Kaian trailed off.
If they couldn’t capture Lawless Port before Drakan arrived, the Northern Alliance had no chance of victory.
In order to face Drakan with their current outnumbered forces, they needed to at least occupy Lawless Port and defend it to have a chance of winning.
Rio also knew the words that Kaian had omitted.
“D*mn it.”
A curse escaped Rio’s lips.
A dilemma!
He had no more room to retreat.
He couldn’t surrender to Drakan now.
No, Drakan wouldn’t accept his surrender now.
He was not the kind of person who would show mercy twice.
Therefore, the current situation was a complete dead end.
Rio rose from his seat.
There was only one choice he could make now.
“Capture Lawless Port, no matter what.”
Hearing Rio’s words, the Northern Alliance forces began to attack the black walls of Lawless Port once more.
