Debuff Master

Chapter 751

King Frederick fled deeper into the hidden chamber and knelt before the ominous painting.

“Master! This lowly servant humbly begs an audience with you!”

The Savior appeared, answering the king’s desperate call.

“Master!” King Frederick cried out.

“What troubles you, my servant?” the Savior asked.

“Siegfried van Proa...! He is hunting me down! He wants me dead!”

“So he’s here... Siegfried van Proa...” the Savior mused, his voice growing ominous and heavier.

“Yes, he is, master!”

“If he has reached this place... then that means Zavala has already lost the war. Is that right?” the Savior asked, his voice growing colder.

“M-My lord! Though we may have a battle, the war is yet to be over! Master! If you could only grant me aid one last time, then I will—”

“Fool. You are weak,” the Savior said. Then, he came out of the painting and took a few steps toward the kneeling king. “You are weak.”

“M-Master!”

“A ruler of a mighty kingdom, reduced to begging for his life against a mere Adventurer.”

“F-Forgive this lowly servant just once, please! Master, if you help me, I swear I will rise and secure victory against—”

“There’s only one duty left for you to fulfill.”

“...!”

The Savior threw a sharp and cold dagger to the king’s trembling hands and said, “Complete your final mission honorably, my servant.”

“M-Master!”

“If Siegfried van Proa captures you, then our secrets may be exposed, my servant.”

“But...!”

“This is your final duty.”

“My lord...!” King Frederick winced, despair swirling inside him. He held the dagger and raised the blade to his throat with his hands shaking uncontrollably.

Frederick was once a mere third prince of the Zavala Kingdom. He had no chance of inheriting the throne, as his elder brothers were not only older but far more capable than him.

Through the Church of Osric’s support, however, he climbed to the position of crown prince. How? It was all due to his two elder brothers mysteriously dying in an accident.

The Church of Osric had cleared his path to the throne—a path he repaid with utter loyalty, but now...

“...”

It was time to die for the church, yet he found himself paralyzed. Everything he had done, every act of obedience, was all to secure the throne and seize power. It was all for the sake of seizing the mighty Zavala Kingdom.

Could he abandon it all now and just die?

The Savior pressed, his voice as cold as ice, “Why are you hesitating, my servant? Carry out your final mission honorably—”

It was then.

Thud!

King Frederick bolted. Without uttering a word, he turned and sprinted up the stairs, choosing life over loyalty.

“Foolish creature,” the Savior muttered, sounding unbothered.

Why did he not go after him immediately?

Why bother when he would catch him soon enough?

The Savior started walking after the fleeing king, but his footsteps made no sound at all.

***

“Eh? What’s going on?” Siegfried muttered, sounding flustered.

His leg was wedged firmly into the thick iron door, and he struggled to pull it free.

“W-Why won’t it come out?”

He gritted his teeth, feeling sweat forming on his brow. Kicking the door was the easy part, but his leg was now wedged in, and it was proving far trickier to pull it out.

“Kyuuuu! Owner punk is an idiot! All muscles and no brain!” Hamchi exclaimed while pointing at Siegfried and rolling on the ground, laughing.

“H-Hey! You little!”

“Kyuuuu!”

Siegfried glared at Hamchi before swinging his +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp at the metal door, intending to just shatter it with brute force, but...

Bam!

The door broke off and toppled onto Siegfried.

“Argh!”

With a loud thud, he was trapped beneath the heavy door.

Thud! Thud!

While Siegfried lay pinned by the door, King Frederick dashed over him, using the fallen door like a platform as he fled.

King Frederick had unintentionally plowed through the door, which in turn had knocked Siegfried down, trapping him underneath it.

“Damn it! Get him, Hamchi!”

“Kyuuuu!”

At Siegfried’s shout, Hamchi immediately chased after King Frederick.

“Argh...” Siegfried grumbled and tossed aside the door that flattened him. Then, he took off in pursuit of Hamchi and Frederick.

But then—

“What...?” Siegfried muttered, standing frozen at the entrance to the secret passageway.

A dark figure was standing before him.

“We meet again, at last,” the figure said.

“Huh?”

“I didn’t expect to encounter you here, Siegfried van Proa.”

A spectral figure cloaked in a black robe and exuding a sinister aura walked up to Siegfried.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Siegfried asked, his eyes widening from a mix of shock and amusement after recognizing the figure.

It was the Savior himself—the leader of the Church of Osric.

This was not something entirely unexpected, given the ties between the Zavala Kingdom and the Church of Osric, but it was still unnerving to meet him face-to-face all of a sudden.

However, Siegfried immediately tightened his grip on his +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp, bracing himself for the battle ahead.

“Could today be the day...?” Siegfried muttered under his breath with a faint smirk.

***

A tense silence filled the room where Siegfried and the Savior were located.

The Savior was the infamous leader of the Church of Osric, a clandestine organization that had been stirring chaos in this world for the past thirty years.

Siegfried knew that facing him would not be easy—no, it would likely be one of his most difficult battles thus far. Thus, he steeled himself internally, bracing for the upcoming battle.

“Do you even understand the depths of your own foolishness, Siegfried van Proa?” the Savior asked in a low voice. He sounded like he was mocking Siegfried.

“What?”

“How naive...” the Savior muttered, his gaze darkening. Then, he said, “The fate of this world is already sealed. Even if you manage to stop us, the other Executors of Destiny will inevitably come to bring about this world’s ruin.”

“Hey, are you high? What kind of nonsense are you spouting right now?”

“Even if you crush the Church of Osric, a second Osric will emerge. If you destroy the second one, then a third will rise. You cannot prevent the Executors from coming. Your efforts are futile, and no matter how hard you struggle, your struggles will dissolve like mist in the wind.”

Siegfried scoffed and snarked, “If a second Osric comes, I’ll crush it. If a third one appears, I’ll crush that one too. What’s the problem?”

“You... what?” the Savior muttered, with a look of disbelief. He was taken aback by the sheer audacity—no, by the simple-mindedness and recklessness of the Adventurer before him.

Could he truly not grasp the terrifying nature of the Executors? Did he really think that he—a mere Adventurer—could stop the Executors from carrying out their duties?

“Stubborn fool...” the Savior sneered under his breath. Then, he said, “I will give you one last chance, Siegfried van Proa.”

“And what’s your final offer?” Siegfried replied mockingly.

“Why not join me? This world is doomed to perish anyway. Rather than letting it crumble into oblivion, wouldn’t it be better for us to destroy it and build a new one?”

“Excuse me?”

“Let’s purify this corrupted world together, Siegfried van Proa. Only by tearing it down completely can we rebuild it anew. Think of it this way. You could be recorded in the annals of a new world’s creation, an epic hero of myth passed down for generations,” the Savior said, extending his hand.

“Hmm...”

“Yes, let us become legends, Siegfried van Proa. Stand by me, and you shall have all that glory.”

The Savior held out his hand, causing Siegfried’s expression to harden. He could not help but curse at the absurdity of this proposition, and yet, his hand started moving involuntarily toward the Savior’s outstretched palm.

Then, a sudden realization struck him—the Savior was using hypnosis on him.

Normally, Siegfried’s resistance to magic was too high for such petty tricks to work, especially through mere conversation, but this was different, as this hypnosis was so powerful that it almost felt otherworldly.

“Take my hand and become a part of this world’s rebirth, remembered for eons, we shall, in the genesis of our new creation, Siegfried van Proa,” the Savior coaxed in a low enticing tone.

The words entering through Siegfried’s ears clouded his mind, and they urged his body to act without a conscious thought or command from its owner. His hand crept closer to the Savior’s outstretched palm.

Thud...

The Savior took a step toward him and continued coaxing him, further tightening his grip on Siegfried’s mind.

“With our combined strength, we could easily let this world start anew and—”

“Not a chance,” Siegfried snarled with a vicious grin.

The haze in his mind shattered alongside the Savior’s hypnosis.

Siegfried recalled a past encounter where he almost lost his beloved +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp to Beggarius’ mental manipulation, so he instinctively unleashed his Wave of Oppression to break free.

The Savior froze, astonished that his target managed to break free from his hypnosis.

“Watch your tongue,” Siegfried growled, swinging his +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp at the Savior’s face.

Swoosh!

The +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp cut through the air and slammed into the Savior’s face, yet he was not damaged at all. Siegfried’s attack had landed, but the Savior’s body flickered like a ghostly apparition, wavering before solidifying almost instantaneously.

‘Tsk... It’s just like before,’ Siegfried clicked his tongue.

His opponent, once again, was an intangible illusion.

“You’ve wasted the final opportunity that I had offered you, Siegfried van Proa,” the Savior said, his voice dripping with disdain.

“Who said I wanted your stupid offer?” Siegfried sneered in response.

“Then you will have to pay the price,” the Savior said. The air around him darkened and swirled like a storm.

Whoosh! Whoosh! n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

The Savior lifted his hand, commanding the black swirling energy to recede, before saying, “But your punishment shall not come from me. Your past sins will be the ones to judge you. Their retribution shall be harsh and inescapable. Arise, vengeful wraiths!”

The dark energy suddenly burst forth and coalesced into ghastly shapes, forming an army of spirits that were hard to distinguish if they were a single entity or numerous ones.

“Siegfried... van... Proa...”

“I want revenge...!”

“We will drag you to the deepest depths of hell...”

The wraiths were the echoes of those he had slain until now. They were Adventurers, NPCs, and monsters that had fallen victim to Siegfried.

The Savior had summoned them, each a vengeful wraith with only one purpose—to exact retribution.

“Go forth, vengeful wraiths. Avenge yourselves and deliver judgement upon the fool in my stead,” the Savior commanded. With that, the countless spirits, seething with fury and vengeance, charged at Siegfried.