Chapter 437

Chapter 437

“What? True debuff? Then, what were the skills I have been using this entire—“

“What else? Those were appetizers.”

“What?!” Siegfried exclaimed as his eyes shot wide up. He doubted his ears for a second and decided to ask just to make sure, “T-Those were appetizers, Master?”

“What? You thought those were the 'real' skills?”

“Hiiik!”

“Hmm...” Deus narrowed his eyes and inspected Siegfried.

“My beloved disciple.”

“Yes, Master?”

“Come closer.”

“Yes, Master.”

Siegfried unsuspectingly stood in front of Deus.

“My disciple.”

“Yes, Master?”

“You fool!” Deus shouted and whacked him on his head.

“Kuheok!” Siegfried gasped and coughed blood after getting smacked in the head.

[Siegfried van Proa]

[HP: ??????????]

A single smack to the head took eighty percent of his HP.

“Did you really think the skills of this great being created would be so pathetic and unrefined?! Ha?!” Deus shouted once again.

“Ack! Master!” Siegfried covered his ears and screamed in agony.

Plop...! Plop...!

Deus’ shout was powerful enough to burst his eardrums, and blood started flowing out from both of his ears.

“Tsk! Everything I have taught you so far was just appetizers for the main thing,” Deus said, clicking his tongue while looking down at Siegfried, who was writhing in pain on the floor.

“Ugh...”

“It’s a stretch for you to learn the 'true' debuff skills right now.”

“I-I see...”

“But there’s one skill you might find useful right now, so I plan to teach you that.”

In the end, Deus decided to bestow Siegfried with a new debuff skill.

“I must warn you. Learning it won’t be easy, and the process will be excruciatingly difficult.”

“It does not matter. I am prepared to drink even lye water if it means I can become stronger—no, I am willing to offer my soul if it means I can become stronger. I am prepared to endure anything to learn that new skill, master.”

“Oh? Keke! That’s the best thing you’ve said in a long time,” Deus said, laughing. He seemed pleased by Siegfried's response.

“Haha...”

“Alright, this great being will teach you the skill you need right now.”

“Thank you, Master!”

“But for now, you will have to wait for a while.”

“Yes, Master!”

Deus left shortly after telling Siegfried to wait.

***

While Siegfried went to enhance his gear and train under his master, Deus, the dynamics of the Kyiv Civil War were shifting slowly.

Duke Taranis gave the command to defend the front lines at all costs before he made his way to his army at the southern front, waiting to invade the Horn Territory.

“I, Duke Taranis, will be commanding this army from now on,” Duke Taranis declared. Then, he gave his first command to the soldiers, “We will launch an all-out attack against the Horn Territory in three hours. All forces are to prepare for battle at once.”

“Yes, my lord!”

Three hours later, the massive Rebel Army marched toward the Horn Territory.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

They laid siege to it, and ten hours later...

“Hurray for His Highness, Duke Taranis!”

“Hurrah!”

“Three cheers for His Highness, Duke Taranis!”

“Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!”

The Rebel Forces led by Duke Taranis managed to conquer the Horn Territory after a ferocious siege, and the numerous ploys Siegfried used to level the playing field of this war were flipped in less than a day by the loss of the Horn Territory.

“Y-Yeah, I think so too. Ugh... But I don’t want her to grow up so fast...” Siegfried replied with a groan.

“I agree with you.”

“Do you think she’ll turn into a teenager in two or three years...?” Siegfried asked worriedly.

Verdandi was on track to grow enough to be in grade school in a year’s time, and she was probably going to be a teenager within two or three years at this rate.

‘Heok! Is she going to become a delinquent...?’ Siegfried worried as his imagination started to run wild again.

“What do you know?!”

“I hate you!”

“I told you not to peek at my diary!”

“My dad? What have you ever done for me?!”

“Other dads have big territories and powerful armies! Why does my dad have to be the king of a small and powerless kingdom? It’s unfair!”

Siegfried imagined Verdandi growing up to be a teenager and berating him in numerous ways imaginable.

“N-No!” Siegfried screamed.

“Honey? What’s wrong?”

“N-Nothing... It’s nothing...” Siegfried replied.

‘I need to instill morals and discipline in her! I can’t let her go astray!’ Siegfried swore he was going to raise Verdandi as an upright person.

However, his imagination was interrupted by the servant’s voice.

“Your Majesty! The Elder-nim has come to see you!”

“Heok! Master is here?!”

“Yes! Your Majesty!”

“Let Master in this instant! And don’t forget to treat him with the utmost respect!” Siegfried shouted in response before instantly getting up and tidying his clothes.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Someone knocked on the door.

‘Huh? Why would Master knock? He’s never done that before...?’ Siegfried was perplexed as to why Deus would knock on the door before entering.

Deus had never knocked once ever since he visited Siegfried in the Proatine Kingdom, and there were even times when he had suddenly appeared out of thin air.

‘But why would he suddenly knock now?’ Siegfried could not help but be baffled by the sudden change.

It was then.

Knock! Knock!

Deus knocked again.

“The door is open, Master.”

“Honey, you should probably open the door for the Elder-nim.”

“Heok!” Siegfried gasped in horror after realizing his mistake of telling Deus what to do. He ran to the door and reached for the knob while profusely sweating. ‘I would’ve been fucked if she didn’t tell me!’

“Welcome, Mast—“

But...

“...?!”

Siegfried froze the moment he opened the door.

Why?

Because the one outside was not Deus but someone else.

That person was...

“It’s been a long time, Han Tae-Sung.”

“C-Chae Hyung-Seok?!”

...none other than Chae Hyung-Seok.

“How did you get in here?!”

“Who knows?”

“This is absurd!” Siegfried doubted his eyes.

Why was Chae Hyung-Seok right here? The last news he had ever heard of the former was that he had decided to quit the game and was going through hell trying to repay his debt interest to the loan shark, Ma Dong-Po.

Why was he back in the game? Why was he in the Proatine Kingdom? How did he get so deep inside the castle? Was this some kind of prank?

“How did you get in here—“

Smack!

Chae Hyung-Seok swung his mace and struck Siegfried’s chest.

“Kuheok!” Siegfried collapsed.

"Honeeey!" Brunhilde’s scream filled the room afterward.