Debuff Master

Pukeok!

Blood spurted out from Carell’s nose.

“Y-Your Majesty…! Why are you doing this…?!”

“I can’t teach you with words so…”

“What do you mean by that…?”

“You will just have to remember it with your body. This is all I can do for you for now,” Siegfried said before punching Carell in the face once again.

Whoosh!

Carell managed to avoid Siegfried’s punch despite being tipsy, but the attacks didn’t end there.

Pukeok!

Siegfried’s left-hand jab and right-hand hook hit Carell in a one-two combo.

“Kuheok!”

“If you want to survive…” Siegfried said while grabbing Carell by his hair. He stared down at the young knight before adding, “You have to feel it with your body first. That’s the only way you can survive.”

“I do not understand what you mean by that… Kuheok…”

“You will be enlightened after getting hit a few times.”

“W-Who taught Your Majesty something so barbaric…”

“Ah, it’s some old guy,” Siegfried said while thinking of Deus.

Beat the shit out of them before anything else. That was Deus’ teaching method.

It seemed that there was truly a reason for the existence of the saying: martial artists grew stronger the more life-and-death situations they faced.

Find the original at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

There simply was no better way for a person to learn how to move like an expert other than for them to move purely out of survival instinct. A person was bound to understand and get used to how to evade attacks after receiving another beating.

“He told me that trash shouldn’t try to teach another trash, but… I guess we don’t have a choice right now. I’m trash, but you’re even worse than me.”

If his memory served him right, Deus said…

“My disciple.”

“Yes, master.”

“Don’t go around teaching other people just because you had grown stronger. Trash teaching another trash will only result in even worse trash.”

“I will remember your words.”

However, Siegfried had no other choice right now since the only thing he could do for the young knight was help him become stronger, even just a little bit, and the only way he could achieve that was to beat the living daylights out of the young knight.

How badly was he planning to beat him? Just until Carell was barely alive.

“You better grit your teeth, so none of them falls off,” Siegfried warned.

“Y-Your Majesty!”

“Here I come!”

That was how the one-sided beating disguised as a duel started, and it was a very severe and cruel beating.

***

The next morning, Siegfried logged in first thing in the morning and appeared in Carell’s personal tent.

“Ugh…” Carell was moaning on the ground, wrapped up in a blanket.

“Get up,” Siegfried said coldly.

“Your Majesty…”

“I’ll be hitting you with this today, so prepare yourself,” Siegfried said while holding a long stick.

“Hiii… Hiiiik!”

“Don’t forget to drink this first,” Siegfried said before throwing a Mid-Grade potion toward Carell.

It was a classic case of ‘hitting someone and applying medicine afterward’[1].

***

The same afternoon, a messenger from headquarters informed Carell.

“An order has come from headquarters. The Alligator Squad is to prepare within an hour and mobilize.”

“What is our mission?” asked Carell.

“Subjugation of a Cryptid colony.”

“How many squads will join the operation…?”

“It will be just the Alligator Squad.”

“Just… our squad…?”

“Yes.”

“…”

“The order came directly from the battalion commander. I will excuse myself, then…” the messenger relayed the nonsensical order and left.

“Haa…” Carell could only let out a sigh at his plight.

***

The mobilization order caused an uproar within the Alligator Squad, but the reactions from the squad members were mixed.

“Oh! Jackpot!”

“Time to power level!”

“I was about to request for a transfer, but we’re going out again? Sweet!”

The Adventurers welcomed the mobilization order since their main goal was to level up, but it was an entirely different matter for the NPC soldiers.

“Damn it!”

“That battalion commander is a son of a bitch!”

“Why doesn’t he just execute us himself? Ha?!”

“Does it even make sense to send us all alone? Again?!”

“He didn’t even reward us, but he’s asking us to go out again?!”

The NPCs needed rest, unlike the Adventurers. The fatigue from their previous campaign was still there, but the fact that they had to mobilize once again caused them to go crazy.

Carell had the same feelings as them.

“It seems that Lieutenant Colonel Fallschirm really wants to kill me,” Carell said with despair in his voice before adding, “The soldiers haven’t even recovered yet… I wonder, just what does he want?”

“What are you so worried about when I’m here? Just focus on becoming stronger. I’m a pathetic trash, but I’m not so pathetic that I won’t be able to teach you a thing or two,” Siegfried consoled the young knight.

“Not at all! How can Your Majesty call yourself trash?!”

“I’m not a Master yet, so I’m trash.”

“But being a Master is…”

“Remember this…” Siegfried tapped Carell’s head before saying, “The things I’m teaching you are the basic fundamentals that I received from Master Shakiro.”

“WHAT?!” Carell screamed in surprise, and then he asked with both eyes wide open, “By Shakiro, you mean… is Your Majesty talking about Weapon Master Shakiro? Shakiro of the Five Star Heaven?”

“That’s right,” Siegfried replied with a nod.

“Oh… Oh my god…! Your Majesty is Shakiro-nim’s disciple?”

“He isn’t my real master. I serve a different master. It’s just that I have some sort of relationship with Shakiro-nim.”

“S-Still! That’s amazing! I never knew Your Majesty inherited his teachings!”

“He isn’t petty with his teachings, so I’m sure he would teach you his swordsmanship as well if he were me.”

“Ah… I do not think so—”

“No, he’s willing to bestow his teachings upon anyone as long as they have the passion and desire to learn.”

“Is that true?”

“Yeah, so work hard and train hard. I know it looks like I’m just beating you like a dog, but there’s a reason behind all of this.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!” Carell exclaimed enthusiastically.

“Now, let’s go,” Siegfried said while thinking, ‘Another mobilization order! Jackpot!’

He couldn’t help but be hyped up at the mobilization order. He was also an Adventurer after all.

***

The Alligator Squad was tasked to destroy one of the main forms of transportation used by the Cryptids, which were known as ‘tunnels’ instead of destroying another colony. The destruction of the tunnels was a vital task for the Continent Coalition Forces since the Cryptids often used the tunnels to ambush the Continent Coalition Forces or send reinforcements from their colonies to the front lines.

It was a task often carried out by the Continent Coalition Forces since all they had to do was install explosives in the tunnel and detonate it.

‘Ah… I’m glad it’s just some manual labor this time…’

‘I guess we will be able to go back faster than I expected.’

‘It’s not that dangerous to destroy tunnels after all…’

As such, the squad members marched with light steps toward their destination.

However, the destination they were given didn’t have a tunnel for them to destroy. Instead, they arrived at a vast empty plain with nothing in sight.

“What? I thought there were a lot of tunnels here?” one of the soldiers grumbled.

Puuuk!

All of a sudden, a sharp thorn shot from the ground and stabbed the soldier between his legs. The thorn ended up sticking out of his chest.

“…!”

The squad members looked at the scene in horror.

The thorns that shot out from the ground symbolized the emergence of the Cryptid feared by all soldiers, the Needletid. The Needletid was the result of a small insect known as a mole cricket undergoing a mutation and turning into a monster.

Those mole crickets grew to the size of a bull, but they couldn’t attack their enemies on the surface. It was all because their main weapon was the spikes on their backs, and it could only attack upward.

However, a Needletid was considered to be far more dangerous than most Crpytid because they possessed excellent mobility while underground.

What did all of this mean?

The Needletids lurked underground, lying in ambush to kill their enemies with their spikes in one shot. They would be safe from the humans’ attacks since they were tucked underground, and most humans couldn’t really reach them, let alone attack them.

‘Damn it! Lt. Colonel Fallschirm is driving us to our deaths once again!’ Carell gnashed his teeth and cursed inwardly after witnessing the appearance of the Needletids.

He knew what was going on since this wasn’t the first time.

Fallschirm had the tendency to send the Alligator Squad to ‘test the waters’ before doing anything else, and this was his method of checking the strength of Cryptids in an area before sending in a large detachment force. Unfortunately, such a method would still result in a large number of casualties.

In that case, why was he doing it then?

Because ordinary soldiers were replaceable, and the Adventurers were immortal beings. Yes, he treated his own soldiers as nothing but disposable pawns on the battlefield.

Lieutenant Colonel Fallschirm was that kind of a man.

It would have probably been better if he just blatantly said, ‘I don’t like you guys, so off with your heads’ rather than dragging them through the mud in this manner.

“Fall back! All forces retreat!” Carell hurriedly gave the command to retreat.

It was an excellent decision as there was no Detector—someone with the ability to find hidden enemies—among the NPCs and Adventurers combined. It was obvious that only annihilation awaited them if they marched through the field of Needletids.

“Good choice. A wise decision, squad leader-nim,” Siegfried said with a thumbs up.

“It is impossible for us to fight them, Private Sieg-nim,” Carell replied with an awkward smile, but then his tone instantly changed as he said, “But I don’t know what we should do… It will be difficult for us to avoid punishment if we go back like this…”

“Why?” Siegfried raised a brow and asked.

“Lt. Colonel Fallschirm… I mean, the battalion commander… he had always emphasized that a soldier lived by the command and died by the command. He has this mentality that a soldier has to carry out the commands they received regardless of whether it is reasonable or unreasonable.”

“What about you? Are you going to march off a cliff just because you were told to do so?” Siegfried curtly asked.

“I have no idea since that hasn’t happened yet… Anyway, I’m certain that a serious punishment is waiting for us if we return like this. What should I do? Ha…” Carell let out a sigh.

‘This Fallschirm guy sounds like a stubborn military man, or he simply doesn’t care as long as he isn’t the victim… It’s going to be a pain in the ass no matter what path we take…’ Siegfried thought. He could immediately tell what kind of a person Fallschirm was since he was an able-bodied Korean male who had served in the military.

It would have been frustrating yet acceptable if it were the former since this was the military, after all. However, it would be the worst possible thing ever imaginable during one’s military service if it were the latter.

Siegfried couldn’t help but feel that Fallschirm fell on the latter…

“This is frustrating… I cannot see a way out of this…” Carell lamented.

“Why not?” Siegfried asked.

“Is there a way? Is there really a way out of this?”

“I mean, we have to give it a try, right, sir? I will try to do something about it so just ask the soldiers to stay back and watch.”

“But even if it’s Private Sieg-nim—”

“I have something in mind, so stop worrying about me. Just sit back, relax, and wait for me, sir,” Siegfried said. He then started walking on his own toward the field that was definitely infested with Needletids.

***

Siegfried was walking toward the minefield all alone, and those who saw him were stupefied.

“W-What?!”

“Private Sieg! Hey! You dumbass! Are you insane?!”

“Hey! You asshole! You will die at this rate! So what if you’re an Adventurer? Are you trying to show off to us right now?!”

The NPC soldiers started sneering and flinging curses at Siegfried while seemingly worried for his safety at the same time.

“Huh? There’s no way the stuff he showed last time is going to work, right? I mean, all the enemies are underground…”

“I wonder what he’s planning…”

“Maybe he has something up his sleeve? Well, a Poison Mage is still a magician, so he definitely has detection magic or something, right?”

Meanwhile, the Adventurers watched with curious eyes, waiting for Siegfried’s next move.

However, there was no trick or anything special about the method Siegfried chose.

Shwiiiiik!

A Needletid’s spike shot up.

Whoosh!

Siegfried slightly tilted his body. In addition to avoiding the spike, he also thrust his spear into the spot where the spike came from.

Puuuk!

The sound of flesh being penetrated could be heard.

1. The equivalent of this saying is ‘to make trouble and then give help’ or ‘carrying fire in one hand and water in the other,’ but the Korean version was literally translated since the key point here was the word ‘medicine’ since it was related to the potion. ☜