Debuff Master

Siegfried quickly made his way to where the signal flare was shot with his +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp grasped tightly, ready to fight at any given moment, but to his surprise…

“Huh? There’s nothing here?”

Siegfried looked around with brows furrowed upon confirming that there was not a single soul in sight.

“Kyu? There’s nothing here, owner punk!” Hamchi exclaimed.

“Yeah, I can see that…”

Siegfried inspected the area, but this dark alleyway was void of anything or anyone.

“Hey, Hamchi. Can you pick up any scents around here?”

“Sniff! Sniff! Hmm… There’s the smell of gunpowder… and people, I think? Kyuu! But I don’t smell anything strange!”

“So where did the ones who set off the signal flare go?”

A feeling of unease crept over Siegfried as he tried to make sense of the situation. He had clearly seen the flare, but he couldn't find any traces of anyone at all.

It would be understandable if it were only him, but the fact that even Hamchi could not pick up any scent was what was truly baffling.

‘How is this even possible…?’ he wondered.

It was then.

“Over here!”

“Move quickly!”

Shouts rang from the alleyway up ahead.

Responding to the flare, the Proatine Kingdom’s soldiers and the Guardians rushed to the scene.

“Loyalty!” an officer saluted.

“Loyalty,” Siegfried saluted back. Then, he asked, “Who was patrolling this area?”

“This area was under the watch of Corporal Gogh, Private Snap, and Private Chester, sire!”

“And where are they now?”

The officer turned and yelled, “Hey! Come out! His Majesty is here!”

However, no one answered his call.

“Damn it…” Siegfried growled and gritted his teeth after realizing that the soldiers on patrol had vanished right after the flare was shot.

“Y-Your Majesty…”

The officer had no idea what to do after seeing Siegfried's fury.

“Continue the search…” Siegfried commanded.

He had already confirmed that the soldiers went missing, but he did not call off the search. It was more like he could not call off the search, as stopping here could put other soldiers at risk of disappearing too. ȐÁŊÔΒËŞ

“Make sure you investigate the last whereabouts of the men who disappeared,” he further commanded.

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

“Things could get dangerous faster than you expect it to, so everyone should stay on high alert.”

“Yes, sire!”

After issuing his orders, Siegfried spread out his +10 Black Crow Wingsuit and took to the sky once again.

‘Tsk… I guess I have no choice,’ he clicked his tongue and activated Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance.

He tried scanning as much of Feiogh as he possibly could, but the city was so vast that he could only scan a sixth of it at a time. It was technically possible for him to have the entire city in one minimap, but that would require him to fly high up.

This would come at the cost of limiting his view to those above the ground, limiting its effectiveness.

Thus, Siegfried decided to wait until another flare signal shot up, as that would allow him to zero in on that area, which would let him find whatever or whoever was behind the disappearances and track it down to its hideout.

‘Just appear one more time, and I’ll have you,’ Siegfried growled inwardly while keeping a close eye over the skies of Feiogh.

Unfortunately, no flare signals were shot after that, and neither was there anything out of the ordinary.

After hours of relentless searching, Hamchi pointed at the horizon and exclaimed, “Kyuuu! The sun is rising already, owner punk!”

“Already?”

“Yes! Kyuuu!”

Siegfried reluctantly descended to the ground and stopped patrolling.

“Hey, let’s go get some sleep. I feel like I’m going to collapse soon,” he said.

“Kyuuu! Rest well, owner punk!” Hamchi replied.

Finally succumbing to exhaustion, Siegfried logged out and went to rest.

He was hoping that this would help recharge him and that nothing would happen while he was away.

***

Six hours later, Siegfried logged back in only to receive a report that another patrol squadron had gone missing, and his temper flared up.

“What?! Another one? Damn it!”

He stormed over to Cheon Woo-Jin, completely fuming with rage.

“Hey! What the hell is wrong with you guys?!”

“What?”

“We’re doing all the fighting and all the work to stabilize Feiogh. The least you guys could do is handle the search!”

Cheon Woo-Jin was taken aback by the accusations, letting out a sigh of frustration.

“Hey, we’re trying too, alright? We’re picking up energy signatures from all over the place and sending our people, but there’s nothing once we get there.”

“Our men keep disappearing one after another! You better do something!” Siegfried exclaimed, clenching his fists.

“Fine! We’ll handle all search operations starting tonight. You don’t have to worry about your men disappearing then, right?”

“Alright, that’s good enough for me.”

“But just so you know, we’re not slacking off here, either.”

“Yeah, yeah. I get it.”

Siegfried left Cheon Woo-Jin and returned to his aerial patrol in the skies above Feiogh.

A few hours later…

Shwooong… Poof!

In the distance, Siegfried spotted another signal flare and immediately scanned the area on his mini-map.

‘There!’

There were three green dots on the map, which represented his allies, and they were tangled with red dots, which represented hostile units.

Siegfried flew as fast as he could toward the scene, but—

“...?”

By the time he arrived, there was nothing else on the scene except for some traces of blood. He clearly saw the red dots on the map, which meant there were enemies here, but they disappeared as if they had vanished into thin air.

‘Hold on… Even the Guardians vanished?’ Siegfried thought, and his eyes widened in disbelief.

The Guardians had undergone enhancements through the Homunculus Project, and they could be considered one of the most powerful military forces on the continent. Most of them had the combat prowess of a Level 299, so they were a force to be reckoned with.

But even they were wiped out?

Whoever was behind these disappearances had to be powerful enough to not only defeat such powerful individuals but also easily defeat them in a matter of seconds.

“Where are they?!”

“Another disappearance? Search the perimeter!”

More Guardians rushed over after seeing the signal flare in the sky, and they began scouring the area as soon as they arrived.

Siegfried ignored their chatter and focused on his own investigation.

“Where the hell did they go?”

“Hamchi has no idea! Kyuuu!”

“Something’s definitely fishy here…”

He took a deep breath and started racking his brains.

‘How could they simply vanish like this? And how the hell are they avoiding getting spotted by Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance? It’s not like they shot up into the sky or fell down underground—huh? Hold on, maybe they did?’

A thought struck him like a bolt of lightning.

‘Underground? Could they be hiding below?’

Siegfried scanned the area once again, and his eyes caught a nearby drainage channel.

‘Could it be… the sewer network?’

He approached and peered down into the channel. It was an ordinary drainage ditch without anything that appeared out of place.

‘Where does this drainage lead to, though?’

He knew it was futile, but he decided to take his chances and trace the drain’s path. He followed it all the way until it led him to the entrance of the sewers.

‘Ugh… That stinks really bad. But I’m sure they searched this place too, already…’

The stench of feces and decay filled the air, causing Siegfried to grimace from disgust and keep his stomach from churning. Most people would avoid going anywhere near this place, but he refused to believe that his soldiers, drilled with discipline, would overlook such a crucial area just because of its stench.

But then again…

‘Unless we’re up against ghosts, they have nowhere else to go aside from here.’

His guts told him that the mysterious perpetrator behind the disappearances lay hidden somewhere underground.

‘I’ve scanned the entirety of Feiogh, but I haven’t checked underground yet. If there’s something else below the sewers, then the Soul Fragment of Apocalius should be hiding there. That would explain everything. Why I couldn't see it with Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance and why even Cheon Woo-Jin’s detection devices couldn’t pick it up.’

Siegfried’s mind raced.

‘Also, the overpowering stench would have masked whatever scent they left behind, making it impossible for Hamchi to catch them. It all makes sense now.’

Without hesitation, Siegfried cautiously descended into the sewer.

“Kyuuu?! Why are you going in there, owner punk?!” Hamchi shrieked out of horror.

“There’s something I need to check and confirm.”

“Kyuu…?”

“Stay here. I’ll be back soon.”

Leaving Hamchi behind, Siegfried carefully slipped down into the sewer, where darkness and the repulsive stench of everything disgusting awaited him.

***

The space beneath the sewer was extremely cramped. The only things visible were several narrow cylindrical passages just wide enough for a single adult to crawl through, and this was hardly an ideal place for hiding anything or anyone.

‘No wonder they thought there was nothing down here,’ Siegfried could understand why the soldiers tasked with searching this place did not pay much attention to the area below the sewer.

But what if he activated Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance here?

Wooong…!

With a soft hum, Siegfried activated Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance, allowing him to see the full layout of the underground sewer.

[Feiogh Underground: Old Air Raid Shelter]

An expansive network of sewers stretched out on the mini-map like a web of interconnected tunnels. These tunnels led to a massive underground chamber that was as big as a third of Feiogh, and occupying the enormous space was a crimson-red dot.

The red dot had the name "Mitrina the Devourer" written under it.

‘Found it.’

Siegfried finally found the perpetrator behind the disappearance, the last remaining Soul Fragment of Apocalius.

While the sewer layout was clear, however, the interior of the underground space remained obscured. It seemed that the energy from the soul fragment was interfering with Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance, shrouding the area with a fog that blurred it from the minimap.

‘Time to fall back for now.’

Siegfried decided not to approach the Old Air Raid Shelter and go back for now. He knew that the Soul Fragment of Apocalius was a dangerous entity, and he risked getting instantly killed if he went anywhere near it alone.

He planned to raid it with the Adventurers and the Guardians a while later after making ample preparations.

‘I’ll head back to the Iron Palace and search for any blueprints of the underground facility. That should make it easier to understand how that place looks like—’

Just as that thought crossed his mind—

Swiiish!

Out of the darkness, a crimson tentacle shot forward, coiling itself around Siegfried’s leg.

“...!”

Siegfried immediately tensed up after something had wrapped around his ankle.

‘W-What?! What the hell is this?!’

However, he was stunned by the sheer force pulling at his leg. He tried to yank his leg away from the tentacle, but it was to no avail, as the tentacle maintained its firm grip on his leg.

Siegfried transformed his +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp into a saber and swung it at the tentacle. He expected the blade to easily slice through the tentacle, but all it did was leave a small scratch—nowhere enough to sever it.

“Damn it!”

Siegfried finally understood how the soldiers had disappeared completely as if they had vanished into thin air. It was all because the tentacle had unreal speed, strength, and tenacity.

The tentacle was covered with otherworldly energy, so anyone without such energy would be helpless against it. It perfectly explained why even the Guardians had vanished without a trace.

‘I have to get out of here…!’

Just as Siegfried was about to swing his +13 Vanquisher’s Grasp again—

Swiiiish! Swiiiish!

Dozens of tentacles shot out from within the darkness toward him. The tentacles were clearly serious about dragging him back with them into the depths of the sewer.

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