Debuff Master

Chapter 682

A message popped up informing Siegfried of his current location.

“Thank you, Sir Vergilious,” Ninetail said with a bow.

“No need to thank me. I was just doing my job.”

“Still, thank you.”

“I hope you harvest a lot of souls and congratulations once again. You look like a young demon, but you already got such a nice job.”

Just as the boatman said, the Fortress of Hell was a place all demons wanted to work at. It was so popular that they would save up Soul Coins just to bribe for a spot in the prison.

“Thank you.”

“Enough, thanks. Go on your way now, young succubus.”

Siegfried and Ninetail got off the boat and headed for the Fortress of Hell.

They walked for around thirty minutes from the dock.

“Wow...” Siegfried muttered in awe at the silhouette of the structure hidden by the fog.

The thick fog made it difficult to properly see the Fortress of Hell, but he could tell from its silhouette alone that the place was massive. It was so huge to the point that he thought it was more appropriate to call it a city rather than a fortress.

“It is big, right?” Ninetail asked.

“Yeah,” Siegfried replied while keeping his eyes fixated on the silhouette.

“What do you think will happen if the insides of such a huge prison are extremely complicated?”

“It would be very easy to get lost in it...”

“Exactly.”

“But why am I a prisoner?” Siegfried asked. Then, he narrowed his eyes and said, “Don’t tell me you’re doing this on purpose just to abuse me?”

“Not at all,” Ninetail grimaced in response. Then, she added, “Do you think I am as petty as Your Majesty?”

“What?! Did you just call me petty?!”

“It is impossible for both of us to disguise ourselves as demons. We might be able to fool the demons, but the Petite Cerberus wouldn\'t be fooled,” Ninetail explained, completely ignoring Siegfried’s outburst.

“So?”

“It is obvious that we will get caught if both of us disguise ourselves as demons, so why should we do that? It would be far safer for one to be a demon and the other a prisoner, as it would look like the Petite Cerberus is barking at the prisoner rather than both of us.”

“Oh! So you plan to hide the lie within the truth?”

“Precisely. Now do you understand the plan?”

“Yeah.”

“Then let’s go.”

“Alright.”

Ten minutes later, Siegfried and Ninetail arrived at the gates of the Fortress of Hell, which was being by a bunch of Petite Cerberus.

“Woof! Woof!”

“Grrrr!”

“Arf! Arf! Arf!”

The moment they saw Siegfried and Ninetail, the Petite Cerberus started barking wildly and baring their fangs.

“Are you a newbie?” asked the demon guarding the gate.

“Yes, I am,” Ninetail replied.

“Where are you assigned to?”

“I am assigned to the F4 block.”

“Oh? You got the best of the best,” the gatekeeper said with a hint of envy. Then, he asked, “Just how much did you bribe the higher-ups that a young demon like you gets to work in the best block?”

“Who knows?” Ninetail replied with a shrug. Then, she laughed and said, “I had quite a good result this past year. Hohoho!”

“Hehe... I guess you sucked the life of countless human males,” the gatekeeper said, nodding with a sleazy grin. The fact that a Succubus had a good result meant that she managed to suck quite a lot of life force from a myriad of victims.

“Anyway, welcome to the Fortress of Hell.”

“Thank you.”

“Is that kid a prisoner?” the gatekeeper asked, pointing at Siegfried.

“He’s a newbie, just like me. Well, I’m a guard while he’s a prisoner.”

It was then.

Chwaaak!

Ninetail took out her whip and smacked Siegfried on his back.

“Ack!” Siegfried cried out in agony.

“You filthy scammer,” Ninetail growled with eyes full of contempt.

“Argh...!”

“This place will be your grave, and your soul will be mine. Hohoho!”

“Argh!”

“Hurry up and get moving!”

Chwak!

“Ack!”

Ninetail swung her whip once again, causing Siegfried to cry out in pain.

‘You just wait and see!’ Siegfried gnashed his teeth and growled inwardly while getting whipped.

***

The most hardened criminals were being imprisoned in the F4 block of the Fortress of Hell.

Whistle!

“Hey, newbie! I look forward to your visit tonight!”

“Whoa!”

“Hehehe!”

“It’s no use even if you cry and look for mommy! All of us will suffer the same fate at the end!”

“Make sure you wipe your ass clean for me tonight!”

The prisoners gave Siegfried a "warm" welcome to the prison.

‘This feels weird...’

Siegfried thought while recalling a scene from a movie he watched. It was quite common for a new prisoner to be warmly welcomed by the inmates upon arriving, and the welcome was usually in the form of insults or harassment.

However, those thoughts lasted only for a moment.

[Alert: Status Ailment!]

[Alert: You have been restrained!]

[Alert: The use of mana is restricted within the Fortress of Hell!]

[Alert: You will not be able to use mana!]

Siegfried was on his toes after reading the string of warning messages that popped up in front of his eyes. The fact that he could not use mana meant that he had lost nearly ninety-five percent of his combat capabilities.

He was strong, but he would have to fight with his life on the line against the lower-ranking demons in the Fortress of Hell. If the operation to rescue Quandt ended up in failure, he\'d have to spend quite some time in the Fortress of Hell, too.

‘I need to be on my toes here,’ Siegfried thought, reminding himself once again that he couldn\'t use mana in this prison.

“Hmm? Who are you? This is my first time seeing you.”

“My name is Roxanna. I am from Block C4.”

“Block C4? Why is there a Succubus from there in our block?”

The demon guarding Block F4 asked Ninetail.

“All cells in Block C4 are full right now.”

“Oh?”

“May you please keep this guy in your block just for a few days?” Ninetail asked, pointing at Siegfried.

‘Wow... She’s a pathological liar at this point...’ Siegfried shook his head and uttered inwardly, amazed by how smooth Ninetail’s lies were. However, what surprised him the most was how believable all her lies were.

“Hmm... This place looks full. I guess I’ll just pretend to be a newbie from this block and tell them there’s no room here.” Siegfried clearly overheard her muttering something like that under her breath earlier.

“Fine with me. Hehehe!” the demon replied with a sinister grin. Then, he raised a brow and asked, “But you know the rules, right? His soul will belong to our block’s warden if he dies here.”

“Yes, I am aware of that,” Ninetail replied with a nod. Then, she added, “But you are aware of another rule, right? We are not allowed to kill the inmates.”

“Of course, I do. Kekeke!”

“Alright, I will leave him in your care then.”

Ninetail passed Siegfried to the demon guarding Block F4. Before she completely passed him over to the guard, Ninetail whispered to him, “Please stay here for a moment while I locate Quandt.”

“Okay,” Siegfried replied with a nod before getting dragged away by the demon.

The horned demon brought Siegfried to a cell. Then, he flashed a sinister grin and said, “I can’t kill you with my own hands, but it’s a different story if you die to another inmate. Hehehe!”

“Eh?”

“I’m sorry but you’ll have to die.”

“W-What do you mean by that—ack!”

The horned demon kicked Siegfried’s butt, causing him to fall face-first into the cell.

“Hoho! Have a lovely time!” the horned demon said before locking the cell door and walking away.

“Ughh... What the hell was that for?” Siegfried grumbled while rubbing his butt.

Then, he saw a shadow tower over him, causing him to look up.

“H-Hiiik!”

He ended up shrieking out of horror at what he saw, and the reason was—

“Slurp! What a cutie you are! Sluuurp!”

—A huge bald man was salivating at him while grinning from ear to ear.

***

‘Ugh! This baldie looks disgusting!’ Siegfried shrieked inwardly.

The bald man’s eyes were truly something else. Just a single leer from him was more than enough to send shivers down Siegfried’s spine as if a snake was coiling itself around him with its slippery stinky body.

[Willie Harrington]

[An infamous serial rapist and murderer on the continent.]

[He has been sentenced to death and locked up in the Fortress of Hell, awaiting his execution.]

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen such smooth—” Willie said while salivating.

BAAAM!

Siegfried threw a knee kick right at Willie’s willy.

“...!”

Willie’s eyes shot wide open and bulged as if they were about to pop out of his eye sockets at any second.

“U-Ughhh...!”

Willie seemed to have felt something pop. He tried to scream, but no voice came out of his throat.

“This is your problem, right? This one right here?” Siegfried asked before aggressively stomping at Willie’s willy.

Kwachik!

He stomped with such great force that Willie’s pelvis ended up getting shattered.

Five minutes later...

“Kwee...”

The serial rapist and murderer, Willie, who tried to test his luck against Siegfried, made a strange sound and lost consciousness.

He was a hardened criminal, but he was nothing but a sandbag to Siegfried.

Why?

It was all because Siegfried was strong even without relying on his mana. He had inherited the striking and grappling skills of Leonid, so he could still display a certain level of combat capability even without access to his mana..

On top of that, he gained more stat points thanks to the body remodification at Deus’ hands, so he was definitely much stronger than an ordinary person.

“You filthy criminal,” Siegfried growled and spat on the ground before sitting on the bed.

Thud! Thud!

Siegfried kicked Willie’s head for fun while checking out the Fortress of Hell with Inzaghi’s Compass.

Ninetail was using her own methods while Siegfried was relying on his own to find Quandt. They had successfully infiltrated the Fortress of Hell, so it was now time for them to find Quandt and escape from this place.

“What’s this...?” Siegfried grimaced and muttered after seeing the details that popped up on the minimap. There were tens of thousands of names and the map of the prison was so complex and complicated.

The Fortress of Hell was no ordinary prison but was more like a labyrinth.

“I guess I can just look him up,’ Siegfried muttered with a shrug and clicked on the magnifying glass. A search bar appeared and he entered Quandt into it.

[Alert: Searching...]

[Alert: Search complete!]

[Alert: The target, Quandt, has been located!]

Quandt’s location was shown on the minimap. He was in a tunnel on the twentieth basement level of the Fortress of Hell with other inmates. He was obviously being subjected to harsh labor with them.

“This looks too easy,” Siegfried said with a smirk before lying down on the bed. Then, he thought, ‘I guess all that’s left is to discuss with Ninetail on how we can reach Quandt and escape from here.’

He had a feeling this mission was far easier than they originally thought it was, so he decided to take a nap for a while. After all, there was nothing else he could do while locked up aside from waiting for Ninetail.

One minute later, Siegfried’s figure started flickering while he sprawled out on the moldy bed.