Debuff Master

The area around the gateway was instantly razed after the high-level Adventurers joined Siegfried—no, razed was an understatement as the combination of their skills had decimated the surroundings completely.

The skills of the high-level Adventurers flying all over the place were a sight to behold, and the mutated monsters swarming in the jungle like a swarm of locusts were annihilated by it.

The Adventurers were rampaging so wildly that it seemed the monsters would soon be extinct.

‘Limited edition! Limited edition!’

‘I’m going to craft myself a Top-Rank Ignite Crystal this week!’

‘This burning event will be sucked dry by me!’

Siegfried's event had completely riled up the Adventurers, and they fought more fervently than usual—no, they plowed through the monsters like a bulldozer.

Any gamer would have the natural instinct to do anything they could do in their power to obtain rewards that could potentially put them ahead of others, and it was this exact natural instinct kicking in that made them fight so proactively.

The battle lasted for just ten minutes, which ended in the decisive victory of the Adventurers and the complete annihilation of the monsters—no, annihilation was a mild way of putting it.

“Catch that thing!”

“It’s getting away! Don’t let it get away!”

The Adventurers chased down every single monster to extract experient points and essences. The bonus provided by the so-called "burning event" turned the Adventurers into slave catchers chasing after fugitive slaves, which in this case were the few monsters that had survived the initial battle.

Siegfried smiled after seeing the entire surrounding around the gateway cleared of monsters and said, “And that’s how you secure a foothold.”

“Congratulations, Your Majesty!” Carrell exclaimed, kneeling on one knee.

“Great work, Carrell.”

“Not at all, Your Majesty!”

“No, you worked hard. Ah, but don’t forget to run five hundred laps every day, okay?”

“A-Ah...!”

“Hey, until when do you plan to live as a–”

It was then.

‘Hmm?’ Siegfried suddenly noticed someone’s intense glare directed at him. He turned and looked to find hundreds of Adventurers glaring at him.

‘W-What? Why are they looking at me like that?’ Siegfried was taken aback and burdened by them. However, the Adventurers seemed to have ignored his feelings and glared at him with fire blazing in their eyes.

Siegfried racked his brain, wondering if he had wronged them in any way, but he could not think of anything. He looked around and looked down to see something sparkling all over the ground. They were the Green Otherworldly Essences that the monsters had dropped upon death.

‘Ah’! Siegfried exclaimed inwardly as he finally understood why the Adventurers were looking at him in that manner. They wanted to pick up the essences littered all over the ground, but they were reluctant to do so lest they incur his wrath.

Why?

They had heard how vicious he could become once someone got on his wrong side. After all, what he had done to Ranker Descartes had already spread all over the continent. The Adventurers were not willing to risk being on the receiving end of the devil’s fury just for a few Green Otherworldly Essences.

Gulp!

Still, the allure of the essences was so strong that they could not help but swallow the hard lump stuck in their throats while looking at the rare objects sparkling seductively on the ground.

Siegfried looked at the Adventurers and said, “I am fine, so please feel free to pick them up. No need to feel burdened by me.”

“Sorry...?”

“We can just pick it up?”

The Adventurers doubted their ears for a second.

“Yes, you can go ahead. I already have the Top-Rank Ignite Crystal, so I do not need them anymo–”

Before he could finish speaking—

“Fuck off!”

“It’s mine!”

“Stop pushing!”

“Get out of my way!”

“You bastard!”

“Damn you!”

“Hey!”

—total chaos descended upon the field.

The Adventurers shoved and brawled over the Green Otherworldly Essences on the ground.

“Wow... These guys are for real...” Siegfried muttered while shaking his head at the sight of the embodiment of greed.

However, he was perfectly fine—no, he was glad that these Adventurers were so greedy. He needed the strength of these Adventurers to subjugate the mutated monsters in the Great Jungle; it was their greed that was making it possible for him to do so.

Besides, why was their greed a bad thing to begin with? It was not like they were committing murder, pillaging, or raping civilians for their own profit.

The only downside was he had to concede the Green Otherworldly Essences to the Adventurers, but Siegfried did not consider it as a downside at all.

The Adventurers had to purchase the sap and pay for coating their gear with the mixture, and they would go back to the Bavarian Workshop to craft the Ignite Crystals.

Every single gold the Adventurers spent was going to end up as a profit for Siegfried.

Additionally, the Great Jungle would be cleared much faster if the Adventurers managed to get their hands on high-ranking Ignite Crystals from the essences he had conceded. In other words, conceding the Green Otherworldly Essences to the Adventurers was not a loss but an investment that was going to pay off multiple folds later on.

‘Aigoo~ Look at my cute soldiers~’ Siegfried thought with a pleased smile while watching the Adventurers pick up the Green Otherworldly Essences.

‘Yes, eat well and grow faster so you can fight for me!’ Siegfried smirked triumphantly and walked to his next destination. This was what one would call "human farming." He was basically farming the Adventurers for his own profit.

***

The Proatine Forces built on the three different paths leading to the Ishuka Ruin from the entrance of the Great Jungle. These paths were the left path, the center path, and the right path.

These three paths were devised strategically to allow the Adventurers to completely encircle the Ishuka Ruin later on.

Of course, it would be impossible to reach the Ishuka Ruin from the entrance with just one gateway, so Siegfried built three gateways in each path for a total of nine gateways.

He also stationed the cannons of the Proatine Military at the middle gateway of each path along with a bunch of shops selling potions and consumables produced by the kingdom. On top of that, he asked Quandt to station three mobile smithies to aid in repairing the gears of the Adventurers.

Thanks to that, the Adventurers no longer had to go back all the way to the entrance just to repair their gear and replenish their inventory, and this further increased their hunting speed.

After all of that was done, Siegfried used Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance to observe the Great Jungle's overall situation.

“Kyu! Wear this, owner punk!” Hamchi said as he passed a coat. The coat was the symbol of the Generalissimo (★★★★★★) of the Proatine Military, and its six stars were shining brightly on its epaulets.

“W-What’s this?!” Siegfried shrieked in horror.

“Take this too! Kyu!” Hamchi exclaimed and threw a commanding baton as well.

“And what’s this?!”

“You’re the commander, owner punk!”

“...”

“You have to look like a commander!”

“Geez... When do you have the time to come up with stuff like this?” Siegfried asked with a smirk. Then, he turned his eyes back to the mini-map to devise a plan on how they were going to conquer the Ishuka Ruin.

‘We managed to install a gateway right until the outskirts of the Ishuka Ruin. The big question is whether we can get past the perimeter of the Ishuka Ruin or not. I have a feeling that we can’t do that with our current forces.’

Getting past the monsters at the perimeter of the Ishuka Ruin would require the Adventurers to have Top-Rank Ignite Crystals slotted into their items. In other words, their level was nowhere near enough to attempt to conquer the Ishuka Ruin.

‘I’m guessing they will have the Top-Rank Ignite Crystals in about four days judging by how fast they’re hunting, and one day after that will be...’ Siegfried estimated when the Adventurers would come in possession of Top-Rank Ignite Crystals and started drawing up plans on how they would launch a full-scale assault and conquer the Ishuka Ruin.

“What are you thinking about?” Gosran asked.

“I’m thinking of launching a full-scale assault on the ruin five days later,” Siegfried replied.

“Five days? Since it started hatching yesterday... doesn’t that mean we will only have a day left?”

“Exactly.”

“Hmm... I guess the others will have Top-Rank Ignite Crystals by then, so it’s definitely worth a shot.”

“Yeah.”

“Will you be leading the Adventurers?” Gosran asked while pointing at the center path.

The center path was where most of the powerful monsters were expected to be located.

“No, I won’t be going mid-lane,” Siegfried shook his head and answered.

“Then are you going top or bot lane?”

“I won’t be going to either of them.”

“Huh?” Gosran was flustered by his response.

There were only three paths: the center, left, and right. If he was going to none of them, then the only explanation was...

“Don’t tell me... You’re not going to participate in battle?”

“Yes, I won’t.”

“What?!”

“I won’t be participating in this battle.”

“T-Then what will you do? Are you just going to watch?”

“Of course not.”

“Then...?”

“I’ll have to preserve myself to fight the boss. Hoho!”

As soon as he said those words.

“...”

Hamchi, Seung-Gu, Carrell, and Gosran were speechless.

Not to be mistaken, Siegfried’s plan was actually brilliant. His plan to throw the Adventurers at the monsters to distract them while sneaking behind enemy lines to kill the boss monster was nothing short of brilliant, but the problem was...

‘You’re such an asshole, owner punk... Kyu...’

‘Hyung-nim... Why are you becoming worse by the day?’

‘It’s indeed an excellent plan but... Why does His Majesty look so despicable to me right now?’

‘Siegfried-nim is too evil...’

Hamchi, Seung-Gu, Carrell, and Gosran could not help but think that Siegfried was being extremely despicable right now. They could not be blamed for thinking that way, as his plan was to basically throw the Adventurers as bait while he would kill the boss monster and slurp up the rewards all for himself.

After seeing how his comrades were staring at him, Siegfried couldn't help but be flustered. “W-What? Why are you guys looking at me like that?”

“Owner punk...”

“Y-Yeah?”

“What you said just now means you’re going to throw the Adventurers as bait while you enjoy the boss to yourself. Kyu...’

“N-No!”

“You can tell us honestly, owner punk. You’re trying to–”

“I’m not! I said I’m not!” Siegfried interrupted with a scream. Then, he retorted, “What do you want me to do? Do you want me to be a fool and rush from the front?! Killing the boss is what’s important and the fate of the continent lies on us as well! The fate of the continent!”

“Kyu?!”

“Tsk! You won’t understand even if I tell you. Forget about it!” Siegfried clicked his tongue and stomped away in anger.

“Owner punk! Kyuu!”

“H-Hyung-nim!”

“Your Majesty!”

“Siegfried-nim!”

Hamchi, Seung-Gu, Carrell, and Gosran hurriedly chased after him.

“Don’t you dare follow me! I don’t want to see any of you!” Siegfried lashed out once again. Then, he left and disappeared somewhere.

***

Right after Siegfried left...

“Kyu... Do you think owner punk got hurt?”

“I already told you hyung-nim is not that kind of person!”

“Ahem... I am ashamed that I was unable to understand my liege’s thoughts.”

“Well, I’m sure he isn’t that kind of a person. I guess we should apologize...”

Hamchi, Seung-Gu, Carrell, and Gosran felt terrible for doubting Siegfried.

Meanwhile...

“Damn it!”

Siegfried went to a secluded part of the jungle and vented his frustration and anger.

“How the hell did they know? Is my brain wiretapped or something? No way... Mind Reading?! Can one of them read minds?!”

He was shocked when his comrades saw right through his plans, and he could not help but rack his brains, thinking about how they managed to see right through him.

Ironically, Siegfried had no idea that a sign was flickering above him.

"I Am Backstabbing."

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