Debuff Master

Chapter 148

While singing at the bow of the speedboat, Gringore looked significantly different compared to his usual demeanor. He was maintaining perfect control over his breathing as he sang along with the bewitching magical voice.

In addition, he was an outstanding singer.

His voice was near perfect, and he sounded like he was singing using a microphone. His voice had a strong charismatic depth to it while sounding extremely gentle and soft at the same time.

It seemed that he didn’t earn his titles in vain.

It was undeniable that Gringore’s voice sounded great, but Siegfried couldn’t understand why the scribe was suddenly singing.

‘Why is he singing all of a sudden…?’

Siegfried wondered. He deduced that Gringore was also under a status ailment.

No, he looked like he was in worse shape than Siegfried.

He looked like he would collapse at any moment now. The blood flowing down from his nose, ears, and mouth had formed a puddle beneath him, and his skin turned paler and paler by the second.

Despite all that, he continued singing the melody as if he was hell-bent on completing the duet with the bewitching magical voice.

All of a sudden…

[Alert: Status ailment has been lifted!]

[Alert: You have escaped the effects of ‘Charmed’!]

[Alert: Your character has been freed from the powerful voice!]

[Alert: Control over your character has been restored!]

The status ailment that was dealing excruciating pain to Siegfried suddenly vanished.

‘Don’t tell me…?’?Siegfried looked at Gringore.

‘Your Majesty! I cannot hold on anymore…!’

Gringore conveyed his desperate thoughts to Siegfried through his eyes.

‘The status ailment vanished because this guy sang along and disrupted the voice? If that is the case, then my only chance is to find the culprit behind that horrible melody before it resumes!’?Siegfried realized it after glancing at the struggling Gringore.

‘Where are you?’?he anxiously looked around in search of the culprit.

Then, his eyes found something on top of the water.

“Lala~ Lalalala~ Lala~ Lalala~ Lala~”?A creature was standing on top of a rock in the middle of the sea while singing a melody.

‘Over there!’?Siegfried immediately took the steering wheel from Hamchi.

Shwaaaa!

The Aqua Runner sped through the waters as it made its way toward the singing creature.

***

The culprit behind the horrible melody turned out to be a Siren.

[Siren]

[A monster living in the southern seas. It sings a melody to charm humans before devouring them. The sailors of the southern waters fear this creature the most.]

[Race: Mermaid]

[Rating: Champion Monster]

[Level: 200]

[Class: Soprano of Death]

[Additional Information: Extremely low endurance and extremely weak in close-quarter combats. However, it has an extremely powerful ranged voice skill.]

Siegfried gripped his hammer upon briefly checking the Siren’s details.

Splash!

The siren immediately jumped into the water to escape. However, it couldn’t escape.

Whiiish… Pak!

Siegfried used Flying Spur and threw his hammer before the siren could enter the water.

“Kyahk!”?the siren shrieked. It then fell into the water and floated motionless.

“There’s nothing more suitable for fishing than a harpoon, right?” Siegfried grumbled with a hint of anger in his voice. He used Megingjord to switch weapons.

Shwiiik!

Then, he used the Lightning Spear Art to stab the siren in the back.

***

Gulp! Gulp!

Gringore downed an entire bottle of potion without leaving even a single drop behind.

“I really thought I was going to die, Your Majesty,” Gringore said with a grimace.

“Great job, Scribe Gringore,” Siegfried commended the scribe.

“Not at all. I am your loyal subject, so it is only right for me to throw myself and help if Your Majesty is in danger.”

“You were quite the singer. I was really moved.”

“It is nothing but a cheap talent I have.”

“Come on, what do you think the singers out there will feel if you call your singing skill the mere product of a cheap talent? I finally understand why Michele said that your performances bring in quite the revenue for our kingdom.”

“…”

“However, how did you know what to do? I have never heard of anyone singing along with a siren to nullify their ability,” said Siegfried. He was curious.

“Ah,?well… I stumbled upon the information in a book that discussed the correlation of mana and singing while I was still studying harmonics at the academy,” Gringore replied with a smile.

“Hmm?”

“The book said that singing can affect a human body by infusing mana into certain wavelengths.”

“So you remembered what was written in that book and decided to use it against the siren?”

“Yes, I harmonized the melody of the siren to nullify its effect on the human body.”

“But how is that even possible? Were you aware of the sirens’ melody?”

“I listened for a while and found that the chord progression was not that difficult, so…” Gringore trailed off as if he was embarrassed.

“…” Siegfried didn’t know what to say.

“It is embarrassing for me to admit this, but I have the gift of perfect pitch and photographic memory, so these kinds of things are not that difficult for me.”

“That’s awesome…” Siegfried muttered. He was in awe of Gringore’s ability.

‘He’s hopeless in combat, but I guess he’s still an awesome NPC?’

Siegfried was convinced that Gringore wasn’t just an excellent source of revenue—no, an artist. Siegfried was sure that Gringore could be considered a genius at this point.

“Hey, owner punk! Look at that!” Hamchi exclaimed while pointing at the surface of the water.

A sparkling purple orb was floating in the water.

‘What is that?’

Siegfried activated his Rune of Insight and checked the orb’s details.

[Siren’s Voice]

[An orb containing the essence of a siren.]

[It tastes horrible.]

[Type: Consumable (Edible)]

[Price: 10 gold]

[Effects: Mana +100, Singing +10, Beauty +5.]

The sparkling purple orb turned out to be an item that was in demand among female NPCs and Adventurers alike, but it wasn’t that useful for someone like Siegfried.

The only thing that seemed useful for him among its effects was probably the mana increase, but the small increment of a hundred points didn’t really pique Siegfried’s interest.

“Take this. Your singing skills will improve, and you will become more handsome if you consume this,” Siegfried said as he extended the Siren’s Voice to Gringore.

“Thank you very much, Your Majesty, but… I believe that it is better if Your Majesty consumes it,” Gringore replied.

“Why?”

“W-well… It is not going to be particularly useful for me…”

“…”

“I think I’m not lacking in the looks and singing department, so—”

“Shut up and eat it before I shove it down your throat,” Siegfried threatened.

He felt offended by Gringore’s words for some odd reason.

‘Hearing a handsome and talented guy like him praise himself like that makes me want to beat the living shit out of him…’?he grumbled inwardly while suppressing the urge to admit defeat.

Gringore was sincerely trying to give the item to Siegfried, but it seemed that Siegfried had taken it the wrong way.

“It will increase your mana as well, so take it. You should take care of your health.”

“…”

“You need to be healthy to be able to continue earning money for our kingdom, right? Hurry up and eat it. This is a royal command.”

In the end, Gringore couldn’t disobey his liege’s order. He was forced to swallow the horrible-tasting Siren’s Voice.

“Bleurgh!?T-This tastes horrible, and it smells awful…!” Gringore cried out.

“Eat up. Swallow it.”

“Y-Your Majesty…! This tastes horrible! I feel like throwing up—Bleurgh!”

“Your king has bestowed that upon you while thinking of your health, so you better eat it all up without leaving a single speck behind.”

“Y-Your Majesty…!”

“Why??Oh…?you can’t disobey these kinds of commands with your privilege as a scribe? Am I right??Kekeke!”?Siegfried cackled sinisterly. He was finally able to vent out a portion of his frustration to the scribe.

***

However, Gringore’s suffering didn’t end there.

The waterway leading toward Stone Island was filled with rocks and corals inhabited by sirens, and the sirens tried to devour Siegfried and his party every single time they passed by.

It was Gringore’s job to sing along and disrupt the mana in the sirens’ voices.

Then, Siegfried would use Flying Spur and Lightning to hunt them down.

And it resulted in further suffering for Gringore.

“Ugh…?Y-Your Majesty! I cannot eat any more of these…” Gringore groaned after consuming his tenth Siren’s Voice.

Gringore’s mana had increased by a lot, and his skin had visibly improved as well.

Of course, there wasn’t any need to mention his singing.

However, he had to suffer in exchange.

“Eughhh…!”

“Kyu!?Shut your filthy mouth! Your breath smells fishy!” Hamchi screamed at the suffering scribe.e

Meanwhile, the Aqua Runner finally reached the shores of Stone Island.

However, a group of ten knights and fifty soldiers immediately rushed toward Siegfried and his party as soon as they switched off the Aqua Runner’s engine.

“Enemy spotted!”

“The enemy has landed on our shores again! Wipe them out!”

“Those cowardly Adunyadets have come for our lands again! Kill them!”

“Wait! I’m not from the Adunyadet Kingdom! I’m just here on personal business…” Siegfried tried to explain.

However, the Stone Island knights didn’t bother listening to his excuses.

“Kyu!?Owner punk! I think we have to fight them,” Hamchi said.

“It looks like it,” Siegfried let out a sigh and shook his head. He then added, “It’ll be hard to explain if even one of them were to die, so make sure to just incapacitate them, okay?”

“All right, owner punk!?Kyu!”

“Please step back a bit, Scribe Gringore,” Siegfried said to the zero combat power scribe. Then, he tightly balled his fist instead of gripping his hammer. Siegfried was afraid that he might accidentally kill one of them if he were to use his hammer.

‘Hmm… What should I do? These knights look like they can’t be underestimated, but I might burn their gears if I use Blaze Field…’?He could incur the wrath of the Stone Islanders if he accidentally destroyed their gears.

‘All right, since I just need to neutralize them, I can only use that, then…’

Siegfried had the perfect skill for this situation, and he mustered his mana upon making his decision.

Wooong!

The skill that he chose was none other than the debuff skill, Shadow Swamp.

“M-My body feels heavy…!”

“Euk!?It’s hard to move…!”

“What’s going on?!”

The Stone Island knights and soldiers were in disarray after being affected by the Movement Speed Reduction, Attack Speed Reduction, and Casting Speed Reduction debuffs of the Shadow Swamp.

Sseuk… Sseuk…

Then, their shadows rose up from the ground and turned toward Siegfried.

“Just subdue them. Make sure that they won’t get hurt,” Siegfried commanded.

The shadows immediately moved.

Everything was perfect, but the method that the shadows used to perfectly subdue the Stone Islanders was a bit too…

“O-Owner punk…?” Hamchi stuttered at the sight.

“What?”

“D-Don’t you think that they are going too far…?”

“I-I think so too…”

Siegfried couldn’t help but agree with Hamchi for the first time in a while. It was all because the shadows were using a method of subjugation that could be considered?cowardly?in a sense.