Debuff Master - Chapter 1133

Chapter 1133

Going around the marketplace in search of items was actually pretty difficult.

‘Nothing. There’s absolutely nothing.’

Among all those Adventurers crowding the marketplace, not one was selling any items that boosted Siegfried’s skills.

“Kyuuu! I don’t think there’s anything out here, owner punk!” Hamchi squeaked.

He was shrunk down to the size of a mouse and was perched on Siegfried’s shoulder.

“Let’s check it out just a bit more.”

“Kyu?”

“You never know, right?”

“Kyuuu! Don’t go getting your hopes up for no reason! Why are you wasting time here? It’s been two hours already!”

“Let’s just go around one more time,” Siegfried said, refusing to give up. Then, he added, “Look, farming items are supposed to be heard. What? You think it’s easy? It’s not, man. And besides, what if I find something incredible?”

“Kyuuu! I’ll give it to you. Your persistence is unmatched, owner punk!”

Hamchi knew Siegfried too well to try and stop him. Siegfried was so stubborn that he was like a masochist when it came to grinding. Moreover, once he set his mind on something, trying to talk him out of it was pointless.

‘There’s gotta be something out there… somewhere…’

Siegfried was not about to give up. He roamed the market, scanning for any items that had his skill codes.

Just then…

“Selling Plate Mail with Level 15 Green Hell Magno!”

At last, an Adventurer selling an item with one of Siegfried’s skills attached to it finally appeared. It wasn’t just any skill; it was the Green Hell Magno, one of Siegfried’s bread and butter skills. To make it even sweeter, the boost was a whopping fifteen levels.

‘Tsk… It’s not Karma Flare,’ Siegfried clicked his tongue inwardly.

Despite the item being amazing, he couldn’t help but feel disappointed. Why? It was all because what he really wanted was an item that gave at least five levels to Karma Flare, his main debuff skill.

As the Lord of Despair, Siegfried relied heavily on his debuff. This was the reason why Karma Flare, or at least Embrace of Despair, or Absolute Zero, or Wave of Annihilation, would be far more valuable for him.

Moreover, Green Hell Magno was slowly becoming irrelevant these days. It was still a top-tier area of effect skill for killing swarms of weaklings in large-scale battles, but as his enemies grew stronger, their resistance to poison scaled exponentially as well.

In other words, Green Hell Magno was becoming less and less effective. It was still an effective way of getting rid of the meat shields swarming the battlefield, but the tougher ones were practically resistant to radiation poisoning damage now.

With that in mind, Siegfried walked straight up to the Adventurer and asked for the price.

“How much?”

“It’s got +15 to the skill, so it’s gonna cost quite a bit. Are you sure you’re okay with that?”

The seller was clearly afraid that Siegfried would try to haggle or lowball him, so he did not offer the price upfront.

“This is my offer,” Siegfried said, opening the trade window and placing the amount of gold in it.

The seller looked troubled for a second before replying, “Erm… Can’t you do a little better? An item that gives fifteen levels isn’t exactly common, so…”

“Sorry.”

Siegfried had the money and could afford to pay more if he wanted, but investing a hefty sum in Green Hell Magno, a skill that barely worked on more powerful enemies, felt like a waste to him.

“I hope you find a better buyer than.”

With those words, Siegfried turned and walked away without hesitation.

“W-Wait!”

The seller panicked and called after him.

“Fine, you got yourself a deal!”

“Are you sure?”

“What other choice do I have?”

“A wise decision. I was not that desperate for it anyway,” Siegfried said with a smile.

“I see…”

“Anyway, nice doing business with you. Take care.”

“Yeah, you too…”

The seller handed over the plate mail that boosted Green Hell Magno and disappeared into the crowd.

‘Well, that was a good deal,’ Siegfried thought, more than satisfied with the trade.

He didn’t need the armor, but he liked the bonus that came with it. Moreover, the seller had offloaded what was basically a piece of junk in his hands. Even though it was not perfect, both sides still walked away with something, making it a fair win-win trade.

“Let’s head back now. I’ll come check this place later.”

“Got it! Kyuuu!”

With his shopping trip wrapped up, Siegfried and Hamchi returned to the command center.

***

Siegfried returned to the command center and immediately convened a strategy meeting to discuss the special operation on the prisoner camp.

According to the gathered information, a full division was required to mount an all-out offensive, proving just how heavily fortified the prison camp was.

“As for command…” Siegfried trailed his words and looked around the room. Then, he looked in one particular direction and said, “I want you to lead this operation, Cain.”

“Me? You want me to take command?” Cain asked in response, flustered.

He had naturally assumed that Siegfried would take the lead.

Why?

It was all because he was the Supreme Commander.

Cain had figured that Siegfried would personally direct every operation to hog all the glory for himself.

However, there was one thing Cain did not know about Siegfried.

What could glory possibly mean to Siegfried at this point? What worth did it have to him?

Siegfried had already accomplished everything there was to achieve, so he no longer had to prove himself to others. His only focus now was leveling up and rescuing Daode Tianzun and Betelgeuse, not becoming a war hero.

“I’ll be moving solo. The elders are likely being held deep inside the camp, so I’ll go find them myself,” Siegfried said. Then, he added, “The rest of you focus entirely on destroying the prison camp.”

“But isn’t that too reckless? Acting alone like that…?” Cain asked, furrowing his brow.

“It will be fine. I will not cause any problems and I will stay out of your way,” Siegfried replied with a shrug.

‘This guy is a lunatic…’ Cain thought, clearly not amused.

Ever since being forcibly conscripted into this campaign, he had gotten used to military tactics. One of the things he had recently learned was just how powerful a well-coordinated team could be and how catastrophic a single person going solo could be.

‘Fine, go ahead and play hero. I don’t care if you’re a Grandmaster or what. Go running off on your own and just die,’ Cain scowled inwardly, convinced that Siegfried was just acting out.

“When are we launching the attack?” Cain asked.

“At nightfall,” Siegfried replied.

“Understood.”

With that, the operation to assault the prisoner camp was set, and the meeting was adjourned.

Cain slipped up beside Siegfried just as the others were leaving the room.

“Hey, can you not do that?” Cain said, sounding a bit annoyed.

“Do what?” Siegfried asked in response, tilting his head in confusion.

“Going solo. Someone with your level of gaming experience should know better. Why would you pull this stunt?” Cain grumbled, his tone sounding harsh.

“What exactly am I pulling right now?”

“This is a war. We fight together. But what do you think will happen if you screw up and mess up the whole operation?”

“Hmm…”

Siegfried was slowly starting to get annoyed by Cain’s tone, but he decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. After all, Cain was not wrong in this instance, as Siegfried was well aware of how reckless solo operations could be.

Therefore, he could understand, to a certain degree, why Cain was acting like this.

“Look, I’ve been through enough battles to understand what you mean. But honestly, you don’t need to worry about it at all,” Siegfried said nonchalantly.

“That’s not the point. You do know how dangerous solo ops are, right?” Cain shot back in frustration.

“Ever heard of special forces?”

“What?”

“There are units specifically tasked with infiltration and covert ops.”

“W-Well, yes, but still—”

“Just focus on commanding the rest of the army. If I ever become a liability, I’ll resign from my position as supreme commander and walk away quietly.”

“…”

“Anyway, I’ll leave the army to you.”

With that, Siegfried turned and headed back toward the barracks where the marketplace was.

Cain’s concern was not unwarranted, but in Siegfried’s eyes, the assumption that every battle had to be a giant brawl was just plain old-fashioned and an uncreative way of thinking.

In fact, even the nation with the strongest military in real life, the United States, operated elite units such as the Delta Force, DEVGRU, Green Berets, and Navy Seals.

Why?

It was all because they were necessary. Siegfried believed in the same principle. Alongside mass warfare, he knew just how important it was to have elite covert ops teams to wreak havoc behind enemy lines. In this instance, that was exactly what he intended to do during the operation to assault the prison camp.

***

That night, the Marchioni Empire’s 1st Division under the command of Cain warped to a location near the prison camp and waited in position.

One hour before the operation was set to begin…

“His Imperial Majesty will be infiltrating the enemy before the operation begins.”

A messenger reported the news to Cain.

“What? He’s going first? What if he gets spotted?! Then what?!” Cain shouted.

He was livid, and there was a good reason for it.

This mission was a covert operation, which meant that the element of surprise was crucial to its success. In fact, the imperial troops purposely warped in roughly three kilometers away from the prison camp, all in order to avoid getting detected by the enemy before the operation began.

What if Siegfried got himself caught before the operation even began?

The enemy would get alerted and call in reinforcements.

In other words, the entire plan would go down the drain.

However, that was not even the worst part of it.

The 1st Division was currently deep inside enemy territory, and they could be completely wiped out if they got surrounded.

“That crazy bastard! Is he trying to get us all killed?!” Cain seethed in anger.

Then, he ripped a teleport scroll and warped straight to Siegfried’s location.

“Let’s move out.”

“Yes, sire!”

Siegfried was preparing to infiltrate the prison camp with the Proatine Force, who had been brought in from the Proatine Empire.

“Han Tae-Sung! You crazy son of a bitch!”

Just then, Cain came screaming at him, completely livid.

“Are you out of your mind?! Do you think you can just run around doing what you want just because you’re strong—argh”

Before he could even finish his words, Siegfried’s hand shot out and grabbed him by the throat.

‘A-Arghh! W-What the hell?! How is he this strong?!’

Cain had recently hit Level 300 and ascended into the realm of a Master.

However, Siegfried was now a Grandmaster, so the gap in their power was like that of heaven and earth.

“I told you to stay quiet and watch. If I fail, I’ll step down as the supreme commander,” Siegfried said icily.

“K-Kuheok!”

“Listen carefully,” Siegfried growled. Then, he warned, “We will take care of this, so just sit your ass down and watch from the sidelines.”

“Arghh…!”

“Got it?”

“Ghhrk!”

“I’m the Supreme Commander in this army. We are at war, and insubordination can get you executed on the spot,” Siegfried said nonchalantly. Then, his voice turned as sharp as a blade and asked, “Do you want me to kill you right here, right now?”

“N-No, that was not what I—”

“Move the troops in slowly. Make sure they’re in position to strike exactly one hour from now. Got it?”

“I got it—argh!”

“Don’t test me, Cain.”

With that, Siegfried flung Cain aside as if he were a piece of trash.

To be fair, this was well within Siegfried’s rights, as he was the Supreme Commander of the Marchioni Imperial Army while Cain was his subordinate.

For a subordinate to come at the supreme commander, screaming right in his face, was definitely insubordination.

To make matters worse, the insults Cain hurled at Siegfried were both dereliction of duty and verbal abuse of a superior officer.

Under normal circumstances, Cain would have been immediately thrown into prison and court-martialed.

As a matter of fact, nobody would have found fault in Siegfried even if he had executed Cain right then and there.

“Let’s go,” Siegfried said, leading the Proatine Force toward the prison camp.

He didn’t even spare a glance at Cain, who was sprawled out on the ground.

Cain glared at Siegfried’s back and growled under his breath, “Han Tae-Sung… You’re going to pay for your arrogance… you smug bastard…!”

He was absolutely convinced that Siegfried would fail without a doubt.

After all, the prison camp was bound to be fortified to the point that even a top-tier special ops unit would stand no chance at breaking through it.