CH 100

Boooom!

Siegfried crashed into the ground.

Creak… Creak…!

The ground cracked and was turned inside out, but it was just the beginning.

Whoosh!

Perhaps he struck the ground too strongly? The fragmented ground shot up into the sky after the impact.

“Kieeek?!”

“Kyaahk!”

“Kieeek!”

The Cryptids running toward Siegfried floated up as well.

What happened next?

Of course—what goes up has to come down.

Crash!

The ground, rock, and everything that floated up came crashing to the ground, and the whole turn of events looked as if a high-ranked magician cast the high-ranked spell ‘Reverse Gravity’.

The ground split open and the sky fell, and the whole scene looked like heaven and earth splitting open. In fact, the skill's name was ‘Splitting Heaven and Earth’.

[Splitting Heaven and Earth]

[The user smashes the ground with a cataclysmic strike, causing the creation of heaven and earth.]

[The user smashes the ground dealing immense damage and splitting the ground to inflict multi-hit damage to enemies. Finally, the ground comes back down after being forcefully sent upward, dealing additional damage to enemies.]

[The ability range and damage dealt increases the higher the skill’s level.]

[The skill can be enhanced with attribute energy including but not limited to fire, water, lightning, and darkness.]

[Level: 1]

[Cooldown: 300 seconds]

[Duration: 5 seconds]

[Ability Range: 1,000 square meters]

[Mana Consumption: 1,000]

The Debuff Master’s Level 100 active skill Splitting Heaven and Earth wreaked havoc in an area the size of two basketball courts.

“Crazy… That’s Poison Mage?”

“Could it be Earthquake Magic? No, that looks more like Reverse Gravity magic…?”

“Is that a psychic-type skill?”

“What the hell is he…?”

The Adventurers who saw Siegfried’s Splitting Heaven and Earth couldn’t hide their shock as they started murmuring among themselves with all sorts of speculations regarding Siegfried’s identity.

‘Don’t tell me… he’s a Hidden Class user?!’ 

In the end, they could only assume that Siegfried was a Hidden Class user.

***

Siegfried didn’t feel the power of his Splitting Heaven and Earth, but he didn’t really have to feel it to know its might.

Unfortunately, Siegfried didn’t have the luxury of being amazed by it since the real fight was just about to start.

“Kyaahk!”

“Kedeuk! Kedeuk!”

“Keeheehee!”

A swarm of nearly three thousand Cryptids was still charging into the gorge, and Siegfried’s task of guarding the gorge had just started.

***

The Adventurers initially thought that it was impossible for Siegfried to hold the Cryptids back.

‘Isn’t he pushing it?’

‘I mean… even if there’s a bottleneck… just look at how many there are…’

‘That’s not an army you can fight on your own just because you received some buffs…’

‘I heard he has the lowest level among us, right?’

It was only right for them to think that way. After all, the number of Cryptids was simply far too overwhelming, no matter how advantageous the terrain was, but it didn’t take long for Siegfried to prove them wrong.

“The… The monsters are melting!”

“Wow… That’s insane… Look at that!”

“Does it make sense that he can fend them off alone…?”

“Crazy… how many has he killed so far? I think his kill count has surpassed a thousand already, right?!”

Siegfried was literally melting the Cryptids away. It was as if he had turned into an eraser, no, into boiling lava. He turned every Cryptid that got near him into ketchup.

This was only possible thanks to the Debuff Master’s ability to commit large-scale massacres through its debuff fields, self-buff skills, and radioactive energy on top of the various buffs he had received from the Adventurers. Lastly, the advantageous terrain was the most important part of all of this. It was only thanks to the terrain that he could hold the monsters back.

[Alert: You have reached Level 101!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 102!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 103!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 104!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 105!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 106!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 107!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 108!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 109!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 110!]

Unbelievably, Siegfried managed to level up a whopping ten times in the span of just ten minutes.

He had killed so many Cryptids he couldn’t even count them anymore.

[Siegfried van Proa]

[HP: ⬛⬛⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜]

[Mana: ⬛⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜]

[Stamina: ⬛⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜]

Siegfried was so exhausted, and his status bars were about to be depleted. However, for some reason, the Cryptids didn’t dare to barge into the gorge anymore.

“Kereuk…!”

“Kyahk…”

“Kiiieek…”

The few dozen remaining Cryptids just growled at him from a distance. They didn’t dare to approach the gorge Siegfried was guarding.

They were afraid.

Siegfried had managed to instill fear into these emotionless mutated monsters by threatening their very survival. Well, it was impossible for the monsters not to fear him as the bodies of his victims could be piled up into a mountain, and their blood could become a river.

‘Is this the end…?’ Siegfried thought, sighing in relief while looking at the Cryptids cowering in the distance.

He was already at his limits, and he couldn’t fight anymore. His character’s HP, Mana, and Stamina were almost depleted, and the buffs the Adventurers cast on him had long expired.

It was impossible for him to last even another minute against these monsters.

‘It doesn’t matter since the quest will be cleared soon,’ Siegfried thought. He placed greater importance on his quest ‘Operation – Retreat in the Dead of the Night’ than his own life.

The quest was already as good as cleared since the troops had already safely exited the Snake Gorge.

“Hyung! Let’s go!”

“Great work!”

A quick look at tinyurl.com/2p9emv8w will leave you more fulfilled.

“Let’s go!”

The Adventurers watching him fight also passed the gorge and reached the safe zone.

Ding!

A message appeared in front of Siegfried’s eyes.

[Alert: You have obtained a title!]

[Alert: Congratulations! You have gained an outstanding achievement that will be recorded in the history of the Macallan Kingdom!]

[Alert: You have obtained the title ‘Lord of the Battlefield: Martial’![1]

Siegfried was familiar with this title.

[Lord of the Battlefield: Martial]

[An honorable title bestowed only to those who have faced 1,000 enemies alone through their martial prowess.]

[There is another title that exists related to this called, ‘Lord of the Battlefield: Intellect’, and it is a title bestowed to those who have displayed extraordinary strategic prowess on the battlefield.]

[This title may be upgraded to ‘God of the Battlefield’ once the user has achieved great feats against more than 10,000 enemies on the battlefield.]

[Type: Title]

[Rating: Legendary]

[Effects: Physical Damage Dealt +7%, Magic Damage Dealt +7%]

[Buffs: The Lord of the Battlefield’s buff will activate when there are more enemies than allies on the battlefield. The user’s HP Regeneration, Mana Regeneration, and Stamina Regeneration will increase by 200% when active.]

The Lord of the Battlefield title was a title that most Rankers on the ranking page of BNW possessed, provided that they once hunted in the Arachnid Temporary Outpost, and it was considered a must-have title for Rankers.

It was fine if a Ranker didn’t have the God of the Battlefield title, but it was widely known that owning the title Lord of the Battlefield was almost mandatory for one to become a Ranker. In fact, it was pretty easy for someone to find a party at a high-ranking dungeon if they possessed this title since the title itself was proof of the player’s qualification and the worth of their class.

Why?

BNW was a cash-dependent game with an almost pay-to-win system, and there were numerous ‘Abusers’ who paid their way into the ranking page. As such, most parties at high-ranked dungeons tended to be skeptical of people with good items, good class, and high level since they could have paid their way to it.

In fact, it was difficult for players to join a party in high-ranked dungeons if they had nothing else to prove their true worth other than their cash-bought items. Meanwhile, a player with not-so-expensive items could still find a party to join as long as they had the title ‘Lord of the Battlefield’.

‘Wow… I actually got this title…’ Siegfried thought with a smile.

Lord of the Battlefield.

He had never expected that he would one day obtain the title he always thought was exclusive only for those ‘talented bastards’.

There was a popular saying that said something about disasters rolling over to become blessings in life. Siegfried realized that one had to live life to the fullest to see what it truly had in store for them.

‘I guess I won’t have a hard time looking for a party at high-ranked dungeons later,’ Siegfried thought before he turned around and glared at the remaining Cryptids.

It seemed that the monsters had given up their chase, and Siegfried casually walked toward the safe zone.

But before he could reach the safe zone, a loud boom shook the ground.

Boom! Boom! Boom! 

‘What was that?’ Siegfried turned toward the source of the booming sound.

“Ah… What the hell is it this time…?” Siegfried grumbled. He was seemingly flabbergasted as he muttered, “How am I supposed to beat that thing?”

The monster that appeared just when he thought everything was finally over was a Boss monster known as an ‘Ultra Minotaur’.

***

[Ultra Minotaur]

[A minotaur mutated into a Cryptid.]

[It is an extremely powerful Cryptid known as the most powerful monster in the B Rank area.]

[Level: 160]

[Race: Cryptid]

[Type: B Rank Cryptid]

[Rank: Boss]

[Class: Bulldozer]

[Attribute: Fire]

[Special Ability: Super Armor]

The Ultra Minotaur was an overwhelming being. It was fifteen meters tall, and it weighed several tons. The mutated minotaur was only a Level 160 creature, but its immense HP and incredibly high defense made it nearly impossible to fight one-on-one.

In short, it wasn’t a monster one could duel. One had to party with numerous players and treat this monster as a ‘raid’ target.

“Why did I even try to complete that quest when we were already doomed from the start?” Siegfried muttered in disbelief while looking at the Ultra Minotaur.

It was only natural that he was in disbelief because the Ultra Minotaur was more than capable of destroying the entire Snake Gorge, catching up to the escaping troops, and wiping them out.

“Puff! Puff!”

The Ultra Minotaur puffed steam out of its nostrils as it charged toward the gorge without paying attention to Siegfried’s thoughts.

“Ah… screw it…” Siegfried tightly gripped his hammer and grumbled, “I’m not so fond of running away anyway, so I might as well buy those guys some time.”

Shwiiiiiiish!

All of a sudden, an arrow flew out of nowhere and struck the ground in front of Siegfried.

“…!”

Siegfried looked down at the arrow in front of him, “What the hell are these…?”

There were a bunch of bottles tied to the arrow.

[Highest Grade Mana Potion × 1]

[Highest Grade Health Potion × 1]

[Highest Grade Stamina Potion × 1]

There were three bottles of the Highest Grade Potions that were famous for being pretty expensive. There was also a letter attached to the arrow.

The letter said:

Can you still fight?

Drink those up and recover if you can.

I will buy you some time to recover.

Then, let’s fight together once you are ready.

I will help you.

Who? Just who would send something like this?

Siegfried had no idea, but he understood what the sender was trying to say.

They wanted to cooperate with him in bringing down the Ultra Minotaur.

‘I have no idea who you are, but let’s give it a shot!’ Siegfried clenched his fists.

What the sender had done was more than enough reason for him to try and beat the Ultra Minotaur.

Gulp! Gulp! Gulp!

Siegfried drank the potions attached to the arrow.

“Mooo!” 

Meanwhile, the Ultra Minotaur bellowed out its signature roar and charged toward the Snake Gorge.

It seemed the monster was hell-bent on destroying not just Siegfried but the entire gorge. 

1. Author-nim actually made a reference to the game League of Legends where if you get 6 kills, then it will call you Lord of the Battlefield in Korean, but in the English version of the game, the player just gets a message ‘Dominating!’ instead. ☜