Debuff Master-Chapter 1098

Chapter 1098
The Allied Forces under Hansen’s command continued their retreat, evading the Holy Alliance’s relentless pursuit.
Hansen prepared for the inevitable all-out clash while ordering guerrilla warfare tactics against the rapidly advancing enemy.
Thanks to his exceptional strategic mind, Hansen could see right through the Holy Alliance’s movements. As proof, their marching patterns never once deviated even slightly from Hansen’s predictions.
Thus, it wasn't strange that every time the Allied Forces launched a guerrilla strike, it would always be massively successful.
“We don’t have enough time. We must prepare thoroughly.”
After commanding the troops to fortify the Last Fortress, Hansen focused solely on the upcoming battle.
Just then...
“Major Hansen.”
Oscar appeared at Hansen’s tent, looking urgent.
“I’ve received an urgent .”
“An urgent ? Is it urgent enough to warrant you, Supreme Commander, to deliver it in person?” Hansen looked up in surprise and asked.
Oscar was the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces currently, and she was constantly busy with various matters. If Hansen was in charge of strategizing, then Oscar handled everything that happened on the battlefield.
She barely had time to sleep, let alone deliver s in person.
In other words, it was highly unusual for her to show up like this, as there was no reason for her to deliver a to Hansen, who was a mere major.
“There’s something strange about the enemy’s movements.”
“Strange? In what way do you mean?”
“They are moving extremely fast.”
“...What do you mean by that?”
“According to satellite data from the Guardians, five hundred thousand out of the one million soldiers of the Holy Alliance are marching at an abnormally high speed.”
“How fast are we talking?”
“It’s at least twice as fast as their usual marching speed.”
“T-That’s impossible! How could such a massive force possibly march at double speed?!”
“We don’t know the details, but the data is real. At this pace, we will come face-to-face with them by tomorrow noon if they keep it up.”
“...!”
“I have no idea how this is happening. But one thing is certain—this is a big problem for us.”
“Dear gods...” Hansen muttered, his face turning pale. Tomorrow afternoon meant that they would be facing the Holy Alliance two full days ahead of their original estimate. Those two days were crucial for inflicting more damage to the Holy Alliance, wearing them down, and fortifying the Last Fortress before the decisive battle.
However, that window had slammed shut.
Now, it was the Allied Forces fighting against the clock, as they were not ready for the upcoming decisive battle.
“What should we do?” Oscar asked.
“I... have no good solution...” Hansen replied, dread casting on his face. Then, he explained, “We are left with only one option if half a million troops are truly marching at such a speed.”
“Speak freely, Major Hansen.”
“We need to mobilize all of our troops and head to the Last Fortress immediately. We must march straight to the fortress and fortify it for the upcoming battle. If those half a million troops can truly maintain their current absurd pace, then we are racing against the clock. Any delay could be fatal.”
“I will heed your advice then,” Oscar replied with a nod. Then, she turned and commanded, “Mobilize the entire army! We’re marching to the Last Fortress right now!”
“Yes, Supreme Commander!”
And so, with no other option, the entire Allied Forces began marching toward the Last Fortress.
***
A few hours later...
“What in the world...?”
Deldelos was deeply perplexed after receiving a that the Allied Forces had already retreated.
‘
Is there a spy in our ranks? Or do the enemy scouts possess mobility and stealth far beyond what we imagined?’
The reason for his suspicion was the astonishing speed at which the Allied Forces had gathered intelligence.
The five hundred thousand troops of the Holy Alliance, who had been injected with the combat stimulants, were advancing at an incredible speed. They were moving fast enough to catch the enemy off guard.
In fact, Deldelos’ original plan was to ambush the Allied Forces using the enhanced troops.
And yet, the enemy was already retreating.
This made no sense at all!
The Allied Forces were moving as if they were monitoring the Holy Alliance’s every move in real-time. Of course, Deldelos had no knowledge of satellites, so his confusion was understandable.
‘
It doesn’t matter. Information is only powerful when playing around with tactics. Once brute force meets brute force, then it’s no longer powerful.’
However, he was not concerned this time. With the enhanced troops rapidly closing in on the Allied Forces, a large-scale battle was all but inevitable.
‘
Hansen, was it? Just wait a little longer. Soon, you’ll be standing before me at the gallows where I’ll be having your head,’
he thought, gnashing his teeth. Deldelos commanded the Holy Alliance army to march while feeling excited at the thought of finally defeating the enemy commander who had humiliated him time and time again.
***
Even after taking down Azmodan, Siegfried continued his hunt for the other demon lords.
[Alert: You have leveled up!]
[Alert: You have reached Level 446!]
[Alert: You have reached Level 447!]
[Alert: You have reached Level 448!]
As a result, Siegfried successfully eliminated all of the demon lords, except for Metatron and Belial. After the hunt, he earned a massive amount of experience and reached Level 448. However, he was far from satisfied.
“
Tsk...”
He was supposed to level up once per demon lord defeated, which meant that he was supposed to be Level 449 after taking down seven demon lords. However, the experience required to go from Level 448 to Level 449 was absurdly high, so in the end, he couldn't reach Level 449.
‘
I guess I have no other choice but to take him down too...’
Siegfried thought, his eyes gleaming as he stared at a red dot on his mini-map.
[Demon Lord of Hatred: Belial]
Belial was not that far from where he was right now. Of course, he couldn't say for sure whether defeating Belial would yield enough experience points to push him to Level 449, as the amount of experience points required had increased exponentially compared to leveling up from Level 447 to Level 448.
‘
Let’s do it,’
Siegfried made up his mind to go after Belial, too.
“
Huh?
”
However, he noticed that the green dot representing Metatron was slowly drawing closer to the red one.
“No way!”
Fearing that Metatron would get to Belial first, Siegfried immediately ran at full speed.
He was determined not to let Metatron kill-steal Belial.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Roughly twenty minutes later, explosions echoed from the distance.
‘They’re already fighting!’
Siegfried heard the sounds of battle and pushed himself even faster.
But by the time he arrived on the scene, the battle was already over.
And the victor was none other than... Belial.
“
Gahk!”
Metatron lay at Belial’s feet, coughing up blood. He was defeated.
He couldn’t defeat the second most powerful demon in the Demon Realm.
“M-My lord... I apologize for showing you... such a pathetic sight...”
“It’s fine. You did well, Metatron.” Siegfried did not scold Metatron.
He understood that the matchup had been simply too lopsided to begin with. Metatron was a powerful Demon Lord in his own right, but with Baal now gone, Belial was undoubtedly the current top dog in the Demon Realm.
The fact that Metatron had managed to last thirty minutes against someone like Belial was proof of just how strong he had become.
“You fought well, so don’t beat yourself up over it. Reflect on the fight and learn from it. But next time, you better win.”
“Yes, my lord. I will definitely... next time...”
It was then.
Bam!
Splat!
Belial’s foot came down, stomping hard on Metatron’s head.
Sseuu...!
A bright light swallowed Metatron, as he was forcibly sent back to District Zero.
Belial glanced at Siegfried and said, “You arrogant little upstart demon lord. What was your name again?”
“Proa. My name is Siegfried von Proa,” Siegfried replied.
“Right... Well then, it’s nice to meet you in here, I suppose,” Belial said with a shrug, barely listening to what Siegfried said.
“Oh? Same here.”
“Consider yourself lucky, Siegfried von Proa.”
“
Hm?
”
“You would’ve died for real if we met outside as enemies.”
“That goes both ways, though, right?”
No matter how menacing Belial looked, Siegfried didn't flinch under the threat.
Truth be told, Siegfried was not confident he could easily beat Belial.
Belial was nearly on par with Gabriel, the second-best Archangel in the Celestial Realm.
He was, without a doubt, a formidable opponent, but...
The title "Demon Lord Hunter" was buffing him at the moment, which meant that this was a fight he could afford to take.
‘
This will be a good experience.’
With that thought, Siegfried gripped his +16 Vanquisher’s Grasp tightly and walked toward Belial.
Badump! Badump!
His heart pounded wildly.
How often could one obtain the chance to fight someone nearly as strong as the Demon King himself? This was not an experience he could buy with money. And so, Siegfried welcomed the challenge, no matter how difficult it was going to be.
“Here I come,” Siegfried said before lunging straight at Belial.
***
The clash between Siegfried and Belial was so fierce that it turned everything around them into a wasteland.
Both Siegfried and Belial possessed destructive power capable of killing the other in a single blow, so the surrounding structures around them would be utterly demolished every time a skill was evaded.
‘
C-Crazy! He’s this strong?!’
Siegfried couldn’t hide his shock the moment he exchanged moves with Belial. Belial radiated such overwhelming energy that Siegfried could feel it pressing down on him.
Belial was unleashing an aura so immense that it made Siegfried feel like he was getting suffocated, and it even pushed back against both Karma Flare and Embrace of Despair.
Siegfried felt as if he were deep underwater and was being crushed by the water pressure at the bottom of the ocean trench.
“Die,” Belial said nonchalantly, thrusting his demonic spear, Alfieri. This was his preferred choice of weapon.
‘
He’s really fast!’
Siegfried thought, shocked.
He activated Overclocking and cranked it up to its third stage to evade the attack.
“You little rat,” Belial scowled after seeing that his attack had struck nothing but air.
Whoosh!
Belial began swinging Alfieri as if he had gone berserk.
“...!”
Siegfried hurriedly transformed his +16 Vanquisher’s Grasp into a shield and blocked the demonic spear.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
The spear and shield clashed relentlessly, unleashing a rain of sparks around them.
‘
Argh! T-This can’t be real!’
Siegfried coughed up blood from the sheer impact of each clash.
He was honestly stunned by the sheer might of his opponent. The title "Demon Lord Hunter" was activated, granting him fifty percent reduced damage taken from demon lords, but he was still losing HP despite blocking Belial’s attacks.
Had it not been for the title, Siegfried would have been flattened in mere seconds.
The strongest demon in the Demon Realm was
that
monstrously strong. However, just because Belial was strong didn't mean Siegfried was going to cower behind his shield forever and defend.
‘
Let’s see what you got!’
Taking the full brunt of Belial’s attacks, Siegfried struck back with Quick Draw to exploit a gap in Belial’s stance.
“
Hm?!
”
Belial’s eyes widened as the edge of Siegfried’s shield came inches away from his face, causing him to jump back instinctively. Quick Draw was so threatening that even someone like Belial dared not take it head-on.
However, dodging the attack turned out to be a mistake.
‘
Now!’
The moment Belial jumped back to avoid the attack, Siegfried threw a low kick and unleashed Black Hole Strike, the secret technique of King Leonid.
The secret technique, which drew in the target before unleashing a devastating burst of damage, threw Belial off balance.
Crack!
The kick struck Belial hard in the shin.
“
Argh!!”
A sharp cry of pain rang out from the Demon Lord of Wrath’s mouth.
Wasting no time, Siegfried activated Discharge to amplify the effects of his debuff aura. By doing so, he increased the potency of Karma Flare and Embrace of Despair, making it harder for Belial to push back against them.
And what came next?
‘Time to overwhelm this bastard!’
Siegfried went on the offensive and launched a furious assault. He transformed his +16 Vanquisher’s Grasp into its original form and swung it wildly at Belial.