Debuff Master-Chapter 832

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While a naval battle was raging near the Wailing Canyon, the Silver Dragon, Keanus, was curled up deep within its lair, snoring away in a deep, undisturbed slumber. It had been centuries since Keanus had rested so soundly without getting disturbed.

However, the dragon suddenly shuddered, and its massive figure tossed and turned.

Was it a nightmare?

For the first time in hundreds of years, the Silver Dragon, who was hibernating peacefully, began to thrash about.

Was it a nightmare?

Then, in one quick motion, Keanus looked up—

Bam!

Its head slammed straight into the ceiling of its lair.

“Grrrk!” And with that, Keanus’ long four hundred years of sleep came to an end.

“What an unpleasant morning, ” the dragon grumbled to itself as its immense frame stirred awake.

It had been curled up for centuries, so it wasn't surprising that every muscle and joint in its body felt stiff. Awakening its body’s function would take at least a month or two.

Just as it would take humans a few minutes to regain full consciousness and motor function after waking up, dragons also required time to adjust after their long slumber.

But...

Badump! Badump! Badump!

Keanus’ pounding heart made it impossible to wake up in peace. Its chest thumped wildly, and its figure trembled uncontrollably; an unexplainable sense of dread had engulfed it.

The sensation showed no signs of toning down and even worsened to the point that the Silver Dragon felt feverish and utterly drained of strength.

“...?”

Keanus was confused. This was a phenomenon that it had never experienced before.

After all, dragons would never get sick. They were mighty creatures immune to all viruses and impervious to cellular mutations, so they were biologically incapable of falling ill even if they wanted to do so.

This was one of the reasons why dragons earned their reputation as the mightiest of all intelligent creatures on the continent.

However, something was undeniably wrong with Keanus. It had grown hypersensitive and unbearably frail, and the mysterious symptoms only seemed to worsen over time.

“What in the world is happening...?”

Bewildered by its sudden deteriorating condition, Keanus wracked its brain for answers.

And then—

“Hm? Could it be...?”

The Silver Dragon came to a dreadful realization.

“A... Dragon Slayer?”

It was said that the sole predators capable of hunting the mighty dragons were humans known as Dragon Slayers due to their ability to weaken any dragons around them.

Their innate ability was so effective to the extent that even the simplest of warp spells, which dragons could typically cast effortlessly, would become unusable. The flight speed of dragons would be severely impaired as well; their supersonic flight speed would plummet to the pace of a mere bird.

“Could there really be a Dragon Slayer nearby?”

It was then.

A wave of dread swept through Keanus once again, sending chills down its spine. It dawned on the dragon that it had narrowly avoided a gruesome fate. Had it not woken up from its restless dream, it could have been slain in its sleep.

“I need to escape now.”

Keanus could no longer afford to linger around if a Dragon Slayer was truly near.

Without wasting another moment, the Silver Dragon forced its still-sluggish body into motion. It attempted to awaken its body’s motor functions by sheer willpower, as it had to flee no matter what.

***

A flash of blinding white light burst forth.

“...!”

Siegfried stiffened. An instant later, a string of warning messages popped up before his eyes.

[Alert: Status Ailment!]

[Alert: You are afflicted by Freeze!]

[Alert: Your character’s speed is slowed!]

[Alert: Attack Speed, Casting Speed, and Movement Speed have decreased!]

Phoenix’s shield, the Glacial Barrier, was forged from the bones of a White Dragon, and a White Dragon’s heart was embedded into its inner grip. This incredible artifact allowed Phoenix to unleash Arctic Breath—a devastatingly cold blast similar to the breath attack of a White Dragon.

“You can’t defeat me, Captain Drake,” Phoenix sneered.

He swung his obsidian-black sword crafted from the bones of a Black Dragon directly toward Siegfried, who was still frozen.

‘This is bad!’

Despite being afflicted by Freeze, Siegfried displayed superhuman reflexes and narrowly evaded the attack.

However, Phoenix’s attacks did not end there.

Whoosh!

The blade cut through the air, narrowly missing Siegfried’s face.

Fwoosh!

A plume of green smoke erupted from the blade, covering Siegfried’s face.

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“Cough! Cough!” Siegfried wheezed uncontrollably as the toxic fumes filled his lungs.

“It’s over,” Phoenix declared, smirking smugly as he watched Siegfried struggle to breathe. He seemed confident that the fight was already decided, as he no longer attacked after that.

“What the hell... is this?” Siegfried groaned. Then, he glared and grumbled, “Ugh... This tastes awful.”

“You’ve been poisoned, Captain Drake,” Phoenix mocked.

“Poisoned? Me? Don’t be ridiculous,” Siegfried frowned and pointed at himself.

Unbeknownst to Phoenix, Siegfried was impervious to most poisons.

“You’ve been exposed to lethal poisoning, Captain Drake. If you value your life, you should retreat with your pirates and seek treatment elsewhere,” Phoenix said, his voice sounding serious.

“Lethal poison? Heh...” Siegfried mused.

Phoenix began to explain, “It seems you fail to grasp the severity of your situation–”

It was then.

Siegfried casually raised his hand and released a swirling mist of green energy identical to the one Phoenix had just unleashed. Then, he smirked and asked, “Do you mean this kind of lethal poison?”

“...!”

Phoenix’s eyes widened in shock. The poison he was using was a power that exclusively belonged to the black and green dragons. The fact that Captain Drake, a mere pirate, could wield such a power was utterly unfathomable.

“Stop yapping, and let’s finish this,” Siegfried said with a sly grin.

In truth, Siegfried chatted Phoenix up only to buy time for the effects of Freeze to wear off.

‘Damn... This is absurd. I never thought I’d end up protecting a damn dragon of all things,’ Siegfried grumbled inwardly.

The situation was completely backward. The dragons possessed the power to protect humans but not the other way around. Yet, here he was, protecting the Silver Dragon.

But what other choice could he have made?

Even a dragon would be reduced to little more than a massive lizard against the Dragon Slayer. If the Silver Dragon ended up dying, then the Green Isles would collapse and sink into the bottom of the ocean.

Thus, Siegfried had to confront Phoenix head-on and protect the Silver Dragon.

‘But first...’

Siegfried darted through the air, looking at the numerous openings Phoenix was presenting. He knew what he had to do right now, and that was to slam the Dragon Slayer to the ground.

Why?

It was all because he needed his debuffs, and it required being nearer to the ground than they were right now.

They were locked in a high-speed aerial dogfight, and the vertical range of the debuff fields was limited. Dragging the battle to the ground was his best shot at gaining the upper hand against a Dragon Slayer, whose stats had increased massively due to the presence of a nearby dragon.

“So you’re determined to shed blood?” Phoenix sneered, still looking confident.

Although he was surprised by Siegfried’s use of radiation energy, he was unfazed.

Wooong!

Phoenix knew that the closer he was to a dragon, the stronger his powers as a Dragon Slayer would become. He knew that there was a dragon sleeping deep within the Green Isles, and this gave him the confidence to feel that he was utterly invincible.

‘I am unstoppable!’

Brimming with confidence, Phoenix charged directly at his enemy, Siegfried.

Boom! Bang! Bang!

A furious clash erupted as the two engaged in a brutal exchange of blows.

“Ugh!”

Siegfried was forced to be on the defensive after being clearly outmatched. Phoenix was overwhelming him with his stats, which had increased exponentially due to his status as a Dragon Slayer.

“I told you! You’re no match for me, Captain Francis de Drake!” Phoenix exclaimed, grinning ear to ear.

“Damn it!” Siegfried grimaced and growled.

“Just give up—”

It was then.

Kwachik!

Siegfried suddenly let go of his +15 Vanquisher’s Grasp. With both hands free, he grabbed Phoenix by the collar and infused a huge surge of mana into his +10 Black Crow Wingsuit without hesitation.

The sudden acceleration caused both of them to plummet into the ground, hurtling toward the nearest landmass, an island roughly one kilometer away from the Wailing Canyon.

***

After getting caught by Siegfried’s suicidal maneuver, Phoenix crashed into an island roughly the size of a small football field.

“Argh!”

The impact from falling hundreds of meters in a few seconds was devastating, and Phoenix lay buried in the sand, struggling to get back up.

Of course, Siegfried was not faring any better.

He initially planned to shove Phoenix into the ground and immediately take off again just before impact, but he failed because his descent was much faster than he had anticipated.

Phoenix could have also flown back to the skies if he had let go of him too far from the ground, so he had no other choice but to make the split-second decision of crashing alongside the Dragon Slayer just to ensure that they crashed into the ground.

Luckily, Siegfried’s keen senses allowed him to turn just before impact, leaving him in slightly better shape than Phoenix.

“Ugh!” Siegfried groaned and forced himself to his feet while suppressing the pain that made him feel like all of his bones had shattered to pieces.

Still, he had no other choice but to push on.

He summoned his +15 Vanquisher’s Grasp using Flying Sword, gripping it tightly the moment it flew back to his hand, and then he approached Phoenix, who was still trying to get back up to his feet.

“Argh!”

Phoenix was slowly standing up.

‘I have to move quickly,’ Siegfried thought, steadily picking up speed as he closed the gap between them.

While moving, he placed down both Blaze Field and Shadow Swamp simultaneously.

Wooong!

The powerful debuff fields expanded and covered the small island.

Kieeeek!

Seuruk...! Seuruk...!

From the debuff fields, the Blaze Hydras, Frost Hydras, and Night Stalkers appeared.

The summoned creatures lunged at Phoenix.

At the same time, Siegfried transformed his +15 Vanquisher’s Grasp into a long lance and hurled it at Phoenix. He knew that the shield used by the Dragon Slayer was ridiculously overpowered in close combat, so he decided to keep his distance and attack strategically from afar.

His plan proved extremely effective, as Phoenix was driven into a corner almost instantly.

“Argh! Gah! Ack!”

Phoenix could do nothing but endure the relentless attacks from Siegfried and his summoned creatures. The endless barrage of attacks did not give him the opportunity to counterattack at all.

‘Damn it! My power is...!’ Phoenix finally realized just how much weaker he had become. His invincible powers as the Dragon Slayer had been cut by more than half by Siegfried’s debuffs.

‘Argh! H-How...?! How is he attacking like this?!’

However, what shocked him more than his strength being reduced to half was Siegfried’s relentless barrage of attacks.

However, this was only natural.

Siegfried was a seasoned warrior trained by Deus, so he made not even a single wasteful movement while attacking. This allowed him to unleash a barrage of attacks against his enemy without giving them any room to breathe.

Phoenix was a third-rate knight at best, and his combat skills were laughably subpar. Against a seasoned expert like Siegfried, there was no way he could match against him in terms of skills.

‘Your stats are high, but your combat sense sucks. Tsk... And you had the audacity to act all high and mighty at me? Unbelievable,’ Siegfried grumbled inwardly.

He was very disappointed by the Dragon Slayer’s mediocre battle skills, but he remained cautious and continued attacking.

And then—

BAM!

The +15 Vanquisher’s Grasp struck Phoenix square on the head.

It was then.

Flash!

A blast of extreme frost enveloped Phoenix.

‘Freeze him solid!’

Siegfried activated Absolute Zero to freeze Phoenix on the spot before unleashing ten thousand ice shuriken from his Blood Frost Orb.

Shwiiiik!

Siegfried used Torrential Flower Rain, sending the ten thousand ice shurikens cutting through the air and swirling into a ferocious storm before raining down upon the frozen Dragon Slayer.

Despite Phoenix’s pitiful combat skills, Siegfried dared not let his guard down. He poured everything into his attacks and used most of his skills without holding back.

He knew that letting Phoenix catch his breath—or worse, take flight again, would only make this fight more troublesome.

‘Time to end this.’

While the storm of ice shurikens shredded Phoenix, Siegfried slammed his +15 Vanquisher’s Grasp into the ground.

Krwaaaang!

He used the Grand Duel in order to finish the fight.

But then—

Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh!

A wave of intense heat burst from Phoenix, blasting Siegfried away.

The Grand Duel was canceled because the Barrier of Victory failed to manifest.

‘What the heck?!’

Siegfried immediately regained his balance and prepared to attack again, but...

Fwoosh! Fwoosh!

Phoenix was now covered in crimson flames that exuded a terrifyingly immense aura.

The flames surrounding the Dragon Slayer grew bigger until it took shape.

Two heads and massive wings.

If there were a third party here, they would say that it resembled a twin-headed bird, but this was not an ordinary bird of prey. It was the Garuda, the mythical divine beast said to devour even the mightiest of creatures like dragons.