Debuff Master-Chapter 1101

Chapter 1101
Unfortunately, Siegfried didn't level up. Even after defeating Belial, Siegfried still couldn't reach Level 449. The amount of experience points required to go from Level 448 to Level 449 was simply too much that even defeating Belial was not enough to fulfill it.
“
Ah...
”
Siegfried let out a sigh after checking that he still needed around twenty percent more to fill his experience points bar and hit Level 499.
This was no surprise, as Level 499 was the wall that separated a Master from a Grandmaster, so the amount of experience points required was bound to grow exponentially.
‘
No, this is still fine. Getting this much XP all at once is incredible already. I wouldn’t have gotten this much if I had spent the same amount of time grinding regular monsters, would I? I’m almost there, so no need to be disappointed.’
Although he felt disappointed, he shook off any lingering disappointment and deactivated the World of Despair.
“Die!”
“Weakling!”
“Filthy half-blood!”
The moment Siegfried emerged from the World of Despair, the ancient demons lurking outside rushed at him. These terrifying creatures were so powerful and dangerous that even the Demon Lord of Hatred, Belial, had suffered against them.
Thus, it only made sense that Siegfried would avoid clashing with them at all costs.
Why?
It was all because fighting them now would bring more harm than good.
It would be a disaster if he died and lost a level. Moreover, his main priority right now was to find the legacy left behind by the Demon King, Baal.
‘
Let’s move.’
Siegfried hurried to find Baal’s legacy before he was forcefully logged out of the game.
The Demon King’s Legacy was hidden in a small temple located at the center of the Maze of Evil.
At the heart of the temple stood a portal leading to the District Zero of the Demon Realm, and the Demon King’s Legacy rested on an altar just in front of the portal.
“
Oh-ho!
As expected, it’s you!” When Siegfried arrived at the temple, Baal’s apparition appeared and spoke to him with much familiarity.
“
Huh?
Elder?”
“I knew you’d come. Just as I predicted!
Bwahaha!”
“But how did you know?”
“That monocle of yours,” Baal said, pointing at Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance. Then, he grinned and said, “You’ll never get lost no matter where you are with that artifact, right? Was it Inzaghi? He was quite an extraordinary one.”
As expected of Inzaghi!
He was once a companion of Deus and was renowned for being an exceptional explorer. In fact, he was so exceptional that even the Demon King himself acknowledged his brilliance.
Of course, Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance had its flaws, but it was still an excellent artifact.
“Belial must have been a tough opponent. So, how did you do it? Did you lure him into some trap or something?” Baal asked.
“W-Wha—How did you know?!”
“Isn’t it obvious?
Bwahaha!”
“...”
“No matter how talented you are, Belial is not someone you can easily beat. After all, he’s become the most powerful demon in the Demon Realm now that I’m gone, so there’s no way a rookie demon lord like you can defeat him in a head-on fight.
"You would need to train every single day for another fifty years to stand shoulder to shoulder with him.”
“
Hahaha...”
“But the fact that you made it here must mean you took him down not with brute force, but with strategy.”
“Yes, you are right.”
“That’s a very good way of doing things!”
Surprisingly, Baal praised Siegfried.
Baal was someone who practically worshiped strength above everything else, so his praise toward Siegfried for winning by using strategy rather than raw strength was truly unexpected.
“Sometimes, you need more than just brute strength. Winning through cunning can be quite important, too, at times. At the end of the day, surviving is what matters the most, nothing else.”
“Why is that?”
“You have to survive and live to see another day to get stronger, don’t you think so?”
“
Ah!
”
“It’s not that the strong are the ones who survive. That saying isn’t quite right. I believe that survivors become strong out of necessity. If you die, you won’t even get the chance to grow. That’s it.”
“
Ah...
”
“Keep that in mind.”
“Thank you for the wisdom,” Siegfried said with a bow.
Baal was not some invincible being. There was Lucifer, who was stronger than Baal, and then there was Deus, who was even stronger than Lucifer. However, Baal survived countless close calls with death to reach the pinnacle of the Demon Realm.
In other words, his wisdom was born from what he learned while risking his life, and his words of wisdom weren't something that one could buy with money.
“But don’t forget that power is, and should always be, your number one priority.”
“Yes, I will keep that in mind.”
“Good,” Baal said with a smile. Then, he held out two black wings and a black orb and declared, “From now on, you are my successor. You are now the Demon King, the ruler of the Demon Realm.”
“
Hahaha...”
“I hope that you’ll stand against those invading angels and protect both the Middle Realm and the Demon Realm.”
Right after those words, a notification popped up in front of Siegfried’s eyes.
[Alert: You have obtained the Demon King’s Wings!]
[Alert: You have obtained the Demon God’s Soul!]
As soon as those notifications popped up, the Demon King’s Wings and the Demon God’s Soul began to merge with Siegfried and his sacred relic, the Black Abyss: Necklace of Greed and Betrayal.
The power left behind by the Demon King, Baal, was being absorbed by Siegfried and his relic.
***
After logging out of the game, Tae-Sung fell asleep. He had gone a full forty-eight hours without rest in order to take down Belial, so it was only natural that he collapsed and slept as if he were dead.
Tae-Sung was still human, after all, so he still had to sleep.
Twelve hours later...
“
Ugh...”
After letting out a groan that sounded more like an animal’s rather than a human’s, Tae-Sung finally woke up. “Maybe I should sleep a little more...”
He wanted to sleep longer, as twelve hours was just not enough. It would be perfect if he could get around five more hours of sleep, but he was hungry and he couldn’t stop thinking about what was happening in BNW.
All sorts of incidents or problems happened in the game by the second. On top of that, a war was currently raging between the Allied Forces and the Holy Alliance, so Tae-Sung couldn’t afford to just slack off and take his sweet time in the real world.
‘
Just one more hour. I’ll sleep for one more hour and then get up,’
he thought as he closed his eyes.
Knock, knock, knock!
Just then, his chief bodyguard knocked and entered the room.
“Miss Seol-Hwa is here, young master.”
“
Huh?
Seol-Hwa?”
“Yes, young master. She said she will wait until you wake up. She's watching TV in the living room.”
“What?!”
At the mention of Yong Seol-Hwa, Tae-Sung rushed to the bathroom, took a quick shower, fixed his hair, and changed into fresh clothes in a hurry.
“
Oh?
You’re awake already?”
Yong Seol-Hwa greeted him with a smile, pulling her eyes from the TV show she had been watching just now.
“When did you get here, Seol-Hwa?”
“About five hours ago.”
“You should’ve called me.”
“They said you were sleeping like a corpse, so I didn’t want to wake you up. I mean, you still look so tired.”
“But I feel bad.”
“No need to feel bad. But you do look really tired. Why don’t you go back and sleep a few more hours?”
“Nah. I’ve slept enough, and I’m not going to keep you waiting even longer.”
“I wouldn’t mind, though?”
“But I would.”
Grooowl!
Tae-Sung’s stomach suddenly gave a loud growl.
“Are you hungry?” Yong Seol-Hwa asked.
“Y-Yeah...”
“Just give me a moment. I’ll go whip something up real quick.”
“Wait, what? You’re going to cook? We can just go downstairs and eat.”
“I wanted to make you something myself, so I bought some groceries.”
“
Eh?!”
“Just try to hang in there for thirty minutes even if you’re hungry, okay?”
“
Erm...
okay.”
Caught off guard, Tae-Sung ended up agreeing to Yong Seol-Hwa’s offer to cook him a meal.
‘
Should I go help her?’
He felt a little guilty just sitting around and eating once the food was ready, so he considered helping her.
Unfortunately, Tae-Sung had no idea how to cook at all.
The best he could do was boil ramen or throw together some soy sauce and egg over rice, and that was about it. He had never made anything that could be called a proper meal in his life.
All his life, he pretty much survived on convenience store lunch boxes or triangle kimbap.
‘
I’ll repay her in some other way later,’
he thought, choosing not to get in her way.
About thirty minutes passed.
“Here you go, oppa. I hope it’s to your taste.”
“
Oh?
This is really good!”
“Really?”
“Yeah! Thanks for the food!”
Tae-Sung happily dug into the food Yong Seol-Hwa prepared for him.
After the meal...
“Oppa?”
“...”
“Are you falling asleep?”
“
Hrm?!
N-No, I’m not!”
As they sat sipping coffee, Tae-Sung started dozing off.
The accumulated fatigue was just too much, and food coma had hit him even harder after finishing a meal.
“You should get some more rest. I’ll head out now.”
“No, it’s fine. I’m just a little tired, that’s all. Stay a bit longer.”
“But—"
Bzzt! Bzzt!
Tae-Sung’s phone vibrated.
“Hello?”
— Hey, Han Tae-Sung! What the hell are you doing?!
It was Cheon Woo-Jin, and he sounded quite urgent for some reason.
“I just ate with Seol-Hwa and am now having coffee. Why?”
— Do you seriously think this is the time for that?!”
“
Huh?
What do you mean?”
— Get online. Now!
“What? Did something happen?”
— The Allied Forces are about to get wiped out, and you’re sitting around sipping coffee?!
“What?!” Tae-Sung exclaimed, his eyes widening in shock. Then, he asked, “What the hell are you talking about?!”
— No time to explain! Just log in, right now!
“O-Okay!”
Tae-Sung hung up the call and turned to Yong Seol-Hwa.
“Hey, Seol-Hwa. I’m sorry, but I have to—”
“Don’t worry. I’ll log in too.”
Yong Seol-Hwa immediately understood the situation and rose from her seat.
“Sorry, something must have happened in the game.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Yong Seol-Hwa replied with a shrug. Then, she smiled and said, “I’m a gamer too, remember? I’m used to this kind of thing.”
“Still...”
“That’s why I’m the one who best suits you. This kind of stuff doesn’t bother me at all. I totally get it, one hundred percent.”
“Seol-Hwa...”
“Get going, oppa.”
With that, Yong Seol-Hwa made her way to the VR room. Tae-Sung had a dedicated VR room in his house equipped with five VR capsules for others to use.
***
[Demon Realm District Zero: Maze of Evil Entrance]
As soon as he logged in, a notification displaying his current location popped up in front of his eyes.
“
Phew...”
Siegfried was completely exhausted, but he forced himself to stay alert.
The situation was bad, so he had to keep his focus and head straight for the Middle Realm.
“Welcome back, owner punk!
Kyuuu!”
“Good work.”
“You have endured so much, my lord!”
“Truly amazing, my lord!”
Hamchi, Chae Hyung-Seok, Metatron, and Chaos warmly welcomed Siegfried.
“We pay our respects to the Demon King!”
“We pay our respects to the Demon King!”
“We pay our respects to the Demon King!”
The Demon Lords, having heard of Siegfried’s arrival, came running and knelt on one knee, showing their respect to the new ruler of the Demon Realm.
Why were they suddenly so obedient? The reason was simple—Siegfried had changed. After obtaining the Demon King’s Legacy from Baal, Siegfried became a demon with twelve wings.
He succeeded Baal and ascended as the new Demon King.
‘
I have to get going. Cheon Woo-Jin said the situation is quite bad over there,’
he thought.
His main priority right now was to return to the Middle Realm and join the ongoing battle between the Allied Forces and the Holy Alliance.
Judging by Cheon Woo-Jin’s frantic voice, the situation was most likely quite dire, one where he couldn’t afford to waste even a single second.
In other words, this was no time for him to be accepting congratulations from the demons.
“Hear me, demons. Don’t stir up any trouble while I’m away. I shall return,” Siegfried commanded.
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
The Demon Lords replied and bowed their heads in unison.
“Let’s go,” Siegfried said.
“
Kyu?
You’re heading back to the Middle Realm already? What about celebrations?” Hamchi asked.
“No time for that,” Siegfried grumbled, pulling Hamchi by his ear.
“
K-Kyuuu!
O-Okay!”
Just like that, Siegfried rushed off to the Middle Realm without having the chance to celebrate his ascension to the throne.
‘
But what in the world happened over there?’
Siegfried thought, his heart racing with urgency.
Based on Cheon Woo-Jin's words, the Allied Forces were currently on the verge of getting wiped out. He was not someone who would joke about things like this, so something was definitely wrong over there.
‘
I need to get there as fast as possible and put an end to this damn war.’
He was determined to end this drawn-out war once and for all.
Upon becoming the Demon King, the power he would wield after using Demon Lord’s Descent[1] had to have increased.
The moment Siegfried revealed his newfound power, turning the tide of this war would be child’s play. Of course, that was only if he managed to return before the Allied Forces suffered any more losses, or worse, got wiped out.
1. This should probably be Demon King’s Descent now, but no such changes have been made yet so I’ll leave it as it is. ☜