Chapter 386

“That crazy bastard!” Ulcera shouted in disbelief after witnessing the rat jumping off the tower.

Who would have imagined someone would be crazy enough to voluntarily jump off the Sky Tower’s rooftop?

It was understandable he did not want to die at Ulcera’s hands, but jumping off such a high place was a whole different thing...

“Is it because he’s an Adventurer?” Ulcera muttered.

He concluded that the only reason Siegfried could do such a reckless thing was thanks to his immortal body, and this was the only logical explanation behind his reckless action.

“

Haa...

I can only hope that the church will show mercy to me...” Ulcera weakly said with a sigh.

He finally calmed down after Siegfried jumped off the rooftop, only to be reminded of the punishment awaiting him for failing his mission.

He knew the church was going to demand a steep price for his failure.

“Just you wait, Siegfried van Proa. I’m not going to let you off this easily. You will die by my hands soon,” Ulcera swore before hopping onto the Ghost Stingray floating above the rooftop.

***

Meanwhile, Siegfried had no plans to kill himself, unlike what Ulcera thought.

Whoooooooosh!

Siegfried spread his Blood Butterfly’s Wings wide and grabbed the tip of it with his hands, which made him look like a flying squirrel.

Whooooosh!

He rode the upward draft blowing around the Sky Tower, allowing him to glide.

However, his

flight

was far from smooth as the Blood Butterfly’s Wings was not designed to be a wingsuit or a paraglider in the first place.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

He repeatedly

flew

and crashed while spinning awkwardly whenever a powerful gust blew past him. It was far from a smooth flight, and he resembled a crashing plane more than a gliding one, but it was nonetheless an excellent improvisation of the resources he had available.

He was able to buy some time before his inevitable crash, but that was about it.

Three hundred meters, two hundred meters, one hundred meters, and fifty meters...

Right before he struck the ground...

‘Now!’

He twisted in mid-air and clung as close as possible to the Sky Tower.

Kwachik!

He transformed Horse Fly into a claw and jammed it as hard as he could into the wall.

However, he was falling down so fast that Horse Fly failed to dig into the wall.

Krreeeeeeee!

Horse Fly left a trail of marks as it skidded down the tower wall.

‘Huh? This isn’t going according to my plan...’

Siegfried felt his gut wrench after he realized that things weren't going according to plan.

His plan was to break his fall by jamming Horse Fly into the wall and land safely on the ground, but he had failed to consider the possibility of Horse Fly not being able to secure itself on the wall.

‘

Am I going to die? Me? Die?’

Fortunately, death wasn't expecting him today as he didn't fall to the ground.

Krrreee... Kwachik!

Horse Fly managed to dig deep into the wall and secure itself.

“Aaaaah!”

Siegfried screamed as he came to a halt.

“I thought I was a goner!”

He looked down and saw there was less than ten meters between him and the ground.

What if he was late by a second?

Splat!

He would have crashed to the ground and left a repulsive mess behind.

Tak!

He kicked off the wall and pulled Horse Fly out before jumping down.

“

Ack...!”

A sharp pain radiated from his right shoulder, which was the arm he had used to hold onto Horse Fly.

[Alert: Status Ailment!]

[Alert: Your character is afflicted by Dislocation: Right Shoulder!]

[Alert: Your right shoulder is immobilized! Please seek treatment at once!]

It was a cheap price to pay for breaking his two thousand meters fall.

He opened his inventory and was about to drink a potion, but...

“Huh...? What the—?”

Siegfried noticed countless eyes staring at him.

“...”

“...”

“...”

“...”

There were tens of thousands of Adventurers looking at him right now.

‘

Were there this many people a while ago...?’

He was so busy fighting for his life during his fall that he had failed to notice that a crowd had gathered at the foot of the tower.

‘

W-What? Why are they here?’

However, Siegfried's confusion was soon resolved as the Adventurers started calling out to him.

“Hyung! Lend me your key!”

“Please rent the key to me, Siegfried-nim!”

“No! Lend me your key, I’ll pay you gold!”

“Open the dungeon for me!”

“I want to climb the Sky Tower, too!”

The Adventurers started to approach him one by one until they crashed down on him like a tidal wave.

It turned out that the Adventurers rushed over to the Sky Tower after watching his livestream, hoping to challenge the tower themselves.

***

Gamers were peculiar creatures that would voluntarily dive into the deepest pits of hell if they could benefit from it, and they were bound to do whatever it took if it meant they could get their hands on the Graduate Gears, which provided insane bonus stats.

Hence, why so many of them were gathered at the Sky Tower.

“H-Hold on! E-Excuse me?

Ack!

WAIT!” Siegfried screamed while flailing his arms as he was swept away by the

tidal wave

like a buoy.

There were so many people rushing at him at once that even the Adventurers themselves lost sight of Siegfried.

‘

Ack!’

Siegfried ducked and crawled through the stampede of legs to escape from the crowd.

“Hey!”

“Where’s Siegfried-nim?!”

“Hyung!”

“I’m a fan!”

The Adventurers were in a frenzy as they searched for him.

‘

I need to hide!’

Siegfried hurriedly dove behind a bush and put on the Metamorphosis Mask to hide his identity. Then, he blended among the Adventurers until he reached the entrance of the Sky Tower.

‘

I need to get my reward!’

He had already cleared the Sky Tower, and all that remained was for him to collect the Sky Tower’s

local specialty product,

the Graduate Gears.

Siegfried discreetly moved and was about to insert the key into the keyhole when an Adventurer caught sight of him.

“There he is!”

The tens of thousands of pairs of eyes instantly darted in his direction.

“Hyung!”

“Are you going again?”

“Wait for me!”

“Bring me with you!”

“Please!”

The tidal wave changed its course and came crashing toward the doors.

“Hiiiik!”

Siegfried screamed in horror as he hurriedly opened the door and ran inside at lightning speed.

Thud!

The doors closed, and he was finally safe from the crowd outside.

“

Phew...!”

He could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Legendary Blacksmith Wurttemberg spotted him and said, “

Oh?

You’re back?”

He inspected Siegfried from head to toe and added, “Judging from how you came in from the entrance... I guess you failed.”

“No, I did not?”

“

Huh?

”

“Here,” Siegfried said as he took out a pile of Essence of the Strong.

Among the pile of the Essence of the Strong was the Essence of the Tower’s Strongest, which could only be obtained after defeating Comodos. It glimmered brighter than the others.

“T-That is...! You can only get this if you defeat Comodos! Are you sure you cleared the entire tower?!”

“Why would I lie...?”

“But why did you come in from the entrance? You could’ve just used the magic circle to come back here!”

“I was forced to bungee jump due to some circumstances.”

“Bungee jump? What’s that?”

“Something, just forget about it,” Siegfried grumbled and shook his head after remembering the death-defying fall he had experienced just now.

“Anyway, I can buy the gears you crafted, right, elder-nim?”

“Of course, go ahead and choose what you want. Anyone who clears the tower has the right to own the artifacts I’ve crafted.”

“Okay!” Siegfried enthusiastically replied and rushed over to where the artifacts were displayed, and he took a necklace as his first pick.

[Alert: You have obtained Master’s Necklace!]

The very first Graduate Gear he purchased was none other than the Master’s Necklace.

[Alert: You have equipped Master’s Necklace!]

[Alert: You may enhance one of your main skills!]

[Alert: Please select the skill you wish to enhance!]

A string of messages popped up in front of his eyes right after he equipped the Master’s Necklace.

[Please choose one of the skills]

[Blaze Field]

[Shadow Swamp]

[Flying Sword]

The top three skills he used the most popped up as choices, and Siegfried clicked Blaze Field without an ounce of hesitation. The choice was really a no-brainer, as Blaze Field was the bread and butter of the Debuff Master!

[Alert: You have enhanced Blaze Field!]

[Alert: Blaze Field has increased by ten levels!]

[Alert: Blaze Field has gained additional effects!]

It seemed that Blaze Field had gained new effects after leveling up ten times, and the details of the new effects were...

[Additional Effects: Ignore Physical Damage Resistance (All Ranks), Ignore Magic Resistance (All Ranks)]

Ironically, the new effects Blaze Field had gained after leveling up ten times was ignoring the physical damage resistance and magic resistance skills of the enemy, which was what he had struggled the most against the Chaos Guardians and Ulcera.

“I knew it... There’s no way Master didn’t think of this. I was just weak, that’s all...

tsk!”

Siegfried muttered and laughed in disbelief.

His assumption was right—the Debuff Master had no limits. Deus couldn't possibly have any limits, and the only limitation holding the Debuff Master back was Siegfried’s low level.

“You’re dead the next time I see you,” Siegfried gnashed his teeth while thinking of Ulcera. He would have loved nothing more than to climb the tower and smash Ulcera’s head open, but it was highly likely he was long gone by the time he reached the rooftop.

“Why don't you look around a bit more? You still have many essences left,” Wurttemberg suggested.

“Should I?” Siegfried proceeded to choose a few more Graduate Gears to purchase with his remaining essence.

[Alert: You have obtained S-Grade Lucky Guy Earrings!]

[Alert: You have obtained A-Grade Offensive Ring!]

He amplified his stats by purchasing the S-Grade Lucky Guy Earrings, which boosted the rare stat, Luck, and A-Grade Offensive Ring, which boosted his Attack Power.

“Hoho! You’re quite the wise spender!” Wurttemberg said with a laugh.

“Excuse me...?”

“You picked only the best! You have an eye for artifacts!”

“

Haha...

Thank you...”

“How was the tower?”

“It was quite easy, I guess?”

“Easy?”

“Well, there were some complicated parts, but I think it took me around seven and a half hours?

Hmm...

I think I can complete it in three or four hours next time.”

“Quit lying!” Wurttemberg exclaimed and retorted, “Three days have passed since you climbed the tower! What seven hours are you talking about?

Ha!

Make it make sense! I acknowledge you’re quite gifted for your age, but there’s a limit to how much you can exaggerate things!”

“But I am not exaggerating...?” Siegfried narrowed his eyes and defended himself, “I cleared the tower in seven hours and thirty minutes, and then I spent two days waiting for someone at the peak.”

“Why, you little! I’m a spirit, not stupid!”

“But it’s true...”

“

Hoho!

You can get yourself into trouble if you keep exaggerating things like that!”

“But I am not...”

“Then, can you swear you’re not lying?”

“I can!”

“Prove it! Prove to me you’re not lying!” Wurttemberg said.

Ding!

A quest message popped up in front of Siegfried’s eyes.