Debuff Master - Chapter 1176

Chapter 1176

‘W-What the hell?! How the hell is +22 even possible?!’ Siegfried screamed inwardly.

It was only natural for him to be this shocked, as enhancing an item over +10 was already considered a gamble.

The exact enhancement rates were not disclosed, but everyone knew that the enhancement success rate would drop steeply once past +12.

After +15? It was better to just forget about enhancing it.

Sure, there were some +16 or +17 out there, but they were incredibly rare.

What about +18?

They were so few of them that perhaps a handful could only be found in the entire game. No one credible had ever claimed to have seen a +19 weapon, and most people believed that achieving +20 was utterly impossible.

But lo and behold… not +19, not +20, and not even +21.

Lee Geon’s weapon was +22, and he had two of them.

‘Is this some kind of bug…?’ Siegfried wondered.

Out of curiosity, he flashed his Rune of Insight once again just to be sure.

And there it was—

[+22 Hell Demon Blade]

[+22 Divine Celestial Sword]

The details remained the same.

‘Is he using some sort of item duplication bug? Is he exploiting a glitch?’

Siegfried believed that there was no way Lee Geon could have obtained such weapons legitimately. After all, if someone had actually pulled that off, then the whole world would have known about it by now, as there was no way something this game-breaking could stay hidden.

However, the most shocking thing was the stat bonus bestowed by the +22 weapons upon their user.

‘Fifty thousand attack power? Are you freaking kidding me?’

Each weapon was packed with so much damage that even raid bosses would go down in a few hits or perhaps just one attack. If Siegfried had a +22 weapon and used Touch of Death, then he could probably split the whole continent in two.

A +22 weapon was that powerful. It could be considered a planet-buster tier weapon.

‘Ah, I think I’m fucked.’

Siegfried was confident he could win against Lee Geon, but if Lee Geon was armed with not one but two +22 weapons, then he was not so confident anymore.

Why? It was all because going up against two +22 weapons was nothing short of committing suicide, as one clean hit from those weapons would be more than enough to kill Siegfried.

‘This lunatic. I didn’t think he would be packing this kind of gear, too,’ Siegfried thought.

As if reading his mind, Lee Geon suddenly flashed a smug smirk.

“What’s wrong? Getting cold feet? Scared you’ll die in one hit? Keke!” he sneered and mocked.

“…”

“Where’s all that big talk now?” Lee Geon asked in a mocking manner. Then, he suddenly sheathed both weapons and said, “No need to wet yourself.”

Then, he casually pulled out another weapon—a +15 greatsword.

“Why should I use a knife to butcher a cow or a chicken?” Lee Geon said with a shrug.

“What did you say?” Siegfried muttered, looking flustered. Then, he realized, ‘Hold on… This bastard has two +22 weapons, yet he isn’t going to use them against me?’

Lee Geon was basically insulting Siegfried openly.

“Just use it, man. You need to rely on your gear if you want to beat me,” Siegfried said smugly.

“Rely on my gear? Me?” Lee Geon muttered, looking baffled. Then, he grimaced and said, “You want me to rely on my gear against a piece of shit like you?”

Lee Geon was a cunning and shrewd person who was a master of mind games.

However, the reason he reacted so strongly to such simple provocation was none other than his pride and his sense of superiority. He was born with an innate talent for games, and he saw himself as someone special.

Well, he truly was special, as he was far better at video games compared to other people.

He believed he was inherently superior to others and saw other games as insignificant losers. In other words, he considered himself to be a noble when it came to games, and everyone else was a mere commoner.

Hence, it made sense that a nerve was struck when Siegfried, who he considered to be nothing more than a talentless gutter rat, actually dared to tell him to rely on his gear.

If anyone else dared to say that to him, then Lee Geon would brush it off and mock them in return.

However, staying composed against Siegfried was difficult.

Why?

It was all because Siegfried was far too big of a deal for a lowly commoner.

‘Oh? He’s really getting pissed over that? It doesn’t suit him at all,’ Siegfried thought, slightly amused at the reaction he got.

With that thought, he decided to push his buttons further.

“At least flex your gear if you have no skills. Come on, don’t be shy. Just use them, I don’t really mind if you do,” Siegfried said nonchalantly with a shrug.

“You bastard… I’m going to put you in your place today,” Lee Geon growled, a glint of chilling light flashing in his eyes.

Poof!

Lee Geon teleported right in front of Siegfried, closing the gap between them.

Without fear, he lunged first at Siegfried, who was both a master of close combat and a powerful debuffer.

‘Bring it on, asshole!’

Siegfried gripped his +16 Vanquisher’s Grasp in spear form and thrust it forward using the Invincible Spear Art.

***

The fight between Siegfried and Lee Geon was truly the clash of the century.

It was like a title fight to decide who truly held the top spot in the game, BNW.

Lee Geon had held the top spot since his days under the alias of Beowulf, while Siegfried was a rising powerhouse who had clawed his way up from the bottom to become the world’s best pro gamer.

So this was, in every sense, a battle for the throne of BNW.

Befitting such a fight, their exchange of blows was nothing short of spectacular.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Boom! Boom!

Shwiiiik!

Siegfried and Lee Geon clashed at speeds most people would find difficult to follow with just their naked eye.

Bam! Bam!

And each time their weapons collided, a massive shockwave would burst forth, destroying their surroundings.

“Whoa…”

“T-That’s just insane…”

“Is it even possible to fight like that?”

“Holy shit… I think I just wet myself…”

Even Lee Geon’s own fanatics couldn’t help but gasp in awe at the sight. This was the kind of fight one would be lucky to watch once in their life, and most would be willing to pay to watch it.

If the two were fighting in a live match, then the broadcasting rights and match fee alone would easily start at a hundred billion won[1].

Despite only using basic attacks, their movements were so fast that the onlookers couldn’t keep up with them.

‘This guy is the real deal. He’s different from the others. He’s a true genius,’ Siegfried thought.

He couldn’t help but admire Lee Geon’s skills the longer they fought. Even while Siegfried was unleashing his Invincible Spear Art, Lee Geon wasn’t faltering at all. He wasn’t revealing even the smallest opening.

The Invincible Spear Art was the ultimate martial art technique, designed to cover the human limitations of the user.

However, Lee Geon matched Siegfried evenly without relying on such a technique.

In other words, Lee Geon had already surpassed the limits of a mere human.

“I must say… Not bad for a bug,” Lee Geon sneered as he pushed Siegfried back even more. He was a natural genius born with talents that could surpass even the Invincible Spear Art, which provided artificial intelligence assistance to the user.

“But in the end, a bug is still just a bug, right?”

Shwiiiik!

Lee Geon’s greatsword sliced through the air, targeting a gap in Siegfried’s defense with pinpoint precision. It was an attack so flawless that not even Invincible Spear Art could react to it in time.

This was the epitome of an unavoidable attack that no one could block.

‘Damn it!’

Siegfried instinctively activated his defensive skill, Shield of Malice, and his self-buff skill, Overclocking, the moment he saw the attack coming toward him. He judged that dodging or blocking it was impossible, so his only option was to take the hit head-on.

When Lee Geon’s greatsword crashed down—

Baaam!

Siegfried’s shoulder was struck by the greatsword, triggering a massive explosion.

“Argh!” Siegfried groaned after taking some damage and getting knocked back several meters.

“You’re quite the tough one, aren’t you?” Lee Geon sneered.

However, he, too, was knocked back several meters from the attack. He was also damaged and was debuffed from attacking Siegfried.

‘Damn it… He’s the real deal. This bastard is stronger than anyone I’ve ever faced. So is this… what a genius truly is?’ Siegfried thought. He finally understood why Lee Geon was called a genius by others.

After fighting him, he keenly felt Lee Geon’s extraordinary talent. Moreover, Siegfried was forced to use his skills first, so it was fair to say that he lost the initial exchange.

‘I can’t win against him with Level 1 Invincible Spear Art.’

He realized that the only way he could close the gap between them was by leveling up his Invincible Spear Art.

Lee Geon’s reflexes and decision-making ability were so precise and sharp that he was nearly on par with the artificial intelligence system.

***

Meanwhile, Lee Geon was also surprised by Siegfried.

‘This guy… wasn’t just some insignificant insect?’

He hadn’t expected Siegfried to be this skilled. Nobody had ever impressed Lee Geon in years, but Siegfried was different. Siegfried was on a level far above the mediocre pro gamers Lee Geon had faced until now.

‘Was Han Tae-Sung always this good?’ Lee Geon wondered.

Thinking back, it did not seem to be the case either.

Lee Geon had been keeping an eye on Siegfried for quite some time, so he knew his skill and limitations well enough.

‘This guy was born with almost no talents and was nowhere near this level just a year ago. But he climbed this far with just his efforts and experience?’

Lee Geon was honestly astonished, as he firmly believed that one needed innate talent to truly excel at games. His belief was not just some baseless arrogance or superiority complex, as he had seen countless average gamers hit a wall that they couldn’t overcome, no matter how hard they tried.

In that sense, Siegfried was an extreme rarity, almost like an anomaly.

Despite his lack of talent, he had achieved massive growth to fight toe-to-toe against Lee Geon.

If this weren’t a testament to the powers of human willpower, then nothing else would be.

‘Well, not that it matters. This is as far as he will ever get anyway. Just because he improved doesn’t mean his nature has changed. Once a bug, always a fucking bug.’

Lee Geon decided it was now time to get serious and fight with his skills.

‘Sure, he might outdo me in some parts. But I will still emerge as the winner here.’

Meanwhile, Siegfried acknowledged that Lee Geon was superior, but he did not, not even for a second, consider ever losing to him.

The Debuff Master was someone who would drag down opponents stronger than them and emerge victorious in the end.

Thus, there was no reason for him to shrink back just because Lee Geon was more talented than him.

Fwoooosh!

Sseuuu…!

Siegfried activated Karma Flare and Embrace of Despair simultaneously, unleashing his debuff auras.

“Your cheap tricks won’t work on me,” Lee Geon scoffed mockingly.

Then, he poured mana into his greatsword.

Woooong!

His greatsword glowed a deep red and greedily devoured all energy nearby.

The grass and trees around them shriveled and withered away; even the soil lost its nutrients and turned pitch black.

But that was not all.

“A-Aaaack!”

“Argh!”

“G-Ghaaagh!”

“Gaaahk!”

Lee Geon’s fanatics collapsed one by one, clutching their throats in agony, until they turned into dried mummies. Surprisingly, none of them cursed him for stabbing them in the back. Instead, they looked quite pleased even in their deaths.

“Hehe…”

“I will offer my life to you!”

“This is what Lee Geon is all about! Keke!”

“Holy shit! I got backstabbed by Lee Geon!”

All of them died smiling, and their blind devotion went so far that they did not mind becoming fertilizer for his growth.

‘These damn lunatics…’ Siegfried thought, feeling a chill run down his spine at the sight.

They were all gamers, just like him, yet they offered up their lives to someone who could devour his own men without hesitation. Moreover, the fact that Lee Geon sacrificed his own followers without batting an eye looked no less insane than those willingly sacrificing themselves for him.

However, there was no time to feel shocked.

“…!”

Siegfried flinched when he saw that even his debuff was absorbed by Lee Geon’s greatsword. The greatsword had turned into a black hole, one that devoured everything that could be considered an energy source, including life force, mana, or even skills themselves.

‘He’s absorbing my skill’s energy?’ Siegfried thought, surprised. This was the true nature of Lee Geon’s class, which had been a mystery until now.

He could turn his sword into a greedy monster with insatiable hunger capable of devouring all energy sources around him. And Lee Geon would feast on the life force, mana, and even skills that his sword had absorbed to grow stronger.

1. Roughly 75 to 80 million dollars depending on the forex rate ☜