Debuff Master

Chapter 312

Blinding golden light flashed from the chest as treasures came pouring out from it—no, nothing of such sort happened.

“K-Kyu?!”

Hamchi was surprised as well, as the chest contained…

“Aren’t these just potions…?”

“Kyu?”

…Potions.

There were twenty yellow potions and three orange potions in the chest.

[Type I Elixir]

[N/A]

[Type: Potion]

[Rating: Legendary]

[Effect: Unknown]

[Price: 0 gold]

[Type II Elixir]

[N/A]

[Type: Potion]

[Rating: Legendary]

[Effect: Unknown]

[Price: 0 gold]

Siegfried tried using his Rune of Insight on the potions, but the only information he got was that the yellow potion was called Type I Elixir, and the orange potion was called ‘Type II Elixir.

“Ugh… These are trash…” Siegfried grumbled.

“Why are you taking them with you, owner punk?! Your words and actions are contrasting each other! Kyuuu!” Hamchi retorted and glared at him after seeing the potion enter his inventory.

“Who knows? Maybe I could sell them for a gold coin or something.”

“You’re such a miser, owner punk! You can’t leave even a copper coin alone, can you? Can you stop obsessing over money since you’re already rich?!”

“Every penny counts.”

“There’s no stopping you! Kyuuu!”

Siegfried was the type that would pick up an item, no matter how worthless it looked, just in case. ‘It could be worth something, who knows? It happened once with the treasure map, right?’

He kept the useless half of the map with him for quite a while—well, for one year and six months before finding its true value. He found the treasure map’s other half and completed the map that led him to the final masterpiece of the Legendary Blacksmith, Herbert.

He obtained the Rod of God thanks to that and even built rapport with the top three workshops on the continent, which was a much bigger harvest than he could have hoped for.

However, what if he had thrown the map away, thinking it was useless? Would he have obtained the Rod of God?

NOPE!

“Sometimes, what we think is trash is the real treasure.”

“Aren’t you trying to strike it too big, owner punk?”

“We’ll see sooner or later anyway, right? Besides, who knows?”

“Do what you want! Kyu!”

“I think we’re done with this place, so let’s go somewhere…”

“Ack!”

“We’re in trouble!”

“Cardboard scavengers! Return at once! Hurry! Ack!”

Siegfried could hear the faint shouting of his party members.

“Let’s go!”

“Kyu!”

Siegfried and Hamchi rushed out of the laboratory.

***

What awaited them outside the mansion was pandemonium.

“Gwuok!”

“Gwuuu Oooh!”

“Gwuaak! Gwaaak!”

There were hundreds—no, thousands of ghouls attacking the party members.

[Dimensional Blood Ghoul]

[A Blood Ghoul empowered by dimensional energy.]

[Its entire body is dripping with poisonous blood. Caution is advised when fighting it.]

[Type: Monster]

[Rating: Rare]

[Race: Ghoul]

[Level: 230]

Siegfried felt his nose go numb at the horrid stench of the Dimensional Blood Ghouls; their numbers were more than enough to make the air he breathed reek of their stench.

“Let’s go!”

“Kyuuu!”

Siegfried and Hamchi ran out of the mansion and joined up with the party.

Shwaaa!

He immediately placed down Shadow Swamp to hinder the Dimensional Blood Ghouls before trying to jump into battle, but…

“Siegfried-nim! Please stay back!”

“Come here behind us!”

“It’s dangerous, so stay back! Support us from the back!”

The party members were trying to protect him instead of fighting alongside him.

“Please stay back since you’re a non-combat class! It’s dangerous here!”

Even the party leader shouted at him. It seemed that they were under the impression that he was a non-combatant due to his Debuff Master class.

‘Should I let this misunderstanding continue?’ Siegfried wondered if he should sit back and relax while enjoying the flow of experience points.

It was quite tempting, to be honest, as all he needed to do was relax and place down his debuff fields whenever it went off cooldown. There was nothing wrong with it, as most Buffers enjoyed the same luxury, anyway.

‘But it’s not my style…’

However, Siegfried had always frowned upon the spoiled nature of Buffers, who acted high and mighty simply because of their class. As such, he couldn’t stomach doing the same thing as them.

Besides, the Debuff Master was a physical melee fighter capable of dealing massive damage, and he felt obligated to stay true to his roots, too.

This was a high-level dungeon, after all. He had to shine brighter than anyone.

Kwak…!

He gripped his +15 Gaia’s Fist tightly and jumped right into the fray.

“What?!”

“Come back! You’re gonna die!”

“Siegfried-nim!”

The entire party was shocked by Siegfried’s sudden reckless move, but…

Bam! Bam! Bam!

They were rendered speechless upon seeing Siegfried swing his +15 Gaia’s Fist at the heads of the Dimensional Blood Ghouls as if he were playing whack-a-mole.

“W-Wasn’t he a support?!”

“I thought his class was Debuff Master? How can a non-combatant deal such damage?!”

“I know his weapon is +15, but… Isn’t he too strong…?”

Siegfried’s prowess defied logic, and the party members were absolutely stunned after seeing the numbers on the damage counter whenever Siegfried swung his weapon.

“I was wondering why a supporter was carrying a +15 weapon…” the party leader muttered in realization. He suddenly felt embarrassed, as he had told Siegfried that he was going to protect the latter not too long ago.

“Ah! There are too many of them!” Siegfried suddenly shouted, sounding annoyed.

Boom!

He slammed his +15 Gaia’s Fist into the ground and used Splitting Heaven and Earth.

Whoosh!

The thousands of Dimensional Blood Ghouls were thrown into the air.

Krrwaaang! Bam!

A powerful earthquake followed right afterward, and the powerful blow created a massive sinkhole that swallowed all of the Dimensional Blood Ghouls.

It was an extremely clean combination that left not even a single corpse behind.

Surprisingly, he didn’t even use Blaze Field.

[Alert: You have gained experience points!]

[Alert: You have gained experience points!]

[Alert: You have gained experience points!]

He gained a ton of experience points after making quick work of the Dimensional Blood Ghouls. A very pleasant-to-the-eye message popped up in front of him.

[Alert: You have reached Level 240!]

He leveled up once more and reached Level 240.

“Crazy…! He has AOE skills? Isn’t he a damage dealer, then?!”

“Wow!”

“A-Amazing…”

The party members were mesmerized. They were stronger or as strong as Siegfried, so Siegfried’s DPS wasn’t really that impressive to them. However, Siegfried’s exquisite control, coupled with his powerful AOE skill that made quick work of the thousands of monsters, thoroughly captivated them.

It was a feat that should have been impossible for a non-combatant support class to pull off, so the high-level Adventurers in the party were truly impressed.

“You’re quite something… Wow…” the party leader muttered before he added, “I thought you were a support… but that was really amazing. I finally understand why Yong Tae-Pung ahjusshi vouched for you.”

“Haha… That was nothing…” Siegfried replied while awkwardly scratching his cheek.

“H-Huh? What’s wrong with you? Are you alright?”

“Ack! What the hell are you doing?!”

“What’s wrong with this crazy bastard?!”

“Are you high?!”

The party was in an uproar.

‘What’s going on?’

Siegfried and the party leader wondered as they made their way to where the commotion was.

***

The commotion was caused by a single party member.

“Keuk…! Keuuuuk…!”

Only the whites of his eyes could be seen, and he was foaming at the mouth.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The issue here was that the Adventurer was recklessly swinging his sword at his fellow party members.

“What’s wrong with him? Is he having a seizure? Shouldn’t he go to the hospital instead of staying logged in the game…?”

“GRRRRWAAAAAH!” roared the Adventurer. His body started to turn black, and he started emitting a horrible stench.

“W-What?! Why is he suddenly…?!”

“His body is decaying?!”

The party members were shocked upon seeing a party member mutate right in of their eyes. The unfortunate Adventurer’s entire body turned black, and his eyes turned green as well. Moments later, two fangs protruded out of his mouth.

“Grr…!” The mutated Adventurer raised his head and growled at the members of the second party. The party members flashed their Rune of Insight at the creature, who was once their comrade, and they found that he was no longer human.

[Dimensional Adventurer Ghoul]

[An Adventurer from another world corrupted by dimensional energy. The Adventurer has mutated into a ghoul.]

[It possesses all of its abilities and stats while receiving a significant boost to its HP.]

[Extreme caution is advised when fighting it.]

[Type: Monster]

[Race: Ghoul]

[Level: 254]

[Class: Ghoul Prime Sword]

[Notes: Corruption lasts for thirty days, and the player will have zero control over their character while corrupted. (Will be back to normal forty-nine hours after death.)]

The Adventurer actually became a ghoul!

“What the fuck is this?! Those crazy beehive bastards!” Siegfried exclaimed out of horror. Beehive was the nickname that the Korean gaming community gave to the creators of BNW—Hive Games Entertainment.

“Don’t turn players into monsters!”

BNW placed great importance on realism, but turning a player into a monster was simply crossing the line.

‘This is absurd!’

The gamer who had lost control over his character could only watch in horror.

[Alert: Status Ailment!]

[Alert: Your character has been inflicted with mutation!]

[Alert: Your character has been afflicted by Curse of Decay!]

[Alert: You have lost control over your character!]

[Alert: Your character will turn into a Dimensional Adventurer Ghoul for thirty days!]

[Alert: You will recover control over your character forty-nine hours after death.]

Hive Games Entertainment was clearly a ruthless company capable of keeping the players on their toes.

“A gamer turned into a ghoul?!”

“What the hell?!”

“What kind of a game would do such a thing…?”

Unfortunately, they didn’t have the luxury to stay shocked.

“GWAAAK!”

The Dimensional Adventurer Ghoul with the class Prime Sword lunged at the party and unleashed every single skill in its arsenal.