Debuff Master

Chapter 640

Wooong!

The blue wave released by Siegfried didn't affect the rebels at all and dealt zero damage. The only thing it did was sweep across the entire battlefield.

“Are you playing with fireworks right now?” Count Arial asked mockingly.

“Die! Die!”

“Kill the heathens!”

“God is on our side!”

“We will not lose!”

“Aaaack!”

The battle in front of the Marmont Territory even after Siegfried's blue wave.

“I have no idea what you’ve prepared, but this is as far as your tricks will—”

Count Arial suddenly sensed something strange.

“What is this...”

“I told you, right? I’ll drag you down and drown you in shit water,” Siegfried said with a smirk.

“...?”

“Your charade is over now. It’s time to bow and get off the stage.”

“What kind of nonsense are you—argh!” Count Arial was about to say something when he felt excruciating pain in his chest, as if he was experiencing a heart attack.

Puff! Puff!

Count Arial's figure turned into dust and was scattered away by the wind.

“If I’m up against God, then all I have to do is drag God to the ground,” Siegfried muttered under his breath. This was his class’ true power. The Debuff Master would debuff a god, transforming them into a mere mortal.

“Kyuu! Look, owner punk!” Hamchi exclaimed, standing upright like a meerkat.

The battlefield had shifted in an instant, and the biggest change happening was with the rebel soldiers.

Puff! Puff!

The armor and weapons used by the rebel soldiers turned into dust, and even the Super Armor buff that rendered them invincible and capable of fighting against one hundred crusaders was dispelled.

However, that was not the end of it; this was just the beginning of the mayhem.

“W-What’s happening to me...?”

“M-My body! My body is...!”

The soldiers who had been resurrected back to life crumbled into ashes like their armor and weapons.

“Kuheok!”

“Arghhhh!”

“U-Ugh...!”

Those who had eaten the bread and drank the water that Count Arial had created suddenly started withering away like mummies, falling to the ground and vomiting what little food their stomachs held.

Even the advanced cannons of the Marchioni Empire walls turned into dust. Everything was returning to the way it was, and the distorted reality that went against the laws of nature caused by Count Arial and the soul fragment was no more.

Thus, the war was as good as over.

Why?

It was all because the rebels were no longer a bunch of soldiers but rather sick peasants struggling on the ground.

***

‘Hmm?’

What Siegfried had witnessed during their retreat a few days ago wasn't really that special.

Wooong!

One of the magicians of the Proatine Forces cast Mass Dispel to support the crusaders' retreat. Dispel was a spell that nullified the effects of skills or spells, and one would cast it to nullify the debuff, curses, buff, or magic cast by the enemy.

The magician had cast Mass Dispel in hopes of at least removing the rebels' Super Armor, which would give the crusaders a chance to fight them.

Unfortunately, the Mass Dispel cast by the magician had failed to swing the tide of battle, and the crusaders could only retreat from the rebels.

However, it was not completely ineffective.

‘What was that? Did his robe just disappear for a second...?’

Siegfried noticed something amiss with the Count Arial standing near the magician. As soon as the magician's Mass Dispel went off, the hem of Count Arial's robe vanished for a few seconds before reappearing once again.

‘An object vanished after coming in contact with Dispel? Does that mean that the sight before me is fake? If this sight isn't real, then...’

And that was how Siegfried suspected that perhaps the soul fragment in Count Arial's hands had the power to transform something fake into something real. It was truly a bizarre soul fragment, so Siegfried had a hard time putting a finger on its power, but now, he was pretty confident that everything so far had been just a farce.

‘Hmm... So Dispel is the answer... I can expose him with a powerful Dispel, but...’ Siegfried noticed something just then. ‘But why don’t I have the ability to dispel when I have the ability to debuff? The Debuff Master uses whatever means possible to make my enemies weaker, so it should have a skill that will prevent my enemies from becoming stronger in the first place, right?’

And that was how Siegfried was enlightened to the secret behind Count Arial’s soul fragment and the Debuff Master’s skill tree. It was all thanks to the Mass Dispel cast by one of the magicians during their retreat.

***

‘I knew it. There's a reason why the Debuff Master is a Hidden Class,’ Siegfried thought with a smile after reading the new skill that he had acquired through his enlightenment.

[Wave of Truth]

[The Debuff Master’s dispel skill.]

[This skill is multiple times stronger than the Dispel used by magicians; it is on an entirely different level.]

[Ashes to ashes, dust to dust – Deus]

[Unleash a pulse wave with a powerful dispelling effect. On hit, the buffs of all enemy units are nullified. The duration and range of the nullification increases the higher the skill's level.]

[The cooldown time decreases the higher the skill’s level.]

[This skill can erase all illusions once its level is high enough.]

[This skill does not affect the caster's allies or the Debuff Master’s buffs.]

[Type: Debuff Skill]

[Level: 10]

[Area: 600 meter radius (+@)]

[Cooldown: 300 seconds]

[Duration: 120 seconds]

Siegfried used up all of the Marble of Proficiency that he had obtained from the Ruin of Martial God: Valhalla as soon as he acquired Wave of Truth. He used them all to increase Wave of Truth's level as high as possible.

Then, he unleashed the Wave of Truth on the battlefield, destroying all of the realistic illusions that Count Arial had created.

Unfortunately, there was a downside to it, too.

C-Crack...!

Siegfried’s Quad-Turbo Set shattered into pieces. He cranked up Discharge to the maximum to increase the Wave of Truth's range, and the durability of his valuable gear was reduced to zero.

“Well, I've been using it for quite a while now...” Siegfried muttered, sending off his precious Quad-Turbo Set with a smile. He had leveled up a ton since he obtained the Quad-Turbo Set, and it was time for him to invest money into upgrading his gear.

“Hmm... It’s still a shame, though. I could have sold it for a hefty price if I had just patched it up...” Siegfried still ended up grumbling. He wanted to pretend like he was cool about it, but his stomach turned at the idea that he had just lost a ton of money by allowing the Quad-Turbo Set's durability to reach zero.

Anyway, he opened his inventory and took out the Deep Dark Soul Set he had used in the Super Rookie Tournament. His only remaining opponent was Count Arial, so the Deep Dark Soul Set was just what he needed, as it no longer mattered whether the range of his debuff fields was reduced or not.

“Kyuuu! The bastard is over there, owner punk!” Hamchi exclaimed, pointing at the only Count Arial remaining.

There was no need to mention that the remaining Count Arial was the real one. Every single illusion of him had already been dispelled, after all.

“Let’s go and beat that con artist up,” Siegfried said with a smirk.

“Kyuuu! Let’s go and cut his hands off! Off with your hands if you’re a lying cheat!” Hamchi exclaimed in response.

Siegfried and Hamchi rushed over to beat up Count Arial, who once proclaimed to be God but had fallen to nothing more than a con artist. They had to rush, as they needed to beat the living crap out of the count before the effects of Wave of Truth ended.

***

“W-What’s going on?!”

Count Arial was flustered after the realistic illusions he created with the soul fragment’s powers disappeared.

“Arise, my soldiers!”

He attempted to resurrect the rebel soldiers and use his buffs, but the third eye on his forehead only sucked his mana without manifesting the soul fragment’s authority—no, it was more like it couldn't use the soul fragment's authority even if it wanted to do so, as Wave of Truth was keeping it in check.

“Damn it!” Count Arial cursed out loud upon realizing that something was wrong. He cast Teleport in an attempt to escape, but...

Bzzt! Bzzt! Zaaap!

Sparks flew, and he was electrocuted before he could teleport away.

“W-What in the world—?”

Flash! Flash! Flash! Flash! Flash!

Pillars shot up in the distance, creating a massive magic circle in the sky as soon as the count cast Teleport. Count Arial was a magician himself, so he could not help but be shocked after recognizing the magic circle in the sky.

“Spatial interruption magic? How can such an advanced magic be cast on this scale...? I-Impossible! Only a Great Wizard is capable of doing that—” Count Arial's sentence was cut short upon recalling something.

He had just remembered the thousands of Magic Missiles that struck his army during the retreat of the coalition forces. The same magician that had cast the Magic Missiles had also cast Blizzard to halt his soldiers’ advance.

“T-That damned magician!” Count Arial grimaced after finally realizing that the same magician who got in his way at the time was the culprit behind the fact that he couldn't teleport out of this battlefield.

Unfortunately, he did not have the luxury to continue grumbling. He was standing at the edge of a cliff, his army was no more, and he was also surrounded by enemies.

To make matters even worse, Cheon Woo-Jin led the Guardians’ armada fleet right above Count Arial with their cannons aimed at him.

However, the biggest problem to the count was none other than...

“Hey!”

The one calling out to him right now.

“Siegfried van Proa...! So you have finally decided to—”

“What are you yapping about, you con artist?”

“What? Con artist? Me?”

“You’re not God. You’re just a crazy delusional fake god.”

“Silence! I am omnipotent! I am God! I am an almighty god!” Count Arial exclaimed, his voice thundering throughout the sky. He commanded the mirrors circulating around him to shoot laser beams to buy time while he concentrated his mana in his third eye.

However, this was all in vain.

Chwaaak!

Siegfried spread out his Black Crow Wingsuit.

Shwaaaaa!

The Torrential Flower Rain's flower rain of death destroyed all of the mirrors.

Heh.

Siegfried smirked arrogantly after destroying all of the mirrors.

Why?

It was all because he found it absurd.

He had killed one of Count Arial’s clones, so he knew very well how to deal with him. A magician would be in great danger the moment they allowed their opponent to close the distance to them. Unfortunately, even Count Arial wasn't an exception to that. Distance was his greatest weakness as well.

Count Arial’s fighting style revolved around depending on his Mirotic Shields for protection while he used his Dragon Speech ability to cast magic. He'd teleport to safety once his opponents somehow managed to get close to him.

However, Siegfried had Torrential Flower Rain, which destroyed all of his Mirotic Shields in one go. On top of that, Count Arial’s teleportation skills were sealed due to the spatial distortion magic cast over the battlefield by Duke Decimato.

In other words, Count Arial was left fully exposed without his Mirotic Shields and his Teleport.

Bam!

Siegfried appeared right in front of Count Arial’s face in an instant, and he used Grand Duel, slamming the ground with his +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp.

Fwaaaaah!

Pillars of flame shot up from the ground around them...

C-Craaaack...!

The pillars of flames hardened, creating the Barrier of Victory that swallowed both of them up.

And...

Shwik!

Siegfried transformed his +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp into a spear and thrust it like lightning, stabbing Count Arial’s left eye in the blink of an eye. He ambushed Count Arial with Zero Form Lightning as soon as the Barrier of Victory was made around them.