Debuff Master-Chapter 1197

The redirection of the storm was the Marchioni Empire’s way of throwing shit at the Proatine Empire, but this shit would, without a doubt, prove to be the decisive blow.

The diverted storm would move westward and sweep up everything in its path, which included the Proatine Empire.

Once regarded as the rising star on the continent that developed into a great nation in such a short time, the Proatine Empire would be sent back to the Stone Age after getting hit by this massive storm.

This was a tremendous opportunity for the Marchioni Empire, as they had been seeking an opportunity to annihilate the Proatine Empire. In other words, this storm was truly a blessing in disguise for them.

If the diverted storm obliterated the Proatine Empire, then the Marchioni Empire would achieve its goals without lifting a single finger.

There would be no need to wage war against the Proatine Empire, and their goals would be achieved without shedding a single drop of blood.

The Marchioni Empire would even be able to keep up their public image by feigning innocence and lamenting the misfortune that had fallen upon the Proatine Empire.

Thus, Emperor Stuttgart viewed the Great Marchioni Operation as a resounding success, as they not only survived the incoming disaster but also would soon bring about the downfall of the Proatine Empire.

“You are truly a loyal subject of our great empire, Neighdelberg,” Emperor Stuttgart said.

“This humble servant merely followed the orders of my lord,” Duke Neighdelberg replied with a bow.

“No, that is not so,” Emperor Stuttgart said, shaking his head. Then, he declared, “Thanks to your loyalty, our nation shall enjoy even greater prosperity and glory than ever before. Henceforth, I hereby bestow upon you a duchy and elevate your rank from Duke to Grand Duke.”

With that, Duke Neighdelberg rose to the higher rank of Grand Duke and was granted the middle name "von," which signified royalty.

He had become the second most powerful person in the Marchioni Empire, which meant that he had also become the second most powerful person on the continent.

“Your grace is immeasurable, sire,” Grand Duke Neighdelberg prostrated himself before the emperor and bowed low.

“I expect that you will continue to be loyal to our great empire and faithfully assist me.”

“As you command, sire!”

Thus, with the success of the Great Marchioni Operation, the Marchioni Empire had no doubt that it would only be a matter of time before the Proatine Empire was destroyed.

They believed that the Proatine Empire would have no idea that the storm’s course had been altered toward them, and neither would they be able to mobilize tens of thousands of magicians to alter its course.

Truly, the only nation capable of such a feat was the Marchioni Empire alone.

However, there were no such things as secrets in this world. After all, there was a saying that birds would overhear words spoken during the day, and rats would overhear those spoken during the night.

Someone realized that the Marchioni Empire had diverted the storm toward the Proatine Empire, and that person was none other than Cheon Woo-Jin.

“What the hell is wrong with these lunatics...?” he muttered.

While monitoring the continent using the artificial satellite launched by the Guardians, Cheon Woo-Jin witnessed the Great Marchioni Operation unfold in real time.

At first, he thought the Marchioni Empire was attempting to suppress or forcefully dissipate the storm, but he was appalled when the storm suddenly shifted westward.

“T-Those bastards are flinging shit at us?!”

Cheon Woo-Jin immediately relayed the information to the Proatine Empire, as Siegfried was currently unavailable due to his expedition in the Tomb of Swords.

Thus, he had no choice but to inform the Proatine Empire first.

“My god...”

Upon hearing the news from Cheon Woo-Jin, Michele immediately convened an emergency council.

A massive storm was approaching the Proatine Empire’s capital city, Preussen, so they had to prepare countermeasures just like the Great Marchioni Operation, but...

“...”

“...”

“...”

No one in the Proatine Empire could come up with a clear solution to the crisis, not even Michele.

“For now... All we can do is wait until His Imperial Majesty's return.”

In the end, the emergency council was adjourned without any results.

Why?

It was all vecause the Proatine Empire couldn’t mobilize tens of thousands of magicians like the Marchioni Empire did.

It would be a different story if the dragons were still alive, but unfortunately, they had already been driven to extinction by the Dragon Slayers. In other words, the Proatine Empire had no means of dealing with the oncoming storm.

They had only one ray of hope at this point.

“I am certain that His Imperial Majesty will find a way...”

Michele placed his faith in Siegfried.

Siegfried had always found a way and had overcome countless crises, no matter how unfavorable the circumstances were.

Michele firmly believed that this time would be no different and that Siegfried would find a way to resolve this catastrophe, saving the Proatine Empire yet again.

***

Siegfried found himself surrounded by the ninety-nine phantoms that Bremeni had revived.

‘Do you think I’m going to lose to this?’

However, Siegfried was not the least bit intimidated. There was no way he could be surrounded as long as he had the World of Despair.

Whoosh!

Siegfried dragged Bremeni into the World of Despair, but...

‘Huh? What’s going on...?’

He was shocked to see that the phantoms around him hadn't vanished at all.

The World of Despair swallowed up the ninety-nine phantoms as well.

The reason behind that was quite simple.

Every single one of the phantoms revived by Bremeni was not classified as individual units, nor were they summoned creatures. They were judged to be a kind of puppet or a tool controlled by Bremeni, making it possible for them to enter the World of Despair along with him.

‘Damn it...’

Still surrounded even within the World of Despair, Siegfried had to withstand the attacks of the phantoms under Bremeni’s control.

The ensuing onslaught was merciless, but...

‘So that’s how you wanna play it? Fine. I’m going to go all out too.’

Though the ninety-nine phantoms were attacking him mercilessly, Siegfried endured them all. He activated the defensive skill of the Invincible Emperor, the Shield of Malice, and defended himself against the attacks while pushing forward toward Bremeni.

‘If Heaven and Earth Cleaving Blade isn’t enough, then how about this?’

Siegfried charged up Touch of Death into the tip of the +10 Sky Piercer.

Woooong!

A powerful, dense energy that warped space and time gathered around the speartip.

Whoosh!

Siegfried swung the +10 Sky Piercer imbued with Touch of Death.

Shwiiiiiiik!

He activated Heaven and Earth Cleaving Blade and unleashed Touch of Death together with it.

Snap! Snap! Snap!

Every single thread controlled by Bremeni was severed. The threads that stood strong even after getting hit by Heaven and Earth Cleaving Blade couldn’t withstand the force unleashed by Touch of Death.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

The phantoms controlled by Bremeni collapsed after having their threads cut, and the weapons housing their souls dropped to the ground shortly afterward.

“...!”

Bremeni finally showed some emotions when his threads snapped as if they were made of paper.

“You’re dead,” Siegfried said with a smirk before lunging at him.

“...!”

Bremeni panicked and unleashed more threads in an attempt to reanimate the fallen phantoms to stop Siegfried.

‘Not a chance!’

However, Siegfried did not give him the time to connect the threads to the weapons.

Fwoosh!

Siegfried unleashed Invincible Spear Arts and pressed Bremeni.

‘I should finish this quickly,’ he thought, activating the Eight Steps to Invincibility skill.

Smack, smack, smaack!

‘Four more strikes!’

Siegfried pressed on, not giving Bremeni even a second to regain his stance.

Puk! Puk! Puk!

With that, he landed the seventh blow, and all that remained was the last blow.

“Go to hell.”

The +10 Sky Piercer struck Bremeni right in the face, shattering his mask and piercing his head.

“...!”

That was the end...

Thud!

Clatter!

Bremeni collapsed to the ground, and the box containing his threads fell shortly after.

[Alert: You have defeated Murder Artist Bremeni!]

[Alert: You have gained Experience Points!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 524!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 525!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 526!]

Siegfried gained an immense amount of experience points and leveled up three times after defeating Bremeni, who was the boss monster of the Grave of Swords dungeon.

[Alert: You have cleared the Quest — Slaughterer of One Hundred!]

The quest completion notification popped up, and the rewards soon flooded in.

[Alert: You have obtained Relic: Blood Drinking Sword!]

[Alert: You have obtained Relic: Nameless Sword!]

[Alert: You have obtained Relic: Giant Rat’s Claw!]

(omitted...)

[Alert: You have obtained Relic: Threads of Death!]

A hundred Relic-rated weapons were dropped straight into his inventory.

‘Awesome,’ Siegfried thought with a smile.

Now that he had secured the Relic-rated weapons he needed, he could finally forge the weapon he needed to defeat Lee Geon, the Mortal Blade.

***

After clearing the Grave of Swords, Siegfried immediately returned to the dungeon entrance.

“Kyuuuu! Did you clear the dungeon, owner punk?!” Hamchi exclaimed.

“Of course I did. What did you expect, you little punk?” Siegfried replied with a smirk.

“Kyuuuu! As expected of you, owner punk! I knew you could do it!”

“Kekeke! That’s me!”

While the duo was having their usual bonding time—

“U-Unbelievable...!”

“What in the world...? He cleared an Ancient Dungeon all alone?”

“He really solo-cleared it?”

“That’s crazy...”

The Adventurers couldn’t hide their astonishment at Siegfried’s feat of solo-clearing the Grave of Swords dungeon.

In their eyes, Siegfried’s achievement was nothing short of impossible.

“Oh, right.”

Siegfried suddenly recalled and immediately sought out the Adventurer who had yielded his turn to him.

“Please, pick what you want.”

He let the guy pick whichever weapon he wanted from among the one hundred Relic-rated weapons that he had obtained from clearing the dungeon.

Siegfried would have wasted days idling in line if this Adventurer had not given up his turn, so it was only natural for him to show his gratitude by keeping his promise.

The Adventurer scanned the list and picked an item that caught his eye, “Hmm... May I take this one?”

“By all means. It’s yours now,” Siegfried replied with a smile.

He had no lingering attachment to any of the other items, as he had the +10 Sky Piercer.

“Thank you so much, Siegfried!”

Having given the Adventurer the reward he promised, Siegfried promptly returned to the Proatine Empire.

He needed to hand over the one hundred Relic-rated weapons to Quandt to forge the Mortal Blade.

He was missing a Relic-rated weapon after giving the reward to the Adventurer, but his immense wealth made it easy for him to obtain a single Relic-rated weapon.

After all, there was a price for everything as long as enough money was offered, but...

“I bring grim news, sire.”

As soon as he returned to the imperial palace, Michele greeted him with very bad, unexpected news.

“Those damn bastards!”

Siegfried burst with rage upon hearing that the Marchioni empire had changed the direction of the storm, sending it toward the Proatine Empire. He was expecting them to start pulling stunts against him, but he had never imagined that they would screw him over like that.

“How long do we have before the storm reaches our empire?” Siegfried asked.

“At its current speed, we will have one week until it arrives at our empire’s borders,” Michele replied.

“Ah...” Siegfried muttered.

One week was far too short to stop such a fearsome storm.

“Okay. Let’s not sit by and waste time like this.”

“What are your commands, sire?”

“Issue evacuation orders to the towns and villages on the border. Have everyone evacuate as quickly as possible.”

“As you command, sire.”

“And wait for me. I’ll be back soon,” Siegfried said.

“Pardon me? Where are you going, sire?” Michele asked, tilting his head in confusion.

“Over there,” Siegfried replied, pointing toward the ceiling.

“Huh? Where exactly do you mean...?”

“To the Celestial Realm.”

“Ah...!”

“There’s no way that thing is just some natural phenomenon, right? It must be something created by an ancient monster imprisoned in the Celestial Prison.”

“Certainly, sire.”

“Then no one would know better than Michael. I’ll go and ask how we can stop it.”

“A wise plan, sire.”

“I’ll be back soon. Just make sure the people are evacuated as quickly as possible.”

Thus, Siegfried was forced to set off for the Celestial Realm to find a way to stop the oncoming storm right after he had just returned to the Proatine Empire.

Since Michael was the very one who had sealed away those ancient monsters in Purgatory, Siegfried was certain that he would have the answer on how to deal with this looming crisis.