Chapter 29: Chapter 29

'Hurry… I have to hurry up! I have to quickly gain a level… just one more level…!' Siegfried desperately thought. Every single second mattered to him right now.

There was no need for him to think which side would win if a fight between the Goblin Lord's side and Bleigh's side broke out.

The main issue was time.

Ten minutes?

No, it would be a miracle if they managed to hold out for five minutes. After all, even that long would be a bit too much for them.

'I have to go before they all die. Sir Bleigh, please hold out for a bit longer…'

Siegfried could only hope that they would survive until he got back as he rushed from one spot to another.

"Hey! Give that to me!" Siegfried shouted at Jang Man-Bok, who was fighting against a goblin soldier.

"What?!" Jang Man-Bok exclaimed in disbelief.

"I said give that to me so that I can hit Level 30!" Siegfried shouted in response.

"But, I'm about to kill it right now…" Jang Man-Bok muttered.

"I'll give you 1 gold later!" Siegfried shouted.

"I-If you insist…" Jang Man-Bok stepped away from the goblin soldier.

Pak!

Siegfried smacked the goblin soldier on the head with his steel rod.

[You have successfully hunted a Goblin Soldier!]

[Experience Points +650]

Siegfried still wasn't satisfied with the experience points he gained.

'I have to kill them faster…!' he thought.

It was basic knowledge that the required experience points to level up would increase the higher the player's level became, and that was why Siegfried had to kill dozens of goblin soldiers to reach Level 30.

"I'm really sorry, but please pass all of the experience points to me! I beg you!" Siegfried shouted with desperation in his voice.

There was no other option. This was the only way he had to level up as soon as possible. He could take his sweet time and level up at his own pace, but Bleigh and the elite troops would probably be long dead by then.

"You don't have to give me gold. Come here and take this one!"

"Over here! It's almost dead!"

Fortunately, the other two Adventurers easily agreed to surrender their hunt to him. "I'll definitely repay the favor!"

That was not the end of it…

"Siegfried! Over here!"

"Come here and finish this guy off, too!"

"Hurry up and come over here!"

"This guy is about to die!"

"We will push these guys over to you, so you better get ready to finish them off!"

"Over here!"

The mercenaries and the territory soldiers all worked together to let Siegfried deal the final blows to their opponents.

[You have successfully hunted a Goblin Soldier!]

[Experience Points +650]

[You have successfully hunted a Goblin Soldier!]

[Experience Points +650]

[You have successfully hunted a Goblin Soldier!]

[Experience Points +650]

The boost they gave Siegfried made his experience points skyrocket.

After around five minutes, he finally got the message he had desperately wanted to see.

[You are now Level 30!]

He had finally reached Level 30.

***

[Congratulations! You have reached Level 30!]

[You are now able to learn two new skills!]

[You may check the new attainable skills on the 'My Skill' page on your status screen.]

The messages popped up in front of his eyes.

'Finally!'

Siegfried rejoiced.

He immediately opened 'My Skill' and tapped on the Level 30 skills of the Debuff Master.

The new skills were the following:

[Speed Restraint]

[Debuff Skill]

[Reduces the attack speed, movement speed, and casting speed of the enemies within the circle placed by the user.]

[The circle's radius grows larger the higher the skill's level.]

[The skill's effect will become stronger the higher the skill's level.]

The new debuff skill 'Speed Restraint' was truly a skill befitting of the Debuff Master since it was a triple debuff skill that would reduce the enemy's attack speed, movement speed, and casting speed.

However, the main highlight of the new Level 30 skills wasn't 'Speed Restraint' but rather, the self-buff skill, 'Contempt for the Strong.'

[Contempt for the Strong]

[Buff Skill]

[The user deals increased damage and receive reduced damage from those with higher levels than them.]

[The skill effect will increase the higher the skill's level.]

[This skill can only be used on the user.]

[The user deals 500% increased damage upon successfully hitting an enemy of a higher level than them with a counter-attack.]

'Contempt for the Strong' was what Siegfried was after. He was certain that this was one of the skills that his master—Deus—had created after contemplating how he could defeat those stronger than him. The skill dealt more damage to those stronger than him while he would receive reduced damage from them, and it was a skill that was truly suitable for the Debuff Master.

'This will be more than enough…'

Siegfried put a point in each skill and learned both of them.

[You have learned 'Speed Restraint'!]

[You have learned 'Contempt for the Strong'!]

The messages popped up in front of him.

'Let's go.'

He immediately made a move. After all, Siegfried did not have the luxury to enjoy and celebrate the milestone of reaching Level 30 because time was currently of the essence. Moreover, Bleigh and the elite troops were still in danger.

***

"Sir Bleigh! I'm here…!" Siegfried shouted. He had finally leveled up, so he ran toward Bleigh and the elite troops.

However, the sight that greeted him could only be described as horrible.

"Euk…"

"Mother… mother…!"

"Haa… haa…!"

There was not one person whose condition could still be described with the word 'good,' even though only five minutes had passed since the battle started. In fact, most of the elite troops had already perished, and only a few soldiers were still alive, albeit in critical conditions.

"Sir Bleigh!" Siegfried shouted.

The Knight Captain Bleigh was not doing any better. His left arm couldn't be seen, but he was still standing while trying to block the Goblin Lord and his troops.

"You have returned? That was quick…" Bleigh muttered in an exhausted voice.

"Let me help you!" Siegfried exclaimed before dragging Bleigh away from the Goblin Lord.

"Have you… achieved it…?" Bleigh asked.

"Yes, I did," Siegfried nodded. He hurriedly retrieved a potion and poured it into Bleigh's mouth.

"Cough! Cough Cough!" Bleigh coughed out the potion. He wasn't even in a condition to drink it properly.

"Thank… god… You managed to do it…"

"Save your words, it's now time for you to rest." Siegfried then tore a generous piece of cloth from his own clothes and wrapped it around the amputated arm to stop the bleeding, and poured an entire bottle of potion over it.

"The potion will help you recover. You don't have to worry since you will definitely make it out here alive," Siegfried said.

"Thank you…" Bleigh replied.

"Please rest assured and leave this place to me," Siegfried said and carefully placed Bleigh down on the ground.

"Kihit! Humans sure are interesting! Do you really think that you can stand against me?! Kihit!" Gorgo shrieked as it openly mocked Siegfried and Bleigh.

The Goblin Lord had given Siegfried ample amount of time to treat Bleigh's injuries since it was confident that it could defeat all the humans here no matter what.

"You are that human… the bastard who dared to harm this body of mine…" Gorgo muttered as its remaining eye slowly started to get dyed with rage toward the human who one of its eyes away.

"I will especially spare you from death! Kihit! I will cut you into hundreds and thousands of pieces, and your flesh shall serve as my appetizer while you watch in horror and—" Gorgo shrieked.

However, the Goblin Lord couldn't finish what it wanted to say.

Pukeok!

Siegfried struck like a flash of lightning and smashed his steel rod into one of the Albino Goblin's head.

"Kiek!"

The Albino Goblin shrieked in pain before falling to the ground. It would never get up again.

Why did it die in one hit? That was because Bleigh and the elite troops had chipped away at the Albino Goblin's HP.

***

'There are only four of them left,' Siegfried thought after killing an Albino Goblin.

There were only four Albino Goblins left.

'They already did their part,' Siegfried thought.

Bleigh and the elite troops exceeded Siegfried's expectations. He thought that they would have a hard time against the goblins and would barely be able to hold those goblins back for more than five minutes, but it seemed that it wasn't the case at all. Bleigh and the elite troops managed to kill two Albino Goblins and critically injure another one during their short skirmish, and this was an amazing achievement when taking into consideration the level gap between them and the goblins.

'I will continue the miracle you have made and wrap this situation up,' Siegfried thought as he steeled his resolve to repay the knights for their sacrifices.

"T-This…! This insolent human…!" Gorgo shrieked in anger while gnashing its teeth.

Then, the Goblin Lord shrieked an order to the remaining four Albino Goblins, "Kill that human! Hurry up and kill that insolent human! Rip him to pieces and make him suffer! Hurrryyyy!"

The remaining Albino Goblins immediately moved at the Goblin Lord's command.

Bzzt… Bzzt…!

A blue current enveloped the Albino Goblin's daggers.

The Albino Goblins were monsters with the lightning attribute, which allowed them to summon a bolt of lightning within a ten-meter radius every minute. This meant that Siegfried had to be conscious of four bolts of lightning that could strike from anywhere every single minute while in the middle of the battle, and he had to calculate the cooldown time of each goblin on top of that.

However, that did not dissuade Siegfried at all.

Wooong…!

In fact, he placed Circle of Mortality and Circle of Weakness without any hesitation as he entered into a brawl with the Albino Goblins.

Flash!

A bolt of lightning flashed and struck Siegfried, but it seemed as if it hadn't done anything significant against him.

The Albino Goblin's lightning did not deal that much damage, but its main purpose was to electrocute and stun the enemy.

However, Siegfried did not get stunned or electrocuted by the bolt of lightning.

Pukeok!

In fact, he immediately counterattacked and struck the nearest Albino Goblin on its head with Smite.

"Kihit?!"

"Kii… Kiiiik?!"

"Kik?!"

Question marks started to appear on top of the Albino Goblins' heads. They were confused why the human was not affected by their lightning. and why he could still swing his steel rod without any problems.

Unfortunately for the Albino Goblins, it was a mystery that they would never be able to understand at their current intellectual level.

***

'Alright, it seems that it's pretty effective. As expected, the only solution to your lack of ability is doping,' Siegfried thought with a smirk on his face.

He was fine despite being struck by lightning, and it was all because of the elixir he had taken beforehand.

[Recluse Elixir]

[A sub-standard elixir created by a low-ranking alchemist.]

[It slightly raises the user's lightning resistance.]

[Type: Potion]

[Cost: 500 gold]

The Recluse Elixir increased his resistance against the lightning attribute, and that was why he could withstand the lightning attribute attacks of the Albino Goblins.