Debuff Master - Chapter 1155

Chapter 1155

Sigurd’s debuff worked in a completely different way compared to Siegfried’s debuffs.

Siegfried’s debuff skills projected a circular aura around himself, while Sigurd’s debuffs erupted into a radiant halo of light that would engulf and debuff his enemies.

‘You think you’re the only one?’ Siegfried thought, casting his own debuff as a counter.

Fwoooosh!

A vicious crimson blaze erupted and set Sigurd ablaze, but that was it. The flames clung to him, but they neither burned nor damaged him.

“Chipping away at my defenses… Yeah, that’s the core of our master’s teachings,” Sigurd murmured. Then, he asked, “But what’s the point of lowering my defenses, junior brother?”

“…”

“I am immortal. I might tire, but I will not die. How do you intend to win against someone you can’t damage or kill, junior brother?”

Siegfried couldn’t come up with any response to the question.

‘He’s right. I can’t win if I can’t damage him. Damn it… What kind of broken cheat is this?’ he grumbled inwardly.

This fight was absurdly one-sided.

Sigurd possessed powerful debuffs that significantly reduced Siegfried’s stats. There was no doubt that Siegfried would suffer immense damage upon getting his defenses shredded.

Karma Flare had latched onto Sigurd, but it was doing basically nothing. Not only that, but any other skill in Siegfried’s arsenal would probably be the same. In that case, how was Siegfried supposed to kill Sigurd when he possessed infinite HP?

‘My crowd control skills are all I can rely on now,’ Siegfried thought.

His only option now was to use his powerful crowd control skills—Embrace of Despair or Absolute Zero—to incapacitate Sigurd.

“I spent a long time pondering what it takes to be truly invincible. What could ever be the natural enemy of invincibility…” Sigurd said, his voice cutting through the crackling in the air.

“So? What answer did you find?” Siegfried asked.

“There’s only one answer. The only thing that can threaten the invincible is another invincible power. With that in mind, I went a step further and wielded the power of immortality. Now, I have no weakness at all.”

“Good for you.”

“Even if you received our master’s teachings, you can never defeat me, junior brother.”

“If you think so, buddy.”

Siegfried cast Embrace of Despair, filling the area around them with a suffocating dark aura.

Ssseuu…!

However, Sigurd immediately countered with a blue halo that cast a slowing debuff right back at Siegfried.

A debuff against a debuff.

[Alert: Your Movement Speed has been reduced!]

[Alert: Your Attack Speed has been reduced!]

[Alert: Your Casting Speed has been reduced!]

The two were locked in a battle of debuffs, but only one of them was losing ground.

Bam!

Sigurd’s spear clashed against Siegfried’s +16 Vanquisher’s Grasp.

“Guh!”

The impact absorbed by the +16 Vanquisher’s Grasp traveled up Siegfried’s arms and into his guts, causing him to feel like his organs had suffered a direct hit.

Sigurd’s debuff had shredded Siegfried’s Defenses so much that the impact felt like getting hit by a cannonball.

‘Damn it! I’m so damned sluggish!’

The stacked slowing debuffs made his every move feel like wading through mud.

Meanwhile, Sigurd seemed unbothered.

Embrace of Despair couldn’t deal damage, while Karma Flare was doing practically nothing.

However, the thing that made this battle lopsided was not the power of their debuff skills. It was the fact that Sigurd could fight without dodging, as he could afford to take the hits without any consequences.

That single fact alone had already decided the flow of this battle.

Puuuk!

Sigurd thrust his spear straight into Siegfried’s side.

“Gah!”

Blood spurted out from the wound; it was a critical hit.

“Too easy, junior brother,” Sigurd said.

He looked like an executioner as he thrust the spear deeper.

‘No!’

Siegfried’s instinct immediately screamed at him.

Rumble!

At that moment, he instantly channeled Absolute Zero.

Absolute Zero was the perfect choice from this range, as there was no better crowd control skill, but—

“…!”

The flow of energy within him suddenly became entangled, interrupting the channeling of his skill.

Meanwhile, Sigurd tightened his grip on his spear and drove it upward.

‘D-Damn it! This is…!’

Siegfried immediately realized what was happening. The sensation just now was exactly how his skill, the Wave of Oppression, worked against his enemies. The skill that Sigurd had used just now had the same effect as Wave of Oppression, and he was using it against Siegfried.

“Pathetic,” Sigurd said in contempt.

Wooong…!

Siegfried felt a dense energy gathering at the spear’s tip inside him.

‘N-No…! This is…!’

Siegfried immediately knew what was coming next—Wave of Annihilation.

The destructive force Sigurd was about to unleash would certainly obliterate him from within.

“Die,” Sigurd said, releasing the wave.

Wooong!

Before Sigurd could release it, Siegfried used his own Wave of Oppression and prevented the dense energy from being unleashed inside him.

It was a split-second move that saved his life.

Click… Clack!

However, he didn’t stop there. He transformed his +16 Vanquisher’s Grasp into a revolver.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

And he fired six bullets straight into Sigurd’s chest from point-blank range….

The impact forced Sigurd away, and the spear was finally removed from Siegfried’s side.

Blood spurted out from Siegfried’s side.

‘Damn it…’

Siegfried couldn’t do anything else, as his body refused to move. The spear had done real damage to him, and blood was pouring out from the wound.

[Alert: Status Ailment!]

[Alert: You are bleeding!]

“Damn it… This guy’s so damn dirty…” Siegfried growled, his voice low and filled with rage.

***

While Siegfried and Sigurd were fighting to decide the one and only true heir to the power of invincibility…

“Hey, brother.” The First Red Dragon, Vulcanus, called out to Deus. He was busy doing his job as Deus’ personal fishing rod assistant when a curious thought suddenly struck him.

“What is it, brother?” Deus asked without even sparing a glance.

“What exactly are you thinking?”

“About what?”

“I am talking about your disciples.”

“Sorry, but I only have one disciple.”

“Ah, right…” Vulcanus realized he had misspoken and corrected himself. “Ahem! Well then, I mean your expelled disciple and your current one.”

“What about them?”

“I mean, from where I’m standing… that expelled one looks stronger, doesn’t he?”

“Not bad. You’ve got quite an eye, brother,” Deus replied, not bothering to deny it.

He acknowledged Vulcanus’ instincts without hesitation, as he knew it too. Between the two, Sigurd was definitely stronger than Siegfried.

“Yes, the expelled one is stronger,” Deus said with a shrug.

“Doesn’t that worry you?”

“Hm?”

“I mean… didn’t you say your disciple will lose everything if he loses?”

“My disciple will win.”

“How? You just said the expelled one is stronger.”

“It’s true. That one is more talented and stronger. But he never focused purely on honing my teachings.”

“What do you mean by that…?”

Deus shot Vulcanus an annoyed look before saying, “Must I really explain every little thing to you, brother?”

“S-Sorry…”

“When I say so, I mean so.”

“R-Right! Of course!”

“I never taught that fool that technique. But I taught it to my disciple. Well, more precisely, I carved it straight into his subconscious.”

“I see…”

“That one technique will decide the fight. And the expelled fool will lose.”

With that, Deus dismissed the matter and turned his eyes back to the bobber dancing on the water. He acknowledged Sigurd’s strength, but he never doubted for a second that Siegfried could win against him.

***

Siegfried’s situation was downright filthy.

‘Damn… Is this how my opponents feel while fighting me?’ Siegfried wondered, reflecting on the tactics he had been using against his enemies for so long. He fought by casting debuffs at his enemies and beating them up afterward.

Of course, he had never once been on the receiving end of his own tactics.

Now that he was on the receiving end, he felt like cursing at how disgusting, cheap, and absolutely despicable these debuffs were. The debuffs alone were already enough to drive him crazy, but immortality was also added to the mix.

It was so disgustingly unfair that he felt like rage-quitting this damn game right then and there.

“You’re quite quick on your feet, aren’t you?” Sigurd stood there, unfazed.

He took six consecutive rounds from a revolver that could pop an ogre’s head in one shot, yet he looked fine even after taking all six from point-blank range.

What surprised Siegfried even more was the black armor Sigurd was wearing. The rounds from the revolver ought to have destroyed the armor, but the armor merely had a few small dents in it.

‘This unbelievable bastard…’

Siegfried gnashed his teeth and activated his self-buff skill, Overclocking. Then, he immediately ramped it up to its third stage, but…

[Alert: Skill has been dispelled!]

Sigurd instantly dispelled Overclocking using Wave of Truth.

“…”

Siegfried felt like spitting phlegm at Sigurd’s face out of pure frustration.

‘How the hell am I supposed to beat this guy?’

He racked his brains for a solution, but he couldn’t come up with anything.

Ssseuu…!

A green halo flared up behind Sigurd.

[Alert: Your bleeding has worsened!]

[Alert: Your HP Regeneration has decreased!]

[Alert: All healing effects have decreased!]

The debuff Sigurd cast this time amplified the existing status ailments while decreasing any healing received. It was like shoving a knife dipped in salt water deeper into an open wound—an absolute despicable act.

‘I have no other choice. I’ll just have to face him.’

Siegfried steadied his breath and cast Seal Damage, a debuff that lowered the enemy’s Attack.

‘My casting speed’s down the drain, so I can’t even use big skills. He’ll just block them with Wave of Oppression before I get to finish casting them. My only option is a straight-up slugfest against him with basic attacks, but…’ Siegfried thought.

The problem was that relying on basic attacks was a whole different problem. Sigurd’s Invincible Spear Art was basically so broken that there was little hope of Siegfried winning against it.

However, he couldn’t just roll over and die, so he decided to fight head-on.

“Let’s go!” Siegfried shouted, charging at Sigurd.

Bam! Clang! Clang!

Their weapons clashed at breakneck speeds.

Each clash of their weapons caused sparks to fly all over the place.

However, Siegfried did not even last a full minute.

Sigurd’s spear shaft slammed into his gut and sent him flying, proving that the Invincible Spear Art was simply flawless.

“It’s time to finish this charade, junior brother,” Sigurd said, thrusting his spear rapidly and unleashing a barrage.

‘Damn it!’

Siegfried hurriedly transformed his +16 Vanquisher’s Grasp into a shield to block the incoming attacks, but Sigurd read him like an open book and switched up his attack.

Puuuuk!

The spear plunged into Siegfried’s exposed thigh, the part his shield couldn’t cover in time.

“Didn’t you learn from our master that defending is a waste of time?” Sigurd asked, his voice low.

Baaam!

Sigurd smashed his head straight into the +16 Vanquisher’s Grasp that was in shield form.

“Gah!”

Even though it was a headbutt, the force of the attack was so strong that Siegfried couldn’t withstand it, and he ended up dropping his shield.

Now unarmed, he was completely exposed.

“It’s time to die, junior brother,” Sigurd said, thrusting his spear toward Siegfried’s face.