Debuff Master-Chapter 1196

The final phantom said nothing upon making his appearance.

He was wearing clothes with long, fluttering sleeves, and a silver mask covered his face. Even though he was from ancient times, it was hard to think that his outfit was that of a warrior.

‘What is this guy supposed to be?’ Siegfried wondered.

He flashed his Rune of Insight to examine the one hundredth phantom of the Grave of Swords dungeon.

[Murder Artist Bremeni]

[The one who controls the phantoms in the Grave of Swords.]

[He was an infamous serial killer during his lifetime. Others perceived him as not a living being, but as an evil spirit in the form of a person.]

[It is said that he committed countless atrocities in the ancient era, making him an object of fear for many.]

[Type: NPC]

[Race: Undead]

[Level: 650]

[Class: Blood Blade Performer]

[Warning: Bremeni possesses a peculiar supernatural ability, so extreme caution is advised when facing him.]

‘What kind of ability does he have?’ Siegfried wondered.

However, he waved the thought away after a while. He would find out soon enough anyway, so there was no need for him to wonder about it now. After all, seeing was believing, and the best way was to clash head-on and force the Murder Artist into using his abilities.

‘Strike first!’

Siegfried gripped his +10 Sky Piercer and charged at Bremeni, but...

Siegfried lost his balance and nearly collapsed to the ground. He barely managed to steady himself by using his spear as a crutch.

‘What the hell was that?’

He had no clue why he suddenly lost his balance.

‘What’s happening to me—?’

Kwachik!

Something suddenly gripped Siegfried’s right arm and began pulling it outward.

And that was the beginning...

Chwak! Chwak! Chwak!

An unknown force pulled on his left arm and both legs, too.

“A-Argh...!”

Siegfried tried to resist the unknown force, but it was not easy.

Even though his physical strength had long surpassed the realm of superhumans, this mysterious force was even stronger than him.

‘What in the world—?!’

And then—

Screech! Screech!

Small yet visible scratches began to appear on the Invincible Emperor’s Might Armor Set.

“...!”

Siegfried was shocked at the sight. The Invincible Emperor’s Might Armor Set was incredibly durable. It was so durable that even the swarm of Goblin Suicide Bombers failed to even scratch it.

And yet, scratches were appearing on it, and they were wearing the armor set down.

This could only mean that something absurdly sharp was cutting through it right now.

‘Could it be... those threads were the weapon?’

As soon as that thought flashed through Siegfried’s mind...

Swoosh!

Murder Artist Bremeni suddenly appeared behind Siegfried. Then, he used the silver threads so thin they were almost invisible to the eye and lopped them around Siegfried’s neck.

Kwachik!

“G-Ghhhk!” Siegfried groaned as a sharp force tightened around his neck. At the same time, a thin red line appeared on his neck, and blood began to seep out of it.

The sharpness of these threads was truly shocking.

Siegfried was a Grandmaster and possessed skin that was flexible yet incredibly tough. His skin was so hard that it couldn't be cut even with a sharp blade crafted by a Master Blacksmith.

And yet he was bleeding from mere threads?

This could only mean that the sharpness and tensile strength of Bremeni’s threads were extremely strong.

C-Chwaaak!

The threads squeezed his neck even harder.

“G-Ghhhk!”

At this rate, Siegfried had to start worrying about having his head severed from his neck rather than suffocating to death.

Flash!

Siegfried immediately used Absolute Zero, unleashing a freezing aura. This was the perfect move for his current situation, as Bremeni was clinging so close to him.

“...!”

Bremeni was caught off guard by the sudden burst of freezing aura that froze him while he was in the midst of strangling Siegfried to death, but it lasted only for a moment.

As expected of the boss monster of an Ancient Dungeon, Bremeni broke free from the freezing effects of Absolute Zero almost immediately.

Most boss monsters possessed resistance to status ailments inflicted by Adventurers, so it was dangerous to let one’s guard down just because they were afflicted with a crowd control skill.

However, even that split second of respite was more than enough time for someone of Siegfried’s caliber.

Poof!

He quickly used his teleportation skill to break free from the restraint. Then, he gripped his +10 Sky Piercer and steadied himself.

‘This damn bastard...’

He focused his vision and was surprised at the sight before him.

Countless fine silver threads that were almost invisible to the naked eye had spread out like a spiderweb with Bremeni at the center.

‘I’m dead if I go in there again,’ Siegfried thought.

He realized that those silver threads would entangle and bind him once again.

Not only that, they could also cut through his armor and cut his body to shreds.

If that was the case...

‘I’ll just have to cut through them.’

Siegfried swung his +10 Sky Piercer with great force.

Woosh!

Chwaaak!

Channeling his Primordial Force into his spear, he unleashed Heaven and Earth Cleaving Blade at the silver web before him, but...

Ting! Ting!

Shockingly, the web of silver threads withstood even the destructive might of Heaven and Earth Cleaving Blade, which was Betelgeuse's secret technique that could cut through almost anything.

In other words, the tensile strength of Bremeni’s threads was so great that cutting through them proved to be impossible.

Whoosh!

Bremeni tilted his head about forty-five degrees to the left with his gaze fixed on Siegfried.

For the first time in a long while, a chill ran down Siegfried’s spine.

He was not scared of Bremeni’s power or the tensile strength of his threads. What scared him was the Murder Artist’s behavior that resembled a psychopathic serial killer straight out of a horror movie.

‘T-This bastard is seriously creepy...’ Siegfried thought.

Shwiiiiik!

Silver threads shot out from Bremeni and spread outward, blanketing the entire Grave of Swords. Then, all of the weapons impaled in the ground, which were the ones that had housed the phantoms Siegfried had already defeated, floated into the air.

“Eh?” Siegfried muttered with his eyes widened.

The weapons floated into the air, and the phantoms he had already defeated resurrected one by one.

With their weapons in hand, they began advancing toward Siegfried. Each of the phantoms had silver threads attached to their bodies, and these threads connected all the way back to Bremeni.

In other words, Bremeni was controlling the dead with his silver threads. The Murder Artist’s skill that Siegfried had been warned of, Phantom Puppetry, had been activated.

***

Meanwhile, the massive storm unleashed by the Hill of Storms dungeon was sweeping across the Marchioni Empire’s territory.

It traveled from south to north, dealing catastrophic damage to the empire.

Large and small cities alike were swept up by the raging winds, resulting not only in tens of millions of deaths but also in property damage that was far too astronomical to even calculate.

The storm was nothing short of a great calamity.

Unfortunately, there was no sign of the storm subsiding anytime soon.

Normally, these kinds of natural calamities would persist for a time before dissipating, but this one was different.

To begin with, it was not a storm formed through natural means, so it was not going to vanish naturally.

Even worse, the storm only continued to grow larger and destroyed everything as far as its raging winds could reach.

The mighty Marchioni Empire could do nothing but stand by helplessly as the unprecedented calamity unfolded before them.

Even the so-called most powerful army in the world, the Imperial Army of the Marchioni Empire, was helpless before the wrath of nature.

Though they possessed the might to invade other planets and colonize them, stopping a natural disaster was outright impossible.

The storm’s destructive force was so overwhelming that it reduced cities to ruins in an instant and erased them without a trace.

In other words, the storm destroyed everything in its path so completely that there was no point in even conducting any rescue efforts.

The Imperial Army was utterly powerless against this formless foe.

Emperor Stuttgart immediately convened a council upon receiving the report and asked his ministers.

“Is there truly no way to stop it?”

The emergency meeting to discuss countermeasures was necessary, as the storm was currently heading northbound. At the storm’s current trajectory, it was only a matter of time before it would reach the Marchioni Empire’s capital city.

“...”

None of those present in the emergency meeting could answer the emperor’s question.

Their silence was only natural, as there was simply no way to stop a colossal storm of this scale.

Other than building an altar and praying to the gods above, there was nothing else they could do.

At that moment, Duke Neighdelberg stepped forward.

“If I may, sire. That storm was generated by a rampaging dungeon. Therefore, I believe that it is impossible to make it disappear.” 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

“Then are you proposing that we abandon the capital and evacuate?”

“If the worst comes to pass, I am afraid that would be our only choice. But surely, we cannot give up so easily on our grand empire’s capital.”

“What is it you wish to propose?”

“We should summon all the magicians of our great empire and alter the course of the storm.”

“Alter the course of the storm...”

“There is no time to lose, sire. If the storm continues its northward march without weakening, then it will reach our imperial palace within a week’s time. We must decide swiftly.”

“...You have my permission.”

In the end, Emperor Stuttgart had no choice but to accept the duke’s proposal.

The typhoon was advancing northward at a terrifying speed, so every second was precious.

They would have to abandon the capital city and flee once the storm came knocking on their gates, so even if the duke’s proposal failed, it was still worth a shot.

With that thought in mind, Emperor Stuttgart decided it was better to attempt it quickly rather than waste time sitting on the matter.

***

The Marchioni Empire began preparations to alter the course of the storm. As expected of such a grand and mighty empire, it did not take long for them to finish their preparations.

The Marchioni Empire was a grand empire with an enormous population, so it possessed a huge population of magicians.

Thus, it was not unusual for them to mobilize tens of thousands of magicians on a moment’s notice.

In total, fifty thousand magicians immediately responded to the summons and gathered on a plain at the location where the typhoon was expected to strike.

They began drawing a massive magic circle designed to alter the course of the storm.

In addition, thousands of high-grade magic stones were unsparingly provided to supply the mana required to activate the massive magic circle.

Bzzt! Bzzzzt!

In only ten hours, the massive magic circle was complete.

This was the might of the Marchioni Empire. Other nations would take a lifetime to complete a magic circle of this scale, yet the Marchioni Empire managed to draw it in just ten hours.

Thus, the operation named the Great Marchioni Operation was ready.

Soon after, the destructive storm finally made its appearance on the horizon.

“Kzzaargh... Ashto Fillgahr...”

“Se’tia Alore... Kumgiva Kzarghashto...”

“Azkili ra’a...”

“Kzzaargha Filigahri!”

The magicians of the Marchioni Empire chanted their incantations until the very last moment and unsparingly poured their mana into the magic circle.

Then, once the storm was near enough, they activated the spell to alter its course.

Immediately afterward, the magicians teleported away to safety.

At last, the storm arrived at the plains.

Bzzt! Bzzt!

The magic circle triggered, releasing an amount of energy.

Flash!

With a blinding flash, the magic circle unleashed a pillar of light.

The pillar of light soared into the heavens, piercing the clouds and breaching the skies.

The magic circle’s might was visible even from hundreds of kilometers away.

And then...

Whoooooosh!

The storm that had been advancing northward changed directions.

The Great Marchioni Operation was a great success.

Thanks to it, the storm that had been heading toward the imperial capital abruptly changed course westward.

It would continue westward from here on out, bringing it far away from the imperial capital of the Marchioni Empire.

Of course, the storm had not vanished at all. It merely changed its course, which meant that the cities west of the imperial capital—both large and small alike—were certain to be decimated by it.

However, the Marchioni Empire judged that this was a necessary evil. Even if presented with the same choice a hundred times, they would always choose the imperial capital’s well-being over the other cities.

However, that wasn't all..

The storm’s new course to the west meant that not only the cities within the territory of the Marchioni Empire would be destroyed.

If the storm continued heading westward, then it was eventually going to reach the borders of the Proatine Empire. Once there, it would only be a matter of time before it reached the Proatine Empire’s capital city—Preussen.