Debuff Master

Chapter 1188

“No way…”

“W-What the hell is that damage output?”

“He took out all those goblins alone? All by himself?”

The party members stared in awe with their mouths agape after witnessing Siegfried’s overwhelming display of force.

It was widely known that the monsters in the Ancient Dungeons were so powerful that most would struggle against them. In fact, Siegfried had been seen struggling against the goblins.

No one had ever wiped out these ancient monsters so quickly—until now.

Naturally, the Adventurers peeked at Siegfried’s gear setup using their Rune of Insight, and they were shocked beyond belief.

“T-Transcendent-rated?!”

“A Sanctified item?! That must be one of the new item ratings, right?”

“Holy shit! The attack power is insane!”

“I need to get that set up fast!”

Siegfried’s gear setup drew full attention and envy, as Transcendent and Sanctified items were barely seen in the game still.

“You can’t beat good gear.”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“Man, those items are beautiful.”

“As expected… Being overgeared is the way…”

The Adventurers were convinced that Siegfried’s new items were the secret behind his display of terrifying combat power.

However, their assumption couldn’t be further from the truth.

Was it all thanks to having good gear? Perhaps that was one of the reasons, as his armor set and weapon were overwhelmingly powerful, even among the items of the same rating.

However, just having good gear and being overgeared meant that anyone could fight like Siegfried.

What he did just now was only possible due to Siegfried’s broken stats, skills, and his sheer ability.

Strictly speaking, it couldn’t even be called having tremendous gear advantage.

Why?

It was all because he had simply scrapped his outdated gear and upgraded them to match the dungeon’s level.

In other words, he was hardly overgeared for this Ancient Dungeon.

“Whoa! You’re pretty strong now, aren’t you?” Cheon Woo-Jin said, sounding sincerely impressed. Then, he walked up to him and added, “At this rate, even Lee Geon won’t be a problem for you, right?”

“Hold that thought. Do you honestly believe that bastard’s just been sitting around sucking his thumb? He probably overhauled his gear, too.”

“True… Knowing him, yeah, that’s highly likely.”

“I can’t let my guard down. He is far more skilled than I am, he has more gaming experience, and his class is just damn broken.”

“Hmm…”

“I found a way to counter him, but I haven’t fully developed it into a proper strategy yet. I can’t be overconfident and think that I will one hundred percent win against him.”

“I see.”

“That’s why I need to get stronger. I want to beat that bastard one-sidedly the next time we clash,” Siegfried said firmly. Then, he added, “Which means he is probably grinding like crazy to get stronger, too. Both of us have everything on the line; we’re not fighting right now because neither of us can guarantee that we can win against the other.”

The fallout from either Siegfried or Lee Geon losing would be massive.

If Siegfried lost, then he would not be living up to his title as the main protagonist of BNW, and people would think that he had been overhyped by the media all this time.

On the other hand, Lee Geon would lose reputation as a gaming genius. He would be branded as a thing of the past, and people would no longer be attracted to his devilish charisma.

More importantly, a single loss in such a high-level rivalry would without a doubt cascade into more losses.

Once a gap appeared between them, closing it would be nearly impossible.

“I have to prepare thoroughly and make sure I win the next time we clash,” Siegfried said, clenching his fists.

“Got it. I’ll be rooting for you,” Cheon Woo-Jin said with a smile.

“Rooting for me? Pfft… Enough talk. Let’s go hunt the boss already,” Siegfried said with a smirk.

“Okay.”

With that, Siegfried pressed on, diving deeper into the Ancient Goblin Empire dungeon.

***

The Ancient Goblin Empire dungeon was no pushover.

“Argh!”

“Ack!”

“U-Ughhh!”

Cries of pain rang out from the party members.

For the Adventurers who had yet to arm themselves with Transcendent or Relic-rated weapons and armor, even a single basic attack from the goblins posed a serious threat.

Fortunately, they had the most powerful buffer on the continent, Chae Hyung-Seok, buffing them.

Thanks to him, the party avoided getting wiped out.

Without a doubt, he was truly worthy of being called a god on the battlefield.

In addition to making sure that those who were supposed to die a long time ago would stay alive, his buffs also allowed them to fight the goblins on equal footing.

The fact that he was making the impossible possible meant that he was performing a miracle, so giving him the title of god was no exaggeration.

‘He’s doing good,’ Siegfried thought.

He couldn’t help but feel proud of Chae Hyung-Seok’s performance on the battlefield.

Thanks to Chae Hyung-Seok’s buff and the party holding the front, Siegfried was able to focus on offense and carve through the goblins.

This setup made the party unstoppable… until they arrived at the gates of a massive city.

[Ancient Goblin Empire: Capital City of Goblia]

True to the dungeon’s concept, the goblins even had a capital city.

“This is… a bit too much…” Siegfried muttered.

He couldn’t help but feel daunted by the city before him.

Goblia’s size was staggering. It was about half of Preussen, which meant that it was large enough to make anyone think twice before attempting to siege it.

Siegfried was indeed far stronger now, and he was confident he could take on more powerful enemies, but the memory of attempting to siege a small fortress and getting swarmed by thousands of goblins made him hesitate.

If they so much as touched Goblia, and hundreds of millions of goblins came sallying out of the city gates, then the party would without a doubt be wiped out.

Even Siegfried himself would be in danger of dying while fleeing if that happened.

Lastly, the capital city was bound to have powerful soldiers garrisoned in it, so it would be far more dangerous than the small fortress.

‘I’m supposed to go in there? Nah, man… That’s suicide…’ Siegfried thought.

Just as the thought crossed his mind—

Ding!

—A quest notification popped up before his eyes.

[Fall of the Empire]

[Defeat the Goblin Emperor of the Ancient Goblin Empire.]

[Type: Time Attack Quest]

[Time Limit: 12 hours]

[Progress: 0% (0/1)]

[Reward: +5 Levels]

[Warning 1: The dungeon cannot be cleared if you fail to defeat the Goblin Emperor.]

[Warning 2: You cannot leave or log out until the quest is completed once you enter Goblia.]

The quest looked simple, as all he needed to do was defeat the Goblin Emperor.

However, Siegfried would have to cut straight through the heart of Goblia in order to reach the Goblin Emperor.

“What do you think we should do?” Cheon Woo-Jin asked.

“Hmm… Let’s rest for exactly three hours first.”

“Huh? Why so precise?”

“See you all in three hours!”

With those words, Siegfried logged out.

“What the hell…?” Cheon Woo-Jin muttered, baffled by the sudden development.

In the end, he logged out as well, as he needed to take a break anyway.

Three hours later—

“Are you seriously going to do it?” Cheon Woo-Jin asked.

“Got a better idea?” Siegfried asked.

He took a nap for two hours, ate a quick meal in thirty minutes, and spent another thirty minutes relaxing over a cup of coffee.

He wanted to be as fresh as possible before attempting to raid the boss monster.

Feeling refreshed, he gripped his +10 Sky Piercer.

“I’ll go with Hamchi and Chae Hyung-Seok. The rest of you stay here,” he said.

“What?! You’re gonna try to raid the Goblin Emperor with just two people?!” Cheon Woo-Jin exclaimed, his eyes widening in surprise.

“Come in a bit later after I attract the aggro. If we all go in together, then everyone is going to get wiped out. Well, except for me.”

“Hey, but still—”

“Let’s go!”

Without missing a beat, Siegfried sprinted straight into Goblia.

“…!”

The rest of the party was left speechless.

They had never imagined that Siegfried would actually charge into the capital of the Ancient Goblin Empire.

“Sigh… Gotta give him credit for his guts, right? Kyuuu…” Hamchi muttered, letting out a sigh and shaking his head.

Siegfried yelled over his shoulder, “Hey, quit yapping and hurry up!”

“C-Coming! Kyuuuu!”

“Why me?! Go die on your own!” Chae Hyung-Seok vehemently protested being sent to his death.

“Shut up and get your ass moving!” Siegfried shouted.

“Arghhhh!”

Unfortunately, he had no choice but to follow his boss’ order.

With that, the three-man raid on the Ancient Goblin Empire’s capital city began.

***

Boom!

Krwaaaang!

Siegfried unleashed Splitting Heaven and Earth to shatter the gates of Goblia.

“Kihit?!”

“Kieee!”

“Kieeek! Kieeeek!”

Goblin soldiers began pouring out like a tidal wave from behind the gates.

“Buffs!” Siegfried shouted at Hamchi and Chae Hyung-Seok.

“Kyuuuu!”

“Yeah, yeah. Here you go, sir.”

Hamchi and Chae Hyung-Seok cast every buff in their arsenal onto Siegfried.

‘Time for debuffs,’ Siegfried thought, activating Karma Flare and Embrace of Despair.

But he did not stop there.

Fwooosh!

Sssshhh…!

He unleashed both Infernal Hellscape and Frozen Hell onto the battlefield, filling the entire place with both scorching heat and bitter frost.

Woooong!

With his debuffs cast, he charged up Crushing Tremor into his +10 Sky Piercer.

And what happened next was nothing short of a massacre.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Krwaaaang!

Chains of explosions would erupt and reduce the goblins into ashes whenever Siegfried swung his +10 Sky Piercer.

The goblin soldiers were utterly powerless before Siegfried’s overwhelming might. Ironically, the whole scene looked like a bunch of foot soldiers trying to stop Lu Bu himself.

However, despite the massacre he was causing, Siegfried’s experience point bar didn’t budge at all.

[Alert: You have gained 0 Experience Points!]

[Alert: You have gained 0 Experience Points!]

[Alert: You have gained 0 Experience Points!]

[Alert: You have gained 0 Experience Points!]

(omitted…)

[Alert: You have gained 0 Experience Points!]

It seemed that the mobs in the Ancient Goblin Empire dungeon no longer provided Experience Points to Siegfried, which meant that the only way he could level up was by killing the Goblin Emperor and gaining five levels as a reward.

The fact that he could no longer gain Experience Points from the goblins was indeed disappointing, but Siegfried did not mind it at all.

After all, the Goblin Emperor alone would grant him five levels, so he had no complaints.

“Phew!”

After wiping out thousands of goblin soldiers, Siegfried finally had a moment to catch his breath.

Unfortunately, that was not the end of the goblins.

“Kieeeek!”

“Kyaaaah!”

“Kiki! Kikikiiii!”

A horde of goblins appeared in the distance, swarming toward Siegfried like enraged bees.

Judging from their armor and weapons, they were no ordinary foot soldiers. They were clearly the Ancient Goblin Empire’s elite forces.

Moreover, there were Champion Class monsters called Goblin Knights mixed in the horde, and they seemed to number in the hundreds.

“Erm… How are we supposed to deal with that?” Chae Hyung-Seok asked.

“How? We don’t fight them. We skip them.”

“Skip them?”

“I mean, why are you even thinking of fighting that many goblins? You would get exhausted before you know it and die.”

“Then how do you plan to skip them? Teleport? Your teleport range is short, isn’t it?”

Siegfried could now teleport after stepping into the realm of Grandmasters, but his teleportation had a maximum range of only fifty meters. Not only that, it had quite a long cooldown, so using it once meant it would not be available again for a while.

“Who said anything about teleporting?” Siegfried said.

Then, he grabbed Chae Hyung-Seok by the scruff of his neck.

“Let’s go, Hamchi!”

“Kyuuuu!”

As if on cue, Hamchi shrank in size and hopped onto Siegfried’s shoulder.

“W-What are you going to do?” Chae Hyung-Seok stammered nervously.

“What else? I’m going to fly over them,” Siegfried replied with a grin.

“T-That’s insane! Have you already forgotten what happened the last time you tried flying?! We almost got wiped out!”

Chae Hyung-Seok was referring to the time when Siegfried attempted to fly to safety, only to be shot down from the sky with so many arrows and poisoned darts that they formed a tight net in the air.

However, Siegfried did not seem to care at all.

Swoosh!

Using his flight ability, Siegfried shot straight toward the imperial palace located at the very heart of Goblia.

“Hey! You damn crazy lunatic! We’re gonna get turned into pincushions!” Chae Hyung-Seok screamed.

However, Siegfried did not slow down.

Swiiiick!

Just as expected, a rain of arrows and poisoned darts came flying at them, but they couldn’t touch Siegfried’s party at all.

Wooong…!

A crimson barrier surrounded him.

It was the effect of the Invincible Emperor’s Mighty Armor Set, which absorbed the blood of fallen enemies to create a protective shield that deflected every incoming projectile.