CH 139

[Chiffon]

[A high-ranking official of the Mirmic Race.]

[Level: 190]

[Rank: Named Monster]

[Special Abilities: It exudes an aura that greatly increases the stats and Movement Speed of Lesser Mirmic Warriors within a one-kilometer radius.]

The named monster, Chiffon, looked down at Siegfried and said, “An insignificant creature like you dares to stand against us?”

Chiffon was capable of speaking in the human language, which was one of the characteristics of most named monsters.

‘As expected of a named monster. These are the kind of guys that I should never allow to meet up with that first wave,’ Siegfried thought while glaring at Chiffon.

He recognized why Chiffon was a named monster simply by looking at its buff ability, which had an insane range of a one-kilometer radius. He definitely couldn’t allow Chiffon to meet up with the massive army that had gone ahead.

“You dare stand in our way? I will make you pay for your insolence, insignificant creature.” Chiffon charged Siegfried at a frightening speed.

It seemed that Chiffon specialized in speed.

However, Siegfried was basically Chiffon’s natural enemy because Siegfried possessed the ability to drastically reduce his enemy’s speed.

Woooong!

He placed down Shadow Swamp the moment it went off cooldown.

Seuk…

Chiffon’s shadow emerged from the ground and grabbed its ankle.

“Keuk!” 

Chiffon was thrown off balance, and he tumbled on the ground.

Then, the shadow hurriedly got on top of Chiffon and locked its leg around Chiffon’s arm before pulling as hard as it could.

Crack!

There was an audible crack as Chiffon’s bones were fractured.

Armbar.

The shadow had used the most mainstream submission move known to every mixed martial artist.

‘That guy knows how to do an armbar…?’ Siegfried was stupefied at the shadow’s actions. He didn’t even give it a command.

‘Ah… I shouldn’t stand around and do nothing.’ 

Siegfried shook himself awake and dashed toward Chiffon.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Siegfried unleashed a barrage of attacks at Chiffon with Machine Gun Smash.

Puk!

Chiffon’s head cracked open after being mercilessly struck by Siegfried’s hammer.

Named Monster?

It was nothing against Siegfried.

“Ah… I got nervous for nothing,” Siegfried grumbled while staring down at Chiffon’s corpse.

“I thought some big shot showed up… Sigh, let’s just hurry up and finish this quest. I still have a lot to do,” he muttered and looked toward the gate before saying, “Next, please.”

“C-Captain…? I think getting revenge will be… very difficult…” Carlisle whispered into the knight captain’s ear.

“I think so, too,” the knight captain replied with a sullen look.

***

After Chiffon of Speed, Siegfried fought against four more named monsters.

Ramirez of Strength.

Juanchief of Endurance.

Chinok of Buff.

Verenas of Defense.

The five named monsters of the Mirmic Race all possessed great abilities, but Siegfried made quick work of them through the help of his debuff fields.

‘It would have been a nightmare if these guys managed to merge with the first wave…’ 

Siegfried knew very well how powerful these named monsters’ buffs would have been if they managed to merge with the one-hundred-thousand-strong first wave.

This knowledge came from his experience of fighting against the Genesis Guild, which depended on their overwhelming numbers and buffs to overwhelm their enemies.

[Alert: You have progressed 99.9% of the Quest – ‘Endure to the Bitter End!’ (999/1,000)]

However, the quest was still in its final stages.

‘Let’s wrap this up and go help the others out.’ 

Siegfried wanted to put an end to this tedious grind once and for all.

Step… Step… 

The final monster stepped out of the gate as if it was responding to Siegfried’s desire.

Was it because of the boss monster?

“Kyu?”

Hamchi woke up. His eyes shot wide open, and his ears perked up.

Hamchi’s reaction wasn’t strange. After all, what had just emerged from the gate was a powerful enemy. In fact, Siegfried had the same reaction.

“This guy… looks quite strong…” Siegfried muttered.

He felt slightly overwhelmed by the boss monster’s presence.

[Flame Ignito]

[The Great General of the Mirmic Race.]

[Type: NPC (Mirmic Race)]

[Level: 210]

[Rank: Boss]

[Class: Blaze Runner]

The boss monster had black skin with vascular red veins, his eyes were red like fireballs, and his body was constantly releasing steam as if he were an active volcano.

The boss monster, Flame Ignito, looked exactly like his name.

“Are you the one who blocked my loyal subjects’ path?” Flame Ignito asked.

“So what?” Siegfried replied.

“I will turn you into ashes,” Flame Ignito rushed toward Siegfried.

‘He’s fast!’ Siegfried was taken aback by Flame Ignito’s speed—no, he didn’t even have the luxury of being surprised.

Bam!

Flame Ignito’s fist dug into Siegfried’s chest.

“O-Owner punk! Are you alright? Does it hurt?!” Hamchi shouted in surprise and tried to help Siegfried.

“Shut up!” Siegfried shouted in response as he blocked Flame Ignito’s next attack and immediately tried to widen the distance between them.

“Where are you going?” Flame Ignito chased after Siegfried.

A fierce game of tag ensued, and the boss monster didn’t give Siegfried even an inch of breathing room at all.

“Wow…!”

“I-I can’t see their movements!”

“Is that even possible…?!”

Siegfried and Flame Ignito’s battle was fast, flashy, and fierce at the same time.

How fierce was it?

[Siegfried van Proa]

[HP: ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬜⬜⬜]

[Flame Ignito]

[HP: ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬜⬜⬜]

It had only been thirty seconds since the battle started, but the two of them had already lost thirty percent of their HP. The fierce exchange between the two only ended after they both hit each other with vicious cross-counters.

Pak!

Siegfried’s hammer smashed Flame Ignito’s waist.

Bam!

Flame Ignito’s fist dug itself into Siegfried’s abdomen.

They jumped back and widened their distance from each other.

“You’re a bit strong,” Siegfried said while wiping the blood off of his lips.

“Same goes for you…” Flame Ignito acknowledged, but flames suddenly started shooting all over Flame Ignito’s figure as he set himself ablaze and said, “But don’t be mistaken. I’m not going to go easy on you anymore.”

[Alert: Danger!]

[Alert: Warning! Your equipment’s durability will be reduced if it comes into contact with Flame Ignito’s ‘Flames of Destruction’!]

A warning message appeared in front of Siegfried, and it was his first time seeing that kind of warning message.

‘Oh, the timing is the worst…’ Siegfried grumbled. He instinctively knew that the timing was the worst because he had long memorized the cooldown of his skills. Therefore, he knew that Circle of Morality was about to go on cooldown.

[Alert: The duration of ‘Circle of Mortality’ has ended and will now be on cooldown! The skill will be available 30s later!]

Circle of Mortality finally went on cooldown.

Moreover…

[Circle of Mortality: 30 seconds]

[Shadow Swamp: 19 seconds]

[Wave of Oppression: 2 seconds]

[Elemental Shower: Available]

[Irradiate: 5 seconds]

Most of his skills were still on cooldown because he had just fought against five named monsters not too long ago.

[Contempt for the Strong: 17 seconds]

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[Adamant Body: Available]

[Proof of Existence: 22 seconds]

His buff skills were on cooldown as well.

It was especially painful to see that Contempt for the Strong and Proof of Existence were still on cooldown because these two skills were responsible for most of his damage. Elemental Shower was available, but it was a support-type debuff skill.

It couldn’t allow him to deal explosive damage to the enemy.

‘I will have to toughen out for at least twenty seconds…’ 

Siegfried activated Adamant Body and decided to endure whatever Flame Ignito was going to throw at him through Adamant Body’s Super Armor. However, Flame Ignito didn’t seem to be willing to give Siegfried enough time until his skills went off cooldown.

“Burn, my flames of destruction!” Flame Ignito waved his hand, and the flames around him shot toward Siegfried to engulf the latter.

Fwaaaa!

Flame Ignito’s power was frightening, especially after he activated Flames of Destruction. The flames seemed to have given him some sort of buff as his Strength and Movement Speed had explosively increased.

‘I wish I could have disrupted that skill..!’ Siegfried lamented the fact Wave of Oppression still had five seconds remaining on its cooldown when Flame Ignito activated his Flames of Destruction.

“Hey, owner punk! Hamchi will help you!” Hamchi hopped onto his magical hamster wheel and buffed Siegfried.

Ddruuu! Ddruuu! Ddruuu! 

Hamchi spun the wheel as fast as he could. Hamchi’s efforts bore fruit because Siegfried managed to survive the Flames of Destruction. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for Siegfried’s items.

However, the same could not be said about his items.

[Alert: ‘Shoulder Guard’ has been destroyed!]

[Alert: ‘Left Boot’ has been destroyed!]

[Alert: ‘Bracer’ has been destroyed!]

The durability of Siegfried’s defensive equipment soon plummeted to zero under the Flames of Destruction.

Without his equipment, Siegfried was no longer Flame Ignito’s match despite Hamchi’s buffs. He needed the Debuff Master’s Debuff fields to fight on equal footing with the boss monster because the difference in their basic stats and level was just far too great.

“Hey! Spin it faster! Faster!” Siegfried shouted at Hamchi.

“Huff! Huff! Huff!” Hamchi ran as fast as he could and spun the magic hamster wheel.

Ddruuu! Ddruuu! Ddruuu!

The buff on Siegfried became stronger as the wheel spun even faster. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be enough to ignore Flame Ignito’s next attack.

‘The buff is not enough! I won’t be able to take it at this rate!’ 

Siegfried desperately tried to think of a solution.

Fwaaa!

However, the Flames of Destruction mercilessly devoured him before he could even think of a way.

[Siegfried van Proa]

[HP: ⬛⬛⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜]

He instantly lost a huge chunk of his HP.

[Alert: The duration of ‘Adamant Body’ has ended and will now be on cooldown! The skill will be available 60s later!]

Adamant Body went on cooldown, and Siegfried lost his Super Armor, which was the only thing protecting him against Flame Ignito’s attacks. Flame Ignito nonchalantly grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and smashed him into the ground.

“Ughh…” Siegfried groaned in agony.

“I am. Stronger than you,” Flame Ignito said.

“Well… I guess I should acknowledge that part,” Siegfried replied with a sarcastic smirk.

“Survival of the fittest. This is the law of the universe. You are weaker than me, so—”

Whoosh!

Siegfried interrupted Flame Ignito’s speech by throwing a disk at the latter’s face.

“Do you really think that such petty tricks will work on me?” Flame Ignito moved his head to the side and easily avoided the disk.

Chwaaak!

The disk flew past Flame Ignito’s head and split into numerous pieces. Then, the five hundred shurikens flew like a swarm of bees and relentlessly attacked Flame Ignito from behind.

“Kwuaaaaaaaah!” 

It was not a perfect Torrential Flower Rain because he only used one disk. It was only able to exert thirty percent of Torrential Flower Rain’s power, but that was more than enough for Siegfried to narrowly escape death at the hands of Flame Ignito.

“Phew…!” Siegfried let out a sigh of relief.

“You dare to resist your fate?” Flame Ignito asked with a hint of anger in his voice.

Wooong…!

Siegfried activated Shadow Swamp and drastically reduced Flame Ignito’s Movement Speed.

[Alert: Proof of Existence has been activated!]

[Alert: Contempt for the Strong has been activated!]

He simultaneously activated his two most powerful buffs.

“W-What is this power…?!”

While Flame Ignito was stewing in his own shock after seeing Siegfried’s sudden surge of power, a shadow emerged from the ground and wrapped its arms around Flame Ignito’s figure.

“Hold it tightly!” Siegfried kicked off of the ground and darted toward the immobile boss monster. He then unleashed a barrage of basic attacks mixed with Smite and kept going at it until another skill went off cooldown.

[Circle of Mortality: Available]

The core skill of the Debuff Master, Circle of Mortality, finally went off cooldown.

Wooong!

Siegfried immediately activated Circle of Mortality to drastically reduce Flame Ignito’s Defense and Magic Resistance.

The binding effect of Shadow Swamp, coupled with the Defense and Magic Resistance shred of Circle of Mortality, set the stage for Siegfried.

Now, all he had to do now was to deal as much damage as possible.

Siegfried used Smite to smash Flame Ignito’s chest with his hammer and instantly connected it with Machine Gun Smash to unleash a barrage of attacks right on the boss monster's head.

Kwang!

He activated Splitting Heaven and Earth to rip through the boss monster’s remaining Defense. Flame Ignito was thrown into the air by Splitting Heaven and Earth, and Siegfried was about to deal the final blow.

‘I’ll cut you into pieces, you bastard…!’ 

He prepared to unsheath his blade and use Quick Draw as the killing blow.

However, a thought interrupted him before he could even pull out his blade.

‘Wait a minute, this guy has a debt to pay...’

With that, he watched as Flame Ignito crashed to the ground.

Why?

Throb! Throb! 

His abdomen was still in pain from that punch just a while ago, so he had to collect that debt before sending Flame Ignito on his way.