Debuff Master

Chapter 557

The Adventurers who had chosen to side with the Immortal Kingdom were locked in a special cage called a Soul Holder. These were cages created by the NPCs to lock up Adventurers who had committed heinous crimes.

An Adventurer locked up inside a Soul Holder could log out, but their character would not disappear and would remain motionless in the cage until the player logged back into the game.

In other words, they could log out, but they could not run away from it. There were cases where an Adventurer was locked up for three days, seven days, a month, six months, and in some extreme cases, an entire year.

This was the main reason the Adventurers would always think twice before messing with the NPCs.

Why?

It was all because the NPCs would send the Knights of Retribution after them; the Knights of Retribution was a knight order specializing in hunting down Adventurers. The Adventurers would then be locked up in these Soul Holders once they were caught.

“What is their sentence?” Siegfried asked the prince while they were on their way to the jail.

The NPCs could not freely decide how long they would lock an Adventurer up in the Soul Holder. A magical algorithm would decide the severity of the Adventurer’s crimes, and it would sentence them accordingly as well.

“They were sentenced to thirty days.”

“Thirty days?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Hmm... 37 days is 720 hours. A bit of time has passed, so let’s say 700 hours. If there are 700 hours left, then if they die once per 49 hours, then... 700 divided by 49 is a bit over 14. Let’s round it up to 14, then,” Siegfried said after making calculations in his head. However, his calculations were far from over. “It will be difficult to kill all of them at the same time, so it will be somewhere between 12 and 14.

"Hmm... A safe estimate would be 13 deaths per person. If I kill them myself, then they will drop 5 items, and 13 times 5 is 65. In other words, each person will drop 65 items...”

Siegfried looked at the prince and asked, “How many prisoners are there?”

Prince Kyrix took out a file and replied, “There are exactly... 527 prisoners, Your Majesty.”

“527? Multiply that by 65, and it's... 34,255? Hohoho!” Siegfried let out a satisfied laugh after making a rough calculation on the number of items he'd stand to get in thirty days.

Thirty-four thousand two hundred fifty-five items in total. From that, he would get at least one main weapon from them, so he stood to gain at least five hundred twenty-seven expensive items.

“M-May I ask about your plans?” Prince Kyrix asked.

“Ah, it’s nothing important. I was just calculating the potential revenue,” Siegfried replied with a smirk.

“Huh?”

“Alright, let’s keep moving. This is now a race against time!”

“A-Are you busy?”

“Yes! Of course! Every second counts from now on! A second wasted is a kill wasted!”

“...”

“It's execution time~ Let’s go execute~ Choppity, chop, chop, their heads off~!” Siegfried hummed a tune that he had learned from only god knew where as he skipped toward the jail where the enemy Adventurers were located.

***

“Fuck...” The Guild Master of the United Guild, Palchuck, could not contain his anger. “Does it even make sense for an entire kingdom to disappear just because its boss monster has died?!”

Palchuck gnashed his teeth in anger while recalling how the more than one million undead soldiers had suddenly turned into dust in the wind.

Thanks to that, they were completely surrounded by the coalition forces; most of them died in an attempt to escape from the encirclement, and those who didn't die were locked up here in the Soul Holder.

To make matters worse, they were sentenced to thirty days by the Soul Holder.

“Thirty days! Damn it! Barely a day passed, and we still have to stay here for twenty-nine and a half days. Sigh...” Palchuck could only let out a sigh after counting the days until his release.

He looked around his surroundings and saw that most of the Adventurers were dozing after their players logged out from the game.

There was no point in playing the game when they would be trapped in these cramped cages akin to pig pens, so it was far better for their mental health to do something in real life while waiting for their sentence to end.

However, Palchuck could not log out from the game, and the reason was none other than the losses he would suffer.

“I’ll lose a lot of money if I can’t play the game for a month...”

He was a Ranker and the guild master of one of the top ten guilds on the continent. The prestige and influence he enjoyed allowed him to earn hundreds of millions of won in a single day from the game alone.

However, what was going to happen if he couldn't play the game for thirty days? It meant losing a huge fortune!

“Maybe I should just use this opportunity to take a break...” Unfortunately, he knew there was nothing he could do, so he decided to think of this as a vacation instead. “It's execution time~ Let’s go execute~ Choppity, chop, chop, their heads off~!”

It was at that moment Palchuck was about to log out that a hideous song caught his ear. He looked toward where the song was coming from and saw someone skipping happily toward the Soul Holders.

“Who the hell is that dumba—” He was about to say something but immediately closed his mouth the moment he recognized the person. The person skipping happily toward the Soul Holder while singing a hideous song was none other than Siegfried van Proa.

***

“Oh? Aren’t you Palchuck-nim?” Siegfried asked after recognizing him in a single glance. Then, he went close and called out, “Palchuck-nim~”

“...”

“Nice to meet you! I did not expect to meet you like this,” Siegfried said in a very friendly tone. Then, he rubbed his hands together and continued, “Aigoo~ I really did not expect to see someone like you here!”

He sounded like he was sneering right now, but he was actually sincere. He heard that the Adventurers had ended up getting captured and imprisoned here, but he didn't expect, even in his wildest dreams, that Palchuck would be one of them.

However, the surprise didn't end there.

‘What the? Most of them are from the United Guild?’ Siegfried noticed that around three hundred out of the more than five hundred Adventurers imprisoned were members of the United Guild.

‘And aren’t they the key members?’ Siegfried recognized a few of them to be high-ranking officials of the guild. The cages were filled with the United Guild members that it was starting to look like their hangout place or something.

Then, a thought suddenly flashed in Siegfried’s mind.

‘Today is the death anniversary of your guild,' Siegfried thought. He walked up even closer to Palchuck and said, “Palchuck-nim?”

“Y-Yes?” Palchuck stuttered in response. Then, he took the initiative to lead the conversation, “It is an honor to finally meet you. I have heard a lot about you.”

“Oh? You did?”

“Yes, and I must say your achievements are quite inspiring. With that said, do you mind taking me out of here? We could continue chatting, but it feels very stuffy in—”

“Nope.”

“Huh?” Palchuck doubted his ears for a second.

‘Did he just say no?’ He was stunned after someone like Siegfried had dared to reject his request. He was going to be stuck here for thirty days, but he'd eventually get out after serving his sentence. He believed that Siegfried was smart enough to know that the entire United Guild could be unleashed upon him if he were to disrespect Palchuck.

However, Siegfried had actually dared to refuse his request...

“Did you just say no?”

“Yes.”

“Why not?” Palchuck asked. Then, he shook his head and said, “If that’s how you want to play it, then you're leaving me with no choice.”

“Whatcha gonna do?”

“...?!”

“You were sentenced to thirty days in here, right? That means you would die twelve to fourteen times within that period of time, and that means you would lose around thirty levels?”

“T-That is...”

“And I’m sure you've heard the rumors... You will drop 5 items if I kill you personally. If I do that 13 times, then that means dropping 65 items.”

“...!”

“Most of your key members are locked up in here, right? I think there are around 300 of you here. If all 300 of you die by my hand 13 times, then...” Siegfried tapped his chin. Then, he revealed an insidious smile and asked, “What do you think will happen to your guild?”

“N-No!” Palchuck cried out as his face turned ghastly pale. The United Guild would meet its demise without a shred of doubt if that ended up happening. Their key members losing thirty levels, all of their main weapons, and more than sixty items were no different from the guild plummeting to the ground in the guild ranks.

“And while you guys are stuck here, I’m going to mobilize my guild and everyone I know to completely destroy your guild headquarters.”

“N-No! You can’t do that!”

“Then you’ll be afflicted by the loser’s debuff for a year. You won’t be able to get your revenge on me, and you’ll have to run away if you as much as see my shadow.”

“N- Noo...!” Palchuck despaired. If Siegfried did what he had said, Palchuck's gaming career would end along with his guild. Unfortunately, there was a 99.9% chance that Siegfried's words just now would end up happening.

“S-Siegfried! No, Sir Siegfried! P-Please forgive me! Just this once! I swear I will not do this ever again!” Palchuck cried out, kneeling on the ground. He was prepared to do whatever it took if it meant he could salvage what he had.

“Nope~ I don’t want to~” Siegfried sneered in response.

“Please...! I will swear loyalty to you! Please spare us!”

“I’m not going to change my mind no matter how much you beg. Anyway, I’m coming in there now, okay?”

Siegfried motioned to the guards to open the door. The guards unlocked the Soul Holder and held the door for him to enter.

“Sir Siegfried! I will really swear loyalty to you! Loyalty! Loyalty! Loyalty! Please spare us this–”

“Hey, do you think I’m stupid? Why the hell would I miss this chance?”

“Please...”

“I’m on a tight schedule right now. I have to rush if I want to kill you at least one more time, so let’s get this over with, okay? There are a lot more I have to kill aside from you.”

“I beg you—”

Siegfried didn't let Palchuck finish his begging.

Smack!

Siegfried swung his +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp and smashed Palchuck's head open.

Thud...!

Palchuck died on the spot and dropped five items on the ground.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Palchuck had ended up dropping an item called Instant Death Revolver, which had been enhanced fifteen times. Unfortunately, it was Palchuck's main weapon.

“Ah~ So sweet!” Siegfried said with glee as the apparition picked up the dropped items. Then, he turned his attention to the other prisoners and walked toward them. The other prisoners had already logged out, so it was just their character zoning out or dozing on the ground.

“I have no time, so...” Siegfried muttered before using Torrential Flower Rain inside the Soul Holder. The flower rain of death killed all of the inmates in the blink of an eye, leaving not a single one of them alive.

“Haha... So His Majesty was planning to feast on those prisoners,” Prince Kyrix said. He couldn't help but laugh in disbelief after realizing what was going on. In his eyes, Siegfried was not an executioner executing inmates but a butcher slaughtering pigs.

***

The war ended officially with the coalition forces emerging victorious. The three kingdoms celebrated Siegfried’s heroics by erecting a statue of him, writing songs about him, and hanging portraits of him throughout their kingdoms.

On top of that, the royal family of the three kingdoms, along with their nobles, had sent hordes of matchmakers in hopes of marrying their daughter to him just to establish a relationship through royal union.

The NPCs were not the only ones singing praises of him as his fame had reached even the Adventurers.

Why?

It was all because he had completely destroyed one of the top ten guilds on the continent, the United Guild, in just a matter of few days.

What Siegfried had done—no, what he was still doing to the United Guild had spread like wildfire throughout the continent, and it became the hottest topic on the BNW community forums.

— Hello, everyone! It’s time to die again! Hang in there~ We only have nine more deaths to go!

He became even more famous among the Adventurers after videos of him trapping Palchuck and the executives of the United Guild in something that looked like a pig pen and killing them every forty-nine hours had spread throughout the community.

Of course, Siegfried didn't really care about it.

“Ah... There are too many things to do...” Siegfried was completely oblivious to his newfound fame or infamy, as he was currently stuck going through the mountain of paperwork back at the Proatine Kingdom.

“Your Majesty! We have received a call from Sir Cheon Woo-Jin!” someone suddenly cried out.

“Really? Tell him I’ll be right there!” Siegfried seized the opportunity to run away from his responsibilities and hurriedly left for the communications room.