Debuff Master-Chapter 1053

Chapter 1053
Just like that, the great escape began.
“
Huff! Huff!”
“Ack!”
“R-Run! Move faster!”
The civilians ran toward the naval base with every last ounce of strength they had within them.
The last stretch of the march was nothing short of grueling. They had been marching ever since they left Ador, but there were still around fifteen kilometers remaining to the naval base.
To make things worse, the terrain had been mountainous throughout the remaining stretch. Even just walking on flat land would take around an hour and a half to reach their destination, so going through rugged terrain would definitely take them longer to reach their destination, regardless of how fast they could run.
In other words, they had to traverse the mountains in under three hours while avoiding the Holy Alliance.
‘
Damn it!’
Siegfried growled inwardly in frustration.
Marching through rugged mountainous terrain was brutal even for soldiers, yet these ordinary civilians were being forced to do so.
There was no way it would be easy, but they had no other choice.
Flash! Flash! Flash!
In the distance, the Holy Alliance was warping in, one after another.
And that was not all...
The Holy Alliance troops in Ador, who had survived the initial battle, began a relentless pursuit and closed in at terrifying speeds upon spotting their reinforcements.
‘
I guess it can’t be helped,’
Siegfried thought, gripping his +16 Vanquisher’s Grasp tightly.
“
Kyu...?
Don’t tell me... you’re thinking of stopping them on your own, owner punk?” Hamchi asked in a weak voice.
He was still suffering from the side effects of his transformation, so he was chewing on mana stones as if they were candies to replenish his energy.
“No, we can’t fight here. Not here,” Siegfried replied, shaking his head.
The reason for his decision was simple.
The Allied Forces couldn’t afford to suffer any losses here.
The Holy Alliance was a coalition of five great powers, which meant that they had immense manpower and military might at their disposal. In contrast, the Allied Forces were made up of smaller nations banded together, so their troops were fewer in number and generally lower in quality.
In other words, any battle that turned into a war of attrition or would make them suffer equal casualties would only end in disaster for the Allied Forces.
‘
Go.’
Siegfried hurled the +16 Vanquisher’s Grasp high into the sky.
Fwoosh!
The weapon pierced the clouds and broke through the atmosphere, soaring higher and higher.
And then, about fifteen seconds later...
Shwoooong!
A star fell from the sky.
The star, called Scourge of God, descended above the Holy Alliance forces just as they were warping in. Compared to whatever the Holy Alliance had claimed to be the wrath of god thus far, this
star
was truly the true
wrath
of the gods.
Flash!
A blinding burst of light flashed.
Kaboom!
Then, an earth-shattering explosion erupted, and it was immediately followed by a mushroom cloud surging high into the heavens, illuminating the entire world.
The explosion was so powerful that the dark night sky was instantly illuminated, bathing the land with brilliant white light as if it were daytime.
The Holy Alliance troops that had warped in to chase after the Allied Forces were hit squarely by the Scourge of God. The Scourge of God's destructive force rivaled that of an ICBM nuclear bomb.
In the blink of an eye, nearly one hundred fifty thousand troops were annihilated.
Whoosh!
Siegfried caught the +16 Vanquisher’s Grasp as it returned to his hand. Then, he stood for a moment, admiring the aftermath of the Scourge of God, before turning away.
“Ah, I think I killed a bit too many...” he muttered.
It was then.
“
Ack!
That’s hot!” he screamed in pain, dropping the +16 Vanquisher’s Grasp from his hand.
Why?
It was simply because it was burning hot.
Right after unleashing Scourge of God, the +16 Vanquisher’s Grasp had turned red-hot, glowing with heat. His right palm was badly burned, and he had to pull out the Infinite Flask and pour healing potion all over it.
“Owner punk... I swear you can be a complete idiot sometimes...
Kyuuu...”
Hamchi looked at him and shook his head in disbelief.
***
Once the aftermath of the Scourge of God had finally settled...
“Ooooh!”
“The gods have struck down those demons!”
“His Imperial Majesty is truly the chosen one by the gods!”
Everyone who witnessed the divine spectacle bowed their heads to Siegfried. They now believed with all their hearts that he was truly the emissary of the gods.
The sheer force of the Scourge of God was so powerful that there were no other words to describe it aside from "miracle."
After all, unless one was a dragon, it was unthinkable for a mere human to unleash such a devastating attack on par with a nuclear explosion.
Despite that...
“Let’s keep moving! We have to pick up the pace from now on!”
Without missing a beat, Siegfried resumed the march toward the naval base the moment he confirmed the Holy Alliance troops had been annihilated.
“I know you’re all tired, but we have to keep going! Everyone will be safe if we reach the naval base, so just a little more! Stay strong!” he continued to urge the crowd.
Everything seemed to be proceeding smoothly, or so they thought, as that assumption turned out to be a huge mistake.
“E-Enemies spotted!”
“They are warping in on our left!”
“And on the right too!”
“Enemies are warping in en masse, sir!”
As it turned out, the enemy reinforcements that Siegfried annihilated with the Scourge of God weren't the only reinforcements. Warp gates began opening on the ridgelines flanking the road to the naval base, and the enemies poured out from both sides.
“Damn it!” Siegfried exclaimed, his frustration exploding at the sight.
Just when he thought the crisis had passed, a new set of trouble loomed before them.
‘
Another damn ambush... Now we’re going to be sandwiched from both sides...’
When that grim realization flashed through Siegfried’s mind...
WAAAAH!
WAAAAAAH!
A mass of enemy troops surged down from both ridges, screaming as they came charging in.
It was a pincer attack.
The long stretch of convoy was now being attacked from both flanks.
“Shit!” Siegfried shouted.
Most of his troops were situated toward the rear of the convoy, so an ambush coming from both sides meant that they had no time to regroup and get into formation.
Why?
It was all because any delay would result in catastrophic losses.
“All forces! Split left and right! Protect the civilians!” Siegfried commanded, his voice booming throughout the battlefield.
The Allied Forces swiftly broke off to both sides to form a protective wall around the civilians.
At that moment, the Iron Fleet and Immortal Battleship hovering in the sky unleashed their weaponry.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Ziiiiing!
The battleships bombarded the Holy Alliance troops closing in on the convoy, inflicting massive damage on them, but...
‘
Damn it. It’s not enough. We need more firepower.’
Siegfried gritted his teeth in frustration as the enemies charged at them even while being bombarded. The battleships were providing cover fire, but Siegfried couldn’t afford to just sit around and do nothing.
“I’m going.”
“Be careful, owner punk.”
Leaving behind Hamchi, Siegfried rushed forward and jumped straight into the enemy lines. He swung his +16 Vanquisher’s Grasp and swept away those who lunged at him.
And then there was a massacre...
Ssseuuuu...!
He activated Green Hell Magno, transforming everything around him into a radioactive hell.
But that was not all...
“Where are you... going...?”
“Come with us... into the embrace of despair...”
“I am... lonely... come with... me...”
The skill effect of Embrace of Despair was amplified by Discharge, and it sent a flood of the dead that bound the Holy Alliance soldiers in place.
“That crazy bastard,” Chae Hyung-Seok muttered under his breath as he watched the battlefield from a corner. Then, he shook his head before crawling up and hanging himself on the Demonic Cross.
Why?
It was all because Siegfried was holding back a fifth of the entire enemy forces, all by himself.
***
The battle was pretty tense.
The Allied Forces were doing everything in their power to protect the civilians from the Holy Alliance, but their formation was a complete disaster.
They had to split to the left and right in a hurry to form a protective wall, but the enemy’s attack was faster than they could react.
To make things even worse, using aerial bombardment to keep the enemy at bay was no longer an option, as the Holy Alliance troops were getting dangerously close to the civilians. If they dropped bombs now, then there was a chance that the civilians and the allied troops would get caught up in it.
Thus, the battle quickly turned into a close combat battle.
Screams rang out from all directions...
Amidst the chaos, Siegfried alone shone brilliantly, putting on a brilliant performance.
Sseuuuu!
He unleashed Green Hell Mago to decimate entire squadrons of the enemies.
[Alert: You have absorbed Soul Energy!]
[Alert: You have absorbed Soul Energy!]
[Alert: You have absorbed Soul Energy!]
(omitted...)
[Alert: You have absorbed Soul Energy!]
He gained a ton of soul energy in the process, and while that was supposed to make him feel happy, he couldn’t feel happy at all.
“Die!”
“Where do you think you’re going?!”
“Filthy heretic!”
The Holy Alliance troops just kept coming. They came crashing down on the convoy like an endless black wave, flooding in without pause. Thus, Siegfried was forced to run around harder than anyone else on the battlefield in order to protect the civilians.
“Hey! Chae Hyung-Seok! I need mana!” Siegfried shouted.
“Am I a gas station or what?!” Chae Hyung-Seok retorted, but even as he yelled, he immediately stopped casting buffs and focused on restoring Siegfried’s mana.
[Alert: Your Mana has been replenished!]
The moment his mana was refilled, Siegfried dove straight back into the midst of the enemies and put on another breathtaking display.
Chwaaaak!
A streak of light shot into the air before multiplying into countless radiant spears.
Shwaaaak!
The radiant spears rained down from above like a torrential storm.
Smack, smack, smaaack!
The spears slammed into the ground like stakes, forming a barrier that resembled the Great Wall.
Incredibly, Siegfried had used the Transcendent Torrential Flower Rain to form a protective wall that would protect the civilians against the Holy Alliance forces.
But he did not stop there...
‘
Shoot up!’
He waved his hands in an upward motion, causing the spears to grow in height to four meters.
And what happened next?
Whiiiiing...! Click! Clack!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The moment the radiant walls fully divided the civilians from the Holy Alliance troops, the Iron Fleet hovering in the sky released their payloads and bombarded the ground without hesitation.
The land on the side of the wall where the Holy Alliance troops were located was instantly reduced to rubble, while the side where the civilians were located remained untouched.
Siegfried’s radiant barrier had absorbed every shockwave and fragment from the bombardment.
“That guy’s... insane... he’s a real monster...” Chae Hyung-Seok muttered, standing dumbfounded.
Siegfried’s versatility and unbelievable use of his skills were truly shocking. Chae Hyung-Seok felt like the man truly had no limits, and it was an assumption that was slowly being proven as he watched Siegfried fight.
It was impossible to tell if he even had a limit; it was also impossible to tell just how much stronger he would become.
However, Chae Hyung-Seok had no idea that Siegfried was able to put on that display thanks to the secret technique he inherited from the Weapon Master. Of course, Siegfried had also put in immense effort into mastering the skill.
Thanks to Siegfried’s brilliant performance, the Allied Forces managed to push back the Holy Alliance troops and keep the convoy moving.
However, some of the enemies were determined to stop them in their tracks, even if it meant risking their lives.
“Kill them all!”
“Winning is not our goal! Our goal is to kill as many as possible!”
“Slaughter every last one of them!”
“Time to kill!”
A swarm of Adventurers equipped with black wings descended upon the battlefield.
Every single one of them was a high-level Adventurer at Level 299, and they numbered a thousand. From the sky, they unleashed an onslaught of powerful skills, targeting both the Allied Forces and the civilians.
It was common knowledge that defending against aerial attacks while on the move was almost impossible, so the Adventurers seized that advantage and wreaked havoc from above.
“Those damn bastards!” Siegfried snarled, looking up at the sky.
Just then...
Ding!
A notification popped up in front of his eyes.
[Alert: You have received a new Quest – Legendary: Executioner of Thousands]
The system responded to the changing landscape of the battlefield and granted a new quest to Siegfried.