Debuff Master

“Chwik? Chwiiik… Chwik? (What? The mother of the colony has asked for you?)”

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“…?”

“Chwik! Chwik! Chwik! Chwik! (Why would the mother of the colony look for someone like you?!)”

Siegfried instinctively realized that he might be onto something here.

‘What the hell…? I just squealed whatever, but it seems like I’m communicating with them…?’

He tried to take it a step further.

“Chwik… Chwiik… Umm… Chwik… Chwiiik…?” 

However, the Orctids reacted unexpectedly.

“Chwik?! Chwik? Chwiiik, Chwiiik! (What? You want to eat human meat…?)”

“…?”

“Chwiiiiik?! (What the hell are you saying?!)”

“Ch… wiiik…” When the atmosphere suddenly turned hostile once again, Siegfried weakly muttered and racked his brain to recall exactly how he chwiked a while ago.

“Chwiiik… Chwik. Chwiiiik, Chwik Chwik Chwiiik… Chwik. Chwiiiik, Chwik Chwik… Chwiiiiiik…? (The mother of the colony is looking for me.)”

“Chwik, Chwik? (The mother of the colony is looking for you?)”

“Chwiiik… Chwik. Chwiiiik, Chwik Chwik Chwiiik… Chwik. Chwiiiik, Chwik Chwik… Chwiiiiiik…? (The mother of the colony is looking for me.)”

“Chwik… (Hmm…)”

The Orctid that blocked Siegfried’s path seemed discontent about something as it scratched its chin and mumbled, “Chwik… Chik… Chwiiik… (Why would the mother of the colony ask for someone like you…)”

“…”

“Chwik… Chwiik… Chwik Chwik Chwik… Chwiiik? (Is it a confidential matter that you can’t tell me?)”

“Chwiiik… Chwik. Chwiiiik, Chwik Chwik Chwiiik… Chwik. Chwiiiik, Chwik Chwik… Chwiiiiiik…? (The mother of the colony is looking for me.)”

Siegfried continuously repeated the first phrase he chwiked out as he could not understand what the Orctid was saying.

‘Ah… please… just let me go, will you…?’ 

Siegfried inwardly pleaded for his luck to get him out of this predicament.

“Chwiik… (I guess I have no choice…)”

“Chwiiik… Chwik. Chwiiiik, Chwik Chwik Chwiiik… Chwik. Chwiiiik, Chwik Chwik… Chwiiiiiik…? (The mother of the colony is looking for me.)”

“Chwik! Chwiiiik! (Pass!)”

“…?”

“Chwik! Chwiiiiiik! (I said you may pass!)”

The Orctid blocking Siegfried’s path, as well as the others surrounding him, went back to their respective positions for some odd reason.

‘Who could have known that it would work…?’ Siegfried thought. The fact that his nonsensical gibberish actually worked baffled him, but he soon calmed down and focused on completing the mission he was given.

***

The interior of the hatchery could only be described as horrible.

‘Ugh… I feel like I’m going to puke…’ Siegfried groaned as he tried his best to suppress the vomit going up his throat after seeing the countless Cryptid eggs within the hatchery.

The eggs squirmed as if something was going to pop out of them anytime, and the way they squirmed was a hideous, grotesque, and disgusting sight that would make anyone’s stomach turn. However, the main thing that turned Siegfried’s stomach and almost made him puke was the fact there were Cryptids munching through a pile of human corpses near the eggs.

These Cryptids were a mutated form of various insects mashed together, and they were also known as ‘Mothertids’. The Mothertid couldn’t fight, but it was responsible for reproducing and rearing the Cryptids.

Munch! Munch!

The Mothertids busily munched through the pile of human corpses brought by the Cryptids as they prepared to infuse nutrients into the eggs.

‘I’m itching to burn this place down…’ Siegfried thought while going around the hatchery.

‘Huh? Where the hell is that one going?’ he wondered while observing a Mothertid that was going somewhere with a human corpse in tow.

He continued observing the Mothertid and saw it enter a tunnel located at the center of the hatchery.

‘Let’s follow it,’ he instinctively could tell that there was definitely something over there.

‘What is that…? I don’t recall ever seeing something like that…?’ Siegfried was shocked to find a Cryptid species he had never encountered before.

Slurp! Slurp!

The Mothertid brought the human corpse to a new type of Cryptid, and the creature proceeded to suck the brain out of the human corpse. Surprisingly, this new type of Cryptid was a small humanoid Cryptid with a huge brain on its head.

Siegfried used his Rune of Insight and got the following details regarding the creature.

[Mother of the 34th Colony]

[Race: Cryptid]

[Level: 1]

[Rank: Brigadier General (★)]

[Class: Cryptid Commander]

[Remarks: This Cryptid has very high intelligence, and it uses its brainwaves to control the Cryptid army. It grows stronger through consuming the brain of human commanders, and its understanding of tactics and strategies will increase the more it devours talented humans. It is very fast and agile, but it does not have any combat capabilities.]

‘I knew it…’ Siegfried finally realized the reason behind the Cryptids suddenly moving in an organized and strategic fashion after seeing the new Cryptid’s details.

It turned out that the command center’s suspicion about the Cryptids having an intelligence-type Cryptid among them was true.

‘I should collect information first,’ he took out ‘Memorize Monocle’ and recorded the Mother of the 34th Colony sucking a human’s brain out.

Ding!

Then, a message popped up in front of Siegfried’s eyes.

[Alert: You have successfully completed the Quest – ‘Investigate the Cryptid Greater Colony’!]

[Alert: Go to Corps Commander, Lt. General Overlock, to collect your reward!]

The quest that seemed borderline impossible was cleared quite easily, contrary to what Siegfried had expected. Now, all he had to do now was go back and collect the five billion won reward on top of the ‘Book of Absorption: Chi’ extra reward.

‘I just have to go back… Wait a minute… No, it’s a bit lackluster if I go back like this…’ Siegfried hesitated just as he was about to leave the hatchery, and then an idea struck him. ‘What if I capture that Mother of the Colony alive…?’

Siegfried figured that capturing the enemy commander alive would be much more helpful to the coalition forces than simply returning with some information regarding it. He also thought that it would be possible to make the Cryptids fight among themselves if the coalition forces found a way to use the new type of Cryptid to their advantage.

‘It is going to be pretty risky but… You have to take risks once in a while, right…?’ 

Siegfried realized that he didn’t really stand to lose anything since he had already finished collecting the information necessary to complete the quest. Not to mention, he was not even Level 200 yet, so the penalty for dying wouldn’t be that painful.

Seuk…

Siegfried made his way toward the Mother of the Colony after making his decision.

“[email protected][email protected]***[email protected]***[email protected]***[email protected]!***! (Who are you?! How did you get in here?!)”

The Mother of the Colony was busily sucking on a human brain when she suddenly noticed Siegfried and cried out in an unintelligible Cryptid language.

“Err… That is…” Siegfried muttered awkwardly in response before grabbing the Mother of the Colony by its neck.

“Kehek!”

“You will have to go with me somewhere.”

“Kehek! Keheeeeeeeeeek!”

Suddenly…

“Kaduk duk…?”

“Kiiiiek?”

“Kihit?”

A bunch of humanoid Cryptids appeared out of nowhere and encircled Siegfried.

[Cryptid Guardian]

[Race: Cryptid]

[Level: 150]

[Rank: Captain (⯁⯁⯁)]

[Class: Cryptid Knight]

[Remarks: A guardian in charge of guarding the Mother of the Colony. It is quite powerful. Caution is advised when fighting it.]

There were almost one hundred Cryptid Guardians surrounding Siegfried, and even he—the Debuff Master—could not muster the courage to fight so many of them.

“Aigoo… There are so many of you,” Siegfried said with an awkward look.

“Kehek! Keheeeeeeek!” The Mother of the Colony cried out louder than it did a while ago while squirming as hard as it could.

“Hey, why don’t you go to sleep for a while?” Siegfried grumbled. He grabbed the Mother of the Colony by its ankle and slammed it to the ground as hard as he could.

Puk! Puk! Pukeok!

He slammed the Cryptid to the ground a total of five times.

“Gueeek…” The Mother of the Colony let out a groan before losing consciousness.

“Phew… Now it’s a bit quiet,” Siegfried said while letting out a sigh of relief.

Shiiing…!

The Cryptid Guardians surrounding him raised their arms resembling blades.

“What are you going to do about it?” Siegfried sneered with a smirk, and then he held the Mother of the Colony by its ankle and shook it like a rag doll. “This thing here is going to die if you try and do anything funny.”

Fortunately, the Cryptid Guardians seemed to have understood what he said as they started hesitating.

“Good. I’m going now, and don’t follow me,” Siegfried said with the Mother of the Colony in tow as he casually left the hatchery.

“…”

The Cryptid Guardians quietly followed behind him as if to show that they were ready to strike the moment Siegfried gave them an opening…

***

Siegfried was immediately surrounded by thousands of Cryptids the moment he walked out of the hatchery, but none of the Cryptids dared to attack him.

They didn’t attack him because he was holding the Mother of the Colony hostage. Siegfried abused the Cryptids’ trait by threatening to kill the Mother of the Colony if they attempted to attack him, and he was able to leave the greater colony without a single scratch.

“I will kill this thing if you don’t get out of my way. Oops! I almost killed it by mistake! Hehe,” Siegfried threatened as he made various gestures like dropping the Mother of the Colony or pretending to twist its neck.

Meanwhile…

“Sir! The Cryptids from the 34th Greater Colony are suddenly retreating!”

Lieutenant General Overlock received news of the Cryptids’ retreat from one of his adjutants.

“Retreating? Without any reason?” Overlock asked.

“Yes, Corps Commander-nim!”

“That is strange… There’s no reason for them to retreat. It doesn’t make any sense at all…”

“It is indeed strange, sir…”

“That can only mean…” Overlock muttered while rubbing his chin.

The sudden retreat of the Cryptids was strange, but a seasoned veteran like Overlock immediately realized the reason for their sudden retreat.

“It seems Lieutenant Colonel Sieg successfully completed his mission!” he exclaimed.

“Huh? H-How do you know that, sir?”

“How can I not?! Do you really think that those monsters would run with their tails between their legs if they managed to find and kill Lieutenant Colonel Sieg?”

“Heok…!”

“They’re definitely retreating because something happened at their base! Lieutenant Colonel Sieg had to have succeeded in his mission!”

“Oh! Then that means…!”

“We have to go and rescue Lieutenant Colonel Sieg as soon as possible! Who is in charge of the rescue team?”

“Lieutenant Commander Carell from the independent battalion is tasked to meet Lieutenant Colonel Sieg at the exfil point, sir.”

“Is that so? Darn it! That’s a pity… I wanted to see Carell in action for a bit longer… Tsk!” Overlock clicked his tongue.

Lieutenant General Overlock was a bit dismayed by the fact that Carell was going to leave because Carell was currently controlling the entire battlefield.

‘Hmm… He is very skilled in commanding for his age… Was there such a talented individual in our kingdom? Perhaps Lieutenant Colonel Sieg taught him well? Hoho! Either way, this is yet another reason to rejoice! Hohoho!’ Overlock thought with a smile as he laid his eyes on Carell without the latter even realizing it.

“I wanted to watch that youngster do more, but I guess there’s no helping it. Hey, adjutant,” he called out to one of his officers.

“Yes, Corps Commander-nim!”

“Go and immediately send out a rescue party for Lieutenant Colonel Sieg.”

“Yes, sir!” the officer responded. Then, he immediately ran out of the tent to relay the order.

***

Siegfried was able to leave the colony and reach the exfil point without sustaining a single scratch because he took the Mother of the Colony hostage. Countless Cryptids gnashed their teeth and chased after him, but it was simply too easy for him to chase them away.

“I will kill you first if they keep chasing after me, you got that? I will pull out your arms and legs first before I—I don’t have to explain what will happen next, right?” Siegfried whispered into the ears of the dazed Mother of the Colony.

Nod! Nod!

The Mother of the Colony fervently nodded to his words and immediately shot out its brainwaves to command the Cryptids to return to the greater colony.

“Oh, and ask your forces fighting at the frontlines to retreat as well, okay?” Siegfried said with a smile.

Controlling the Cryptids became a walk in the park with the Mother of the Colony in his hand.

Thirty minutes later…

“Hmm… I think it was around here somewhere—Oh?” Siegfried muttered in surprise after arriving at the exfil point.

He met with the rescue party after arriving at the exfil point, but the problem was that the so-called rescue party wasn’t the one he expected to meet.

“You came faster than I expected,” Pyo Cheol-Ju, the adventurer Siegfried met at the meeting tent, greeted him.

“Why are you here?” Siegfried asked.

He had no idea why Pyo Cheol-Ju was at the exfil point instead of Carell.