Debuff Master

Iron Golem, Blood Golem, Mud Golem, Stone Golem, Fire Golem, Ice Golem, etc.

The sight of different kinds of golems marching double file was quite a rare sight, and it resembled a military parade for some reason. No, it was more like the golems were in a parade at the moment.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The ground shook as the golems walked in complete unison, and they were as disciplined as a group of veteran soldiers.

“I guess that thing is a king, alright…” Siegfried muttered in awe while pointing in the distance.

The Golem King looked quite cool. It was an Iron Golem that towered at least five and a half meters tall. However, its size was not the only thing that made it look cool. It was wearing a helmet that resembled a skull, and it was carrying a greatsword the size of a pillar on its shoulder. A red cape even draped over its back.

It truly looked majestic in contrast to most golems that were mostly naked.

[Golem King Reventon]

[The most powerful Iron Golem in history created by the Archmage and Legendary Magician, Reizo.]

[It joined a war between humans centuries ago and wreaked havoc, but it suddenly disappeared one day.]

[Its ego is quite powerful, and it is capable of thinking just like a human being.]

[Type: Named Neutral Creature]

[Race: Golem]

[Position: King]

[Class: Iron Gear]

[Level: N/A]

Surprisingly, the Rune of Insight was not able to assess the level of the Golem King, but there was no doubt that Reventon was bound to be powerful. It was a Golem King, after all.

“Ah, this is troublesome…” Siegfried grumbled while observing the army of golems following behind Reventon. Then, he added, “How the hell are we supposed to fight that thing when we don’t even know what its level is?”

“I know right, hyung-nim?”

“And I think there are more than one thousand golems behind that thing. How are we supposed to beat all of them? We’re going to die before even getting anywhere near that Golem King!”

He was right. There were far too many golems, and facing them head-on was bound to spell certain doom. Irradiate was not going to work on them as they were inorganic creatures, so killing them en masse with it was out of the question.

“But where is that thing going right now, and why is it leaving the Sharp Forest?”

“I have no idea, hyung-nim.”

“Let’s tail it for now. Who knows? Maybe an opening will present itself?”

“I agree, hyung-nim.”

They tailed the army of golems for around two hours.

“Kyu? Isn’t that a fort?” Hamchi asked while pointing at the silhouette of a building in the distance.

“Huh? You’re right, but where’s that?” Siegfried asked as he opened the World Map and checked their current location.

[Lexus Kingdom: Eden Territory]

The Golem King’s destination was the outskirts of the Lexus Kingdom, which was located south of the Renoma Kingdom, and there was a small fort and village since it was on the outskirts.

“Don’t tell me… Is it going to attack that place?” Siegfried said while sounding worried.

If the army of golems led by the Golem King attacked that small territory, then…

‘Five minutes? Ten minutes?’

The entire territory was going to be destroyed before tea could be served if the golems bulldozed through it.

‘I need to tell them!’

Siegfried had just thought of warning the territory when….

“Kyu! Look over there, owner punk!” Hamchi exclaimed while pointing at the army of golems.

Siegfried did not even have to look. The deep rumbling of the earth told him everything.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The army of golems was running toward the Eden Territory.

***

Siegfried couldn’t warn the Eden Territory of the golems’ attack.

“It’s too late.”

It was quite the realistic decision as he knew there was no stopping the golems by now as the Golem King already led its golems right at the gates of the territory.

Bam!

The fort walls crumbled in the blink of an eye.

“Let’s go,” Siegfried said as he walked away.

“W-Where are you going, hyung-nim?” Seung-Gu asked.

“We have to warn them,” Siegfried replied before he checked his World Map and said, “Their next target is most likely… Ah, I’m 99.9% sure that it’s going to be Vabe Territory. We have to get there first and warn them so they can prepare. They can’t stop them at this rate.”

Siegfried was making the right call once again since Eden Territory was as good as fallen at the hands of the Golem King.

Bam…! Thud!

The golems rushed into the Eden Territory like a raging tidal wave as soon as the fort walls fell.

“Let’s go to Vabe Territory,” Siegfried said as he looked for the nearest warp gate on the World Map.

***

At Vabe Territory located twenty kilometers from the Eden Territory…

“A-Are you telling the truth right now?”

The Lord of the Vabe Territory, Baron Oradric, was shocked at what he heard.

“Are you sure that the golems under the Golem King’s command have conquered the Eden Territory?”

“Yes,” Siegfried replied with a nod.

“How can I trust you? We don’t have any communication channels since we are located quite remote, so I don’t have a way to confirm what you said…” Baron Oradric said with a hint of skepticism.

“I do not have any proof, but I am telling the truth,” Siegfried confidently replied.

“Haa…”

“I am the King of the Proatine Kingdom, Siegfried van Proa.”

“P-Proatine Kingdom?! Are you really the king of that kingdom?!”

“Do you know me?”

“I am not too familiar with you, but I did hear that the emperor anointed some Adventurer as king and gave him lands to rule.”

“Yes, I am that Adventurer.”

“Please forgive my insolence, King Siegfried van Proa. I would have prepared a welcome banquet for Your Majesty if you revealed your royal identity—”

“My status or banquet is not what’s important right now. The Golem King is on its way as we speak, and you will have to make an important decision as the lord.”

“But for me to make such a decision without any evidence is…”

Baron Oradric’s response was understandable. Siegfried was a king, but he was still the king of another kingdom. It was irresponsible for the lord of a territory to make such drastic decisions based on hearsay alone.

“Believing me or not is your choice, Baron Oradric. I have already warned you that the golems are on their way.”

“Haha…”

Baron Oradric could not laugh in disbelief at his current predicament. He wanted to believe him, but the story was simply too hard to believe. However, he also felt a bit nervous at the idea that Siegfried might not be lying.

‘Hmm… A king that’s an Adventurer… He looks decent, and he looks pretty sturdy… But above all, he looks quite serious. I don’t think he’s lying…’ Baron Oradric thought while inspecting Siegfried from head to toe.

It turned out that Siegfried’s title Great Honor had been activated and was currently being used against Baron Oradric, unbeknownst to both of them.

[Great Honor]

[Effects: +500 First Impression, +500 Affinity with NPCs, +500 Presence, +500 Charisma]

Siegfried had quite a lot of titles that gave off the wrong impression, but most of his titles gave him excellent bonuses. However, it could be argued that one of the best titles he had was Great Honor, which not only sounded quite cool but also gave amazing bonuses.

The title had the effect of mesmerizing NPCs lower in level than Siegfried whenever he dealt with them sincerely.

‘Hmm… Our territory is quite small and rural, so we won’t lose anything from listening to this man…’

Baron Oradric was starting to look favorably upon Siegfried without even realizing it, and this was all thanks to Siegfried’s Great Honor title.

“It is difficult to believe what Your Majesty is saying, but I will choose to trust Your Majesty,” Baron Oradric said.

“Excellent choice, baron. You will not regret placing your trust in me,” Siegfried replied with a smile.

“Then what should we do? Should we gather our territory’s troops and prepare for battle?”

“No,” Siegfried shook his head and said, “We can’t win against them. At least not with this territory’s forces.”

“T-Then, what should we do?”

“We have to vacate the territory.”

Siegfried decided to run instead of fighting against the golems.

***

The Golem King marched toward the Vabe Territory after conquering the Eden Territory, but it was met with an unexpected turn of events once it arrived with its army.

“…”

The Vabe Territory was completely empty, and not a single human was in sight. Only the animals that the humans were rearing were left in the territory.

“Let’s go to the Rockwood Territory.”

The Golem King found it odd that it was able to conquer the Vabe Territory without a single drop of blood being shed, but it decided to ignore it and march onward to its next target—the Rockwood Territory.

However…

“It’s empty here, too…”

The Rockwood Territory was empty, just like the Vabe Territory, and there was also not a single trace of humans in sight. The Golem King ended up conquering two territories without a single battle taking place, but the problem was what happened afterward.

“Here too…?”

The Golem King arrived at an empty Feyenoord Territory and finally realized that there was something wrong. However, the strange phenomenon didn’t end there. The Iota Territory, Kerax Territory, the Feyenoord Territory, and the New Blanc Territory were empty as well.

Six territories were completely empty, and the golem army saw not even a single human upon arriving there.

“What’s going on…” Reventon muttered as it was extremely confused.

It was a good thing that it was able to conquer the territories without any resistance, but it found the emptiness truly bizarre.

Then, the Golem King finally got its answers after reaching the Magnus Territory, which was the territory that it decided to visit right after the New Blanc Territory.

“…”

The Golem King was shocked after seeing the number of soldiers stationed at the Magnus Territory.

The Magnus Territory was a small provincial territory just like the previous territories, but that was no longer the case. There was a large army of at least five thousand soldiers stationed on the walls, ready to fight the golem army.

“Don’t tell me…?”

The Golem King finally realized the reason behind the previous territories being completely empty.

It turned out that the humans had decided to abandon their lands to gather in a single territory for the sake of consolidating their forces.

***

Siegfried’s plan was quite simple yet extremely effective.

Abandon the forts and run away.

These remote feudal territories in the remote parts of the Lexus Kingdom were not strong enough to fight against the Golem King and its army. They were going to die a futile death without being able to deal any significant damage against the golem army.

Thus, Siegfried decided to abandon the territories instead of fighting. He started with the Vabe Territory and continued on to the Rockwood Territory, Feyenoord Territory, Kerax Territory, and New Blanc Territory.

He requested an audience with their lords to evacuate the soldiers and civilians. Then, he rallied all of the soldiers at the Magnus Territory to make a stand against the Golem King and his army.

He wanted to mobilize the Proatine Kingdom’s army as well, but that was out of the question right now. No kingdom on the continent was bound to welcome the army of a foreign nation with open arms, which meant there would be diplomatic repercussions later on.

He thought of requesting assistance from the Lexus Kingdom, but he knew that the factions within the royal court were going to be busy debating whether to send reinforcements or not.

In the end, he decided to rally the troops from the nearby territories and defend against the invading golem army with them.

Siegfried and Seung-Gu also disliked the idea of shedding the blood of their soldiers just to clear their personal quests. Fortunately, it was not that difficult to convince the lords of each territory, and Siegfried successfully managed to gather a total of five thousand troops from the territories.

Five thousand was indeed not a small number, and it was an army large enough to defend against the Golem King.

“Oh!”

“King Siegfried! Your Majesty’s wisdom has rendered me speechless!”

“But who would have known that the Golem King was going to raise an army and invade our lands…”

The lords of each territory could not help but be in awe of Siegfried. Of course, this was all thanks to them being under the influence of Siegfried\'s title Great Honor, but they were the ones who had made the decision to trust Siegfried in the end.

“It’s still too early to celebrate,” Siegfried warned the lords, and then he added, “There is no guarantee that we are going to win so please rally your troops and raise their morale as much as you can.”

With that, Siegfried looked at Seung-Gu and said, “Pull the trigger.”

“Yes, hyung-nim!” Seung-Gu exclaimed. He then proceeded to control his Iron Golems that were already in Siege Mode on top of the fort walls of the Magnus Territory.

“Three! Two! One! Fire!” Seung-Gu shouted.

However…

“…”

“…”

“…”

None of the Iron Golems fired their cannons.

“Huh?” Seung-Gu tilted his head in confusion and shouted once again, “Three! Two! One! Fire!”

However, there was no difference.

“…”

“…”

“…”

None of the Iron Golems reacted to his command…

“W-What’s going on?” Seung-Gu muttered; he was absolutely confused.

“Aim!”

The Golem King’s voice suddenly echoed from beyond the fort walls.

Wiiiing…! Wiiiing…! Wiiiing…!

The Iron Golems turned their cannons on the people inside the fort walls.