Debuff Master-Chapter 888

Hamchi’s human form was nothing short of shocking.

He was around one hundred eighty-eight centimeters tall, had long white hair down to his waist length, blue eyes that reflected the moonlight, and an aura of mystery surrounding him.

On top of that, he was dashingly handsome. He was so beautiful and handsome that he would give even Gringore a run for his money.

Most importantly, he had beautiful wings that resembled a butterfly’s, which was a symbol of him being a spirit.

‘What? That’s Hamchi?!’

Siegfried was so shocked that he rubbed both of his eyes, finding it hard to believe the scene before him.

Hamchi’s transformation was that shocking.

‘No way...?’ Siegfried suddenly recalled what Hamchi said.

“See? I knew it. Hamchi is no longer everyone’s sweetheart. Kyuu...”

“Countless women will mourn if Hamchi gets married.”

“I would be a sinner if that happens. Kyuuu...”

“What should Hamchi do now? How can Hamchi belong to just one woman? Kyuuu...”

‘T-That nonsense he was spouting was actually true?!’ Siegfried was utterly floored.

He never expected Hamchi’s delusions to turn out to be true, but he had no other choice but to accept it after witnessing Hamchi’s transformation.

Even Siegfried had to admit that Hamchi’s current appearance was so striking that both male and female alike would find him attractive.

Just like Hamchi's bragging, he possessed the looks to charm countless women and make them fall for him.

‘But is that his real body? Or is that just a temporary transformation? What the hell is going on?’ Siegfried wondered.

Meanwhile, Hamchi walked toward the Red Knight of War.

“Hey, insect. It’s time to pay the price,” Hamchi said icily with a chilling smile.

“Y-You dare...!” Mars stammered.

Surprisingly, even the Red Knight of War seemed to be flustered by Hamchi’s sudden transformation.

The knight swung his red sword at Hamchi.

Kwachik!

Hamchi grabbed the Red Knight of War’s face before the red sword could touch him.

C-Crack...! Crack!

The Red Knight of War’s helmet started cracking, buckling at Hamchi's grip strength.

Shockingly, Hamchi was now so strong that he could easily crush the Level 449 Red Knight of War’s helmet with just a single hand.

“A-Argh!” Mars flailed his arms wildly in a bid to escape.

“It’s time to pay the price for stepping out of line, you insect,” Hamchi said icily.

After his transformation, his personality and manner of speech changed completely, and he became almost unrecognizable.

“A-Argh...! D... Damn you...!” Mars cursed under his breath, flailing his arms and legs wildly.

Wooong!

The knight used his reflect skill, but it was to no avail.

Woooong!

Hamchi unleashed a sky-blue aura that nullified the Red Knight of War’s skill.

[Aura of Nullification]

[An aura that nullifies all skills around the user.]

The result was evident.

“Arghhh!”

The Red Knight of War struggled in agony, unable to put up a proper fight against Hamchi.

“W-What the hell...?!” Siegfried muttered in shock after seeing the debuff skill Hamchi used. An aura that nullified all skills around the user meant that only basic attacks could be used while in close proximity to Hamchi.

In other words, most enemies would become nothing but an empty shell before him.

“Die, fool,” Hamchi said icily as he crushed the knight’s helmet.

“A-Aaaaack!” Mars screamed in agony.

Thud...!

Not before long, he fell to his knees with his head crushed along with his red helmet.

“I’ll make sure you won’t ever step foot into this world again, you insect,” Hamchi said, glaring down at the Red Knight of War at his feet.

“A-Argh! Urkkk...!”

“Hey, owner punk,” Hamchi called out.

“Y-Yeah?” Siegfried stammered in response.

Hamchi’s current form and actions were so completely different from his usual self that Siegfried could not help but be confused on how to respond.

“Finish him,” Hamchi said, motioning to the knight with his chin.

“F-Finish him?”

“Yeah? Do I have to say it twice?”

“O-Okay! I’ll finish him off!” Siegfried exclaimed in response, slightly startled.

Then, he grabbed his +16 Vanquisher’s Grasp and sprinted toward the free meal.

***

‘This is my chance!’

Siegfried immediately activated Embrace of Despair and Eternal Flame, applying stacks of debuff against the Red Knight of War, before swinging his +16 Vanquisher’s Grasp.

Bam! Bam! Thwack!

He applied three stacks of Skull Breaker—

Boom!

—And struck the fourth time to detonate the Mark of Death.

“Hey, do it properly, owner punk,” Hamchi grumbled.

“E-Eh?”

“Your attacks are hopeless. Hopelessly weak.”

“A-All right!”

After receiving Hamchi’s command, Siegfried quickly charged up the Touch of Death into his +16 Vanquisher’s Grasp. Then, he applied all of his debuff skills on the Red Knight of War and...

Kaboom!

Struck with the Touch of Death.

[Red Knight of War: Mars the Mad]

[HP: ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜]

The Red Knight of War succumbed to the massive damage inflicted and collapsed flat on the ground.

He was Level 449, but taking the full damage of Touch of Death while being riddled with debuffs was not something he could survive. This was not surprising at all, as forget about Level 449, even a Grandmaster would find it hard to emerge unscathed after getting directly hit by Siegfried’s most powerful offensive skill, Touch of Death.

Moreover, the Red Knight of War had yet to wreak enough chaos to regain its true strength, so there was no way it could survive after getting hit by Touch of Death.

“Haha... Do you think... killing me will... stop the conflicts in this world...?” Mars asked, chuckling.

“What?”

“It’s... futile... I am merely the... avatar of chaos... you creatures will... never get along with each other... you will fight until... the day you... become extinct... haha...!”

It was then.

Bam!

Hamchi stomped on the Red Knight of War’s disfigured head and—

Splat!

—crushed it into pieces...

“I hate noisy insects,” Hamchi said icily while glancing down at the splattered mess under his foot.

‘O-Oh my! Such a cool guy!’ Siegfried exclaimed inwardly like a fan girl.

Ding!

Then, a message popped up in front of his eyes.

[Alert: You have defeated the Red Knight of War: Mars the Mad!]

[Alert: You have gained experience points!]

[Alert: You have leveled up!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 310!]

As expected of a boss monster, the Red Knight of War gave immense experience points that made Siegfried level up in one go.

‘Jackpot!’ Siegfried grinned after seeing that he had leveled up.

Wooong!

A burst of light emitted from Hamchi once again, and he became a hamster once again.

Siegfried approached him to ask which one was his true form.

“Hey, Hamchi. I—”

However, Hamchi groaned and closed his eyes. “Kyu... Hamchi is sleepy...”

Hamchi then fell asleep.

Clearly, transforming into a different form had taken a huge toll on Hamchi.

Siegfried decided to leave the questions for another time and gently picked Hamchi up.

“What in the world are you, really?” he muttered while looking at the hamster peacefully sleeping in his arms.

“That was his true form. Kyu,” Mochi said.

“What?! A-Are you serious?”

“Kyu! I am! That’s the true form of all spirits when we are in our realm!”

“Oh?”

“But it’s difficult to maintain our true form in this world! It consumes too much energy! Kyuu!”

“Oh!”

“Hamchi won’t be able to transform for a while now! Kyu!”

“All right, I got it. But... I never imagined he was telling the truth. I thought he was just putting on airs.”

“Kyu? What do you mean?”

“He said that he’s every woman’s sweetheart. And that a lot of women will be sad if he got married.”

“Kyaaaaak!”

Mochi suddenly shrieked in anger after Siegfried ratted—well, not really—out Hamchi.

“That asshole is a famous playboy! Kyaaaaak! I should just cut it off!”

Mochi shrieked in anger and took out a large pair of scissors from her pouch, which was the exact same pouch Hamchi had on him.

“I’ll cut it off! Off with his d—!”

“H-Hiiiik!” Siegfried shrieked loudly, loud enough to drown Mochi’s words.

“Put that asshole down! I’ll cut it off right now! Kyaaak!”

“H-Hold on!”

Siegfried was forced to run away from Mochi while carrying Hamchi, who was still fast asleep in his arms. As diabolical as Siegfried could be at times, he knew he had to defend Hamchi's "precious thing."

***

The Red Knight of War was defeated, and peace finally returned to the southern region of the continent.

— I have no idea why I did what I did. I apologized to my neighbors, but... Sigh... This is the worst mistake I’ve ever made in my entire life.

King Leonid could not believe he fell under the influence of the Red Knight of War’s abilities but promptly got into action to clean up after his mess.

“You managed to resist because it is you, elder brother. In fact, anyone would have fallen victim to that guy’s abilities,” Siegfried said, consoling him.

— Still... I crossed one too many lines this time.

“Let us focus on cleaning up first before anything else.”

— All right.

King Leonid nodded in response.

— I wish to thank you yet again. The entire continent would have been engulfed in war, and countless people would’ve died had it not been for your heroic actions.

“Please, you flatter me.”

— Anyway, thank you once again. I will make sure to repay my debt one day.

“I am always open to gifts. Hohoho!” Siegfried said with a chuckle.

Why would he refuse when the other party was willing to repay him? It was unthinkable that Siegfried van Proa—rather, Han Tae-Sung—would ever refuse another person’s goodwill.

He chatted with King Leonid for a while before heading to the intelligence department after the call ended. He wanted to get a live report on the changes occurring in the southern region after the Red Knight of War was vanquished.

But...

“Three out of the sixteen kingdoms have expressed their desire for peace, but the remaining thirteen kingdoms wish to continue with the war.”

“What?!”

Siegfried was shocked after hearing Ninetail’s report.

“The Red Knight of War is dead now, right? Yet they want to continue with their wars?!”

“Yes, Your Majesty. It seems that... the Red Knight of War made things convenient for them,” Ninetail replied.

“What do you mean by that?”

“The kingdoms in the southern region have long quarrelled over small things and rarely got along. Also, some of them were already at a political standoff way before the Red Knight of War appeared.”

“So?”

“The only thing stopping them from crossing the line was the lack of casus belli. Well, there is also the uncertainty of how strong their neighbors were too. There had been no active wars in the south for so long that they couldn’t really grasp how strong their neighbors were.”

“Basically, the Red Knight of War gave them the justification they desired while the skirmishes made it easy for them to gauge how strong their opponents were?”

“Precisely. I believe they realized they might have a shot at one another after the battles that broke out.”

“And that’s why they aren’t stopping their wars even though the Red Knight of War had long disappeared?”

“Yes.”

“Those crazy bastards...”

“Well, they aren’t fighting blindly like a bunch of enraged animals under the influence of the Red Knight of War. But... They are employing every strategy and tactic they could think of in order to maximize what they could gain from these wars.”

“Ah...” Siegfried sighed in resignation after realizing that there was no helping them.

“It’s... futile... I am merely the... avatar of chaos... you creatures will... never get along with each other... you will fight until... the day you... become extinct... haha...!”

He recalled the final words of the Red Knight of War just before he was killed.

“I guess he wasn’t wrong,” he muttered under his breath.

He had to admit that the Red Knight of War was right, as the wars showed no signs of stopping even after the knight was vanquished.

No, it was more accurate to say that the blind fighting stopped and cunningness entered the battlefield, which meant that it would be much more difficult to put an end to the wars.

Still, this did not mean killing the Red Knight of War was futile or anything.

Why?

It was all because the entire continent would eventually be embroiled in wars if he were still around..

Siegfried knew that he had already done everything he could for the continent.

“Ah... I hope you fight as much as you want and call it quits soon.” Siegfried sighed once again before leaving the intelligence department.

Just as he was about to walk away...

“Your Majesty!” Ninetail chased after him.

“Hmm? What’s up?”

“We have received urgent news!”

“What now? Did something else happen?”

“Well, I am not sure. But I believe this is something Your Majesty would be interested in.”

“What is it?”

Ninetail looked straight into Siegfried’s eyes and reported, “We have received reports that... a group of Adventurers have established their own kingdom in the southern region.”