Debuff Master

Chapter 596

“L-Leader!” Vladimir screamed with fear in his voice while trembling uncontrollably. The leader of the Church of Osric was capable of instilling fear in his followers with his mere presence alone.

He possessed a power that nobody knew the limits of, insidious cunningness that would put most people to shame, unwavering determination, and cruelty that didn't allow him to forgive failure.

The Savior was an immense individual capable of making even the Descendant of Blood Master Berserk, Vladimir, tremble in fear for his life.

“T-The Red Cardinal, Vladimir, greets the great leader!” Vladimir exclaimed on his knees.

The Savior’s deep, insidious voice flowed out from underneath the hood, “So you failed your mission.”

“L-Leader!”

“I didn’t expect you to fail. I have always had great faith in you.”

“P-Please punish me with death...!”

“I hope you’re aware what price a follower who failed shall pay.”

“Ah...” Vladimir gasped weakly.

How could he not know? He knew better than anyone what kind of end those who failed their missions had met. In fact, he had personally handled those who had failed their missions in the past, so he knew the price better than anyone.

‘I should’ve just died there...’ Vladimir regretted narrowly surviving the ordeal. The Savior's punishment was worse than death itself.

‘Maybe it would’ve been better to die by that brat’s hands...’ Vladimir thought, but he was soon interrupted.

“Red Cardinal Vladimir.”

“Y-Yes, Leader...?”

“Worry not, for I shall not execute you for failing your mission.”

“R-Really?!”

“There is still work remaining for you, Red Cardinal. And I have not forgotten the labor you have toiled for our beloved church.”

“T-Thank you for your benevolent grace, Leader!”

Vladimir was sincerely relieved, ‘How can I be so fortunate?!’

He thought he was a dead man, but who knew he'd be forgiven and given another chance?

“Focus on your recovery for now, Red Cardinal.”

“Yes, leader.”

“It’s a shame you failed your mission, but let it not weigh your heart down. Our church has already finished all preparations to retaliate against our oppressors.”

“P-Pardon?”

“Our long-awaited dream shall finally be fulfilled in the near future. Thus, focus on recovering your strength.”

“A-As you command.”

“Then, I wish you a quick recovery.”

The Savior left after those words. Surprisingly, he disappeared in the same fashion he appeared, without any signs and not leaving a single trace.

“Just what in the world have they been doing...? How come they've already finished all preparations to retaliate?” Vladimir muttered after being left all alone in the infirmary.

***

Siegfried headed to the Hall of Martial God with Hamchi after logging into the game, and he entered the private arena prepared for the match. There were no ordinary spectators in the private arena, but there were reporters from various V-Sports media outlets writing down articles and taking screenshots or video recordings of the match.

“Please get ready and enter the arena,” the referee said.

“Let’s go.”

“Kyuuu! Alright, owner punk!”

Siegfried headed to the arena just as the referee instructed.

“Both participants, please greet one another,” the referee said.

Siegfried looked at his opponent and gave a short greeting, “Hello, I will be in your care today.”

“I should be the one saying that, Siegfried-nim,” his opponent courteously responded to his greeting.

Siegfried’s opponent was a famous streamer named Ciclo, and he often streamed his PVP matches or his life as a mercenary in the game.

Siegfried was not familiar with Ciclo, but he remembered watching a few of his streams in passing.

“Are you ready?!” the referee exclaimed.

Both Siegfried and Ciclo pressed the "Ready" button.

[Alert: 3... 2... 1...!]

[Alert: Fight!]

Thus, Siegfried’s first group stage match started.

“I’ll take care of this one,” Siegfried said.

“Alright! Kyuuu!” Hamchi replied.

Siegfried rushed toward Ciclo as soon as the match started.

Whoosh!

He did not take out his +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp and relied only on the brawling techniques that he had learned from Leonid.

“Oh!”

“The first match! Finally!”

“I predict Siegfried to win, but Ciclo isn’t going to go down without a fight.”

The reporters closely observed Siegfried’s first group stage match in hopes that they could get something newsworthy out of the match, but...

“Huh?”

“Eh?”

“W-What the hell...?”

The match had just started, but everyone was already flabbergasted. The reason was that Ciclo was already on the ground just thirty seconds after the match started.

Siegfried rushed forward and threw a high kick that struck the side of Ciclo’s head. The kick carried immense force that shattered Ciclo’s skull completely, resulting in him falling to the ground and not getting up again.

Ciclo was struck by Grappling Master Leonid’s Black Hole Strike, which was channeled into Siegfried’s leg.

“W-Winner! H-Han Tae-Sung!”

The referee took a while to process that Ciclo’s HP had already been reduced to zero before declaring Tae-Sung the victor.

“...”

“...”

“...”

The reporters were in complete disbelief. They expected Siegfried to win the match, but none of them expected that he would do so in just thirty seconds.

“Thank you for the match,” Siegfried said with a bow before leaving the arena.

The long-awaited first group stage match of Siegfried ended in such a lackluster way.

***

The spotlight shined down on Tae-sung as he left his VR capsule. He shook hands with his opponent before conducting the winner’s interview.

“That was quite a cool way to win your debut match! A word, please! To all those watching!”

“Ah, uhmm...” Han Tae-Sung looked flustered when the mic was brought to his face. Then, he gave a short speech, “I dedicate this victory to my family, who came to support me. Of course, I dedicate it to my friends, too.”

“I see! How is your condition today?”

“Ah, that is...” Tae-Sung muttered. Then, he answered carefully, “I was so nervous that I couldn’t move the way I wanted to do so, but I’m relieved I won the match.”

“Eh?”

“Being nervous made the match much more difficult than I thought it would be.”

It was then.

“...”

“...”

“...”

A deafening silence fell upon the vast stadium as the atmosphere instantly turned cold.

He defeated his opponent in exactly twenty-six seconds, but he claimed that the match was difficult because he was nervous? Han Tae-Sung's words bewildered the spectators, and they had no idea what to say.

However, Tae-Sung was telling the truth.

‘I saw an opening from the start, but...’

He could have ended the match in five seconds, but he was so nervous that he couldn't take advantage of it. Unfortunately, those who had no idea how he felt were baffled by his words.

“I-I see...! Haha! Haha... Hahaha... So you were nervous?”

“Yes.”

“Alright! We look forward to you not being nervous and showing us your true skills in the next match! Hahaha!”

The announcer in charge of the interview sweated profusely as he hurriedly tried to end the interview.

Thus, the quick victory paired with the interview that lasted not even a minute gave birth to numerous news articles. An example of the news articles were "Han Tae-Sung Too Nervous, Wins His First Match in Just Twenty-Six Seconds!"

‘Ah, how many times do I have to do this interview...?’ Tae-Sung wondered on the way back to the waiting room. He could not help but think that these kinds of offline tournaments were much more troublesome than he initially thought they would be.

It was then.

“Oh?”

Tae-Sung ran into Kwon Oh-Shin, who was leaving the waiting room for his match.

“Are you going for your match?” Tae-Sung asked. Then, he smiled and added, “I just finished my match. Did you watch it?”

“Hah...!” Kwon Oh-Shin smiled in response while trying to suppress the rage boiling inside of him. His rage was boiling so hot that he could easily cook a packet of ramyun with it.

‘This son of a bitch dares to make a fool out of me?!’ Kwon Oh-Shin felt humiliated and angry after discovering Tae-Sung's in-game identity.

“You son of a—” Kwon Oh-Shin was about to hurl a flurry of curses, but he held his tongue.

Tae-Sung’s bodyguards were standing next to him and were glaring at Kwon Oh-Shin.

Kwon Oh-Shin’s anger dissipated the moment he saw the two burly men glaring at him, and this gave credibility to the rumors that even those with anger management issues could control their anger when faced with someone bigger and stronger than them.

“Hmm? What did you say? Did you cuss at me just now?” Tae-Sung asked.

“N-No way I would do that...” Kwon Oh-Shin gritted his teeth and replied.

“Ah, that’s good,” Tae-Sung said. Then, he grinned and added, “You could’ve gotten in big trouble if you had done anything.”

“...”

“My bodyguards have quite a bad temper, you see.”

A chill traveled down Kwon Oh-Shin’s spine at Tae-Sung’s words.

Why?

It was all because the bodyguards weren't just glaring at him anymore but were making threatening gestures as well.

“Haha!” Tae-Sung laughed in front of Kwon Oh-Shin’s face. Then, he cheered him on, “I wish you good luck and victory!”

“Ah, t-thank you...”

“Oh right, one more thing,” Tae-Sung said, raising a finger as if he remembered something. Then, he whispered, “You better watch your back at night.”

“Huh? What do you mean by that—”

“I’m just saying you should be careful. The world can be a scary place, right? There are a lot of psychopaths committing all sorts of violent crimes. It’s best to always be careful whether it’s in reality or the game, right? Hoho!”

Tae-Sung walked away after giving what could either be considered advice or a threat.

***

Tae-Sung was back in the waiting room, thinking of ways to dispose of Kwon Oh-Shin.

“Hmm... What should I do with him?”

He had two main options at the moment.

1. He could kill Kwon Oh-Shin’s character, Kaosin, and have him get slapped with a ban.

2. He could just let him be and then destroy him at the tournament for the whole world to see.

Both choices were so good that Tae-Sung was having a hard time choosing between them.

“Ah, what should I do...?” Tae-Sung muttered, and he soon became engrossed in his dilemma, but the TV interrupted his train of thought.

– Ah! Kwon Oh-Shin is going on the offensive!

– Isn’t that a bit too cruel...?

– K-Kwon Oh-Shin is dismembering his opponent to pieces!

Kaosin dismembered the limbs of his opponent on live television as if he was taking out his anger upon getting humiliated by Tae-Sung. The scene playing live on the television was the help Tae-Sung needed to make up his mind.

“You just wait and see.”

In the end, Tae-Sung decided to humiliate Kwon Oh-Shin on television for the world to see rather than letting him get banned from the game.

Why?

It was all because Kwon Oh-Shin was a very proud and arrogant person. In other words, making him a public spectacle and traumatizing for life would cause him much more agony than simply getting banned from playing BNW for a few months.

***

On that same evening, Tae-Sung celebrated his win with his family and friends.

“Damn it... Why isn’t that guy coming?”

Meanwhile, Kwon Oh-Shin had decided to head straight home after his match and logged into the game again. He was currently waiting for someone, and it seemed that he was plotting something again.

“Is he ignoring me now?”

It was then.

Swoosh...!

A being with their face covered by a hood appeared like a mirage in front of Kaosin.

“You called? Adventurer Kaosin?”

“You’re here.”

“What is this regarding?”

“I need power.”

“Power... What kind of power do you require?”

“Siegfried van Proa. I need power to beat that bastard," Kaosin said. He was not confident that he defeat Siegfried in a duel. He knew that there was no way he could win in his current state, so he decided that he needed to become stronger, even if it meant borrowing the power of the Church of Osric.

“Power to win against Siegfried van Proa...” The hooded individual was the Church Leader of the Church of Osric, and he looked troubled as he said, “I’m sorry, but there is a limit to how much stronger you can become through normal means.

"It’s impossible for you to become stronger in such a short period of time. Well, strong enough to defeat Siegfried van Proa, that is.”

“Is there really no way?”

“There might be, but...”

“I don’t mind paying whatever price I’ll have to pay as long as I can beat that bastard.”

“Are you certain?”

“Yes,” Kaosin replied, sounding determined.

The Savior pulled his hood lower to cover his face before grinning from ear to ear.