Debuff Master

Chapter 411

Siegfried, Hamchi, and Oscar flinched and froze upon hearing the scream.

“...!”

‘What was that?! Damn it... I have a bad feeling about this...’ Siegfried’s gut was telling him there was something ominous at where the scream had come from. However, his guts weren't the only thing that was giving him warnings.

Shwaaa!

Inzaghi’s Compass was warning him desperately of danger to the point that it turned piping red from overheating.

Wooong!

His Lucky Guy Earrings let out a resonant hum, trying to warn him of the danger.

All signs warned him of the danger lurking deep within the woods, but it was not only the danger hiding behind the woods that served as a threat to Siegfried and his comrades.

“Come to think of it... We can’t use mana here, right?”

The use of mana was completely restricted within the emperor’s personal hunting ground. In other words, it was impossible for the knights to protect their liege in case a powerful creature appeared. In other words, there was a possibility that the rulers participating in this Hunting Contest were going to get massacred by beasts.

Siegfried turned and started walking toward where the scream had come from.

“Let’s go take a look at what's going on over there,” he said.

“But Your Majesty! Won’t it be dangerous?” Oscar protested.

“I have no idea. Besides, I’ll come back to life if I die, so what’s the worst that can happen?” Siegfried nonchalantly replied with a shrug.

“But...”

“Oh, by the way, prioritize your life above mine from now on. I’m not asking you right now, but commanding you as your king.”

“But I am your knight, and it is my duty to protect you! How could I abandon my liege and run away, Your Majesty?!” Oscar vehemently protested.

Siegfried shrugged and replied, “Eh? Then I guess you can die protecting me.”

“Y-Your Majesty!” Oscar flustered and stuttered in response. She was not flustered because she was scared of losing her life. No, she was a knight through and through, and she considered it an honor to lay down her life if it meant preserving the life of her liege. However, what made her stutter and flustered was due to the extremely petty and childish manner her liege had replied to her protest.

“Oh, I see~ You want to leave me all alone and burden me with your death... Fine, if you want to see me blame myself for your death and continue to live my life in misery... then I will gladly give you what you—“

“Your Majesty! You know that is far from what I—“

“Then do as you’re told,” Siegfried cut her off. Then, he looked at Hamchi and said, “You too, got it?”

“Kyu! Don’t worry about Hamchi, owner punk! Hamchi will abandon you without skipping a beat! You’re going to come back to life anyway, so what’s the problem? Kyuuu~!”

“You little—“

“Hamchi will leave you behind even if you don’t come to life! Kyu! Hamchi’s life is more precious than your punk ass!”

“What did you say?” Siegfried grimaced and retorted, but he did not believe a word the giant hamster was saying.

‘Hehe... I know you’re going to bawl your eyes if something happened to me,’ he knew Hamchi meant completely opposite of what he was saying.

“I have no idea what’s going to happen, but let’s go check it out,” Siegfried said as he walked toward where the scream came from.

***

Hamchi activated Meerkat~! while Siegfried was on his back.

They ran nonstop for a good ten minutes and—

“Heok!”

They came across two corpses with missing lower bodies.

“Your Majesty, I am certain this is the King of Rollota Kingdom and his attending knight,” Oscar hurriedly reported after recognizing the corpse.

“The King of Rollota and his attending knight? Then, this means a king and his knight have been murdered...?”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Oscar replied with a nod before she hesitantly added, “I believe it is a terrorist attack...”

“Terrorist attack? In the World Peace Conference right under Emperor Stuttgart’s nose?” Siegfried muttered.

The gravity of the current situation finally became clear to Siegfried. The fact that such a hideous murder occurred at the peace conference hosted by the emperor was sure to send ripples all over the world.

‘This isn’t a problem of a king dying... This is a direct challenge to Emperor Stuttgart’s authority as well as an attempt to smear his reputation and honor.’

It was not an overstatement to say the emperor’s reputation would be dragged through the mud after this.

Why?

Because the responsibility to keep the participating rulers of the conference rested on the emperor's shoulders alone...

‘Tsk... I can’t imagine what kind of chaos this is going to bring...’ Siegfried grumbled inwardly.

“Aaack! Aaaack!”

“Y-Your Majesty! Save yourself—Ack!”

Another set of screams rang from nearby.

“Let’s go!” Siegfried kicked off the ground and ran toward where the scream came from.

***

“Ack! Aaaaaaack!”

“Grrrrr!”

Siegfried found a wolf-like monster biting a knight to death while his stunned liege watched in horror on the ground.

The sight was absolutely grotesque.

Chwak! Chwaaak!

The wolf bit the knight’s torso off, and his lifeless lower body fell to the ground along with his innards.

“This crazy monster!” Siegfried lunged at the monster without even flashing his Rune of Insight at the monster.

Pukeok!

Horse Fly drew a rainbow-colored arc and smacked the monster on its head, but...

[Test Subject D39]

[HP:??????????]

He barely dealt any damage to the monster called Test Subject D39 despite Horse Fly’s high Attack Power, and it seemed defeating this monster would prove to be difficult without the use of mana.

Unfortunately, that was not the end of Siegfried’s problems.

“Grr...”

“Grrrr...!”

“Grrrr! Woof!”

More Test Subject D39s emerged from behind the bushes and completely surrounded Siegfried’s party.

Siegfried smirked after seeing the pack of Test Subject D39 and said, “Oh? Do you think I can beat you to death just because I can’t use my mana?”

His confidence did not wane despite being in a precarious situation where his mana was sealed.

Where was his confidence coming from?

He believed in his stats and the training he had received from the Level 999 Hidden NPC, Deus.

“Dame Oscar.”

“Yes, Your Majesty?”

“Protect the injured, but your life comes first at all times.”

“Yes, sir!” Oscar drew her sword and proceeded to carry out his command.

“You too, Hamchi.”

“Kyuuu! Don’t worry about me!” Hamchi kicked off the ground and kicked a Test Subject D39 with a flying kick to kickstart the battle.

It would only take a few hits for Siegfried to kill monsters of this caliber, but he was forced to smack them dozens of times with Horse Fly.

He was not threatened by the monsters; it was just—

‘Damn it! This is so annoying!’

—He was frustrated at the fact that he couldn't use his mana and skills.

‘I wonder if there’s a faster way for me to kill these—oh?’ he smirked after coming up with a brilliant idea.

He immediately acted on his idea and started squirming to take his belt off.

“Kyu! What are you doing, owner punk?! Are you going to put on a strip show for these dogs, hoping they’d get sore eyes?!”

“Y-Your Majesty! Why are you stripping?!”

Both Hamchi and Oscar were mortified upon seeing Siegfried taking his belt off, but he paid no attention to them as he took off his belt, which was the Great Champion Belt he had obtained from the Sky Tower.

The belt returned to its original size, and Siegfried smacked the nearest Test Subject D39 with it.

Slap!

The monster crashed to the ground and had stars circling around its head after getting stunned. It was the active skill of the Great Champion Belt, Belt Shot, and it dealt a tremendous amount of damage to the monster.

[Test Subject D39]

[HP: ??????????]

The monster lost half of its health from a signal attack without an ounce of mana.

‘What the hell is this damage?’ Siegfried was surprised by the damage the belt dealt, but he did not waste time and attacked the monster with another Belt Shot.

Smash!

[Alert: You have obtained experience points!] contemporary romance

The Test Subject D39’s head was smashed open, and he obtained a significant amount of experience points, which he completely ignored.

‘Does this deal True Damage?’ he wondered if Belt Shot was not affected by attack power or mana and dealt True Damage relative to his strength.

That was the only plausible explanation of how the Great Champion Belt, which did not possess any innate Attack Power, could outdo Horse Fly. Of course, there was the fact that Horse Fly had not been enhanced yet, and he couldn't use his skills with it, but that didn't make the belt any less impressive.

‘Meh, it doesn't matter even if it's not True Damage, as long as I can beat these monsters to death!’ Siegfried erased the questions in his head and focused on swinging the Great Champion Belt like a madman at the Test Subject D39s.

***

Even the continent’s most powerful person, Emperor Stuttgart, was in danger from the terrorist attack.

Shwik!

A monster’s tentacle pierced through a knight’s thigh.

“Ah!” the knight groaned and fell to the ground.

This knight was none other than...

“Randoll!”

He was Randoll de Valencia, the attending knight of Emperor Stuttgart, and also known as one of the Five Star Heavens alongside the Weapon Master, Shakiro, and the Sword Emperor, Betelgeuse.

Of course, the monsters that had ambushed Randoll and Emperor Stuttgart were far more hideous and vicious than the Test Subject D39s Siegfried was fighting against at the moment.

“Are you alright, Randoll?” Emperor Stuttgart helped the knight to his feet while swinging his sword to keep the tentacles back.

“I am alright, sire!”

“Your wound is deep. I will help and fight alongside you.”

“B-But—“

“I am dead if you die, so combining our strength is the best thing we can do right now,” Emperor Stuttgart calmly said.

It was scary how calm he was despite the extremely disadvantageous situation he was in. He was living up to his reputation as the most powerful man on the continent and proved that the title was not simply handed over to him.

“We should get away from here.”

“Yes, sire!”

Emperor Stuttgart and Marquis Randoll valiantly fought against the incoming monsters.

The emperor’s swordsmanship could be described as calm, refined, and graceful. Each and every one of his movements was classic textbook swordsmanship, and his understanding of the sword was far greater than most knights.

Emperor Stuttgart and Marquis Randoll fought their way through the monsters despite the overwhelming disadvantage of not being able to use their mana.

Regardless, they overcame their odds and reached the Dragonsteed Aventador, who was bravely fending off the monsters around it.

“Giddy-up!”

“Neiiiiiigh!”

The Dragonsteed Aventador ran through the monsters like a bulldozer at the emperor’s command.

“Kyaaak!”

“Grrr!”

“Kyak! Kyaaak!”

Emperor Stuttgart and Marquis Randoll had successfully broken through the ambush, but the monsters had no intentions of letting them go. The monsters ran in hot pursuit behind Emperor Stuttgart and Marquis Randoll.