Debuff Master

Chapter 305

Ding!

A quest popped up in front of his eyes.

[Master’s Regret]

[Type: Quest]

[Details: Find and crush the seven successors of the people known as the strongest eight on the continent five hundred years ago.

[Progress: 14.28% (1/7)]

[Descendant of Thunder God Vajra 0/1]

[Descendant of Sword Saint Murcièlago 0/1]

[Descendant of Great Sage Sieghart 0/1]

[Descendant of Blood Master Berserk 0/1] (Met)

[Descendant of Enlightened King Maugris 0/1]

[Descendant of God Arrow Windforce 0/1] (Met)

[Descendant of Supreme King Braum 1/1] ?(Defeated)

The young man who displayed fearsome powers in the Evil Forest turned out to be the descendant of Thunder God Vajra.

‘Who the hell is that?’ Siegfried wondered as he instinctively flashed his Rune of Insight.

Crackle!

A blue spark struck the back of his hand where his Rune of Insight was located.

“Ack!”

And he ended up screaming at the spark that struck his hand.

[Taycan van Stunner]

[The youngest son of Duke Stunner.]

[The Stunner House is a collateral bloodline of the Kyiv Kingdom’s royal family.]

[He was praised as a genius fighter since he was young, but he went missing twenty years ago.]

[Type: Named NPC]

[Level: N/A]

[Class: Indra]

[Affiliation: Kyiv Kingdom]

[Position: N/A]

[Title: N/A]

“Ah! Sorry about that! It’s called Lightning Shield, and it activates automatically,” Taycan apologized to Siegfried.

“Lightning Shield…?”

“Does it hurt? I’m really sorry!”

Taycan looked sincerely apologetic for what happened, and there wasn’t a hint of any ill intentions in his expression.

‘Who is this guy…? Why is he so aloof…?’ Siegfried wondered.

There was something off about him.

He was similar to Cheon Woo-Jin, yet different at the same time.

Cheon Woo-Jin gave the impression of a strategist who looked at the big picture at all times, but Taycan was the type who would laze around all day. However, their aloof and relaxed demeanor was exactly what they had in common.

‘Sniff! Sniff! I smell a golden spoon[1] here too…’ Siegfried believed that both of their relaxed and aloof demeanor had come from their affluent background.

And Siegfried was correct.

People who had grown up doing whatever they wanted without a single worry about money were bound to have such a trait. Their personality was a stark contrast to Siegfried, who had to grow up fighting to make ends meet…

‘Forget about that… What’s important is that he’s the descendant of Thunder God Vajra, and he’s my enemy…’ he thought while glaring at Taycan.

Deus’ words abruptly appeared in his mind.

“Among the ones whom I could not defeat, Thunder God Vajra was the closest to invincibility.”

“Was he that strong?”

“Extremely strong. Those were the words that best describe that bastard. He’s not only stupidly strong, but he was insanely fast as well. His energy is also on the scale of a natural disaster… Just thinking about him makes my blood boil…”

“I… I see…”

“You’re going to be at a disadvantage against the descendant of God Arrow Windforce, but the one you should be most careful of is the descendant of Thunder God Vajra.”

“I will remember that, Master.”

The Thunder God Vajra was a powerful being that even the invincible Deus praised wholeheartedly, and Taycan was Thunder God Vajra’s descendant.

Therefore, it wasn’t strange that Siegfried was on his toes.

‘I can’t see his level, so I can’t tell for sure who’s going to win in a fight between us, but I have to fight him, right?’ Siegfried thought while gripping his +15 Gaia’s Fist.

He had no choice but to fight Taycan to complete the quest Deus gave.

The only way he could clear the quest was to fight and either kill or subdue the descendants, and this was something of a non-negotiable quest from his master, the Level 999 Hidden NPC, Deus.

‘Should I try out… huh?’

Siegfried was about to attack Taycan when his strange actions completely caught him off guard.

Tak… Tak… Tak…

Taycan squatted on the ground and started picking things up off of it.

Sparkle! Sparkle! Sparkle!

The things he was picking off the ground were transparent sparkling stones.

[D-rank Dimensional Energy Fragment]

[A fragment shard filled with dimensional energy.]

[It is highly unstable, so please handle it with care.]

Taycan was picking up the D-rank Dimensional Energy Fragments of the plant-type monsters he had just killed.

***

“Hey, what are you doing?” Siegfried asked in disbelief.

“Hold on. I need to gather these,” Taycan replied while diligently picking the fragments.

“…”

“997… 998… 999…”

“Hey, we need to talk.”

“Wait! One thousand! Woohoo! I got em’ all!”

“This bastard…”

“Do you want these?”

“Huh?”

Siegfried was rendered speechless by the unexpected question.

“Y-You’re giving those to me?”

“Yeah, I already gathered all I need. I can’t sell them anywhere even if I gathered more, and I’m just going to end up throwing them away. I guess you’re probably here to gather these as well, so you can have those.”

Siegfried was stunned at the sudden gesture of goodwill from the young man.

‘But I need to fight you…’ he thought.

He shook his head and steeled his resolve to complete Deus’ quest, but…

Sparkle…! Sparkle…! Sparkle…!

He was completely blinded by the D-rank Dimensional Energy Fragments on the ground calling out to him. He couldn’t bring himself to fight Taycan at all.

“Hey, owner punk.” Hamchi climbed up to his shoulder and whispered into his ears, “I think he’s a good guy. Kyu! Don’t go around picking a fight and just take what he’s offering you right now.”

“S-Should I do that?”

Siegfried agreed that it was weird to fight someone who had just expressed his goodwill toward him, so he decided to accept the offer for now.

“T-Then… Ahem… I’ll gladly take you up on your offer,” Siegfried said with his face slightly flushed.

“Do you want me to help you pick them up?”

“Huh? Help…?”

“Here,” Taycan gently placed a fragment on Siegfried’s hand.

“It’s highly unstable, so be careful with it.”

“A-Alright…”

“I carelessly picked them up initially, and a few ended up exploding on my face.”

“Thanks…”

“What’s your name? My name is Taycan van Stunner.”

“Siegfried van Proa.”

“Huh? Van? You’re royalty? I’m royalty, too!”

“Huh?”

“Having van in your name means you’re royalty, right?”

“Oh, right…” Siegfried muttered before he added, “My kingdom is called the Proatine Kingdom. It’s over there in the northwest…”

“Ah! I know it!”

“You know?!”

Siegfried was shocked.

“Yeah, I heard of it. Emperor Stuttgart gave a province to an Adventurer around a year ago, right? So that was you?”

“Huh? You really do know?”

“Of course! The Proatine Territory was once an important strategic stronghold for the continent in the past despite how it looks right now. It used to fend off the Northern Barbarians, but it declined after the continent’s nations grew stronger than the barbarians.”

“Oh!” Siegfried was delighted to find someone who had not only heard but also appreciated his kingdom, ‘Wow! A stranger from afar has actually recognized my kingdom!’

It was a shame that the person who recognized his kingdom was an enemy, but he still couldn’t help but rejoice at the fact that his kingdom was getting the recognition it deserved.

“How old are you?”

“Me? I’m twenty-seven.”

“Huh? I’m twenty-seven, too!”

Taycan’s face brightened as he asked, “Do you want to be friends? You’re a king, and I’m royalty. We’re the same age, too!”

“F-Friends?!”

“It’s nice to meet you, Siegfried van Proa!”

Taycan extended his hand while both of them were squatting on the ground.

‘What the hell is this guy? Why is he so outgoing? Don’t tell me… is it all a farce, and he’s going to stab me in the back later?’ Siegfried was utterly confused at Taycan’s outgoing personality.

It was only natural for him to be suspicious of Taycan’s friendliness. Siegfried was an Adventurer, and their world revolved around betrayal and all sorts of treachery, which made it only natural for them to be skeptical of others.

However, Siegfried was different from a normal Adventurer, as he had gone through all sorts of things in life.

‘No, I’ll be grateful if he attacks me first. It’ll give me the justification to hit back.’

It didn’t matter whether the smile on Taycan’s face was genuine or not. Siegfried decided to shake Taycan’s hand for now.

“Nice to meet you,” Siegfried said.

***

Siegfried managed to collect 477 fragments in a short period of time, thanks to Taycan.

“What are you going to do now?” Taycan asked.

“I have to collect the rest.”

“Do you need help?”

“No.”

Siegfried refused the offer. It was quite convenient that he was able to collect so many fragments for free, but he could no longer be indebted more than this to the descendant of the Thunder God, Vajra.

“I can do it from here.”

“I know you can.”

“How?”

“Because you’re strong. I can feel it.”

“Me?”

“I think you’re really strong. My senses are telling me that I’ll get a good smack if I mess around with you.”

“Hmm…”

“And I can feel that I’ll wake up in the afterlife if I get hit by your mace. My instincts are warning me that you’re dangerous, and there’s no way you’re weak,” Taycan said with a shrug.

“You helped me despite knowing all that?”

“You’re going to the Great Rift, too, right? I might as well help you save time, and we can work together later.”

“Forget about it.”

Siegfried rejected the offer. He could easily gather the required fragments in less than an hour with Taycan’s help, but that was only going to make him indebted to someone he had to fight later on.

‘An enemy is an enemy. I need to draw the line.’

He could not possibly be indebted to the descendants of his master’s enemies just because he wanted to save a couple of hours of his time, right? Of course, a part of him wanted to enter the Great Rift with Taycan and observe his strengths and weaknesses from up close, but…

‘That’s too low even by my standards. I wouldn’t mind going that low if it were someone else, but I can’t win that way against the Thunder God’s descendant.’

Siegfried wanted to clear the quest Master’s Regret without any dirty tricks.

Why?

That was the only way he could remove Deus’ only regret in life!

“So you’re refusing?”

“Yeap.”

“Too bad… Well, I guess I can’t do anything about it. I’ll be going first; see ya at the Great Rift,” Taycan said before turning around to leave.

“All right, I’ll see you there,” Siegfried replied.

When Taycan disappeared from Siegfried’s eyes, Hamchi finally reappeared.

“Kyu! That guy seems to be really nice!”

“Who knows…?”

“Kyu?”

“Let’s go.”

Siegfried moved to collect the remaining fragments he needed.

***

On the way to the Great Rift.

“Siegfried van Proa… I like him.” Taycan was thinking of the king of the small, tiny, and weak kingdom he had just met a while ago. “I don’t want to fight with my first friend, but… What should I do if we have to fight…? Haa…”

Taycan let out a sigh, feeling conflicted.

***

Three hours later.

“Here!”

Siegfried appeared before the knight who gave him the quest Onwards! To the Great Rift! and handed all one thousand fragments.

“Ack! Please be careful, Your Majesty! This whole place will be blown to smithereens if so many fragments were to explode at once.”

“Oh?”

“Please be careful, careful, and really careful when handling the dimensional energy fragments. There is a reason why it cannot be transferred from one inventory to another after all.”

“M-My bad…”

“But Your Majesty gathered it quite fast. You’re one of the fastest!”

“Really?”

“Young Master Taycan took two hours and a half, so Your Majesty is the second fastest person to collect all of the fragments.”

“Damn it!” Siegfried cursed under his breath.

‘I ran like a madman to finish this quest… Damn…!’

He went over his usual pace to clear the quest as fast as he could, but it seemed that Taycan was faster than him. No, Taycan was miles ahead of him when taking into consideration that he had obtained half of what he needed for free from Taycan.

“I wonder where that punk is right now…”

“Are you talking about Young Master Taycan, Your Majesty?”

“Yes.”

“He just came out from a C-rank dungeon, but he went right back in.”

“What? He already cleared the dungeon once, and he’s going at it again?”

“No, Your Majesty. It’s already his third time.”

“Hand it over.”

“Pardon me? What do you mean by that, Your Majesty…?”

The knight was baffled when Siegfried extended his hand, asking for something.

“Hand over the C-rank resistance artifact or whatnot! Hurry up!”

“Ah, yes, Your Majesty! I will bring it to you this instant!” the knight exclaimed and rushed to get the artifact for him.

“I’m going to catch up to you,” Siegfried gnashed his teeth.

And thus began the race between Taycan and Siegfried with the Great Rift set as their stage…

1. Someone born in a rich household. ????