Debuff Master

Descartes trembled in anger when Siegfried blatantly ignored him and focused on picking up the Green Otherworldly Essences on the ground.

“Stop what you’re doing,” Descartes said in a slightly loud voice with a hint of anger mixed in it.

“951... 952... 953...” Siegfried ignored him and continued counting.

“I said stop!”

“954... 955...”

“This bastard...!” Descartes grumbled under his breath.

Swoosh! Shwik!

A spear flew and pierced the ground in front of Siegfried’s feet.

It was Descartes’ main weapon, the +14 Blood Chaser.

‘That should scare him—’ Descartes was confident that Siegfried should pay attention to him now, but it took less than a second for him to be proven wrong.

Siegfried was not scared at all and instead...

“Huh?”

He looked at the +14 Blood Chaser and swung it a few times.

“Whoa... This is a really good item.”

“...!”

“Wow! It’s plus fourteen too? No wonder its attack power is really strong, and its options are—”

“Hey! Get your filthy hands off my item!” Descartes roared like an enraged lion.

“What? I thought you were giving it to me...?” Siegfried replied innocently.

“Giving it to you? Are you crazy?! Why the fuck would I give you my plus fourteen weapon?!”

“I mean, you threw it at me so I thought it was a gift...”

“Are you stupid? Get your filthy hands off my weapon!”

“Oh well, if you want it back,” Siegfried replied with a shrug.

An item equipped by an Adventurer was soulbound to them, so it was bound to return to them anyway. In other words, it was impossible for Siegfried to steal the +14 Blood Chaser right now.

Then, what was he supposed to do?

‘I should return it,’ Siegfried thought.

“Give it back this instant!” Descartes said in a commanding tone.

“Yes, sir, I’ll give it back now,” Siegfried replied courteously.

Kwachik!

Then, he tightly gripped the spear and threw it using the technique he learned from Shakiro, Lightning.

Shwiiiiiiik!

The +14 Blood Chaser cut through the air at frightening speed toward Descartes.

“...!”

Descartes was shocked by the speed the +14 Blood Chaser was coming toward him, and he instinctively reached out to snag it from the air.

Kwachik!

He managed to grab the +14 Blood Chaser, but it was a mistake because...

“Aaaaaah!” Descartes screamed after the +14 Blood Chaser dragged him away, forcing him to tumble on the ground.

The kinetic force behind Siegfried’s throw proved to be quite immense.

“Argh...” Descartes groaned while getting up to his feet.

Everyone was shocked by what they had witnessed.

“956... 957...”

Meanwhile, Siegfried continued picking up Green Otherworldly Essences from the ground.

“Wow...”

“What was that just now?”

“Did he use a skill?”

“I think that throw alone can instantly kill anything it hits...”

Descartes’ party members were shocked by the throw.

“Fuck... This nobody dares to...” Descartes groaned in anger, and his rage meter reached MAX.

Then, Siegfried gave a warning while still picking up the Green Otherworldly Essences from the ground, “Just go back. It’s starting to get dark, so why don’t you log out, wash your feet, and go to bed?”

“What?”

“You’re going to regret it if you don’t.”

It was then.

“You fucking loser dares to?!” Descartes screamed and lunged at him with his +14 Blood Chaser.

***

Descartes had never been a fan of Siegfried. He came to the Southern Great Jungle a few days ago out of curiosity after hearing that a new dungeon opened, but the dungeon did not really suit his standards, as he was already a Ranker.

Most top Rankers would rather spend their time grinding in the Great Rift or other high-difficulty dungeons to level up, but Descartes chose to stay in the Great Jungle for a completely different reason.

What was that reason?

His reason was quite simple. He wanted attention.

Most Rankers were bound to turn into attention seekers like Descartes once they became Rankers. BNW was the most famous game in the world, and being a Ranker in such a game meant that they were celebrities.

The age of television had already passed, and the new mode of media consumption was through online video-sharing platforms; the most famous content on such platforms was none other than video game streams.

It had been a long time since it became difficult to differentiate between celebrities appearing on television and streamers on online video-sharing platforms.

Thus, it was not strange at all for people like Descartes to develop Grandiose Delusional Disorder[1] after becoming Rankers. They would get thousands to tens of thousands of viewers whenever they livestream, and those viewers would donate millions to tens of millions of won just to get his attention.

Their videos would usually be flooded with comments of admiration from their fans, and these fans would catch the eye of advertisers that would offer the Rankers tens of millions of won every month just to place a small banner ad on their videos.

Thus, Descartes believed the Adventurers would kowtow to him the moment he appeared in the Southern Great Jungle. Unfortunately, his expectation was completely dashed thanks to a nobody called Siegfried.

This happened right after he arrived in the Southern Great Jungle.

“It’s Siegfried-nim!”

“Siegfried-nim!”

“Hello! Can I have a second of your time?!”

“Siegfried-nim!”

“Go away! I saw him first!”

“Over here! Please look at me!”

“Stop pushing!”

“Siegfried-nim!”

The Adventurers did not give a rat’s shit about Descartes and instead chased after a nobody named Siegfried.

‘What the fuck? Are they seriously ignoring me for that nobody over there?’ Descartes thought in disbelief at that time. Then, rage welled up inside of him as he thought, ‘That fucking nobody dares to outshine me?!’

However, he knew he could not simply go and pick a fight with him just because he did not like him. In the end, he was forced to swallow his rage and form a party in an attempt to outshine the nobody that people were clamoring about.

A while later, he ended up receiving a quest from the Autonika Workshop and became a competitor with Siegfried.

Descartes hated Siegfried's guts, and the two were competitors on top of that, so it wasn't strange for Descartes to be hostile toward Siegfried.

“I’m going to teach you a lesson and put you in your place,” Descartes said while pointing at him with his +14 Blood Chaser.

“Eeeeh?”

“I wanted to resolve this peacefully.”

“Hey, you’re really going to get a beating if you keep that up,” Siegfried warned once more.

However, there was no way Descartes was going to heed the warning, as his judgment was clouded by his pride and arrogance.

“A beating? Who? Me? From a nobody like you? Ha! It seems you really don’t know your place. Are you aware a lot of Rankers hate your guts?”

Descartes was telling the truth. It was impossible to please everyone, and it applied to Siegfried as well. Yes, there were many powerful Rankers who acknowledged Siegfried's talents and looked upon him favorably, but there were Rankers who weren't fond of him at all.

There were many Rankers and pro gamers who considered themselves to be at the top of the social ladder, and they had a habit of labeling anyone else aside from them as nobodies. Siegfried was also considered a nobody in their eyes, and they couldn't stand that a nobody was becoming more famous than them.

However, Siegfried brushed it off coolly.

“So? What do you want me to do about it?”

“What?”

“Do I have to make you guys like me or something?”

“You bastard!” Descartes growled and lunged forward with his spear aimed at Siegfried’s torso.

However, his spear was slower than Siegfried’s spear.

Clang!

Siegfried transformed his +13 Horse Fly into a spear and deflected the +14 Blood Chaser. Then, he immediately followed it up with Lightning and struck at lightning speed.

Puuuuk!

The +13 Horse Fly struck Descartes’ left waist.

“...!”

Descartes was shocked that Siegfried was far more skillful than him with the spear, but he was not going to back down now, so he tried to counterattack with his spear.

Bam!

However, he was unable to do so, as the spear in his waist suddenly turned into a hammer, and the hammer struck the ground.

Fwaaaaaah!

Pillars of flame shot up from the ground around them, and the Barrier of Victory was formed.

***

“Ah!”

“What the fuck?!”

“Hey! What’s with the cliffhanger?!”

Descartes’ party members complained after Siegfried used the Grand Duel. They were hoping to watch the duel between a Ranker and the up-and-coming rising star, but their view was blocked by the Barrier of Victory that suddenly appeared from the ground.

One of the Adventurers described how he felt perfectly as he said, “It felt like I was taking a shit and it got cut halfway, and now I can’t shit it out...”

Those were the exact words that perfectly described how everyone watching felt.

The Adventurers’ hopes of watching an exciting duel were dashed, so there was only one thing they could do, and that was none other than to predict who was going to win the duel.

“Who do you think will win?”

“Siegfried is famous these days, but don’t forget that Descartes is a Ranker.”

“Yeah, I think Descartes is going to win this.”

“I agree. Descartes is pretty strong.”

The public’s opinion seemed to predict Descartes’ overwhelming victory.

However, Siegfried’s party members begged to differ.

“That owner punk... Is he relieving stress again?”

“Why did they have to pick a fight with hyung-nim? They should’ve just gone their way...”

Hamchi and Seung-Gu were confident that Siegfried would easily win this duel—no, they were confident the Ranker was going to get a good one-sided beating.

“Will Siegfried-nim be alright...?”

On the other hand, Gosran seemed worried.

A minute passed, and the Barrier of Victory crumbled.

“What? It’s already over?”

“Who won?”

“I already told you, Descartes is going to win—”

It was then.

Thud, thud, thud...

Siegfried emerged from the Barrier of Victory while dragging Descartes by the scuff. Descartes looked like he was so dazed he had no idea what was going on.

“...!”

The Adventurers were shocked by what they were witnessing.

“D-Descartes lost?”

“No, he didn’t just lose. Siegfried completely wiped the floor with him. I mean, look at it!”

“This is... going to be news...”

“Wow...”

They could not believe that Siegfried had managed to beat Descartes to a pulp in just one minute.

Meanwhile, Hamchi and Seung-Gu seemed to feel bad for Descartes as if they already knew this was going to happen.

“Kyu! Don’t bully others, owner punk! That guy’s going to off himself if you bully him more than this!”

“Why don’t you just stop at this, hyung-nim? He might really quit the game at this rate.”

However, Siegfried had no plans to stop just because they were stopping him.

'Heh.' Siegfried smirked and said, “I told you to go home, wash your feet, and go to bed, right? Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Then, Siegfried yanked him and threw him about five meters away.

Thud!

Descartes crashed to the ground.

“Hey, you should know how to play fair, you know?” Siegfried said.

“I-Impossible... How can I lose to a nobody like you...?!” Descartes refused to acknowledge his defeat.

“Nobody? Sure, why don’t you have a taste of how badly a nobody can mess you up,” Siegfried said with a smirk that would make the devil think of retiring.

He grabbed the +14 Blood Chaser and dipped it into a pool of blood left behind by the Mutated Great Jungle Baboons.

Pshhhh...!

Then, the corrosive acid in the Mutated Great Jungle Baboons’ blood reacted to the +14 Blood Chaser. The Blood Chaser's durability rapidly plummeted.

Seung-Gu closed his eyes and grumbled, “Well, he’s fucked. He awakened hyung-nim’s real personality.”

“W-What do you mean by that?” Gosran asked.

“There are times when his real ego comes out.”

“Real ego? What is that...?”

“It’s probably who he really is, and nobody can stop him once he becomes like that. It’s so bad that even the devil might consider becoming his disciple or changing careers altogether.”

“...”

“Anyway, what I want to say is... That guy’s fucked,” Seung-Gu said while shaking his head.

“...!”

Descartes’ eyes shot wide open after Siegfried dipped the +14 Blood Chaser into the pool of blood.

“N-Nooo!”

It was impossible to steal a soulbound item unless one was a thief-type class, but it was difficult even for thief-class Adventurers to steal such an item from another Adventurer.

But what if the item’s durability fell?

‘M-My item is going to be destroyed!’ Descartes despaired. He finally realized what kind of situation he was in, but he realized it a bit too late.

“Hey,” Siegfried said.

“Y-Yes, sir?”

“Do you want me to dissolve this until nothing remains?”

“N-No, sir...!”

“I might reconsider if you do what I ask.”

“...?”

“Kekeke! Give me everything you have!” Siegfried cackled and said. Then, his face slowly started to turn into that of an evil being that would scare even the most vengeful of spirits.

1. Big words from a small bunny! The Korean word used is Celebrity Disease/Syndrome, which is what we call people who feel like they’re famous. This is usually used for not-so-famous celebrities when they look down on others, cover their faces thinking people are taking pictures of them, etc. Apparently, Celebrity Worship Syndrome is a completely different thing in English. Thus, Grandiose Delusional Disorder! More info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandiose_delusions ☜

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