Debuff Master
Chapter 933

Chapter 933

The situation was far from good.

Siegfried had yet to finish preparations to stop the Blue Knight of Death. If the knight were allowed to break free from the Northern Dimensional Rift, then it would be the end of the world.

With no way to stop it, death would sweep across the world.

‘Damn it... Of all times, why now...?’ Siegfried bit his lower lip.

Then, he turned to the messenger and said, “Tell them I’ll be there soon. I need to stop by Lord Quandt’s workshop first.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

The messenger immediately sprinted away at full speed to deliver Siegfried’s message to Cheon Woo-Jin.

Siegfried made his way to Quandt’s workshop, but Brunhilde’s new weapon was still incomplete.

“It should be finished by tonight,” Quandt said.

“I see... What about the Robe of the Dead?”

“It’s still being produced. Why do you ask?”

“We have a problem,” Siegfried said. Then, he proceeded to share the report he had received earlier.

“Hah! Damn it... We're already pushing ourselves day and night... All we needed was a bit more time,” Quandt lamented.

“There’s no helping it. For now, we can only hope that the Blue Knight of Death won’t appear this time,” Siegfried said, his expression darkening.

“Haa...”

“Anyway, I understand. But I’d appreciate it if you could speed up the process, just in case we might need it.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I will do my best.”

With that, Siegfried left Quandt’s workshop and immediately stepped into the warp gate to head for the Northern Great Rift.

Destroying the Holy Sword: Phoenix was important, but dealing with what could annihilate all life on the continent took priority.

***

Siegfried found a horde of high-level Adventurers gathered in front of the Northern Great Rift.

Of course, it wasn't just Adventurers who were gathered there.

“Pasta! Tasty pasta!”

“Potions at a bargain price! Don’t miss you!”

“Repairs! Get your gear repaired for cheap!”

NPC merchants were bound to gather like flies wherever Adventurers gathered.

“Tsk... These bastards...” Siegfried ground his teeth at the sight, cracking his knuckles.

“Who the hell permitted them to sell here?! Kyuuuu!” Hamchi growled while glaring at the merchants.

They had a reason to be angry at them, as there was a high probability that some of these NPC merchants were Dragon Slayers in disguise.

Siegfried had experienced their tricks back at the Eastern Great Rift where he had captured seven of them disguised as merchants. Well, he killed every last one of them and collected a hefty gold reward from the dragons.

Of course, he offered a formal apology to those who did not turn out to be a Dragon Slayer and compensated them generously.

He knew that it would not be different this time.

The Dragon Slayers were likely disguised among the NPC merchants, and they would strike once the dragons were here to stop the Blue Knight of Death.

“Hey! Han Tae-Sung!”

Just then, Cheon Woo-Jin called out after spotting Siegfried.

“Hold on a second,” Siegfried replied.

Then, he transformed his +16 Vanquisher’s Grasp into a baseball bat and stomped his way toward the merchants, smashing their stalls and flipping their tables over.

“Who the hell gave you permission to set up shop here, huh?!”

“Kyaaaak! You wanna die?! Who said you could do business here?!”

Siegfried and Hamchi harassed the merchants, intimidating them with scary faces.

“Hey! What the hell are you doing, Han Tae-Sung?!”

Cheon Woo-Jin and several other Adventurers rushed over, trying to hold Siegfried back.

“Don’t stop me! They’re all in cahoots!”

“What do you mean by that?”

“There are spies among them. Some of these bastards are working for the angels...” Siegfried explained the situation.

“Oh...” Cheon Woo-Jin muttered, understanding the situation. Then, he and the other Adventurers joined in to round up the NPCs.

Once the commotion settled—

“Take them all to the Proatine Kingdom.”

With the help of the others, Siegfried easily rounded up the NPCs. He handed them over to the Proatine Kingdom’s soldiers before finally turning his attention to the Northern Great Rift.

There, he unexpectedly reunited with Beowulf.

“Oh! Hello!” Siegfried greeted with a smile.

“Ah, hi, Siegfried,” Beowulf greeted with a warm smile.

It had nearly been a year and a half since they last met.

And in that time—

‘E-Eh?! L-Level 449?!’ Siegfried was floored after checking Beowulf’s level.

He was now on the verge of becoming a Grandmaster.

However, this was not exactly shocking. Beowulf was already a Master back when Siegfried was barely around Level 200, so reaching Level 449 in a year and a half was not out of the question.

‘It’s fine. I can catch up if I work hard from now on.’ Siegfried wasn't discouraged at all.

After all, Beowulf likely hit a wall and was unable to advance further.

Breaking through the wall and reaching the realm of Master at Level 299 was already difficult enough, but breaking through another wall at Level 449?

It was likely easier to pluck a star from the sky.

“Oh? You've become a Master, too? Congratulations, Siegfried,” Beowulf said, congratulating him with genuine sincerity.

“Thank you. I see you have gotten stronger, too.”

“Not really.

Siegfried suddenly remembered that he had to tell Beowulf something.

“Oh right, so... about this...”

He reached into his inventory and pulled out the Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance.

“The Inzaghi’s Map you lent me last time... it ended up fusing with my other items and turned into this...”

“Ah, that's fine,” Beowulf replied with a nod.

“Huh...?” Siegfried blinked in surprise.

“I do not need that item anymore.”

“What do you mean by—”

“Here, take a look at this,” Beowulf said before sharing his skill’s details.

[Absolute Sense: Killing Intent Detection]

[Detects hidden enemies and traps.]

[Can vaguely sense the location of boss monsters.]

“Oh?” Siegfried was impressed after reading the description of the skill.

It was not on the same level as Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance, but there was no denying that it was an insanely overpowered skill.

“Anyway, you can keep it. Consider it a gift.”

“Seriously? Wow! Thank you so much!”

Siegfried bowed his head in sincere gratitude, as the Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance was an extremely useful item.

“I will make sure to repay you someday.”

“Ah, no need to worry about it.”

“No, I insist. If there is anything I can do to help, just say the word. No need to hesitate at all. I will do whatever I can to help.”

Siegfried was not the type to only return favors when he was forced to do so. He believed in paying back kindness with kindness, so if Beowful ever needed his help, he would help without hesitation.

“Well then, if you insist... I will keep that in mind. I will let you know if anything comes up,” Beowulf said with a smile.

“All right, enough chit-chat. We need to start the dungeon raid. Every second counts right now,” Cheon Woo-Jin cut in.

“Agreed. Let’s move,” Siegfried said with a nod.

They could always continue their conversation inside the dungeon. Right now, clearing the dungeon was their utmost priority.

***

“How many dungeons have opened in total?” Siegfried asked.

“One,” Cheon Woo-Jin replied.

“Is there a limit on the number of participants?”

“No, there’s no limit.”

“Oh? Really?”

“Don’t ask me. Just see for yourself.”

Cheon Woo-Jin gestured toward the Northern Great Rift, which was turning bright red.

Siegfried flashed his Rune of Insight at the Northern Great Rift.

[Death’s Carnival]

[An anonymous swordsman once said, “death is as natural as breathing. It is always by my side.”]

[In this city of death, where not a single living creature can be found, a festival is being held to commemorate the deceased.]

[Type: Special Dungeon]

[Time Limit: 120 hours]

[Entry Limit: None]

[Warning: This dungeon is overflowing with death. Even the smallest mistake may lead to your demise. Extreme caution is advised.]

“Hmm...”

Siegfried was certain that this was the perfect dungeon for the Blue Knight of Death to appear as the final boss.

“Is the boss the Blue Knight of Death?” Siegfried asked.

“Who knows? He only appeared after we defeated the boss last time,” Cheon Woo-Jin replied with a shrug.

“But what the hell are the conditions for them to appear?”

“Beats me, man. There’s not enough data to figure it out.”

So far, they had only been successful in calming a rampaging dungeon once.

This meant that they didn't have enough runs to draw any reliable conclusion.

“Makes sense. I guess there’s no point worrying about it. We will just have to go and figure it out.”

“Yeah, exactly.”

“Tell everyone to gather up.”

“On it.”

With that, Siegfried, Cheon Woo-Jin, Beowulf, and the Adventurers prepared to raid the Death’s Carnival dungeon.

They didn't jump in immediately.

The dungeon had a staggering one hundred twenty hours time limit, meaning they had a lot of time to prepare. Since anything could happen inside, they decided to stock up on various potions and food supplies.

On top of that, they prepared a portable forge, as equipment durability was another key concern in such dungeons.

When it came to equipment, Yong Seol-Hwa was an invaluable ally, as her portable forge could repair equipment faster than most blacksmiths and at a fraction of the cost.

About thirty minutes later...

“All right, time to move out!”

Siegfried and his party stepped into the Death’s Carnival dungeon.

Ding!

The moment they entered, a message popped up before Siegfried’s eyes.

[Alert: You have been cursed by Lurking Death!]

[Lurking Death]

[There are many causes of death.]

[This curse amplifies them all.]

[You are now extremely susceptible to death!]

[Effect: +250% Increased Chance of Sudden Death.]

[Note: The curse’s effects are drastically weaker for those with high Luck stats.]

The Lurking Death curse was terrifying, but Siegfried was unaffected by it.

After all, he had not one but two artifacts that raised his luck, the Lucky Guy Earrings, which boosted his luck to the point where the curse’s effects were practically nullified.

“Wear this, Hamchi.”

“Kyu?”

“You might drop dead otherwise, so put it on.”

“Kyuuu! Got it!”

Siegfried handed one of his Lucky Guy Earrings to Hamchi before scanning his surroundings.

“Huh?”

He noticed something strange just then. The more than two thousand Adventurers that entered the dungeon seemed to have been reduced to a tenth of their original numbers.

Even key members like Cheon Woo-Jin, Beowulf, Yong Seol-Hwa, Seung-Gu, Gosran, Yong Tae-Pung, and Daytona were nowhere to be seen.

“We’ve been split up... Tsk,” Siegfried clicked his tongue after realizing what had happened. However, this was not particularly unusual. Special dungeons often separated people upon entry, and they could even appear in different timelines.

“All right, everyone. Don’t panic and move carefully,” Siegfried maintained his composure and addressed the Adventurers with him.

He took charge and led the Adventurers forward.

The Death’s Carnival was a massive dungeon that resembled a ruined gray city. It was so vast that even Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance couldn’t map out the entire area.

Thus, Siegfried decided to head toward the city’s center and led his group in that direction.

It was then.

“A-A-Achoo!”

One of the Adventurers sneezed.

And then—

Thud!

He collapsed on the spot. His eyes rolled back into his skull as he violently convulsed on the ground.

“W-What the hell happened to him?!”

“Heal! We need a healer, now!”

“Is it an enemy?!”

The Adventurers rushed to perform emergency first aid on the collapsed Adventurer.

Unfortunately, it was all in vain.

“Ugh...”

With a groan, the Adventurer went limp as he breathed his last and died.

Sudden Death.

The Adventurer died from sneezing.