Debuff Master

The power of Irradiate could only be described as vicious. It was basically a skill that was similar to the trademark skill of a Green Dragon, Poison Breath, and the radioactive toxic energy from it killed everything that it touched.

“Neiiiiigh!”

The horses of the barbarian cavalry plopped dead on the ground, and the Pullman Barbarian Warriors that fell from the horses met the same fate.

“Euaaaaak!”

“Kuheok!”

“Gweuoook!”

Their eyes rolled backward, and they foamed from their mouths as their bodies uncontrollably trembled like they were having a seizure before they ceased moving altogether.

They were only exposed to the skill for roughly a second or two, but they were already on their way to the afterlife.

Just like what happened to Seung-Gu last time…

[You have gained Experience Points!]

[You have gained Experience Points!]

[You have gained Experience Points!]

A message would pop up in front of Siegfried’s eyes whenever a Pullman Barbarian Warrior died.

‘This is amazing!’ he exclaimed inwardly in awe of Irradiate’s power. He had never imagined that it would be this easy to kill an entire group of enemies with Irradiate.

A Magician's AoE skill? That was child’s play compared to Irradiate.

The closest thing a Magician class could do was probably the trademark spell of the Poison Wizards called Cloud Kill, but that was still miles away when compared to the lethality of Irradiate. Cloud Kill was a spell that poisoned a large group of enemies in an area, but it couldn’t kill instantly. However, Irradiate drove the tough barbarian warriors to death simply with just a brief exposure to it.

“D-Demon!”

“A demon has appeared!”

“The god of death has descended!”

Irradiate was an extremely powerful skill that forced the aggressive and battle-starved Pullman Barbarian Warriors to run away in extreme fear.

“Where are you guys going?” Siegfried asked. he kicked off of the ground and chased after the barbarian warriors.

Tak!

Swiiiiiiish!

Pak! Pak! Pak! 

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

He used Flying Spur and smashed the heads of the fleeing barbarian warriors.

[You have obtained Experience Points!]

[You have obtained Experience Points!]

[You have obtained Experience Points!]

What happened to the enemies who chose to stand their ground and fight?

Seuu…!

The radioactive energy from Irradiate was more than enough to kill them.

[You have obtained Experience Points!]

[You have obtained Experience Points!]

[You have obtained Experience Points!]

There was really no need for Siegfried to earnestly fight the barbarian warriors since all he had to do was get close to them with Irradiate active.

‘I’m going to melt all of them,’ Siegfried thought as he focused his mana into Irradiate.

Seuuuuu…!

Then, the green fog of death started spreading throughout the plains.

Step… Step… Step… 

Every step Siegfried took…

“Kuheok…!”

“Euuuk…”

“Heok… Heoook…!”

…brought death to his surroundings.

At this very moment, Siegfried was no different from ‘Death’ itself.

***

It only took Siegfried five minutes to annihilate the entire army of the Pullman Tribe.

Tss…

When the radioactive energy from Irradiate receded, none of the Pullman Barbarians were left standing.

It was a complete massacre.

“…”

The Proatine Forces were so speechless they couldn’t even let out a victory cry despite their overwhelming victory.

Gulp…!

Only the sound of their gulps could be heard.

Siegfried had turned into the embodiment of Death to his enemies and Fear for his allies after displaying the power of Irradiate.

Well, it wasn’t like he cared…

“Dame Oscar,” Siegfried called out.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Oscar instantly responded.

“Command the troops to collect the spoils of war and occupy the enemy’s base. It will not be that difficult to occupy it since their army had just been annihilated. Ah, the energy I unleashed just now will dissipate in about a minute, so please remember to command the troops to move accordingly with that in mind,” Siegfried commanded.

The radioactive energy Siegfried had unleashed was different from the radioactive energy in real life since it was derived from the Green Dragon. As such, it wouldn’t contaminate the soil for decades.

And it was much more potent compared to the radioactive energy in real life…

“I shall carry out Your Majesty’s command without fail,” Oscar replied with eyes sparkling with reverence toward her liege.

***

Siegfried did not stop at annihilating the Pullman Tribe as he pressed on and subjugated the other barbarian tribes in the vicinity. The method he chose to subjugate the barbarian tribes was quite simple.

He demanded them to surrender, and if the barbarians refused, he would use Irradiate to exterminate the enemy. Afterward, his troops would occupy the barbarian’s base.

He rinsed and repeated this simple routine regardless of which barbarian tribe he faced, and he managed to exterminate four barbarian tribes from the plains in just three days.

Siegfried also gained a few levels in the process of exterminating the barbarians.

[Alert: You have reached Level 76!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 77!]

[Alert: You have reached Level 78!]

Siegfried managed to achieve the growth he desperately wanted after subjugating and exterminating the barbarian tribes.

‘The levels of my other skills are good enough now, so I should probably invest more skill points into Irradiate…’ 

Siegfried decided to put all of his remaining skill points into Irradiate.

[Alert: Your skill ‘Irradiate’ has leveled up!]

[Alert: Your skill ‘Irradiate’ has leveled up!]

[Alert: Your skill ‘Irradiate’ has leveled up!]

Then, he invested all of his additional stat points into Strength, just like he had been doing. It was probably time for him to invest a few points into mana, but because he had too much mana, he refrained from doing that in the meantime.

‘The dragon’s heart is truly amazing. I’m overflowing with mana…’ he thought.

Siegfried didn’t bother wasting any additional stat points to increase his mana since he had gained a huge boost to it after consuming sixty percent of the dragon’s heart.

***

The news of Siegfried’s conquest of the barbarian tribes spread throughout the plains like wildfire.

A king from the continent is exterminating the tribes.

A mountain of corpses piles up wherever he passes by.

He is the god of death.

The chieftains of the tribes Siegfried hadn’t visited yet gathered and conducted an emergency meeting to come up with a plan against the conqueror from the south—their mutual enemy—the Grim Reaper of the Plains.

The emergence of this fearsome enemy threatened the very existence of the barbarian tribes, and this made the tribes that bickered and squabbled on a daily basis gather together and unite against their common foe.

However, there was no way that the ignorant and foolish barbarians would be able to come up with a proper plan just because they gathered their heads together.

“How dare you spout such bullshit?!”

“Hey! You dog-faced loser! I want no less than to skin you alive right now when I remember how you killed my father!”

“Ha! Look at those cowardly tribes bicker!”

“I will kill you! You asshole!”

It seemed like the chieftains were about to draw their weapons out at any moment now and start cutting each other down instead of coming up with a plan.

It was then that the chieftain of the Dahomey Tribe, Nascimento, said, “I have a plan.”

“What plan are you talking about?”

“Ha! What good plan can come from a weak tribe like the Dahomey Tribe?”

“Do you really think that you guys have what it takes to push the Grim Reaper of the Plains away from the plains?”

The Dahomey Tribe used curses and poison, so the other tribes of the plains had always been looking down on them because they considered the plains as the Land of Warriors.

“Then, how do you plan to fight against the Grim Reaper of the Plains?” Nascimento asked.

“That… That’s…”

“We will gather all of the warriors from each tribe…”

“Then we will ambush him with a human wave tactic… Hmm…”

It seemed that none of them could confidently say that ‘this is the plan!’ when they were asked by the Dahomey Tribe Chieftain.

Smirk.

A smile appeared on Nascimento’s face after listening to the barbarian chieftains, and then he asked, “I heard that the Grim Reaper of the Plains is someone who uses powerful curses. Anyone that comes into contact with the fog that he emits will surely die. Then, how do you plan to fight against someone like that? Do you plan to rush to your demise as the other tribes did?”

The barbarian chieftains trembled in anger after listening to Nascimento’s criticism, but none of them said anything in response. They clearly saw how the four tribes got annihilated, so they knew that throwing warrior after warrior at the enemy was never the solution, no matter how dumb they were.

“However, we, the Dahomey Tribe, have a solution against the Grim Reaper of the Plains. Although I’m not sure if all of you will agree to it…” Nascimento trailed off.

“What is your plan, Nascimento?” asked the Chieftain of the Dengkere Tribe.

“We need sacrifices,” Nascimento replied.

“Sacrifices?”

“We need the blood of children and the strong hearts of warriors.”

“What did you just say?!” the Dengkere Tribe Chieftain stood up while seemingly furious at Nascimento’s words as he growled, “Are you telling us to offer live sacrifices? Our fellow humans, nonetheless?”

“That is the only way we can use the powerful curse that has been passed down generation after generation in our tribe,” Nascimento nonchalantly replied.

“You crazy bastard.” the Dengkere Tribe Chieftain growled in disgust, and then he spat on the ground before saying, “What did I expect from the chieftain of a tribe made up of a bunch of cowards?”

“I just told you my plan, that’s all.”

“Don’t test us, Nascimento. You’re planning to complete that evil spell of yours through this opportunity and take control over the entire plains, aren’t you?”

“That’s a misunderstanding…”

“I don’t trust you, and neither do I trust the evil spells your tribe uses.”

The other barbarian chieftains seemed to be in agreement with what the Dengkere Tribe Chieftain had said just now. Offering humans as live sacrifices wasn’t something that they were willing to do, no matter how savage of a barbarian they were.

However, it seemed that the Dahomey Tribe had no reservations about it.

“Is that so?” Nascimento said in response to what the other barbarian chieftains said, and he no longer brought up the matter.

Why?

It was because Nascimento could afford to be easygoing regarding the current crisis.

‘Fools. It’s useless no matter how many times you swing your swords,’ he thought.

Nascimento was confident that the other chieftains would eventually accept his offer. After all, he was an intellectual who knew how to think instead of using only his body.

It only took two days for things to turn exactly as Nascimento had predicted. The Dengkere Tribe Chieftain who vehemently opposed Nascimento’s plan was annihilated along with his entire tribe.

***

A heavy silence filled the atmosphere of the second meeting of the chieftains.

“…”

The other chieftains were like a bunch of mutes. After all, they had just discovered the hard way what would happen if they simply hurled warrior after warrior at the Grim Reaper of the Plains.

‘Hoho! I knew that things would turn out like this in the end, so they just wasted precious sacrifice,’ Nascimento thought, flashing a smile.

The Dahomey Tribe Chieftain was drawing a big picture in his head.

‘We will be able to push back the Grim Reaper of the Plains once we complete the forbidden spell, and then our Dahomey Tribe will rule over the plains!’

“We will have to collect children from every tribe. We will need a thousand of them. Newborn babies are fine. We also need a hundred hearts from powerful warriors. It isn’t that huge of a quantity if each tribe contributes,” Nascimento said.

It was quite a sinister thing to say, but the other chieftains didn’t retort or go against his words. More specifically, they couldn’t retort since they would eventually get annihilated by the Grim Reaper of the Plains at this rate…

***

Ding!

A message popped up in front of Siegfried.

[Alert: The Barbarians of the Plains fear you!]

[Alert: You have obtained a new title!]

Siegfried tilted his head in confusion before checking the details of his new title.

[Grim Reaper of the Plains]

[The barbarians refer to you as the Grim Reaper of the Plains. They think that you are Death incarnated.]

[Type: Title]

[Effect: Fear Incarnate]

[Fear Incarnate: Damage received from barbarians is reduced by 10%. Deal 10% increased damage against barbarians]

An extremely useful title appeared out of the blue.

“Ah, so they’re calling me the Grim Reaper of the Plains… Why the hell does it sound so cringey, though?” Siegfried grumbled after finding out what the barbarians were calling him through his new title.

“Grim Reaper of the Plains!”

A voice reverberated across the plains all of a sudden.

“What the hell?” Siegfried muttered as he looked in the direction where the voice came from.

[Nascimento]

[Level: 150]

[Type: NPC]

[Class: Voodoo Shaman]

[Position: Dahomey Tribe Chieftain]

[Title: Snake of the Plains, Cunning Shaman.]

His main target, Dahomey Tribe Chieftain Nascimento, appeared in front of him. It seemed that there was no need for him to go and look for the barbarian.

‘Jackpot,’ Siegfried thought with a huge grin.