CH 280

‘I’m dead if I get hit!’ Siegfried immediately jumped out of the way after seeing the hunchback’s fist coming for him.

Bam!

Quasimodo’s fist slammed into a pillar behind Siegfried.

Crumble…!

The pillar crumbled into dust upon getting hit.

“Hey, damn it! That’s cheating! How can bare knuckles be so powerful?!” Siegfried screamed in frustration.

It made no sense at all. How was it possible for bare fists to destroy a pillar in one punch? Siegfried could make a dent in a pillar with a punch, but he couldn’t turn it into dust.

What if that punch connected with Siegfried’s face?

‘Instant death…’

He would have died in a single hit. He wasn’t a Tank, after all.

Quasimodo was probably the weakest among the strong people Siegfried had met so far, but the hunchback’s raw strength was a force to be reckoned with.

Most of the strong people Siegfried had met until now weren’t his enemies, and the only one he truly fought was Menacia, but it wasn’t even a proper fight. She had already sustained a severe injury from Brunhilde, so it wasn’t a proper fight whatsoever.

In other words, he had met a lot of strong people, but it was his first time experiencing the full strength of one of them.

The Level 255 hunchback NPC was truly a powerful opponent. Siegfried could feel the huge gap between their strength. It was quite ironic how the weakest strong person Siegfried had met until now was the most threatening opponent he had ever faced.

“Your movements are good, but let’s see how long you can keep avoiding my attacks, you treacherous bastard,” Quasimodo said with a smirk.

“I want to know that, too… I guess?” Siegfried replied while profusely sweating and retreating a few steps.

Quasimodo pointed at Siegfried and said, “Come face me like a man if you think—”

However, Siegfried completely disagreed with him.

“Have a nice day!” Siegfried exclaimed before running away as fast as he could.

“Catch that rat!” Quasimodo shouted in anger and chased after the rat himself.

The hunchback chased after Siegfried at ferocious speeds like a maniac while shouting.

“Where do you think you’re going?!”

***

Siegfried ran away deep within the fortress.

‘He got baited!’ He smirked after seeing the hunchback following him all the way in.

His escape was just another one of his ploys, as he already placed down Blaze Field and Shadow Swamp over the entire fortress. This meant that the imperial troops still held a significant advantage over the papal troops.

It would have been perfect if Siegfried could wreak havoc on the frontlines, as it would have been easier for the imperial troops to drive back the invaders. However, he didn’t have to join the battle to contribute.

His debuff fields were as good as having thousands of men on the battlefield.

Meanwhile, Quasimodo had committed a grave mistake by chasing after Siegfried.

The hunchback was the most powerful soldier on the papal faction’s side, and he easily overpowered the imperial faction’s most powerful soldier, Siegfried. In other words, there was no reason for him to chase after Siegfried.

It would have been much more efficient for him to wreak havoc on the enemy’s fort walls and make it easier for his army to enter the gates.

Unfortunately, the hunchback only had eyes for Siegfried right now as he chased after the latter like a ferocious beast. He had been blinded by fury.

‘You piece of trash! You keep running away when you wield such power?! I will kill you with my own hands and make you pay for your sins of betraying the father of the papacy, His Holiness the Pope!’

The hunchback was the pope’s loyal dog, and his loyalty and reverence for the pope made him loathe Siegfried.

The pope was the first person to embrace him despite his disability and hideous appearance. The love shown to him made him swear loyalty toward the pope, and he truly loved the pope deep in his heart.

In other words, how could he not be enraged after hearing about how someone had betrayed the pope to stand on the enemy’s side? It was a good enough reason for the hunchback to chase the traitor to the ends of hell.

Moreover…

“Hey~ Woohoo! I almost died just now~ You’re so strong yet so slow~”

Siegfried kept on taunting while evading all of his attacks, which made him completely forget his mission of conquering the Vaper Fortress as soon as possible and attacking the emperor from the back.

In fact, he was so enraged by the Adventurer that he wanted to pull the latter’s limbs apart and even pull that part out.

“You pesky brat! Stop right there!” Quasimodo’s voice thundered across the fortress.

“Not going to~”

“You rat!”

“Hey, are you going to stop if you were in my shoes? Whoopsie daisy~”

Siegfried narrowly evaded a punch and scurried away, which made Quasimodo jump in frustration.

‘Just a bit more… a little bit more…’ Siegfried tried his best to irritate the hunchback and lure him around the fortress. The papal forces were slowly losing the siege thanks to his debuff fields.

“Where did that dog Quasimodo go?! He should be focusing on the siege right now!”

The hunchback’s absence had a profound effect on the battlefield, and even the commander of the papal forces started looking for him. The commander was confident they would easily win the siege the moment the hunchback went up the wall, so he didn’t expect the hunchback to disappear into the fortress without a trace.

‘It’s a success! Ah, I really thought I was going to die… Why is running away more tiring than fighting? Anyway, I just need to keep this monster tied down,’ Siegfried thought.

His title Pesky Brat allowed him to keep running away, and he made sure to keep provoking the hunchback as well.

His strategy was a massive success.

‘I’ll take full advantage of the terrain to keep running away.’

Siegfried excellently maneuvered throughout the fortress as if it were an obstacle course. He would run into an alley, then climb up a building and traverse through its roof while avoiding the hunchback but making sure that he wouldn’t stray too far away.

Bam!

Quasimodo destroyed whatever obstacle that stood in his way. He smashed walls, roofs, and even trees along the way.

“Ack!”

“Kyah!”

Some of the civilians got hurt due to the hunchback’s rampage, but that was a small price to pay for Siegfried’s success.

‘Hurry up and win… you fucking scumbag…’ 

Siegfried earnestly prayed that the scumbag would destroy the papal forces as soon as possible.

***

Meanwhile, at Crane City…

“Heed my words, my imperial troops!”

Emperor Frederic’s voice reverberated throughout the city.

“We shall go and punish those that formed a cult under our god’s name! Heaven has chosen only one leader, and that is I, Frederic!”

The imperial troops sallied out of the city and killed everything in their way, and the same thing was happening five kilometers away at Tenshall Territory.

The soldiers that were supposed to be stationed at Vaper Fortress were distributed instead to Crane City and Tenshall Territory, and this made the imperial forces sally out from their gates like a swarm of locusts ravaging everything in its path.

“Sir Desire! Rally your guild! There are too many enemies, and we are getting pushed back!” Commander Mikhael shouted.

“Vee na zoin ah bish!” Chae Hyung-Seok retorted.

He was still slurring as the beating he had taken from Siegfried still hadn’t healed.

Shwaaa!

Wooong!

Chae Hyung-Seok cranked Holy Rain and Heaven’s Resonance to the max and buffed his allies to mark his presence on the battlefield.

But…

“T-There are too many of them!”

“Ack!”

“Support the flanks! It’s falling apart!”

“We can’t hold out for too long—Ack!”

The papal troops were falling one by one at the hands of the imperial troops despite the buffs. The buffs were meaningless in a full head-on confrontation due to the sheer number of imperial troops.

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It was a bizarre sight where five enemies would pop up out of nowhere whenever the papal troops killed one.

Strength in numbers!

Emperor Frederic decided to use quantity over quality and throw wave after wave of soldiers at his enemies, and it was indeed the right strategy for this battle.

“C-Commander! Our center is getting pushed back!”

“Our left flank is falling apart!”

The papal forces’ formation was on the brink of falling apart.

Meanwhile, Emperor Frederic was enjoying the spectacular view in front of him.

“Bwahahaha!” he let out a burst of boisterous laughter before shouting at the top of his lungs, “Kill them all! We shall emerge victorious in this battle! Show those cult followers the wrath of god!”

Meanwhile, Commander Mikhael was speechless at the turn of events.

“Ah… To think that we are going to lose to something so reckless…” he muttered in defeat.

It was then.

—The fake emperor is possessed by the devil.

The pope’s voice reverberated across the entire battlefield.

—Holy Army of the Nameless God. The devil has taken over the fake emperor’s mind and body. Kill the devil and his followers! Destroy them and send them back to hell!

Right after the pope’s voice resounded…

“Glory to the Nameless God!”

“The Nameless God is on our side!”

“His Holiness is with us!”

Soldiers wearing the uniform of the papal faction suddenly appeared at the flank of the imperial forces, and their commander was a man wearing a white robe and a tall hat.

“W-Why are you here?!” Emperor Frederic cried out.

The commander of the army was none other than Theopilus the Fifth.

***

Siegfried was quite clever.

He lured the hunchback around Vaper Fortress while not forgetting to place down Blaze Field and Shadow Swamp whenever they went off cooldown. He also made sure to stay as far away as possible from the fortress walls.

He rinsed and repeated this process five times, and the imperial forces eventually repelled the invaders.

The imperial troops almost one-sidedly pushed back the invaders, who had scaled the walls with no regard for their numerical superiority.

However, it was only possible by the debuffs.

“Oh my god!”

The papal forces had been reduced to half of its size by the time Quasimodo realized what was going on.

“I need to join the battle…!”

The hunchback ran for the fortress walls after realizing that he had been completely outsmarted by the rat. He could still make an impact on the siege if he went back and joined them.

Unfortunately…

“…!”

The hunchback suddenly felt his balance thrown off as he crashed into the ground.

Crash! Bam! Thud!

The hunchback rolled and flipped a few times before coming to a stop, and he looked back to see what had tripped him.

There was a stick on the ground, and the stick was called the Rod of God.

‘Now!’ Siegfried suddenly appeared from the alley and lunged at the hunchback.

He set up a trap and waited until the hunchback showed an opening. Upon seeing the opening, he immediately used his indestructible rod to trip the hunchback.

It was time to counterattack.

Fwaaaa! Fwaaaaah!

Flames shot up from the ground and surrounded the hunchback.

‘The debuff is set…’

Siegfried gripped his +15 Gaia’s Fist tightly.

‘Die.’

Bam! Bam! Bam!

He cast Machine Gun Smash and sent a flurry of punches to the back of the hunchback’s head. Unfortunately, the hunchback possessed extremely high Defense, so he couldn’t crack the hunchback’s skull open.

However, the pain was unavoidable, and the hunchback was now covered in his own blood. He rolled to safety upon sensing that he would truly die if he kept on taking the same hit on the same spot.

The hunchback immediately got up in a bizarre display of vitality and toughness.

‘Yeah, you’re probably going to get up,’ Siegfried thought with a smirk.

He knew the hunchback would get up, so he had prepared another trap.

Chwaaak!

Siegfried dashed toward the hunchback and spun.

His Blood Butterfly’s Wings slashed the hunchback’s face, his eyes, to be exact.

The secret technique of the Sword Emperor, Betelgeuse!

Quick Draw!

“AAAAAAACK!”

The hunchback screamed and cried out like a wounded beast as blood spurted out of his eyes.