Debuff Master

Chapter 266

—Enemy mortars incoming!

—Holy warriors are to mobilize immediately!

The mobilization order was given, but Siegfried did not move an inch.

“Aren’t you going, hyung-nim?!” Seung-Gu asked.

“Get down!” Siegfried shouted in response.

“Huh?” Seung-Gu tilted his head in confusion.

“You too, Hamchi!” Siegfried shouted and said, “Don’t be stupid and run around! Just get down until the bombing stops!”

“W-What do you mean by that…?” Seung-Gu asked.

“Didn’t you serve in the military?! You’re supposed to leave it to luck while you’re being bombarded!”

“Ah…!” Seung-Gu gasped upon recalling his tactical training during his mandatory military service.

It was utterly foolish to run around while the enemy was firing their artillery, as it was impossible to avoid them. After all, the mortar shells flew at speeds that human eyes couldn’t follow, so how could they avoid them in the first place?

On top of that, a mortar shell would explode upon impact and throw shrapnel around the zone of impact in a V-shape, so getting down on the ground was the best way to increase one’s chances of survival.

But what if someone started running around in hopes of evading the mortar shells?

The chances of them dying from the shrapnel would dramatically increase.

The true horror of enemy artillery fire was not the blast but the shrapnel they unleashed upon explosion.

It would have been splendid if they could find cover behind rocks or trees to protect themselves from the enemy’s artillery, but their current location was a plain field filled with tents. There was no cover.

Therefore, Siegfried decided to follow what he learned during his mandatory military service and get down on the ground while hoping to survive the barrage.

After all, it wasn’t like these kinds of survival methods were going to change just because he was currently in a game.

“Just get down if you value your life!” Siegfried shouted.

“I will block it!” Seung-Gu responded and waved his Mechanic Force.

Wooong!

He understood what Siegfried meant and came up with a clever solution that would definitely guarantee their survival. Dozens of magic circles appeared on the ground as soon as he waved his Mechanic Force, and his Iron Golems emerged from them.

“Come over here and form a barricade!” Seung-Gu commanded his golems.

The Iron Golems rushed into action and towered above Siegfried’s party.

It was a human—no, golem bomb shelter.

Shwoooong… Kaboom!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The rest of the enemy artillery finally landed as soon as the golem bomb shelter was formed, and they wreaked havoc throughout the plains.

“Ack!”

“Uwaaaak!”

“Kuheok!”

The screams of the Adventurers who were running for their lives or rushing into battle reverberated throughout the plains.

A shrapnel was sticking out of someone’s eye, while someone else looked like a pincushion.

However, the most gruesome death was probably the Adventurer, who received a direct hit from a mortar shell while running away.

Meanwhile, Siegfried’s party was safe thanks to his quick thinking and pure luck. The golem bomb shelter protected them, but it was a relief that mortar shells didn’t fall on their location.

Of course, there were mortar shells that crashed nearby that unleashed their deadly shrapnel, but the Iron Golems were protecting Siegfried and his companions. In addition, they were prone on the ground.

Their quick thinking indeed saved their lives.

“Ah, I thought my eardrums were going to burst…” Siegfried grumbled while rubbing his ears after the artillery barrage finally ended.

“I thought so, too, hyung-nim,” Seung-Gu replied as he got up/

“Hamchi’s ears hurt, too! Kyu!”

“My ears are extremely sensitive, so it is truly difficult for me to withstand such loud noises, Your Majesty.”

“Ack!?Where the hell did you come from?!”

“Hiiik!

“Kyuuu!?You scared the shit out of me!”

Siegfried and the others were shocked to see Gringore emerge from out of nowhere.

“Hey! Can you please make your presence known?!”

“I… I apologize, Your Majesty… Hahaha…” Gringore replied while awkwardly scratching the back of his head.

‘What the hell am I supposed to do with this punk? He can be quite annoying and stubborn at times, but I don’t really mind bringing him along… as long as he stops writing shit about me…!’?Siegfried grumbled inwardly while glaring at the scribe.

A full frontal ground assault would usually follow an artillery barrage, but…

“We should… pick these up, right? It’s a waste to leave them lying around…” Siegfried asked.

“Ahem…?I agree. It’s a waste if we leave them like that, hyung-nim,” Seung-Gu replied while clearing his throat. However, the corners of his mouth went up almost to his ears while he tried to maintain a poker face, and it was all because.

Sparkle!

The dozens of items on the ground came from the Adventurers who perished from the shelling. It seemed like the items were seducing them as they sparkled, seemingly saying—I know you want me~ I know you do~which made it all the more difficult for them to resist the temptation.

“Let’s quickly pick them up and go,” Siegfried said.

“Yes, hyung-nim!”

Siegfried and Seung-Gu looted the items littered across the ravaged battlefield.

[Alert: You have obtained Kinky Handcuffs!]

[Alert: You have obtained Plasma Blade!]

[Alert: You have obtained Dried Carrots!]

[Alert: You have obtained Hermes Leather Gloves!]

[Alert: You have obtained Pocket Watch of Heartbroken Artist!]

It could be said that Siegfried was already reaping profits from the war before he fought even a single battle.

***

Meanwhile, at the East Constantine Force’s base…

“Your Imperial Majesty! The bombardment has succeeded!”

“Really?”

The emperor of the Constantine Holy Empire—Frederic von Colonna—revealed a satisfied smile at the report.

Emperor Frederic von Colonna was a large-framed man.

He looked like a bear wearing full-plate armor.

“It was the right choice to launch an artillery ambush,” he said while smiling.

“Yes, sire! It was indeed a wise plan!” the officer replied.

“We have reduced the enemy’s numbers, so send in our army at once before they can recover. This is our main target,” Emperor Frederic said as he pointed at the map.

Emperor Frederic von Colonna was renowned as a martial ruler, and he was famed for acting as the military commander-in-chief as well.

“We are outnumbered, but our artillery barrage has done its job. Besides, our forces have the advantage in these terrains, so we will definitely win if we fight them at this—”

A herald rushed in and exclaimed, “Your Imperial Majesty! We have an emergency!”

“Emergency? What do you mean by that?” Emperor Frederic raised a brow and asked.

“Sire! The fake pope’s army has broken through the perimeter and is clashing with our forces!” the herald replied.

The fake pope the herald was referring to was the present pope, who was also the ruler of West Constantine—Pope Theophilus IV.

Emperor Frederic accused Pope Theophilus of being a fake pope leading a cult. He wanted to ordain his political ally Cardinal Silvestor as pope.

Meanwhile, Pope Theophilus IV branded Emperor Frederic as a heretic and excommunicated him, which in turn, made him ineligible to continue his tenure as the emperor of the Constantine Holy Empire.

“Our lines are in danger, Your Majesty! We need to mobilize our army this instant and block the fake pope’s army!” the herald exclaimed.

“What?! It hasn’t been that long since the artillery barrage ended! How could they recover so fast? Impossible… This is logically impossible…!” Emperor Frederic was shocked.

“Our scouts report that the fake pope hired the Genesis Guild and…”

“Don’t tell me…?” Emperor Frederic’s face turned ghastly pale.

He had heard of the Genesis Guild, which was one of the top ten guilds on the continent, and he knew what that meant as a seasoned veteran himself.

The Genesis Guild’s specialty of massive buffs coupled with the papacy’s priests and holy knights was a synergy to be reckoned with.

“Damn it…” Emperor Frederic gnashed his teeth before growling in anger. “I offered them so much, yet they chose to side with that fake pope…!”

He knew the ramifications behind the Genesis Guild allying with the papacy, so he offered astronomical rewards to Chae Hyung-Seok. Unfortunately, it seemed that Chae Hyung-Seok’s lack of response meant that he sided with the papacy, which was the worst-case scenario for the imperial faction.

“That bastard… Just how much money did he throw at them?” Emperor Frederic growled in anger.

However, it was futile no matter how much he cursed the pope, as he knew that the imperial faction did not have the same war chest size compared to the papacy. In other words, it was impossible for him to convince and change Chae Hyung-Seok’s mind.

In the end, Emperor Frederic was left to gnash his teeth in anger at the current predicament, but he soon composed himself and immediately altered his plans.

“If they’re advancing at this speed, then…” Emperor Frederic muttered as he scanned the map, and then he pointed at the map and said, “Let them. We’ll pull back.”

“Y-your Majesty!” exclaimed the adjutant in charge of relaying the emperor’s commands.

He tried to convince the emperor. “If we pull back our armies, our soldiers on the frontline along with the cities and villages will be—”

“We’re abandoning them.”

“…!”

“Sacrifices are necessary for the greater cause! We have to be prepared to give things up to win this war!”

“Y-Yes, Your Majesty! I shall relay your commands!” the adjutant replied as a chill traveled through his entire body upon witnessing the emperor’s callousness.

The emperor was indeed correct to pull back the armies, but the issue was the coldness he gave off as he gave the command.

‘The Genesis Guild is with those bastards. This is going to be extremely difficult. I need to find a solution to this,’?Emperor Frederic thought.

He felt uneasy about the current situation.

He had issued the command to retreat without batting an eye for the greater cause,?but he knew very well that he had to devise a solution against the Genesis Guild. He needed it as soon as possible.

***

Meanwhile, the papal forces immediately went on the counter-offensive as soon as the artillery barrage ended, and they easily broke through the imperial forces’ lines.

They were getting victory after victory on the battlefield, and the army’s morale was extremely high—except for Siegfried’s morale.

The Genesis Guild was actually behind the string of victories the papal forces were winning, and Siegfried disliked that.

Shwaaaa!

It suddenly started raining on a sunny day without a single cloud.

Holy Rain!

It was the wide-area buff skill that spanned over one square kilometer and doubled the combat abilities of any ally that was showered by the rain.

However, that wasn’t the end of it.

Wooong! Wooong! Wooong!

A gentle wave emitted from Chae Hyung-Seok’s body was soon replicated by the numerous Buffers of the Genesis Guild. This was his skill called Heavenly Resonance. It connected all ally Buffers into one massive network, which massively amplified the effects of their buffs.

What did that mean?

It was a buff for the Buffers’ buffs!

Chae Hyung-Seok possessed an overpowered skill that allowed him to amplify the buffs of the Buffers around him. It was an understatement to call such a skill overpowered.

“Die!”

“Kill them all! Hahaha!”

“These fuckers are a piece of cake!”

“They’re so weak!”

“Piss off, trash!”

The West Constantine Forces gathered around Chae Hyung-Seok, and the Genesis Guild bulldozed through the East Constantine Forces, creating a sight reminiscent of an absolute slaughter.

The entire scene looked like a swarm of locusts wreaking havoc and laying waste to everything in their path. It was an unprecedented scene as well.

‘I’m the main character of this war, and no one can say otherwise! I need to use this opportunity to get back up on my feet!’?Chae Hyung-Seok thought with a confident smile.

However, his expression froze upon seeing a few odd messages on the chat room of his livestream.

[RicF]: Oh my god! Who’s that cool guy?!

[DungBeetle]: That’s a normal attack…? Are you sure that’s not a skill? Did he just kill a Level 150 knight with one normal attack?

[OnePacThreePac]: Who is that guy?

[Keeeeacc]: His damage is insane…

The viewers didn’t spare even a glance at Chae Hyung-Seok.

Someone else had taken all of their attention away from Chae Hyung-Seok.

—[Bam!]: Siegfried? Isn’t he the winner of the World’s Greatest Survival Tournament? That first Adventurer to become a king?

—[HappyRaccoon]: His control is awesome!

—[Class5300]: Is he really Level 219? He’s killing people with higher levels than him as if they’re just a bunch of goblins…

The viewers were captivated by an Adventurer wearing a red cape and fighting on the front lines.

Siegfried van Proa.

He was the winner of the World’s Greatest Survival Tournament and the first Adventurer to become a king, and he was captivating the war’s viewers worldwide.

It was funny, but Siegfried had stolen the spotlight from Chae Hyung-Seok on the stage that the latter had made for himself!