Debuff Master - Chapter 1228
Chapter 1228
The flying ice soldiers were formidable opponents, and they were considered stronger than most mob monsters found in dungeons.
However, they were still just ordinary mobs.
No matter how strong they were, there was no way they could match the Invincible Emperor and Grandmaster, Siegfried.
“Aaargh!”
“Kyaaah!”
Siegfried swung his +10 Sky Piercer, unleashing his Invincible Spear Art at the swarm of enemies.
In the blink of an eye, he struck each and every single one of them.
[Alert: You have gained Experience Points!]
[Alert: You have gained Experience Points!]
[Alert: You have gained Experience Points!]
[Alert: You have gained Experience Points!]
(omitted…)
[Alert: You have gained Experience Points!]
The notifications stacked rapidly in front of his eyes, as each kill gave him a ton of Experience Points.
‘Not bad at all for a bunch of mobs,’ Siegfried thought with a smile.
However, his smile was short-lived. While the mobs gave immense Experience Points, only about a hundred of them had spawned.
Ironically, he was facing hundreds just when he wanted to face thousands.
“Tsk…” Siegfried clicked his tongue in annoyance.
Just then, the storm clouds parted, revealing a brand-new sight.
It was a fortress, one floating right in the eye of the storm.
The fortress was sculpted entirely from glacial ice with crystalline towers gleaming whenever lightning flashed behind it, and a single majestic palace of ice stood at the center.
“Kyuuu! Look, owner punk! A Sky Castle![1]”
“Pfft!”
“Kyuu? What’s so funny?”
“Nothing. Forget about it,” Siegfried said before proceeding to inspect the fortress.
It was indeed beautiful, one that could be considered a work of art.
However, he could already feel the immense crippling chill radiating from its walls.
‘So that must be where the boss is,’ he thought.
[Fortress of Frost: Ice Palace]
The moment he set foot on the frozen fortress grounds, the notification alerting him of his location popped up in front of his eyes.
“Ughh…” Siegfried groaned.
A gust of wind carrying a crippling cold came crashing over him, and the wind was so sharp that it felt as if his skin was being flayed open.
Even his feet burned, and it was like frostbite was already gnawing at his toes. It reminded Siegfried of his days in the army when he had to stand guard in the dead of winter for hours at a time.
Except now, the cold was a hundred times colder, making it unbearable.
The only reason Siegfried could take a step in this place was that he possessed extremely high resistance to such elements. Any other Adventurer would be frozen solid before they could take their third step in this place.
“Kyuuu! It’s too cold here, owner punk!” Hamchi complained.
“What do you mean it’s cold? You’ve got fur. I’ve got nothing,” Siegfried retorted.
“Cold is still cold, fur or not! Kyuuu!”
“Stop whining and let’s keep moving.”
With his +10 Sky Piercer in hand, Siegfried pressed deeper into the fortress.
He could see his breath steam in the cold air, frost laced his eyelashes, and his skin hurt even more as if they were about to be torn apart.
Just then, he noticed something while walking.
‘I’m slowing down.’
He sensed that the slow on him was growing stronger. Before he entered the Fortress of Frost, it barely slowed him down. It had to have slowed him down by a percent or two, but that was about it.
However, he felt at least five percent slower inside the Fortress of Frost.
For someone at Siegfried’s level, even a five percent drop could prove lethal, as the smallest disadvantage could cost him his life in a high-tier dungeon like this.
‘What kind of monsters will appear in this place, though?’ he wondered.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
From the far end of the corridor, a unit of soldiers emerged. Their blue armor gleamed menacingly, and their eyes burned with malice.
[Frozen Guard]
[A guard protecting the Fortress of Frost from intruders.]
[It wields powerful frost attacks.]
[Extreme caution is advised.]
“Let’s go, Hamchi!”
“Kyuuu!”
The two charged together.
Siegfried swung his +10 Sky Piercer in wide arcs, sweeping away the Frozen Guards, and Hamchi grew massive, smashing the guards with his enormous paw.
Bam! Splat! Crack!
Baaaam!
The Frozen Guards fell one after another, bestowing massive Experience Points upon Siegfried.
[Alert: You have gained Experience Points!]
[Alert: You have gained Experience Points!]
[Alert: You have gained Experience Points!]
[Alert: You have gained Experience Points!]
(omitted…)
[Alert: You have gained Experience Points!]
The Experience Points they gave out were simply insane. They seemed to grant five times the Experience Points that other monsters in high-level dungeons provided.
[Alert: You have leveled up!]
[Alert: You have reached Level 555!]
Siegfried leveled up before the fight had ended, but that was not all…
Clink! Clink! Clink!
The loot appeared afterward. Each Frozen Guard dropped dozens—no, hundreds of Legendary Fragments, which were precious materials used to upgrade Relic-rated items into Sanctified-rated items.
‘Jackpot!’
Siegfried summoned the Three-Legged Crow to scoop up the loot, grinning while watching the hundreds of Legendary Fragments disappear into his Inventory.
‘These guys are the perfect monsters! Easy to kill, drops a shit ton of Experience Points, and hundreds of Legendary Fragments! Man, I wish I could just farm here forever!’
Unfortunately, the Frozen Guards didn’t respawn.
“Tsk…” Siegfried clicked his tongue in disappointment.
It seemed that this dungeon had a limited number of monsters. This wasn’t unprecedented, and each monster within provided bountiful rewards.
‘Oh well, I guess I’ll have to just be satisfied with quality over quantity,’ Siegfried thought with a shrug.
Shwaaaaa!
A freezing gale swept down the corridor as five knights emerged from the mist. Each of these knights carried a presence that was heavier and colder than the Frozen Guards that came before.
***
The five knights were by no means ordinary mobs.
Each of them was a Champion monster clad in black full-plate armor from head to toe.
Plumes of white frost rushed out of the opening on their helmets.
[Frozen Royal Guard]
[Elite knights of the Fortress of Frost.]
[They possess fearsome combat prowess; even a single one can be a deadly opponent.]
[Warning: Caution is advised when facing multiple Frozen Royal Guards.]
Ignoring the warning, Siegfried grinned from ear to ear.
‘Oh? Will they give even more Experience Points?’
Filled with excitement, Siegfried gripped his +10 Sky Piercer and lunged at the five Frozen Royal Guards.
Clang! Clang!
Shockingly, the Frozen Royal Guards blocked his attacks.
Their blades parried the +10 Sky Piercer, not allowing a single attack to pass, even though Siegfried was using his Invincible Spear Arts.
But that was not all…
[Alert: You have been afflicted by the Curse of Frostbie! (1/5)]
[Alert: You have been afflicted by the Curse of Frostbie! (2/5)]
[Alert: You have been afflicted by the Curse of Frostbie! (3/5)]
Every time their weapons clashed, a curse would stack on Siegfried.
[Curse of Frostbite]
[A curse applied when clashing weapons with the Frozen Royal Guards.]
[At 5 stacks, the victim will be frozen for 30 seconds.]
“Damn it…” Siegfried muttered under his breath. Then, he shouted, “Let’s fall back for now, Hamchi!”
“Kyuu! Roger that, owner punk!”
Hamchi jumped back and retreated while holding his swollen paws that had turned bluish-red. It seemed that his paws had been frozen from exchanging blows with the Frozen Royal Guards barehanded.
“See? We can’t fight them head-on. We need to attack from a distance.”
“Kyuu?”
“We will get turned into popsicles if we keep fighting them at melee range.”
With that, Siegfried raised his hand and activated Discharge. Then, he channeled his Primordial Force into Karma Flare. Using fire element attacks against ice element monsters was simply a no-brainer, so he decided to go all in on Karma Flare.
After all, Embrace of Despair was a water element debuff, so it was utterly useless in this battle.
‘Debuff them. Then burn them!’
Fwooooosh!
Siegfried activated Infernal Hellscape, bringing forth magma from the icy floor of the corridor.
The icy corridor was instantly flooded with molten fire, causing the temperature to spike violently.
[Alert: Your character is no longer under the effects of Slow!]
Siegfried could feel his movement speed return to normal the moment the oppressive chill was nullified by the heat radiated by the raging magma.
‘Perfect.’
Siegfried charged up his Primordial Force and unleashed his ultimate skill.
“Transcendent Torrential Flower Rain!”
Woooong!
Tens of thousands of flaming swords materialized in the air around him.
Shwiiiiiiik!
At a wave of Siegfried’s hand, the flaming swords rained down on the Frozen Royal Guards.
Though Siegfried was famed as a burst-damage DPS, he was also a capable ranged combatant thanks to his Transcendent Torrential Flower Rain skill.
The entire icy corridor was instantly turned into a sea of fire.
The Frozen Royal Guards staggered from the immense heat. The temperature in the corridor was so blazingly hot that their armors were heated until they glowed red, causing their HP to plummet rapidly.
However, the Frozen Royal Guards lived up to their titles as Champion Class monsters, as they forced their way through the blazing inferno even while set ablaze, refusing to fall until they killed the intruder.
“Oh? Not bad at all,” Siegfried smirked and sneered.
He infused Primordial Force into his +10 Sky Piercer, setting it ablaze with flames.
With his energy source, he could convert it into nearly any form of energy.
Thus, setting his weapon ablaze was a piece of cake for him.
‘Try blocking this!’
Siegfried activated Overclocking and cranked it up to the third stage.
Flash!
He suddenly vanished from view, and one second later—
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
All five Frozen Royal Guards collapsed in unison; they were killed before they could so much as raise their swords to block the attack.
Siegfried’s Invincible Spear Art had shut them down faster than they could react.
[Alert: You have leveled up!]
[Alert: You have reached Level 556!]
[Alert: You have reached Level 557!]
[Alert: You have reached Level 558!]
[Alert: You have reached Level 559!]
[Alert: You have reached Level 560!]
Each Frozen Royal Guard granted Siegfried a full level, and he leveled up five times from defeating all five of them.
“H-Holy shit! Jackpot! I love this place!” Siegfried screamed at the top of his lungs in sheer delight.
Champion Class monsters rarely yielded this much Experience Points, let alone grant enough Experience Points to level up once per monster. And the fact that they were not that difficult to kill was a huge bonus for Siegfried.
‘Oh dear… If mere mobs give this much… then what’s the boss going to be like?’
Siegfried strode across the burning corridor and entered the Ice Palace, where the true master of this dungeon awaited.
***
The Ice Palace lay at the heart of the Fortress of Frost, and at the throne was the true master of this place, the boss monster of the dungeon.
The corridors leading to the boss room were filled with ice attribute monsters such as Frozen Guards, Frozen Maids, Frozen Servants, Frozen Courtiers, and several other frozen palace retainers.
However, Siegfried and Hamchi cut through them all. They easily smashed through the monsters using their overwhelming firepower, leaving nothing but shattered ice and ash in their wake.
At last, they finally reached the throne room.
Creaaaak!
The towering doors swung open.
“How dare you set foot in my palace?” A cold voice echoed throughout the chamber. A queen with eyes like glacial blades sat on the throne.
The queen gazed down at Siegfried and Hamchi with scorn, and her voice was laced with venomous fury as she coldly spat, “Did you truly believe you could leave alive after invading my palace?”
Siegfried didn’t bother replying and immediately flashed his Rune of Insight at the queen.
[Frost Queen Tundrina]
[The ruler of the Ice Palace.]
[An ancient demonic monster who once sought to freeze the entire world and raise a glacial empire.]
[After being defeated by the Chief Archangel, Michael, she was sealed away within the Celestial Prison, Purgatory.]
[Type: Demon]
[Race: Frost Fairy]
[Level: 750]
[Class: Frozen Queen]
[Note: One of the Ten Calamities. Extreme caution is advised.]
As expected, the boss monster of the Ice Palace was none other than one of the Ten Calamities.
“Get ready to fight, Hamchi,” Siegfried said.
“Kyuuu! Hamchi is always ready!” Hamchi exclaimed in response.
Without another word, Siegfried charged straight at the Frost Queen.
Siegfried found that mixing words with a monster was a waste of his time. He would rather end this quickly and return to the Proatine Empire before the Marchioni Empire could catch wind of him.
1. I believe the Sky Castle reference could be to a Korean drama that aired a few years ago. It’s about how Korean moms are obsessed with sending their kids to prestigious universities and won’t stop at anything to achieve it. More info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_Castle ☜
