Debuff Master

Bam! Bam! Bam!

The footsteps of the Ultra Minotaur grew louder as it got nearer to the gorge.

‘Ah… screw it. Let’s give it a shot,’ Siegfried grumbled inwardly. He chose to trust his anonymous helper and continued drinking the potions.

Bam! Bam! Bam! 

One hundred meters, fifty meters, and twenty meters! The Ultra Minotaur was practically right in front of him, but he didn’t stop chugging down the potions.

When the Ultra Minotaur was about ten meters away from Siegfried, an arrow enveloped by bluish mana flew toward the Ultra Minotaur and struck its chest.

Shwiiiiiii…!

Kabooom!

The arrow exploded instead of embedding itself in the Ultra Minotaur’s chest.

Seeuuu…!

A bluish fog appeared after the explosion and enveloped the Ultra Minotaur.

[Alert: Ultra Minotaur has been afflicted with the status ailment: Frozen! (1/50) (This effect is stackable until fifty times)]

A message popped up in front of Siegfried.

‘Huh? What is this feeling…?’ 

Siegfried suddenly felt a strange sensation. He wasn’t sure how to put it into words, but he suddenly felt strange after seeing the arrow that froze the Ultra Minotaur. It was an indescribable feeling that he couldn’t ignore.

However, he had no time to leisurely ponder and identify the feeling because…

Shwiiish! Shwiiish! Shwiiish! 

The mysterious helper continued to rain freezing arrows down at the Ultra Minotaur, and they were obviously buying Siegfried some time.

‘Ah, I don’t know. Let’s just drink these potions first.’ 

Siegfried made a decision as he threw the empty Highest Grade Health Potion bottle aside and chugged down the Highest Grade Mana Potion this time.

He had to prioritize recovering his HP, Mana, and Stamina while his mysterious helper was buying him time to recover.

***

The arrows shot by the mysterious helper were pretty strong.

Gulp! Gulp! 

Siegfried was astonished by the arrows’ power while he was drinking potions.

‘What the hell? How are those so strong?’ he wondered.

The arrows infused with the power of frost managed to render the Ultra Minotaur, which possessed Ultra Super Armor and the charging ferocity of a minotaur, immobile.

“Mo—oooo!” The Ultra Minotaur cried out and thrashed, but it didn’t manage to take a single step from where it was standing as the freezing effect from the arrows continued to tie it down.

The arrows were immensely effective against the boss monster, and their damage was pretty huge as well.

[Ultra Minotaur]

[HP: ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬜⬜]

The mysterious helper only shot a few arrows at the Ultra Minotaur, but those arrows managed to reduce the boss monster’s HP by almost 20%.

‘Is that the famous Arctic Arrow? I can see that its power is as ferocious as the rumors said…’ Siegfried thought. However, he suddenly flinched in surprise and inwardly questioned. ‘What the hell…? How did I know what that skill’s name is…?’

Siegfried was dumbfounded.

How did he know what skill his mysterious helper was using?

Was it because it was a common skill?

Far be it from that!

It was common to find archers with the ability to shoot arrows infused with the element of frost, but none of them should be able to display the same power as these arrows just now. Not to mention, the arrows shot with the skill ‘Arctic Arrow’ would instantly explode upon impact and freeze their target.

Even Siegfried—a BNW veteran—had never seen or heard of that kind of advanced skill before.

However, how did he know the skill name?

[Alert: Your HP has fully recovered!]

[Alert: Your Mana has fully recovered!]

[Alert: Your Stamina has fully recovered!]

Meanwhile, he was able to get back into tip-top shape after chugging down all three highest-grade potions.

“Alright…” he muttered while looking at his mysterious helper in the distance.

The mysterious helper, covered from head to toe with a black robe, continued shooting arrows at the Ultra Minotaur from a vantage point atop the gorge.

“I will have to carry my own weight since…” Siegfried trailed off as he cast his debuff circles Circle of Mortality and Speed Restraint underneath the Ultra Minotaur.

Seuuuu…!

Then, he activated Irradiate and spread out his radioactive energy.

“Since you’re holding it down for me!” he exclaimed as he charged at the Ultra Minotaur.

Whooosh… Kwang!

His first attack started with Flying Spur.

Kwang!

The second attack was Smite.

Kwang! Kwang! Kwang!

The third attack was Machine Gun Smash!

[Ultra Minotaur]

[HP: ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬜⬜⬜⬜]

The Ultra Minotaur lost 20% of its HP in an instant.

Seuuu…!

On top of that, the radioactive energy continuously gnawed away at the Ultra Minotaur’s HP.

‘So you’re really a high-level monster?’ Siegfried grumbled when Irradiate didn’t deal the same amount of damage as it did to the mobs.

It seemed that the radioactive energy wasn’t that effective against monsters with a certain amount of magic and poison resistance.

‘Should I try using that…?’ he wondered as an exciting idea popped up in his head.

Torrential Flower Rain.

What would happen if all one thousand of his throwables struck a single target?

He was thinking of something like that…

‘Let’s give it a shot.’

Siegfried decided and gripped the green discs in each hand.

Whoosh!

The two green discs flew toward the Ultra Minotaur.

‘Torrential… Flower… Rain!’ He exclaimed inwardly and urged his mana to scatter the throwables contained within the discs.

Shwaaaaa!

The one thousand throwables ferociously flew toward the Ultra Minotaur.

Puk! Puk! Puk!

The Ultra Minotaur was quickly swarmed by the throwables.

Thuudd!

The fifteen-meter-tall boss monster collapsed to the ground like an old rotten tree, and its HP was—

[Ultra Minotaur]

[HP: ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜]

Its HP was reduced to zero.

“Huh…?” Siegfried muttered with a look of disbelief that seemed to say, ‘what the hell?’

***

On top of the gorge, a person with their face covered by a hood muttered in disbelief, “Impossible…”

They were the mysterious helper who shot the Arctic Arrow and tied down the Ultra Minotaur just a few moments ago, but even they were stunned by the power Siegfried had displayed just now.

For a player to instantly reduce the HP of a Boss monster like the Ultra Minotaur by 60% was unfathomable.

“He’s too strong…” the mysterious helper grumbled as if finding the game unfair.

Arctic Arrow was a powerful skill that could kill nearby mobs with just the freezing aura it emitted upon explosion, but it was incomparable to the strange skill Siegfried had used just now.

Grit…!

The mysterious helper could be heard gnashing their teeth beneath the hood.

Grip…!

Siegfried’s mysterious helper aimed their bow and muttered under their breath, “Try blocking this.”

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This time, the target wasn’t the late Ultra Minotaur but Siegfried.

***

“Wow… What was that unreal damage I dealt just now…?” Siegfried muttered, seemingly stunned by Torrential Flower Rain’s damage.

Of course, that damage was only possible thanks to Siegfried’s self-buff, debuffs, and the one thousand throwables aimed at a single target. On top of that, Arctic Arrow had tied down the Ultra Minotaur, which made it easier for Siegfried to target it. As such, Arctic Arrow also greatly contributed to the unimaginably huge damage he had just dealt.

In short, the damage just now was only possible because various factors lined up for Siegfried, which allowed him to dish out a hundred percent of his power.

“Isn’t it insanely strong? Of course, it uses too much of my mana…” he grumbled.

Earlier, he recovered by drinking an entire bottle of the Highest Grade Mana Potion, but his mana hall was empty once again.

“Ah, we should thank them…”

While Siegfried was thinking of thanking the mysterious helper or greeting them at the very least, an arrow suddenly flew toward him at a ferocious speed.

Shwiiiiiiish!

Siegfried flinched in surprise upon noticing the incoming arrow.

‘Don’t tell me…? It’s aimed at me?!’

He tried to avoid the arrow, but…

Flash!

The arrow let out a flash before disappearing from view, and then—

Shwiiiik!

It appeared right in front of his eyes.

‘This is…!’ 

Siegfried was taken aback, but he didn’t have the luxury to continue thinking. His mysterious helper turned hostile and ambushed him, and the arrow they shot grazed him.

“You helped me, but now you’re attacking me?” Siegfried grumbled while glaring at the person who shot the arrow at him.

“No, before that… I think that skill just now was ‘Teleport Arrow’?” Siegfried muttered with a grimace when he finally realized the identity of the mysterious helper who turned hostile.

Teleport Arrow was an advanced archery skill that made an arrow appear in front of its target in the blink of an eye. It didn’t matter whether one was cognizant of the arrow coming toward them, it was still a cheat skill that was almost impossible to avoid.

Of course, the only Archer with that kind of cheat skill was…

“The descendant of God Arrow Windforce…?”

Siegfried was certain that it was definitely one of God Arrow Windforce’s skills, and God Arrow Windforce was one of the beings his master, Deus, didn’t get to defeat.

***

Ding!

A message popped up in front of Siegfried’s eyes.

[Alert: The Quest – ‘Master’s Regret’ has activated!]

It was exactly the same when he met Red Cardinal Vladimir.

[Master’s Regret]

[Type: Quest]

[Details: Find and crush the seven successors of the people known as the strongest eight on the continent five hundred years ago.

[Progress: 0%]

[Descendant of Thunder God Vajra 0/1]

[Descendant of Sword Saint Murcièlago 0/1]

[Descendant of Great Sage Sieghart 0/1]

[Descendant of Blood Master Berserk 0/1]

[Descendant of Enlightened King Maugris 0/1]

[Descendant of God Arrow Windforce 0/1] UP!

[Descendant of Supreme King Braum 0/1]

The fact that the quest had popped up meant that his hostile mysterious helper was definitely the descendant of God Arrow Windforce.

‘Why?’ Siegfried couldn’t understand what was going on.

Why did the descendant of God Arrow Windforce help him out? And why was the descendant attacking him after helping him out?

“Ah, I don’t know… I guess I’ll find out after beating that bastard to a pulp,” he grumbled after coming up with a surefire way to resolve all of his questions.

Siegfried gripped his hammer tightly.

***

Siegfried couldn’t beat the descendant of God Arrow Windforce to a pulp.

The distance between them was simply too far.

Shwiiish! Shwiiish! Shwiiish!

In addition, countless arrows rained down on him as well, and they gave him no chance to close the distance.

Grit...!

‘I can’t get close at all…’ 

Siegfried gritted his teeth. He couldn’t close the distance, let alone climb up the gorge. It was all thanks to the skill Teleport Arrow, which made arrows instantly appear from all sides to attack him.

‘What the hell is this cheat skill?’ Siegfried complained inwardly at the unfair skill the descendant of God Arrow Windforce possessed.

Meanwhile, the descendant of God Arrow Windforce couldn’t help but think that Siegfried’s control was cheating.

‘What’s with those movements? I can’t hit him at all! That’s cheating!’

It was ridiculous, but the two of them thought that the other party was cheating.

Many arrows were shot, but Siegfried avoided all of them as ten minutes passed with both sides still in a stalemate.

Shwiiish!

The descendant of God Arrow Windforce shot another arrow.

‘I’ll avoid it again anyway,’ Siegfried thought confidently.

He focused all of his concentration on the arrow and was prepared to avoid it once again, but the arrow this time wasn’t a Teleport Arrow.

Shwiiiish! Pat!

The arrow landed on the ground right in front of Siegfried.

“Hmm?” he wondered, but all of a sudden—

Booom!

The arrow exploded and unleashed a bright flash of light that engulfed Siegfried.

“Ack!” Siegfried covered his face and screamed.

He lost his vision, and his surroundings turned white thanks to the arrow that exploded just now.