Debuff Master

“G-Goblin Lord?” Bleigh muttered with his eyes wide open in surprise.

“Are you telling me that this is happening because of a Goblin Lord?” he asked once more.

“Yes,” Siegfried replied with a nod, and then he explained, “It is a goblin named Gorgo. It possesses a special ability to control the minds of monsters, and I think it has been using that ability to control the Mutated Creatures to expand its forces.”

“No way…” Bleigh muttered and covered his face with his hands before continuing, “To think that a Goblin Lord of all things… If what you say is true then our territory is as good as gone… We don’t have the forces to fight against an enemy like that…”

“Sir Bleigh…” the soldiers around him muttered.

“We might have been able to ask for help from the nearby larger territories if we had a communication device…” Bleigh lamented.

He was lamenting the fact that the Biermann Territory was located in an extremely rural area just like the Schreyer Territory. The two territories didn’t have the infrastructure to support any communication devices.

“This is a huge problem… It’s a huge problem… The Goblin Lord itself is already more than what we can handle, but to think that there are seven Albino Goblins on top of that… What should we do?! We might be a small territory, but we still possess three hundred years of history! To think that we will meet our demise at the hands of goblins… how am I supposed to report this to our lord?” Bleigh despaired.

“We have to stop them,” Siegfried said. He paused for a moment before continuing, “No matter what it takes…”

“But…” Bleigh muttered.

“I know that it is going to be difficult. I know that, too, but we cannot give up here. And there’s also the possibility that the Gorgo may come after us even after we empty the castle and evacuate all of the citizens…” Siegfried trailed off.

Bleigh responded, “We will be… annihilated…”

“Yes,” Siegfried replied.

It became apparent to everyone that their only choice was to stand their ground and fight.

“We will have to look for a solution,” Siegfried said.

“Do you think there is a way out of this?” Bleigh asked.

“There could be a way as long as we can stall for time,” Siegfried said.

“I-Is that true?! Tell me, what is your plan? Do you have a concrete plan that will get us out of this?!” Bleigh exclaimed.

“I am not certain, but we might have a fighting chance,” Siegfried replied.

“What is your plan? Hurry up and tell me!” Bleigh urged.

Their situation was just that dire and desperate. The Knight Captain was trying to grasp a sliver of hope that the greenhorn Adventurer could have a solution to their crisis.

“I need time,” Siegfried said.

“For what? What do you plan to do?” Bleigh asked.

“Time for me to grow stronger,” Siegfried replied. He then told the commander his plan.

***

Siegfried’s plan was quite simple:

1. Create a detached force to slow down the advancement of the goblin army by killing the Mutated Creatures.

2. Siegfried will try to hit Level 30 while doing that.

3. The territory soldiers and Siegfried, with another Debuff Master skill after hitting Level 30, will fight against Gorgo and his army.

The key to his plan was stalling for time.

“Time for you to grow… That’s right, you people from another world can grow at a ridiculously quick speed thanks to that Rune of Transcendence you possess,” Bleigh said as he looked at the Rune of Transcendence engraved in the back of Siegfried’s right hand.

The Rune of Transcendence was the rune that gave players the leveling system, and this rune was also the reason why players could grow stronger faster than the Nürburgians.

“However, I’m not sure if I can hold my own against Gorgo even after growing stronger,” Siegfried confessed.

He was telling the truth since the book Deus gave him did not provide him even a bit of information regarding his skills until reaching the required level, and it was highly possible that the skill he would get at Level 30 wouldn’t be a cheat skill.

However, Siegfried decided to bet on the cheat-like abilities of his class since he did not really need an overpowered skill to win. After all, the win condition depended on his level.

‘I could defeat a Level 25 Mutated Tiger at Level 10. It might be possible to overcome a 20-level difference if I fight with the soldiers,’?Siegfried thought.

Why, you ask?

This was because he knew very well that his class—the Debuff Master—had far greater stats compared to other classes in the long run.

“However, I don’t think it’s impossible, so would you trust me on this?” Siegfried asked.

“Hmm…” Bleigh pondered for a moment before he replied, “I want to… but I can’t make any rash decisions as the commander-in-chief…”

There was no way that he could simply leave the fate of the entire territory at the hands of some greenhorn Adventurer, even if that Adventurer were Siegfried, whom he favored greatly.

“We have nothing to lose,” Siegfried said, trying to convince Bleigh, “You just have to hold out and wait for the reinforcements to arrive if I failed. It would be possible as long as we prepare for the worst-case scenario. We don’t really have any other choice at the moment, and…”

“And…?” Bleigh muttered expectantly.

“I know a way to efficiently fight against Gorgo,” Siegfried continued.

“I-Is that true?!” Bleigh exclaimed.

“Yes…” Siegfried replied.

“Tell me! I will use my rights as the commander-in-chief to accept your proposal if you really know how to deal with Gorgo!” Bleigh exclaimed.

“That’s…” Siegfried started to explain his strategy.

Bleigh’s ears twitched a few times while listening to Siegfried’s every single word.

***

“Let’s do that!” Bleigh shouted with renewed vigor.

His dejected face beamed with hope as he shook Siegfried’s hand.

“I shall accept your offer!” Bleigh exclaimed.

“Thank you very much,” Siegfried replied.

“There is no need to thank me! Who knew you had such a trick up your sleeve? Haha!” Bleigh exclaimed before laughing.

“I will not go as far as calling it a trick… I just thought that it might work if we do it like that…” Siegfried replied.

“Not at all! That is more than enough! We have hope now!” Bleigh exclaimed cheerfully.

“I guess you are right,” Siegfried replied.

“Alright, you can go ahead and start preparing. You will have to hurry up since you don’t have a lot of time,” Bleigh said.

“Yes, Sir Bleigh,” Siegfried replied.

Then, a message popped up in front of his eyes.

[Goblin Lord Gorgo]

[Type: Normal Quest]

[Details: Kill the Goblin Lord Gorgo]

[Progress: 0% (0/1)]

[Rewards: ?]

[Warning: N/A]

As expected, the final quest in the chain of quests, which started from ‘Rescue Operation’ to ‘Protect The Biermann Territory’ to ‘Investigate’ was to kill the boss monster, the Goblin Lord Gorgo.

‘Alright, I will be able to clear both the ‘Protect The Biermann Territory’ and ‘Goblin Lord Gorgo’ quests at once if I kill Gorgo,”?Siegfried thought.

The completion condition of the ‘Protect The Biermann Territory’ quest changed after Goblin Lord Gorgo appeared.

‘I’m sure they will reward me with something nice,’?he thought.

He was curious about what his reward would be, but he decided not to ask about it for now. It was all because he would already earn a decent amount of gold from the quests he had cleared so far, and the quest rewards were much more generous than his initial expectations.

“Then, please go and show us what you are capable of,” Bleigh said with a smile.

“Yes, Sir Bleigh,” Siegfried replied, shaking the Knight Captain’s hand.

***

Siegfried immediately went to the stable after saying goodbye to Bleigh and regrouped with his party members.

“We are now going to stall the enemy’s advance for as long as we can, but there is a condition for you to join in this operation,” Siegfried said.

“What is it?” Thompson asked.

“It’s horse riding,” Siegfried replied.

“Ah!” Thompson easily understood what Siegfried was trying to say as soon as he heard ‘horse riding.’

“Are you thinking of using mobility to annoy the enemy?” Thompson asked.

“You are correct,” Siegfried replied.

“I see. Then, it’s imperative for the members to know how to ride a horse if that is the plan,” Thompson said.

The Nürburgian mercenaries were already familiar with riding a horse, but the problem lay with the players or the Adventurers. Most players, who were Earthlings, weren’t accustomed to horse riding, and that was why there were only a handful of Ranked 5 Adventurers—the highest is Rank 1—in Horse Riding, which was the minimum required skill rank for them to ride a horse without any negative effects.

In the case of Siegfried, his character was reset, but his basic skills to dismember monster corpses or to collect medicinal herbs were still there, so it should be possible for him to ride a horse as well.

However, there was no way novice Adventurers, who weren’t even Level 20 would have the Horse Riding skill.

“Does anyone here know how to ride a horse?” Siegfried asked his fellow Adventurers.

“…”

“…”

“…”

None of them replied…

“What about you guys?” Siegfried asked the Nürburgian mercenaries.

“Of course, we do...”

“That is a piece of cake…”

“I used to work as a cavalry in my younger days.”

As Siegfried expected, the Nürburgian mercenaries were well-versed in horseback.

“Then, let’s do it like this,” Siegfried said before he explained the plan, “The four of us will ride our horses into the enemy lines and wreak havoc there while the three of you will go and join the soldiers to prepare the defense against the monsters.”

It was an obvious decision to make since the Adventurers couldn’t ride horses.

“Let’s do that,” Thompson replied as the representative of the mercenaries.

“There’s nothing we can do if we can’t do it, and we will just end up getting in your way. We will go and group up with the Biermann Territory soldiers and prepare to defend the territory,” Jang Man-Bok said as the representative of the Adventurers.

“Let’s get moving, then,” Siegfried said and nodded before he added, “Every second counts from now on.”

Time was of the essence for this battle.

***

The goblin army that departed the Schreyer Territory was slowly marching toward the Biermann Territory, and the reason for their slow advancement was to preserve their army’s strength.

The Goblin Lord Gorgo’s plan was quite simple. He planned to send the brainwashed Mutated Creatures as the vanguard to slowly chip away at the enemy’s strength before leading his main army to finish them off in a single attack. This was a testament to the intellect Gorgo innately possessed as the Goblin Lord.

However, the truly scary part about the Goblin Lord was the fact that it was innately well-versed in human language as well.

“Hey, human,” Gorgo said in a voice that sounded more like a shriek.

“Y-Yes… my lord…?” a man chained to Gorgo’s palanquin obediently replied.

“How many humans did you say lived in the Biermann Territory?” Gorgo asked.

“Around… two thousand people, my lord,” the man replied.

“Sounds good,” Gorgo said. It flashed a sinister smile before adding, “My subjects and I shall enjoy feasting on them. Kiki! Kikiki!”

It wasn’t that surprising that a goblin wanted to devour a human.

“But I can’t eat them all… that’s right… I have to spare half of them since labor is a very precious resource,” Gorgo said.

“…”

“The female humans are especially precious. They are an excellent source of food, but they will also serve as an excellent… for me and my subjects,” Gorgo added.

The human chained to the Goblin Lord’s Palanquin was the financial administrator of the Schreyer Territory, Dumbridge.

Dumbridge didn’t listen to what the Goblin Lord had to say. He couldn’t block his ears since he was bound, but he tried his best to ignore the Goblin Lord’s cruel and detestable words.

‘These… these damned monster bastards…!’?Dumbridge cursed inwardly.

However, that was the only thing he could do since he was just a cowardly administrator, and he was currently Gorgo’s slave as well.

‘Only if I had the courage to die…’?

Dumbridge lamented and cursed himself. He lacked the courage to take his own life when he had the chance.

“Kihit! Look, weak human! You will have to open your eyes as my scribe and record every single greatness and splendor I shall perform from now on without fail! You shall also have the honor of personally witnessing the birth of the Goblin Kingdom! Kiki! Kikikiki!” Gorgo said as it shrieked in laughter.

Gorgo was an extremely ambitious goblin born with intelligence. This goblin refused to stay as a Goblin Tribe Leader and dreamt of grander things in life.

The Goblin Kingdom!

Gorgo dreamt of ruling over vast territories and civilians, similar to human kings.

‘I should quietly gather my strength while staying away from the eyes of the stronger humans,’?Gorgo thought.

Gorgo was more intelligent than a normal goblin, so it knew very well that it would be nothing but an insect in front of the truly powerful humans, and that was why it chose to target rural territories located in the outskirts of the kingdom. It planned to target the territories without the infrastructure to communicate with other territories and slowly grow itself and its forces by occupying those territories one by one.

It was truly an admirable plan, especially when it was made by a mere goblin. Of course, that was under the assumption that no one would come and spoil the plans.

“I, the great Goblin Lord, shall—”

When Gorgo was about to boast about its grand ambitions, an arrow flew from somewhere.

Shwiiiiiii…! 𝒃𝙚𝒅𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝒍.𝙣𝙚𝙩

Pukeok!

The arrow buried itself into Gorgo’s left eye.

“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaahhk!”?Gorgo cried out in agony.

The Goblin Lord’s shriek reverberated throughout the entire army.