Debuff Master

Chapter 554

The battle between the coalition forces and the Immortal Kingdom was fierce, and it lasted all night long. It was only normal for the battle to last so long, as the coalition forces were turtled up in a very advantageous position while the Immortal Kingdom threw undead soldiers after undead soldiers at them.

The number of undead soldiers that the Immortal Kingdom had fielded almost exceeded one million, so throwing all of them at the coalition forces meant that the battle would surely last more than a day.

Thus, the troops of the coalition forces became more and more exhausted as the battle went on. What about their advantageous position? What about the difference in the quality of the soldiers?

All of those things were meaningless. The coalition forces were made up of humans, and they were bound to tire out sooner or later, making them easy pickings for the enemy.

“I think... dying will be easier...”

In fact, some of the coalition forces’ soldiers dropped their weapons and chose death.

Meanwhile, the Immortal Kingdom’s undead soldiers were relentless in their attack, and it seemed like they no longer cared whether their allies had allies or were still alive. What would happen to their allies who had fallen down or to those who had died? It was simple, the undead soldiers would trample on them, killing those who were still alive.

There were so many corpses that they had piled up into a hill, but the undead soldiers remained relentless in their charge.

“Ah... Is this how our kingdoms are going to fall...?” Prince Kyrix lamented.

The battle was so intense that a small mishap could cause a domino effect and make everything crumble, allowing the undead soldiers to rush into their base like a tidal wave.

“Is this the end...?” Prince Kyrix despaired.

The enemy’s overwhelming numbers weren't the only issue that the coalition forces were facing. The coalition forces were no different from an empty shell right now due to the absence of their supreme commander.

Siegfried was the heart of the coalition forces, and he was the sole reason they obtained victory after victory. Unfortunately, he had been abducted by his most trusted comrades, causing a huge void in the coalition forces.

But what about the Immortal Kingdom? In addition to their overwhelming numerical advantage, they also had one of the top ten guilds on the continent, the United Guild, on their side.

To sum it up, to say that the situation was dire for the coalition forces would be an understatement.

“Give me my sword,” Prince Kyrix commanded his attending knight.

“Y-Your Majesty! Are you planning to join the battle? You must preserve your—”

“What use will I be alive if my kingdom falls?!”

“Your Majesty...”

“Losing this war means the end for all three kingdoms. It is either we win this battle and survive or lose this war and perish.”

The knight tried his best to dissuade him, saying, “But Your Majesty has to survive to lead and protect the survivors among our people. It doesn't matter, even if there are only going to be a handful of them.

"Yes, losing this war will spell destruction for our kingdom, but that does not mean we can leave our people behind and let them become undead monsters.”

“Hmm...”

“We will need Your Majesty to allow our people to seek refuge in other kingdoms should our kingdom fall, so please, preserve your life.”

The knight had provided sound advice. Everyone knew that losing this war would spell doom for the three kingdoms, but the citizens of the kingdoms were the most important for any kingdom out there.

If Prince Kyrix were to abandon them, the citizens would definitely become undead monsters in a matter of days, just like what had happened to the Ephedrine Kingdom.

“Your Majesty has to survive at all cost for the sake of our people and—”

BOOM!

The fortification installed at the forefront was smashed to bits by a mortar shell shot by the enemy, allowing the undead soldiers to flood through it.

“Ah... Is this the end...?” Prince Kyrix despaired.

“Your Majesty! Please evacuate! Knights! What are you doing? Hurry up and escort His Majesty!”

The knights immediately surrounded and escorted Prince Kyrix to safety. Then, the stand-in commander of the coalition forces during Siegfried’s absence, General Schwerin, took out a magical megaphone and led the troops.

— There will be no retreat or surrender! I will remain until the end and fight! This will be my grave! Do not fear death, men! Every second we stall them could mean life or death for our people back home!

General Schwerin took out a musket from his inventory and loaded it. Then, he turned to the prince and said, “Your Majesty, I will lead our men here. Please go and lead our people back home.”

“General...”

“I am an incompetent commander, but I pride myself in being an excellent soldier. So please, do not worry about this place and hurry back to our people.”

Those were General Schwerin's last words before he rushed out of the command tent with his musket in hand.

***

“Yeah! Let’s die today! Fuck!”

“What’s the difference between dying once or twice?”

“You sons of bitcheeees!”

“Bring it on! Let’s die together!”

General Schwerin’s speech inspired the coalition forces, and the soldiers decided to make their last stand. Their chances of survival were close to none, so they decided to buy as much time as possible for their people to evacuate at the very least.

Death was no longer an object of fear for the soldiers, and none of them retreated from the battle. They were prepared to put their lives on the line if it meant their loved ones would survive. Of course, there were still those who had deserted in hopes of surviving, but there were only a handful of them.

Meanwhile, Prince Kyrix had escaped successfully right before the undead soldiers could surround their camp, but he came face to face with a group of undead monsters.

“Protect His Majesty!”

“Breakthrough those monsters!”

“Prioritize His Majesty’s safety!”

The knights valiantly charged forward to carve a path for the prince.

Shwin!

Even Prince Kyrix drew his sword and bravely fought against the undead monsters.

Why did he charge into battle?

It was all because he knew that the knights weren't strong enough to defeat these undead monsters.

The battle lasted for around ten minutes.

“Ack!”

Prince Kyrix was thrown to the ground after swinging his sword toward a Death Knight’s sword.

“Your Majesty!”

“Y-Your Majesty!”

The knights tried to rush to his aid, but the undead monsters they were facing prevented them from doing so.

“Kuheok!”

The Death Knight thrust its sword deep into Prince Kyrix’s shoulder and asked, “Where are you going, little prince? Are you going back to your soon-to-fall kingdom?”

“Argh...”

“Die.”

The Death Knight raised its sword up high and prepared to end the prince's life.

‘Is this how I’m going to die...? Losing my country and failing to protect my people...?’ Prince Kyrix closed his eyes and prepared for his demise. He lamented his incompetence for failing to protect his kingdom and people rather than his impending doom.

Swoosh!

The Death Knight was about to swing its sword, and Prince Kyrix prepared himself for his demise when...

Poof!

The Death Knight abruptly disintegrated and turned into dust right before its sword could hit the prince.

“...?”

Prince Kyrix was dumbfounded by the spectacle.

Why did the Death Knight suddenly turn into dust?

‘What’s going on...?’

He looked around to see what was happening.

“...!” Prince Kyrix's eyes shot wide open in shock. The other undead monsters had turned into dust, just like the Death Knight that was about to kill him.

“W-What in the...?”

It was then.

“Waaaaah!”

“We won! We won!”

“Victory!”

“Hurrah!”

“Hurray!”

The victorious cries of the coalition forces reverberated throughout the battlefield, and this could only mean one thing.

“N-No way... Did King Siegfried...?” Prince Kyrix muttered. Then, he instinctively looked toward the direction of the Immortal Kingdom, where Siegfried was supposed to be a hostage at the moment.

***

Bam!

Death Fog’s head was torn into half like a piece of paper the moment Touch of Death connected with the top of his head, and he disintegrated into innumerable light particles shortly afterward.

The Fragment of Apocalius, Death Fog, disintegrated into light particles after taking the full brunt of Touch of Death. The Barrier of Victory crumbled the moment Death Fog died, and a string of messages popped up in front of Siegfried’s eyes.

Ding!

[Alert: You have killed the Immortal Lord, Death Fog!]

[Alert: You have obtained Experience Points!]

[Alert: Your level has risen!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 282!]

Siegfried leveled up after killing the Fragment of Apocalius, Death Fog. As expected, a boss monster would always give a ton of Experience Points.

“Phew...” Siegfried let out a sigh of relief. Then, he walked over to the Requiem Soul and was about to pick it up when—

“Stop.”

—someone stopped him.

“I’ll kill you the moment you lay your hands on that thing.”

“Hmm?” Siegfried looked back to where the voice came from.

There was a young man with crimson-red eyes leading a group of people who looked like members of the Church of Osric.

‘I knew it... There's no way things will get resolved that easily,’ Siegfried grumbled before stealing a glance at the broken ceiling. It turned out that the ceiling was destroyed by the Church of Osric, and they jumped down before Death Fog's death.

Well, it was not that surprising that the Church of Osric would make an appearance, as there was no way they would give up on the Fragment of Apocalius so easily.

“Hand that soul over,” the young man said, extending his hand.

“What if I don’t want to?” Siegfried asked in response with a smirk.

“You should know what's going to happen,” the young man replied with a shrug, hinting that he was going to kill him.

“Pfft!” Siegfried sneered at the threat.

[Immutable King Feinz]

[One of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Church of Osric.]

[He is a talented brawler, and his body is close to indestructible.]

[Type: NPC]

[Level: 300]

[Class: Immortal Fighter]

[Note: He possesses a body that is immune to both buff and debuff.]

Siegfried identified the young man who threatened him to be one of the Four Heavenly Kings of the Church of Osric, the Immutable King, Feinz. It seemed that Feinz had a special ability related to his body, which was completely immune to both buffs and debuffs.

In other words, he was the natural predator of the Debuff Master.

Why was he the Debuff Master's natural predator?

Simple. It was all because the Debuff Master relied heavily on his debuffs, and fighting without them would be akin to eating a hamburger without a patty.[1]

“He seems like a strong guy, so let me help,” Yong Tae-Pung said.

Even Seung-Gu, who looked like he was about to turn into an undead creature, stepped up and said, “I will help too, hyung-nim.”

The other Rankers offered their help as well.

“Do you need a hand?”

“Who the hell are they?”

“Are they here to steal our loot?!”

“Let’s kill them.”

“Hey, who the hell are you bastards?”

The Rankers who had participated in Operation Trojan Horse heightened their senses and became wary. They had no idea when a fight would break out with the Immutable King, Feinz, and his Church of Osric followers, so they prepared to attack at any time.

“I will take care of this guy, so you get some rest. I think it's a bad match-up, too,” Yong Tae-Pung said. He had seen from his Rune of Insight that debuffs would not work on the Immutable King, so he decided to deal with Feinz rather than let Siegfried fight a battle where he would be at a disadvantage.

But...

“No, uncle. I’ll finish this,” Siegfried said. He didn't want to hide behind anyone, so he decided to fight Feinz by himself. He walked over to the Requiem Soul and shoved it into his Inventory.

Then, he looked at Feinz and sneered, “I laid my hands on it. Watcha gonna do?”

“I’ll have to kill you then,” Feinz replied with a shrug.

“I want to see you try,” Siegfried said, copying the shrug.

Yong Tae-Pung tried to stop him, “Nephew! I think it’s best I fight against—”

“I’ll finish it in a jiffy, don’t worry, uncle!” Siegfried replied. Then, he placed his +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp on his waist and walked toward the Immortal King without any weapon in hand.

1. The original comparison author-nim used is eating a steamed bun without red bean paste, but I guess most English readers won’t relate to that...? ☜