Debuff Master

Chapter 691

The Imperial Fleet of the Marchioni Empire, the Immortal Armada, had a presence capable of easily overwhelming anyone. Each and every one of the five hundred warships hovering above the Fortress of Hell gave off the same dominating aura as a dragon.

The cannons mounted on the warships were so massive that even the powerful cannons on Golem King Reventon’s shoulders looked like a child’s toy in comparison.

“The Fortress of Hell will be... reduced to nothing but dust with that much firepower...” Siegfried muttered while profusely sweating. He had no idea the extent of destruction the Immortal Armada could cause, but Siegfried assumed it was capable of causing absolute destruction.

However, Siegfried was only partially correct.

The cannons of the Immortal Armada were not loaded with the normal shells used by other airships on the continent. They used A-Grade Mana Stones as ammunition, which meant that their destructiveness was on a whole different level compared to normal airships.

In addition, the Immortal Armada wasn't the only fleet in the sky. There were numerous airships from various nations on the continent hovering in the sky, but they were most likely called to observe the battle rather than participate in it.

This was a show of force.

The Marchioni Empire had deliberately invited airships from various other nations to demonstrate the sheer strength of their Immortal Armada during the bombardment of the Fortress of Hell.

On the other hand, Siegfried had little to no interest at all in the Marchioni Empire’s grandstanding.

“One hour? That’s it? Why are they in such a rush?” Siegfried grumbled under his breath, feeling frustrated by the short time limit. He could not help but find the time limit to be tight, but he could not blame the empire at all.

Why?

It was all because the entire continent would become a battlefield if the Gate of Hell were allowed to open.

The Marchioni Empire wanted to destroy the Fortress of Hell as quickly as possible to ensure that the gate would not be completed, and any delay could become the crucial deciding factor that would bring forth irreversible catastrophe to the continent.

Thus, it could be considered that granting an hour was already a very benevolent show of mercy. Most importantly, the Marchioni Empire didn't really care whether Siegfried was swept up in the bombardment and died.

Why?

It was all because he was an Adventurer, which meant that he would revive later anyway, even if he ended up dying. They also knew that he would not voice any complaints if they just handed him a fat reward as a form of compensation later on.

“Hurry!”

“Grab what you can before the bombardment!”

“Whoa! Is this some triple experience event or something?!”

A group of Adventurers rushed past Siegfried. They also received the time attack quest and were in a hurry to get a piece of it before time ran out.

Siegfried received a quest requiring him to rescue someone within the time limit, but these Adventurers received a quest that granted them Experience Points for every demon slaughter before making their escape.

“What should we do, Your Majesty?!” Ninetail shouted while running alongside him.

“What else?! We have to go save him!” Siegfried replied without slowing down even a bit.

“But we do not have much time left! The bombardment will start soon!”

“You go ahead and loot the Demon Bank. Then, escape on your own!”

“What about Your Majesty?!”

“I’m going all the way. I can come back to life if I die anyway, so it doesn’t matter!”

“Then I’ll prepare the airships for our escape!”

“Excellent!”

“Good luck, sire!”

“Same to you!”

Siegfried and Ninetail split up. Siegfried sprinted to the twentieth basement floor.

Along the way, he ran into Orleius.

“You! What in the world is going on? A riot? Adventurers attacking? Now the empire’s fleet is about to bombard this place?!” Orleius shouted.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Siegfried asked, narrowing his eyes.

“Don’t tell me... this was all because of you...?” Orleius muttered.

“Who else could it be?” Siegfried replied with a shrug.

“Oh my devil...!” Orleius gasped.

“If I were you, I’d gather your Soul Coins and get out of here before the Adventurers tear you apart or the bombardment levels this place to the ground,” Siegfried said, motioning around the area.

“But why? Why would you do such a thing? I thought we had a deal—”

“Hey, I held up my end of the bargain, didn’t I? I promised to win the final match, and I did. I never said I wouldn’t turn this place upside down afterward.”

“What?!”

“That’s life. Get used to it.”

Just then, a radiant title appeared on top of Siegfried’s head, "I Am Backstabbing." Of course, Orleius couldn't see the title, but he could feel the treacherousness and cunningness of the human in front of him.

‘Is this guy even human...? Maybe he’s actually a demon sent by another demon lord?’ Orleius suspected.

The way Siegfried played around with words and manipulated their deal eerily reminded him of how demons would deceive humans into selling their souls.

“I’m busy, so I’ll see you around,” Siegfried said. Then, he turned around and sprinted toward the basement floor.

“...”

Orleius stood frozen, feeling completely duped by the cunning treacherous human. His dumbfoundedness slowly turned into rage after realizing what had happened, but the rage was quickly doused by his survival instincts.

The demon’s survival instincts quickly kicked in, and his desire to stay alive made him focus on one goal only.

‘I need to get out of here. I can’t die now. Not after all the effort I’ve put into turning my life around! I have to move! Now!’ Orleius thought as he clenched his fist.

Armed with renewed determination, he ran in the opposite direction from Siegfried in a desperate bid to escape the Fortress of Hell alive.

***

At the same time...

“What? The human monarchs are attempting to bomb the Fortress of Hell?”

The Demon Lord of Deception, Dantalion, was in sheer disbelief and fury after hearing the report from Belial, the warden of the Fortress of Hell.

“What’s going on?! How could this happen?! What were you doing until they were already at your doorsteps?!”

Dantalion was beyond enraged. Why would he not be? The Fortress of Hell had been a monumental project—a masterpiece he had spent many years to create.

He had deceived the humans for two hundred years, using their own prisoners to secretly dig tunnels along the ley lines where dark mana was surging; it was a massive covert undertaking with a goal to open the Gate of Hell.

This was by no means an easy task. If he had succeeded in opening the Gate of Hell, then it would have become the greatest achievement any demon had done in the entire history of the demon world.

The audacity to fool the humans, pretending to help them by imprisoning their criminals, and using them to covertly construct a network of tunnels, was a masterpiece that could only be planned by someone with extraordinary intelligence, such as the Demon Lord of Deception, Dantalion.

Just as the Gate of Hell project was about to be completed, the humans actually discovered the truth behind the prison.

“W-We still are unsure how they managed to find out, my lord,” Belial stammered. Then, he profusely started to sweat while proceeding to report, “The inmates have started rioting, and the Adventurers are storming the fortress. They are slaughtering our guards...”

“And then?!” All five of Dantalion’s faces screamed in unison with fury in their voices. “I spent two hundred years on this project! Just when I’m on the brink of completing it, I’m supposed to just sit here and watch it all crumble to nothing?!”

“B-But there is nothing we can do, my lord...!”

“Silence!”

“Y-Yes, my lord...”

“Open the Gate of Hell this instant!”

“B-But my lord! Forcing the Gate of Hell open will severely damage your true form!”

“I don’t care! Do it now!”

“No, my lord! The damage to my lord will be catastrophic! My lord might even lose the title of 'demon lord' if that happens!”

“That's...” Dantalion was still burning with anger, but he managed to regain some of his composure after hearing Belial’s desperate plea.

“The other demon lords will surely take advantage of my lord’s weakened state!”

“Ahem!”

“I understand that my lord has toiled endlessly the past two hundred years to open the Gate of Hell, but all of this was for my lord to ascend and become the Great Demon King, is it not?”

“Yes, every demon lord dreams of that...”

“Not only will the throne of becoming the Demon King slip from my lord’s grasp, but my lord’s title as 'demon lord' will be in jeopardy if my lord forces the Gate of Hell open!”

“You’re not wrong, but...”

“Please, I implore my lord to restrain yourself just this once. If I may dare say so, two hundred years is not that long for someone like my lord, is it not?”

“Hmph!”

“We implore you, Lord Dantalion!”

One by one, the other demons in Dantalion’s throne room dropped to their knees and pleaded.

“We implore you, Lord Dantalion!”

“We implore you, Lord Dantalion!”

“We implore you, Lord Dantalion!”

Dantalion barely managed to contain his desire to open the Gate of Hell right then and there to destroy the impudent humans. After all, why would he give up now when victory was within reach? Why would he allow another demon lord to reap the fruits before him?

Demons were inherently selfish creatures. Seeing another demon's success was something they could never stomach, and they passionately detested seeing another demon’s success even more than their own failures.

“Fine... Argh...!” In the end, Dantalion growled under his breath and finally agreed to abandon the Fortress of Hell. “But gather all of our intelligence agents. I want to know who’s behind this! Whoever it is that dared to sabotage my grand plan will pay! I will find them, and I will kill them. Do you understand?”

“Yes, my lord!”

And with a vow of vengeance, Demon Lord of Deception, Dantalion, decided to let go of his two-hundred-year-long endeavor to open the Gate of Hell.

***

The Fortress of Hell was engulfed in chaos, yet the twentieth basement floor seemed undisturbed. This made sense, as the inmates on this floor were not vicious criminals like the ones up above. Most of the inmates here were political dissidents, financial criminals, and mostly falsely accused individuals, which meant that the sudden ability to use mana did not trigger a riot like the rest of the prison.

The inmates on this floor were receiving much better treatment compared to the others, which led to far less discontent. Thus, they approached the guards with curiosity rather than outright rebelling.

One of the inmates approached a guard and asked, “I can use my mana all of a sudden. What’s going on?”

“Nothing to worry about. Just remain calm and do what you always do,” the guard replied.

The twentieth basement floor was sort of detached from the rest of the prison in that they had to rely on communications sent from above to tell what was really going on.

However, the above floors were in absolute turmoil, so they did not receive any news, which meant that the only way to find out what was happening was for the guards to go up and check for themselves.

The guard activated the elevator, and its mechanical hum echoed.

‘It’s Siegfried. I’m sure it’s his doing,’ Quandt thought, narrowing his eyes as he prepared himself after realizing what was likely happening.

Meanwhile, the elevator descended, its gears screeching under the weight of whatever was coming.

Thud...

The elevator came to a halt.

Creak...

The doors opened, and one of the guards was about to ask the person inside what all the noise was about, but—

Bam!

The guard collapsed like a withered tree fell down. There was blood spurting out from the fresh wound inflicted by a wicked-looking weapon.

Siegfried stepped out of the elevator with the +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp in his hand.

“Your Majesty! King Siegfried!” Quandt rushed forward through the crowd of inmates. Then, he exclaimed, “You’ve come! You’re here!”

“Let’s go,” Siegfried said with a sense of urgency. Then, he gestured toward the elevator and added, “We need to get out, now.”

“Alright!” Quandt swiftly replied and boarded the elevator.

“Come on! It’s time to escape! I’ll take all of you out of here!” Siegfried shouted.

He felt guilty of taking only Quandt that he generously offered to rescue the rest of the inmates. The elevator was large enough to carry the daily supply of food for five thousand inmates, so there was plenty of room for more than two people onboard.

However, the reaction he received was something he didn't expect at all.

“Huh?” Siegfried was taken aback when none of the inmates moved.

Surprisingly, some even did the unthinkable.

“Intruder!” one of the inmates shouted.

“Guards! What are you waiting for?! Deal with that crazy bastard!” another inmate yelled.

“Tsk... Crazy bastards...” Siegfried clicked his tongue and grumbled under his breath after seeing that the prisoners treated him like some deranged lunatic rather than seizing their chance to escape.

“Who the hell are you to tell us to escape or whatnot?” an inmate sneered.

“Sigh... I guess it’s another fool having a death wish,” another inmate said with a sigh, shaking his head.

Just then, the demon guards moved slowly toward Siegfried.