Debuff Master

Chapter 398

“T-That is...!” Chaos instantly recognized the Demon Sword of Vengeance: Avenger.

There was no way he couldn't have identified it in the first place, as the Demon Sword of Vengeance: Avenger was the godly artifact of the demon lord he served, Vernas. The sword was also emitting a distinct dark mana, so he wouldn't be able to misidentify it.

Who would have thought the Demon Sword of Vengeance: Avenger that he had been searching for by scouring mountains of historical texts was in the hands of some kid?

“W-Why do you have Avenger?!” Chaos cried out.

“You know this?” Siegfried grimaced and asked in response.

He grimaced, not because Chaos had recognized the demon sword.

[Alert: Demon Sword of Vengeance: Avenger is trying to possess your body!]

[Alert: Demon Sword of Vengeance: Avenger is sucking your HP!]

The demon sword was gnawing away at Siegfried’s HP just by being in his hand. His level was certainly higher than before, so it was not going to drain all of his HP immediately, but it was still sucking his HP away like a leech.

‘Ugh... This feels rotten...’ Siegfried suppressed the feeling of disgust welling up inside of him and asked Chaos, “How do you know this sword?”

“That sword is... the godly artifact of Demon Lord Vernas, but it should have disappeared a long time ago—“

“So it’s going to fucking hurt if you get hit by this?”

“...!”

“You demons live and die by your ranks, right?” Siegfried said with a smirk as he gripped Demon Sword of Vengeance: Avenger and walked toward Chaos.

‘D-Damn it!’ Chaos got nervous. Siegfried was right. The hierarchy in the demon realm was extremely important, and most demons wouldn't dare go up against demos higher in rank than them.

The hierarchy also applied to weapons, as the Demon Sword: Swarm was no match against the godly artifact of a demon lord, Demon Sword of Vengeance: Avenger.

Slash

Siegfried swung Avenger at Chaos; it was a basic attack without any mana. He was not stupid enough to infuse his mana into Avenger and end up opening a path for the demon sword to possess his body.

The reason he had decided to use Avenger despite being fully aware that he would be forced to rely only on basic attacks was that he knew that he could easily overpower Swarm with Avenger.

And he was right...

Claaaaang!

Avenger and Swarm clashed finally clashed, and—

“Ack!”

—Chaos was blasted away, crashing into a building despite his overwhelming level advantage. Surprisingly, the Average easily overpowered Swarm despite the latter being completely infused with dark mana.

“Alright, shall we see who’s the one that will be put in place?” Siegfried asked with a smile that sent chills down the demon’s spine.

***

The momentum of the battle instantly shifted in Siegfried’s favor.

“I don’t like your left arm,” Siegfried said as he swung Avenger.

Thud!

Chaos’ left arm fell to the ground.

“I don’t like your right arm too.”

“Ack!”

“Eh? Did you just try to avoid it?”

“F-Fuck off!” Chaos screamed as he desperately tried to protect his right arm, which was the arm holding Swarm. The connection between Salvatore and Chaos would get disconnected if the right arm holding the demon sword was cut off.

What was going to happen then?

Chaos was going to incur a huge penalty for failing to uphold his end of the bargain with Salvatore.

“Eh? Do you plan to keep evading?”

“P-Please!”

“I might just stab you if you keep evading.”

Siegfried showed just how evil he could be as he chased down Chaos and repeatedly stabbed him like a psychopath.

Shwik! Shwik! Shwik!

Holes appeared all over Chaos’ body from the stabbing.

‘Damn this!’

Chaos couldn't avoid Siegfried’s attacks.

Siegfried used Weapon Master Shakiro’s Lightning to stab the demon, and it was an advanced skill the demon couldn't avoid.

In addition, the demon sword used to bind Salvatore and Chaos into a contract, Swarm, was a low-tier artifact in the demon realm, so there was no way it could withstand the onslaught of attacks from the godly artifact of a demon lord, Avenger.

‘A-at this rate, I won't be able to keep my end of the contract! N-No...! Anything but that!’ A contract between a human and a demon had to be fulfilled no matter what, which meant Chaos had to emerge victorious in this battle.

“D-Do you really think a greenhorn like you can win against me?! It doesn’t matter even if you h-have the lord’s godly artifact! You will die by my hands!”

“I want to see you try it.”

“Die! Bastard!”

Chaos shouted as a fog of dark mana started seeping out from Swarm once again.

‘Huh?’

Siegfried instinctively knew that this attack was going to be a big one, but...

Shwoooosh!

The fog was sucked up by Avenger.

“Huh?” Siegfried muttered as he blinked a few times.

“N-No!” Chaos cried out.

Swarm was once again overwhelmed by Avenger, and there wasn't anything strange about it.

Why?

Chaos was a subordinate of Vernas, which meant that he was never going to defeat his king. In other words, the chances of Chaos winning against Siegfried were zero as long as he was using Avenger.

“Is that all you got?” Siegfried said with a smirk, and then he sneered, “What did you say a while ago? Contract? You and me?”

“T-That was!”

“I don’t plan on signing anything even if Vernas personally came here, so who the hell are you to try and make me sign a contract?”

“I apologize!”

“Eh?”

“I-I am terribly sorry! I should have known my place!”

“What the hell? What’s wrong with you all of a sudden?”

“Can you please let me go this once?”

“...”

“I sincerely apologize...”

Siegfried was in utter disbelief at Chaos’ sudden change in attitude.

He looked so pitiful right now that Siegfried was confused for a second if he was really a demon or not. However, Chaos had no other choice right now as this was his only way to survive as long as Siegfried was holding Avenger.

“If you let me off this once, then I will—“

“Fuck off.”

“Please...”

“Nope, not gonna~”

Siegfried swung Avenger like a madman after refusing the demon’s desperate pleas.

His motto in life was not showing any mercy to his enemies, and this was all the more when he was up against demons—creatures known to be crafty and cunning.

Shwiiik!

Siegfried used Betelgeuse’s secret technique, Quick Draw, with Avenger.

Splat!

Chaos’ upper right torso was torn apart, and dark purple blood gushed out of the wound.

Thud...!

A huge chunk of his upper torso fell to the ground, and Swarm fell along with the torso.

“Kyaaaaaaaaahk!” Chaos screamed in agony after letting go of the demon sword.

Shwooooo!

A pitch-black current of mana shot out from his mouth into the sky and—

Thud!

Chaos, no, Salvatore fell to his knees with a good chunk of his right torso missing.

***

‘That’s right... I have no other way aside from this game. This is the only way I can get back on my feet! That bastard managed to get back on his feet through this game, so I don’t see why I can’t do the same!’

Chae Hyung-Seok crawled his way to his VR game capsule and booted up the BNW game client despite being intoxicated.

[Western Region Nürberg Continent: Angle City]

Chae Hyung-Seok descended into a certain city-state on the continent. He lowered his hood and ran into the alley as soon as he was logged into the game. There were wanted posters with his face posted all over the city and there were Adventurers mixed in with the crowd on the main street.

The continent was known to be extremely large, but there was not a single place safe for Chae Hyung-Seok. He had to be on his toes all the time, as someone could come for his life at any given moment.

Thud... Thud...

Chae Hyung-Seok hid like a rat in a corner of the back alley and opened his inventory.

“This...” he looked at an old tattered parchment in his inventory.

[Old Map: Path of Darkness]

[A map showing the location of the dungeon created by the Dark Magician, Baccelotti in the past.] ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ ɴo(v)elꜰɪre.ɴet

[This could be an opportunity to enter into a contract with a high-ranking demon.]

“If I can get back on my feet... If I can get my revenge...” Chae Hyung-Seok gnashed his teeth after reading the item’s description.

Selling his soul to the devil? He had no problems with that. After all, he was technically not selling his soul, as this was just a game. It would be quite cumbersome later on, but there were no other downsides aside from that.

The worst-case scenario was having his body possessed and not being able to log into the game forever, but that was not a problem for him.

Why?

He was already on the verge of quitting the game. Forget about the game; he was on the verge of having his kidney harvested in just a few days if he failed to pay the interest on his debt, so what was the problem with losing his character’s soul in a game?

“I’m willing to sell my soul to the devil,” he muttered before he pressed down his hood and exited the alley.

His destination?

The dungeon left behind by the Dark Magician, Baccelotti.

***

“Wow...” Siegfried gasped as he hurriedly shoved Demon Sword of Vengeance: Avenger into his Inventory.

[Siegfried van Proa]

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

He only had fifty percent HP remaining. Avenger had managed to suck half of his HP away in such a short period of time.

‘I really should avoid using this...’ he swore not to use the sword if possible.

“Dame Oscar.”

“Yes, Your Majesty?”

“Let’s go.”

Siegfried helped Oscar to her feet and brought her to Salvatore.

“Keuh...”

Salvatore was gasping on the ground with half of his torso cut off.

“I-Is this... the end of... me and my... ambitions...”

Ironically, he was still obsessed with his ambition even though he was already on Death’s doorstep.

“Dame Oscar.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Oscar raised her sword and swung it at Salvatore without saying a word.

Slash!

Thud...!

Salvatore’s head rolled on the ground following a spine-tingling sound. The end of the man who had done whatever it took for his ambition was quite ironic, and the fact that he had perished at the hands of his former lover made it even more ironic.

***

“Kuheok!” Chaos coughed up a large amount of blood after being teleported back to the mansion.

“Chaos!” Metatron was going through the historical texts in search of the demon sword, and he was shocked to see his servant in such a state. “Was there a problem with the summoning?”

“M-My lord...! Kuheok!”

”Chaos!”

“A-Avenger... Avenger...!”

“...?”

“I found Avenger...!” Chaos squeezed his strength to report his findings.

“What?! You found Avenger?!”

“Yes, my lord...”

“Avenger! Where is Avenger?!”

“That is...”

Chaos was in agony after getting afflicted by the penalty for failing to uphold his end of the contract, but he toughed it out and reported everything to Metatron. He also didn't forget to report the identity of Avenger's current owner.