Debuff Master

Chapter 243

‘This guy’s not an easy opponent even without his buffs…’?Siegfried acknowledged his opponent’s strength.

It was no use even if he refused to acknowledge MassacreGod’s strength, as his opponent’s control, combat sense, and reflex were on a whole different level compared to those that he had fought against until now.

MassacreGod’s level was much higher than Siegfried's in the first place, but what if such a monster had buffs from high-ranking Buffers?

The result would be obvious.

Siegfried was definitely going to lose, and he had zero chance of winning. To make matters worse, Siegfried had already placed his debuff fields for the Head Crusher Guild members, so his most powerful weapon as the Debuff Master was on cooldown.

He should have avoided fighting a renowned Adventurer like MassacreGod. Of course, it wasn’t like Siegfried could abandon his guild members and run away, so the compromise he made was to target the Healers and Buffers of the Genesis Guild first.

His first target was obviously going to be the Healers. He had to stop them from detoxifying MassacreGod.

“Yai Panod Sam Sam Sam—Heok!”?

The Healer channeling a spell to detoxify MassacreGod stopped channeling when Siegfried appeared in front of her. However, there was no way that a Healer could move faster than Siegfried, so she ended up getting her head mercilessly smashed in by Siegfried’s +15 Gaia’s Fist.

Puk! Puk! Puk!

The Debuff Master’s Machine Gun Smash smashed her head open.

Thud!

The Healer fell to the ground with a dull thud and was forced to log out.

“You bastard!” MassacreGod roared and chased after Siegfried.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The +14 Renegade Revolver Set spat fire.

‘Good luck hitting me this time,’?Siegfried smirked.

He protected himself using Blood Butterfly’s Wings.

Ting! Ting! Ting!

The Blood Butterfly’s Wings deflected the bullets, but the force behind the bullets still injured Siegfried

‘The damage is manageable now, though,’?he thought. The damage difference was huge, and it seemed that the cape made out of Heavenly Silk was indeed reliable.

‘It’s time to hunt,’?Siegfried ran to the Buffers.

However, the Buffers didn’t easily give up their lives just because Siegfried was coming for them. They were seasoned veterans and high-ranking members of one of the top ten guilds, so they were quick on their feet. These Buffers were different from the ragtag bunch of Buffers that Siegfried had fought against until now.

Whoosh! Whoosh!?

The Buffers dodged Siegfried’s attacks and scattered.

Surprisingly, Siegfried didn’t seem to be that bothered by the fact that his attacks struck nothing but air. After all, he didn’t really have to hit them to deal damage to them.

Irradiate.

Sseuuu…!

The Buffers were poisoned after being exposed to the powerful radioactive energy. They successfully dodged Siegfried’s attacks, but they couldn’t withstand Irradiate.

“K-Keuk…!”

“My… My legs aren’t listening…”

The Buffers’ Movement Speed was shredded the moment they got poisoned, and they became sitting ducks waiting to be killed.

“Ack!”

“Gwaaaa!”

“Kuheok!”

The enemies had presented themselves to him on a silver platter, so Siegfried could only oblige and kill them.

“Hey, you bastard! Stop right there!” MassacreGod screamed fury and started chasing after the head-crushing pervert, who was going around and killing his Buffers.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

He fired at Siegfried but…

“Fuck off! Would you stop if you were in my shoes?!” Siegfried retorted. He continued chasing after the remaining Buffers while making sure that there was a certain distance between him and MassacreGod.

A game of cat and mouse ensued. Ironically, their roles were reversed. The ranged combatant MassacreGod was the one chasing after the melee combatant Siegfried.

***

Siegfried’s decision to go after the Healers and Buffers first was perfect.

His decision turned the tide of the battle in favor of the Head Crusher Guild.

The Genesis Guild members visibly became weaker every time Siegfried killed one of their Buffers.

“Die!”

“This fucker is nothing without his buffs! Keke!”

“What happened to your damage? Kekeke!”

The morale of the Head Crusher Guild reached its peak.

Their morale was high because their enemies no longer had their buffs while Siegfried’s debuff fields were still in place. The power balance had completely swung in favor of the Head Crusher Guild, and the fact that they were already greater in number from the start was the nail in the coffin for the Genesis Guild members.

‘Fuck…!’?MassacreGod cursed inwardly and started to feel pressured.

“Stop right there! You fucking rat!” he screamed in fury and chased after Siegfried, but…

[Alert: Status Ailment!]

[Alert: Your character has been Poisoned!]

[Alert: You will start losing Stamina over time, and you’ll find it difficult to control your character!]

MassacreGod couldn’t keep up with Siegfried’s speed after getting poisoned, and he was slowly starting to get left behind after losing his buffs one by one whenever Siegfried killed the Buffers.

However, the biggest reason he couldn’t catch up to Siegfried was because of Siegfried’s title—Pesky Brat.

[Pesky Brat]

[A title given to those extremely good at annoying people and running away from their responsibilities.]

[Type: Title]

[Rating: Unique]

[Effects: Swiftness, Come and Get Me!, You’re Dead Meat!]

[Swiftness: Movement Speed +7%]

[Come and Get Me!: Movement Speed +50% while being chased (Active)]

[You’re Dead Meat!: +25% Damage Received while Come and Get Me! is active]

Siegfried got so fast after activating ‘Come and Get Me!’ that MassacreGod’s bullets couldn’t hit him anymore.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Meanwhile, Siegfried hunted the Genesis Guild’s Buffers, which created a domino effect that caused the deaths of many Genesis Guild members. The cycle of running and chasing continued until MassacreGod realized that he was the only one left.

‘Everyone’s dead…?’?he belatedly realized.

“Hey,” Siegfried called out to MassacreGod and said, “Shall we test your skills?”

“M-My skills…? You dare talk about testing me?”

“I want to see how good you are without your buffs.”

“This bastard…”

“Hey, I’m quite busy, so let’s hurry up,” Siegfried said before charging at MassacreGod.

The second round of their duel started, but it looked quite different from the first round.

‘I can win!’?Siegfried was confident. MassacreGod wasn’t that strong without his buffs.

Clang!

The +15 Gaia’s Fist and +14 Renegade Revolver Set clashed.

“Ack!”?MassacreGod failed to withstand the force behind the +15 Gaia’s Fist without his buffs. His posture was shattered, but it didn’t mean that he was willing to just give Siegfried an opening to attack him.

MassacreGod was still an expert even without his buffs, and he was not going to let his opponent land a hit just because he was thrown off balance.

Bang! Bang!?

In fact, he showed his experience as a seasoned veteran by managing to shoot even while he was thrown off balance.

‘He’s strong. He’s really strong...’?Siegfried thought.

Siegfried reckoned that it was impossible for him to defeat MassacreGod without Irradiate.

Why?

MassacreGod possessed the ability, control, and level to overpower Siegfried even without the help of his Buffers.

Siegfried had an excuse to defend his awful performance in the first round. He had to use his debuff fields to help his guild members, and he was forced to face MassacreGod without his main skills.

But this time was different...

Wooong!

Siegfried gathered his mana and cast Shadow Swamp and Blaze Field at the same time.

‘I have to run!’?MassacreGod noticed that he was in danger and tried to escape, but he was a step too late.

“Where are you going?”

“…!”

“Hey, you should play with me. I made time for you despite being so busy, you know?”

Siegfried suddenly popped up in front of his eyes and swung his +15 Gaia’s Fist.

MassacreGod was shocked after getting hit for the first time.

Pukeok!

The +15 Gaia’s Fist smashed into MassacreGod’s chest.

“…!” MassacreGod was too stunned to speak.

[MassacreGod]

[HP: ??????????]

His HP was at seventy percent just a few moments ago.

[MassacreGod]

[HP: ??????????]

However, he lost a massive forty percent of his HP after getting hit once.

‘W-What the hell is this damage?!’?he was shocked.

Unbeknownst to him, the damage was a result of many different factors at play. His buffs had expired, and they were fighting on top of Siegfried’s debuff fields. His Defense as a ranged combatant was innately low as well, and his HP wasn’t really that high.

“K-Keuk…?What kind of damage is that…?” MassacreGod groaned.

“I thought you were good in close-quarters combat, too?” Siegfried smirked.

Now, it was his turn to avenge himself.

MassacreGod was indeed a skilled Adventurer, but even his talents and experience weren’t enough to overcome his limitation as a ranged combatant.

And the result was…

Puk! Puk! Puk!

The result was MassacreGod taking a one-sided beating from Siegfried.

“Kuheok!?J-Just you wait…! You bastard…! Next time I will—”

“I’ll probably be stronger than you by then.” Siegfried cut him off.

“You bastard…!” MassacreGod growled. Both of his revolvers shone bright red.

This was the precursor to the activation of his ultimate skill—Steel Rain.

“Die…!” MassacreGod confidently shouted, but nothing happened. “Huh?”

Clack! Clack! Clack!

The bullets wouldn’t come out no matter how many times he pulled the trigger.

“Tough luck, buddy, it’s not going to work,” Siegfried sneered.

“Why…? What’s wrong with my skill…?”

“Who knows? What’s wrong with your skill?”

“How…? Why…?”

“There should be a reason, right? But I’m not going to tell you, so just hurry up and die,” Siegfried said with a shrug.

Pukeok!

He then smashed MassacreGod’s head open.

‘Phew… I almost ended up becoming holy… a body full of holes…’?Siegfried let out a sigh of relief. He had cast Wave of Oppression just in case, and it proved to be the right call.

“Let’s go! We don’t have much time left!” Siegfried shouted at the remaining guild members.

They didn’t have the luxury of getting drunk in their victory as the main forces of the Genesis Guild were probably coming toward them right now, so every second counted.

However, there was something they had to do before retreating.

“I’ll pick these up and return them to their owners, so you guys go ahead first. Let’s go, Hamchi!”

“Kyu!”

Siegfried didn’t forget to pick up the items that his guild members had dropped upon dying.

***

—H-Hyung… I’m really sorry… Sniff…! Sniff…!

Chae Hyung-Seok realized that something was off after hearing Min-Woo cry over the call.

“What happened?” he asked in a dry voice.

—Hyung… That is… Sniff… Sniff…!

“I asked you what happened.”

—That bastard… That bastard did…

“Quit crying and say it.”

—Our vineyard… the vineyard was… I’m really sorry… Sniff…! Sniff…!

Tak!

Chae Hyung-Seok heard the sound of something snapping in his head, and he knew from experience that this was the sound of his reason that was keeping his anger in check, finally snapping.

“…”

However, Chae Hyung-Seok didn’t say anything until he heard everything that transpired from Min-Woo. He silently listened to the news of his guild’s biggest source of income—the vineyard—getting razed to the ground.

—Sniff… Sniff…!

Chae Hyung-Seok finally spoke once Min-Woo was done.

“Fuck the emperor or whatever. We’re going in,” he growled and gnashed his teeth.

Chae Hyung-Seok decided to invade the Proatine Kingdom.

The imperial decree of the most powerful NPC on the continent—the emperor—no longer mattered to him.