Debuff Master

Chapter 1265

[Alert: You have gained experience points!]

[Alert: You have leveled up!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 611!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 612!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 613!]

Siegfried gained three levels from doing nothing.

[Alert: Your quest progress has increased!]

[Alert: The Ten Calamities progress has increased to 100%! (10/10)]

[Alert: You have cleared the Quest – The Ten Calamities!]

At long last, he finally cleared the quest.

[The Ten Calamities]

[Hunt down and slay the ten most terrifying demonic entities that escaped from Purgatory.]

[Type: Special Quest]

[Progress: 100% (10/10)]

[Reward: +20 Levels]

[Targets:]

- Swarming Locusts ✓

- Bloodstained River ✓

- Destructive Hailstorm ✓

- Plague of Flies ✓

- Endless Darkness ✓

- Mass Extinction ✓

- Curse of Decay ✓

- Bloodsucking Parasite ✓

- Wailing Beasts ✓

- Song of Death ✓

[Note 1: Each slain Calamity drops an item infused with its powers.]

[Note 2: Collect all 10 to gain authority over world-scale disasters for six months.]

[Note 3: This quest is exclusive to the main protagonist of BNW.]

After defeating all Ten Calamities, the coveted reward was finally bestowed upon him.

[Alert: You have leveled up!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 614!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 615!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 616!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 617!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 618!]

(omitted...)

[Alert: You have reached Level 632!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 633!]

His level rose by a staggering twenty levels in one go.

[Alert: You may now increase the skill level of Seven Steps to Invincibility!]

[Alert: The skill level of Seven Steps to Invincibility has increased!]

[Alert: The skill name has changed from Seven Steps to Invincibility to Six Steps to Invincibility!]

[Alert: You may now increase the skill level of Six Steps to Invincibility!]

[Alert: The skill level of Six Steps to Invincibility has increased!]

[Alert: The skill name has changed from Six Steps to Invincibility to Five Steps to Invincibility!]

The surge in levels granted Siegfried a ton of skill points, which he invested into increasing the level of Seven Steps to Invincibility. Now, he had to hit his opponent five times instead of seven to trigger the skill.

‘Five sounds much better.’

Siegfried could feel it. He was drawing ever closer to the true power of invincibility.

The fewer the strikes required, the closer he was to the ultimate power. As long as he continued leveling up the skill, he would eventually gain the power to crush an enemy with a single blow.

“Kill them in one blow. It won't look cool if you have to hit them twice, so it has to be in a single blow.”

Just as Deus had once told him, he had to obtain the power of invincibility to defeat his opponents stylishly.

Siegfried smiled warmly and called out, “Carell.”

“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty!” Carell replied, his head bowed low.

“You’ve grown so much. Truly an astonishing and dazzling growth.”

“I am unworthy of such words, my lord! Your grace is immeasurable!”

Carell had been nothing more than the son of a rural lord, a greenhorn officer who barely survived day by day. Though he was a captain in rank, he was clumsy, inexperienced, and too incompetent to earn the trust of his own men.

However, he had changed drastically since then. He seized the opportunity granted to him by Siegfried and trained diligently, pushing himself past his limits to break through the wall and become a Master.

Siegfried knew Carell’s past better than anyone else, so it was impossible for him not to be proud of the latter's accomplishments.

“I am really proud of you, Carell. You’ve worked so hard.”

“N-Not at all, my lord!”

“Your father will surely be proud as well.”

Siegfried mentioned Carell’s father, Baron Wegmann.

The baron had refused Siegfried’s invitation to immigrate to the Proatine Empire, choosing instead to remain as the lord of the Biermann Territory.

Even though Carell had risen quite high within the Proatine Empire, his father insisted on staying in his ancestral land and living a quiet life.

“Invite your father to our empire. I’d like to meet him and share a fine meal together.”

“Your grace is immeasurable, my lord!”

“I look forward to the things you will do for our empire.”

“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty!”

After the heartfelt exchange with Carell, Siegfried claimed the final artifact imbued with the power of calamity.

[Alert: You have acquired Horn of Calamity: Curse of Decay!]

With that, he had gathered all the powers of the Ten Calamities, becoming the Master of Calamity himself.

***

There was someone else who had contributed just as much as Carell in this battle, and it was none other than Seung-Gu. If Carell had displayed overwhelming might in close combat, then Seung-Gu had proven his true worth in large-scale warfare.

He played an important role in this battle, and he was going to be extremely important in the upcoming war.

The areas Seung-Gu had been assigned to were bombarded until they became a mere absolute wasteland. After reaching Level 449, his firepower rivaled a fleet of battleships.

Of course, that was not all...

Golem King Reventon and the one thousand Iron Golems were far more than just artillery. They were just as destructive in melee combat, using their colossal frames as lethal weapons to crush and trample the undead monsters beneath their feet.

Seung-Gu was now a one-man army, and he had risen to stand proudly as one of BNW’s top gamers.

“Hyung-nim! Hohoho!”

“You really worked hard. You’ve gotten ridiculously strong now, haven’t you?”

“Thank you! Kekeke!”

Seung-Gu’s face stretched into an ugly grin after receiving praise from Siegfried.

He had always felt that he was nothing but a burden—a freeloader. Hence, Siegfried's acknowledgement and praise filled him with joy beyond words.

‘Yeah... At least be happy while you can...’ Siegfried thought.

The harsh truth was that Seung-Gu’s growth was not achieved normally, like what Carell had done. He relied on the Elixir of Transcendence to step into the realm of Masters without breaking through the wall.

This meant that he, too, could suffer from the side effects of the elixir. In other words, his current strength was built on a fragile foundation. A foundation so fragile that it could collapse on him at any time.

Unfortunately, Siegfried couldn’t catch the timing to tell him the cold, hard truth, as Seung-Gu looked so proud and happy right now.

‘This punk must have worked so hard to reach this level...’

Siegfried couldn’t help but pity him, so he kept his mouth shut for now.

Rather than telling him the brutal truth, he chose to offer him words of praise.

Just like Seung-Gu, the other Adventurers who had joined this battle knew nothing of the secret behind the Elixir of Transcendence.

And with their victorious cruises echoing so loudly, Siegfried thought that there was no need to dampen the mood with the brutal truth.

‘I guess I can tell them later.’

With that thought in mind, Siegfried showered both Seung-Gu and the entire Proatine Imperial Army with sincere praise.

***

On that night, they returned to the imperial palace. Siegfried grabbed Seung-Gu by the scruff of his neck and dragged him away.

“Come talk with me for a minute, Seung-Gu.”

“Eh? What is it, hyung-nim?”

“Well, that is...”

In a secluded corner of the palace, Siegfried told Seung-Gu about the truth behind the Elixir of Transcendence.

“H-Holy shit...” Seung-Gu muttered, shocked by what he just heard.

Just a few hours ago, he dominated the battlefield and showed off just how powerful he was in a large-scale battle. His performance was so impressive that he had carved his name into the minds of everyone present to witness his prowess.

However, he had just learned that his months of effort were meaningless.

For Seung-Gu, it felt as if the heavens had collapsed onto him.

“What’s going to happen to me...?” Seung-Gu asked with despair on his face.

“Well...”

“Am I going to become a useless noob? Will I lose my account because of the side effects?”

“No,” Siegfried said, shaking his head. Then, he explained, “Verdandi is working on a cure. Just hold out a little longer. I still don’t know exactly what the side effects are or when it will hit you.”

“Oh my god...” freeweɓnovel.cѳm

“I’ll find a way, so don’t worry too much about it.”

“O-Okay...”

“I’ll personally help you.”

“I know you will, hyung-nim.”

Even though it felt like the sky had fallen on him, Seung-Gu’s faith in Siegfried was still unshakeable. No matter how dire the situation was, his trust in him would never waver.

“First, calm yourself down and go stop by Verdandi’s lab. She will need someone who’s taken the elixir for her research.”

“Okay, I’ll do that.”

Though he replied resolutely, Seung-Gu’s shoulders still sagged low. He had been full of vigor and pride just moments ago, but now, he looked completely dejected.

‘Ah, damn... It hurts me to see him like this...’ Siegfried sighed inwardly. He turned away and headed to his office, as he still had paperwork to finish tonight before logging out.

It was then.

“What the hell...?”

Siegfried frowned after noticing a pillar of white light piercing the sky in the far distance.

‘What’s going on? Judging by the size of it, that thing seems quite far away...’

He immediately rushed to the communications chamber and contacted the Guardians in order to confirm via satellite what was happening.

“There’s a massive pillar of light. Do you know what’s going on?” Siegfried asked.

— We will check right away, Your Imperial Majesty.

After a short while...

— We have confirmed that the pillar of light is coming from within the Marchioni Empire’s territory. More specifically, the Jukai Jungle. Unfortunately, we cannot see what is going on inside.

“What?!”

— We will dispatch units immediately to investigate the phenomenon. freewebnσvel.cѳm

“All right. Let me know if you find something.”

Siegfried ended the call, and his expression darkened.

The Jukai Jungle hosted the ancient ruins of the Illuminati.

And the pillar of light was coming from that place?

This was a bad sign.

What troubled him even more was the fact that he had killed Lee Geon there. To make matters worse, Lee Geon was the Master of the Illuminati.

“That place... Damn it, I should have subdued him back then...”

At the time, Siegfried had no other choice but to kill him outright.

The explosion caused by the rampaging Devouring Grand Art had been so catastrophic that attempting to restrain him would only have ended with Siegfried dying alongside Lee Geon in the blast.

“I should gather intel for now and respond accordingly. There’s nothing much I can do.”

He was already feeling burdened under the Marchioni Empire's threat, and the last thing Siegfried needed was another incident on his hands.

Tonight, his main enemy was the towering stacks of documents before him. Thus, he decided to paperwork first before anything else.

Besides, it was not as if he could rush off to the Jukai Jungle in the middle of the night.

***

Meanwhile, Siegfried was not the only one concerned about the pillar of light.

The Level 999 Hidden NPC, Deus, also had his eyes fixed on it.

The First Red Dragon and the God of Blacksmiths, Vulcanus, spoke with concern, “Doesn’t it seem like something truly grave is about to happen, brother? That pillar of light is...”

“I know. How could I not know what that pillar of light signifies?” Deus replied curtly.

“T-Then what happens now?”

“Destiny will follow its course.”

“But still...”

“Why are you, of all people, fretting like this? You should know better than anyone what I mean by that,” Deus grumbled. Then, he shot a glare and added, “Isn’t that something you blacksmiths are good at?”

“Hm?”

“Toiling endlessly to forge something only to smash it into pieces if it doesn’t satisfy you.”

“Well, that’s true...”

“Potters do the same, don’t they? It’s a common thing.”

“That’s true enough.”

“The desire to create a flawless masterpiece and destroy it if it doesn’t satisfy one’s expectations is quite normal. But even so, this is...” Deus trailed off. Then, he grimaced and said, “Anyway, stop whining like a dog needing to take a shit. After all, we are beings who have transcended this world.”

“You’re right, brother.”

“Also, stop acting so concerned in front of me when you don’t even have any ties to this world. You’re only adding oil to the fire.”

“M-My apologies, brother.”

Vulcanus scratched the back of his head and quietly backed away. He knew that Deus was clearly in a bad mood right now and that he could get beaten up if he were to continue blabbering.

Elder brother be damned, Deus was someone who didn't care about something like that, especially when he was in a foul mood.