Debuff Master-Chapter 1067

Chapter 1067
Siegfried did not head straight back to land, as he still had unfinished business.
He swung his +16 Vanquisher’s Grasp and killed the giant squid before turning to Shakiro.
“Master.”
“Speak.”
“Would you mind tying that thing to the ship?”
“Do you mean the remains of the giant squid?”
“Yes, Master.”
“But why?”
“Well, obviously... I will be selling it.”
“Huh?”
“Have you ever seen a squid of that size before? We could make a killing even if we just haul that thing over to the nearest fish market.”
“...”
“Oh! Look! Its tentacles are floating up too!” Siegfried exclaimed, pointing at the eight massive tentacles now bobbing on the surface of the water. Then, he said excitedly, “Even just one leg could fetch us kilos of gold! How can I possibly leave those behind?!”
“I guess... you’re not wrong,” Shakiro muttered in response.
He was utterly stunned by Siegfried’s obsession with money. He thought his disciple would have grown out of it by now after becoming an emperor, but it seemed that money was an obsession his disciple never outgrew.
In the end, Shakiro just decided to think that it was a fortunate thing that Siegfried had never strayed from his roots, at least when it came to something.
But that was not the end of it...
What Siegfried did next left Shakiro in a state of absolute shock.
“Hey, I’m kind of busy right now, so I don’t have time to listen to your sob story,” Siegfried said to the sperm whale.
“
Eh...?”
Albion tilted his head in confusion.
“I’m going to let you go for now.”
“
T-Thank you...”
“But on one condition,” Siegfried said. Then, he flashed a grin that only demons could make and added, “You’re going to have to cough up whatever you’ve got in your belly first. Every last bit of it.”
“W-What are you talking about...?”
“I want your puke,” Siegfried said in a serious tone. Then, he pulled a chunk of ambergris from his inventory and added with a grin, “This stuff’s crazy valuable, you know?”
“
Is there something wrong with your head—”
“Hand it over while I’m being nice,” Siegfried interrupted and growled. Then, he put on the face of a thug and said, “Hey, you! I’m letting you go, so the least you can do is cough up some compensation, right?!”
“
C-Compensation...?”
“You killed my guys! So obviously, you owe me some compensation, right? How else am I gonna pay their families? Do you think it’s free to hold funerals these days?
Ha?!”
Sea monsters did not have any bereaved family members or anything of that sort. In fact, even if they had any family members, they most likely would not possess the intelligence to care.
“
...”
Albion knew very well that everything Siegfried just said was utter nonsense. It was too obvious that the human was merely making things up in order to get his hands on the ambergris, but Albion did not argue.
Why?
It was all because he knew that incurring Siegfried’s wrath now could easily end with him being displayed on a shelf full of ice at a fish market.
“Now stop asking questions and spit it up.”
“F-Fine...”
In the end, Albion had no other choice but to vomit up all of the ambergris stored in his stomach, just like Siegfried asked.
However, that still was not enough to satisfy the greedy human.
“More.”
“
M-More?”
“Do you really think this is enough to make me go away?”
“H-Hey, there’s a limit to how much I can puke out at once—”
“Force it out! Do you call that an excuse? Do you need help puking?”
“...”
“I need more ambergris, so don’t make me get them myself.”
“
O-Okay... I got it...!”
Albion shuddered before retching violently, vomiting up all of the precious ambergris in his guts according to Siegfried's demand.
Bleuuuurgh!
But even that was not the end of the human’s greed...
“Man, you’re really terrible at throwing up, aren’t you? You know what? Let me give you a hand.”
“W-What?!”
“Hold still, buddy,” Siegfried said before throwing a punch square into Albion’s solar plexus.
Kuheok!
Albion gasped. The sheer power packed into Siegfried’s punch knocked the wind out of him, and exactly three seconds later...
BLEUUUUURGH!
Albion spilled out all of the contents of his stomach with so much force that it looked like a waterfall. It was like his soul was trying to escape with his vomit. He was already feeling nauseous from repeatedly forcing himself to vomit, so the force behind the punch made it impossible for him to hold anything down.
“Hot damn! Look at all that!” Siegfried exclaimed in delight.
He paid no attention to the sperm whale’s misery and solely focused on gathering every chunk of ambergris he could get his hands on.
The stench emitted by the ambergris was absolutely revolting, as it had just come out from Albion’s stomach.
However, Siegfried did not give a damn—no, it was more like his olfactory senses just stopped working altogether.
“
Whoa!
Do you have any idea how much all of this is worth?!” he exclaimed with sheer delight.
It did not matter how foul of a stench an object could emit. If it could be sold, then Siegfried had no qualms grabbing it with his bare hands.
“Did he... die poor in his past life or something...?” Shakiro muttered under his breath, staring in sheer disbelief at the sight before him. Then, he shook his head and closed his eyes shut, trying his best not to see anymore of it.
***
After collecting all of the ambergris vomited out by Albion, Siegfried left the disposal of the giant squid’s corpse to Shakiro and returned to the Proatine Empire.
Then, he headed straight to the royal infirmary, where Michael was still teetering on the edge of life and death.
Fssshhh!
Siegfried gave him the wing, and as soon as he did, the wing emitted a radiant light and began to melt into Michael’s body.
“Where... am I?”
Moments later, Michael opened his eyes.
“Are you all right, Michael?” Siegfried asked.
“I... feel a little dizzy,” Michael replied weakly.
“At least you’re awake now. That’s what matters,” Siegfried said, letting out a sigh of relief.
“I don’t even know how I’m still alive. I should’ve been completely powerless against the Scythe of Repose in my current condition,” Michael said, sounding dazed.
“I managed to find one of your wings,” Siegfried explained.
“
...Huh?
How?”
“Let’s leave that for later. I’m just glad you pulled through.”
“I am truly grateful for your—
argh!”
Michael tried to get up and express his gratitude, only to groan in pain and nearly collapse.
Siegfried rushed to support him, “Michael! Don’t try to get up yet. Your condition could worsen if you push yourself too much.”
“I... I’m sorry... I’ve only been a burden when I should’ve been helping...”
“Hey, don’t say that. If you hadn’t helped us back then, we would all be dead.”
“But still—”
“Just focus on resting for now. You might’ve survived, but your body’s still nowhere near recovered. I’m sure you’re struggling right now,” Siegfried said, gently helping Michael back down onto the bed.
“Truth be told... I’m barely keeping my eyes open...”
“I figured as much.”
“But I can’t stay lying down like this. We have to stop Zerachiel. He’s not... evil by nature, but I don’t understand why he’s doing something so senseless...”
“Oh, right. About that...” Siegfried proceeded to tell Michael what he had seen in Zerachiel’s memories. How the archangel had parted ways with his lover after she succumbed to her illness, and how that led him to see the lives of mortals as something fleeting.
“
Ah...
that makes sense. There was a time when Zerachiel... would often descend into the Middle Realm,” Michael slowly nodded as he listened, a look of realization flashing on his face.
“
Huh?
You remember that?”
“Memories aren’t something that fade for us immortals. They’re more like... marks branded into us, one that never disappears, even if we wish they could.”
“Oh, I see...”
“Though dragons are innately lazy creatures, they are somewhat similar to us. They don’t really bother recalling the past unless they have to, but they definitely remember everything. And the only difference is that we angels are far closer to true immortality than they are.”
“I see...”
“Among the archangels, Zerachiel had always been the kindest while also being the most sensitive. It’s no surprise that he brooded over it all alone for ages after going through something like that. And eventually... he came up with his own twisted ideology...”
“
Hmm...
”
“Just give me two days. I’ll make sure to recover by then, so I can stop Zerachiel,” Michael said.
“Are you sure about that? Isn’t it too soon?” Siegfried asked.
“I've been deposed, but I’m still the former Chief Archangel. Two days are plenty of time for me to recover.”
“If you say so,” Siegfried decided to trust Michael and wait two more days.
Also...
‘
Yeah, I need time, too.’
He also needed some breathing room. After his last transformation, he had exhausted all of his soul energy, so he lacked the soul energy required to use Demon Lord’s Descent.
Against an opponent like Zerachiel, he had to transform into the Demon Lord of Greed and Betrayal if he wanted to stand a chance.
‘
I guess I should go wreak havoc somewhere and replenish first.’
With that thought in mind, Siegfried stepped out of the infirmary. His goal for the next two days was to gather enough soul energy to activate and sustain his transformation skill, the Demon Lord’s Descent.
***
After leaving the infirmary, Siegfried headed to where Brunhilde was located.
The Holy Alliance had been constantly scheming to open the Celestial Gate, so he had to run around the continent trying to stop them from bringing about the destruction of the world.
As a result, he couldn’t give any attention to Brunhilde or Verdandi.
Even if he wanted to, he kept finding himself in situations where he had no choice but to step in personally, so finding the time to even see their faces had been difficult.
‘
I need to be a father... even if it’s just for this morning,’
Siegfried thought.
And so, he made up his mind not to budge, no matter the crisis.
There were times when, no matter how dire the circumstances were, a man needed to stay by his family’s side. For Siegfried, that day was today.
“Hello, dear.” As always, Brunhilde welcomed him warmly.
“I’m sorry,” Siegfried apologized sincerely the moment he saw her.
He had no excuse, as he was not even seeing her once a week, even though he was her husband.
“It’s all right. I know why you are busy, so how could I ever feel upset about it? I’m just grateful that you’re making time to be here like this.”
“Dear...”
“I love you,” Brunhilde said, wrapping her arms around him.
It had been a while since she had hugged him in her eyes.
‘
She’s truly... wonderful...’
Siegfried thought, holding her tightly in return.
At least at this moment, Han Tae-Sung did not exist.
The fact that he was dating Yong Seol-Hwa was something he couldn’t and ought to avoid remembering right now. Only Siegfried von Proa existed right now, and he intended to fully immerse himself in his character while logged into the game.
However, he would live his life as Han Tae-Sung once he was back in the real world.
That strict separation between the virtual world and the real world was essential for him to avoid losing his mind, eventually causing the two worlds to overlap.
If not, one day, he would forget the real world and become obsessed only with the virtual world.
Once that happened, he would be crossing a bridge of no return, turning into a gaming addict.
Thus, he chose to forget the real world and focused solely on his character, Siegfried von Proa, while he was in the game. Surprisingly, he was doing a fairly good job of it.
After playing the game for quite a while and becoming a world-renowned pro gamer, Han Tae-Sung seemed to have not only grown stronger but also more mature.
***
At the same time, the monitoring team of the developer and publisher of BNW, Hive Games Entertainment, was in full swing inside the headquarters.
From the very beginning, BNW had been designed so that the operators could never interfere with the game world in any way, meaning that the main role of Hive was to monitor the world inside the game.
Everything was programmed to be run by artificial intelligence, so the most Hive ever did was assign dedicated monitoring teams to key figures and keep tabs on how the game’s main scenario was progressing.
However, due to the massive scale of the game, there were a large number of key individuals, so Hive had no choice but to employ tens of thousands of monitoring agents.
This was the precise reason Hive’s headquarters housed over fifty monitoring rooms, each one constructed in a hexagonal layout.
Hence, the company was named Hive Games Entertainment, and the core department was called the Hexagon.
‘
It looks like a beehive today,’
thought Oppenheimer, th
e
Vice President of Hive Games Entertainment. He swept his gaze across the vast screens showing every monitoring room at a glance.
The Hexagon was always busy, but today, it felt more like a literal beehive than ever.
‘
Is this what the collective intelligence of bees is like?’
he wondered.
“Sir Vice President.” Just then, the executive officer in charge of the entire monitoring department approached him and ed, “Something unusual seems to be happening, sir.”
“
Hm?
What do you mean by unusual?” Oppenheimer asked back, sounding confused.
This reaction from him was only natural, as there were not supposed to be any unusual incidents in this game. Every event or accident that happened in-game was merely the outcome of the artificial intelligence’s algorithms reacting to the decisions made by the players.
“What could possibly be happening for you to call it unusual?”
“Well... It seems that some NPCs have...”
“
Hm?
What is it?”
“...They have started collecting information about the real world, our world.”
“W-Wha—?!”
Upon hearing those words, Oppenheimer’s face turned ghastly pale.