Debuff Master-Chapter 850

A blinding white light flashed as powerful frost energy engulfed Lucifer.

‘And smash 'em to pieces!’

Without missing a beat, Siegfried drew aura weapons from the Blood Frost Orb and hurled them at Lucifer. Then, he activated Transcendent Torrential Flower Rain to unleash a storm of aura weapons that rained down upon Lucifer.

However, Siegfried was not done yet.

He bombarded Lucifer with Wave of Annihilation as well.

He was determined to unleash every single skill in his arsenal before the World of Despair was over.

‘I have to finish this in one blow now.’

Siegfried began channeling Touch of Death.

Although it was not upgraded like his other skills, it was still considered one of his ultimate skills. Its devastating power had proven countless times before that it could obliterate enemies it struck.

‘I have to hit him with this no matter what.’

He pushed through the storm of aura weapons raging around Lucifer. With momentum on his side, he swung his +16 Vanquisher’s Grasp that was imbued with Touch of Death.

Just then, Lucifer’s hand darted out and seized Siegfried’s wrist.

“...!”

Siegfried stared at Lucifer, his face frozen from disbelief.

Despite getting hit by Absolute Zero, Transcendent Torrential Flower Rain, and Wave of Annihilation, Lucifer remained unfazed. More surprisingly, the archangel looked unfazed, his expression as cold as ever, as if the whole thing hadn't entertained him at all.

It wasn't that the debuffs were not strong enough. Lucifer’s defenses were just too high.

The Eternal Flame amplified by Discharge ought to have shredded Lucifer’s defenses into the negatives, but the archangel’s defenses were so absurdly high that it was like he wasn't under the effects of any debuffs.

The debuffs were like a drop of ink dissolving into the vast ocean, leaving not any trace behind.

“Did you truly believe... that someone like you can defeat me?” Lucifer asked, his voice full of disdain.

“A-Argh...!”

“Begone, insignificant creature.”

An overwhelming amount of energy surged from Lucifer’s hand and began forcing its way into Siegfried through his wrist.

“...!”

Siegfried could feel an immensely powerful energy invading him, and it threatened to disintegrate him from the inside out.

‘I-I’ll be torn apart at this rate!’

“Argh! Grrraaah!”

Siegfried drew every ounce of his remaining strength to resist the invading force with all of his might. He knew that he would collapse and be dissolved into particles if he failed, quite similar to getting struck by his Wave of Annihilation.

[Alert: World of Despair has ended!]

Right after the message popped up in front of his eyes, the World of Despair disappeared, returning Siegfried and Lucifer to where they were earlier.

Despite spending a full minute layering debuffs and unleashing every skill in his arsenal, Siegfried had failed to inflict even a tiny bit of damage on Lucifer.

‘Is this... the end...?’ he despaired, gritting his teeth. He had already given everything into the fight, so he no longer had anything else remaining.

It was then.

Flash!

A bright golden beam of energy shot toward Lucifer from the direction of Mikhail, who was supposed to be unconscious.

“...!”

Lucifer threw Siegfried to the side the moment he spotted the oncoming beam of energy.

“You still have strength left?!” Lucifer growled while crossing his arms defensively in a bid to block Mikhail’s attack.

However, the golden beam was powerful.

Ziiiiing!

Lucifer was blasted backward until he was pushed so far away that he vanished from sight.

‘What the hell...? Who was that?’ Siegfried glanced around in confusion, still reeling from the unexpected turn of events. Then, he saw Mikhail with arms stretched out while standing in midair.

‘Mikhail... saved me?’

However, that was all Mikhail could do. He revealed a faint smile of relief before closing his eyes and plummeting back toward the ground.

Ding!

A message popped up in front of Siegfried’s eyes.

[Proatine Kingdom: Skies Above Preussen]

Their location instantly changed from the Endless Descent dungeon to the skies above the Proatine Kingdom’s capital city, Preussen.

***

‘Is it over?’ Siegfried wondered, glancing down.

The endless night sky began to fade, and the shining lights of Preussen came into view. He was still thousands of meters in the air, but the sight of solid ground assured him that the dungeon was coming to an end.

“Over here!”

A voice called out at Siegfried; it was Gosran.

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Siegfried turned his head and noticed something unusual.

“What?!”

The twelve wings attached to Mikhail began detaching one by one, scattering in all directions.

And then...

Swoosh!

A mist-like shadow seeped out from Mikhail’s body before flying far away.

‘That must be it!’

Siegfried instinctively knew that the shadow was Mikhail’s lost memories. Thus, without hesitation, he flew as fast as he could in pursuit of it.

‘Can I catch it with this?’

He opened his Inventory and retrieved a small glass vial. He quickly unscrewed the cap, channeled his Divine Power, and directed it toward the drifting memory.

Shwooook!

The shadow-like memories was sucked into the vial.

Ding!

A message popped up in front of his eyes.

[Alert: You have acquired Mikhail’s memory!]

[Alert: You have completed the Quest – Find the Lost Memories!]

And then—

[Alert: You have cleared the Endless Descent!]

[Alert: Returning in ten seconds!]

Siegfried and Gosran survived and cleared the dungeon, Endless Descent, and they were now returning to the Great Rift. It turned out that the main objective of the dungeon was not to defeat the boss monster, Lucifer, but to protect Mikhail until his descent.

However, there was one more thing Siegfried had to do quickly before he returned to the Great Rift.

“Kyuuu! What about the loot that scattered earlier?!” Hamchi shrieked in horror, his voice sounding that of utmost urgency.

“Oh shit!” Siegfried screamed in horror as well.

Hamchi's reminder reminded him of the items that his fallen party members had dropped, and he panicked immediately as he hurriedly summoned the Three-Legged Crow.

The items were long gone and had scattered to who knew where, but Siegfried held on to a faint glimmer of hope that the crow could still gather them. He was not planning to keep the items for himself. This party consisted of his friends and guildmates, so he planned to return everything to them later.

“Do you think you can gather them all up?” he asked anxiously.

“Caw! Caaaw!

The Three-Legged Crow nodded confidently before darting off like a jet, scouring the surroundings.

[Alert: Returning in 3 seconds!]

[Alert: Returning in 2 seconds!]

[Alert: Returning in 1 second!]

Just one second before they were forcefully teleported back to the Great Rift...

“Kieeeek!”

The Three-Legged Crow returned, having retrieved every single item that had dropped and had scattered across the battlefield. It deposited the items into Siegfried’s Inventory before nonchalantly smirking as if saying that it was not a big deal.

“Good job!”

“Kiek!”

The scenery shifted.

When the light faded away, Siegfried and Gosran found themselves standing before the Great Rift once again.

“Thank you for your hard work, oppa. We wouldn’t have cleared it without you,” Gosran said, her voice filled with gratitude.

“You did well, too, Seul-Gi,” Siegfried replied with a smile.

“Oppa...”

“Yeah?”

“But why do you look so down?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. I just... have a lot on my mind.”

“What’s troubling you?”

“The enemy was... too strong,” Siegfried replied, his expression grim. Then, he let out a sigh and added, “I thought breaking through the wall and becoming a Master would make me undefeatable... but I was wrong.”

His mind replayed the fight against Lucifer.

Lucifer was suffering from Siegfried's debuffs, Absolute Zero, and even Transcendent Torrential Flower Rain, but he still managed to effortlessly defend himself against Siegfried's Touch of Death.

“Sigh... I guess I still have a long way to go...”

It felt as though he had a glimpse of a sky beyond the sky, a stark reminder that he was still far from the pinnacle. Of course, it was only natural to struggle against such a powerful opponent, but still...

“I’ll have to push myself harder and become a Grandmaster.”

The encounter with Lucifer had reignited Siegfried's determination to continue growing stronger. Now, he set his eyes on the next realm, which required reaching Level 450—Grandmaster.

Unfortunately, Siegfried was still Level 301—he still had a long way to go before reaching Level 450.

Master wasn't the end. If anything, it was just the beginning for him.

“Oppa...” Gosran muttered, shaking her head in disbelief. The fact that he still had this relentless desire to grow even stronger even after becoming Master left her both amazed and dumbfounded.

He was already in a league where few Adventurers could match him, but his ambitions had only grown.

“I need to head out for a bit. See you later,” Siegfried said.

“Okay, oppa,” Gosran replied with a nod.

“Let’s go, Hamchi.”

With Hamchi on his shoulder, Siegfried made his way toward the nearest warp gate.

He had to meet Dragon Lord Gerog, as he had finally recovered Mikhail’s memory.

***

As soon as Siegfried handed over Mikhail’s memories to Gerog, the Dragon Lord immediately cast a spell to integrate them into Mikhail.

About an hour later...

Ssshhh...!

The memories were successfully infused into Mikhail.

“...!”

Mikhail's eyes shot wide open, and he inhaled sharply.

“A-Ah... Ahhh...!”

He gasped repeatedly, seemingly overwhelmed by the flood of memories.

“Erm... Why is he acting like that?” Siegfried asked, looking puzzled.

Gerog stroked his beard before replying, “It seems like he’s reliving his entire life all over again. That’s quite the ordeal, I’d imagine.”

“What do you mean by that, elder?” Siegfried asked.

“From the moment of his birth up until the time he lost his memories, every single moment is being vividly replayed in his mind,” Gerog explained.

“Oh! I see!”

“Give him a little bit of time. He will come to his senses soon enough.”

“Understood, Elder.”

Trusting Gerog’s words, Siegfried decided to wait patiently until Mikhail had recovered.

Roughly an hour later...

“Haa...” Mikhail finally let out a long, deep sigh.

Siegfried was chatting with Gerog, and he approached Mikhail upon noticing that the latter had calmed down.

“Excuse me? Mikhail?” Siegfried asked carefully.

“Ah, Siegfried,” Mikhail replied, lifting his head.

“Are you feeling better now?”

“Yes, I am fine now.”

“And your memories...?”

“I have regained them.”

“That’s a relief! Does that mean you remember everything now?”

“I do, indeed. I remember everything... even the moment of my birth.”

“That’s incredible! Then... Can I ask something? Who are you, really?”

Mikhail paused before answering, “I am... Michael.”

As soon as those words came out of his throat...

“H-Hiiiik!”

“Aaack!”

Metatron and Chaos jumped up in unison and flailed their arms in sheer disbelief.

“What’s with you two?” Siegfried grumbled, baffled by their dramatic reaction.

However, it wasn't just Metatron and Chaos.

“My goodness...”

Even Gerog, who usually maintained a calm demeanor, stared at Mikhail—no, Michael, with wide eyes.

“Are you truly... that Michael?”

“Yes, I am.”

“This... This cannot be... What in the heavens...?”

Siegfried squinted his eyes at Gerog, Metatron, and Chaos. Their extreme reactions baffled him.

‘What’s going on? Why are they acting like this?’ Siegfried wondered.

Michael’s identity as an archangel was evident from his twelve wings, but their over-the-top responses seemed a bit excessive to him.

Siegfried decided to ask Metatron, “Hey, what’s your problem? You’ve seen an archangel before, haven’t you? Didn’t you fight one last time? You even won against him.”

“Y-Your Majesty! This and that are different!” Metatron stammered, and his voice quavered with fear.

“How is he different?” Siegfried asked.

Metatron pointed his trembling finger at Michael and shouted, “T-That guy...! He’s not just an archangel! He’s the Archangel Michael! The Chief Archangel! He’s basically equivalent to the Demon King in the Demon Realm! Your Majesty! Aaaaack!”

Metatron screamed in horror and collapsed. Then, he convulsed uncontrollably as if he had seen a ghost in broad daylight.