Debuff Master

Chapter 558

– Wow~ I heard the news, Han Tae-Sung~

“Hmm?”

– You’re quite famous now. Even more than before.

“Really?”

– Hey, you’re the talk of the town. Every game community is talking about you! The video of you executing them is currently the most watched video on G-Tube.

“...!”

– I think the game broadcasting stations are looking for you. In fact, they’re already asking for any clues regarding your identity.

“Why the hell are they looking for me? Tsk... So annoying... Do I have to wear a mask from now on?” Siegfried grumbled and shook his head.

Appearing on gaming channels? Making his pro gamer debut? He was not interested in such things at all. His main goal was to sit at the pinnacle of this game called BNW and become stronger than any Adventurer or NPC on the continent.

He wouldn't be able to become invincible like Deus, but he wanted to reach Deus' feet at the very least and become the strongest mortal.

Most people would die for the opportunity to appear on TV to become famous, and they'd flaunt their wealth on social media to do so. However, Siegfried's goal had made things like fame superficial and bothersome in his eyes.

– Why don’t you try broadcasting or appearing on TV?

“No, thanks,” Siegfried waved his hand. Then, he said, “Get to the point, or I’m hanging up. I’m very busy being buried under stacks of documents, and I have to go kill my piggies, so I don’t have time to chat around like this.”

The piggies he was referring to were none other than the Adventurers imprisoned in the Soul Holder. Siegfried religiously killed the United Guild members every forty-nine hours and looted the items that they dropped.

He had to kill them with his own hands to activate "King God General Supernatural Bald Three-Legged Crow" title effect, so he could not leave the execution to someone else.

– Piggies? Are you into butchering these days?

“I’m talking about the United Guild.”

– ...

“How come you've become so slow....”

– Crazy bastard...

Cheon Woo-Jin shook his head in disbelief upon realizing that Siegfried was treating the members of one of the top ten guilds on the continent as nothing more than pigs to be slaughtered.

‘I knew he was going to become big in the future, but I didn’t expect him to be this amazing...’ Cheon Woo-Jin was starting to feel scared of Siegfried’s potential.

“So why are you calling? Tell me quickly, I’m busy.”

– Ah, right.

Cheon Woo-Jin erased all the unnecessary things from his mind and went to the point.

– You need to give us the soul.

“Oh, you’re right. Do you want me to send it by express delivery?”

– E-Express delivery?

“The Courier Guild seems to have excellent services. Well, it’s a bit of a bummer they don’t buy any ice cream...”

– What the hell are you talking about?

“Hehe!”

– I thought you were busy? Cut the crap and focus. Why the hell would you put the soul in another person’s hands?

“Yeah, you’re right.”

– Bring the soul yourself, personally.

“Hmm? Me? You’re not coming to me, but you want me to go to you?”

– I’m busy.

“But I’m busy, too.”

– I know, but I’m very busy. Also, you haven’t been to our headquarters yet, right? Why don’t you use this opportunity to come and take a look? I have something I want to show you, too.

“Hmm...”

– It’s not that far.

“Where is it? But I really can’t go right now. I have to go kill my piggies in half an hour.”

– How long will it take?

“About an hour? I should be done with them by then.”

– Then I’ll see you at the roof of your palace an hour later.

“...?”

– See ya.

Cheon Woo-Jin disconnected the call.

“What was that? Well, this is not the first time he’s hung up on me like that,” Siegfried shrugged and said. He had no idea what was happening but he decided not to read too much into it. Then, Siegfried shook his head after remembering the stacks of documents that he still had to go through.

***

Thirty minutes later...

“It's execution time~ Let’s go execute~ Choppity, chop, chop, their heads off~!”

Siegfried sang his horrendous song once again while on his way to where the United Guild members were imprisoned. The Soul Holders had been to the Proatine Kingdom to make it easier for him to get to them.

“S-Sir Siegfried!”

“Sir Siegfried!”

“Please! Spare me!”

The prisoners got on their knees and begged for mercy. They initially thought they would just log out for thirty days and take a break, but they hurriedly logged in after hearing the news that their characters were being slaughtered.

By now, all five hundred prisoners were online, begging on their knees for mercy. The cacophonous din of the begging and wailing of so many people sounded so miserable that it tugged at the hearts of the knights and soldiers guarding the cages.

However, Siegfried couldn't care less.

“Thank you! Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed my song!”

Their desperate pleas fell on deaf ears. He waved both hands at them and thanked them as if he were some superstar holding a concert. Siegfried was vicious when it came to his enemies, so he did not bat an eye at their desperate pleas.

Why was he so vicious?

‘They’re going to seek revenge the moment I let them go.’

He knew very well that this was a dog-eat-dog world. He had become even stronger, but he knew it would be over for him the moment he dropped his guard.

“Ladies and gentlemen! On your mark! Ready! Shoot!” Siegfried exclaimed.

Shwaaaak!

Torrential Flower Rain raged within the cages and killed all of the prisoners in the blink of an eye.

“Kyak! Kyaaaak!”

The apparition appeared and picked up all of the items on the ground.

“Collection done,” Siegfried said after checking the items in his inventory. He walked away from the cages like usual, but then he suddenly stopped and looked back.

“Hmm...” he rubbed his chin before walking back to the cage. Then, he grinned and said, “Well, what do we have here?”

***

‘Fuck!’ Palchuck cursed inwardly. He was buried beneath the corpses of the dead Adventurers. Somehow, he was fortunate enough to survive the Torrential Flower Rain, and his quick thinking allowed him to hide underneath the bodies of those who had died from the attack.

At this point, dying one less time was still something, as that would reduce the total number of levels he stood to lose.

Thud... Thud...

Unfortunately, Siegfried came back to the cage and started sifting through the corpses.

“Hmm... Is it this one? Nope, this one is dead. Who is it? Where is that rat hiding?” Siegfried muttered while searching for the survivor.

Badump! Badump! Badump!

‘N-No! Don’t come here!’ Palchuck prayed earnestly. He could feel his heart about to burst out from his chest the closer Siegfried was coming to him. Still, he exerted superhuman self-control and calmed his breathing before putting on a perfect act of playing dead.

“Oh? Isn’t this Palchuck-nim?” Siegfried said after spotting him under the pile of corpses. Then, he looked and muttered, “Hmm... I think he’s dead.”

‘I survived!’ Palchuck cheered inwardly after his act had fooled Siegfried completely.

“Ah, I guess I was mistaken. Anyway, let’s go,” Siegfried said before walking away.

Creak... Thud!

Siegfried was gone, and the cage door had closed.

‘Ten minutes. Let’s stay like this for ten more minutes,’ Palchuck decided to keep playing dead and find an opportunity to log out from the game while buried underneath the corpses. That way, his character would remain motionless until he logged back in, and he would be spared from the death penalty at least once.

‘I’ll just have to repeat this a few times. Yes, I'm still going to suffer a huge setback, but I can still make a comeback by saving my levels,’ Palchuck thought.

Ten minutes later, Palchuck discreetly turned his body to make his character look like one of the corpses after he logged out from the game.

‘I think this is perfect,’ Palchuck thought and was about to log out when...

“What are you doing?” A voice echoed.

“I’m about to log out—” Palchuck replied out of habit. Then, he froze after realizing that something was wrong. He opened his eyes slowly and turned toward where the voice had come from. Then, his face turned ghastly pale as if he was staring at a ghost.

“H-Hiiiiik!”

The reason was...

“You weren’t dead?”

Siegfried was crouched right behind him and was observing him with a grin that would make most demons run for their money.

A chill traveled down Palchuck’s spine at the terrifying sight.

“It’s time to die. Keke!” Siegfried cackled like a demon and swung his +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp.

***

Siegfried scoffed after giving Palchuck a personalized execution service.

“You dare try to pull a fast one on me? I’m going to chop your hands off next time,” he grumbled. Well, he wouldn't have to chop Palchuck's hands off, as Palchuck would already be dead by then with his head smashed into bits, but that was not what was important.

“Oh right, Cheon Woo-Jin asked me to meet him at the palace’s rooftop, right?” He suddenly remembered his other appointment.

He reached the rooftop, but Cheon Woo-Jin was not there. Forget about Cheon Woo-Jin; there was not a single soul in sight.

Flap! Flap!

The only thing there was the laundry hung by the maids fluttering with the wind.

He waited for Cheon Woo-Jin to show up, but there were no signs of him anywhere, which made Siegfried grimace and grumble, “I’m so busy, but he’s making me waste time waiting for him.”

Siegfried was not pretending to be busy or anything like that. He was actually really busy due to the territorial expansion of the Proatine Kingdom on top of the various other projects the kingdom was undertaking.

His workload had increased by at least twenty-fold in recent days, forcing him to work nonstop ever since he returned after collecting the Requiem Soul. Of course, if he was this busy, then Michele was even busier than him.

The poor guy was drinking cup after cup of potions to supplement the blood he was losing from his nosebleeds due to exhaustion. Yes, Siegfried’s job was just to read the documents and stamp them with his seal, but the sheer number of documents he had to review made it seem like an impossible task.

Anyway, he was very busy these days, but Cheon Woo-Jin was making him wait...

“This bastard... I’m going to teach him a lesson later when we—” Siegfried stopped mid-sentence to look up. A stream of yellow light was shining down in a fan-shape from the sky, enveloping him. He did not feel anything, nor he could feel any threat coming from it, which confused him.

“What the heck is this?”

‘Hold on? Am I under attack—’ Siegfried thought, but he suddenly felt weightless.

Swoosh!

He started floating before he could make sense of what was going on.

“W-What the hell is going on?!” Siegfried screamed, flailing his arms and legs wildly.

Swoosh!

However, the suction power of the light was simply too strong that he could not escape from it.

“What’s going on?!”

Siegfried hurriedly opened his Black Wing Crow Suit and tried to fly away, but it was to no avail.

Resistance was futile!

He failed to escape from the pillar of light that was dragging him away. The pillar of light's suction got even stronger, and he was floating amidst the clouds.

“E-Eeeh?!”

Siegfried soon disappeared into the horizon.

A few moments after Siegfried's disappearance from the rooftop.

Thud, thud...

Someone emerged from the stairs and stepped onto the rooftop.

“Has the laundry dried yet, my lord?”

They were none other than the demonic duo—Metatron and Chaos.

“Yes, they should be dry by now. These kinds of sunny and breezy weather are perfect for drying, so don’t worry about it,” Metatron replied.

“Oh!”

“Hmm... More importantly, I think we need to go cut the grass in the garden,” Metatron said, looking down from the rooftop. Then, he grimaced and added, “The weather is warm, and it's an excellent condition for weeds to grow.”

“Indeed, my lord! Shall we go right after we are done folding the laundry?” Chaos asked.

“That’s a great idea, Chaos. Our afternoon work today will be weeding the garden.”

The high-ranking demons, Metatron and Chaos, seemed to have found their calling as excellent servants tending to the royal palace of the Proatine Kingdom.