Debuff Master

Siegfried’s face stiffened after looking up ahead.

Why was a warship in the headquarters of a merchant company?

Well, it could be that they used it to protect their ships, but ten warships were too much, even for a large merchant company. Not only that, the warships were sailing with not even a single banner. Warships had to sail with banners on display to show their affiliation, so warships with no banners were a strange sight indeed.

“Hehe… You’ve made a big mistake,” the captain said with a smirk.

“A mistake? Me?”

“You probably have no idea who you just messed with. Kekeke!”

“…?”

“You want to meet the owner? Did you really think you could? Let’s see if you’ll still be safe after peeking into the abyss!”

Siegfried could not understand what the hell the captain was saying, but it did not take long for him to finally understand it.

“Your Majesty! Please look over there!” Gringore exclaimed.

“Where?”

“Over there! At the first warship up ahead!”

Siegfried looked where Gringore was pointing, and just one second later…

Heh.

He flashed a mischievous smile and muttered, “Ah, so it’s you guys?”

The guys he was talking about were none other than…

“Michele has been trying to track you down, but you guys were hiding here all along?”

The Church of Osric...

***

The sailors on the warships had their faces covered with masks, and they were wearing long flowing robes as well as pointy cone hats. Siegfried was able to tell who they were in an instant, thanks to the insignia of the Church of Osric on their chests.

‘As expected, Michele was right.’ He suddenly recalled his conversation with Michele.

“Your Majesty, I have found a way to track the Church of Osric.”

“What is it?”

“Their money.”

“Money?”

“What do you think is the most important thing when running a big organization? Yes, it is none other than money. If you recall the scale of things the Church of Osric did until now, then you could tell that those were not stuff they could pull off with a small budget.”

“I guess you’re right?”

“I am certain that somebody is funding them, and we will definitely catch a whiff of them if we just follow their money trail.”

However, Michele couldn’t actually find the Church of Osric no matter how hard he tried.

They were so secretive that even their money trail was perfectly hidden, making it impossible to track.

However, who would have known they were hidden in the middle of nowhere at the West Sea of all places?

The Gravity Stones were not something that ordinary merchant companies could handle, as they were only used to manufacture airships, and only the nations on the continent with the right technology to manufacture airships would purchase such stones.

The reason it was so difficult to track the sale of Gravity Stones despite their sale process being so simple was that the Gravity Stones were usually sold directly to the manufacturer.

In other words, this was the main reason Michele failed to find traces of the Church of Osric despite searching high and low all around the continent.

“Kekeke!” the captain snickered. He wasn’t aware of Siegfried’s identity, so he smugly said, “I’ll spare your life if you beg right now. Hmm… but I can’t just let you off scot-free, so what about ten years of hard labor?”

“What? Ten years of hard labor?”

“They’re the abyss itself! The ones that bring forth chaos to this world! Someone like you won’t be able to—”

“K. Thx. Bye.”

Siegfried swung his +15 Gaia’s Fist at the captain’s head.

Pukeok!

The captain fell dead on the deck when his head exploded like a watermelon.

“Phew… I was wondering where these bastards were; it seems they were hiding here all along,” Siegfried muttered with a smirk after relieving the captain from his duties.

Shwaaa!

Meanwhile, the ten warships quickly approached the ship, and a high-ranking member of the Church of Osric attempted to board the ship.

“Are you already done mining the Gravity Stones?” the person asked while jumping on board, and then he said, “Why does it seem like you finished faster than usual? You should’ve loaded the laborers onto another ship before coming here—Hmm?”

Then, he stopped talking after noticing the captain’s dead body on the deck.

Pat… Pat… Pat…

His eyes darted toward Siegfried’s +15 Gaia’s Fist, which was dripping with blood.

“Who are you?” he asked.

The members of the Church of Osric surrounded Siegfried.

“Is he a pirate?”

“A pirate?”

“A mere pirate dares to mess with us?”

“If he finds out who we are, then he will—”

The last member to speak was unable to finish his words.

Whoosh! Bam!

Siegfried used ‘Flying Sword’ to smack the church member in the face with his +15 Gaia’s Fist.

“…!”

The Church of Osric members were shocked at what had just happened right in front of their eyes. What kind of lunatic would pick a fight—no, kill a church member right in front of their eyes behind enemy lines?

“Nice to meet you,” Siegfried said as he placed down Blaze Field.

Fwaaaah! Fwaaaah!

Red flames shot up from the ship deck.

“Time to die,” he added before he lunged at the church members.

***

It took Siegfried less than a minute to kill everyone that boarded the ship, and his next target was the warship in front of him.

“Let’s go!”

“Kyuuu!”

Siegfried and Hamchi jumped overboard and boarded the warship.

“Who are you?!”

“Kill them! It’s the enemy!”

The Church of Osric members instantly reacted and charged at the two.

“Hamchi!”

“Kyu?”

“Start the Aqua Runner and wait for me!”

“Hamchi will just wait and not fight? Kyu?”

“Just do as I say!”

“Okay! Kyuu!”

Hamchi ran to the Aqua Runner Siegfried previously used and…

Bam!

Siegfried slammed his +15 Gaia’s Fist on the warship’s deck.

One second later…

C-Crack… Crack…!

Cracks started forming on the deck before…

Chwaaak!

The warship started sinking after getting split in half.

Siegfried used Splitting Heaven and Earth to split the warship in half!

Tak!

Afterward, he jumped down the warship.

Shwaaa!

Hamchi skillfully drove the Aqua Runner and caught Siegfried right before he fell into the water.

“Nice timing!”

“Kyu! Hamchi is the best driver, owner punk! Kyu!”

“Let’s go there this time!” Siegfried exclaimed as he pointed at another warship, and then he added, “Time to sink them all!”

“Kyu! Roger that! Hold on tight! Kyuuuu!”

Hamchi slammed the accelerator, and the Aqua Runner zipped through the waters like a bullet.

***

While Siegfried was busy in his naval battle against the Church of Osric…

「I think I can deposit the money next Friday. Don’t forget to prepare the paperwork for your collateral. Take care of yourself! You got this! 」

「Love, Your hyung, Dong-Po. 」

Chae Hyung-Seok received a message from Ma Dong-Po and started scouring the BNW item auction sites.

‘I will become history’s strongest buffer…!’

He had already saved the items he needed to bring out his character’s full potential, and he planned to start his revenge plan as soon as Ma Dong-Po wired him the money.

Meanwhile, Ma Dong-Po sent a message to Tae-Sung after sending the message to Chae Hyung-Seok.

「The money will be wired next Friday. I will find out what items he purchased, the members of his army, and his plans shortly afterward. 」

「Loyalty! Loyalty! Loyalty! 」

「Ma Dong-Po」

Then, he called someone else right after sending the message to Tae-Sung.

“Hey, Min-Woo! It’s me, Dong-Po!”

—Dong-Po hyung-nim?

Surprisingly, the one Ma Dong-Po called was none other than Min-Woo—Chae Hyung-Seok’s right-hand man, as well as the Vice Guild Master of the Genesis Guild.

Ma Dong-Po called Min-Woo because of his rant last week while they were drinking.

“That fucking bastard… He’s not human… I worked with him for so many years, yet he slapped me, cursed at me, and even treated me like trash just because of one mistake. Fuck… I want to stab him in the back so badly if only I can…”

Chae Hyung-Seok had already lost the trust of his most trusted subordinate, but of course, he was completely oblivious to it.

“Hey, Min-Woo.”

—Yes, hyung?

“You said you wanted to get revenge on Hyung-Seok, right?”

—Well, yes, but is that even possible?

“I think I can give you a chance. Do you want to give it a go?”

—Really? You have a way to get back at that bastard, hyung?

“Of course~ I do~”

—What is it?

“So basically…” Ma Dong-Po proceeded to explain his plan on how to stab Chae Hyung-Seok in the back in detail.

***

Siegfried easily destroyed the warships while riding the Aqua Runner.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The warships shot their cannons at him, but the Aqua Runner emerged unscathed time and time again.

Shwaaaa!

The trademark of the Nordic Tribes, the Aqua Runner, was so agile and mobile that the slow cannons of the warships couldn’t hit it at all.

Siegfried capitalized on the Aqua Runner’s mobility to hop from warship to warship and sink them down.

“R-Run! All ships retreat! I repeat, retreat!”

The captain commanding the fleet immediately signaled for retreat. It was the logical choice to make, as six warships had already sunk in the blink of an eye.

“Where do you think you’re going?! Hamchi! After them!” Siegfried shouted.

“Kyu! Let’s goooo!” Hamchi replied and stepped on the accelerator.

‘I can’t let them go like this,’ Siegfried had no plans to let them run away.

The Church of Osric and the Genesis Guild were the two enemies he had sworn to destroy, so he couldn’t just let them escape from right underneath his nose.

The chase started soon afterward.

“Ack!”

“Gwaaak!”

“Argh!”

Siegfried stubbornly chased after the remaining four warships and laid waste to them.

Fwaaaa! Fwaaaa!

The Debuff Master was near-invincible on top of the narrow deck as every single one of his enemies was within his Blaze Field.

The Church of Osric members had no other choice but to fight whenever Siegfried stepped on the deck despite knowing that a massacre was looming.

One ship, two ships, and three ships…

Bam!

The final warship he boarded was the mothership of the Church of Osric.

“K-Kill him!”

“Kill the enemy!”

The Church of Osric members on deck charged at Siegfried as soon as he landed, but he had a very simple response to them.

Sseuuu…!

Siegfried activated Irradiate and waltzed to the mothership’s bridge.

“K-Keuk…!”

“Argh…!”

The dozens of enemies who had charged at him died without even being able to take a swing at him. Irradiate was an extremely scary skill that killed anyone around him as long as their Poison Resistance was close to zero.

‘This is probably the best skill for massacring large groups,’ Siegfried thought as he was impressed yet again by his skill.

“H-He’s already at the bridge?!” exclaimed the captain in shock.

“Shall we have a chat?” Siegfried asked with a smile while tossing his +15 Gaia’s Fist from one hand to the other.

Whoosh! Thud!

Whoosh! Thud!

The blood, flesh, and pieces of scalp clinging to his weapon would fall to the ground as he juggled the weapon.

‘H-He doesn’t look like he wants to chat!’ the captain exclaimed inwardly. He felt a sense of danger from the way the intruder was smiling and acting, but he decided to compose himself and think rationally.

“Just kill me,” he said.

“Kill you?” Siegfried asked as he tilted his head in confusion.

“I’m one of the harbingers of chaos and a proud member of the Church of Osric. I’d rather die for the church than—”

Bam!

Siegfried suddenly slammed his +15 Gaia’s Fist on the captain’s hand on the table.

“AAAACCCCKK!” the captain screamed and rolled on the floor; his pinky finger had become a mangled mess.

“Hey. Stay. Still. Will. You. Please?” Siegfried said with a smile that made him look like a psychopath. Then, he grabbed the captain’s neck and said, “Now, I’m going to smash your fingers one by one, so bear with me, okay?”

“J-Just kill me! You will not get anything out of me no matter how much you torture me…”

“Huh? Who said I was going to ask something?”

“W-What?”

“I’m just smashing your fingers because I want to.”

“Because you want to?!”

“Yeah?” Siegfried replied before he shrugged and nonchalantly added, “It’s boring to kill you in one go, you see.”

“B-Boring…?!”

“I don’t have any questions, so don’t worry about spilling the beans. Ah, make sure you don’t tell me anything if you get the urge to, okay? I’m not going to listen to it anyway, and you’ll probably be better off gritting your teeth instead.”

“…!”

“All right, here comes finger number four!” Siegfried said before bringing down his +15 Gaia’s Fist.

“AAAH AAAGGGHHH!” The captain screamed like Oh Ham-Ma did in the movie Tazza[1].

‘H-He’s the devil…! A human can’t possibly do something like this! He’s the devil himself! A psychopath!’ The captain realized that Siegfried was far from what others would consider a normal human being.

1. An old Korean movie. More info here: /title/tt0875025/ ☜