Debuff Master-Chapter 840

The ritual was extremely complicated.

The Dragon Lords drew dozens of intricate magic circles and even paused occasionally to discuss what they were doing from time to time. They meticulously carried out the ritual to help Mikhail regain his memories.

According to the dragons, the consciousness of an intelligent creature was so complex that one could not simply pinpoint a part of their mind and retrieve the lost memory.

They said that unless those memories resurfaced naturally, the process would practically be tantamount to deconstructing and reconstructing the creature's brain.

However, all Siegfried understood from their explanation was that the ritual was going to take a while, so he ought to do something else to pass the time.

“Hey, Hamchi. Let’s head over there and play a game of Hardstone.”

“Kyuuu! Alright!”

“Hey, you two. Come join us.”

With that, Siegfried set up in a corner with Hamchi, Metatron, and Chaos. They began playing Hardstone to kill time while waiting for Mikhail to regain his memories.

One game turned into two, then three, then four… until eventually over a hundred games.

Ten hours had passed since the marathon session started, so Siegfried approached Gerog and asked, “Elder? Is it still not finished?”

“Hmm… This is proving to be quite the challenge,” Gerog replied with a troubled look.

“Challenge?”

“This young man is anything but ordinary,” Georg said, gesturing toward Mikhail, who lay asleep on a magical surgical bed. Then, he continued, “If he were an average intelligent creature, then we would be able to replay even his dreams from his previous life, but we haven’t recovered even a single fragment of his memories.”

“Not even a single fragment?”

“Yes, but that does not mean we’ve failed yet. So just wait a little longer.”

“I understand, Elder.”

“It may take a few more hours, so you should rest in the meantime.”

“Thank you very much for your hard work. Oh, and…” Siegfried said, opening his inventory and pulling out several bottles of refreshments. Then, he handed them to the Dragon Lords and said, “You must be thirsty from all that. Please, have some of these, Elders.”

“Kyu?”

Hamchi munching on some nuts out of boredom tilted his head and watched as Siegfried handed something over to the Dragon Lords.

One, two, and three later…

‘K-Kyuuuu?!’

Hamchi’s eyes widened in horror upon realizing what Siegfried had handed over to the Dragon Lords. The bottles in his hand contained none other than the Mint Chocolate Ade.

“Kyaaah! Are you insane, owner punk?!” Hamchi shrieked in horror and leaped up to his feet. He ran as fast as he could in a desperate bid to intervene, but it was too late.

Gulp! Gulp! Gulp!

The Dragon Lords, parched after hours of exhausting use of their mana, eagerly accepted the drinks and downed them in one go.

‘Kyuuu! You’ve finally lost it, crazy bastard! We’re all going to die now!’ Hamchi shrieked inwardly in horror. He braced himself for the worst, convinced that the wrath from not only one but multiple Dragon Lords was going to fall upon them after they had tasted the disgusting concoction known as Mint Chocolate Ade.

Without a doubt, they would execute Siegfried on the spot, and there was no telling what would happen to the others.

“...!”

All color drained from Hamchi’s face upon realizing that his fears were coming true. The Dragon Lords froze in place, and their eyes widened as if they had been struck by lightning after downing their drinks.

“Oh…?”

“What is this drink?!”

“Ha! How could something be so sweet, refreshing, and invigorating all at the same time?!”

To Hamchi’s utter shock, the Dragon Lords loved the Mint Chocolate Ade.

‘Kyu…? Did they just say it tasted good…?’

‘You might as well squeeze toothpaste straight into your mouth, you crazy dragons!’

‘Ugh! Disgustiinggg!’

Hamchi, Metatron, and Chaos were appalled by the dragons’ bizarre taste. They had never imagined that there would be another sane living creature besides Siegfried who would actually enjoy that horrible and repulsive drink.

“Well then, Elders. Please keep up the good work! Oh, and please let me know if you need anything! I am at your service at all times!” Siegfried said with another full bow.

Completely oblivious to Hamchi’s disbelief, Siegfried leisurely set up a tent nearby and crawled inside to sleep.

‘Kyuuu…? Do you really not have any idea just how close you were to a complete tragedy, owner punk?’ Hamchi thought, staring at him with utter disbelief.

If the Dragon Lords had ordinary taste buds, then Siegfried wouldn't have had enough lives to escape their wrath, even if he were immortal.

‘Kyuu… You’re hopeless, owner punk…’

Shaking his head, Hamchi curled up beside Siegfried and drifted off to sleep as well.

***

Approximately three hours later…

“Your Majesty! Your Majesty!”

“Mmm?”

Siegfried was sleeping in his tent when Metatron's voice awakened him.

“The dragons are asking for you.”

“Got it. I’ll head over right now.”

Siegfried promptly made his way to where the ritual was being conducted.

“You’re back.”

“Yes, Elder.”

“We’re done.”

“Did we recover his memories?”

“No, we failed.”

“What?!” Siegfried could hardly believe his ears.

He hadn't expected that the Dragon Lords would fail and that they would admit that they had failed.

“How is that even possible? I never imagined there was anything impossible for you, Elders,” Siegfried said, sounding baffled.

“To be clear, it’s not that we failed,” Georg clarified.

“Pardon…?”

“The memories never existed to begin with, so recovering them was simply impossible.”

“What do you mean by that…?”

“Think of it this way. Losing one’s memories means those memories are inaccessible, as they are locked away in that being’s mind, correct?”

“Yes?”

“But in this case, the memories were not inaccessible. They never existed in the first place.”

“What?!”

“To explain further…” Georg began offering Siegfried a simple analogy.

Recovering ordinary memories was akin to restoring data from a hard drive to retrieve deleted or hidden files. However, in Mikhail’s case, the memories had been completely erased, making recovery outright impossible.

“Is it even possible for memories to be erased like that?” Siegfried asked.

“It is, especially when one has passed through the chaos of a dimensional storm,” Georg replied.

“Does that mean we can’t recover his memories forever?”

“No, not exactly. Just because his memories can’t be located in his mind doesn’t mean we can’t restore them. They can be restored—rather, returned to him.”

‘What is he…? Some kind of USB stick?’ Siegfried thought, finding the explanation both bizarre and fascinating.

“At the very least, we managed to track the trajectory of his memories,” Georg said.

A quest message popped up before Siegfried’s eyes.

Ding!

[Find the Lost Memories]

[Head to the Great Rift in the west and retrieve Mikhail’s memories for the Dragon Lords to restore.]

[Type: Epic Quest]

[Progress: 0% (0/1)]

[Note: Mikhai’s memories are difficult to identify. Use your judgement wisely while carrying out this quest!]

“We followed the traces backward and calculated where the memories could have been severed from his mind.”

“Unbelievable…” Siegfried muttered, shocked by the magical prowess of the dragons.

“Our conclusion is that the detached memories were sucked into the nearest location with the strongest pulling force, and it is none other than the Great Rift.”

“That is truly amazing, Elder!”

“Hoho! This is nothing to us!”

“So I just have to retrieve them from the Great Rift?”

“Exactly. Of course, we would go there ourselves if we could in order to finish this sooner, but that is impossible for us, unfortunately.”

“Why is it impossible?”

“Ah, you see. We dragons have studied the dimensional rifts extensively, and we learned that they serve as a gateway between dimensions. To put it simply, it’s an opening for something to cross over to our side.”

“Oh?”

“In fact, it was we, dragons, who twisted the fabric of time and space to prevent that something from entering our world.”

“That is truly impressive!”

Surprisingly, it seems that the dragons were not idle the entire time.

“However, sealing the rift entirely or entering it ourselves is beyond our capabilities.”

“And why is that?”

“That, we do not know. However, we’ve done all we can. The rest is up to humans like you. After all, humans are capable of entering into the rift, unlike us.”

“I understand.”

“Now, we will remain here and await your return. Go and retrieve this young man’s memories.”

“Yes, Elder!”

Siegfried accepted the quest Find the Lost Memories and immediately set out for the Great Rift in the west.

Coincidentally, he had been planning on heading to the Great Rift, which was one of the most difficult and final-tier contents of BNW, so the quest aligned perfectly with his plans.

***

The current state of the Great Rift was a far cry from what it was when Siegfried tackled it in the past.

Back then, the Great Rift was challenging yet manageable, but it spiraled out of control around three months ago, and the difficulty level had skyrocketed to a whole different level since then.

Every monster was Level 300 and above, and they all had Super Armor. Weapons below +14 would deal ninety percent less damage against them, and they could cast a huge variety of debuffs as well.

The sheer brutality of the difficulty truly made it live up to its reputation as the endgame content.

The once typical dungeon entrance had transformed into a massive vortex swirling with a crimson hue, giving it a sinister and intimidating look.

Ironically, despite the Great Rift’s difficulty becoming exponentially more difficult, the place still teemed with countless high-level players looking to level up or make a pretty penny.

‘Looks like I have to form a party and gather some teammates first,’ Siegfried thought.

He was unfamiliar with the patterns of the new Great Rift, so he decided to party with others first. At Level 299, dying would result in a penalty that would be excruciatingly difficult to recover from, so it was better for him not to risk things by going alone.

‘But why are there so many Level 299 here?’

The sight puzzled Siegfried. Most Level 299 Adventurers would focus on earning money and upgrading their gear rather than hunting monsters for experience points.

But here, quite a sizable crowd of Level 299 Adventurers was actively participating in raids despite the risks.

What was the meaning of that? It could only mean one thing—whatever awaited in the Great Rift was so enticing that it was worth risking the death penalties they would suffer if they ended up dying.

‘But what could it be? Is it some new rare loot or something?’ Siegfried scratched his head, baffled.

He had been so busy lately that he couldn't keep up with the gaming forums, personal streams, or even social media. His schedule had been so packed that it left no time for him to stay informed about the latest developments in the game.

‘I guess I’ll just ask someone…?’ Siegfried thought.

It was then.

“Hey, look! It’s Siegfried!” someone shouted.

Heads turned instantly, and the crowd erupted into a frenzy.

“Where?! Where?!”

“Move! Get out of my way!”

“Hey! Stop shoving!”

“Siegfried! Siegfried!”

The Adventurers swarmed Siegfried like a horde of zombies.

“W-What?!” Siegfried shrieked after seeing the horde of Adventurers rushing toward him.

“Siegfried! Let me join your party!”

“I’m a huge fan!”

“I swear I’ll do my best if you pick me!”

“I’ll lick your feet!”

The players were both eager and desperate. The difficulty of the Great Rift had risen so much that everyone wanted to have a proven powerhouse like Siegfried in their party.

“W-Wait! Calm down! No pushing—whoa! H-Hey!”

Siegfried flailed helplessly, barely able to make his voice heard amidst the chaos.

“Kyuuu! Back off! Everyone back off!”

Suddenly, Hamchi sprang into action like a manager protecting a celebrity from a horde of reporters. He grew in size and fiercely pushed back against the mob until he could finally free Siegfried from them.

“Kyuuu! Get in line! Queue up! You have to pass an interview to party with Siegfried!”

“An interview? Really now?” Siegfried whispered in disbelief.

“Kyuuu! Do you wanna party with all of them?!” Hamchi shot back.

“Well, no, but—”

Siegfried glanced around the multitude. The Great Rift had strict limits on the number of people that could enter per dungeon, and it was usually capped at ten per party. There were larger-scale raids that allowed more people per party, but the cap was usually ten.

“Kyuuu! Then leave it to me! Hamchi will find you the best teammates!”

Hamchi took charge and addressed the gathered Adventurers with an air of authority.

“Kyuuu! Listen up! The audition starts now! Step forward one at a time and show us what you’ve got! You have thirty seconds to convince us! Kyuuu!”

“Wait, are you serious? There’s no way they’ll agree to—”

Updat𝓮d fr𝙤m ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com.

Before Siegfried could even finish speaking, an Adventurer eagerly pushed through the crowd and stepped forward.

“I’m a Healer equipped with a full tank set! I can heal and tank at the same time! Also—”

“Allow me to introduce myself properly!”

“If you pick me, I promise I will li—”

Contrary to Siegfried’s expectations, the Adventurers immediately lined up to showcase their skills in hopes of joining Siegfried van Proa’s party.