Debuff Master

Siegfried was baffled by the reaction shown by the creatures he had encountered so far.

“What’s going on...? Aren’t we supposed to be fighting them?”

“Hamchi has no idea! Kyuuu!”

“I hope this isn’t a trap...” Siegfried muttered while rubbing his chin.

“Kyu?”

“What if they’re planning on ambushing us from behind after we go deeper inside this place?”

“Kyuuuu?! T-That sounds possible, owner punk!” Hamchi cried out in shock.

“Tsk... If I get stabbed in the back by these guys, then that will be the second time in a single day,” Siegfried grumbled, clicking his tongue. He was still upset upon getting stabbed in the back by Elliott, and he was determined not to get stabbed in the back by anyone else—for today.

Hamchi looked at Siegfried and thought, ‘Owner punk... You seemed to have no problem stabbing others in the bank, so how come you’re so upset once you’re the victim...?’

Of course, Siegfried would have scowled if he could hear Hamchi's thoughts, which was the precise reason the giant hamster had decided to keep it to himself.

“I can’t get stabbed in the back twice in a single day. I’m an imbecile if that happens,” Siegfried grumbled.

“Kyu? So have you made up your mind, owner punk?”

“Let’s just kill them all on the way up,” Siegfried said before using Splitting Heaven and Earth at the fire-attribute neutral creatures. He decided to kill everything that could potentially be a threat now rather than get stabbed in the back later.

Krwaaaaaang!

Splitting Heaven and Earth swept the ground and splattered lava all over the place, but a disaster happened soon afterward.

Plop...! Tssss...!

A droplet of lava landed on Hamchi’s back.

“Kyu?” Hamchi looked back after sensing something hot on his back. Then, his eyes shot wide open after discovering what had landed on his back. “Kyuuuuuuu! It’s hot! KYUUUU!”

Siegfried instantly turned to Hamchi after hearing the commotion.

“Pff... Pfft!” Siegfriedhad to muster superhuman self-control not to burst into laughter.

“Are you laughing right now?! Hamchi is in pain! Stop laughing, owner punk! KYAAAAK!”

“S-Sorry, I’m busy right now, so... Pfft!”

“KYAAAAAK!”

“Talk to you later!” Siegfried shouted before attacking the nearest neutral creature to him.

The battle was not easy. The fire-attribute neutral creatures had a ton of HP, insane attack power, and resistance to airborne crowd control. Fortunately, none of them were Level 300 or above, so Siegfried managed to defeat them even though it took some time for him to do so.

“Hmm... Something feels off...” Siegfried grumbled with a grimace after the battle. He felt that the neutral creatures were not really fighting him seriously.

They were not fighting as if their lives were on the line, and it was more like they were fighting because they had been attacked. They fought Siegfried without much enthusiasm until they eventually died.

‘No way... Is this some sort of new backstabbing strategy?!’ Siegfried could not help but find the deaths of the neutral creatures, which he caused, to be quite suspicious.

Just then, Hamchi’s fur stood up as he shrieked, “Kyaaak! Hamchi has a bald spot! Owner puuuunk!”

The Great Spirit of the Forest boasted very soft fur that was indeed beautiful, but the lava made him have one ugly bald spot on his back.

“Kekeke! Kyahahaha! Why are you bald?!” Siegfried burst into laughter after seeing the bald spot on Hamchi’s back.

“Kyaaaak! Don’t laugh at Hamchi!”

“Why is it your back of all places? Kekeke!”

“Kyu?”

“You could’ve been a bald-headed hamster if it had been your head—”

“KYAAAAAAK!”

In the end, Hamchi could not contain his anger and ended up attacking Siegfried with his claws.

“Hey! Can’t you take a joke? Damn it... It stings...”

“Die! A dead owner punk is better than a live one! Kyaaaaak!”

Siegfried and Hamchi wrestled each other for a while. They scratched, clawed, bit, and threw each other down to the ground for a while.

“Damn you... Huff... Huff...”

“KYAAAAK!”

They growled at each other after getting exhausted.

“This stings. Hey, be a man and fight fairly! What kind of man uses scratches in a fight?!” Siegfried exclaimed before taking out a potion and applying it to the scratches.

“You’re one to talk! You pinched me!” Hamchi retorted.

“That’s because you pulled my hair!”

“You pulled my ear first!”

The duo continued their meaningless bickering while walking up the streams of lava.

***

Siegfried faced countless fire-attribute neutral creatures, but there was still no difference. He would attack them first even though they showed no interest in him, making his victory leave a bad taste in his mouth and making the flames of doubt burn even stronger in his heart.

“W-What’s wrong with these guys? Are they just tired of living and want to die? Isn’t it normal for them to be the aggressor and attack me first?”

“Y-Yeah! Hamchi finds it strange, too! Kyuuu!”

“Why do they seem so unmotivated...?”

However, he could not figure it out, no matter how much he racked his brains.

“Ah, I have no idea. Let’s just go.”

In the end, Siegfried decided to give up and just continue walking. They continued fighting the unmotivated creatures until they reached a place with a body of water boiling by the heat from the lava.

It was a large hot spring.

Plop...! Plop...! Plop...!

The hot spring waters were bubbling and were emitting a vast amount of steam. The steam from the hot spring made the air extremely humid, making it difficult to breathe, but the bigger problem was the heat caused by it.

Siegfried felt like the hot steam was burning his skin the moment he stepped into it.

“I think an egg will cook in an instant here—no, I think you can cook chicken here.”

His level was quite high now, and he possessed above-average fire resistance. If he could still feel the heat, then it meant an ordinary person would have sustained burns all over and died by now.

Others would probably think of a vacation spot upon hearing the words hot spring, but it did not apply to Mount Kunlun. The hot spring in this mountain was no different from hell—no, it might just be a true hell, judging from the hot steam and sulfur in this place.

‘Is this where Master bathes?! He enjoys bathing here?!’ Siegfried was shocked after recalling that Deus frequently bathed in the hot springs of Mount Kunlun.

Plop...! Plop...!

Anyone daring enough to dip their toe in these waters would end up having it turn into boiled pig trotters. So Siegfried really couldn't believe that Deus often bathed here. Who in their right mind would bathe in such a place?

As expected, Deus was truly a godly existence.

“It’s hot, so let’s walk faster.”

“Alright! Kyuuu!”

“We’re almost there.”

Siegfried and Hamchi rushed to get past the hot spring. They were now standing at the foot of a hill around one thousand five hundred meters tall, and they could see lava streaming out from the peak of the hill.

“Is that... the Ancient Crater?”

“It looks like it! I can already feel the extreme heat from here! Kyuuu!”

“Let’s climb up.”

“Kyu!”

Siegfried was drenched in sweat while climbing toward the Ancient Crater. There was nothing particularly dangerous during the climb to the crater, but it was far from an easy climb. The heat emitted by the crater was one thing, but the volcanic ash spewing out from it blinded the duo from time to time.

However, the biggest problem was none other than breathing.

[Alert: You lack oxygen!]

[Alert: You lack oxygen!]

[Alert: You lack oxygen!]

Siegfried and Hamchi felt dizzy and nauseous while climbing toward the crater, yet they had no other choice but to press on.

“Huff... Huff...”

“Huff! Huff!”

The climb continued for thirty minutes until they reached the Ancient Crater.

Fwaaaa! Fwaaaaah!

“Argh!” Siegfried was having a hard time withstanding the heat from the crater. He felt as if he would get charred by the heat if he took a single step further. Still, he tried his best to withstand the blazing heat and took out the Ignite Soul from his inventory and threw it into the Ancient Crater.

Whoosh!

There was not an ounce of hesitation in his actions, as this was something that had to disappear from this world.

‘There’s no way this thing could withstand this heat, right?’ Siegfried was confident the Ignite Soul would not be able to endure this heat that was so hot it probably could burn a person’s soul, too.

“Phew...!” Siegfried let out a sigh of relief. Then, he waited for the quest's clear message to pop up. “That should be the end of this quest—”

It was then.

FWAAAAAAH!

A pillar of green flame shot out from the Ancient Crater.

“H-Huh...?” Siegfried was flustered when the flames and lava turned green.

Sseuuuuu!

However, he was not even given time to think or react as thick green fog shot out from the crater and enveloped him.

***

“...!”

“...!”

Siegfried and Hamchi realized something had gone awry, but it was too late by the time they realized it.

[Alert: Warning! Warning!]

[Alert: You have been poisoned!]

[Alert: Your character has been poisoned!]

[Alert: Your character’s movement has been restricted!]

[Alert: Your HP is rapidly decreasing!]

[Alert: 10 seconds remaining before you pass out!]

[Alert: 9! 8! 7...!]

Siegfried’s vision turned gray.

“A-Argh! H-Hamchi...!”

“O-Owner punk... Hamchi... can’t... move... Kyuu...”

“You need... to survive...!”

“Kyuuu...”

Siegfried gathered every drop of mana he had remaining to save Hamchi, but it was futile. Neither of them could tell if the Ignite Soul had been melted by the Ancient Crater or not, but the sheer amount of poisonous fog emitted by the crater was not something Siegfried could withstand with his mana.

“H-Hamchi... You need... to survive...!”

“Owner punk...”

It was then...

“You've bitten off more than you can chew, my disciple.”

A charismatic yet rude voice entered Siegfried’s ears right before he was about to pass out.

“M-Master...?”

“I never thought I’d see a moron poison himself. Bah! Thinking that this moron is my disciple is embarrassing.”

Siegfried gathered all of his strength to look up, and there he saw Deus looking down at him with inquisitive eyes.

“Tsk... Tsk... When will you finally be immune to all poison?”

A fleshly body immune to poison was the trademark of a Grandmaster, so there was no way Siegfried, who had yet to step into the realm of a Master, would possess such a fleshly body.

Siegfried squeezed the last of his strength to plead, “Master... I am fine... so please take care... of Hamchi...!”

Deus extended one hand to him and scowled, “Get up, you fool.”

Sseuuuu!

A stream of light came forth from Deus’ palm, and the radiance felt warm and holy, as if it could purify anything in this world.

The light enveloped both Siegfried and Hamchi.

Ding!

Then, a message popped up in front of Siegfried’s eyes.

[Alert: A stream of pure energy has purified your body!]

[Alert: You've been cleansed!]

[Alert: You've received the buff: Poison Immunity!]

[Alert: You cannot be poisoned by anything for the next 600 seconds!]

Shockingly, Deus easily granted complete immunity to poison to both Siegfried and Hamchi with just a wave of his hand.

How was something like this even possible? This was nothing short of a miracle, but of course, it would only be a miracle if it had come from someone else other than Deus.

It would neither be strange nor shocking to see Deus perform such a miracle, and he could even do so much more than just granting poison immunity, but it could still be considered normal for him.

Siegfried and Hamchi’s condition improved instantly after the miracle that Deus had performed.

Deus looked down at Siegfried with cold eyes—cold eyes which were all too familiar to Siegfried.

Deus finally asked, “But why have you come to my bathing spot?”

“P-Pardon me... Master?” Siegfried stuttered in response, stunned by the unexpected question thrown at him.

This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶