Debuff Master-Chapter 1192

"So you were just depending on your item this whole time?"

Siegfried looked down at the flailing Goblin Emperor with cold disdain.

He thought that Godiac would be a terrifying monster on a whole different level compared to most monsters. After all, the Goblin Emperor was one of the ancient monsters imprisoned in Purgatory, so surely he had to be terrifyingly powerful.

Contrary to his expectations, Godiac turned out to be nothing more than an ordinary goblin found in the Ancient Dungeon. While he was annoying to fight, he was far from terrifyingly powerful.

Of course, being an ordinary goblin meant that he was still absurdly strong, but without his staff, he was not powerful enough to be considered a boss monster.

"Ki-Kiiiiiek! Kihit! Kihit! M-My staffsh! Return it at once!" Godiac shrieked, demanding the return of his staff.

"Just shut up and die," Siegfried grumbled in retort.

Shwiiiik! Baaam!

C-Crack!

Siegfried swung the shaft of his +10 Sky Piercer down on the Goblin Emperor's skull.

Godiac couldn't avoid the attack, as he couldn't even steady himself due to the curse cast by the Staff of Confusion. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Still, as a boss monster of the dungeon, he was annoyingly tough and was not going to fall so easily. His monstrous vitality meant that most attacks would not even bring him down to critical levels, as he possessed rows and rows of HP bars.

However, Siegfried shaved away chunks of the Goblin Emperor's HP with every swing of his weapon, not because he was that powerful, but because of the +10 Sky Piercer's special effect.

The Sky Piercer had a rare effect that reduced the target's HP by thirty percent. Thus, Siegfried could shave away chunks of Godiac's HP even with just basic attacks. After the relentless barrage of attacks, the Goblin Emperor only had a sliver of HP remaining.

Shwiiiiik!

Puuuuk!

Siegfried thrust his +10 Sky Piercer, piercing the Goblin Emperor's skull.

"Kwiiiieeek!"

With a final shriek, the Goblin Emperor collapsed to the ground.

Thud!

His lifeless corpse sprawled on the ground, never to rise again.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

From Godiac's remains, a mountain of loot burst out.

Pouches stuffed with gold, treasure chests, Relic items, Legendary items, and a plethora of other valuable things ended up dropping to the floor.

‘Oh? Is it because he was a golden goblin?' Siegfried wondered.

Apparently, the Goblin Emperor had been hoarding unimaginable riches.

‘I guess I hit the jackpot,' Siegfried thought with a grin.

Without hesitation, Siegfried summoned the Three-Legged Crow and commanded it to sweep up every last item dropped by the Goblin Emperor.

[Alert: You have obtained Pouch of Gold!]

[Alert: You have obtained Pouch of Gold!]

[Alert: You have obtained Relic: Jar of Nothingness!]

[Alert: You have obtained Legendary: Finger Swag!]

[Alert: You have obtained Treasure Chest!]

(omitted...)

[Alert: You have obtained Pouch of Gold!]

Siegfried waved the notifications away, and the notifications that he had been waiting for finally popped up.

[Alert: You have defeated the Goblin Emperor, Godiac!]

[Alert: You have completed the Quest — Fall of the Empire!]

[Alert: You have leveled up!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 517!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 518!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 519!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 520!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 521!]

Just like that, Siegfried cleared the Ancient Goblin Empire dungeon and leveled up five times in one go.

‘Oh?'

He immediately invested all of his newly-gained skill points into Nine Steps to Invincibility.

[Alert: Nine Steps to Invincibility has leveled up!]

[Alert: Skill name has changed to Eight Steps to Invincibility!]

He could instantly kill his opponent after hitting them eight times. The skill—originally named Ten Steps to Invincibility—required ten hits to trigger the instant kill effect, but he managed to reduce the required number of hits by two.

In a battle against those who stood at the pinnacle, a single extra attack was often the difference between life and death, victory and defeat.

This was more than just an ordinary skill leveling up. It was a huge leap in Siegfried's powers.

‘I need to keep grinding and leveling up. I need to gain more skill points and bring down the required hits even more,' Siegfried thought, clenching his +10 Sky Piercer. He had no plans on slowing down until he had evolved the Eight Steps to Invincibility into its final form—Invincibility.

One single strike.

Siegfried wanted to reach the realm where he could kill his opponent in a single blow, the ultimate realm of Invincibility.

***

The Ancient Goblin Empire dungeon ended with Siegfried's one-man show.

"Good work, everyone. Rest up for today. We will meet again tomorrow and raid a different dungeon."

He dismissed his comrades and planned to log out himself. He desperately wanted to get some much-needed rest, as nearly soloing the entire dungeon had left him mentally exhausted.

‘I'm going Ancient Dungeon hopping from tomorrow onward,' he thought.

He planned to sweep through every single Ancient Dungeon within the Proatine Empire's borders until not a single one remained.

These Ancient Dungeons were like ticking time bombs, so leaving a single one of them was far too dangerous.

Siegfried could always just ask Michele to hand out quests to the Adventurers to clear the Ancient Dungeons on the Proatine Empire's behalf, but entrusting the fate of the empire to such uncertain hands was nothing short of reckless.

If even a single one of these Ancient Dungeons were to rampage and spiral out of control, then the fallout would be catastrophic. Thus, Siegfried resolved to personally clear every single one of them—at least within the Proatine Empire's territory.

Of course, the Ancient Dungeons also served as excellent hunting grounds for him to level up and prepare for his inevitable rematch against Lee Geon.

With that, he logged out, slept like a log, woke up the next day, and logged into the game.

Before heading off to another Ancient Dungeon, he stopped by the imperial palace to handle some administrative affairs.

The first thing reported to him was the fact that Ninetail had finally cracked the secret document of the Machioni Empire.

"...Those bastards are insane," Siegfried muttered as he read the decrypted report of the Marchioni Empire plotting to wipe out the Adventurers entirely.

Of course, he didn't believe that it was possible.

How could NPCs erase all of the players from the game? At worst, they could imprison their characters, locking them out from the game, but permanent deletion was a whole different matter.

Forcibly deleting a player's account was something beyond the powers of an NPC—no matter how powerful they were.

‘What the hell are they plotting...?' Siegfried wondered.

At that moment, Michele stepped forward and said, "Since we have no idea how they are planning to execute such a thing, I have ordered Director Ninetail to continue digging for information."

"Good job. Keep searching until we know what they're going to do. Knowing their intention is one thing, but knowing how they plan to achieve it is a whole different matter. We have to know their plan in order to stop them," Siegfried said.

"As you command, sire."

"What about our fleet? How's the progress going?"

"Our engineers and the Corals experts are working on them in secret. Five vessels have begun production, and they are estimated to be completed in a few months' time."

"Good," Siegfried said, nodding in satisfaction. Then, he said, "And keep our troops sharp. I want every soldier ready for battle at a moment's notice."

"As you command, sire," Michele replied with a bow. Then, he asked carefully, "Also... What does your Imperial Majesty plan to do with Princess Irene...?"

"Ah..."

"Her loyalty lies with the Marchioni Empire without question. At best, she's a spy. At worst, she's a ticking time bomb. Should a war break out with the Marchioni Empire tomorrow, her Eighth Corps would cause absolute devastation under her command."

The Eighth Corps of the Marchioni Empire still lingered within the Proatine Empire's borders, and they were no different than a knife pointed straight at the empire's throat.

The Proatine Empire had not made any move against them to avoid raising any suspicion, but it was clear as day that the Marchioni Empire had deliberately stationed them within the Proatine Empire in order to deal a critical strike when needed.

"Princess Irene could be feeding them intel as we speak," Michele warned in a grave tone.

"I will handle it," Siegfried replied.

"Will you confront her personally?" Michele asked, raising a brow.

"I must," Siegfried replied with a shrug. Then, he said, "Summon Oscar."

"As you command, sire."

With that, Siegfried resolved to meet with the half-sister of Emperor Stuttgart, Irene von Posteriore.

Just as Michele had warned, Siegfried could no longer allow her to freely linger within the Proatine Empire anymore.

***

The half-sister of Emperor Stuttgart of the Marchioni Empire, Princess Irene von Posteriore, had been constantly stirring up trouble in Preussen, the capital city of the Proatine Empire.

Irene found her life in the palace intolerably dull. She was not the type who could sit still, as her sadistic, destructive nature made it difficult for her not to cause any problems.

If there were at least a war going on, then she would be able to vent her frustrations by leading the Marchioni Empire's Eight Corps into battle and rampaging to her heart's content.

Unfortunately, this was a time of peace, which meant she was left restless and frustrated. However, the worst part was that Siegfried rarely came to see her, and it stung more than she wanted to admit.

Tact that she couldn't rampage to her heart's content within the imperial palace further fueled the frustration in her.

The Proatine Empire's imperial palace was crawling with terrifyingly strong individuals who could easily keep her in check.

Hence, she would slip out to the city whenever she could. She would brawl in taverns, bully merchants in the shopping districts, or block roads just because she felt like it.

The citizens of Preussen were forced to live daily in fear of her tantrums.

There was nothing they could do about her, as Irene was a princess of the mighty Marchioni Empire. Her rank meant that she was basically untouchable, so all the people could do was scatter in fear whenever she appeared in the city.

However, Irene had not left her chambers today.

"Ughh... I feel like my head is going to split open..." she groaned, clutching her head.

Her binge drinking at an elite salon the night before had given her a brutal hangover.

With such a hangover, she did not feel like rampaging today and just wanted to stay in bed the whole day as if she were paralyzed.

Just then, she was freed from her paralysis, as her maidservant entered her room and said, "Please get dressed, Your Highness. His Imperial Majesty has requested an audience with you."

"W-What?! W-Why so suddenly?!"

"I am not aware of his intentions, but it is as I say, Your Highness."

"W-Wait! T-Tell him to wait just a minute! No! Maids! Get in here—NOW!"

Irene rushed to get ready. She took a shower, put on some makeup, got dressed, and even got her hair done, all while Siegfried waited outside the entire time.

At long last, the doors opened.

"Long time no see, Your Highness." Siegfried greeted with a slight bow. Then, he grumbled inwardly, ‘Ah, damn it... I had to wait two hours just to see her? I don't give a damn whether she's barefaced or dolled up.'

He was not interested in Irene at all, so he couldn't give a damn whether she was all dressed up or not, and the fact that he wasted two full hours just to see her was quite annoying already.

"What brings you here all of a sudden?" Irene asked, seemingly sulking.

"I wanted to see Your Highness," Siegfried replied.

"You ignored me for weeks, yet now you suddenly want to see me?"

At this point, Irene was not even trying to hide how she felt, as she pouted openly to show how upset she had been feeling so far.

‘I think she doesn't harbor any malice toward me...' Siegfried thought, studying her.

However, he couldn't afford to drop his guard around her.

Why?

It was all because the Marchioni Empire could weaponize her against the Proatine Empire at any given moment. Regardless of how Irene felt, there was no room for personal feelings in such a high-stakes game like this.

"But..." Irene muttered, her gaze shifting to the person beside Siegfried. Then, she grimaced and asked, "...Why is she here?"

"I have come under His Imperial Majesty's commands," Oscar replied in a stiff tone.

Oscar was not fond of Irene—at all.

She had read every report of her reckless behavior in Preussen, so to her, Irene was nothing more than a huge liability dumped on them and an enemy princess.

"Can't you read the room? I'd prefer if you leave us," Irene said with venom in her voice.

"Dame Oscar."

"Yes, Your Imperial Majesty."

"Verify her."

"As you command, sire!"

Shiiiing!

Oscar drew her Sword of Truth: Fragarach and pressed its cold blade against Irene's throat.

"W-What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Irene shouted.

"I implore you not to move, Your Highness. This sword does not merely force the truth out of you—it can sever your neck cleanly, too."

"Y-You insolent wench...! When my brother hears of this treachery, he will—!"

Oscar pressed the cold blade harder against her neck, causing a thin line of blood to form.

"Argh...!" Irene groaned and grimaced. The feeling of having a cold blade pressed against her neck instantly silenced her threats.

"Please answer the question I am about to ask you, Your Highness," Oscar said firmly.

"Y-You...!" Irene snarled, trembling in anger.

"Have you gathered any intelligence for the Marchioni Empire while being a guest in our empire?" Oscar asked.