Debuff Master

‘What about the beak?’ Siegfried tried harvesting the Blade Falcon’s beak too.

[Alert: You have obtained Blade Falcon Beak!]

Just as he suspected, the system acknowledged the beak as crafting material as it did with the feathers.

‘Then... the talons should be crafting materials too...’ Siegfried thought as he extracted the Blade Falcon’s talons too.

[Alert: You have obtained Blade Falcon Talon!]

Siegfried was now certain most parts of the Blade Falcon could be used as crafting materials, so he proceeded to extract its eyes, meat, and tail feather[1].

[Alert: You have obtained Blade Falcon Eye!]

[Alert: You have obtained Blade Falcon Meat!]

[Alert: You have obtained Blade Falcon Tail Feather!]

“Oh? These guys seem to be worth the trouble,” Siegfried said, sounding slightly elated.

“You look like a butcher! Why don't you seriously think of becoming one, owner punk? Kyuuu!” Hamchi exclaimed in awe of Siegfried's butchering skills.

“What did you say?! Are you making fun of me as a Baekjeong[2]?! Do you know how offensive that is?! You shouldn't classify people like that in this day and age!” Siegfried retorted.

“Kyuu?” Hamchi tilted his head in confusion. Then, he narrowed his eyes and said, “When did Hamchi call you a Baekjeong? I said you look like a butcher.”

“Y-You didn't?”

“Why don't you fix that rotten personality of yours?! You thought that's what I said because that's how you think! Kyuuu!”

“Argh!”

“How will you eat meat if there are no butchers?! You should be grateful to butchers! Kyuuu!”

“I never said anything about them...” Siegfried grumbled. Then, he pouted and added, “You keep treating me like I’m a piece of trash so I thought you were making fun of me...”

He was being serious. The people around him had been treating him as if he was a piece of trash and he started reacting sensitively to any criticism hurled at him.

“When did I?!”

“You did! You always do!”

“Kyuuu! How petty of you! You’re overreacting over a joke!”

“Shut up, punk...”

Siegfried bickered with Hamchi until they found the rest of the Blade Falcons and dismembered them to harvest the crafting materials.

Night had already come by the time they were done, and the temperature on Mount Kunlun had dropped even more now that the sun was nowhere to be seen.

Whoosh!

The wind grew fiercer and Siegfried felt he was getting cut up by blades made up of ice.

“O-Owner punk! Hamchi is cold! Kyuu...!”

“What are your fur for?!”

“It’s still cold! Kyuuu!” Hamchi whined about the cold before reducing his size and diving into Siegfried’s pocket.

‘Should I set up a basecamp around here?’ Siegfried trembled from the unforgiving cold of Mount Kunlun, and he decided to make a shelter somewhere to spare himself from it.

“That place looks suitable,” Siegfried muttered under his breath and braved the cold.

However, he felt happy in the midst of the hardship as thoughts of crafting new items with the materials he harvested from the Blade Falcons filled his head.

‘Hehe... I wonder what I can make with these...’

***

Fortunately, it was not difficult to build a basecamp.

‘Let’s see... What can I use...?’ he wondered while searching his inventory for something he could use as a temporary shelter.

Then, he found an item of a structure in the shape of a dome. It was one of the items that Descartes had dropped upon dying, the Mobile Bunker.

[Mobile Bunker]

[A bunker that fits in your pocket.]

[It will increase in size when you press the button, making it spacious enough for eight people to comfortably fit.]

[This bunker will explode once its durability reaches zero, and it is recommended to evacuate if it is on the verge of getting destroyed.]

[Type: Structure]

[Durability: 1,000/1,000]

[Defense: 75,000]

[Note: It is equipped with numerous options, so it could serve as housing for the homeless.]

“Oh?” Siegfried raised a brow after reading the description of the item.

He took out the Mobile Bunker and placed it on a clearing before pressing the button.

Poof!

A small popping sound occurred, and smoke rose from it. Then, it turned into a small bunker the size of a pojang macha[3].

“It looks the same as that bunker from our national game,” Siegfried muttered while rubbing his chin. The national game he was referring to here was Starcraft, which was the game that captivated all of Korea decades ago.

The game was a huge success in South Korea, for some reason, and it was loved by almost every Korean gamer. Interestingly, the game was so popular in the country that gamers dubbed it South Korea’s national game.

“Kyu? Are you talking about Starcraft, owner punk?” Hamchi asked.

“And how do you know that? Did you hear it from the Korean gamers too?”

“Yes! Kyu!”

“Why don’t you just become Korean—no, a Korean rat from now on?”

“Kyaaaak! Hamchi is not a rodent!”

“Not a rodent my ass,” Siegfried sneered before entering the Mobile Bunker.

The inside of the bunker was quite warm.

[Alert: Your body is warming!]

[Alert: You will soon recover HP and Stamina!]

[Alert: Your movement speed has returned to normal!]

Thanks to the bunker, Siegfried managed to warm his body up after enduring the merciless cold.

“Hey, Hamchi.”

“Kyu?”

“Come here for a second.”

“What’s up, owner punk? Kyu!”

“You’re bleeding, punk.”

“Kyu?”

“Stay still.”

Siegfried applied antiseptic ointment on Hamchi’s back, which had numerous scars from getting pecked by the Blade Falcons.

“I thought you could beat those eagles up? What happened to that?”

“Kyu! Hamchi was about to teach them a lesson, but you got in my way!”

“Yeah right~ They only went after you thinking you were a rodent.”

“Kyaaak! No! Hamchi is not a rodent–”

“Hmm? Is that a Blade Falcon outside?”

“Kyuuu?!”

“Just kidding~”

“...”

“How could you fall for that? Kekeke!”

“Kyaaak! I’m not going to–!”

It was then.

“...!”

A sharp pain stabbed Hamchi’s back, forcing him to freeze, and the pain rapidly radiated throughout his back, causing him to feel intense pain.

“KYUUUUUUUUUUU!” Hamchi screamed at the top of his lungs. Then, he glared at Siegfried and shouted, “O-Owner punk! What the hell did you put on Hamchi?! Kyuuu! It hurts! It burns!”

Siegfried smirked and said, “Stop overreacting. It doesn’t hurt that much.”

“Kyaaak! It burns! Hamchi is in pain! I can feel my brain going numb! Kyaaaak! What the hell is this?!”

Siegfried looked at the bottle and said, “Ah, this? It says here it’s... Albothyl[4]?”

“A-Albothyl?!”

“They say it’s a very effective antiseptic.”

“Kyaaaak! There’s something wrong with that medicine! It burns!”

“Hey, stop moving! Your wound can get infected!”

“Kyaaaaak!”

Siegfried pinned Hamchi down and applied the Albothyl to each and every one of his wounds before applying potions on it too.

‘Hoho! It stings, right? This antiseptic is very effective, but it stings! Hehe... Feel the burn, Hamchi! Feel it!’ Siegfried knew the antiseptic that he was using would hurt a lot, and he was enjoying seeing Hamchi in pain.

Yes, Hamchi was right. Siegfried was a petty man, and he had been eyeing for an opportunity to get back at those around him all the time.

***

Siegfried felt bad leaving Hamchi all alone in the bunker, so he decided to sleep in his VR capsule. He would not have hesitated to log out and leave the giant hamster alone, but they were the only people on Mount Kunlun, making him feel bad about logging out.

‘This isn’t the Mount Kunlun I know. No wonder people don’t dare come anywhere near this place.’ Siegfried figured reaching the crater would not be easy at this rate before he fell asleep.

A few hours later...

Knock! Knock!

Siegfried was woken up by the sound of someone knocking on the bunker.

“What’s that...?” He rubbed his eyes and got up.

Thud...! Thud...!

Siegfried looked at the door and found the handle moving as if someone was trying to force it open.

“K-Kyuuu? I think someone’s outside, owner punk,” Hamchi said while rubbing his eyes too.

“Yeah, it seems like it,” Siegfried grumbled in response.

He got up despite feeling extremely sleepy. He walked over to a firing port and opened it to take a peek outside.

Badump!

Then, his heart dropped the moment an eye appeared when he peeked outside.

“Aaaaack!” he screamed.

Badump! Badump! Badump!

His heart was thumping like crazy and beating like a drum.

“Hello, there! Why are you so surprised?” asked the owner of the eye.

“W-What?! Who are you?!”

“I’m a hiker!”

“A hiker?” Siegfried tilted his head in confusion.

Who in their right mind would hike Mount Kunlun? Was he mentally ill or something?

“Did you just say you’re a hiker? You expect me to believe that–”

“We received support from Heather Kingdom to climb to the peak of Mount Kunlun! We are the Santa[5] Climbers!”

It was then.

“Pfft! Hahahaha! Did he just say Santa? Kekeke!” Siegfried ended up bursting into laughter.

“Kyaaaak! This isn’t the time to laugh, owner punk!”

“M-My bad... Pfft! But it’s so funny!”

“Stop laughing over something not funny! Kyaaak!”

“A-Alright,” Siegfried replied while wiping a tear. He looked outside and saw seven people all wearing thick fur coats, and every single one of them was shivering from the cold.

The middle-aged man, who was the owner of the eye, introduced himself, “I am the leader of the Santa Climbers, Elliott. The wind has been unforgiving today, and our tents were not enough to protect us from it.”

“So what?”

“May you please let us in? We will leave first thing in the morning.”

‘Hmm... Do I have a reason to help them? It’s comfortable with just me and Hamchi, but if all of them come in...’ Siegfried pondered. He was not the type to help others for free, so he now had a dilemma.

It was then...

“We will pay you for lodging–”

“Please come in, customer-nim!” Siegfried instantly opened the door the moment payment was mentioned.

Elliott’s face beamed the moment the door opened, “Oh! You have saved us–”

“Stop,” Siegfried said icily and pointed his +13 Horse Fly at Elliott’s face the moment he took a step inside the bunker.

“W-What is this?!” Elliott exclaimed and raised both hands to show he had no intention of resisting. Then, he said, “I came in because you told me to!”

The middle-aged hiker had icicles on his eyebrow, beard, and nose.

“I should check first, right?” Siegfried said.

“C-Check what?” Elliott stuttered.

“Whether you are a monster or not,” Siegfried replied.

Mount Kunlun was an unexplored mysterious place on the continent. Thus, Siegfried did not dare drop his guard even for a second, as he had no idea what this place was capable of.

“Shall we have a look?” Siegfried said. Then, he flashed his Rune of Insight at Elliott and the other climbers.

1. Author was very specific on it being the feather on the tail (rectrices). ☜

2. Baekjeong was one of the lowest class people in ancient Korea shunned by society. Butchery was seen as a low-class job, so it was mostly carried out by the Baekjeongs. ☜

3. Explained in an earlier chapter but just in case! These are those roadside tent restaurants where people can eat and drink in Korea! ☜

4. An antiseptic often used for scars or mouth ulcers. It stings like f... ☜

5. There’s a wordplay here in Korean. San ? means mountain and Ta ? is to ride/climb. So Santa basically means they are climbing mountains while sounding like Santaclaus. ☜

The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel