Debuff Master-Chapter 831

Anyone who had seen the Nautilus with their own eyes had never lived to tell the tale.

Why?

It was all because anyone who had encountered it was already dead.

Centuries had passed, but the legend of the Legendary Pirate King, Freydlief, and his flagship, the Nautilus, was still alive. Open any history book, and even the briefest mention of Freydlief would include detailed illustrations of the legendary vessel.

Thus, every single navy sailor on the continent knew what the Nautilus looked like. In fact, anyone with even a passing interest in history could easily identify the legendary ship.

“This is impossible...!” Claude exclaimed, hardly believing his own eyes.

The legendary ironclad warship that was no different from a myth, the Nautilus, was before his very eyes.

However, it was not just the Nautilus.

There were around thirty pirate ships that flanked it on both sides, and these ships looked just as ancient as the Nautilus. Their designs were weathered and aged from at least two centuries past.

In other words, they were vessels from the era of the Legendary Pirate King, Freydlief.

‘A ghost fleet? Is it the reincarnation of Pirate King Freydlief?’ Claude wondered.

He considered the unthinkable, which was that Freydlief had returned from the grave—or worse, had risen as a ghost to haunt the living. However, he was wrong; the captain standing at the bow of the Nautilus was not Freydlief.

“Attack! All ships! Fire at will!”

The one giving the command was none other than Francis de Drake, who was now wearing an old pirate hat—the trademark hat used by the Pirate King.

“Three! Two! One! Fireee!”

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The ghost fleet surrounding the Nautilus unleashed a volley of ethereal cannonballs.

Boom! Boom!

Some of the navy warships began to fall apart and shattered into pieces after getting rained upon by the unrelenting barrage.

Then, the highlight of the bombardment finally came.

Click... Clack!

The cannons of the legendary warship aimed at its enemies and roared to life.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

An unending barrage targeting the Naval Alliance’s flagship, the Nemesis, rained down from above.

The Nemesis possessed a powerful barrier that allowed it to withstand even the infamous onslaught of the Wailing Canyon, but even this powerful barrier was shattered by the ethereal cannonballs of the Nautilus.

Kaboom!

When the barrier shattered, the Nemesis’ hull was exposed to enemy attack. The rain of ethereal cannonballs did not stop even after the barrier shattered, and the Nemesis’ hull was destroyed, going up in flames.

“My god... this must be a nightmare! It can’t be real!” Claude cried out.

The appearance of the Nautilus stupefied him, and the destruction of his mighty armada rattled him, but seeing his flagship go up in flames completely demoralized him.

This chapter is updat𝙚d by freeweɓnovel.cøm.

Watching his prized flagship go up in flames in a single bombardment right before his eyes had utterly destroyed his confidence, but this was merely the prelude to an ever-greater despair.

Naval bombardment was considered the climax of naval battles, but the finale always came in the form of hand-to-hand combat.

“Prepare to meet your maker!”

“Time to embrace your demise.”

“The navy will never desecrate the Green Isles!”

Freydlief’s loyal crew of ghost sailors charged across the waves as if they were running on solid ground. They moved with supernatural speed and leaped dozens of meters into the air to board the navy’s warships in a single jump.

Once on the deck, they unleashed brutal carnage upon the foolish sailors who had dared to trespass on the Pirate King’s territory.

“Damn it! Will we let ourselves be outdone by the dead?! Warriors of the North! Show them our strength!”

Not one to back down, Lionbreath rallied his Nordic Marines. The hundreds of Aqua Runners zipped through the waters even faster and reached the navy’s ships in mere seconds.

And what followed?

A bloodbath...

The Nordic Marines went into a frenzy, slaughtering every Naval Alliance sailor in sight.

“Die!”

“Hahaha! These weaklings are nothing!”

“Time to feed the fishies!”

“Send them all to the bottom of the waters!”

The competitive spirit of the Nordic Tribe was set ablaze by the ghost sailors of Freydlief. Unwilling to be outmatched by ghosts, the Nordic Marines fought with an intense ferocity that turned them into savage beasts as they tore through human flesh without mercy.

During the chaos, Siegfried’s voice cut through the air like a blade.

“Cease fire!” he shouted. Then, he clicked his tongue and grumbled under his breath, “Tsk... What a waste to sink them all...”

He had no intention of letting the navy’s warships go to waste, as he planned to capture at least half of the warships that survived the bombardment at the Wailing Canyon.

Why destroy such valuable assets when they could be repaired and sold for a hefty profit?

Besides, with his allies already on board the navy’s warships and engaged in melee combat, continuing the bombardment would only increase the risk of friendly fire.

“Oh well, time to join the fray and end this,” he murmured with a shrug.

As the tide of the battle turned decisively in his favor, Siegfried spread out his +10 Black Crow Wingsuit and flew into the air.

His target? It was none other than the Naval Alliance’s flagship, the Nemesis, where Grand Marshal Claude was standing.

***

“A-Ah...!”

Claude groaned in despair while watching the sight before him.

Out of the one hundred ten warships that managed to pass through the Wailing Canyon, more than fifty had already sunk while the remaining vessels were about to be overtaken by the enemy.

Even the few ships that remained relatively intact had been seized by sea monsters, rendering them immobile and unable to join the battle.

“Arghhh!”

“Aaaah!”

“S-Somebody save me!”

“Heeelp!”

The cries of his sailors rang in the air, and their desperate wails weaved together to form an eerie, hair-raising requiem.

The sea’s surface was littered with the wreckage of shattered ships, and the bodies of dead sailors stained the dark murky green waters with blood.

The wind that mostly blew the salty sea breeze was now tainted with the acrid stench of gunpowder and blood, causing the already suffocating atmosphere to become even more suffocating.

“Is this... how it ends? The dream of the Naval Alliance... My ambitions...! I didn’t think it would crumble so easily...”

Claude was so overwhelmed by the crushing reality of defeat that he drew his pistol from his belt.

It was over.

In less than thirty minutes since the battle began, the Naval Alliance was utterly defeated. Now, the only fate that awaited them was complete annihilation. They would sink to the bottom of the ocean as fish food.

“I should have known better than to let greed blind me. Why did I chase after wealth and glory at my age...?”

Haunted by his decision to invade the Green Isles, Claude pressed the barrel of the pistol against his temple and prepared to pull the trigger.

Death seemed like the only way he could escape from both this nightmare and the shame of losing.

Clack!

Suddenly, a hand grabbed his wrist, stopping him from pulling the trigger.

“We haven’t lost yet.”

It was the informant that led the Naval Alliance to the Green Isles.

The informant had been planning to escape aboard a speedboat, but with the navy’s forces getting destroyed faster than expected, remaining aboard the Nemesis was the only viable option.

“We haven't lost yet? Look at the battlefield! We are finished! We are doomed! You’d best flee while you still can,” Claude retorted.

“I’d love to, but...” the informant muttered. Then, he pointed to the sky and said, “It seems they have no intention of letting me leave alive.”

“D-Drake! Captain Francis de Drake!” Claude exclaimed, and his eyes widened after spotting Siegfried soaring toward them.

The mysterious informant smirked and said, “Fortune is still on your side.”

“W-What?”

“You happen to have me at your side while I’m feeling quite... invigorated.”

After saying those words, the informant pulled back the hood and took off the robe.

The man beneath the robe looked nothing special, but the armaments he was adorned with were anything but ordinary.

On his right arm was a crimson gauntlet forged from the remains of a Red Dragon...

On his left arm, a cobalt-blue gauntlet crafted from the remains of a Blue Dragon...

His armor shone brightly in a golden light; it was crafted from the bones and scales of a Gold Dragon...

His sword radiated a deep green hue, clearly forged from a Green Dragon’s remains...

His shield emitted a blinding white glow, which was unmistakably crafted from the remains of a White Dragon.

Lastly, two massive wings spread out from his back, and it belonged to a Green Dragon.

From head to toe, the man was clad in artifacts made entirely from the remains of dragons. There was only one explanation for how someone who looked so plain and ordinary could be adorned with such extravagant artifacts.

The mysterious informant was none other than the Dragon Slayer, Phoenix de Urunas.

“I’ll handle this,” he said confidently before spreading out his wings and launching himself into the sky.

He shot upward, slicing through the air, and charged straight toward Siegfried like a jet fighter on a collision course.

***

“What the hell...?”

Siegfried's eyes narrowed after seeing something come toward him at an astonishing speed. He tightened his grip on his +15 Vanquisher’s Grasp and flashed his Rune of Insight at the incoming figure.

[Phoenix de Urunas]

[A Dragon Slayer born of the collective will of countless intelligent creatures. After awakening his power, he dedicated himself to hunting down dragons.]

[He holds the record for slaying the most dragons in the history of the continent.]

[Type: NPC]

[Race: Human]

[Age: 17]

[Level: 50]

[Class: Lord of the Garuda]

[Titles: The Immortal Dragon Slayer, Eater of Dragons, Slayer of Dragons, Dragon’s Nemesis, Dragon Chaser, Dragon Collector]

Siegfried immediately discerned that Phoenix was the mysterious informant.

‘So he’s here for the Silver Dragon.’

The mystery of how a third party had located the Green Isles was now clear. As a Dragon Slayer, Phoenix simply followed the traces of the Silver Dragon. The widely known tales of the Green Isles being built through a pact between Pirate King Freydlief and a Silver Dragon seemed to have naturally drawn him to this place.

Before Siegfried could react, Phoenix had already closed the distance, arriving directly in front of the former.

“Captain Drake, is it?” Phoenix asked. Then, a faint aura of orange and purple radiated from Phoenix, clearly showing his unique powers.

[The Hunt Begins]

[The Dragon Slayer's stats will increase explosively near a dragon.]

[Type: Passive]

[Cooldown: None]

[The Predator Emerges]

[When the Dragon Slayer is near a dragon, their stat will decrease dramatically. In the presence of a powerful Dragon Slayer, dragons are reduced to mere lizards, a far cry from the apex of intelligent life they are.]

[Type: Passive]

[Cooldown: None]

“Ah, what a shame,” Siegfried said, clicking his tongue.

He realized that Phoenix’s buff was a passive skill, not an active buff. If it were an active skill, then Siegfried could dispel it with Wave of Truth before pummeling him to a pulp.

“What do you mean by what a shame?” Phoenix asked, furrowing his brows in confusion.

“It’s just unfortunate,” Siegfried replied curtly.

“What’s unfortunate?” Phoenix raised a brow and asked.

“That’s none of your business,” Siegfried said dismissively. Then, he flashed a sinister grin and growled, “You have no idea how much you’ve cost me, do you? You’ve crossed the line. Way over the line.”

Siegfried was furious. Not only had Phoenix’s actions crashed the market value of dragon parts, but his meddling had also dragged the Naval Alliance into invading the Green Isles, ultimately causing trouble for Siegfried.

Of course, there was a silver lining, which was the fact that Siegfried managed to capture around sixty warships. Most of the Naval Alliance’s warships were well-equipped, so it was possible to make a pretty penny out of them.

Phoenix frowned, baffled by Siegfried’s cryptic remarks. Then, he grumbled, “What in the world are you talking about, Captain Drake? Quit playing with words and—!”

“...!”

Before he could finish his words, his sharp eyes caught the +15 Vanquisher’s Grasp flying straight for his face. He immediately leaned back, narrowly dodging the oncoming weapon.

However, Siegfried had already expected his opponent to react this way.

Bam!

A sharp kick struck Phoenix's side.

Whoosh!

Without wasting a moment, Siegfried used Flying Sword to recall the +15 Vanquisher’s Grasp mid-air and swung it at Phoenix in one fluid motion.

“Tsk!”

Phoenix reacted instantly by raising his pristine white shield crafted from the bones of a White Dragon.

Claaaang!

The deafening sound of metal clashing echoed across the battlefield.

Flash!

Then, from Phoenix’s shield, a blinding white light erupted, completely engulfing Siegfried.