Debuff Master

Siegfried was shocked to see eighty percent of his HP disappear just like that, but that was not the end of the surprises.

[Alert: Status Ailment!]

[Alert: Your character has been afflicted by ‘Muscle Spasm’!]

[Alert: Your character’s movement will be unnatural!]

[Alert: There is a chance of dying instantly upon meeting eyes with Black-Eyed Damos!]

Siegfried could not move properly after getting afflicted by a crowd control skill, but the worst part was the fact that he could no longer rely on his vision in this fight. It was all because he could die the moment he looked into Damos’ eyes.

“Oh? You didn’t die even after looking into my eyes? That’s surprising,” Damos praised Siegfried for his tenacity.

“What ridiculous—“

“It’s a curse.”

“A curse?”

“I was born with this ridiculous curse.” Damos shared his story in a low voice. “I was born with a curse. The midwife who saw me, my mother, and even my father… They became sacrifices to these wretched eyes of mine.”

“T-That’s quite a sad story,” Siegfried replied while trying his best not to look into his eyes.

“It’s quite rare for someone to survive after looking into my eyes. A split second is all it takes to kill most people unless they are powerful individuals. Thanks to that, I was forced to live with my eyes covered.”

“So you were forced to act blind.”

“Precisely, I\'ve been wearing blindfolds since I joined the ranks of the empire. I\'m still wearing it even though I\'ve become a wandering spirit.”

“Hahaha…”

“Give up.”

“Pardon?”

“You’re not the first, but it’s rare for someone not to die after looking at my eyes. It’s such a waste to kill someone like you, so just give up and turn back.”

It seemed that Damos was moved after seeing Siegfried surviving his gaze.

“I don’t want to,” Siegfried replied with a shrug.

“Why? This is your chance to live, but why are you trying to die a futile death?”

“I’m not a fan of retrying,” Siegfried replied as he closed his eyes.

He could think of numerous methods to defeat Damos, such as Torrential Flower Rain or Absolute Zero, but he was concerned about the later floors if he were to exhaust his trump cards on the fifty-first floor.

It was highly likely that using his trump cards here was going to bite him in his ass later on.

Therefore, Siegfried’s choice was…

Seuruk…

He closed his eyes.

“I will close my eyes from now on, so please switch to third-person view instead,” he told his viewers before he walked toward his opponent.

The chat room erupted once again.

—BlackRag: He really closed his eyes?

—99spin: Crazy… Crazy…

—9Nick9: Eyes closed?

—IWantTuna: I think he’s overestimating himself;;

BNW might be a very realistic game, but closing one’s eye in a duel was completely unheard of. It was not only the viewers who were skeptical, but even Damos seemed doubtful if it was even going to be effective.

“Don’t tell me… Are you going to challenge me with your eyes closed?”

“I will die if I look into your eyes, right? What else can I do?”

“Do you perhaps… possess the Heart of Eyes?”

“Nope,” Siegfried shook his head and said, “I will be relying on my instinct.”

“Arrogant.”

“We will see about that,” Siegfried said before he lunged at Damos.

***

The owner of the Cursed Eyes of Death, Damos, and the man with eyes closed, Siegfried, was about to fight to the death. Anyone would say that Damos had the overwhelming advantage in this battle, and he was going to have a field day with Siegfried.

Clang! Clang!

Surprisingly, both of them were neck and neck as neither side held the upper hand.

Siegfried was fighting against a Level 250 NPC with his eyes closed!

Of course, there was the issue that Damos heavily relied on his Cursed Eyes of Death his entire life, so his swordsmanship was slightly lacking, but it didn\'t make what Siegfried was doing right now any less impressive.

How many players could fight with their eyes closed in the first place?

This was something most people would consider impossible, but Siegfried had done it.

The reason was that he already experienced this in the past—a year ago, to be exact.

“Ack! M-Master! Why did you poke my eyes?! Aaaack!”

Deus poked both of Siegfried’s eyes like how a cowardly pro wrestler would do.

“Ack! I cannot see, Master! My eyes!”

“That’s precisely why I poked them.”

“But why—“

“To awaken something similar to the Heart of Eyes.”

“Pardon me, Master…?”

“What are you going to do if you lose your vision in battle?”

“Of course, I will just die and—“

“Then DIE!”

“AAACCCK!”

Siegfried was beaten to a pulp over and over again until he learned how to fight without relying so much on his eyes.

Deus was a perfectionist who wanted his disciple to learn how to defend himself even after losing his eyesight, and his Spartan training method finally bore fruits for his disciple.

Siegfried placed down Blaze Field to shred Damos’ Defense and Shadow Swamp to shred his Movement Speed. It seemed that he was slowly getting the upper hand in this duel.

Twenty minutes later…

Bam!

Siegfried and Damos clashed before both of them jumped back.

“Impressive… It’s truly impressive how you\'ve managed to awaken your Heart of Eyes at such a young age…” Damos said in awe.

“I already told you that this isn’t something like that,” Siegfried replied with a shrug and added, “Anyway, shall we wrap this up now? I am about to go insane from focusing so much.”

“I don’t think it will be that easy to win against me.”

“No, it will.”

“Your overconfidence will—“

It was then.

Boom!

Siegfried almost blasted off the ground and lunged at Damos.

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

And Horse Fly left numerous rainbow-colored trails as it repeatedly slammed against Damos.

‘S-Something’s different…!’ Damos could feel that Siegfried had become even stronger for some reason and from out of the blue. He felt like he was no longer facing the same Siegfried he had faced earlier.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Damos was driven to a corner and was in tatters after repeatedly blocking all of Siegfried’s attacks.

“I think this is more than enough,” Siegfried said with a smile.

“What do you mean by enough…?” Damos asked.

“To replenish my HP.”

“What?!”

“I lost all of my HP from a while ago, so I had to replenish it in our fight. I mean, I will have no way to replenish my HP if I kill you right away, right?”

“What are you talking about…?” Damos asked.

There was no way he would understand what Siegfried was saying as he was an NPC. However, it was different for the viewers watching the livestream, as all of them instantly understood what he meant.

—OneTwoSesame: He dragged the battle to replenish his HP with lifesteal? This guy is insane…

—Rush&Money: He was drawing a big picture…;;

—ThisTime: He was going easy with his eyes closed? What the hell…?

—ThatSideGuy: His HP is full… Omg…

The viewers were shocked after realizing that Siegfried was going easy on Damos with his eyes closed.

Why would he do that?

He was using the lifesteal option attached to Horse Fly to replenish his HP whenever he hit Damos, and the result was…

[Siegfried van Proa]

[HP: ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛]

[Mana: ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬜⬜]

[Stamina: ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛]

Siegfried recovered all of the HP he lost from the Cursed Eyes of Death.

“Time to end this,” he said as he swung Horse Fly at Damos’ head.

***

Thud!

Damos collapsed to the ground.

Sparkle! Sparkle! Sparkl!

Quite a few Essence of the Strong dropped to the ground.

[Alert: You have killed Black-Eyed Damos!]

[Alert: You have obtained Experience Points!]

[Alert: You have cleared Sky Tower: Fifty-First Floor!]

[Alert: You have obtained Top-Quality Essence of the Strong × 1!]

[Alert: You have obtained High-Quality Essence of the Strong × 2!]

[Alert: You have obtained Low-Quality Essence of the Strong × 19!]

Perhaps it was because Damos was a tricky opponent, but he dropped a Top-Quality Essence of the Strong upon dying.

Siegfried picked up the essences and placed them into his Inventory before addressing the viewers, “Everyone, as you\'ve seen, it was a pretty tricky NPC because of his eyes. But he’s not that strong for a Level 250… I think he’s more like a Level 180? He’s easy to beat—just make sure not to look into his eyes when you fight him, okay?”

His advice was spot on.

In fact, Damos did not become renowned for his swordsmanship even when he was alive. His cursed eyes were so powerful that most people found it difficult to fight him, but he didn\'t make it that far because his swordsmanship was simply too lacking to go up against people like Siegfried, who could fight without relying on their eyes.

Unfortunately, there was quite a strong backlash from the viewers this time.

—GoldNare: Is he talking shit to us right now?

—OhJunHwan: Are you Mr. Bob?ㅡㅡ;;

—B.Los: So easy? WTF! :(

—Gilk: I’m not sure if he’s delusional or I’m delusional…

The viewers could not relate to the advice that Damos was easy to beat. They felt like they were watching Mr. Bob[1], who was famous for painting an extremely complex portrait and saying that it was easy.

“I-I will continue climbing then. Hahaha…” Siegfried said with an awkward laugh. He was flustered by the backlash from the viewers, so he rushed to the magic circle to change the subject.

***

Siegfried’s educational livestream continued after the fifty-first floor.

The Sky Tower threw all sorts of strange challenges at him the higher he climbed, and the trickiest ones were the Elemental Spirits he had to face on the sixtieth, sixty-fifth, seventieth, and seventy-fifth floors.

Fire Spirit Ifrit, Water Spirit Naiad, Dark Spirit Pluto, and Light Spirit Lighton.

These spirits that could only be defeated with different attributes blocked Siegfried’s path, but it was to no avail. He was already able to handle all four attributes, and he could pick and choose whichever attribute the Elemental Spirits were weak against.

However, that was not the end of his bizarre educational livestream.

Siegfried activated Irradiate and waltzed through the seventy-first floor, which was filled with swarms of insect-type monsters.

At this point, the viewers were forced to accept the fact that he was just overpowered.

—BitingRabidAnimal: He’s cheating…

—1Day3Boom: Is there anything he can’t do?

—Hi!Hi!: He’s so overpowered… ㅜㅜ

—1111111: Is he a Hidden Class user?

It was difficult for a user to possess even one elemental attribute, but possessing four at the same time was… more than enough for everyone to unanimously agree that Siegfried was either overpowered or cheating.

‘Wow… I’m really overpowered…’

Ironically, even he himself agreed that his character was indeed overpowered.

“The next floor is the seventy-sixth floor. Whoa! There are still so many floors left! I will try to pick up and pace from now on,” he told the viewers as he rushed over to the magic circle to clear the remaining twenty-three floors.

He cleared each floor and continued his ascent, and he finally managed to defeat the owner of the ninety-eighth floor after two hours.

Thus, he was now standing on top of the magic circle that would take him to the ninety-ninth floor.

[Siegfried van Proa]

[HP: ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛]

[Mana: ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬜⬜⬜⬜]

[Stamina: ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛]

His HP was still full despite climbing ninety-eight floors, and this was only possible thanks to Horse Fly\'s option of lifesteal.

“I will attempt the final floor now,” he said as he infused his mana into the magic circle.

Wooong!

The magic circle unleashed a bright light, and he found himself in a different place once the light had faded away.

[Sky Tower: Ninety-Ninth Floor]

A message informing him of his arrival at the final floor of the Sky Tower popped up in front of his eyes.

“Welcome, oh, challenger, who has reached the final floor of the tower!”

A deep voice greeted him as soon as he arrived at the floor.

1. This is referring to the painter ‘Bob Ross’. In the Korean dub he says ‘That was easy, right?’ and he became the meme whenever someone does something that’s difficult only to say it was easy. ☜