Debuff Master

Thud!

Siegfried fell around ten meters.

Bam!

And Hamchi fell right on top of him, doubling the fall damage.

“Kuheok!”

“Kyuu?”

“Y-You crazy bastard…! I-I can’t breathe! Keuk!”

Siegfried gasped for air as Hamchi weighed down on him.

Actually, he could have avoided falling to the bottom, as he could fly up with his Black Crow Wingsuit. He did activate his Black Crow Wingsuit as soon as the floor gave in beneath him, but the fall was only ten meters, which wasn't enough altitude for the wingsuit to activate.

Ironically, he could have reacted in time and landed on his two feet if he had not activated his Black Crow Wingsuit.

“Your Majesty! Are you alright?!”

“Hurry up and save His Majesty!”

“Your Majesty!”

Siegfried’s subjects were crying out as they rushed over to the hole in the floor.

“I’m alright! Don’t worry about me! I can get out of here on my own!” Siegfried shouted in response. He had superhuman physical abilities, so he wouldn't be hurt by falling from such a height. Well, perhaps he would get hurt if he fell from a height of more than thirty meters.

“These poor constructions are everywhere… Why can’t they build things properly?”

“Kyu! I agree!”

“Anyway, where is this? Is this the lower floor?” Siegfried muttered while looking around their surroundings.

There was complete darkness around them, making it difficult to see what was around them. Siegfried picked up a small stone from the remnants of the floor and hurled it into the darkness.

Swoosh!

The rock flew for quite a while before finally crashing into what sounded like a wall. The resulting audio feedback told Siegfried that they were in an expansive location.

“Oh? It seems quite spacious in here. But why would something like this be underneath the—”

Thud!

As soon as he said those words, a sound reverberated throughout the darkness, and flames abruptly manifested.

Fwaaah! Fwaaah!

The torches powered by mana stones ignited magical flames that brightly illuminated the darkness.

Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh!

The torches were lined in a row, and they ignited one by one to illuminate what seemed to be a corridor.

Flash! Flash!

At the end of the corridor was a large golden door that was sparkling brightly beneath the light of the magical torches.

Sniff! Sniff! Sniff!

Siegfried’s nose squirmed and trembled.

“I can… I…”

“Kyuu? What’s wrong, owner punk?”

“Money… I can smell the sweet scent of money…” Siegfried muttered before waltzing toward the golden door like a mindless zombie.

Hamchi shook his head and let out a sigh. “Haa… This owner punk is really crazy about money… Kyu!”

Hamchi followed after Siegfried, and they arrived in front of the golden door.

Bam!

Siegfried did not have the key, so he tried to smash the golden door open with his +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp.

Bam! Bam! Crash!

The golden door was smashed open.

“Ack! M-My eyes!”

“Kyuuuu!”

And both Siegfried and Hamchi were blinded by the golden light that came out from behind the door. The light from the magical torches reflected off of the gold, causing a blinding glare.

Siegfried had just found the secret treasure room of the Cabochon Territory, but this was no mere coincidence.

[Treasure Hunter]

[A title given to those who had obtained a lot of treasures]

[Type: Title]

[Rating: Unique]

[Effect: +50% Chance of finding treasure rooms.]

Siegfried possessed the "Treasure Hunter" title, which made it possible for him to find treasures in the most impossible places.

Clink! Clink!

Siegfried and Hamchi dove into the mountain of gold as if they were swimming; they enjoyed themselves thoroughly.

***

Siegfried left the Cabochon Territory after emptying its secret treasure room and went around the Espadrille Province.

‘Hmm… I wonder if we won’t find a mana stone mine this time…’ Siegfried wondered whether the Great King’s Blessed Land passive skill would grant him the luck of obtaining another mana stone mine just like last time.

Siegfried checked every corner of the Espadrille Province in search of any traces of the soul fragment while keeping an eye out for the Great King’s Blessed Land to grant him something.

On the same evening, Siegfried ended up at a slash-and-burn farming village after roaming around both small and large villages in the province.

However, he did not find anything special in the slash-and-burn farming village. The village seemed to be living in poverty, and the villagers were barely surviving day to day.

“They’re having it rough…” Siegfried muttered under his breath after seeing the lives of the villagers.

“Your Majesty.” A voice suddenly called out to him.

The owner of the voice was none other than Gringore.

“Ack! You scared the crap out of me!”

“Kyuuuu! Me, too!”

Siegfried and Hamchi were scared out of their wits. They felt their heart drop to the floor when Gringore suddenly appeared after a long time of absence.

“Hey! Can’t you tell me if you’re here rather than show up out of nowhere?!”

“But I was with Your Majesty the whole time?”

“...?”

“I apologize if I scared you, sire. Hahaha…” Gringore apologized with a laugh while scratching the back of his head.

“But what brings you here? Aren’t you busy these days?” Siegfried asked.

“I am taking a break to prepare for my upcoming album, so I had the honor of joining yesterday’s battles.”

“Oh?” Siegfried suddenly remembered that he commanded both Gringore and Lamborghini to participate in the siege yesterday.

“I felt that I have been spending more time as a celebrity than a scribe these days, so I have decided to follow Your Majesty today.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. No matter what anyone says, I am still the royal scribe, so…” Gringore trailed off. He then took out the Records of the Proatine Kingdom and a pen before adding, “I will record every single one of your movements, Your Majesty.”

“Are you sure you’re not making a compilation of my embarrassing moments?”

“Pardon me?”

“Hmph!”

Siegfried scoffed and turned before walking deeper into the village.

It was then.

“W-What the hell? What’s happening?!” Siegfried screamed upon getting caught up by something.

“Kyu? What’s wrong, owner punk?!”

“Your Majesty! What is the matter?!”

Hamchi and Gringore instantly reacted to Siegfried’s scream; they were worried that something untoward had happened to him.

“Hey! Look at this!” Siegfried shouted. Then, he pointed at his feet and said, “I’m walking, but I can’t walk! I keep walking in the same place!” He was currently walking in the same place even though both feet were moving and the ground was remaining still.

“Kyu? Are you practicing your moonwalk, owner punk?”

“Your Majesty…? Are you an aspiring circus star…?”

Hamchi and Gringore narrowed their eyes, thinking that Siegfried was practicing his dance or something.

“No! I’m not! I really can’t move from my spot!” Siegfried lashed out. Then, he pointed at his feet again and said, “Look! I keep walking in—”

It was then.

Swoosh!

Siegfried felt like he was being whisked away to somewhere else.

“E-Eh? What’s going on? Eeeeh?! Hey! What the hell’s going on?!” Siegfried exclaimed and tried to run away from the strange phenomenon.

Swoosh!

Siegfried ran with all of his strength, but he ended up moving in strange directions. It was as if he was lagging, just like the online games back then when the connection to the server was unstable, which led to the characters moving in strange manners.

“E-Eh?! Where am I going? What’s going on?!” Siegfried exclaimed as he slid in strange directions.

“Kyuu! Owner punk!”

“Your Majesty!”

Hamchi and Gringore finally realized the gravity of the situation and chased after Siegfried.

***

The headquarters of the Guardians, Heaven’s Eye, was floating over the Espadrille Province at the moment.

“Where the hell is it…?” Cheon Woo-Jin muttered under his breath.

The Guardians had used all of the detection technology available aboard Heaven’s Eye to search every inch of the Espadrille Province. Not only that, they had even used the Eye of Behemoth, which could see through everything, to keep an eye over the entire province.

The problem was that they could not find even a single trace of the soul fragment despite going all-out.

“Don’t tell me that it already went somewhere else?” Cheon Woo-Jin grumbled while thinking of the possibility that the soul fragment was no longer in the area.

There was precedence when the Requiem Soul was actually embedded in King Stallone of the Ephedrine Kingdom, so a soul fragment could travel if it was embedded in a human or any living creature.

“I have no idea what’s going on…” Cheon Woo-Jin muttered while biting his lower lip and looking over the Espadrille Province through the reinforced bulletproof glass floor of Heaven’s Eye.

He couldn't help but feel frustrated, as he had canceled his plans to go to the club just to look for the soul fragment tonight, but the soul fragment was nowhere in sight.

“Tsk… Tae-Sung will probably find it. All I can do is wait…” Cheon Woo-Jin grumbled under his breath and logged out of the game.

***

“What?! Why only me? Am I lagging?!” Siegfried cried out while moving in the wrong direction against his will.

This continued for quite a while until he finally came to a stop.

“Kyuuu! Owner punk!”

“Your Majesty! Are you alright?”

Both Hamchi and Gringore shouted worriedly.

“Yeah, I think it’s fine now,” Siegfried replied. Then, he took a step forward and muttered, “Was it lag…?”

He did wonder if the server was lagging, but there had never been a single instance of a lag throughout BNW since the server came to life.

“Then what was it? Was it some kind of magic—”

It was then.

Ding!

The words "Great King’s Blessed Land" popped up above his head.

[Alert: The effect of your passive skill, Great King’s Blessed Land, has been triggered!]

[Alert: You've found a talented individual!]

[Alert: Go and recruit this talented individual!]

It turned out that the reason he was walking in a strange manner was all thanks to his passive skill—Great King’s Blessed Land, which was trying to drag him to where the talented individual was located in the slash-and-burn farmer village.

Siegfried had almost walked past the talented individual, but the passive skill brought him to where they were located.

“A talented individual…” Siegfried muttered, sounding amused by the message. Then, he licked his lips and said with a smirk, “I’m always up for a talented subordinate.”

He walked up to the shabby shack and knocked on its door.

Knock! Knock!

Creak…

“Who is it?”

The thin door that couldn't even be called a door was opened.

“Eh? What the?” Siegfried was flustered when the door opened, but nobody was behind it. Then, he asked, baffled, “I swear I heard someone just now, and then the door opened afterward, but there’s actually nobody here…?”

“Hey, where are you looking?”

“H-Huh?”

“Over here! Down here!”

Siegfried looked down, following the voice's instructions, and he finally saw the individual behind the door.

The "person" was very short, probably around one hundred thirty centimeters—no, he looked smaller than that. The "person" looked to be in his mid-forties, and Siegfried could tell at a single glance that he wasn't a human being.

A dwarf…

The middle-aged short man turned out to be a dwarf, and there was a golden exclamation point above his head, which indicated that an Adventurer could receive a quest from him.

The passive skill, Great King's Blessed Land, had brought Siegfried's feet to the doorsteps of the dwarf, so the latter had to be the so-called talented individual that the passive skill had found for Siegfried.

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