Debuff Master

Chapter 227

“This damned Adventurer dares to…” General Overlock grumbled as he slowly got up from the ground.

His appearance?

It was quite grotesque.

His head was bashed open, his brain was flowing out from the cracks, one of his eyeballs was dangling from his eye socket, and he was covered in blood.

General Overlock’s appearance right now looked like something out of an American gory horror film.

“Who the hell are you?” Siegfried asked.

General Overlock—no, the creature that had been disguising as General Overlock replied, “Beats me… I wonder who I am?”

“Well, I’m sure you’re not General Overlock,” Siegfried said before he nonchalantly added, “General Overlock is the type of person who would try to hold his ground at least for a week before making any rash decisions.”

“Kek…”

“He’s not the type of person who would order a full-scale offensive just because the supply line has been cut. I mean, he would have already gotten fired otherwise.”

“I haven’t thought of that, but I knew that my cover won’t last that long..”

“That’s probably why you ordered this full-scale offensive. You wanted to annihilate the entire army before I got the chance to expose you.”

Siegfried accurately pinpointed the intentions of the fake General Overlock.

Every single high-ranking officer in the army knew that there was a spy amongst them, so it was not going to be easy for the fake General Overlock to sustain his charade for a long time.

On top of that, Siegfried was acting independently to find the spy so it was only a matter of time before the arrows of suspicion were pointed at General Overlock and his adjutant, Colonel Guinness.

Therefore, the fake general came up with the excuse to launch a full-scale offensive to reclaim the supply lines, and the fate of the entire 3rd Field Army Command was…

‘Annihilation,’?Siegfried thought of the worst-case scenario.

The third army played a vital role in the coalition forces’ war against the Cryptids, and their forces numbered more than eighty thousand men.

What if the massive army got annihilated?

‘Then, we’ll be fucked,’?thought Siegfried.

The outcome was obvious. The war that they painstakingly managed to get the upper hand was going to be flipped in an instant, and the Macallan Kingdom was going to be overrun by the Cryptids in a matter of days.

The impostor smirked and said, “Well, you’re right but…”

“But what? You mean your plan went up in smoke before the army could mobilize?” Siegfried sneered.

“Guards! GUARDS!” General Overlock—no, the impostor ran out of the tent while screaming at the top of his lungs.

“Catch him!” Siegfried shouted and went after the imposter.

However, the imposter ran at a frightening speed. He soon reached the guards and the high-ranking officers.

‘How the hell is he so fast?!’?Siegfried was shocked by the imposter’s speed.

The impostor pointed at Siegfried’s party and said, “Those people tried to assassinate me, the commander! Catch them!”

”…!”

The situation abruptly changed as Siegfried and his party were framed as assassins.

“Catch them!”

“Don’t let them get away!”

“Go after them!”

The high-level knights and soldiers went after them while utterly oblivious to the fact that they were being tricked…

***

‘Ha! Fools! Things will be over by the time you manage to proclaim your innocence! Hahaha!’?The impostor was elated after getting rid of Siegfried. However, there was one thing that the impostor completely overlooked, and that was the fact that the information he had of Siegfried was quite—no, extremely outdated.

The impostor possessed General Overlock’s memories, so he knew Siegfried very well, but even the general had no idea how much Siegfried had become stronger after he left the Arachnid Temporary Outpost.

“Can’t you guys use your brains at least?” Siegfried smirked and muttered under his breath before using Shadow Swamp.

Seuk… Sereuk…!

The shadows of the soldiers fooled by the impostor suddenly rose from the ground.

“Hold them down, but don’t hurt them. And don’t hit them there,?all right?” Siegfried commanded the shadows.

There was no need to explain why he had to specifically tell them not to hit them there.?After all, that?was a very important spot.

Anyway, it only took a few seconds for the shadows to subdue the soldiers.

“Keuk!”

“Ack!”

“Aaaack!”

The knights and the soldiers were held back by the shadows.

“Now, take a good look at this. Okay?” Siegfried told the soldiers, who were trying to protect the impostor, before swinging his +15 Gaia’s Fist.

Pukeok!

The force behind the +15 weapon was so powerful that half of the impostor’s body was blown away.

“N-No!”

“General!”

“You son of a bitch!”

The knights and the soldiers were shocked and gnashed their teeth in anger, but it didn’t take that long for confusion to paint their expressions.

“You damned bastard dares to…!” General Overlock cursed and got up, even though half of his body had turned into a bloody mist.

“…!”

The knights and the soldiers were shocked once again but for a completely different reason this time.

“Wow, you’re quite tough. Let’s see how many times you can regenerate, shall we?” Siegfried said with a smile as he walked toward the impostor.

***

The creature that had been disguising itself as General Overlock was a Cryptid called Crypt Humans 009.

[Crypt Humans 009]

[A Cryptid born from the DNA of a human.]

[It possesses very low combat capability, but its regeneration and deception ability is extremely good.]

[Type: Monster]

[Race: Cryptid]

[Tier: Named Monster]

[Rank: Brigadier General]

[Level: 230]

[Other Information: This Cryptid possesses near-immortal regenerative ability, This Cryptid is extremely good at disguising itself, and this Cryptid can absorb a human’s memories.]

The Crypt Human Siegfried had exposed was subjected to torture without being able to accomplish their objective.

However, the torture method chosen was…

Fwah…! Crackle…! Crackle…!

The monster was skewered and roasted like barbecue. On top of that, the flames that were roasting it weren’t ordinary flames. The flames were born from the signature skills of an Eight Circle Great Wizard, Hellfire…

“Hey, Hamchi, turn that thing the other way this time. It’ll burn to a crisp if you only roast one side,” Siegfried said.

“All right! Kyu!”?Hamchi cried out in response before grabbing the handle and spinning it in the other direction.

“Spin it clockwise! Kyu!?Spin it counterclockwise! Kyu!”

Clack… Clack… Clack…

The Crypt Human turned golden brown and crispy while it was being roasted—alive.

“Ack…! Gwaaaaaaah…!”?

The Crypt Human cried out in agony as the Great Wizard’s Hellfire licked its skin as if waiting to devour it whole. The high-ranking officers of the third army were watching the entire scene, and they felt a chill travel down their spine.

‘That’s a bit…’

‘H-He’s the reincarnation of evil!’

‘I know that’s a monster, but… Isn’t that a bit too cruel…?’

‘I think he’s the devil himself…’

‘The devil might resign from his job after seeing how vicious this guy is…’

They all agreed that Siegfried was quite an evil and vicious person.

Yes, they were currently at war, and the opponent was a monster, but the officers never imagined that someone would be so evil as to roast?their prisoner of war alive.

“Shall we sprinkle some salt and pepper?” Siegfried asked.

“Kyu!?Great idea, owner punk!”

“What about some truffle oil?”

“That sounds even better! Kyu!?Rub the shit on that thing, owner punk!”

“Then, let’s start with the salt…” Siegfried muttered with a vicious grin as he unsparingly sprinkled salt and pepper into the open wounds of the Crypt Human.

“Ack! Ugh…! AAAACK!?You FUCKING deviiiiil!”

The Crypt Human cried out in agony and even called Siegfried the devil. It was a Cryptid, but it still possessed the same logic and memories of a human, so it instinctively compared Siegfried to the devil.

However, the poor monster had no idea that Siegfried was far worse than the devil himself.

“W-What do you want?! Aaaack!”

“Information. What’s your purpose? What traps are waiting for us this time? Are there any other spies aside from you? Where is General Overlock? Hmm… I think that’s about it for now?” Siegfried replied with a smirk.

“I-I’ll speak! I’ll tell you everything so please! Aaaaack!”

“Really? Then tell me everything you know in detail—before I change my mind.”

And that was how the Crypt Human ended up spilling everything it knew to Siegfried after a small encouragement.

***

Siegfried obtained the following information from the Crypthuman.

1. The Cryptid’s main base was not the Cryptid’s Great Lair that the coalition forces were focusing on. The real main base was located underground.

2. There were no other Crypt Humans in the 3rd Army’s command center, but a tenth of the high-ranking officers in the 2nd Army’s command center had already been replaced with Crypt Humans.

3. Most of the officers swapped with the Crypt Humans were still alive, and they were being held captive in the Cryptid’s main base underground to be used as test subjects.

4. General Overlock was still alive.

5. The Crypt Human 009’s plan was the total annihilation of the third army.

6. More than one hundred thousand Cryptids were buried underground, lying in wait to ambush the third army once they stepped into the kill zone.

The high-ranking officers in the command center were speechless at the Crypt Human’s confession. It wasn’t strange. Who could have imagined that the high-ranking officers were actually Cryptids in disguise?

“Hey,” Siegfried called out.

“Ah! Yes, sir!” Crypthuman 009 responded.

“You have the list, right?”

“Yes, sir!”

“I’ll be going somewhere for a bit. Write down the names of your friends and make sure you write every single one of them before I come back, or else… I don’t have to tell you what’s going to happen, right?”

“No, you do not, sir! I will immediately get to it!” Crypt Human 009 replied with enthusiasm.

Siegfried looked at the soldiers and said, “Keep watch over this guy. Make sure he doesn’t try anything funny, if he does, then you’re free to light him up and sprinkle salt on him.?Hmm… maybe you should use tempered chili oil this time… that’s going to give a spicy kick…”

“Yes! Lieutenant Colonel Sieg-nim!”

“Shall we have a meeting now that we have this information in our hands?” Siegfried asked the high-ranking officers.

The officers nodded their heads, seemingly scared of him for some odd reason…

***

In the meeting tent…

“Thank you very much, Lieutenant Colonel Sieg. My name is Lieutenant General Woodbridge, and I’m the vice commander of this army,” Woodbridge introduced himself and extended his hand toward Siegfried.

“It is nice to meet you, Lieutenant General Woodbridge,” Siegfried replied.

“I thank you on behalf of the coalition forces and the Macallan Kingdom. Our forces and our kingdom would have been wiped off the face of the continent if it was not for you…”

“Haha…”

“You are truly our kingdom’s hero!” Lt. General Woodbridge exclaimed.

It was not only him.

“Thank you very much!”

“Lieutenant Colonel Sieg! You single-handedly saved our kingdom!”

“Things could have gotten out of control if it wasn’t for you! Thank you very much!”

The other high-ranking officers thanked him as well.

“Don’t mention it…”

“I will immediately cancel the mobilization order and focus on rescuing General Overlock since we already know their plans.”

“Huh? Why would you cancel it?” Siegfried tilted his head in confusion while looking at Lieutenant General Woodbridge in disbelief. “We should proceed with the full-scale offensive.”

“P-Proceed with the full-scale offensive…? But our enemies are lying in wait for us…”

“Who said anything about that place? Look here,” Siegfried pointed at the map and explained, “That thing said that there are hundreds of thousands of Cryptids lying in wait here, right? Then, what if we pretend we’re falling for their plot while attacking here, here, and here, these three places simultaneously?”

“…!”

The high-ranking officers were flabbergasted. ‘Oh my god! Why didn’t I think of that?!’

They could deal a huge blow against their enemies because of the information they had on hand.

“We will use their spy against them,” Siegfried said with a smile that would send a chill down the spine of even the devil himself.