Debuff Master-Chapter 1043

Chapter 1043
Using Demon Lord’s Descent was a very burdensome skill even for Siegfried.
Every time he used it, the skill would place immense strain not only on his body but also on his mana hall. It was a double-edged sword that could shatter his mana hall.
The reason Siegfried had chosen to activate Demon Lord’s Descent right at the start of the battle was simple.
This fight was far too important.
The war with the Holy Alliance had just begun, so seizing the initiative was absolutely critical. Siegfried wouldn't hesitate to use the Demon Lord’s Descent to swiftly eliminate the Fallen Angels if it meant reducing casualties among his allies.
And...
‘
Because Quandt poured his heart and soul into creating this.’
He decided to place his trust in the Demonform Set.
The main effect of the Demonform Set was to reduce the burden on Siegfried's mana hall while Demon Lord’s Descent was active, so this was the perfect chance for him to test out its capabilities.
Whoosh!
Siegfried transformed into the Demon Lord of Greed and Betrayal.
“Get lost,” he muttered.
As if wielding the authority of destruction itself in his hands, he thrust his +16 Vanquisher’s Grasp forward.
Wooong!
An invisible shockwave burst forth, striking the angels who were flying straight toward him.
Three, two, one—
Thousands of Low-ranking Fallen Angels evaporated like mirages. The damage from the Wave of Annihilation unleashed by Siegfried in his Demon Lord of Greed and Betrayal form was so powerful that they were wiped out in a single blow.
“H-How is a Ruler of the Demon Realm here?!”
“It’s a Demon Lord! A Demon Lord has descended!”
The Fallen Angels fell into a complete panic at Siegfried’s appearance.
“My god... a Demon Lord...!”
Even the High-ranking Fallen Angels trembled at the sight of Siegfried in his transformed state. It was a natural response, as it would normally take numerous top-tier angels to fight a demon lord.
‘
Now.’
While slaughtering the angels in midair, Siegfried unleashed his debuffs as well.
Fwaaaah! Fwaaah!
Seuruk! Seuruuuk!
Eternal Flames and Embrace of Despair spread out in a massive radius, covering the entire battlefield.
While in his Demon Lord of Greed and Betrayal form, Siegfried could easily unleash debuff auras covering several kilometers.
And the results were immediate...
“
Arghhh!”
“Aaack!”
The debuff aura swept across the Holy Alliance’s already exhausted troops, and they ended up getting mercilessly slaughtered by the Allied Forces.
But that was not all...
The Allied Forces' strength was enhanced by the incredibly powerful buffs.
“All forces! Do not be afraid! Sweep them all away!”
Standing right in the middle of the Pallas Fortress’ front yard, Chae Hyung-Seok, hanging on the Demonic Cross, cast every buff he had onto his allies. He was the ultimate buffer of all buffers. The wide-area buffs he cast could elevate even the most lowly of privates into seasoned knights.
Once again, the combination of Siegfried’s debilitating debuffs and Chae Hyung-Seok’s overwhelming buffs created an unbelievable miracle on the battlefield.
‘
Good. The fortress will fall on its own now,’
Siegfried thought after seeing the synergy between his debuffs and Chae Hyung-Seok’s buffs.
With his troops taken care of, he could focus on dealing with the Fallen Angels.
“Die! Ruler of the Demon Realm!”
“This will be your grave!”
Hundreds of High-ranking Fallen Angels desperately tried to stop Siegfried, but their efforts were nothing more than a futile struggle.
Flash!
Absolute Zero instantly froze the Fallen Angels who tried to stop Siegfried in the air.
Shwoooong...!
The frozen angels began plummeting from the sky one after another.
‘
You’re not going anywhere!’
But Siegfried was not about to let them fall without finishing them off.
Shwiiiik!
He unleashed Transcendent Torrential Flower Rain and sent countless aura blades imbued with eerie blue ghostfire toward the angels.
“...!”
The Fallen Angels stationed at Pallas Fortress were annihilated by Siegfried, who was in his Demon Lord of Greed and Betrayal form. No matter how powerful the High-ranking Fallen Angels were, they couldn’t hope to stop Siegfried in his demon form unless an Archangel was among them.
Baaaam!
At that moment, the gates of Pallas Fortress came crashing down.
“All forces! Attack!” Seung-Gu roared.
Piloting the Golem King, Reventon, he smashed the gates open with brute force.
With that, the seemingly impenetrable Pallas Fortress, once thought almost impossible to capture, fell under Hansen’s strategies and Siegfried’s overwhelming might.
This was proof that when might and strategy were combined, even the impossible could be made possible.
“Long live the Allied Coalition!”
“Long live the Proatine Empire!”
“Long live His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Siegfried von Proa!”
Cheers of triumph echoed throughout the battlefield.
“
Phew...”
Siegfried let out a sigh and deactivated Demon Lord’s Descent.
Thud... Thud... Thud...
He held onto the rails and struggled to climb atop the fortress walls as his legs trembled uncontrollably.
“
Ugh...”
He barely had the strength to lift a finger, yet he was uninjured. Fortunately, he did not collapse this time, nor did his mana hall run wild from using Demon Lord’s Descent.
This time, only his Stamina was drained to zero, leaving him utterly exhausted.
‘
It definitely works,’
Siegfried thought, smiling in satisfaction after confirming that the Demonform Set did indeed mitigate the overload caused by the Demon Lord’s Descent skill.
He knew he couldn’t afford to abuse it, but just knowing that he could avoid the very worst outcome—his mana hall going out of control—if he used the skill whenever he needed to was a huge relief.
‘
Come to think of it... I don’t seem to gain levels when I’m in that form...?’
One thing he was greatly displeased with was the fact that he couldn’t gain experience points nor harvest souls when he was in the Demon Lord of Greed and Betrayal form.
“
Kyuuu!
Owner punk! Look! It’s snowing! It’s snowinggg!” Hamchi exclaimed, tugging on his pants.
“
Huh?
”
Hearing Hamchi’s excited chirping, Siegfried looked up at the sky.
The first snow.
Under the now-darkened sky, pure-white snowflakes were falling.
Winter had finally arrived.
***
The war entered a brief lull following the battle at the Pallas Fortress.
For the first time in one hundred fifty years, a heavy snowfall blanketed the entire continent, making it impossible to continue the war.
Thanks to this, both the Allied Forces and the Holy Alliance were forced to take a moment to regroup while the blizzard continued to rage.
Of course, the atmosphere between the two camps couldn’t have been any more different.
The Allied Forces enjoyed their well-earned rest and rejoiced in their victory while still maintaining strict military discipline.
In contrast, the atmosphere in the Holy Alliance’s camp was like that of a funeral house.
Not only had they lost Pallas Fortress, which was a critical strategic stronghold, and their naval base on the Piaro River, they had also lost three hundred thousand troops along with a massive amount of supplies.
This was a devastating blow that crushed their morale.
On top of that, Pope Bismarck II was currently in a vegetative state due to radiation exposure, which further demoralized the Holy Alliance troops.
However, news of their continued failures did not remain only in the Middle Realm—it had reached even the Celestial Realm.
“How utterly incompetent.”
Archangel Lucifer spoke, gazing indifferently at the firmly closed Celestial Gate.
“Not a single success to show for all the support we’ve given...”
“It seems the resistance of the sentient creature in the Middle Realm is far fiercer than we expected, brother,” Archangel Gabriel said, responding to Lucifer’s anger.
“Yes, indeed. And it’s only normal, as it’s a matter of survival for those insects. Still, does that excuse this endless string of failures?” Lucifer asked.
“You have a point, brother,” Gabriel replied.
“What of our vassals?” Lucifer asked.
The archangel was referring to the secret organization known as the Illuminati when he said
vassals.
They were an organization that had served the Creator and maintained close ties with the Celestial Realm ever since the ancient days.
“They have prepared for a hundred thousand years, and yet this is all they can show for it? A mere ripple of confusion? Is this the best they can do?”
As soon as Archangel Lucifer said those words—
Krwaaaang!
Lightning tore across the skies of the Celestial Realm, a proof that the heavens themselves had responded to the archangel’s fury.
“Just wait a little longer, brother. Our brother, Zerachiel, will descend soon,” Gabriel spoke again, trying to calm Lucifer’s wrath.
“Zerachiel will be finally descending?” Lucifer asked, visibly surprised.
The reason he was surprised was that among all of the archangels, Zerachiel was an exceptionally unique one. The Archangel of Death, Zerachiel, was a being who was an angel yet not like an angel.
True to his moniker as the archangel ruling over the absolute law of death, his mind was a mystery even to his own brethren.
“Yes, brother. Zerachiel’s descent is imminent, so our kind will soon descend on the Middle Realm. Our vassals are working hard to bring about Zerachiel’s descent as we speak,” Gabriel said.
“I see...”
After hearing Gabriel’s explanation, Lucifer calmed down somewhat.
“If you say so, brother. I will wait—but just a little longer,” Lucifer said ominously.
For now, Archangel Lucifer decided to watch and wait for what would happen once Zerachiel descended. If it was the Archangel of Death, Zerachiel, then he believed that it would be possible for him to destroy those trying to protect the Middle Realm and lead the grand descent of the angels into the world below.
***
After the Battle of the Pallas Fortress, Siegfried logged out and spent some time in the real world.
“Maybe I should go do a little shopping...”
Tae-Sung felt like he hadn't been flexing recently, so he decided to stop by a department store and spend some money.
But before that, he called Cheon Woo-Jin...
“Hey, Woo-Jin. What are you doing today?”
— Gaming.
“Put the game off for later and come shopping with me.”
— No can do.
“Huh?”
Tae-Sung was a little surprised that Cheon Woo-Jin had rejected his offer to go shopping.
Why?
It was all because Cheon Woo-Jin would usually beg him to hang out first, not him.
“What’s up? Are you busy these days or something? Got something going on?”
— Yup.
“What is it?”
— Today’s the day I launch the satellite.
“Satellite...? Are you planning on going to outer space now?”
Tae-Sung was surprised by what he heard. He thought Cheon Woo-Jin was trying to launch a rocket to Mars or something.
“Come on, man. No matter how advanced things are with VR games and self-driving cars, you’re not seriously talking about going to space, right? No way?”
— Huh? What the hell are you talking about?
“
Eh?
I thought you said you were so loaded you decided to launch a rocket or something.”
— Who am I? Elon Musk? Why the hell would I be launching a rocket?
“You just said you were launching a satellite, no?”
— In the game, you crazy bastard! In the game!
“Huh?”
— It’s something I’ve been personally working on. You know I’ve been working on reestablishing the Guardians, right? Today’s the day I’m launching a satellite for that.
“
Ah!
I thought you were heading off to Mars or something.
Hehehe!”
— Anyway, enough with your nonsense. I’m going to hang up if you’re just gonna talk crap.
“So, does that mean the Guardians will be making a return soon?”
— We are in the final stages. Just be patient for a while longer.
“If you say so.”
— I’ll call you when it’s done.
Beep!
The call ended.
“
Hmm...
who should I hang out with now? I’m bored...” Tae-Sung grumbled, feeling a little disappointed that Cheon Woo-Jin couldn’t join him.
“Should I hang out with Seung-Gu? Or maybe mess with Chae Hyung-Seok—”
Bzzt! Bzzt! Bzzt!
While he was thinking over it, his phone vibrated.
— Hello? What are you doing, oppa?
It was Yong Seol-Hwa.
“Oh? Hi, Seol-Hwa.”
— Are you busy today, oppa?
“Nope”
Tae-Sung was delighted to receive a call from her, as he had been feeling bored with no one to hang out with.
— Really? If you’re not busy, would you like to grab a meal with me?
“I’d love to. When and where should we meet?” Tae-Sung gladly accepted the invitation.
— I’ll come pick you up at your place.
“Nah, I’ll come to you. Just tell me where.”
— No, it’s okay. I’m already in your area. I’ll come get you.
“Oh? Okay, got it. I’ll get ready now, then.”
— Okay, I’ll call you when I’m there.
And just like that, Tae-Sung ended up getting to spend some one-on-one time with Yong Seol-Hwa. Even though it looked like a casual meeting, their meeting could be more or less considered as a date.