Debuff Master - Chapter 1159

Chapter 1159

The Coral Imperial Guards couldn’t have appeared at a better timing.

‘And they’re the perfect number, too,’ Siegfried thought with a grin.

To complete the Polymorph Spell Tome: Blank, he needed to hunt ten of the same creatures he wanted to transform into.

Exactly ten Coral Imperial Guards had shown up, which meant he could complete the tome if he hunted all of them.

‘Let’s go!’

Siegfried immediately dashed forward to face the Coral Imperial Guards head-on.

These knights were incredibly powerful, which was only natural, as they were the Coral Emperor’s personal guards.

However, Siegfried was far stronger than all of them.

‘Marinate them nicely with debuffs!’

He activated Karma Flare and Embrace of Despair. Then, he gripped his +16 Vanquisher’s Grasp tightly.

Wooong!

He charged up Touch of Death and smacked the nearest Coral Imperial Guard right in the head.

Bam!

Kaboom!

An explosion erupted.

“Ack!”

“Aaaagh!”

Two of the Coral Imperial Guards burst into particles and were deleted on the spot.

Siegfried only attacked one of them, but the sheer power of the attack caught the other one in the blast, effectively killing him on the spot.

[Alert: The Polymorph Spell Tome has absorbed the genetic data of the Coral Imperial Guard!]

[Alert: Item name has changed to Polymorph Spell Tome: Coral Imperial Guard!]

[Alert: Genetic Data collected (10%)]

[Alert: Genetic Data collected (20%)]

Just like that, Siegfried began collecting the genetic data of the Coral Imperial Guards.

“…!”

The remaining eight imperial guards were stunned upon seeing two of their comrades get obliterated in an instant. Never had they imagined, even in their wildest dreams, that two of the Coral Emperor’s personal guards would meet such a pathetic end.

“K-Kill him!”

“He’s the one! Don’t let your guard down!”

“Off with his head!”

“For the emperor!”

Despite being in shock, the Coral Imperial Guards immediately got back to their senses and charged at Siegfried all at once.

Siegfried immediately activated Shield of Malice and blocked the attacks from the Coral Imperial Guards.

They attacked him over and over again, but they barely dealt any damage.

“Hey, quit it. That tickles, you know?” Siegfried sneered with a mocking smirk.

“Argh!”

“M-My body is…!”

“Why do I… feel so sluggish…?”

“Ughhh!”

Just then, the Coral Imperial Guards moved visibly slower, as if some sort of invisible object was weighing them down.

After attacking Siegfried, the Coral Imperial Guards were riddled with a debuff cast on them by the Shield of Malice. They suffered a debilitating debuff while Siegfried stood unscathed, even though he was the one getting attacked earlier.

‘Eight left,’ Siegfried thought before transforming his +16 Vanquisher’s Grasp into a spear.

Now that the Coral Imperial Guards were under the effects of terrifying debuffs, this was the perfect opportunity for him to test out the Invincible Spear Art he had obtained after defeating Sigurd.

***

The power of Invincible Spear Art was truly remarkable.

Siegfried’s level of mastery over the spear had skyrocketed, which boosted his attack speed and damage to a level that no other weapon could compare to.

Shwik, shwik, shwik!

Siegfried made quick work of the Coral Imperial Guards with ease, but that was not all.

Clang!

He would have normally taken a hit or two against the Coral Imperial Guards, as, after all, they were the most powerful among the enemy knights. However, Siegfried moved on its own and blocked the strikes he couldn’t evade by himself.

The auto-defense feature of the Invincible Spear Art filled the gaps in his defense, making it nearly perfect.

‘Whoa! This is insane! This is batshit crazily broken!’

The skill name, Invincible Spear Art, was no exaggeration, as it truly lived up to its name as being invincible.

‘Hold on… Now that I think about it, wasn’t Herbert’s unfinished masterpiece supposed to be a spear, too?’ Siegfried thought, recalling an important piece of information.

He had not gathered all of the materials required to complete it, but the final form of the Vanquisher’s Grasp was, without a doubt, a spear.

‘The weapon will be in its final form once I get the rest of the materials and Quandt works on it. Looks like the spear will be my ultimate weapon,’ Siegfried thought.

He had always preferred blunt weapons such as hammers, maces, or clubs.

Why?

It was all because there was something satisfying about the feedback when hitting someone using such weapons. After obtaining the Invincible Spear Art, however, stubbornly sticking to blunt weapons would just be very inefficient.

A spear was at least one and a half times more effective in combat compared to other weapons. Aside from the lack of that satisfying feedback, using a spear made far more sense.

Thus, it made sense for him to dedicate himself to the spear if he wanted to properly wield that insanely powerful weapon in the future.

‘Ah, whatever’s good is good, I guess? I’ll just have to learn to love the spear from now on.’

With that in mind, Siegfried unleashed the Invincible Spear Art at the Coral Imperial Guards, tearing through them as if they were nothing.

On top of the Invincible Spear Art, the passive skill he gained after advancing into the Invincible Emperor, Domination, was also active.

The two insanely overpowered skills made facing the Coral Imperial Guards almost too easy.

By now, Siegfried had grown strong enough that an opponent couldn’t even come close to challenging him unless they were at least a Grandmaster and were fifty levels higher than him.

One by one, the Coral Imperial Guards fell before his powerful debuffs and flawless spear technique.

[Alert: Genetic Data collected (70%)]

[Alert: Genetic Data collected (80%)]

[Alert: Genetic Data collected (90%)]

[Alert: Genetic Data collected (100%)]

[Alert: Genetic Data collection complete!]

[Alert: Item name changed to Polymorph Spell Tome: Coral Imperial Guard!]

At last, Siegfried had gathered the genetic data he required to complete the Polymorph Spell Tome.

The details of the tome were as follows…

[Polymorph Spell Tome: Coral Imperial Guard]

[A magic tome that transforms the user into a Coral Imperial Guard.]

[It is made by gathering the genetic data of the target creature, so it guarantees a perfect disguise.]

[Type: Magic Tome]

[Rating: Legendary]

[Durability: 10/10]

[Note: Grants transformation for 24 hours.]

[Warning: The effect ends when the time is up. Use with caution.]

He could use the tome ten times in total, which meant that he could transform up to two hundred forty hours in total.

‘Perfect,’ Siegfried smiled as he stored the tome in his inventory.

Now all he had to do was disguise himself, infiltrate deep into the Coral ranks, and find out where the Coral Emperor was hiding.

‘Just you wait. I’m gonna wrap this up fast before it’s time for me to go on my trip,’ Siegfried thought.

He had already planned a trip lasting two weeks to Europe with Yong Seol-Hwa, so the sooner he could kill the Coral Emperor, the better it was.

Playing games was fun and all, but he wanted to live like a real human being in the real world, too.

***

That night, Siegfried said, “Alright, I’m heading out.”

“Please be safe, sire,” Hansen replied with a bow.

Siegfried turned to Hamchi and said, “Let’s go, Hamchi!”

“Kyuuu! Let’s go, owner punk! Move out!” Hamchi exclaimed in response.

It was time for Siegfried to head toward the Coral front lines. He had finally completed the Polymorph Spell Tome: Coral Imperial Guard, after all.

Since he only had two hundred forty hours of transformation time, he wanted to save every minute possible by infiltrating behind enemy lines under the cover of the night before transforming.

His plan was to sneak into enemy territory, disguise himself as a Coral Imperial Guard, and gather information on the Coral Emperor’s whereabouts.

‘Oh right, come to think of it… I don’t know anything about the culture of these guys. That might become a problem, so I’d better just keep my mouth shut,’ he worried.

Worrying about it was only natural, as even if he could disguise himself perfectly, there was no way he could mimic how they spoke and acted.

Thus, his cover could get blown out if he became too suspicious.

‘Eh, I’m sure it will work out somehow.’

In the end, Siegfried shrugged his concerns off by carrying with him a manual issued by the Marchionio Empire titled “Understanding the Coral Race.”

As the saying went—”know your enemy and know yourself, and you will never be in danger even after a hundred battles”—or something like that.

“Kyuuu! Why are you carrying that, owner punk?!” Hamchi exclaimed when he saw Siegfried holding the manual.

“Oh, this? I just realized I don’t really know much about the Corals, so I thought it would be helpful,” Siegfried replied with a shrug.

“Kyu…?”

“What?”

“You never read any books, though, owner punk! I seriously thought you were illiterate at one point! Kyuuu!”

“What…?”

“I know owner punk very well! Owner punk will flip through a few pages and toss the book aside to be used as a ramen coaster! Kyuuu!”

“Why you little?! Do you think I fall asleep the second I look at a book?!”

“Kyaaaa! Tell me I’m wrong! I dare you!”

“Ha! This little rodent is asking for trouble today!”

The two bickered as always. They pulled each other’s fur or hair. They even poked each other’s eyes and scratched each other’s faces.

Siegfried and Hamchi bickered all the way until they reached the frontlines.

‘It’s too late tonight,’ Siegfried concluded after reaching enemy territory. It would be pointless to transform now and waste precious time, so he decided to rest up first in order to make full use of the transformation’s duration.

For the next ten days, he would camp inside enemy territory, so he needed every second of the transformation’s duration.

“I’ll go get some sleep and come back.”

“Kyuuu! See ya, owner punk!”

With that, Siegfried logged out inside a small burrow in the first.

The next afternoon, he had a brief lunch and logged back in to meet up with Hamchi.

From there, they headed to a nearby small Coral settlement.

“Kyuuu! Time to transform, owner punk!”

“Yeah, let’s do it.”

Siegfried opened his Inventory and pulled out the Polymorph Spell Tome: Coral Imperial Guard.

Ding!

Then, a notification popped up in front of his eyes.

[Alert: You have used Polymorph Spell Tome: Coral Imperial Guard!]

[Alert: You have nine charges remaining!]

[Alert: You may now start customizing your character!]

A customization menu appeared before Siegfried’s eyes. He could adjust every detail of his new appearance from his body type, facial features, hairstyle, and even the shape of his eyes.

Thanks to the Dragon Lord’s high-tier magic, the tome allowed an incredibly detailed transformation.

‘Hmm… Let’s see…’

Siegfried quickly opened the book “Understanding the Coral Race” and flipped through the pages.

He wanted to know what kind of look would appeal to the Corals. For example, the most beautiful woman in his eyes, Brunhilde, was considered to be hideous in the eyes of the elves.

In fact, the elves outright despised her red hair and even considered her the epitome of ugliness. In their eyes, Brunhilde was an eyesore, a disgrace to their beautiful and superior race.

Thanks to that experience, Siegfried learned that each race had its own unique beauty standards.

‘Let’s see… But do the Corals even care about looks at all?’ he wondered.

As he flipped through the manual, his eyes landed on something that caught his attention.

‘Ah, I found it.’

In the second chapter of the book, “Understanding the Coral Race,” there was detailed information on exactly what he needed. It listed how the Corals thought of appearances.

‘Hmm… They don’t seem to care much about looks. And it looks like they don’t really have a concept of beauty standards…’ The Corals valued a noble character, honor, combat prowess, and pride far more highly than one’s outward appearance.

‘So I guess it doesn’t really matter how I look?’

‘Eh? What the hell is this…?’

Just then, a single line made Siegfried pause and doubt his eyes.

The Corals hardly care about one’s looks, except for one thing—baldness.

(omitted…)

Being bald is extremely rare for them genetically, so a hairless head is seen as a symbol of greatness.

The Corals hold bald people in unusually high regard and often wish to get closer to them.

Bald heads have always been associated with strong warriors in their community and are often revered.

Some Corals even purposely shave or pluck their hair to appear bald, but it is mostly futile, as their hair regrows in a matter of hours.

(omitted…)

Therefore, putting a bald person on the negotiation table is very effective when negotiating with the Corals.

“A bald head…?”

In the end, Siegfried decided to trust the manual and customize his new disguise with a perfectly smooth and hairless head. He had no way of knowing whether it was really true or not, but he decided to follow the manual’s advice for now.

Tokki’s Thoughts:

I think author-nim got carried away with the bald gag a bit too much. Siegfried could’ve just asked the Corals he brainwashed if being bald was a yay or a nay in their society q.q