Debuff Master

Chapter 1161

Meanwhile, the Marchioni Imperial Army was struggling without Siegfried.

Though the Corals had shifted their strategy from offense to defense, the imperial army’s casualties were steadily mounting.

Why? The reason was simple.

The Corals kept fielding more elite units led by the Coral Emperor’s imperial guards, outclassing the Marchioni Imperial Army in terms of quality.

The Marchioni Imperial Army had no choice but to rely on the Adventurers to break through the enemy’s fortified defense lines.

Adventurers were the perfect expendable resource to conserve the imperial army’s strength, as they would simply come back to life after drying.

Even so, they were still human at the end of the day. Casualties among the venturers were inevitable against the overwhelmingly powerful Coral Imperial Guards unleashed on the frontlines.

The Adventurers’ growth rate was incredibly fast, but the penalty for dying was simply too steep compared to the experience points and rewards they stood to gain fighting against the Corals.

As a result, the number of Adventurers who conscripted into the Marchioni Imperial Army began to dwindle.

The Adventurers were no fools, as they soon realized that the empire was treating them like cannon fodder or meat shields.

Among them, the higher-ranking ones—needed the most on the battlefield—started showing reluctance to fight, as dying even once at their current level was very costly.

Most Adventurers heading to the Coral Planet were Level 299. If one death would cost them three levels, then recovering from the penalty alone could take two to three months.

In other words, the risks far outweighed the rewards, so it was only natural for the Adventurers to abandon the Marchioni Imperial Army.

“We are short on troops…” Hansen muttered.

He was at his table, deeply troubled by the lack of high-ranking combat troops.

“Sir Hansen.”

Just then, the Marchioni Imperial Army’s supply commander approached him.

“Are we having trouble recruiting Adventurers?”

“Yes, we are. Even though they may be immortals, death comes at quite a steep price,” Hansen replied with a nod.

“I am aware of that, too.”

“What we need are more elite troops. But that is proving to be a problem…”

“Just wait a little longer.”

“Hm?”

“The empire has developed a new combat stimulant for the Adventurers.”

“A combat stimulant? Doesn’t that come with terrible side effects?”

Hansen was aware of the combat stimulants. These stimulants were basically a form of narcotics used by the military, and the Holy Alliance had issued them to their troops.

Drinking the stimulant gave soldiers strength far beyond their limits, but unfortunately, it came at a cost.

The best-case scenario would be for them to end up broken, unable to use mana ever again. Meanwhile, the worst-case scenario was death once the stimulants’ effects had ended.

Back during the war, countless Holy Alliance soldiers were boosted by the combat stimulants. After the war, most of them suffered from the horrific side effects of it.

Most of them died from the side effects, while those who were fortunate, or rather, unfortunate enough to have survived, ended up living as empty shells.

“Adventurers do not care about military orders. They are no different from mercenaries. Who in their right mind would take something with such insane side effects?”

“Hohoho! That is not the case this time, Sir Hansen.”

“Huh? Pardon?”

“We might call it a combat stimulant, but those are nothing like the cheap old drugs used by the Holy Alliance.”

“Then what are they?”

“Why not see it for yourself?”

The supply commander took something out from his back and held it out for Hansen to see.

“What is that…?” Hansen asked.

Inside the commander’s hand was a flask filled with bright green liquid.

“We call it the Elixir of Transcendence.”

“Elixir… of Transcendence? What does it do?”

“You should be aware that powerful Adventurers eventually hit a wall, right? A limit most of them cannot overcome?”

“I am not familiar with the details, but I am aware that such things happen to them.”

“Well, they can easily overcome that wall with this elixir.”

“What?!”

“I swear, there will be nothing more tempting for an Adventurer whose growth has been stunted by the wall.”

“Ah…!”

“Quite impressive, right?”

“Oh my god…”

“From now on, any Adventurer who conscripts into our army and achieves a certain performance level will receive a dose of this Elixir of Transcendence.”

“T-That means…!”

Hansen’s face, which had grown dark these days, suddenly lit up. He had been tearing his hair out over the dwindling supply of Adventurers, but now, he finally had a solution to the problem he had been agonizing over.

“Spread the word. Any Adventurer who kills one thousand five hundred Corals will receive one vial of this elixir. Just those few words will have them lining up in front of our recruitment officers.”

“Understood!”

Hansen immediately accepted the suggestion and hurried off to put the plan in motion.

‘Perfect,’ he thought while walking briskly.

Just like the supply commander had said, this elixir was sure to bait the Adventurers and put them back on the battlefield.

***

Words of the new quest reward put out by the Marchioni Imperial Army, the Elixir of Transcendence, had spread throughout the gaming community like wildfire.

However, the quest condition to receive a vial of elixir was far from easy.

The quest clear condition was killing one thousand five hundred Corals, and the Marchioni Imperial Army had declared that condition as if it were easy to achieve, but taking down that many Coral Soldiers was no easy task at all.

The Corals were a species where even an average farmer among them could match the combat strength of a Level 250 Adventurer, and even a regular Coral Soldier on the battlefield was as strong as a Level 299 Adventurer.

When taking that into consideration, killing one thousand five hundred of them was a huge challenge.

However, the Level 299 Adventurers jumped at the opportunity upon hearing the news about how the Elixir of Transcendence became a quest reward.

This was only natural, as the Level 299 Adventurers were desperate to reach Level 300 and become a Master. Every single one of them was desperate to grow stronger, but a daunting wall stood in their way.

Breaking past Level 299 required not only skills but also immense luck, as most people would never even get to surpass the wall.

However, the Elixir of Transcendence was going to let them level up without having to surpass that wall.

Most Adventurers whose growth had stalled due to the wall could only grow stronger by upgrading their gear or scouring the marketplace for Coral armor that boosted their skills.

To them, the Elixir of Transcendence was nothing short of a gift—no, salvation from the heavens.

[Game/General: BNW Level Cap Expansion!]

[V-Sports: Let’s Go! All the Way to Level 300!]

[Breaking: New BNW Content Removes Level Limit!]

News of the Elixir of Transcendence spilled over into the real world, too, and it made headlines and dominated the front pages of global news portals.

With that, the Level 299 Adventurers from all over the continent flocked to the Coral Planet.

Even those who had never cared about the Coral Planet before were now scrambling to get on the transport vessel to get their hands on the Elixir of Transcendence and break through to Level 300.

In fact, the mass migration was on a whole different scale that it looked like the exodus.

“Tickets for sale! I’m selling tickets for the transport vessel to the Coral Planet!”

“Hey! Stop pushing!”

“Line up! Get in line!”

Tens of thousands—no, hundreds of thousands of Level 299 Adventurers swarmed the shuttle port on the continent. Every single one of them was desperate to board the transport vessel bound for the Coral Planet.

The chaos at the port was inevitable, as the transport vessel only made one trip a day.

However, the sheer number of people forced the schedule to change to run every twelve hours just to ease the congestion at the port.

Yet even with that, the transport vessels were so packed that the Adventurers looked like canned sardines.

Never had a transport vessel been this packed before in the history of the continent, and these Adventurers looked more like livestock cargo rather than human passengers.

With hundreds of thousands of Level 299 Adventurers pouring into the Coral Planet, the war between the Corals and the Marchioni Empire entered the next phase.

The Marchioni Empire now had an overwhelming influx of reinforcements, which meant that the battles ahead were guaranteed to be even fiercer and larger than ever before.

***

Meanwhile, Siegfried was busy roaming all over the command center, gathering whatever intel he could come across.

Unfortunately, his simple task of collecting information proved to be far more challenging than he initially thought, as the Corals in the command center showed far too much interest in him.

“Oooh! You’re the newbie imperial guard, aren’t you? Hmm… So, would it be fine if I… touched your head just once?”

“Um… excuse me? Could I touch your head just once?”

“Hey, can we talk for a moment? Let’s go somewhere quiet.”

Every time Siegfried passed by, the Corals would stare at his smooth, gleaming bald head with fascination, and some even went as far as asking for permission to touch it.

Thanks to that, Siegfried couldn’t collect any useful intel at all. He couldn’t even attempt to sneak anywhere, as he was attracting far too much attention now.

Word of him had already spread among the Corals in the command center, and he had unintentionally become a celebrity.

He became the famous Bald Rookie Imperial Guard.

“Ah, damn it…”

At the end of the day, all Siegfried managed to do was have his bald head rubbed by every high-ranking Coral officer who used their authority to have their way with him.

Without even getting anywhere close to the restricted areas, Siegfried was forced to retreat to his office, feeling a strange sense of defeat.

‘This isn’t gonna work. I’ll have to set up some kind of CCTV network or something…’

He summoned the Night Stalkers that could serve as his eyes and stationed them all over the command center.

By connecting with their line of sight, he was practically installing dozens of surveillance cameras throughout the whole place.

Of course, he did not stop there. He used Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance and scanned the entire command center, keeping tabs on where everyone was in real-time.

‘Damn… The security here is nuts. I don’t think anyone can sneak into this place…’

The command center’s defense was so airtight that even Siegfried wasn’t planning on pulling any funny business. The whole place was practically on lockdown around the clock, so getting anywhere near the restricted areas without special clearance was practically impossible.

“Kyuuu! Hey, owner punk!”

Just then, Hamchi returned from his recon mission.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Hamchi found something big! Kyuuu!”

“What is it?”

“I snuck inside the restricted area! Kyuuu!”

“Oh? And what did you find?”

“Kyuuu! I found out who knows where the Coral Emperor is!”

“Ooooh!” Siegfried exclaimed, his eyes gleaming.

Hamchi had brought back a very crucial piece of information this time.

“Who is it? Who knows about that guy’s whereabouts?” Siegfried asked.

“Kyuuu! The Coral Chancellor! His name is Maximus!”

“Maximus? Isn’t he the one who runs the whole Coral army?”

“Kyuuu! That’s right!”

“Ah, that makes sense. Only the top brass would know where the Coral Emperor is.”

“Not the top brass! Only Maximus knows where the emperor is! Kyuuu!”

“Great job, Hamchi. Here’s your reward.”

Siegfried opened his Inventory and handed Hamchi a pack of premium nuts for bringing back such vital information. He also did not forget to give Hamchi’s head a good scratch, either.

“That was nothing for Hamchi! Kyuuu!” Hamchi said with a smug grin.

“Stop trying to act so cool, punk,” Siegfried said with a smile. Then, he thought, ‘Hmm… Chancellor Maximus…’

Hamchi’s intel was valuable, but making use of it was a whole different challenge altogether.

Maximus was the ruler of the Corals in the Coral Emperor’s stead, so approaching him was bound to be difficult.

In addition, even if Siegfried managed to approach him somehow, Maximus was surrounded at all times by dozens of his personal guards, who were some of the most powerful knights among the Corals.

Siegfried couldn’t just waltz in, abduct Maximus, turn him into an Irradiator, and extract the Coral Emperor’s whereabouts from him.

‘So how do I get close to him…?’ Siegfried wondered.

Click… Clack!

Just then, the door swung open.

“You there.”

A figure stepped into the office, and he was unmistakably a high-ranking elite knight, judging by his appearance alone.

“Are you the new imperial guard?”

“Yes, sir!” Siegfried jolted upright and replied.

He had been so focused on talking with Hamchi that he hadn’t even noticed anyone approaching the office.

However, the problem was that the visitor was not alone.

‘Eh?’

Siegfried’s eyes widened as several more elite knights followed the first inside. All in all, eight elite knights squeezed into the small office and lined up along the walls, as if surrounding Siegfried.

At this moment, a single thought raced through Siegfried’s mind, ‘Did I get caught?’

“Imperial Guard Mindrius.”

Siegfried had been using the alias Mindrius while disguised as a Coral Imperial Guard.

“Yes, sir!” Siegfried snapped to attention. His nerves were tense, as he would have to fight his way out of the enemy’s command center if things had gone south.

“Straighten your uniform, soldier.”

“Huh? Pardon me, sir?”

Siegfried was baffled at the sudden command, as it was completely different from what he was expecting.

“Chancellor Maximus wishes to see you.”