Debuff Master

Chapter 545

The Dullahan’s lance failed to skewer Siegfried.

Boom!

A mortar shell had flown out of nowhere and struck the Dullahan's back.

“...!”

The undead monsters directed their eyes to the night sky that started receding to signal the break of dawn. They saw hundreds of airships emerging from the horizon with the sunrise as their backdrop.

“W-What in the world...?”

The Dullahan’s back was in tatters after getting struck by the mortar shell, but it paid no attention to its wounds. The emergence of the airships was so shocking that it could not think of anything else.

Where did all of these airships come from? What happened to the Bone Wyvern regiments tasked with defending their airspace?

The airships could not be here when the Immortal Kingdom’s airspace was being defended by ten regiments of Bone Wyverns. To begin with, airships were no match for the Bone Wyverns.

Why? Because the Bone Wyverns could fly extremely fast and perform all sorts of maneuvers in the air while the airships were like air turtles compared to them.

The Dullahan’s question was soon answered...

“Neiiiigh!”

“Neigh!”

“Huff!”

A squadron of pegasus knights, who seemed to be elves, appeared, and they seemed to be escorting the airships. It was the Flying Knight Squadron of the Elondel Kingdom.

The Bone Wyverns were the bane of airships, but the Pegasus Knights had countered them. All then—no, fifty regiments of Bone Wyverns were crushed by the Pegasus Knights.

“Prepare the anti-air turrets! Shoot them down!” The Dullahan shouted. It completely forgot about Siegfried and hurriedly commanded the undead soldiers to shoot down the airships, but...

“The third anti-air turret has been destroyed!”

“The eleventh anti-air turret is out of commission!”

“The second anti-air turret is...!”

The anti-air turrets stationed on top of the city walls were completely inoperable.

There was a saying about how a tiny snowball would eventually become a massive snowball, and it was the perfect saying to describe the current situation.

Siegfried and the Adventurers had been running around the city, destroying every anti-air turret they came across. They made sure to pretend they were getting chased down by the undead soldiers, and the anti-air turrets were merely collateral damage.

But why would they go through all that trouble?

It was all because the enemy would catch wind of their plans if they blatantly aimed for the anti-air turrets. They would bring in reinforcements or prepare contingency plans knowing that the coalition forces were going to use the airships.

“Hey, headless bastard,” Siegfried said while getting up.

“What?”

“Say bomb.”

“Bomb...?”

“Look up,” Siegfried flashed the most despicable smirk a person could make and pointed to the sky.

The Dullahan looked up—well, not really because it was headless. Anyway, the airships were raining down something from the sky down to the Despacito Territory.

Shwoooong...!

These things were none other than the coalition forces soldiers.

“...!”

The Dullahan could not believe its eyes. The coalition forces soldiers were falling down at great speeds, yet none of them were wearing any parachutes. The only thing they had with them were their weapons and armor.

“Ha! These crazy fools! Have they chosen to commit mass suicide and join our side?” The Dullahan scoffed at the incoming soldiers.

“Yup, those guys are crazy fools, all right,” Siegfried agreed.

“Huh...?”

“I mean... They just jumped out of airships because I told them to do so.”

“Fools–”

“But you guys are the fools here.”

“Who are you calling a fool, fool?!”

“Do you think we’d do something like this without making any preparations beforehand?”

“What games are you playing–”

Siegfried smirked and started counting, “One, two, three.”

It was then.

Flash!

A blinding light lashed in the sky and enveloped the entire city.

***

The undead looked repulsive and hideous, but they possessed quite a few positive racial traits. Yes, some types of undead were an exemption, but most of them usually had these so-called positive traits. They were indefatigable, and they also did not have to eat, drink, and sleep. Their bodies had stopped any biological activities, so they did not have to rest or consume food to recuperate, which allowed them to be active around the clock.

Thus, the Fragment of Apocalius, Death Fog, was wide awake and was closely following the reports of the battle happening at the Despacito Territory.

“What? They have besieged the city?”

“Y-Yes! My lord!”

“Does that even make sense? How can they with their numbers...?”

“The Adventurers destroyed our anti-air turrets, opening the city to assault from the air!”

“Damn it! They couldn’t even get rid of one hundred Adventurers all night long, and now you’re telling me we lost all of our turrets in the city?!” Death Fog raged, slamming his fist on the armrest.

“Yes, my lord...”

“What about the Bone Wyverns? What were they doing?!”

“The elves from Elondel had sent out their Pegasus Knights to annihilate our Bone Wyverns...”

“What?” Death Fog could not believe his ears.

It was then.

“My lord! We have received reports that the situation is looking grim in the Despacito Territory!”

“The coalition forces are driving back our soldiers!”

The bad news continued to pour in one after the other.

“Send the Wraith Knights! Send them at once! Hurry!” Death Fog hurriedly commanded. Then, he gave another command to the lich, “And find out who their commander is! Do you understand?”

“As you command, my lord!”

“Those pesky coalition forces! They dare pull these cheap tricks against me?” Death Fog growled in anger. Then, he swore, “I’ll capture their commander and suck his brains. I definitely will.”

The only thing keeping Death Fog’s temper from flaring any further was the thought of capturing the enemy commander and torturing them to his heart’s content.

***

Wooong!

A gigantic magic circle appeared above the Despacito Territory. It let out a blinding flash of light that enveloped the entire sky, and the rune engravings on the coalition forces’ armor reacted to the light.

The soldiers in freefall started slowing down before landing on the ground.

Did they crash? Not at all! The rune engravings on their armor had an anti-gravity effect that allowed them to land with the same impact as jumping off from only one meter off the ground.

Siegfried smirked and asked, “Have you heard of bomb drop[1]?”

“Bomb... drop...?”

“Yes, and do you know that you’re dead?”

“...?”

“Honey!” Siegfried shouted over the Dullahan’s shoulder.

“Neiiiigh!”

Hyperion swooped down from the air and landed beside Siegfried. It went without saying that the one mounted on the pegasus was Brunhilde. Brunhilde got off Hyperion and helped Siegfried. Then, she asked, “Honey! Are you okay?”

“Honey... Sniff...” Siegfried sniffled before burying his face in her embrace. Then, he pointed at the Dullahan and cried out, “That guy hit me!”

“It hit you?!”

“Yes!”

“What did it do to you?”

“It hit me here and here! Here, too!”

The Dullahan was at a loss for words at the ridiculous scene in front of it. The human had been fighting bravely like an honorable warrior barely just a few hours ago, but now he was acting like a kid and was looking like a fool. It was such a ridiculous sight.

However, what happened next was far from ridiculous.

Brunhilde glared at the headless knight and growled, “You did this to my husband?”

“Eh? T-That is...” The Dullahan stuttered.

The headless knight could not help but flinch at the immense pressure that Brunhilde was emitting. Brunhilde was Level 299, and the sole reason behind her stagnation was the invisible wall that had stopped her from stepping into the realm of a Master.

Others would think that she was as strong as those on the same level as her, as she had yet to become a Master, but that was a gross miscalculation. She had spent many years honing her swordsmanship to attempt to overcome the wall, which made her sword extremely lethal.

What was going to happen once this powerful elf became enraged with the Holy Sword Phoenix in her hand?

Her opponent would certainly...

“...turn into dust,” Brunhilde muttered under her breath and swung her sword at the headless knight.

“D-Damn it!” The Dullahan readied its lance and tried to block the incoming attack but to no avail.

Brunhilde’s strength was not something the likes of a Dullahan could handle, and Brunhilde was even more powerful in her enraged state.

Bam!

The Dullahan staggered from the impact after just one exchange with the Holy Sword Phoenix. Unfortunately, the headless knight’s failure to keep its balance proved fatal.

Sukeok!

Brunhilde swung her sword horizontally from right to left and sliced the headless knight in half.

Thud!

The high-ranking undead monster, the Dullahan, which had pushed Siegfried to the brink of death, was easily cut in half by Brunhilde.

But this was not the end of it...

“Honey! That guy hit me too! That guy too! They bullied me!” Siegfried cried out, pointing at the group of Death Knights.

“Don’t worry, my love. I will teach them a lesson,” Brunhilde replied in a warm gentle voice. Then, she turned her gaze to the dozens of Death Knights; her gaze was cold as ice and as sharp as a sword.

The Death Knights tried to retaliate but they were helpless against the enraged elf princess wielding a holy sword.

“Kyu! Owner punk!” Hamchi exclaimed.

“Yeah?”

“She’s a keeper, all right!”

“Hehe~” Siegfried grinned like a fool while looking at Brunhilde.

‘She is a keeper indeed!’

Siegfried could not help but feel loved after seeing how Brunhilde was personally punishing the monsters that dared to bully him. How could he not love her when she loved him, cared for him, and was even fighting for him?

On top of that, she was very beautiful, adorable, and strong!

‘I think today is the day!’ Siegfried decided that he would enjoy the adult content the game had to offer tonight. He felt that the emotions he was feeling right now had to be released through playing mommy and daddy.

***

The Operation Bomb Drop conducted by the coalition forces ended up becoming a resounding success. Fighting the undead soldiers on the narrow streets of the city instead of out in the open plains had allowed the coalition forces to overcome the difference in numbers.

Every single soldier was armed with otherworldly crystals, allowing them to deal damage against the undead soldiers. It turned out that Siegfried’s idea to bring the entire army using the airships was an ingenious move.

Siegfried was currently sitting on top of the city walls and was chewing on a Smoked Mutated Three-Legged Octopus to recover his HP, Mana, and Stamina. The delicacy he had obtained from the labyrinth had proven to be a very effective sustain item, but there was another problem the delicacy couldn't resolve.

Siegfried—no, Han Tae-Sung was at his limits.

‘Ah... I’m dizzy...’

It was about time he got tired. He had pulled an all-nighter running around fighting undead monsters, causing his stamina and concentration to hit rock bottom. He was now at a point where he was struggling to continue playing the game.

But...

‘I need to reap the good stuff I sowed.’

Siegfried had no plans to collapse or log out after successfully pulling off such an ingenious operation.

“Ugh...!”

“Owner punk! Are you alright? Kyuuu!”

“No, I’m not,” Siegfried smirked and replied. Then, he added, “But I’m going to hang on until we win.”

“Kyuuu?”

“Let’s go.’

Siegfried used his +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp as a cane and staggered toward an undead soldier.

“Kyuuu... There’s no stopping you, owner punk,” Hamchi muttered and shook his head. He was exhausted, too. He had been fighting alongside Siegfried, casting every single buff in his arsenal since the operation started, so his stamina had reached rock bottom as well.

However, Hamchi was not going to rest yet.

“Kyuuu! Hamchi’s coming! Let’s fight together until the end!” Hamchi exclaimed and rushed at an undead soldier.

Siegfried was no longer fighting alone; he had trustworthy comrades fighting alongside him.

1. Bomb drop is a term used in StarCraft games where the player sends numerous Dropships, Overlords, or Shuttles and drops a shitload of troops on the enemy. ☜