Debuff Master

Shwoooong...!

Siegfried got up and ran toward the Bavarian Workshop’s mobile smithy.

Fwaaaaaah!

The mobile smithy was set ablaze by a green flame that emitted thick poisonous smoke.

‘What the hell is going on?!’ Siegfried exclaimed inwardly while rushing toward the mobile smithy.

“Fire! Put out the fire first!”

“Move the injured before they suffocate to death!”

“Damn it! Get back!”

There was complete chaos. There were pieces of the mobile smithy littered all over the place, injured blacksmiths screaming in pain, and hundreds of people running around to put out the fire.

“Damn it...” Siegfried cursed under his breath after seeing the Bavarian Workshop's state.

It was then.

“Sir Quandt!”

“It’s the Head Blacksmith!”

“Help him! Hurry!”

Siegfried saw a group of blacksmiths rush off somewhere after shouting Quandt’s name, and he decided to follow after them.

Then, he was shocked after seeing the state Quandt was in, and the reason was...

Fwaaa! Fwaaaah!

Quandt was engulfed in green flames and was groaning in pain on the ground.

“Ack! T-The flames are too strong!”

“It’s too strong...!”

The Bavarian Workshop blacksmiths could not approach Quandt due to the green flames and were at a loss on what to do. The green flames were simply too hot and poisonous that none of them dared to get anywhere near it.

“Move!” Siegfried shouted and ran toward Quandt.

Fwaaaah!

The green flames engulfed him as well as if recognizing him as an enemy, but he remained unfazed. He was confident that the radioactive energy he possessed was strong enough to protect him from the green flame’s poison.

“Quandt-nim!”

“A-Argh... King Siegfried...”

“What happened?!”

“We were trying to destroy the Ignite Soul that you gave us, but it exploded and—Kuheok!”

“Quandt-nim!”

“I-I’m sorry... I couldn’t fulfill your request and caused this mess...”

“Are you seriously apologizing right now?!”

“But your request...”

“Just shut it and stay still!” Siegfried shouted and hurriedly took out the Kautschuk Tree Sap from his inventory. Then, he put the funnel in Quandt’s mouth and poured the Kautschuk Tree Sap down the latter's throat.

Chug! Chug! Chug!

The thick milky sap forced its way deep down Quandt’s throat.

“K-Kuheok! G-Grreuuugh! Pfffwaa–Cough! E-Enough–Kuheoook! Greeuugh! Gruuuh!” Quandt flailed his arms wildly and begged for the Kautschuk Tree Sap terror to stop.

Siegfried mercilessly poured the thick milky sap down Quandt's throat. Siegfried was so merciless that the poor old blacksmith couldn't tell whether he was drinking it through his mouth or his nose.

“I-Isn’t that that torture method...?”

“I think it is...”

“No, they used water for that. That’s something completely new and even crueler!”

The sight was so horrible that the blacksmiths were conflicted about whether they should stop Siegfried or not. They weren't sure whether he was helping Quandt or torturing the latter for failing his request.

Of course, Siegfried did not give a damn what they thought.

“Swallow it! Don’t waste a single drop!” Siegfried shouted while pouring the Kautschuk Tree Sap.

His torture methods—no, efforts to save Quandt soon produced results. The green flames engulfing the old blacksmith were slowly extinguished.

“You’re completely poisoned so hang in there.”

“K-Kuheok! Cough! Cough! Bleurggh! Kuheook! Mmmpff! Mmmmpf!”

“Good, swallow it all!”

“Mmpf! Mmpf!”

“Drink up! Bottoms up! That’s it! Good job!” Siegfried continued pouring the Kautschuk Tree Sap down Quandt’s throat for his sake.

Thanks to that, Quandt made a very quick recovery for someone who had been completely engulfed by green flames. Of course, he was far from normal but what mattered was that he was still alive and his life was no longer in danger.

“Do you feel better now?”

“Y-Yes! I’m fine, so please stop! I can’t take it anymore!”

“Then get up. Your condition is quite bad, so you need to receive treatment first,” Siegfried said as he helped him up to his feet.

“Are you... worrying about me right now...?”

“How can I not worry about you?”

“I-I’m touched...!” Quandt exclaimed with tears welling up in his eyes.

‘These two... I think they’re dating... that’s the only explanation for this...’ Gosran thought while staring at Siegfried and Quandt. She was convinced their relationship was not that of a blacksmith and a customer.

“I think you’re going to suffer quite a while because of this. What I did was only first-aid, so let’s go and get you properly treated.”

“T-To where?”

“To the Constantine Holy Empire,” Siegfried replied before carrying Quandt on his back and walking toward a warp gate.

***

Siegfried’s personal gas station[1], Saintess Jannette, was forced to use up all of the holy powers she had gathered up until now just to heal Quandt.

Siegfried barged into the Constantine Holy Empire with Quandt on his back and requested him to be treated.

“The treatment has finished,” Saintess Jannette said after closing the door of the infirmary. Then, she added, “The first-aid was impeccable. He would have suffered irreversible injuries if it weren't for the first-aid treatment he had received.”

“Really? That is great news. I was really worried on the way here,” Siegfried said with a smile.

“But we cannot relax yet. He has to continuously receive treatment to avoid any complications later.”

“Really?!”

“The mysterious energy has spread all over Quandt’s body. It is an energy I am unfamiliar with, so it will be extremely difficult to rid him of it.”

“Ah... That energy is from another world,” Siegfried replied.

“From another world?” Saintess Jannette muttered with a hint of curiosity.

“He is in that state after trying to destroy this thing,” Siegfried said while showing the Ignite Soul.

“That seems to be... made up of energy not found in this world,” Saintess Jannette said, intently inspecting the Ignite Soul.

“You are correct.”

“Also, I can feel immense evil coming from it. It is as if that energy is trying to melt everything in its path...”

As expected of Saintess Jannette, she instantly understood the essence of the energy coming from the Ignite Soul.

“You are correct again, and that is the reason I wanted this thing destroyed... But it seems that it will not be that easy.”

“I do not believe that thing can be destroyed through ordinary means.”

“I agree,” Siegfried replied with a nod. Then, he grimaced and looked at the problematic object before grumbling, “But this has to be destroyed no matter what...”

“What if you hide or seal it somewhere safe? Or what if you use its energy to craft an artifact?”

Siegfried shook his head and replied, “No, this has to be destroyed.”

“Is there a reason it must be destroyed?”

“Yes.”

“What might that reason be?”

“There are four other fragments just like this. If all five of those fragments combine together, then the creature those Church of Osric bastards had tried to summon but failed will resurrect and wreak havoc on the continent.”

“...!”

“That is the reason this has to be destroyed no matter what. That thing would not be able to come back to life without this right, right?”

Siegfried himself was not certain if Apocaluis required all five fragments to be resurrected or not, as the only thing he knew right now was that there were a total of five fragments and that Apocalius was going to be resurrected if all five fragments were gathered together.

Aside from that, he had no other information whatsoever, so he decided destroying the Ignite Soul was the best thing he could do as of now.

“You are indeed correct. It is better to destroy an object that could threaten—no, destroy this world after all,” Saintess Jannette replied in agreement.

“Yes, I believe so, too.”

“Then...”

“I guess we have to find a way, right?” Siegfried said with a shrug. Then, he added, “I will leave Quandt in your care. Please look after him; he is an important person.”

“You do not have to worry about him. I will personally be responsible for his treatment.”

“I am always grateful to you.”

“This is nothing compared to the debt our empire has to you,” Saintess Jannette replied with a bright smile.

***

Siegfried headed for the communication room in the Constantine Holy Empire after putting Quandt in the Saintess’ care.

The person he called was none other than Cheon Woo-Jin, as he felt that revealing the Ignite Soul's existence to the latter as well as revealing the fact that they had failed to destroy it was of utmost importance right now.

He dialed the frequency of the Guardians, and a message popped up on the screen.

[Question: Please state the password.]

[Hint: What is the Adventurer Siegfried like?]

Siegfried was perplexed at the question. “Huh? They changed it?”

As far as Siegfried could remember, the password was "Jjajangmyeon," but it seemed that Cheon Woo-Jin had changed it.

“But what’s with this hint? What am I like? Erm... A gamer?”

[Invalid Password!]

“A successful man?”

[Invalid Password!]

“The Debuff Master?”

[Invalid Password!]

“Hey, what’s with this thing?!” Siegfried screamed out of frustration. Then, he finally blew up, “That asshole, Cheon Woo-Jin! He should’ve given me a heads up if he was going to change the pass—”

And that was when...

[Alert: You've responded with the correct password!]

[Alert: Connecting...]

[Alert: Please wait a moment...]

The communication device shone brightly, and it was soon connected to the Guardians.

“A-Asshole?!” Siegfried raged after learning the password.

Who would have thought that Siegfried van Proa—no, Han Tae-Sung was an asshole?!

“Cheon Woo-Jin, you bastard!”

— Oh? Han Tae-Sung?

The communication device connected just in time and Cheon Woo-Jin appeared on the screen.

“HEY!”

— W-What?

“You bastard! Why am I an asshole?!”

— Heok!

Cheon Woo-Jin gasped in horror.

— T-That is... What happened was...

“Oh? So you thought I'm an asshole all this while?”

— No, that’s not it...

“Ah~ Alright, let’s wait and see what this asshole is capable of,” Siegfried said haughtily with a rotten smile.

— Hey! It was just a joke! I forgot to set a proper password...

“Why are you talking to an asshole?”

Cheon Woo-Jin was at the mercy of Siegfried’s pettiness for quite a long time afterward.

‘Argh... That guy is the pettiest guy I've ever known. What if he really tries to get back at me?’ Cheon Woo-Jin knew that Siegfried could really turn into an asshole if he wanted to do so.

— A-Anyway, what’s up? Did you manage to destroy the soul fragment?

Cheon Woo-Jin decided it was best to change the topic as quickly as possible.

“It couldn’t be destroyed.”

— Huh?

“A few people died trying to destroy this thing,” Siegfried explained what happened at the mobile smithy while showing the Ignite Soul to the communication device.

— Even the Bavarian Workshop’s equipment couldn’t destroy it?

“Why would I lie? Hold on, are you calling me a liar?”

— N-No!

“I thought of smashing it to bits with my weapon, but I chose not to since I could put myself in danger by doing that.”

— Good thinking. You would’ve gotten hurt real bad if you had done that.

Cheon Woo-Jin suddenly looked grim.

“So how are we supposed to destroy this? I don’t think it can be destroyed through ordinary means. It will just cause another explosion...”

— I guess the time has come.

“What has come?”

— Time.

“What are you talking about...?”

— I’ll give you a quest.

As soon as Cheon Woo-Jin's words fell, a quest window popped up in front of Siegfried’s eyes.

1. I have no idea why the author decided to use this word. ☜

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