Debuff Master

Chapter 229

‘Ugh… Why does this quest even exist?’?Siegfried was in pain after reading the quest details. The quest Martyr’s Rescue Operation did not come from an NPC; it was automatically created by the system.

In other words…

‘Is it something like last time…?’?He deduced that the system was sending him a signal just like how it did last time with Shakiro’s disciples. It was highly likely that the system was guiding Siegfried to rescue General Overlock and the others.

It was proof that they were still alive.

‘I need to rescue the general, but… am I supposed to go inside that ass…?’?

Entering the Cryptid Tunnel that resembled a butt hole was not as easy as it sounded.

Squirm…! Squirm…!?

The wrinkles around the tunnel looked quite dirty, and the way it kept pulsating made it look quite repulsive. The thought of entering such a place was something Siegfried did not want to even imagine in the first place…

“What are you going to do, hyung-nim? I think we have to retreat now,” Seung-Gu said.

“Give me a moment,” Siegfried replied.

Many thoughts crossed his mind, but he reached the same conclusion. He had to rescue General Overlock and the others.

‘Damn it…’?Siegfried grumbled and cried inside.

“Everyone will retreat except for Seung-Gu and me,” Siegfried told the battalion.

Then, Hamchi, Gringore, Decimato, and Carell all looked at him and asked at the same time.

“Kyu??What are you talking about, owner punk?”

“Where is Your Majesty and Sir Seung-Gu going?”

“Your Majesty, where are you going?”

“Please bring me with you, Your Majesty!”

However, Siegfried refused their requests.

“No, I’m going to the Cryptid’s main base, and it will certainly be dangerous there. I’m going with Seung-Gu since it doesn’t matter if we die, but the same can’t be said for you guys,” he said.

Siegfried decided to bring only Seung-Gu since they could come back to life if they were to die. The NPCs wouldn’t resurrect if something happened at the Cryptid’s base, and they ended up getting overwhelmed by the monsters.

The NPCs refused to listen to his command, and they even argued to go with Siegfried, but Siegfried was adamant that none of them were to join in this mission. Nobody knew how many Cryptids were lying in wait underground, so he wasn’t willing to take the risk of bringing the NPCs with him.

“Ah, shut up and stop annoying me. This is an order, so you should go back,” Siegfried said while waving his hand. He looked at Seung-Gu and said, “Let’s go.”

“Where are we going, hyung-nim?” Seung-Gu tilted his head in confusion.

“Where do you think?” Siegfried smirked before pointing at the tunnel. “Right here, of course.”

Then, Siegfried grabbed Seung-Gu and threw him into the Cryptid’s ass—no, tunnel.

Slurp! Slurp! Slurp!

The Cryptid’s Tunnel let out repulsive noises that resembled sucking and slurping as it sucked Seung-Gu into it

“Ack…! A-Ass…! ASS! Heup! Heup!”?he screamed as the wrinkly butt hole sucked him in.

“Do you still want to follow?” Siegfried asked with an awkward smile.

Everyone simultaneously shook their heads with fervor.

“Hamchi is a bit tired…!”

“I believe I have to compile some records of Your Majesty…”

“Ehem…?Your humble servant shall pray for Your Majesty’s safe return…”

“I will go patrol the barracks, Your Majesty…”

They came up with their own excuses after seeing the wrinkly butt hole that had just sucked Seung-Gu in.

‘They were talking as if they were ready to go to the grave with me… Tsk… these dudes ain’t loyal…’?Siegfried grumbled. He cursed his subordinates inwardly, but he fully understood why they changed their minds.

After all, even he didn’t want to dive into the Cryptid’s Tunnel.

“Your Majesty, this is a Mass Teleport Scroll. You will be able to teleport thirty people to a distance of up to ten kilometers, so please use this to escape,” Decimato said while extending a scroll over to Siegfried.

“Oh!” Siegfried exclaimed in delight.

Great Wizard Decimato was indeed great.

“T-Then… I’m going …”

Of course, Decimato ran with his tails tucked between his legs after passing the Mass Teleport Scroll to Siegfried.

[Alert: You have obtained Mass Teleport Scroll!]

Siegfried no longer wasted any time after obtaining the Mass Teleport Scroll.

He stood in front of the Cryptid’s Tunnel and muttered, “L-Let’s dive into that ass…”

He closed his eyes and jumped into the tunnel.

Slurp…! Slurp…! Slurp…!

The Cryptid’s Tunnel let out the same repulsive sucking and slurping noises as it slowly sucked Siegfried in…

***

Splat!

The tunnel spat Siegfried out into a dark underground tunnel.

“Euk…!”?

Siegfried’s head was hurting after being digested by the Cryptid’s Tunnel that resembled an intestine.

[Cryptid Main Base: Tunnel 718 Entrance]

A message popped up in front of his eyes.

“Anyway, I guess I’m in their base now,” he muttered.

Seung-Gu, who got shat out by the tunnel, exclaimed in anger, “How could you shove me into that butt hole, hyung-nim!”

“But I jumped into it myself...”

“S-Still…”

“Let’s hurry up. We need to rescue General Overlock,” Siegfried said.

“Okay! Let’s go, hyung-nim!” Seung-Gu responded enthusiastically.

The duo carefully moved around the Cryptid’s main base in search of General Overlock and the other officers.

***

However, Siegfried and Seung-Gu couldn’t find General Overlock and the officers.

“Why is this place so big…?”

“I think we have been walking for seven hours now, hyung-nim…”

The Cryptid’s main base underground was vast, and Siegfried and Seung-Gu couldn’t find any clues about where the officers were being held captive.

On top of that, they couldn’t move fast because they had to tiptoe and hide whenever an S-rank Cryptid popped up.

It would have been impossible for Siegfried and Seung-Gu to make it this far without the help of Inzaghi’s Compass, which had been showing them the way.

“I think we’ll end up spending a few days here—” Seung-Gu started grumbling.

However, Siegfried hurriedly covered his mouth and interrupted. “Shh!”

—Those fools!

Seung-Gu’s ears weren’t as sensitive as Siegfried’s ears, so he failed to hear the voice, but Siegfried heard it loud and clear.

—I gave you the chance to annihilate the coalition forces, but you ended up getting played and suffered so many casualties? How pathetic!

Siegfried was certain that the voice belonged to a human.

“Let’s hide,” Siegfried whispered.

“Okay, hyung-nim,” said Seung-Gu.

Siegfried then pulled Seung-Gu into a gap in the walls with him.

Thud… Thud… Thud…

The footsteps got closer and closer, and two people passed by Siegfried and Seung-Gu.

Actually, they weren’t two people. One was a Cryptid, while the other was a human. The two were surprisingly talking to each other without any problems.

‘Careful… I have to be careful…’?Siegfried told himself as he discreetly flashed his Rune of Insight at the human and Cryptid.

[Cryptid Commander: 981]

[A Cryptid born with human DNA.]

[It does not possess any combat abilities, but its strategic intelligence is extremely high.]

[Type: Monster]

[Race: Cryptid]

[Rating: Named Monster]

[Rank: Lieutenant General]

[Position: Commander]

[Level: 250]

[Other Information: This Cryptid has an extremely high intelligence. This Cryptid can give orders to low-ranked Cryptids.]

The Cryptid in question seemed to be an intelligent-type Cryptid—a commander of the swarm.

As for the human talking to the Cryptid…

[Horacio]

[The Church of Osric’s Blue Cardinal.]

[He is in charge of plotting schemes that will plunge the continent into chaos.]

[Type: NPC]

[Race: Human]

[Level: 311]

[Affiliation: Church of Osric]

[Position: Blue Cardinal]

[Class: Chaos Bringer]

[Titles: Harbinger of Chaos, Skilled Diplomat, Language Expert, Skilled Negotiator]

Surprisingly, the human speaking to the Cryptid was the Blue Cardinal of the Church of Osric. In other words, the Cryptids were working together with Siegfried’s archnemesis, the Church of Osric.

“I gave your species the gift of intelligence, and this is how you repay me?” Horacio expressed his disappointment to Cryptid Commander 981.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t expect them to find the spies so quickly…” Crypt Commander 981 trailed off before adding, “It’s truly a shame they found out about it. This entire war could have ended right there and then if our plan succeeded…”

“Just how much more help do you need? Shouldn’t you start showing results after I helped your unintelligent race evolve?”

“Y-Yes, you’re right, but… things aren’t going as planned… Someone keeps popping up at the crucial time and driving a wedge into our plans.”

“A wedge? Who?”

“It’s an Adventurer based on what we know so far. He keeps appearing at crucial timings and ruining our plans.”

“Hmm…”

“He’s also the culprit behind our kin getting brainwashed by the humans. I heard that he was also responsible for catching our spies and using them against us to raid our lair.”

“So, who is he?”

“What was his name again…” Crypt Commander 981 thought for a moment before saying, “Sieg. His name is Sieg.”

“Sieg, you say…”

“However, I don’t think the information is accurate. We couldn’t find anything on this Adventurer no matter how much we looked, and I believe it’s highly likely that Sieg?is using an alias…”

“That sounds awfully familiar. Our church has been screwed over by an Adventurer named Siegfried a couple of times.”

“Siegfried?”

“The names sound alike, so it’s quite possible that it’s the same person,” Horacio narrowed his eyes and rubbed his chin.

Sieg and Siegfried.

It was highly likely that the two were the same person.

“That’s why I was wondering… Can you tell us more about the Adventurer?”

“Sure, that Siegfried bastard is someone our church is after as well, anyway.”

“Thanks.”

“What about the officers from the coalition forces?”

“We locked them up in that room over there,” Crypt Commander 981 said and pointed at the end of the tunnel. “We’re keeping them alive for information, and they will serve as excellent test subjects since they’re good soldiers.”

“Find out as much information as you can from them, and then pass them to our church once you’re done with them. We’ll come up with some ways to put them to good use after brainwashing them.”

“Don’t worry about that. I will see to it that they will be with your church shortly.”

The Blue Cardinal, Horacio, and Crypt Commander 981 were exchanging vital information while completely oblivious to the fact that the wedge driver—Siegfried—was listening close by.

‘Ah, so that’s what you guys are planning…’?Siegfried thought.

He wanted to tail them and find out more about their plans, but he didn’t want to risk getting found out and being put in a precarious position behind enemy lines.

Siegfried and Seung-Gu carefully tiptoed their way to their next destination.

Where?

They were headed to the room that Crypt Commander 981 had pointed out.

***

There were four S-rank Cryptids standing watch outside the room at the end of the tunnel.

‘I’ll kill one in one hit and get rid of the other three with Torrential Flower Rain,’?Siegfried rushed at the S-rank Cryptids.

Chwaaak!

The Blood Butterfly’s Wings cut one of the Cryptids in half and…

‘Torrential Flower Rain!’?

He followed up by throwing two green discs to kill the other three.

Thud! Thud! Thud!?

The three S-rank Cryptids turned into pincushions and collapsed to the ground.

“Nice shot, hyung-nim!”

“Save it for later. We need to hurry up and rescue General Overlock first.”

Siegfried and Seung-Gu entered the room.

“General Overlock! General!” Siegfried exclaimed while running. The general was tied up by some strange alien-like tentacles, and he seemed to be losing consciousness.

“General!” Siegfried called out and slapped the general’s cheeks a few times.

“S-Sieg…?”

“General! Can you hear me?”

“Why are you… here…?”

“We’ll talk about that later,” Siegfried replied.

He took out the Mass Teleport Scroll and ripped it with all of his strength.

“W-What the hell? Why is this so tough?” Siegfried was surprised.

The scroll wouldn’t rip, no matter how hard he tried.

Kwak!

He tried it once again.

Woooong!

He even tried using mana, but the scroll wouldn’t rip at all.

“Kideuk!”

“Kireuk! Kireeeuk!”

“Kieeeeek!”

Meanwhile, the cries of the Cryptids got closer and closer.

Siegfried gnashed his teeth and grumbled. “What’s going on? Why won’t this rip apa—”

However, a system message interrupted him.

[Alert: It is not possible to use a Teleport Scroll in your current location.]

Siegfried was stupefied.

He stared at it for a good few seconds before muttering, “Oh…?We’re fucked…”