Debuff Master

‘No!’ Siegfried instinctively knew that the knight templars from the Church of Holy Water were in danger and rushed to their aid, but…

Ziiiing!

The mirrors circling around Count Arial shot out blue laser beams that prevented Siegfried from moving freely.

Meanwhile, Count Arial laughed sarcastically after spotting the knight templars and said, “Who dares to stand in my way? Why are you going against God’s law, you foolish heathens?”

Flash!

A burst of light flashed from Count Arial’s third eye right and…

Thud, thud, thud!

The knight templars fell to the ground one by one.

Instant Death.

Surprisingly, the third eye on Count Arial’s forehead used the skill that instantly killed its targets, which was the same skill that Black-Eyed Damos from the Sky Tower had used against Siegfried.

“That's crazy…!” Siegfried bit his lips out of sheer disbelief.

Count Arial rose up into the sky with both arms raised and said in a booming voice, “Heed my words, my soldiers! Go forth and destroy my enemies! Victory will be yours for I am with you!”

Shockingly, this Count Arial was not the one fighting against Cheon Woo-Jin or Siegfried. This was another Count Arial, who had emerged from within the enemy’s camp, and he was raising the rebels’ morale by performing all sorts of miracles.

Shwaaaa…!

Clouds suddenly formed in the sunny sky, and a heavy torrent of rain followed shortly afterward.

Krwaaaang!

Lightning flashed and thundered in the sky before striking the coalition forces.

But that was not the end of it…

Whoosh! Whoooosh!

Shwiiiiish!

A powerful gust of wind blew, toppling the defensive lines of the coalition forces and creating an opening for the rebels to exploit and slaughter the crusaders.

“Heed my words, my soldiers! I will be with you at all times! Do not doubt me for I am God!”

“I have not permitted death to touch you! Rise up and fight!”

“I, your god, have granted you immortality!”

Dozens of Count Arials appeared throughout the battlefield, supporting the rebels by performing all sorts of miracles.

This was nothing short of impossible. Claiming to be God was one thing, but suddenly having dozens of bodies and performing different miracles while fighting against powerful people like Cheon Woo-Jin and Siegfried was definitely something that defied common sense.

The Count Arial who had instantly killed all of the knight templars from the Church of Holy Water looked at Siegfried and said, “Do not be deceived by the devil.”

“What?”

“Why can’t you be honest with yourself?”

“What the hell is this bastard spouting out of the blue?”

“I have seen it. I have seen the fear in your heart,” Count Arial said while walking closer toward him.

“Eh?”

“I am God, so I can see what’s inside your heart.”

“...?”

“I have seen it. Your heart is full of fear toward me. Why can’t you acknowledge the fear in your heart, pitiful one?”

“Wow… This guy is really delulu…” Siegfried muttered in disbelief before taking out a flare gun from his inventory and shooting it up in the sky.

Shwoooong… Kaboom!

A green flare illuminated the sky darkened by the clouds, and the coalition forces immediately reacted to the flare.

“Retreat! All forces retreat!”

“It’s the signal to retreat!”

“All forces! Retreat at once!”

“We’re falling back, boys!”

The green flare was none other than the signal to retreat.

“Yes, we will lose tonight.”

Siegfried had already anticipated the coalition forces’ defeat in this battle, and he had mentioned this in their strategy meeting.

Thus, every single one of the coalition forces soldiers immediately retreated the moment they saw the green flare, which was the signal to retreat, brightly illuminating the dark skies.

***

Meanwhile, around two kilometers from where the battle was taking place.

“All forces! Listen to your respective commander’s instructions! Our allies will be retreating, so we must provide safe passage for them!” Oscar raised her voice and addressed the Proatine Forces after seeing the green flare in the sky.

Oscar proceeded to give special orders to the elite individuals of the kingdom.

“Scribe Gringore and Sir Lamborghini. Please start moving to support our allies’ retreat.”

She tasked the famous duo, Gringore and Lamborghini to fight on the front lines while securing their allies’ retreat.

“I will leave the rest to you, Duke Decimato,” she said with a bow to the magician who possessed the strongest firepower in all of the kingdom.

“Leave it to me, Commander Oscar,” Decimato replied with a nod before making preparations.

Decimato was not to participate in battle this time, as he had another special task assigned.

‘Your Majesty…’ Oscar looked in the distance toward the battlefield where mortar shells were flying around, and lightning was striking the ground. ‘Just how many steps ahead can you see?’

Frankly speaking, she was surprised when Siegfried said they would be losing this battle, and she was surprised once again when they had indeed lost the fight.

In addition, she couldn't help but be extremely curious just how far Siegfried could see in the future. After all, if he had predicted their defeat in this battle, then he had to have prepared a plan that would help them win the war, right?

She knew very well that Siegfried was not the type of person who would do things without a plan, even though he seemed to do things without a plan at times.

‘I, Your Majesty’s humble servant, will do my best to accomplish everything entrusted to me,’ Oscar swore inwardly, as her faith in Siegfried was as unshakeable as ever.

***

“Do you honestly believe you can escape?” Count Arial flashed a smug smirk and sneered upon seeing the coalition forces retreat like a receding tide. “You will never escape from my omnipotent hands—”

It was then.

Chwaaak!

Siegfried spread his Black Crow Wingsuit open and shot one thousand projectiles at the Count Arial before him.

Torrential Flower Rain!

A flower rain of death raged at Count Arial.

‘Whoa… Look at that mana consumption,’ Siegfried thought after seeing sixty percent of his mana disappear at once.

Still, he knew this was a huge improvement. Torrential Flower Rain consumed one hundred percent of his mana when his level was still low, so consuming only sixty percent of his mana to use was not that bad at all.

Clink! Clink! Clink!

The Torrential Flower Rain destroyed the mirrors circulating around Count Arial.

‘More! Stronger! Harder!’ Siegfried used Flying Sword to control Torrential Flower Rain while simultaneously placing down Blaze Field and Shadow Hell.

Then, he activated the third stage of Overclocking and lunged at Count Arial.

“Fool!” Count Arial roared in anger as the Torrential Flower Rain destroyed his Mirotic Shields. Then, his third eye opened and flashed a green light.

“Die," he uttered.

However, Siegfried didn't die instantly, stupefying Count Arial.

Wooong!

It turned out that Siegfried had activated Wave of Oppression just in time, interrupting the third eye’s instant-death skill.

The Debuff Master was the natural predator of all magicians as long as Wave of Oppression was off cooldown!

‘Now’s my chance!’ Siegfried slammed the ground with his +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp and used Grand Duel against Count Arial.

Fwaaaaah!

C-Craaack!

The Barrier of Victory trapped both Siegfried and Count Arial.

‘Alright!’ Siegfried lunged at the count, wildly swinging his +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp the moment he confirmed that both of them were trapped within the barrier.

Count Arial attempted to teleport out of the barrier but was flustered when he failed to do so.

“W-What’s this…?!”

However, it was too late for him.

Pukeok!

The +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp slammed into Count Arial’s head.

“Kuheok!” Count Arial groaned and was stunned.

Wooong!

Siegfried immediately used his most powerful single-target offensive skill, Touch of Death, and poked the count with it.

***

Rumble!

The Barrier of Victory crumbled.

“I did kill him, but…”

Siegfried didn't look happy even though half of Count Arial’s body had been blown away by him.

Why?

It was all because there were still quite a few Count Arials alive.

He managed to kill one of the Count Arials by destroying his mirrors using the Torrential Flower Rain, trapping him with Grand Duel, and then finishing him off with Touch of Death.

It was great, but there were still more than a dozen Count Arials remaining. To be precise, there were twenty Count Arials remaining. Siegfried had finally managed to kill Count Arial, but there were still twenty more copies that Siegfried had to kill.

“Ah… He’s so disgusting…” Siegfried grumbled in absolute disgust after pouring all of his skills just to barely kill one.

‘Which is the real one? Don’t tell me they’re all real? No, that’s not possible… But I have no way to find out which one is the real one…’

He was definitely in a difficult spot right now. The remains of the count he had killed earlier looked so real that it was impossible to tell whether it was just a mere illusion or the real thing.

‘I guess I have no other choice…’ Siegfried decided to retreat for now, but…

“Where do you think you’re going, Adventurer?”

“I did not permit you to leave.”

“You and your armies are not going anywhere.”

Three Count Arials appeared and surrounded him.

“Fine! You’re the best. Do what you want! Ptooey!” Siegfried spat on the ground in disgust. He had no choice but to admit that Count Arial was arguably the most disgusting, difficult, and annoying opponent he had met thus far.

“Accept God’s wrath.”

“Why do you continuously refuse to believe me, foolish one?”

“The devil has taken hold of you.”

The three Count Arials approached him.

“I’m sorry to say this, but I’ll have to go now. Let’s play again later,” Siegfried said while waving his hand dismissively.

Shwoooong… Boom! Boom! Boom!

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

More than hundreds of Magic Missiles flew from out of nowhere and struck the three Count Arials.

“I’ll be going now. Have a nice day!” Siegfried said before running away as fast as he could.

“You dare strike God with this pathetic magic?!”

“Where do you think you’re going?!”

“Do you really think I’ll let you go that easily, foolish creature?”

They tried to catch Siegfried, but it was impossible.

Wooong!

A mage wearing the uniform of the Proatine Kingdom appeared and cast a first-circle spell, Magic Missile, at Count Arial. It was just a first-circle spell, but the mage was none other than Duke Decimato.

He lived up to his class as a Great Wizard, as the number of Magic Missiles he cast at ones numbered in the tens of thousands.

The coalition forces retreated under the cover of Decimato's Magic Missiles.

“Retreat!”

“Move faster! We must retreat at once!”

“Run for your lives!”

***

‘I should make a run for it, too,’ Siegfried said, placing down his debuff fields to support his allies’ retreat. They had just lost a battle and had to retreat, but Siegfried was neither disappointed nor demoralized.

‘I know how to deal with him now. I’ll win against him one hundred percent if I destroy his shields with Torrential Flower Rain and trap him with Grand Duel, but the problem is… How do I find which one is the real one?’

Siegfried figured that he didn't get the shorter end of the stick, as he had found a guaranteed way to defeat Count Arial. To be precise, this was his plan all along. He did not hope to win the first battle, as he simply wanted to test the waters.

Why?

It was all because the soul fragments contained immense power, and a good example of that was what happened in the Ephenedrine Kingdom, where a single soul fragment had devoured a powerful kingdom completely.

It was downright greedy and impossible for him to defeat Count Arial, who was armed with a soul fragment, right away. Thus, his plan was to fight Count Arial several times to find out more about the authority stored within the soul fragment inside of him.

This was the secret behind Siegfried's strategy, and it focused on minimizing casualties to buy time for him to familiarize himself with Count Arial’s powers.

‘This is more than enough for today. I’m sure I’ll notice something if I face him two or three more times,’ Siegfried thought.

It was then.

‘Hmm?’ Siegfried noticed something while he was in the middle of a retreat.

Bam!

He was so focused on what he saw that he didn't even feel pain after getting smacked on the back of his head by a mace that a rebel soldier had thrown at him from afar.

"Heh."Siegfried smirked and thought, ‘Found it.’

What he had noticed just now gave him an idea of how to deal with Count Arial. Thanks to this discovery, he no longer needed to buy more time for them to "get to know each other."

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