Debuff Master-Chapter 1083

Chapter 1083
“But there is one condition,” Garuel added.
“
Hm?
What is this condition you speak of?” Aither raised a brow and asked.
“Chief Archangel Lucifer wishes for your cooperation.”
“So you seek our help...”
“Our goal is to conquer the Middle Realm and eventually the Demon Realm as well.”
“And why do you wish to do so?”
“Our Father, the Creator, had turned His back on His own followers during the war waged against us by the heretics. He also abandoned us, His children. Then, He simply disappeared without a trace.”
“
Kekeke...!”
Aither cackled, a sinister grin flashing across his face. Then, he muttered, “That does sound like something He would do.”
“Pardon?”
“He always does that. He discards His own creations like a bunch of trash, and then He turns away from them no matter how much they beg Him.”
“I see...”
“We, the Protogenoi, were no different. He imprisoned us here simply for rebelling once. Then, we were ignored for hundreds of thousands of years. In the end, He vanished without ever saying anything—as if He had forgotten that we existed,” Aither growled, his voice laced with bitterness.
“The same thing happened to us,” Garuel said, nodding. Then, he explained, “Thus, our objective is to annihilate both the Middle Realm and the Demon Realm.”
“A rebellion against Father? You’re going to wipe out all the lifeforms that He had created?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“
Kekeke!
That’s a rather clever solution,” Aither cackled once again, seemingly pleased by the plan. Then, he growled under his breath, “That damned Creator... Acting so high and mighty when He is far from perfect.”
“...What do you mean by that?” Garuel asked, sounding surprised.
“If He were truly omniscient and omnipotent, then He would’ve never created us, the Protogenoi, in this way. He should’ve never allowed us to rebel in the first place.”
“...?”
“Isn’t it absurd? The so-called Almighty created beings who could rebel against Him! Shouldn’t he be all-knowing?”
“Well, I suppose so...?”
“I’ve spent eons pondering this, and I’ve come to one conclusion. Our Father, the Creator, is not a perfect being.”
“S-Still, is that not blasphemy...?” Garuel stammered.
“Blasphemy? You still dare speak of blasphemy after everything that’s happened? If our Father were truly omniscient and omnipotent, wouldn’t He know that we would rebel against him?”
“T-That is...”
“The only explanation is that He knew we would rebel! He knew yet still toyed with us anyway! That damned bastard!”
“...!”
“He’s a thoroughly detestable being. If He really is omniscient, then He’s probably watching us from somewhere right now and having the time of His life!” Aither exploded with rage. Then, he flashed a wicked grin and muttered, “But I refuse to believe that. I refuse to believe that He is perfect and all-knowing. Because if that’s true... It’s far too revolting for me to bear the truth...”
“Yes, I do agree with you.”
Aither composed himself and said, “In any case. Very well.”
He had made his decision—no, he did not even have to think about it. If there was a chance to escape from this hellish underground world they were condemned to stay in forever, then cooperating with the angels would be a small price to pay.
“Get us out of here like you said. Your Chief Archangel, was it Lucifer? Tell him I accept his offer.”
“Excellent. Our brethren will carry your people on their backs and fly you to the surface,” Garuel replied.
“Are you certain that is possible?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Very well. I shall summon all of our kin,” Aither replied with a smile.
With that, he raised his voice and bellowed at the top of his lungs—
“Hear me, Protogenoi!”
His thunderous voice reverberated across the underground cavern like a nuclear blast going off.
BOOOOM!
Lightning came crashing down from the rocky dome overhead.
“
Arghh!”
Aither’s voice was so powerful that even the Top-Tier Fallen Angel, Garuel, flinched and grimaced in agony.
“The time has come! Our eternal punishment ends today! Rally to me, for the other children of the Creator will carry us back to the surface!”
As soon as Aither issued his command—
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A powerful quake spread throughout the underground cavern.
The ground trembled as the Protogenoi, summoned by Aither’s call, began to move all at once. It was as if a sleeping army of giants had awakened, and the ground itself groaned in agony beneath the weight of their steps.
***
Meanwhile, Siegfried’s party also heard Aither’s thunderous roar. The giant’s voice was so loud that it reached them even from a considerable distance away.
“I knew it...” Siegfried muttered, realizing that his earlier suspicion had been spot-on.
If those two races were to join forces to invade the Middle Realm, then...
“Damn it... This is bad. If the Protogenoi make it to the Middle Realm, then there’s a chance they will regain their former powers,” Michael said with gritted teeth.
“What do you mean by that?” Siegfried asked.
“The Protogenoi were the ones responsible for completing the final phase of the Middle Realm’s creation. If they return to it, then they might be able to reclaim a portion of that power.”
“You mean... they will wield near-divine powers?”
“Exactly,” Michael nodded grimly. Then, he said, “The Protogenoi can conquer the Middle Realm if that happens.”
“
Ah,
damn it...” Siegfried ground his teeth in frustration.
He knew very well that unleashing those gigantic beings, who stood over three hundred meters tall, unto the Middle Realm meant a disaster. To make things worse, if they were to regain their divine powers, then their ascent to the world would be nothing short of a catastrophe.
“We have to stop them,” Michael added.
“Of course we do,” Siegfried replied.
“But how do we stop them? There are way too many angels,” Shakiro remarked.
“That is true. We will be screwed if we fight them head-on,” Siegfried replied with a nod.
The swarm of angels they had seen earlier seemed to number roughly around twenty to thirty thousand. Most of them were Low-Ranking Fallen Angels, but their sheer numbers alone made up for their lack of quality.
Thus, taking them on would be tantamount to committing suicide.
“Then what should we do?” Shakiro asked.
“Well, obviously... we have to shoot down the birds,” Siegfried replied.
“
Hm?
Shoot down the birds?”
“It’s obvious that they’re gonna try to get the Protogenoi out of here by carrying them, but dragging those giants would mean they won’t be able to fight properly, right?” Siegfried said with a smirk.
“
Oh?
”
“And if they drop them halfway through, the Protogenoi will fall to their deaths.”
“
Oh!
So there was that solution!”
“
Kekeke!”
Siegfried cackled as a despicable grin crept on his face. Then, he said, “There’s nothing more exhilarating than ruining a plan someone else had painstakingly prepared!
Hehehe!”
“Y-Yeah, I agree.”
“Let’s wait and see for now. They will need time to prepare anyway, so we find the wing while they are busy,” Siegfried said, deciding to bid his time and observe how the angels and the Protogenoi would move.
“That’s a good idea,” Shakiro agreed.
Stopping the Protogenoi from reaching the Middle Realm was important, but finding Michael’s wings was of equal importance, too. It was going to be difficult, but they could end up killing two birds with one stone if they played this right.
***
While the fallen angels and the Protogenoi were busy plotting their escape from the Lava Cavern: World of the Condemned, Siegfried and his party focused their efforts on finding Michael’s wings.
However, locating Michael’s wings in such a vast underground cavern was no easy task.
Thus, Siegfried passed his time hunting the Lava Cavern Fire Fleas to gain Experience Points and consume their livers.
He felt that he was wasting precious time by hunting monsters and grinding, but that time was not actually wasted.
[Alert: You have gained experience points!]
[Alert: You have leveled up!]
[Alert: You have reached Level 434!]
He finally managed to level up thanks to the generous amount of Experience Points given to him by the Lava Cavern Fire Fleas, but that was not all.
[Alert: You have cleared the Quest – Master of Flames!]
[Alert: Inferno Blaze Orb has been created in your mana hall!]
By consuming a thousand Fire Flea Livers, Siegfried succeeded in completing the quest and gaining the Inferno Blaze Orb, which was a condensed core of fire-attribute energy.
‘
Can I use it right away?’
he wondered and tried to form an aura blade infused with fire-attribute energy.
Fwoosh!
A sword of blazing fire sprang to life and floated in the air. Along with his frost-infused aura blade, Siegfried could now conjure a flaming aura blade as well.
Of course, that wasn't all...
Ding!
Another string of notifications popped up in front of his eyes.
[Alert: You have acquired a new skill!]
[Alert: You have learned the skill – Infernal Hellscape!]
[Alert: Eternal Flames have been enhanced!]
[Alert: Eternal Flames have evolved into Karma Flare!]
Learning a new skill was already a huge thing, but his signature ability, Eternal Flames, had now evolved into Karma Flare[1].
‘
This is so sick!’
Siegfried exclaimed, scrolling through the skill descriptions.
[Infernal Hellscape]
[This place is now hell incarnate.]
[The area surrounding the Lord of Despair will turn into lava.]
[This terrifying skill manifests a fiery inferno, strong enough to melt all enemies within range.]
[Enemies melted by the lava are resurrected as fire-attribute undead monsters under the Lord of Despair’s command.]
[Cooldown: 12 hours]
[Cost: 50% of all energy resources]
[Duration: 1 hour]
[Skill Level: 1]
[Area of Effect: 150,000m²]
[Note 1: Cooldown will shorten as the skill level increases.]
[Note 2: Range will increase as the skill level increases.]
[Note 3: Power will increase as the skill level increases.]
[Note 4: Duration will increase as the skill level increases.]
[Warning: Infernal Hellscape does not discriminate between friend or foe.]
Infernal Hellscape was the ultimate AoE ability capable of turning a massive area into a sea of flames.
With this, Siegfried had officially become a walking weapon of mass destruction in a large-scale war, and his destructiveness was now on par even with the most powerful magicians.
However, Infernal Hellscape was not the main highlight.
[Karma Flare]
[These flames will burn away even karma.]
[An evolved version of Eternal Flames.]
[The debuff effect has increased by 10%, and it will now deal damage to enemies.]
While the Eternal Flames merely burned away the enemy’s Defense and Magic Resistance, its evolved form, Karma Flare, took it a step further than that. Now, it could deal direct damage to enemies, burning them to death, which made it an incredibly powerful offensive skill that both debuffed and damaged its targets.
‘
This is so broken!’
Siegfried grinned in satisfaction.
The fire attribute he absorbed from the Fire Flea Livers had significantly boosted his skill set, so much that he grew faster than he had expected to grow.
“But where are your wings? It feels like we’ve ventured quite deep already,” Siegfried said, turning to Michael.
“I can feel it. It’s extremely close... So close that I can almost sense it,” Michael replied.
Just then...
One of the Protogenoi passed through the area where Siegfried’s party was hiding.
“...!”
The party quickly ducked into a crack between the rocks to avoid getting detected, but...
“
Kyuuu!
Look at that, owner punk!” Hamchi exclaimed, pointing at the Protogenos’ head.
“Hey, quiet down!” Siegfried retorted.
“Look! See that white thing in his hair?!
Kyuuu!”
“
Huh?
”
Siegfried looked toward where Hamchi was pointing and spotted something.
A faint white glimmer was coming from the back of the Protogenos’ head, hidden beneath its tangled hair.
“It’s my wing,” Michael said, turning to Siegfried.
“
Oh?
Let’s go then.”
Without hesitation, Siegfried spread out his wings and flew toward the Protogenos. He would gain five levels the moment he retrieved the wing, so he was not about to let this chance slip away.
1. As weird as this sounds, Author-nim wrote it literally as Karma Flare. ☜