Debuff Master

“…!” Private Fallschirm’s face turned pale the moment he saw Siegfried and Carell.

Their roles have now switched.

Fallschirm’s current state was the complete opposite of his previous self. From lieutenant colonel, he was demoted to private, and the baton he used was replaced with a broom to sweep the barracks. His dashing military uniform was replaced with a worn-out discolored uniform no one knew how many people had worn.

Meanwhile, Siegfried and Carell were proudly walking through the barracks after being respectively promoted to lieutenant commander and lieutenant colonel.

The switch was so drastic that one would have to wonder if this was actually even possible in the first place.

“Salute…” Fallschirm weakly raised a salute. He thought of feigning ignorance and pretending as if he hadn’t seen them, but he did often scold those under him for not saluting properly to him.

“Salute.”

“Salute.”

Siegfried and Carell responded by saluting back.

Seuk…!

Then, they walked past Private Fallschirm without saying a single word. It was as if he wasn’t worth their attention…

“How long do you think he will last?” Carell asked.

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“Who knows? It’s none of my business, though,” Siegfried replied with a shrug, and then he added, “But do you really think he’ll last long? That guy is weak.”

“I agree, and even if he did manage to endure it…” Carell trailed off before continuing. “Our troops are not going to let him be. All sorts of accidents happen during combat, do you not agree, Your Majesty?”

Carell was hinting at Fallschirm’s death being disguised as an accident by the Alligator Squad members.

“Well, that is a possibility. Anyway, let’s not think about him. He isn’t worth our attention,” Siegfried said.

“But are you not delighted, Your Majesty?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, Fallschirm, who bothered Your Majesty for so long, ended up like that.”

“I don’t really care?”

“Pardon?”

“Who the hell is he? I mean, he did get on my nerves, but that’s about it. I just want to do my duties as an Adventurer and diligently hunt monsters, that’s it.”

“I-Is that so…?”

“Even if I hadn’t done anything, someone else would surely take care of him, so why would I even mind him in the first place? I didn’t even have to rack my brains to screw him over or dirty my hands in the process, right?”

“Oh…”

“Greedy people like him are bound to ruin themselves. The really scary ones are those you can’t tell whether they are greedy or not.”

“I will remember your words.”

“That’s not even worth remembering. Let’s just go train,” Siegfried said with a smirk after picking up a wooden sword.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Carell replied with a smile and hurried after Siegfried as if he was now enjoying Siegfried’s beatings.

***

That evening, there was an uproar in the 2nd Infantry Battalion, which was now called an independent battalion.

A concert to boost the soldier’s morale!

A famous girl group called the ‘Three Goddesses of Pleasure’ came all the way from the capital to the Arachnid Temporary Outpost. It was Lt. General Overlock’s way of paying back the soldiers for their hard work.

— I will silently pounce like a prowling tiger and kiss you like an elf~

The soldiers were going insane.

“Waaaaaaaaaa!”

“My blanket’s going to burst tonight!”

“I’m getting fired uuuuuppp!”

The concert was like rain in the midst of a drought for these young healthy men who had to suppress their desires and risk their lives on the battlefield. No, it was more accurate to say that it was like a downpour instead of rain!

‘I see the military is the same whether it’s in reality or in the game,’ Siegfried thought while quietly observing the soldiers with a smile.

“Your Majesty.”

Carell suddenly appeared and said, “I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You are truly the savior of our household.”

“What savior? I’m just repaying your father for what he gave me.”

“It still will not change the fact that you are indeed our savior. I hope that…” Carell trailed off.

“…?”

“When I manage to grow into a powerful knight…” Carell carefully muttered before he continued. “Will you accept me as one of your subjects?”

“You…?”

“I know that I’m lacking, but if I manage to become strong enough to satisfy your requirements, then…”

“Well, I won’t refuse that,” Siegfried replied with a smile before adding, “But working for me is not going to be easy. I have a lot of enemies, and their numbers are beyond what you can ever imagine. In fact, some of the Adventurers in our battalion are affiliated with my sworn enemy. They just haven’t realized it since I’m currently using a disguise,” Siegfried said.

He was aware that there were two Adventurers from the Genesis Guild in his battalion. Of course, they were normal members rather than executives of the guild.

“I-Is that so?”

“Look,” Siegfried said.

Pshheuuuk!

Then, he pulled his skin out to reveal a face that looked starkly different from the one a while ago.

“Heok?”

“It’s called a Metamorphosis Mask, but this is my real face.”

“I never knew.”

“Of course, you didn’t. You only heard of me, but you have never seen me, right?”

“Yes…”

“Anyway, I’m not that good of a boss to serve, and it will be very dangerous for you as well.”

“I am still willing to serve Your Majesty. I swear to come and find you when my abilities have grown strong enough to properly serve you one day.”

“You will regret it.”

“I will not. My life is already as good as—”

All of a sudden, the sound of something flying overhead could be heard.

Whiiiiiiing…

Kaboooooom!

A powerful explosion rocked the place.

“…!”

“…!”

Siegfried and Carell immediately got up and scouted their surroundings.

“What… What’s going on?!”

“Did someone blow up the armory?!”

“What the hell?!”

The others got up and looked around in surprise as well.

One of them suddenly screamed, “D-Droptids! The Droptids have launched an airstrike!”

Those words made everyone look up at the dark sky, and they all saw a bunch of large circular objects floating in the sky.

Droptids were flying mutated creatures that dropped powerful living bombs or ferried hundreds of small Cryptids in their stomach. In short, it was a monster that acted as a bomber or air transportation for the Cryptids.

There were around twenty Droptids visible in the night sky above them.

‘Damn it!’ Siegfried grimaced upon identifying the Droptids in the night sky.

“ALL FORCEEESSS! Prepare for battle! The Droptids have launched an airstrike!” Siegfried infused mana into his voice and screamed at the top of his lungs.

“All forces, prepare for battle!”

His orders were quickly relayed throughout the entire battalion, and a battle started under the night sky.

***

The Droptids were so scary because of their ability to drop powerful living bombs on top of being able to ferry one hundred small Cryptids and fifty medium-sized Cryptids in their stomach. In short, it was safe to assume that the appearance of a single Droptid would mean that there would be at least a hundred Cryptids along with it.

However, there were close to twenty Droptids right now. This meant that there would be a thousand medium-sized Droptids, at the very least.

‘An ambush!’ Siegfried gnashed his teeth.

The troops were in the middle of enjoying the concert when a thousand Cryptids suddenly appeared. As such, Siegfried was sure that the entire battalion would be annihilated at this rate. Moreover, most of the troops were drunk, so they couldn’t properly fight the enemies.

‘Why now of all times…?!’ Siegfried grumbled inwardly.

It became clear that a creature with intelligence was among the Cryptids judging by the timing of the ambush.

Boom! Boom! Boom! 

The Droptids started dropping living bombs.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Explosions occurred throughout the barracks.

“Euaaaak!”

“Save me!”

“Ambush! It’s an ambush!”

Screams could be heard from all over the place, but that was only the beginning.

“Kireuk!”

“Kedeuk! Kedeuk!”

“Keeeek! Kieeeek!”

All sorts of Cryptids dropped into the barracks and started to one-sidedly slaughter the defenseless soldiers.

“Battalion Commander-nim!” a signalman ran toward Siegfried and reported, “Headquarters have instructed us to retreat after we reported the current situation!”

“Retreat? We can just request reinforcements from the other battalions—” Siegfried muttered.

However, the signalman hurriedly interrupted him. “It is the same over there! The 1st Battalion, the 2nd Battalion, and the 3rd Battalion! They have been ambushed by the Droptids!”

“…!”

“Headquarters have commanded all three battalions to retreat to this point!” said the signalman as he opened a map and pointed at a location.

“Fifteen kilometers? Damn it!” Siegfried cursed.

The retreat point was too far from their current location.

“What about the reinforcements? This distance is too far for us to retreat…”

“It is impossible! Our regiment and brigades have been hit by the Cryptids as well! You will have to retreat at least to this point for them to be able to send reinforcements!”

When the signalman’s words fell, a message popped up in front of Siegfried’s eyes.

Ding!

[Alert: Quest – ‘Operation – Retreat in the Dead of the Night’ has appeared!]

The quest details were as followed.

[Operation – Retreat in the Dead of the Night]

[Type: Normal Quest]

[Lead your troops out of the ambush and retreat to a safe location.]

[Progress: 0/15 (15 km)

[Reward: Military Merit Medal, Fame +1,000, 10,000 gold.]

[Caution: 50% of the battalion has to survive. The quest will fail if you fail to save half of your troops.]

The quest seemed pretty difficult.

[Alert: Do you wish to accept the Quest – ‘Operation – Retreat in the Dead of the Night’]

[Yes/No]

However, Siegfried had no reason to refuse. Honestly, he also had no idea how to refuse the quest.

“Okay,” Siegfried gnashed his teeth and commanded, “All forces! Retreat!”

He decided to accept the quest.

[Yes!]

[Alert: You have accepted the Quest – ‘Operation – Retreat in the Dead of the Night’!]

[Alert: Retreat! You have 94% of your forces remaining!]

The system was nice enough to display how much of his troops were remaining.

[Alert: Please retreat at once! You have 93% of your forces remaining!]

[Alert: Please retreat at once! You have 92% of your forces remaining!]

[Alert: Please retreat at once! You have 91% of your forces remaining!]

However, the number of his troops was dropping pretty fast.

Boom! Boom! Boom! 

The Droptids continued to drop bombs on the army.

“Kierrr!”

“Kedeuk! Kedeuk!”

“Kieeek! Kieeeeeek!”

Then, the Cryptids flew all over the place.

“Euak!”

“R-Run away!”

“Somebody save me!”

The troops couldn’t react to the ambush.

“Carell!” Siegfried shouted.

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

“Gather as much of our forces as you can! I will take care of these bastards!” Siegfried said while pointing at the Droptids in the sky.

“Yes!” Carell replied and instantly went into action as he commanded the troops. “All armed forces, over here! We need to band together! Hurry up and raise your arms! Over here! Come over here!”

It seemed that he had grown quite a bit as he skillfully commanded the troops despite their overwhelmingly disadvantageous position.

‘That punk…’ Siegfried muttered with a smirk while looking at the young knight.

Then, he immediately went to gather the Adventurers.