408 < (2). Find the New Dragon of Light, Elkarix -3 >

* * *

Boom!

The Kingdom of Lotus.

Herce, standing next to the king's office desk, stamped on a golden letter.

And as soon as the stamp is stamped, radiance emanates from the letter, and becomes white powder and begins to scatter into the air.

“Is this it...? ”

Hers mutters in a small voice.

And frighteningly at the end of it, a system message appeared in Hers' vision.

[You used the Jade Seal of the Kingdom of Lotus.]

[Throughout the kingdom, the "King" is triggered.]

[You have officially declared war on the kingdom of Elika.]

[From now on, the Kingdom of Lotus can attack all users and NPCs in the Kingdom of Elika without PvP penalty.]

[From now on, the Kingdom's status will be set to 'Exhibition status’.]

[Use the Recruitment tab to recruit users from level 100 to level 200, or NPC as a soldier.]

[Current recruits: 54250]

[When recruiting soldiers, you must pay a salary of LV * 20 gold each day. (When recruiting a user, LV * 15 salary is paid automatically every hour in proportion to play time.)]

[Set the number of soldiers to be enlisted.]

As Herss reads the system messages, he reaches the maximum number of conscripts.

“Enforce the maximum number of people. ”

Then a system message pops up.

[Please set the user/NPC ratio of the troops to be enlisted.]

Herce notices the message for a moment.

‘The user is definitely better than the soldiers...' ’

It was normal for regular soldiers to not have half the combat strength of the same level user, although it would change slightly if they went up to more than ten Seals.

By the time you get to the top of the story, NPCs show the same power as ordinary users.

Moreover, in this large-scale war, smart users are much more helpful than the lack of artificial intelligence of soldiers NPCs.

It was worth hiring, even if the cost to the users was exceptionally high compared to the NPC.

“Hmm……. ”

Hers opens his mouth again, a moment while touching his chin.

“Align user with 20% NPC 80%. ”

20 percent out of 50,000 people recruit tens of thousands of users.

I have been informed that system messages are not possible.

[The number of enlisted users currently residing in the Kingdom of Lotus is 5798.]

[You need to reduce the user rate more.]

Herce scratches at the back of his head and opens his mouth again.

“So…… 10%? ”

[Percentage available for collection.]

[Calculate the result.]

[Estimated Cost of Consumption: 288742450 Gold (This is an approximate figure and may vary by 10%.)]

[Recruitment costs include all consumption costs, such as food and bottle organs.]

[Do you want to proceed with the recruitment?]

Herce, who saw the cost of collecting over a billion units a day, paused.

“Ugh, what's so expensive about recruiting? ”

In fact, the cost of recruitment was never expensive.

The monthly taxes in the kingdom were now surpassing 50 billion gold.

Increased by more than twice as much as the original empire.

That's why, even if I was at war all month long, I could almost cover one month's taxes.

although there is a risk that if you spend all your taxes on war costs, your country's growth will stop.

It was also a small amount of money, given the position of the recruiting user.

The hourly rate is only two to three thousand won.

Beyond salary, fame, items, war contribution points, etc.

If there wasn't more loot to take, no one would have supported it.

After a moment of deliberation, Herce nods and proceeds with the conscription.

“Yes, well... If you win the war, you'll be left with more than a few times the amount of gold you spent on the war fund. ”

Hers' words were never exaggerated.

If the Kingdom of Lotus can win the war and consume the Kingdom of Elika, it will quickly become twice the size of the country.

After the war, of course, there will be enormous taxes in the recovery work, but in the long run, there will be more than twice as many taxes.

This would have been a great foundation for growing as an empire beyond the realm.

“By the way, where the hell is this Ian King shooting at? At such an important moment……. ”

In order to minimize the cost of war, Ian's existence was essential.

If we end this war one day sooner, we'll have less taxes like blood on our hands!

And with Ian, something psychologically stable happened.

“Phew, maybe I should give this Seal back. ”

Herce grunts as he looks at the golden Jade Seal in his right hand.

Delegating the Seal was no different than transferring all of your authority as king.

I was told it was good when Ian lent it to me, but now that I think about it, I was sure to leave all the annoying things behind.

“Ugh... What's so complicated about this? ”

The state versus state war had a territorial war and another dimension.

Because of this, it seemed like there was still a lot to set up in the Internal Affairs part, and Hers continued to have a mournful look (?).

Has it been almost an hour?

- Tyring!

[You're all set for ‘Journey'!]

[Are you sure?]

All preparations are finally made, and the full-scale war between Lotus and Elika begins.

* * *

The further north you go, the higher the undead count and the higher the level.

Ian's group struggles moderately, but eventually makes it to the northern tip of the ElKarik Mountains.

- Tyring!

[Enter the ElKarik Mountains.]]

A concise line of system messages.

The Hun who saw it grumbled in a small voice.

“Phew, how hard can it be to penetrate the Northern Continent? ”

Levia confronts him and replies.

“I know. Isn't this about as good as the Heinz Plateau? ”

Levia was not exaggerated at all.

When I got close to the ElKarik Mountains, even the undead who were really close to the 400 level didn't seem bored.

Moreover, the numbers were enormous, sometimes I thought the Heinz Plateau would be easy.

Suddenly, as a boy, Polymorphic Lugaryx intervened in their conversation.

“Hehe, you wouldn't be here if it wasn't for me. Hehe.”

Ian smiled.

I could have made it to the Elkarik Mountains without Lugaryx, but I didn't really disagree because I didn't have much of his help.

But then.

Hun is refuting Lugaryx's claims like a quickfire.).

“No? No! ”

A completely illogical, childish response!

However, Lugaryx looks furious at how little he's been hit.

“Hehe!”

Ian and Levia stared at each other in riddles, and Hun looked cheerful.

Ian sends a silent message to Levia.

[What the hell are they doing?]

[I don't know. I'm well...]

After that, Lugaryx and Hun are devastated, but the group begins exploring the ElKarik Mountains without a hitch.

But the mountain ranges themselves are so vast, it's not easy to find Elkarix's Rare.

It didn't mean we could scatter the summoners and search a wide range at once.

It's because there are powerful undead everywhere in the mountains.

At the moment, Ian's party is the only one capable of conducting a reconnaissance mission alone.

Ian gives his orders to Kaka.

“Kaka, I need you to scout. Find me a rare ElKarik. ”

“Understood, master. When I find it, I will share my vision through the Monarch of Darkness. ”

“Please!”

Ian's group, who sent Kaká west, begins searching the eastern region.

But about 30 minutes later, Ian felt something strange.

“Well, why does the undead count drop further this way? ”

In Ian's question, Hun reacted with an expression that was not obvious.

“Why is that? Isn't it good to have less monsters and faster navigation? ”

Hun grumbles at Lugaryx.

“Ian wants to fight the Rich King's army now, you cowardly dark lord! ”

“No? I don't think so! ”

“Woohoo!”

On the other hand, one hypothesis was coming to Ian's mind, apart from the two who were beaten up.

‘Maybe……. Could it be that all these undead were guarding the egg of ElKarik? ’

When Ian came up with the hypothesis, he recalled the battles that had been going through the northern continent so far.

‘Come to think of it, the undead only continued to appear in the direction of the ElKarik Mountains. ’

The entire northern continent, of course, was full of the army of the Rich King.

But they are mostly undead monsters that are strong enough to deal with the level of the users hunting in the northern continent.

However, only the map to the poisonous Elkarik Mountains was guarded by the elite undead.

I think it fits. Just before I entered the ElKarik Mountains, I mistook this for the Heinz Plateau. ’

And if this hypothesis is correct, we can now draw the conclusion that Ian's group is going the wrong way.

The closer you get to Rare, the more powerful undead there are if the armies of the Rich King are guarding the Rare ElKarik.

‘Let's trust my gut. ’

Ian clears his mind and opens his mouth to the group.

“I don't think it's this way. ”

And in this never-ending story, Hun and Levia ask at the same time.

“Huh...? ”

“Yes? Why? ”

But when Ian started explaining why, they both became reasonable faces.

“Oh…! I guess you could say that, huh? ”

“I see. For some reason, I think Ian's hypothesis is right. ”

And so far, Lugaryx, who was expressing his heart, was staring at Ian with shaken eyes.

“And a clever human...! How could you even think that?! ”

Lugaryx admires Ian's reasoning with his mouth wide open, almost as if he had seen the rebirth of Jegal Resonance!

So these unattainable parties, fascinated by Ian's plausible hypothesis, began to move back west.

And if Ian's hypothesis is true, the number of undead has increased exponentially to the west.

I started moving fast for the first hour, but started moving slower and slower.

About three hours after entering the ElKarik Mountains, Ian began to wonder.

‘By the way, Kaka, why hasn't this guy heard from us yet? If the east was right, I should have found something by now...? ’

Ian tilts his head and turns his gaze toward Hun.

I haven't contacted Kaka, but I'm trying to share my vision.

But the moment Ian was about to open his mouth!

[Slave, ‘Kaka’ has been devastated!]

[Kaka's life force was depleted and he died.]

[Dead slaves can be recalled 72 hours later.]

“ ……?! ”

I remembered a system message that I never really thought of, and Ian's eyes widened.

< (2). Find Elkarix, the New Dragon of Light -3 > The End