Debuff Master

“I-It’s the enemy!”

“Run! We’re under attack!”

“The Adventurers are coming!”

The border forces of the Proatine Kingdom lost all desire to fulfill their duties and abandoned their posts at the sight of the ten thousand Adventurers crossing the border.

That was indeed the wise choice.

It was obvious they were going to die without being able to put up any resistance, so retreating and conveying this news to the capital was the best thing they could do in their situation.

\'Heh.\' Chae Hyung-Seok smirked after seeing the border forces of the Proatine Kingdom scurry away like a bunch of insects.

“Wait for me, I’m coming for you,” he muttered under his breath.

Strangely enough, he did not give the command to chase after the border forces.

Why?

Because he was confident…

He was armed with the best gear in his history of playing the game, and he had an army of ten thousand Adventurers behind him.

How was a weak kingdom like Proatine going to stop them?

Chae Hyung-Seok was absolutely confident that it was only a matter of time before the Proatine Kingdom fell. An attack of this scale was closer to a natural calamity, and it was definitely not something Siegfried and his kingdom could stop.

‘Go and tell Han Tae-Sung that I’m here for him!’ Chae Hyung-Seok used the fleeing border forces as his heralds of death to Han Tae-Sung.

Chae Hyung-Seok thought that it would be quite cool if the heralds of death went ahead to warn Han Tae-Sung before he actually invaded.

When Chae Hyung-Seok finally crossed the border fortifications…

“Base, come in. I repeat, base, come in,” A Proatine Scout was hiding behind shrubs, trying to radio in what was going on.

The wireless communication device he was using could only reach ten kilometers at most while costing the same price as installing ten warp gates, and it was not an artifact that the likes of the Proatine Kingdom could even dare to possess.

However, the Proatine Kingdom possessed numerous of these expensive artifacts. The Proatine Kingdom seemed impoverished on the outside, but it was actually an extremely affluent kingdom.

“Base, come in.”

— This is base. Over.

“The moths have crossed the border fortifications and are on their way to Utopia. Over.”

The moths the scout was talking about were Chae Hyung-Seok and the Genesis Guild members, and the Utopia was not the Proatine Kingdom but rather the fake city that they had created.

— This is base. Report received. Good job. Return to base. Over.

“Roger. Over.”

The scout started to crawl after making his report, and he slowly disappeared into the thick forest.

***

Around the time that the scout’s report came in, Michele was making his report to Siegfried at the Proatine Kingdom’s fake capital, Utopia.

“Your Majesty, I have received reports the Genesis Guild led by Desire have finally crossed our borders, and they are en route here.”

“So they’re finally here,” Siegfried replied before he stood up and asked, “Is it time to party?”

“I am certain that Your Majesty will have a lot of fun,” Michele replied with a smile.

“Oh, yes, I will… I definitely will,” Siegfried replied and smiled like a child. He was very happy right now.

Why?

He had never imagined that he would one day become capable enough to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Chae Hyung-Seok and have a showdown to settle their grudges once and for all.

There was no way he would not feel ecstatic over this.

“It is time for us to make our move. It\'s about time Your Majesty has fun.”

“Alright, I’ll be going now,” Siegfried replied and looked at Hamchi, “Let’s go!”

“Kyu! Let’s go!” Hamchi exclaimed and ran up to his shoulder.

***

Chae Hyung-Seok and the Genesis Guild reached the fake capital of the Proatine Kingdom, Utopia, prepared for them.

But…

“W-What the hell?!” Chae Hyung-Seok exclaimed after seeing the sight in front of his eyes.

The capital looked like it was quite sizable from the outside, but it looked more like a remote village in some backwater region than a capital.

How big was it? It was probably the size of a university campus at most, but even that was not a grand campus but a desolate, worn-down one. There were no people on the streets, and the buildings looked so weathered that they were probably never maintained to begin with.

The entire city looked more like a ghost town rather than a kingdom’s capital city.

“Oink!”

“Kwak! Kwak! Kwak!”

The only thing in the empty streets was a pig and a duck, which was quite strange and out of place.

“…”

“…”

“…”

Chae Hyung-Seok and the rest of them were flabbergasted and speechless at what they were seeing.

‘What in the world is this…?’ Chae Hyung-Seok couldn\'t understand what was going on. He planned to pillage the Proatine Kingdom and squeeze it out of everything it had, but who knew it was such a desolate and pitiful place…

“N-No… This can’t be… This is the kingdom that bastard rules? This is bullshit!” Chae Hyung-Seok shouted in anger.

He was absolutely certain that this wasn\'t the Proatine Kingdom’s capital, and this was all thanks to none other than Quandt.

“Our workshop has a very close relationship with King Siegfried, and I would go as far as to say that we can’t live without each other. Hohoho!”

“I’m just going to say this one more time, but it will be the same even if you go to the Autonika Workshop or Mercedes Workshop.”

“As much as I hate to admit it, those bastards treat King Siegfried as a VVIP too and are trying to establish good relations with him. You better not go anywhere near one of the three main workshops if you don’t want to get into trouble.”

According to Quandt, Siegfried was a VVIP customer of all three top workshops, which was an amazing feat in itself.

So how come his kingdom was in such a state? It did not make sense at all.

‘Did we get tricked?’ Chae Hyung-Seok was convinced that this was another trick but…

“Damn it!”

“What the hell is this?!”

“Do you take us for fools?!”

“Wow… I’m speechless… I never knew you would stoop so low as to scam your own guild members…”

“Hey! Are you fucking nuts? Have you really lost it?!”

Unfortunately, the guild members weren\'t convinced. They started to curse at him one by one, and it was understandable why they would do so because all of them had come here for the promised gold.

However, all of them were convinced that they would not get a dime, judging by how impoverished the Proatine Kingdom was.

“Kyaak… Ptooey!”

A guild member spat at the ground Chae Hyung-Seok was standing on.

“Hey! You fucker!” the guild member screamed.

“What?” Chae Hyung-Seok curtly replied.

“What the fuck is this? Ha?!”

“You bastard…”

“How do you know if I’m a bastard or not? Am I your bastard? Ha?! Who the fuck are you calling a bastard?!”

The guild member was unfazed even while Chae Hyung-Seok was glaring at him.

Ironically, this was something unimaginable in the past.

Why?

Because the Genesis Guild’s hierarchy was similar to the military during its heydays, insubordination was punished quite severely during those days. However, that was no longer the case. Chae Hyung-Seok was no longer as threatening as he was now that he was wanted by the emperor, and he was no longer worth even a second look.

It was probably similar to how a Sergeant at the end of his career would no longer scare the cadets.[1]

However, Chae Hyung-Seok’s problem was that most of the guild members were furious.

“Hey! Chae Hyung-Seok! You fucking scammer!”

“Geez… I really think he has gone senile.”

“No, we’re the senile for following such a guild master…”

The majority of the guild members started sneering and cursing at him.

“I’m going. Bye~”

“Kyak! Ptooey!”

“Let’s not see each other ever again, okay?”

The guild members left in droves, and they numbered in the thousands.

“Hey, come here for a second.”

“Has anyone told you you’re a fucking eyesore?”

“Do you really think you’re still as famous as you were?”

“He’s delulu~”

“Time for some beating.”

A few of the guild members stayed behind and threatened to kill him.

“D-Damn it!” Chae Hyung-Seok muttered as he started retreating.

He never imagined that things would get so screwed up that the mercenaries he had hired were going to turn against him.

“Hey, you bastards! I was your guild master at one—“

It was then.

Pat…! Pat…! Pat…! Pat…! Pat…!

It suddenly started raining.

Huh?

The rain was so oddly cold that even those who possessed high resistance felt chills from it.

“What’s this?”

“How’s it raining when there are no clouds?”

“W-What?! My body is getting frozen…!”

The Adventurers sensed that something was amiss, but it was already too late.

Shwooosh…! C-Crack…!

A snowstorm brewed before completely devouring them.

Blizzard!

The legendary spell only those who had reached the realm of a Great Wizard could cast had just manifested right in front of their eyes!

***

Whooosh!

Shwaaaa!

The Blizzard fiercely raged and seemed dead-set on freezing up every single one of the Genesis Guild members.

‘Is this Blizzard? How is such high-level magic…?’ Chae Hyung-Seok was stunned.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Explosions thundered behind them. He turned around and saw that the frozen legs of his guild members were getting shattered by the explosions occurring from underneath the ground, and he immediately realized that there were mines planted in the ground.

However, the Blizzard and the mines were not their only problem as a great shadow fell upon them as something covered the sun above.

When did it appear?

Eleven airships belonging to the Proatine Kingdom positioned themselves over the Genesis Guild and began dropping bombs.

Shwoooong… Kaboom!

Shwooong…! Kaboom! Boom!

It only took a split second for the desolate fake city to turn into hell for the Genesis Guild members as they were killed in droves by the Blizzard, mines, and the bombs falling from above.

‘A trap!’ Chae Hyung-Seok finally realized that they walked into a trap, but it was already too late.

“Aaaaack!”

“H-Help!”

“Save me…!”

“Arghhh!”

The Genesis Guild’s casualties started piling up at a rapid pace.

Flash…! Flash…! Flash…! Flash…!

And the hundreds—no, thousands of items dropped by the casualties covering the ground showed just how many of them were killed in this initial ambush.

“N-No! Don’t die, your bastards! Don’t die!” Chae Hyung-Seok screamed as he hurriedly cast defensive and magic resistance buff on his entire guild.

“Damn it! Increase our allies’ defense!”

“Magic resistance, too!”

“Heal! Cycle all of your healing spells!”

It was only after the other Buffers followed suit and cast their buffs unsparingly that the casualty rate finally slowed down.

The buffs cast by Chae Hyung-Seok, who was armed with the most powerful item set in his history of playing BNW, were extremely powerful, and he managed to save his guild members from getting annihilated by the trap laid by the Proatine Forces.

‘This bastard tried to get rid of me with such a petty trick?! You can pull all the tricks you want, but you’re not going to—‘

While Chae Hyung-Seok was busy thinking and grumbling inwardly, a voice reverberated amidst the blizzard and the bombs.

“Hey~ Hyung-Seok~”

However, the voice didn\'t belong to Siegfried. Siegfried\'s voice wasn\'t as commanding and as deep as the voice.

“Hyung-Seok~”

The deep and commanding voice called out to him once again, and Chae Hyung-Seok’s face froze stiff.

“Ah…” he muttered as despair filled his face.

“Hey, Hyung-Seok~ It’s me, your hyung! How have you been?”

“…”

“It’s been getting quite difficult to see you these days!”

Yong. Tae. Pung.

The living legend and oldest active pro gamer in South Korea was excitedly waving his hand at him.

Was he alone? Nope. One of the top ten guilds on the continent—the members of the entire Mandate of Heaven Guild—stood behind him.

Tokki’s Thoughts: All able-bodied South Korean males are required to serve in the military. They usually start as a Private and get promoted as time goes by until they become a Sergeant and ‘graduate’ from their mandatory service period (unless they don’t do anything that causes them to become ‘forever privates’) so hierarchy in the Korean military is often dictated by the date you joined rather than rank.

1. The metaphor used here is taken from the Korean mandatory military conscription system where seniority is decided by date joined alongside rank, so it had to be tweaked a bit to make sense in English. ☜