Debuff Master

The reason why Siegfried chose to charge into the blizzard was simple.

‘I can’t stay stuck here forever.’

He had no plans to stay for a long time in Mount Kunlun. He wanted to throw the Ignite Soul inside the Ancient Crater even a second earlier and go back to the Proatine Kingdom.

The fact that different things kept popping up on his way to the peak was already annoying enough, so he decided to just go for it and put an end to this exhausting journey.

The Night Stalkers were present around the clock in this place, so he could neither seek refuge in his Mobile Bunker nor fight them forever.

“Y-Your Majesty! Where are you going?! Your Majestyyyyy!” Elliott shouted.

“What are you doing?! Hurry up and run!” Siegfried shouted in response.

“Eh?!”

“Let’s just run past them!”

“...!”

“I don’t think you can go back anyway! Just run!”

Elliott stood dumbfounded at Siegfried’s words. However, he soon realized that there was some truth to what Siegfried said. It was too late for them to go back nor could they survive here, as the Night Stalkers were prowling in the blizzard.

In other words, they had no other choice than to run and chase after Siegfried.

“Run if you don’t want to die!” Siegfried shouted at them once again.

“Y-Yes!” Elliott responded. Then, he turned around and shouted at the climbers, “What are you doing?! Run! We need to follow King Siegfried! RUN!”

The Santa Climbers ran for their lives and charged into the blizzard.

***

A desperate charge happened soon afterward. Siegfried, Hamchi, and the Santa Climbers ran as fast as they could to get away from the Night Stalkers.

Unfortunately, there was no way things would flow as smoothly as they expected it to be, and their biggest enemy right now was none other than the ferocious winds of Mount Kunlun.

Whiiiiiiiish!

The wind was blowing hard right at their faces.

“Ack! W-Why is this wind so strong?!”

It was so strong that even Siegfried was having a hard time running, and he had to depend on his thrusters to barely keep running.

If there was one silver lining in his current situation, then it was that the Night Stalkers were getting pushed back by the winds, too.

“Where are... you going...?”

“Come back...”

“Take me with you...”

“I want to... live... give me... your life!”

“I was wronged... I was wronged...!”

The Night Stalkers stubbornly chased after Siegfried’s party, but they were unable to catch up due to Mount Kunlun’s winds. To begin with, the Night Stalkers were undead so they were slow, but they turned into turtles after getting slowed down by the wind.

Most importantly, they were not running on flat terrain, which slowed them down the most.

“Let’s go... together...”

Just then, A Night Stalker suddenly appeared behind one of the climbers. Siegfried was able to charge forward against the wind, but that was not the case for the climbers. The wind slowed them down to the point some of them fell behind and were caught by the Night Stalkers.

“Y-Your Majesty! Ack! S-Save me!”

“I told you to move faster... Tsk...” Siegfried clicked his tongue and grimaced before he placed down Shadow Swamp.

The slow effect of Shadow Swamp slowed the Night Stalkers even more and they looked like they froze up.

Seuruk... Seuruk...!

The shadows[1] of the Night Stalkers rose from the ground.

“Tie them down for a bit,” Siegfried commanded the shadows.

This single action alone saved the climbers from the Night Stalkers.

“Thank you, Your Majesty! Thank you so much!”

“Just shut up and keep running!”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

The Santa Climbers braved the fierce winds and ran after Siegfried.

Two hours later.

[Alert: Insufficient Stamina!]

[Alert: Insufficient Mana!]

[Alert: Please rest!]

Siegfried decided to rest after a string of messages popped up in front of his eyes. His Mana and Stamina had been depleted after placing down Shadow Swamp to hold the Night Stalkers back while marching against the blizzard.

Of course, he was not the only one struggling.

“Huff... Huff...!”

“I can’t... I can’t go anymore...!”

“Bleuuuurgh!”

“I’d rather die than continue...”

The Santa Climbers were in a worse state than him. Siegfried was just tired, but the climbers were on the verge of fainting from exhaustion. They were so tired that some of them fell on their knees and vomited while others outright collapsed on the snowy ground even though the Night Stalkers were still chasing after them.

They were so exhausted they could no longer continue running even if their lives were on the line.

‘I guess we need to take a break here,’ Siegfried decided to stop for a while after seeing how tired the climbers were.

He placed down the Mobile Bunker and went inside. Then, he held the door open and said, “The bunker is up! I’m not opening later if you’re late!”

“Y-Your Majesty!”

“Your Majesty! Huff! Huff!”

“Please wait for me! Huff! Huff!”

The Santa Climbers squeezed every bit of strength remaining in their bodies to run toward the bunker.

***

The cycle continued after that. Siegfried’s party would march through the blizzard, place down the Mobile Bunker when they got tired, and rest up inside until they could continue their march.

The Night Stalkers persistently continued to chase after them, but they would always fall behind due to the slowing effects of Shadow Swamp. When they did finally catch up, they were blocked by the Mobile Bunker.

A few hours passed...

“Hmm...” Siegfried muttered while looking at the minimap produced by Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance and calculating the distance to where the lava river was. He did not activate the skill of Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance this time, so there was no other information available on the minimap aside from the distance to his next destination.

Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance would have its durability decreased whenever its skill was activated, so he could not carelessly use it whenever he wanted.

“We have exactly five kilometers left,” Siegfried muttered under his breath.

“What do you mean by that, Your Majesty?” Elliott asked after hearing him.

“Hmm? Ah, the lava streams are five kilometers away—give or take.”

“Oh!”

“I think we can make it in one go if we go for it.”

“Finally!” Elliott exclaimed with tears forming at the corner of his eyes. Then, his voice became hoarse as he said, “F-Finally... I persevered for decades... and I will finally be one step closer to conquering Mount Kunlun...!”

“Good for you. You must be happy.”

“Of course! Sniff!” Elliott was so moved he could barely speak.

On the other hand, Siegfried could not help but wonder, ‘Why is this guy so happy?’

To be honest, he was not fond of Elliott—no, he did not like this man.

‘He persevered for decades just to conquer this mountain? Then how many people did he kill with his ambition? Does he even realize how many people died and how much resources were wasted just so he could achieve his dream?’

Not once had Elliott mentioned anything about the other climbers he had climbed Mount Kunlun with in his past seven attempts. He was obsessed with Mount Kunlun and Mount Kunlun alone, and this mountain was all he would ever talk about.

In fact, Siegfried closely observed him whenever he was around. The Elliott he saw only gave orders to the other climbers, and there was not an ounce of camaraderie in him.

Elliott only cared about himself and his grand ambition of conquering Mount Kunlun.

If there was one kind of people Siegfried hated the most, then those were the type who would not hesitate to sacrifice others just so they could achieve their own goals.

Why?

Because the Guild Master of the Genesis Guild, Chae Hyung-Seuk, was that kind of person.

‘Come to think of it, these kinds of people usually would not hesitate to abandon their comrades just so they would survive and—Huh?’ Siegfried suddenly sensed something and his thoughts stopped in their tracks.

It was exactly at that moment.

Bam!

The Mobile Bunker was hit by a powerful impact, but that was not the end of it.

Puuuuk!

Something sharp stabbed a section of the bunker’s wall as if trying to rip it open.

C-Craaaack!

True enough, that section of the wall cracked and was slowly torn apart.

“...!”

“...!”

“...!”

The eyes of everyone in the bunker shot wide open in horror.

“What is it this time?!” Siegfried exclaimed in anger and grabbed his +13 Horse Fly before running out of the bunker.

He was greeted by the Night Stalkers, but they were not alone this time.

“Kireuk! Kireuk!”

A gigantic monster letting out a cry that would send chills down anyone’s spine accompanied the Night Stalkers, and this monster was...

“A spider...?”

It was a gigantic spider larger than three fully-grown bulls combined.

***

[Frozen Tarantula]

[A gigantic tarantula that inhabits the section of Mount Kunlun infamous for its neverending blizzard.]

[It possesses eight extremely sharp and powerful legs capable of ripping through most steel.]

[Also, it can shoot out freezing spider webs, and caution is advised against it.]

[Type: Neutral Creature]

[Level: 290]

[Note 1: It is extremely agile, so trying to run away from it will be futile.]

[Note 2: Anything caught by its web will not only be restrained but also get frozen.]

It turned out that the Frozen Tarantula that had ripped open the Mobile Bunker with its legs was not a monster but a neutral creature.

“We only have five kilometers left...” Siegfried bit his lower lip and muttered.

He could have easily taken care of a single Frozen Tarantula, but they were currently completely surrounded by hundreds of them.

Could he run five kilometers while evading these Frozen Tarantulas and the Night Stalkers?

‘Not a chance...’ Siegfried was certain that would be impossible and tantamount to suicide.

“Hey, Hamchi.”

“Kyu?”

“I think we have to slug it out.”

“Really?! Kyu!”

“Let’s go with a bang, shall we?”

“Sure! Let’s fight! Kyuuu!”

“Then, shall we greet them first?”

“Kyu?”

Siegfried jumped into the air and shouted, “Hello! Nice to meet you!”

Then, he slammed his +13 Horse Fly into the ground.

Krwaaaaaaang!

Splitting Heaven and Earth shot forward in a fan shape and swept away everything in its path.

‘This ain’t gonna be easy,’ Siegfried knew fighting against hundreds of Level 290 creatures would not be easy, so he decided to seize the initiative and strike first. Then, he placed down Blaze Field and Shadow Swamp on top of activating Overclocking before jumping into the midst of the Frozen Tarantulas.

Sseuuuuu!

A cloud of green poisonous fog spread around him. The Frozen Tarantulas were neither machines nor undead, so he bet that Irradiate would be effective against them, and he was right.

[Frozen Tarantula]

[HP: ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬜⬜]

The Frozen Tarantulas within the Irradiate’s area of effect started losing HP drastically. Irradiate was quite effective even against Level 290 creatures, as its damage was further amplified by the DOT damage of the Top-Tier Ignite Crystals.

‘Alright, I need to keep this momentum going and sweep them–’ Siegfried thought.

Boom! Boom!

Siegfried was interrupted by the sound of something massive slamming the ground.

“H-Huh...?” Siegfried muttered after realizing there was a massive shadow casting down on him, so he decided to look up and see who this shadow belonged to.

Ten meters...

A creature standing on two legs towered over him. It was larger than the Frozen Tarantulas with its entire body covered in fur. It had a face similar to a gorilla, yet its fur was light pink in color rather than black.

“Why is this thing too damn big...?” Siegfried muttered.

It was then.

“GWUUUUOOOOOOOOO!”

The giant with the face of a gorilla roared at Siegfried’s face.

1. Yes, there was no sunlight, and I doubt shadows could form during a blizzard, but author-nim wrote it like this. ☜

Read 𝓁atest chapters at fr(e)ewebnov𝒆l.com Only