Debuff Master - Chapter 1190

Chapter 1190

The Marchioni Empire had decided to point their swords not just at the Proatine Empire but at every single Adventurer as well.

Unsurprisingly, Michele found the Marchioni Empire’s stance to be understandable.

“Well, from our perspective… Adventurers are an inconvenient existence to have around us in the long run,” he muttered.

“Huh? What do you mean by that?” Ninetail asked, surprised by what she heard.

“It is exactly as I said,” Michele replied with a shrug. Then, he explained, “The Adventurers grow too fast, and the number of powerful figures among them keeps increasing. Even at this very moment, they’re traveling across the continent in pursuit of greater strength. But the biggest issue is that… they are immortal beings.”

“And what about it?”

“They can grow without limits through the Rune of Transcendence that they possess, and they grow quickly, too. If this continues, the Adventurers will eventually rise to become the ruling class of our world.”

“Ah…!”

“Imagine if millions of them unite and establish their own nation. A nation where they are considered the superior race.”

“Well… There’s no way our people would survive…”

“Exactly. And that is why the Marchioni Empire has judged the Adventurers to be a threat. A threat so great that they were capable of overthrowing great powers.”

“The Marchioni Empire is truly terrifying…” Ninetail said, closing her eyes.

“Indeed.”

“To think they wouldn’t be satisfied with just destroying the Proatine Empire… To think they would even aim to wipe out the Adventurers…”

“It’s precisely that kind of madness that has allowed them to sustain such a great empire for so many years.”

“Then what do we do now?”

“We need information.”

“What kind of information do we need?”

“We must find out the method by which the Marchioni Empire intends to eradicate the Adventurers. Once we know their plan, we can devise a countermeasure to it.”

“I’ll look into it.”

Ninetail had been working on the Marchioni Empire’s secret documents for so long now that she had developed her own skill set in gathering information within the empire.

It was not an exaggeration to say that hardly anyone in the entire continent could match her skill in espionage, so if there was someone who could unearth the Marchioni Empire’s secrets, then it would be her.

“Yes, I will leave it in your capable hands, Director Ninetail,” Michele replied with a nod. Then, he gravely said, “A war unlike anything we have experienced before is coming. One that will spill more blood than ever, one that may destroy the entire world we know. We must prepare for that war.”

“Understood. Leave it to me.”

Ninetail resolved to continue gathering intelligence for the sake of her homeland, the Proatine Empire, and for the peace of the continent. And yet, a part of her wondered if the Marchion Empire was actually wrong.

From her standpoint as an NPC, the Adventurers were indeed an extremely dangerous group of people.

Whether she felt conflicted or not, however, the reason she resolved to continue gathering intelligence was simple.

If the Marchioni Empire succeeded in destroying the Proatine Empire and wiping out the Adventurers through some devious scheme, who would be able to stop them after that?

The entire world would fall under a new order dictated by the Marchioni Empire, and there would be no way to stop the imperial family and the nobles once they began their tyranny.

Eventually, people would rise up across the land, civil wars would erupt, and countless lives would be lost.

An endless cycle of bloodshed would repeat until the Marchioni Empire was defeated.

However, no one could say for sure if anyone could even stop the Marchioni Empire’s deranged madness once the Proatine Empire and the Adventurers were eliminated from this world.

‘I must stop them. I was nothing but a petty thief in the past, but I was given a chance to protect the world and everyone in it,’ Ninetail thought, clenching her fists. Then, she resolved, ‘I will do it. I will protect the world.’

***

Meanwhile, Siegfried was causing an absolute massacre inside the Ancient Goblin Empire’s palace.

“Keheeeek!”

“Kieeeek!”

“Kyaak! Kyaaahk!”

The Goblin Knights inside the palace collapsed without any resistance against Siegfried’s sheer might. They tried to swarm and surround him, but he just grew stronger the longer he fought against them.

Thanks to the special effect of the Invincible Emperor’s Might Armor Set, which absorbed the blood of enemies to generate a protective barrier around the user, not even a multi-pronged attack could do so much as ruffle his collar.

Even if the Goblin Knights somehow managed to break through the barrier, which was only his first layer of his defense. The Invincible Emperor’s Might Armor Set granted him absurd Defense on top of his already high Defense that dealing proper damage to him was far more difficult than breaking through the barrier.

Not to mention, Siegfried was being buffed by the most powerful buffer in the world, Chae Hyung-Seok. He was nearly invincible at this point.

Siegfried advanced like an unstoppable bulldozer toward the throne room where the Goblin Emperor awaited. He mowed down the Goblin Knights as if they were nothing as he carved his way forward.

Meanwhile, Siegfried’s companions were speechless after arriving at the gates of the palace.

A road painted from blood was before them. It was the path Siegfried had created by slaughtering countless goblins.

“He killed all of these alone?” Cheon Woo-Jin muttered, clicking his tongue at the absurd spectacle.

An Ancient Dungeon was so brutally difficult that most people agreed that it fully deserved its status as endgame content.

And yet, Siegfried was plowing through it as if he were hunting in an ordinary dungeon. He played the Ancient Dungeon solo like he was doing some kind of time-attack challenge, achieving in mere hours what would take others several grueling days to achieve.

“Haha… That guy is seriously insane…” Cheon Woo-Jin murmured, shaking his head and laughing in disbelief.

Back inside the palace, Siegfried had arrived at the doors of the throne room.

The boss monster, the Goblin Emperor, was waiting for him there.

“Phew!”

He took a deep breath and calmed himself down before entering the boss room.

The journey here had been a nonstop frenzy of swinging his +10 Sky Piercer to carve a path forward. He felt like his heart was about to burst from how exhausted he felt.

“Hey, can’t we take a break before going in…? Huff… Huff…!” Chae Hyung-Seok grumbled with a grimace.

Siegfried’s pace in mowing down enemies had been so fast that just keeping up with him and providing him with buffs had utterly exhausted Chae Hyung-Seok.

“Kyuuuu! Chae Hyung-Seok is a loser! You need to do more squats and build stamina! Kekeke!” Hamchi exclaimed and cackled.

Chae Hyung-Seok shot him a death glare and retorted, “What did you say?! This little rat bastard dares to—”

Bam!

Hamchi suddenly grew large and swung his huge front paw straight down on Chae Hyung-Seok’s head.

“Ughweeek!”

“Dares to what?! You dare glare at me, weakling?! Kyuuu!”

“I-I’m sorry…”

“You better watch your mouth! Know your place in the hierarchy! Chae Hyung-Seok is way below Hamchi. You got that?! Kyuuuu!”

“…”

“I’ll bash your head open if you flap that mouth in front of me, got that?!”

Hamchi had leveled up considerably alongside Siegfried, and he had grown enough to face a Master all alone by himself without transforming to his true form. In other words, he was stronger than Chae Hyung-Seok.

‘D-Damn it… I’m getting beaten up by a rat now…?’ Chae Hyung-Seok wept inwardly, his spirit completely crushed.

Pfft!

Siegfried had to hold his laughter upon witnessing Chae Hyung-Seok getting put in his place by Hamchi.

Then, he walked toward the boss room’s doors and pushed them wide open. He was mentally tired and wanted to rest as soon as possible. However, he could only log out after defeating the Goblin Emperor, so he intended to finish this dungeon quickly and then finally hit the sack.

***

Creaaaak…!

The doors swung open.

“Sho… ye are ze wretched invader who dared to treshpash into my himpire. Kihit! Kihit!”

A golden goblin seated on the throne spoke in a slurred manner.

The ornate cape and extravagant crown he was wearing made it obvious that he was the Goblin Emperor.

[Goblin Emperor Godiac]

[Emperor of the Goblin Empire.]

[A golden goblin covered from head to toe in golden ornaments.]

[He wields immensely powerful mystical magic.]

[Type: Monster]

[Race: Goblin]

[Affiliation: Goblin Empire]

[Title: Emperor]

[Level: 650]

[Class: Conjuring Shaman]

[Note: Defeating this monster will bring down the Goblin Empire!]

The golden crown on his head was striking, but something else caught Siegfried’s eye.

‘You’ve got to be freaking kidding me…’

The Goblin Emperor, Godiac, had an absolutely enormous HP bar. Siegfried couldn’t even guess how many HP bars the Goblin Emperor had. If he were to make a wild guess, then it was at least in the several thousands, or perhaps tens of thousands.

However, that did not rattle him.

After all, Siegfried had the +10 Sky Piercer, which could instantly shave off thirty percent of the target’s total HP with a single hit if it somehow activated.

If the Goblin Emperor had one thousand HP bars, it meant three hundred HP bars would be wiped out in a single hit. Of course, the only catch was that it had an activation chance of just five percent.

‘Doesn’t matter. I’ll just beat him up, finish this, and get some sleep,’ Siegfried thought, clenching his weapon.

“Ha! A Goblin Emperor? What a joke! Just shut the hell up and hand me your head,” he said with a smirk.

“Such insholence. Wish my own hand, ye shall be punished,” Godiac said with a scoff.

Then, he rose from his throne.

At the same time, he raised the golden staff in his hand, one adorned with a skull and several dangling bells.

Clink! Clink! Clink!

Godiac shook it, and the sound of bells echoed throughout the entire throne room.

‘Ugh… Damn, that’s so annoying…’ Siegfried grimaced in irritation at the sharp sound.

He activated Karma Flare and Embrace of Despair, applying debuffs on the Goblin Emperor before charging straight at him.

He was confident that he could end this easily.

Why?

It was all because he was the natural predator of magicians.

With just his Wave of Oppression, he could easily defeat countless magic users. After all, the skill disrupted the flow of one’s energy, preventing skills from being used. For magic users, the Wave of Oppression was practically a death sentence.

Shwiiiik!

Siegfried lunged with his +10 Sky Piercer aimed straight at Godiac, but…

‘Eh?’

He tilted his head in confusion after noticing that there was something wrong with his movements.

With the +10 Sky Piercer in hand, he meant to drive the spear forward and thrust it straight through the Goblin Emperor. Instead, his body walked backward and withdrew the spear.

‘What the hell is going on?’ he wondered, his eyes wide open.

Bzzt! Bzzt! Bzzt!

Crackle! Crackle!

Just then, a powerful surge of electricity gathered around Godiac.

‘He’s using magic!’

Siegfried instantly tried to use Wave of Oppression to interrupt the casting, but—

Ssseuuu…!

A green cloud of gas laced with deadly radioactive energy spread out of him..

‘Eh?! What the heck?!’

He meant to use Wave of Oppression, but he ended up activating Green Hell Magno instead.

Flash!

Godiac finished channeling his spell and sent a bolt of blinding light toward Siegfried.

Bzzzaaaaat!

A lightning bolt struck Siegfried squarely on the head.

The spell was so powerful that it not only shattered his barrier but also inflicted heavy damage on him, along with a status ailment.

[Alert: Status Ailment!]

[Alert: Your character has been electrified!]

[Alert: All incoming damage is amplified by 50% while electrified!]

[Alert: Status Ailment!]

[Alert: Your character has been stunned!]

[Alert: You cannot control your character for 3 seconds!]

The price he paid for using the wrong skill was steep.

“Kihit! Kihit! Taysht my imperial punishment! Kikiki!”

Exploiting the moment Siegfried was stunned, Godiac began channeling another spell.

Woooong!

A dark ominous cloud formed above Siegfried’s head.

The cloud hovered right above him and unleashed lightning bolt after lightning bolt.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Krwaaaang!

[Tracking Thundercloud]

[A thundercloud that eternally follows the target designated by the caster, raining down lightning after lightning upon them.]

[It will only vanish once the target is dead.]

[If the target is still alive, it will keep sending down lightning bolts for a hundred—no, a thousand years.]

[Tracking Thundercloud is not an ordinary spell, but a mystical curse.]

[It is a malicious hex designed to pursue its victim until they are dead.]