Debuff Master - Chapter 1165

Chapter 1165

“Is this how you want to do things? Do you really think we will just sit and wait for our demise? Even if you wipe out our entire race, you will not walk away from it unscathed! Every last standing warrior of our glorious race will fight until the very bitter end, and you will suffer the consequences!”

“Consequences…” Duke Neighdelberg muttered. Then, he smiled and replied, “A lot of blood will be spilled without a doubt. But do you think we do not know that? I am terribly sorry to disappoint you, but our main fighting force consists of immortals.

“Kill them once, twice, it will not matter. They will come back after forty-nine hours, as if they hadn’t died in the first place.”

“Argh…!” Maximus gritted his teeth, his shoulders trembling in rage.

“We have just recruited hundreds of thousands more of these undying soldiers. So, who do you think will really be bleeding in this war? If you ask me, it will be your people, not ours,” Duke Neighdelberg said, calmly lifting his teacup and taking a slow, leisurely sip.

“You cursed invader!” Maximus roared, slamming his fist onto the table. Then, he scoffed and said, “What now? Are you going to say that we started this? That we invaded you first? No! You are the invaders!”

“Oh? Did you not? You mean to say you did not send your people to our world first? That you did not support the rebels in overthrowing the empire?” Duke Neighdelberg replied, raising a brow and pretending to be surprised.

“That was never His Imperial Majesty’s will! It was the traitors who did that! We have shown you proof already! The remnants of the rebel army fled to your world when they were cornered! Our emperor never ordered an invasion of your realm!”

Maximus’ face turned dark blue. It was so dark that it was now closer to black than blue. A Coral’s face would only take on such a dark hue when they were truly enraged.

“And what did we do to make amends for their actions?! We offered to share our resources with you and settle things peacefully! We made it clear countless times that all we wanted was peace!”

“Peace…” Duke Neighdelberg murmured under his breath. Then, he flashed a twisted smirk and asked, “How is a man of your status still clinging to such flowery illusions?”

“What did you just say?”

When the duke revealed a mocking grin, he inadvertently revealed the Marchioni Empire’s true intentions.

“Okay, allow me to be frank with you. We never cared whether you meant to invade us or not.”

“…What?”

“To us—no, to be precise, to the Marchioni Empire—your planet is simply a goldmine of resources waiting to be claimed. It’s like discovering a New World ripe for the taking.”

“…!”

Maximus’ eyes widened in shock.

“From now on, your people will live as our slaves, second-class citizens of our colony, providing us with a steady stream of labor. That’s all we need from you, enough manpower to strip every last resource from this planet,” Duke Neighdelberg said. Then, he added with a laugh, “And we will make sure you’ll breed just enough to maintain the workforce. Hoho!”

“Breed? Did you just say breed?” Maximus muttered, horror in his eyes.

“What’s the problem? You’re not even human slaves, are you? You’re just a bunch of aliens, no different from livestock. And your physical traits are… quite remarkable, perfect for physical labor.

“But alas, too many of you would be hard to control, as rebellions and all that trouble will surely pop up here and there. I trust you understand what I mean?”

Maximus could no longer hold back and roared, “Y-You bastard!”

The vile words spat out by the duke were beyond mere insults, as this was a formal setting where peace treaties ought to be discussed.

By saying those words, the duke was basically declaring outright that the Marchioni Empire was here to enslave and exploit the Corals, whom they saw as no different from cattle.

‘You crazy bastards! So this was all just an invasion?!’ Siegfried screamed inwardly.

He couldn’t help but grit his teeth at what he had heard.

He was told that the Marchioni Empire had invaded the Coral Planet in self-defense. After listening to this conversation, however, it became obvious that they never wanted peace in the first place.

The Marchioni Empire smelled an opportunity and orchestrated this invasion.

They wanted this war.

As Siegfried’s mind spun, the talks continued—no, it turned into a one-sided conversation.

Even as Maximus screamed, hurling curses after curses, Duke Neighdelberg continued speaking with ice-cold calmness, saying, “As I said, we intend to cull your numbers through this war. So no, we have no interest in ending it early.”

“Then what was that agreement you sent?!”

“Oh, that? That was just bait,” Duke Neighdelberg replied with a shrug. Then, he smiled as if amused and added, “A way to ensure you’d reject and wouldn’t entertain any ideas of peace.”

“Y-You son of a jungle whore—!”

For the first time, Maximus swore with actual profanity, a rare thing for the proud and honorable chancellor. However, what was even more frightening was the duke’s response, which was eerily calm and composed.

“Sigh… You have no idea what we had to go through to make this conquest possible. The schemes, the gambles, and the strings we have to pull.”

“Shut that mouth!”

“Thanks to all this, the Marchioni Empire will stand alone at the top of the universe. Ah, you should be grateful for making a contribution to our grand empire.”

“You filthy dog! Did you call me here just to insult me?!” Maximus roared, his skin darkening further.

“No, not at all. Do you really think I would waste my time like that?” Duke Neighdelberg replied, looking exasperated. Then, he looked at the knight beside him and said, “Kill them.”

As soon as those words were uttered, it began.

Shwiiiik!

The arm of the knight standing beside the duke split and morphed into a sharp tendril, shooting straight at Maximus.

It was a trap.

This summit was never about peace.

It was a setup to assassinate the military leader of the Corals once and for all.

***

Shwiiiik!

The tendril shot forward like a bolt of lightning, and it was so fast that no one in the tent could react to it. It was an attack that surpassed the realm of the speed of sound, far beyond the reaction speed of ordinary people.

No one could react except for one person—Siegfried.

“…!”

Before he knew it, Siegfried slapped the tendril that was mere inches away from Maximus’ throat. In the same second, he kicked the knight away, sending him several meters away like a ragdoll.

“You damn bastards!”

“Kill them all!”

“Protect the Chancellor!”

“These treacherous invaders!”

The tent instantly devolved into pure chaos.

Weapons clashed, screams tore through the air, and the stench of blood filled the air.

The captain of the imperial guards shouted, “Mindrius! Protect the Lord Chancellor and get him out of here! Move!”

“Y-Yes, Captain!” Siegfried shouted in response.

He grabbed Maximus and dragged him away from the carnage.

‘Damn it! This is insane! What the hell?!’ he screamed inwardly at the chaos.

This was supposed to be a simple mission.

He had infiltrated the Corals to help the Marchioni Empire win the war, and things had been going smoothly according to plan. He managed to work his way into Maximus’ inner circle, and he was so close to turning Maximus into an Irradiator.

Once the key figure of the Corals became his puppet, Siegfried would have the perfect leverage to end this war on the Marchioni Empire’s terms.

However, those bastards had decided to do something else.

‘They’ve thrown dirt all over my plan! Damn it!’ Siegfried gnashed his teeth.

The Marchioni Empire had ruined everything. All they had to do was sit back and let him handle it. He would have brainwashed Maximus, extracted every single secret from him, and handed the Coral Emperor on a silver platter to the Marchioni Empire.

However, the plan had gone up in smoke, no thanks to Duke Neighdelberg. Of course, Siegfried could reveal himself, switch sides, and help kill Maximus right here and now.

However, he couldn’t help but hesitate after hearing the duke’s words. The true colors of the Marchioni Empire had just been revealed before him.

The truth left a bitter, foul taste in his mouth, one he wanted nothing to do with. In addition, he could no longer trust the Marchioni Empire anymore after hearing the truth, but it did not mean he could just turn on them outright, either.

Helping the Corals was going to be extremely reckless—if not, the most reckless thing he could ever do in his life, so…

‘Screw it! Think later! I have to survive this first!’

Siegfried decided to think about it later and just survive for now. He threw Maximus over his shoulder and sprinted out of the tent.

Meanwhile, the neutral zone had devolved into a slaughterhouse of carnage.

The two sides were going at each other, but despite the fierce fighting, the killing was one-sided.

The Marchioni Empire’s knights were butchering the Coral Imperial Guards. The Coral Imperial Guards couldn’t put up any resistance at all.

Upon closer look, there was something off about the knights who had arrived with the duke.

They were far from normal knights, as their arms morphed into blades, claws, or writhing sharp tendrils. Moreover, their wounds would almost instantly seal shut without bleeding despite receiving injuries from the Corals’ lightswords.

These were no ordinary humans. They were living weapons, altered and enhanced beyond the limits of human beings.

‘Chimeras? They actually made living weapons?’

Siegfried managed to duck behind a barricade just in time to see one knight splitting a Coral Imperial Guard in half with his arm that had morphed into a blade.

The half-blade half-muscle arm looked grotesque, and it was terrifyingly sharp.

The Marchioni Empire possessed the most advanced technology in the world, so they were capable of creating weapons of mass destruction that could slaughter millions if they wanted to do so.

However, this level of precision and advanced bioengineering was simply far too advanced even for them.

Unless…

‘Did they make them using alchemy?!’

Siegfried suspected that the Marchioni Empire had made use of the Emerald Tablet to create these enhanced human chimeras.

Reforging a human body required more than just technical advancement. It required an extremely high level of knowledge in both magic and alchemy,

Judging by how the Marchioni Empire had not produced these kinds of living weapons before, it was safe to assume that the Emerald Tablet was used to create them.

‘Those crazy bastards! What the hell are they planning to do with those?!’

“Get Maximus!”

“Don’t let him escape!”

“After them!”

The Marchioni Empire’s knights, who were now living weapons, tore through the Coral Imperial Guards and chased after Siegfried and Maximus.

“Go, Mindrius! Get the Lord Chancellor out of here alive!”

The imperial guard captain stood his ground, swinging his lightsword to stop the chimeras.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t buy enough time for them.

“Gaah!”

Even the mighty imperial guard captain couldn’t withstand the swarm of chimeras, and he barely lasted a minute before being riddled with holes by writhing sharp tendrils.

‘Damn it!’

Siegfried ran with all of his strength through the chaos with Maximus on his back.

While running, he couldn’t help but think that there would be no logging out tonight.

***

Whoosh!

Siegfried sprinted through the dense trees like a bullet with his “Pesky Brat” title activated. The title granted him an explosive boost to movement speed when escaping, which allowed him to run far away from the chimeras of the Marchioni Empire.

He desperately wanted to slow them down with Embrace of Despair or freeze them up with Absolute Zero, but that was not an option, as using those skills now would expose his true identity to not only the Marchioni Empire but also Maximus.

Thus, he had no choice but to escape on foot without relying on his debuffs.

“Huff… Huff…!”

Siegfried finally stopped for a moment deep inside a forest located in the neutral zone.

After running for thirty minutes at speeds close to a car, his stamina had dropped so low that he couldn’t run any further.

“Are you all right, Mindrius?”

“Ah, yes, Lord Chancellor. Huff… Huff…”

“Catch your breath.”

“Thank you, my lord.”

Siegfried took out his Infinite Flask and chugged it down to restore his stamina.

“Are you all right, my lord?” Siegfried asked.

“As you can see, I’m fine,” Maximus replied with a nod.

Despite saying that, fury was still clearly etched on Maximus’ face.

‘Yeah, it’s understandable,’ Siegfried thought.

Maximus had attended the meeting in good faith to negotiate, only to find that the Marchioni Empire had laid such a despicable trap. Even though they were enemies at war, this sort of thing was far beyond acceptable.

Thus, it was only natural for Maximus to be furious.

“Thank you, Mindrius. I owe you my life.”

“Not at all, my lord. I was merely doing my duty.”

“Always so humble,” Maximus said with a smile. Then, his smile turned bitter as he muttered, “But what good is it to escape with my life? All of my personal guards who protected me for years must have lost theirs…”

“Lord Chancellor…”

“Sometimes I wonder if it’s right for so many to sacrifice themselves just to keep one, me, alive.”

“Please do not say that. You carry out the Almighty Emperor’s orders and lead our people. You are worth the lives the imperial guards gave to protect.”

“Worth… I wonder if my life, when I couldn’t even properly protect our planet from those invaders, is worth as much as my noble guards’.”

“…”

“Truly, these are tragic times. Our people have always been living in peace, and we have just been falsely branded as aggressors. Now, we are on the verge of becoming their slaves…”

Siegfried finally grasped the truth behind the Coral Planet campaign after hearing Maximus’ lamenting words.

‘I was deceived. This was a war without any other reason than to fill the Marchioni Empire’s belly,’ he thought.

Siegfried realized that this war was far from the righteous reason that the Marchioni Empire had given to him. It was nothing more than a campaign to enslave the Corals and turn their planet into a colony for the Marchioni Empire.