Debuff Master

Shiiing!

Oscar unsheathed her Holy Sword: Fragarach.

“Okay~ Shall we get started?” Siegfried said with a sleazy smirk for some reason as he ungagged Ingrid.

“You fucking pervert!” Ingrid lashed out the moment the gag came off. Her voice was shrill and throaty at the same time, making it seem like she had been holding her curses in for a long time.

“Ack!”

“Hmm!”

Siegfried and Oscar grimaced and covered their ears.

“Dame Oscar!”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

Oscar hurriedly placed her Holy Sword: Fragarach on Ingrid’s neck.

Sseuuu...!

Fragarach emitted a bright blue light that enveloped Ingrid.

“W-What are you doing to me, you pervert?!” Ingrid cried out.

“You can think of it as an interrogation,” Siegfried replied with a shrug. Then, he added, “I have to extract information out of you before you revert to your old self. There’s a chance you’ll lose your memories once you’re no longer under their control, right?”

“What bullshit are you spouting?!”

“Who knows? Anyway, you’re only to speak the truth and only the truth from now on.”

“Ha! Don’t make me laugh!”

“I’m serious.”

“Shut up, you piece of trash!”

“P-Piece of trash...?”

“You pervert! Trash! Stinky asshole!”

Ingrid did not stop hurling curses at Siegfried even though she was under the effect of Fragarach.

“Huh...?” Siegfried muttered. Then, he questioned the efficacy of the holy sword, “Is that thing working?”

“Pardon me, sire? What do you mean by that...?” Oscar asked in response and trailed the end of her words.

“She keeps calling me a pervert and a piece of trash.”

“Uhm...”

“There’s no way she will say those kinds of things, right?”

“Y-Your Majesty... That is...” Oscar muttered with a troubled look.

“W-What’s with that look?! Are you trying to say I’m a perverted unsalvageable piece of trash?!” Siegfried exclaimed in sheer disbelief.

“That is not what I meant, Your Majesty. It seems that Princess Ingrid thinks of Your Majesty as a... perverted piece of trash... and is telling the truth.”

“Hahaha!”

“...?”

“Come on~ Hey, when did you get so good at telling jokes, Dame Oscar?”

“Jokes...?”

“She's been brainwashed, but there’s no reason for her to think of me that way!”

“...”

Siegfried looked at Ingrid and asked with a smile, “Right?”

Ingrid grimaced and replied, “No?”

“N-No?”

“I sincerely think and believe that you’re a perverted piece of trash!”

“...!”

“I’m sorry, but that’s the truth. I’m not lying at all.”

It was then.

‘Should I just die?’ Siegfried couldn't handle the shame and pondered whether to just bite his tongue and die. Just what did he do for people to accuse him of being a pervert? The fact that everyone was calling him a "pervert" was driving him mad, as he knew very well that he had done nothing to be on the receiving end of such accusations.

“I can feel that you’re a big pervert—”

“AAAAAAHHHH!”

“...?”

“I’m not listening! I can’t hear you! AAAAH!” Siegfried screamed with his ears covered.

“You look pitiful, owner punk... Kyuu...” Hamchi muttered and shook his head while looking at Siegfried with eyes full of pity.

***

The incident between the two finally ended.

“Ahem...” Siegfried cleared his throat and finally started to properly interrogate Ingrid.

“State your affiliation.”

“The Church of Osric.”

“Your position?”

“One of the Four Heavenly Kings.”

“Your name?”

“Queen of Pain—Hold on! Why am I telling you these?!” Ingrid exclaimed and was perplexed at herself.

“I believe it is working, Your Majesty,” Oscar whispered.

“You’re right. It’s really working,” Siegfried replied with a nod.

“Kyu! Then what she said a while ago was all true—” Hamchi chimed in.

“Shut the fuck up," said Siegfried, instantly shooting down Hamchi.

“K-Kyu...?”

“Shut up before I slather you with bean paste.”

“A-Alright... Hamchi doesn't want to become Bosin-Tang[1]... Kyuu...”

Hamchi’s ears drooped at Siegfried's threat, and he also realized that he couldn't make fun of Siegfried for now.

‘Hold on... Did he just understand what I said? Should I stop him from talking to Korean gamers from now on?’ Siegfried thought, surprised upon realizing that Hamchi was picking up a ton of Korean slang.

“Why did you come here?”

“To retrieve a fragment.”

“A Fragment? What fragment?”

“Our church was attempting to summon the ruler of another realm, Apocalius, to this world.”

It seemed that Apocalius was the name of the demon that the Church of Osric had tried to summon.

“But the Guardians ruined our plans and closed the dimensional gate before Apocalius could come to this world; Apocalius' body was also destroyed by the closing gate.”

“Oh... But what does that have anything to do with the fragment that you're looking for here?”

“Fool!”

“...?”

“Do you really think a being like Apocalius would disappear just because their body was destroyed?”

“Then, the fragment that you're looking for is...”

“Precisely. Their body shattered into five fragments and scattered all over the continent, and one of those fragments landed here in the Southern Great Jungle. Our church's plan is to kill the creature, which is actually Apocalius’ fragment, and retrieve its Ignite Soul.”

“Ignite Soul? What are you going to do with that?”

“Bring Apocalius to life.”

“...!”

“Apocalius will come to life if we gather all five fragments and hold a certain ritual.”

“You crazy bastards—”

“I have received orders from the church and came here, but I couldn't get through the monsters’ barriers. My minions fought valiantly, but we had to retreat in the end.”

The efficacy of the Holy Sword: Fragarach was truly amazing. Siegfried managed to learn the reason behind the Southern Great Jungle's sudden changes as well as the Church of Osric's plot from Ingrid.

‘So those bastards haven’t given up...’ Siegfried grumbled inwardly. At the same time, he was amazed by the Church of Osric's stubbornness. Moments later, brushed off those thoughts and asked, “So, where’s the main base of the Church of Osric?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t what?!”

“Nobody knows where the main base is except for our leader. Even if we go to the main base, our leader’s guards would come to find us and bring us there, so nobody really knows where it is.”

“Wow? What kind of security is that? Then who’s your leader?”

“I have no idea.”

“You don’t know who your leader is?!”

“Only a few people within the church know who the leader is. Even we, the Four Heavenly Kings, have no idea of our leader’s true identity. In fact, we have no idea if our leader is a man or a woman so that explains a lot.”

“Then what do you know?” Siegfried asked. He proceeded to ask more questions, but she didn't have any more useful information.

‘She doesn’t know anything...!’ Siegfried was unsure whether it was due to the fact that she was brainwashed, but it seemed that getting any further information from her was impossible.

The only useful information Siegfried had extracted from her was the identity of the rest of the Four Heavenly Kings, but it wasn't really that helpful, as he already knew about the King of Pleasure, Billiam.

However, the interrogation proved to be fruitful nonetheless, as he learned that the Church of Osric was trying to resurrect Apocalius by gathering all five fragments that had spread across the continent.

This information alone would prove vital in knowing the Church of Osric's next move.

“Okay, I guess that’s enough, Dame Oscar.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Take Princess Ingrid to the Proatine Kingdom and find a way to bring her memories back. Ah, tell them to bring her old appearance back, too.”

“As you command, sire.”

“One more thing, call Lionbreath hyung-nim and inform him that we've captured Ingrid. He has been worried sick about her for the longest time now.”

Siegfried did not forget to inform his sworn brother and Ingrid’s father, Lionbreath.

***

After Ingrid was escorted back to the Proatine Kingdom, Siegfried called Cheon Woo-Jin.

— Huh? Why are you calling me all of a sudden? I thought you were in the Great Jungle? Did you find something?

“Hmm? How did you know I’m in the Great Jungle? And what’s with the questions?”

— The whole world knows you’re there. I heard you stripped down Descartes over there.

Cheon Woo-Jin sounded as if Siegfried’s question was absurd to begin with.

“S-Stripped down?! That was a fair transaction, okay?!”

— What transaction? I heard you melted his weapon, too.

“That was... Ahem... Ahem...”

— News of that has already spread like wildfire, and your video is currently at the top of G-Tube rankings.

“R-Really?”

— Try to be mindful of your public image, and stop going around pulling stunts like that. I mean, don’t you think you went too far this time? I’m seriously worried you’ll get stabbed in some alley if you keep this up.

“I should increase my bodyguards then...”

— Haha! You crazy bastard. Is that the only solution you can think of?

“Anyway, I found out something.”

— What is it?

“So what happened was...” Siegfried shared the information he had extracted from Ingrid with Cheon Woo-Jin.

— Really? So the Boss over there will drop a fragment of Apocalius? That thing you called Ignite Soul?

“Yup.”

— So if we obtain that and destroy it...

“That Apocalius or whatever their name will never be able to resurrect, and the Church of Osric will never be able to pull any more stunts.”

— That sounds really good.

“So I was thinking...”

— Hmm?

“Nothing?” Siegfried asked with his index and thumb forming a circle, which was the universal sign for money.

— W-What do you want?

“I mean... This can be considered an extension of the quest you gave, right? And you’re saving a lot of time and effort thanks to me finding this out. Also, you won’t have to bother yourself if I find the Ignite Stone and destroy it.”

— Just kill me! I’m having it rough these days, too... Also, I can’t grant you anything without a quest, and you willingly gave this information before getting a quest, so there’s nothing I can reward you with.

“Tsk!” Siegfried clicked his tongue and pouted after hearing that he was not going to receive anything.

—Hey, can you take care of this one yourself? I’ll reward you more next time.

“Really? You promise?”

—Of course! Hey, did you only get scammed your whole life?! What do you think of me?!

“Why are you getting so worked up...? Anyway, I’ll call you back after I kill that Hennessy or whatever.”

—Thanks, and good luck.

Siegfried headed to the Bavarian Workshop after hanging up the call with Cheon Woo-Jin, and he upgraded the crystal in his Quad-Turbo Shoulders to a Top-Rank Ignite Crystal.

“This thing packs quite the firepower. The HP of your opponents will probably burn like a wick!”

“Oh!” Siegfried exclaimed in delight after checking the stats of the Top-Rank Ignite Crystal with his Rune of Insight.

He was about to arm himself and get ready to enter the Great Jungle once again when an earthquake sent powerful tremors throughout the earth.

‘W-What?!’ Siegfried instinctively looked in the direction of the Ishuka Ruin.

Flash!

A pillar of green light shot up from the Ishuka Ruin and took to the sky.

***

‘What the hell is going on this time?!’ Siegfried ran out from the mobile smithy and observed the pillar of green light. He had no idea what the pillar of green light was, but he was certain that something was about to happen.

‘Let’s see...’ He could not see anything else due to his distance, so he activated Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance to make sense of what was going on.

[Alert: You have used Clairvoyance!]

[Alert: The durability of Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance has reduced by 1! (98/100)]

A message popped up in front of his eyes, and the Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance shone brightly.

Woooong!

A mini-map appeared in front of Siegfried's eyes. The mini-map displayed covered a ten-kilometer radius around him, and the Ishuka Ruin was included in it as well.

‘What?!’ Siegfried was shocked after looking at the mini-map.

The entire mini-map was full of red dots. In other words, the number of monsters in the Great Jungle had increased exponentially to the extent of covering the entire mini-map

However, that wasn't the only change. The Ishuka Ruin—where Hennessy’s Cocoon was located—had changed as well. And the change that caught Siegfried’s attention was the changes to the boss monster.

The boss monster was a large green dot on the mini-map, and there were a bunch of words above the said green dot.

[Hennessy]

[Status: Hatching]

[Remaining Time: 167 Hours, 59 Minutes, 55 seconds...]

1. Bosin Tang is a stew consumed in Korea for vitality. The most popular main ingredient is... dog meat. Well, the government has finally banned it, so it’s not legal to consume it. ☜

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