Debuff Master

Chapter 810

“Shut the fuck up,” Siegfried growled and swung his +15 Vanquisher’s Grasp in its saber form with all of his might.

Sukeok!

A brilliant flash of light extended horizontally across the battlefield.

“Ga...!”

“Arr...!”

“Kya...!”

The ghost pirates froze as if they had been struck by lightning.

And then—

Shwiiiik!

Thousands of ghost pirates were cleaved in two before going up into smokes.

Unable to use Splitting Heaven and Earth, Siegfried opted for another area-of-effect skill, the Heaven Splitting Slash. Thanks to Sword Emperor Betelgeuse's ultimate technique, Siegfried managed to wipe out the ghost pirates in a single strike.

Now, only one opponent remained, and it was none other than the Pirate King, Freydlief.

However, Siegfried’s figure was trembling like an aspen tree; his muscles spasmed violently, forcing him to grit his teeth just to endure the backlash from the skill he had just used.

“Is this the pitiful struggle of a greedy fool? A fool that was abandoned by his own pet?” Freydlief taunted.

“I wasn’t abandoned!” Siegfried snarled back, but his thoughts betrayed his confidence, ‘Damn it... Did that little traitor really ditch me?!’

He was baffled at the current situation. Yes, they were overwhelmingly outnumbered earlier, but it wasn't to the point that Hamchi would ditch him.

“There’s no use being in denial. This is the miserable end for those consumed by greed,” Freydlief said. Then, he raised his enormous blade and pointed, “Regret it all you want, but it’s far too late now.”

“Hey, enough yapping and just come at me,” Siegfried sneered in response, steadying himself and adjusting his grip on his weapon.

The brief exchange gave Siegfried enough time to recover a little bit from the aftereffects of using Heaven Splitting Slash.

However, the root cause of his problems remained.

[Alert: Status Ailment!]

[Alert: You have been afflicted by Scurvy!]

[Alert Your character feels lethargic!]

[Alert: Your character’s skin is rapidly losing moisture!]

[Alert: Your character is suffering from internal bleeding!]

[Alert: Your character’s bones have become brittle!]

[Warning: Even a small impact may cause fractures!]

[Alert: Your teeth are loose and will fall out with even the slightest bit of stress!]

To make matters worse, the curse cast by the Pirate King, called Scurvy, was not a one-time curse. It was stackable, and it grew worse with each stack.

[Scurvy x 11]

With a staggering eleven stacks, the debuff’s effects had become overwhelmingly severe. It was becoming harder and harder for Siegfried to focus on the battle, and every fiber of his being begged him to just lay down and rest.

Han Tae-Sung, the player, was determined to keep fighting, but Siegfried’s body was so badly crippled by exhaustion that it kept screaming for rest.

‘So this is how frustrating debuffs can be...’

Only after experiencing it firsthand did Siegfried finally understand just how annoying debuff-centric tactics were. The amount of rage, stress, irritation, and anger he had inflicted on his enemies in the past seemed to be a lot based on what he was experiencing at the moment.

It turned out that building a combat style around debuffs was truly a dirty way to fight.

“Die! Greedy fool!” Freydlief swung his colossal blade at Siegfried.

Kwachik!

Siegfried clenched his teeth and narrowly dodged the attack, but he noticed something amiss.

Thud...!

One of his teeth snapped loose and fell to the ground the moment he clenched his teeth. It seemed that the debuff from the Pirate King’s Curse had finally taken a toll on his dental health as well.

“You’ve got to be ki—”

Before Siegfried could even finish.

Whoosh!

Freydlief’s blade cut through the air, grazing dangerously close to Siegfried’s abdomen.

“...!”

The brief distraction caused by the loss of his tooth almost made Siegfried suffer a fatal injury. Fortunately, he jumped back just in time and managed to avoid getting cut into two.

However, his heart was racing as if it was trying to burst out of his chest.

“Running away like a rat, are you?” Freydlief sneered.

The Pirate King relentlessly pressed forward, swinging his blade in arcs to push Siegfried into a corner.

‘So you wanna play dirty?’ Siegfried growled inwardly, narrowing his eyes.

As the Debuff Master, Siegfried was a seasoned expert when it came to exploiting weaknesses. For someone to try and use debuffs against him? This was the ultimate provocation one could do to him.

‘Are you having fun showing off your petty tricks to a master?!’

Boom!

Siegfried used the shield form of his +15 Vanquisher's Grasp to shove Freydlief back, allowing him to break free from the relentless assault.

Now, it was time for him to launch his counterattack.

Fwaaaaah! Seuruk...!

He placed down both Blaze Field and Shadow Hell. The two debuffs engulfed the entire battlefield in the blink of an eye.

An eye for an eye.

A debuff for a debuff.

The Debuff Master, Siegfried, was about to teach Pirate King Freydlief what true debuffs looked like.

***

While Siegfried was busy fighting the Pirate King, Freydlief...

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Seung-Gu had his Iron Golems lined up along the beach and was firing volleys of cannonballs at the pirate ships. Things were already looking grim, as his ammunition was running dangerously low, but a new threat, the infamous Black Crown Pirates, suddenly appeared.

“Haha... We’re doomed...” Seung-Gu muttered, sounding defeated.

The appearance of the Black Crown Pirates made him want to give up.

These pirates were no average pirates. They were notorious seafarers who had perished centuries ago and had risen again from the depths of the waters as undead monsters.

An undead fleet.

Seung-Gu barely survived the battle against the combined forces of the Swordfish Pirates and the Great White Shark Pirates, so the arrival of this ghastly intimidating new opponent left him utterly despondent.

“And hyung-nim isn’t back yet...” Seung-Gu muttered.

Just as despair began to set in—

“Huh?”

He noticed something out of the corner of his eyes, and it was none other than Hamchi scampering away at full speed.

“Hey! Hamchi! Where are you going?!”

“Kyuuu! Hamchi is busy! Don’t talk to me, Seung-Gu!”

“What about hyung-nim? Where is he?”

“I said I’m busy! Shut up, baldie!”

“Huh?

“Hamchi has to help dumb owner punk! Stop talking!”

With that, Hamchi disappeared into the thick dense forested area nearby, leaving Seung-Gu completely bewildered.

“What was that all about...?”

Though confused, Seung-Gu figured that Hamchi had his reasons for scampering off. He shrugged his brief and bizarre encounter with Hamchi before turning his gaze back at the ominous fleet out in the sea.

***

Aboard the flagship of the Black Crown Pirates...

“Ah... How long has it been?”

The Captain of the Black Crown Pirates and the eternal rival of Pirate King Freydlief, Barbossa, inhaled deeply, savoring the salty fresh air. Of course, the word "fresh" was relative, as the air was thick with salt, the stench of fish, and the acrid scent of smoke and gunpowder.

Although reborn as an undead, Barbossa could not deny the bittersweet thrill of returning to the land of the living.

“Captain Barbossa!”

The Captain of the Great White Shark Pirates, Captain Joshua, crossed over to the flagship of the Black Crown Pirates and called out to the undead captain.

“So the legends were true! The Black Crown Pirates really were slumbering beneath the waves all this time!”

“Legends, you say?” Barbossa muttered. Then, he grimaced and growled, “A cursed legend, that is.”

“What...?”

“Chasing that damnable Freydlief across the seas for two months... and losing everything in the end.”

“Oh...”

“And you must be the one who made the contract, correct? Was it you who summoned me?” Barbossa asked, his gaze falling on the pocket watch clutched in Joshua’s hand.

“Yes, it was,” Joshua replied.

“I suppose you know what that entails?”

“Of course... I assume that you will grant my wish in exchange for my soul?”

“Granting wishes and taking souls... Such simplistic words hardly do it justice.”

“What do you mean by that?” Joshua raised a brow and asked.

“It’s... too complicated to explain right now,” Barbossa replied, evading the question as his lips curled into a sinister smile. Then, he thought, ‘Hehe... This foolish mortal dares to enter into a contract without understanding what he’s getting into?’

The truth was far worse than Joshua had imagined.

Through the pocket watch, the contract bound him to serve as a crewmate of the Black Crown Pirates. Even in death, he would become one of their undead crew members and would have to labor under the grim flag for eternity.

This was a pact far crueler than even the contract that demons used.

“Well then, what is your wish?”

“That accursed bastard and his wench! I want them to be wiped out! Sink them all to the depths, starting with that wretched woman. She’s Freydlief’s descendant, so this should be a request that piques your interest.”

“What? Freydlief’s descendant?”

Barbossa’s interest was indeed piqued.

He spent most of his life locked in a fierce rivalry with Freydlief. Time and time again, Barbossa was bested until his fleet was ultimately destroyed, sending him and his men to their graves in the depths of the waters.

The mention of Freydlief’s bloodline made his very bones rattle.

“That wench is Freydlief’s descendant!” Joshua exclaimed, gesturing toward the Medusa Pirates’ flagship in the distance.

“Hmm... so that bastard’s bloodline lives on... Freydlief’s descendant, eh? Hehehe...! Very well, I shall enjoy this immensely,” Barbossa said as his lips curled into a chilling grin.

“Then hurry up and destroy that wench! Slaughter her damned crew and leave no one standing!”

“Are you asking me to slaughter them all?”

“Not entirely! Once this battle is over, I will be crowned the Pirate King. If all the ships are sunk, what’s the point of being king? A victory without spoils is meaningless!” Joshua quickly clarified.

“Hmm...”

“So leave the ships intact, but butcher every last one of those bastards that follow that wench.”

“Fair enough. Consider your wish granted,” Barbossa said with a confident grin. Then, he turned to his undead crew and commanded, “Black Crown Pirates! Let the feast of blood begin! Tonight, we dine after centuries of hunger and famine!”

Wraaaaaagh!

With a thunderous roar, the undead pirates sprang into action, diving into the sea one after another.

Splash! Splash!

They dove beneath the waves and swam with inhuman speed, slicing through the waters like dolphins before shooting up from the waters with one powerful leap.

From there, they boarded Joshua’s seized pirate ships and clashed head-on with the formidable Nordic Marines in melee combat.

“You filthy bastards!” Lionbreath cursed as he cut through the undead horde swarming him.

This battle was nothing short of cruel.

Victory seemed to be within reach, only for the tide to turn again in the blink of an eye.

A repetition of upsets and reversals.

The outcome hung in the balance, making it impossible to predict.

***

‘Strike while the iron is hot!’

As soon as Siegfried placed down both Blaze Field and Shadow Hell, he launched himself at Pirate King Freydlief.

[Alert: Scurvy x12!]

[Alert: The debuff effects of Scurvy have gotten stronger!]

[Alert: Scurvy x13!]

[Alert: The debuff effects of Scurvy have gotten stronger!]

The Pirate King’s Curse stacked over time like a spreading plague, and this made it crucial for Siegfried to end the battle as quickly as possible.

Knowing this all too well, Siegfried was determined to pour everything he had into defeating Freydlief.

Wooong!

Siegfried activated Seal Damage, a debuff skill designed to weaken his enemy’s attack power and minimize the damage he'd take against the target. Then, he used Elemental Shower, a skill that shredded his enemy’s Elemental Resistance.

Since Freydlief was a ghost-type enemy, lowering his resistance to light attribute was the ideal strategy.

“Out of my way!” Freydlief bellowed in rage, his voice reverberating like a storm.

Siegfried’s summoned creatures, the Blaze Hydras, Frost Hydras, and Night Stalkers, relentlessly harassed the Pirate King with their breath attacks and restraints.

“Grraaaagh!”

The Pirate King struggled desperately to escape the hellish barrage from the summoned creatures, only to find himself sinking deeper into the quagmire.

But this was just the beginning...

Flash!

Siegfried unleashed Absolute Zero, freezing Freydlief on the spot.

Of course, Freydlief was a high-level ghost-type boss monster, so he was not frozen entirely solid. However, his Movement Speed slowed to a near crawl, rendering him almost immobile.

“You! Curse you...!”

Freydlief’s figure turned from a bluish hue to a dark crimson hue.

Berserk Mode.

This was a pattern commonly seen in high-tier monsters. The monsters would go into a frenzied state at the brink of desperation, changing their attack patterns along with an explosive increase in their stats.

“How dare you...!”

Just as Freydlief was about to enter his berserk state—

Wooong!

Siegfried unleashed Wave of Truth, a skill that nullifies the enemy’s buffs. The debuff suppressed Freydlief’s berserk mode.

“Argh!” Freydlief roared in frustration and hurriedly attempted to retaliate with one of his skills, but it was nothing more than wishful thinking.

Rumble!

Siegfried immediately unleashed Wave of Oppression, interrupting Freydlief’s skill.

“...!”

With his berserk mode sealed and his abilities interrupted, Freydlief’s face turned ghastly pale.

“T-To think... such a filthy and underhanded scoundrel actually exists in this world...!”

In the end, even the Pirate King uttered the words "filthy" and "underhanded" upon getting a taste of what the Debuff Master was capable of.

Heh. A triumphant grin crept across Siegfried’s lips as he thought, ‘Of course, I’m filthier and more underhanded than you. That’s who I am.’

Siegfried's chest swelled with pride upon getting called "filthy" and "underhanded." For him, those words were the highest form of praise he could ever receive from his opponents.