Debuff Master - Chapter 1181
Chapter 1181
The dungeons that had begun appearing across the continent marked the next endgame content after the Coral Planet Expedition.
Of course, the Coral Planet still remained a highly desirable and sought-after hunting ground.
Even though the war had already ended, the native creatures of the planet continued to provide lucrative experience points and rare loot.
However, the Adventurers were craving for hunting grounds that offered even greater experience gains and loot, especially when the Marchioni Empire had finally started distributing Elixir of Transcendence to them.
The Elixir of Transcendence was a game-changing item that allowed an Adventurer to circumvent the wall to reach Level 300.
Naturally, the Elixir of Transcendence wouldn’t automatically boost the Adventurers to Level 300. It simply allowed the Adventurers to gain experience points and level up to Level 300 without having to break through the wall.
The hunger for more efficient leveling spots only intensified, as those who were stuck at Level 299 but had an Elixir of Transcendence in hand were dying to finally step into the realm of Masters.
Thus, the Adventurers flooded the new dungeons across the continent, which were called Ancient Dungeons.
Siegfried was more than delighted when he heard the report.
‘Time for you to suffer, you dirty bastards!’
He hoped that the Marchioni Empire would be in utter chaos with the Ancient Dungeons infesting their territory.
That way, the Marchioni Empire wouldn’t have the luxury to threaten or invade the Proatine Empire.
“This is indeed good news, sire. Thanks to this, we have bought ourselves some much-needed time,” Michele said, delivering the report with a smile.
“Yeah. But it’s not something to be completely happy about either. The ancient monsters that escaped from Purgatory are extremely dangerous. Even the angels couldn’t kill them in the past and were forced to just seal them away,” Siegfried said seriously.
Then, he grimaced and added, “Once those ancient monsters start running rampant, then it’s only a matter of time before the world starts descending into chaos.”
“That is true. But this is undeniably the best case scenario for us, no? If the Marchioni Empire starts falling apart, then that is good for us,” Michele replied with a shrug.
“That’s true. I guess let’s just watch for now,” Siegfried nodded in agreement. Then, he added, “At least they won’t have the luxury to bother us for a while.”
“Yes, sire.”
“By the way, how’s the prison project going?”
“It is nearly finished. We could start locking up Adventurers even now.”
“Excellent.”
Siegfried was visibly pleased to hear that the prison capable of detaining Adventurers was almost complete.
At long last, he could start rounding up Lee Geon’s fanatics and effectively remove them from the game.
All the pieces were finally falling into place.
He finally knew Lee Geon’s abilities and how to counter him. On top of that, the prison was ready to imprison those fanatics, too.
It was time to strike back, and he was going to strike hard.
“We will start with Beowulf and his lackeys. Those guys are too much of a headache, so we have to remove them immediately.”
“As you command, sire.”
“Let’s see where those bastards are hiding…”
Wooong!
The guild insignia on Siegfried’s finger began to vibrate.
[Request backup! We’ve been surrounded!]
It was a message from Seung-Gu.
“I’ll be off now.”
Siegfried immediately channeled his Primordial Force into his guild insignia to locate Seung-Gu, and then he sprinted toward the nearest Hero Statue: Siegfried von Proa.
Since Seung-Gu had been surrounded by Lee Geon’s lackeys, he had no time to waste.
***
Seung-Gu was located in a small village about five kilometers away from the nearest Hero Statue.
Wooong!
Siegfried teleported to the Hero Statue using Descent, and then he ran full speed toward the village.
By the time he arrived, the battle was already in full swing.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Kaboom!
Riding atop the Golem King Reventon, Seung-Gu was leading a group of Iron Golems against Lee Geon’s fanatics.
The situation looked dire.
There were just too many of them for Seung-Gu to handle alone. Most of his Iron Golems had already been destroyed, and even Reventon’s armor was on the verge of being completely destroyed.
“Arghh! Damn it!”
“This is the end… Leave behind and escape…”
“What the hell are you talking about?! I’m not leaving you!”
“Do you want to die too?”
“If we go down, I’m going down with you, bastard!”
Over time, Seung-Gu and Reventon had grown closer, and they were now like true comrades-in-arms.
Unfortunately, this was as far as they could go.
“Crush them!”
“Loser!”
“Just die already!”
“Destroy that piece of junk! Kekeke!”
Lee Geon’s fanatics swarmed around Reventon and bombarded spell after spell. Then, some of them climbed up Reventon and tried to pry Seung-Gu out of the cockpit.
However, that was about it, as Siegfried had arrived.
Fwoooosh!
Karma Flare erupted, setting the entire area ablaze with crimson fire.
“Aaargh!”
“W-What kind of damage is this?!”
“M-Monster! There’s a monster here!”
The blaze engulfed Lee Geon’s fanatics, dealing immense damage over time to them.
“Hyung-nim!” Seung-Gu cried out after recognizing the flames.
“Good job hanging on, Seung-Gu,” Siegfried said with a nod.
Then, he pulled out his +16 Vanquisher’s Grasp, transformed it into a spear, and lunged at Lee Geon’s fanatics.
Each swing of Siegfried’s spear made them fall like autumn leaves, flung aside and crashing helplessly to the ground.
However, Siegfried did not kill them.
Instead, he opened his Inventory and pulled out dozens of ropes; they were special ropes designed to restrain Adventurers.
Shwiiiiik!
He activated Flying Sword to control the ropes, and the ropes flew like vipers striking its prey. They slithered through the battlefield and bound the fallen Adventurers tightly.
“Ghhk!”
“Let me go! I said let me go!”
“W-What is this?!”
“I can’t break free! Help!”
They trashed like rabid beasts trying to break free from the ropes, but it was to no avail.
These ropes were made specifically to capture Adventurers, so they were unbreakable by any normal means.
“Good job, Seung-Gu,” Siegfried said, flashing a thumbs-up.
“No, hyung-nim. Thanks for coming. You really saved my ass here,” Seung-Gu replied with a relieved look.
“Don’t mention it,” Siegfried replied with a chuckle. Then, he grinned and said, “Now it’s time to ban these bastards from the game.”
“Huh? Does that mean the prison is ready?”
“Yeah. So let’s haul them in.”
“On it, hyung-nim!”
Siegfried linked the cultists together like sausages and dragged them off.
“Let’s go, you scumbags.”
Lee Geon’s fanatics were promptly hauled off to the Proatine Empire and locked inside the newly completed Aoji Prison.
In this place, Siegfried was the judge, jury, and executioner.
“I hereby sentence TunaCanLover and twenty-three others to ten years imprisonment with repeated execution every time I’m free,” he said. Then, he slammed the gavel, passing judgement.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Their sentence was quite straightforward. Their respawn point was set inside the prison, so they had no way to escape even if they ended up dying.
Siegfried would kill them inside the prison, loot the items they dropped, wait until they respawned, and come back to kill them whenever he was free.
Since they were sentenced to ten years inside the Aoji Prison, they would lose every single item they had in their inventory, including even garbage they own.
“P-Please!”
“We were wrong! Please forgive us!”
“Siegfried… Please…!”
“I repent! I condemn that bastard Lee Geon!”
The prisoners begged and pleaded at Siegfried’s feet.
They were the same ones who once delighted in the murders, rapes, and arsons committed under Lee Geon’s banner.
Faced with a ten-year ban, they cried like children and begged for mercy.
“Party time is over. It’s time for you to quit the game and go touch grass,” Siegfried said with a grin.
He had no intention of releasing them.
Why?
It was all because he knew that they would just crawl back to Lee Geon and cause more chaos.
Thus, he made sure they would stay locked up for good.
***
With that, Siegfried’s counterattack finally began.
The Proatine Empire formed an Execution Squad composed of elite NPC units and sent them to every corner of the continent, rounding up Lee Geon’s fanatics.
Not only that, even the Head Crusher Guild members and paladins from the Church of Heroes were also deployed whenever Lee Geon’s fanatics caused trouble. They would capture them on the spot and drag them back to the Aoji Prison.
Until now, there was nothing they could do about Lee Geon’s fanatics.
They could kill them, but they couldn’t contain them.
Every time they died, they would simply respawn and continue their rampage elsewhere. They were like a problem that had no solution, as nothing could truly solve the problem at its root.
However, things were different now.
With the completion of the Aoji Prison, Siegfried could finally imprison Lee Geon’s fanatics the moment they were caught, slapping them with a permanent ban.
This was the moment they had been waiting for, and the results spoke for themselves.
Even before its official opening, the Aoji Prison had already reached full capacity.
The prison cells were barely the size of a small studio apartment[1]. Each cell was stuffed with ten inmates, crammed in like sardines in a can.
“Beautiful,” Siegfried muttered with a smile as he surveyed the newly built prison.
The sight of seeing each cell packed wall-to-wall with Lee Geon’s fanatics was nothing short of beautiful.
At this rate, their numbers would shrink fast, and with that, their influence would diminish as well.
It was just a matter of time before they were eradicated from the continent.
‘I have to focus on myself next. I need to level up, increase the skill level of Invincible Spear Art and Nine Steps to Invincibility. The latter is important, as a single hit could determine the outcome of a battle. I have to reduce the hit count to eight.’
Siegfried knew that he had to level up his Invincible Spear Art if he wanted to defeat the genius gamer, Lee Geon.
He ended up winning the previous fight, as he caught Lee Geon off guard with Nine Steps to Invincibility, but there was no guarantee that it would work again the next time they faced off.
The skill was indeed powerful, but it needed too many hits to trigger.
‘At the very least, I need to enhance it to Five Steps to Invincibility. I can use it efficiently if I get it down to five hits.’
Siegfried had never stopped analyzing their fight. He studied every exchange and pushed himself harder in preparation for the rematch.
Why?
It was all because he knew Lee Geon would not be slacking off either.
Siegfried knew that Lee Geon was the cunning, calculating, intelligent type of gamer.
Just his streaming channel alone contained tons of videos where he broke down game mechanics, offered tips, and shared strategy.
This only meant that Lee Geon was almost certainly dissecting everything that happened in their battle and was preparing for the rematch as well.
In other words, Siegfried only had one shot to prepare for the rematch—there would be no second chances.
“Hyung-nim!”
Just as Siegfried was leaving the Aoji Prison and heading back to the imperial palace, Seung-Gu came running over.
“Did you hear—Huff! Huff! Did you hear the news?!”
“Huh? What news?”
“In the Ancient Dungeons! T-There was a—!”
“Hm?”
“A Universal-rated item dropped!”
“What?!”
Siegfried’s eyes shot wide open.
The Universal rating was the highest possible rating in the game, and any item with that rating was bound to have powerful effects on par with a miracle.
The Rabbit Foot of Regression in his possession was one good example of such items, and the unfinished masterpiece from the Legendary Blacksmith, Herbert, was another example.
Both of those items were Universal-rated items, so Siegfried knew just how powerful they were.
If such a powerful item had really dropped in an Ancient Dungeon…
“No way,” Siegfried shook his head, hardly able to believe it.
“It’s true! There’s even a screenshot on the forums from the guy who got it!” Seung-Gu exclaimed.
“R-Really?”
“They’re saying that the Ancient Dungeons are dropping Universal-rated loot now! And it’s not simply materials! It’s an entire item ready to be used!”
“Holy shit…”
“The first raid team posted their haul. They obtained twenty-three Legendary items in one run!”
“T-That’s insane…”
“The Ancient Dungeons are basically a gold mine now, right?”
The fact that items of Legendary grade or higher were dropping in the newly-spawned Ancient Dungeons meant that these dungeons were an untapped gold mine—no, a blue ocean.
They were bound to be guarded by horrifyingly powerful monsters, but that did not matter at all.
Gamers were wired to do whatever it would take to get their hands on top-tier loot.
“Several Ancient Dungeons also spawned in our empire, too, hyung-nim,” Seung-Gu asked.
“Really?”
“Yeah, I just got the report.”
“Where? Let’s go now.”
Siegfried and Seung-Gu immediately set off toward the nearest Ancient Dungeon.
He needed to level up for his rematch with Lee Geon, so clearing an Ancient Dungeon was just what he needed right now.
By clearing an Ancient Dungeon, he would not only stabilize the empire, but he would also obtain massive Experience Points and perhaps even get a lucky boon.
This was a perfect case of killing three birds with a single stone.
1. Studio apartments in Korea are super small. Some are less than 10 square meters (of course, there are big luxury ones too) and there are rooms called Goshiwon, which are for students or people looking for jobs. Goshiwons tend to be around 7 square meters and are often referred to as chicken coops or coffin rooms. ☜
