Debuff Master

Chapter 1296

The third battlefield where Siegfried and Lee Geon would clash was a survival map known as the Twisted Jungle.

Twisted Jungle was crawling with terrifying creatures, and carnivorous plants lurked in every corner. Throughout the map were mysterious wells that granted powerful buffs and secret shops selling high-tier items.

Here, both Siegfried and Lee Geon had to survive against the horrors of the jungle while looking for the chance to kill each other.

If the two previous battlefields confined them to fight till the death, then this one tested their entire skillset—stealth, ambush, survival, adaptability, and hunting skills.

[Alert: Map correction activated!]

[Alert: Monsters have grown exponentially stronger!]

[Alert: The creatures in this map are extremely lethal! Proceed with caution!]

A string of system notifications popped up in front of Siegfried’s eyes.

“Oh? Looks like it’s going to be fun,” he muttered with a smile.

The reason was simple.

Having long since reached the realm of superhumans, Siegfried could no longer recall the last time he had actually felt threatened on any battlefield. His stats had reached heights never seen before, so he rarely felt threatened these days.

However, the Twisted Jungle was different.

With the correction system in play, even he could die if he dropped his guard down.

Siegfried was still a gamer at heart, so he welcomed the correction with open arms. It had been a long time since the game had made his blood pump like this with excitement.

Of course, those watching him could only stare in awe.

— Ah! Han Tae-Sung is smiling!

— Why is he smiling? I’d cry if I were in his shoes!

— That’s what confidence looks like! Han Tae-Sung is showing that he believes he can dominate even in a map full of unpredictable variables!

From an ordinary gamer’s perspective, the Twisted Jungle was the most dreaded map of all.

In fact, this was a map that gained widespread infamy among pro gamers.

Throughout all official matches, the Twisted Jungle had appeared thirty-four times, yet not a single pro gamer had ever cruised through it.

The difficulty level of the map was so ridiculously high that defeating their opponent and winning was not the main goal here. Instead, it was survival.

And yet, Siegfried was smiling.

“Is he insane?”

“He’s smiling in Twisted Jungle?”

The crowd was stunned.

Those who watched the pro games knew just how difficult and brutal the Twisted Jungle could be. Even top-tier pros suffered in this map, and some even died to the elements rather than to their opponents.

The main problem with Twisted Jungle was that it was not consistent at all. Its terrain and object placements changed every match, making it virtually impossible to practice beforehand.

However, the map was intentionally designed to be this way. It was to prevent pro gamers from memorizing and relying on strategies rather than using their instincts.

‘I need to prove myself to everyone—no room for debate, no controversy, no nothing. The whole world must see that I’m far stronger than Lee Geon,’ Siegfried thought.

Then, he held up Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance and showed its details for everyone to see.

The crowd gasped.

“Whoa?! What the hell is that?!”

“Look at that screen! He’s gonna use a map hack!”

Everyone in the stadium was shocked.

An item that could see through nearly every part of the map was shocking, and the mere existence of it was simply outrageous.

— Ah! So that’s why he was smiling!

— I knew it! I knew he had a trick up his sleeve!

They were completely wrong, of course.

Siegfried flashed a smirk, clearly aimed at the viewers. Then, he calmly put Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance back into his Inventory and never took it out again.

— H-Hold on! What is he doing?!

— Did Han Tae-Sung decide not to use that item?

— It’s a statement! Han Tae-Sung is making a statement! He’s showing off that he has such an item, but he doesn’t need it for this match!

— What a display of confidence!

— Is he saying he can beat Lee Geon without relying on an artifact?!

After making that point clear to everyone, Siegfried began moving.

‘Let the hunt begin.’

With that thought, he set off deeper into the jungle.

Just like an apex predator, he got ready to hunt Lee Geon down.

***

The Twisted Jungle was roughly one-tenth the size of Jeju Island[1]. It was not exactly vast, but it was not small either.

The jungle was overgrown to the point where there were no clear paths, and it was teeming with monsters and carnivorous plants, making it nearly impossible to navigate.

Even though both Siegfried and Lee Geon were on the same map, finding each other would be far from easy.

The key to winning in this map was simple—survival.

‘I’m dead the moment I drop my guard,’ Siegfried thought as he moved forward. He carefully parted the thick overgrown foliage as he advanced while heightening his senses.

How long had it been since he felt this thrilling uncertainty where a single misstep could mean instant death? He couldn’t remember the last time he felt this way while navigating a map.

Yes, there were times when he faced powerful enemies, but it seemed it had been ages since he last fell into this thrill while on an ordinary map.

‘Flying here would only get me killed. I'd better stay on the ground.’ He decided against flying this time. Even if he could fly, scouting from above in a jungle this dense was meaningless. He would also give away his position to Lee Geon and the various predators living in this jungle.

One wrong move could mean being shot down midair, and he couldn’t afford to let his guard down, not when Lee Geon was out to get him.

As he brushed past a cluster of sharp-edged leaves, one of them grazed the back of his hand.

Plop... Plop...!

A thin line split open across his skin, and blood trickled freely down his wrist.

‘Huh? What the hell? I got cut by a leaf?’ Siegfried frowned.

He had just been cut by a leaf of all things. His body had become so tough that even the sharpest of blades couldn’t scratch him, yet a leaf had actually made his hand bleed. It could only mean one thing—the system made this map far stronger than he had expected.

Even someone with monstrous stats like him couldn’t afford to let his guard down here, which meant that survival was no longer guaranteed.

‘I’ll need to be even more careful,’ he thought as he pressed forward, moving deeper into the overgrowth.

He did not hack away a path for himself and simply braved past the razor-sharp leaves, as that would leave traces. Slashing through plants would be akin to hanging a sign with an arrow showing where he was heading.

‘I need to see my surroundings first.’

There was a saying that information was power, and that rang true in these kinds of places where the difficulty level was high and the terrain was randomized all the time.

Having information in a place like the Twisted Jungle was not only power, but life itself.

Siegfried extended his right palm and commanded, “Awaken. Come forth.”

For the first time in a long while, he summoned the Night Stalkers.

He did not have much reason to use them lately, but they were invaluable in a place like this. Not only could they scout for him undetected, but they could also share their vision with him in real time.

The Night Stalkers were the same entities that clung to enemies and dragged them down whenever Siegfried cast the Embrace of Despair.

“Spread out and monitor the surrounding areas. Alert me and share your vision if you detect any movements.”

At his command, fifty Night Stalkers dispersed in all directions, vanishing into the shadows.

The dense vegetation made it easy for them to hide, so this place was the optimal environment for them to operate in.

‘Perfect,’ Siegfried thought with a smile.

With fifty Night Stalkers conducting surveillance for him, it was like having fifty CCTV cameras keeping watch for him at all times.

There was virtually zero chance of him getting ambushed.

Even without using Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance, there was almost no way Siegfried could be caught off guard here. The Night Stalkers were patrolling a full kilometer radius around him, checking for even the faintest of movements.

If someone wanted to ambush him, they would have to get through the Night Stalkers undetected first.

‘Let’s see...’

Once the Night Stalkers were in position, Siegfried flipped through their visions one by one until he stopped.

‘Oh?’

One of the Night Stalkers spotted a glowing green spring bubbling gently in the distance.

‘Hmm... there’s a well near Thirty-Ninth.’

He had no idea what kind of buff the well granted, but he was certain of one thing. The wells in the Twisted Jungle map usually gave positive effects, as they were designed to help rather than harm the participants.

‘Let’s check it out.’

Siegfried started moving toward the well that the Night Stalker had discovered, but before he could reach it—

Ding! Ding! Ding!

‘Hm? An alert from Seventeen?’

A warning came through from another Night Stalker.

Siegfried flipped to its vision and saw enemies hiding near the well, a group of roughly twenty barbarians lying in ambush.

It was a trap.

They were clearly waiting to pounce on whoever came to drink from the well.

‘Not falling for that,’ Siegfried thought with an evil grin.

He moved clandestinely and circled around behind the barbarians.

The barbarians might be the hunters of this map, but this was the moment the hunters would become the hunted. They were not ambushing Siegfried, but rather, Siegfried was the one ambushing them.

***

Meanwhile, Lee Geon was also moving through the Twisted Jungle, hunting monsters and gathering buffs as he went. Just like Siegfried, he was a veteran gamer who had experienced every kind of battle imaginable.

Whether it was a ground battle, aerial battle, or other terrains, Lee Geon was just as experienced as Siegfried—if not, more experienced than him.

Those experiences allowed him to adapt quickly to all sorts of environments—even in a hellish one like this.

And soon, Lee Geon began proving exactly why people called him a genius born with the Devil’s Talents.

— W-Whoa! What was that?!

— Lee Geon is insane!

— Ah! He’s truly the most talented gamer of our era!

Lee Geon had just wiped out an entire pack of Hunterians that had ambushed him.

[Twisted Hunterian]

[A monster inhabiting the Twisted Jungle.]

[It is an evolved primate that exists solely to hunt. It is an enhanced version of the Hunterian inhabiting the Great Jungle, and it is far more powerful after being enhanced by the system.]

[Type: Monster]

[Race: Hunterian]

[Level: 550]

[Class: Mad Hunter]

[Remarks: It possesses an excellent camouflaging ability to approach unsuspecting victims. It is pretty good in combat as well.]

Lee Geon sliced through these predators skilled in the art of stealth. His sword moved faster than the eye could follow, his movements sharp and precise.

He had displayed physical prowess that most would describe as that of a superhuman, and it seemed as though he was trying to redeem himself after being utterly crushed by Siegfried in the previous two rounds.

Unfortunately, that was not enough to impress the crowd.

— Ah! Han Tae-Sung truly is on another level! Remember, he dominated this genius in the earlier rounds!

— It’s hard to imagine just how strong Han Tae-Sung really is. I mean, Lee Geon is this impressive, yet he was beaten to a pulp like a punching bag! He couldn’t do anything against Han Tae-Sung!

— Ah, I feel sorry for him. He must be wondering why he was even born in the same era as Han Tae-Sung!

The better Lee Geon performed, the more the people were convinced of Siegfried’s greatness. No matter how well Lee Geon fought, it only reminded people of the overwhelming victory Siegfried won in the first two matches.

Had Lee Geon heard those comments, he would have foamed at the mouth in fury.

However, none of that mattered to him right now—no, it was more like he did not have the luxury to care about trivial things like people’s opinions.

‘It’s over if I lose this time...’

Every nerve in his body was on edge. His focus was razor-sharp and pushed to the very limits.

A loss here wouldn’t just mean humiliation. It would mean his account being permanently deleted. That was more than enough reason for him to focus on nothing else but this match.

The stakes were too high, and the way he trembled before the match even started was proof of it.

“I have to win this time. No matter what happens... I must win,” he muttered under his breath. He stepped over the corpses of the Twisted Hunterians he just massacred and approached the well.

Without hesitation, he scooped up the glowing liquid and drank it.

Sssshh...

Light shimmered faintly around his body, and he vanished.

The buff had taken effect.

Lee Geon disappeared like a ghost, fading into thin air as his presence was completely erased.

1. Jeju Island is the largest island in Korea. It has an area of 1,833.2 square kilometers. More info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeju_Island ☜