While Siegfried was busy facing the Enlightened King, Maugris, his comrades followed his command and entered the ancient ruins in search of anything that might resemble an altar or relic.

However, things were not going to proceed as smoothly as they thought, as once inside, a great danger awaited them.

“Only death awaits those who interfere with the Creator’s plans.”

“I shall deliver divine judgement upon ye heathens!”

“Those who die here shall not find rest.”

“Anyone who dares to oppose the Creator’s will shall face divine retribution.”

A group of wraiths suddenly materialized in thin air and blocked their paths.

These were the ghosts of the ancient paladins of the Illuminati. These paladins were tasked with protecting this temple from intruders, and each one of them was a powerful warrior in their own right.

As expected of the ancient ruins of the Illuminati, Maugris was not the only wraith residing in this place. Hundreds of these terrifyingly powerful wraiths were protecting it, too.

“Kill them all. Crush them to pieces,” Hamchi in his true form said in his usual cold and arrogant tone

Cheon Woo-Jin, Chae Hyung-Seok, Yong Seol-Hwa, Gosran, Daytona, and Seung-Gu rushed into battle.

A fierce battle broke out.

The battle that unfolded between the two sides was extremely intense; neither side held back. The battle was so intense that more than half of the ancient ruin was destroyed in an instant.

The ancient structures simply couldn’t withstand the force unleashed by both sides.

Neither side relented, and the fierce fighting continued for quite a while. However, the balance of power slowly started to tilt, as the ancient paladins fell one by one.

Crack!

Hamchi twisted the neck of the last remaining ancient paladin.

With that, the battle was over.

Though the wraiths of the paladins guarding the ancient ruins were powerful, Siegfried’s comrades emerged victorious in the end.

This battle was proof that they, too, were powerful warriors. Siegfried’s insane growth had overshadowed them, but they were more than capable of holding their own even against powerful enemies like these ancient paladins.

Right after killing the last paladin, Hamchi headed straight toward the altar located at the center of the temple.

“This must be what owner punk told us to look for,” he muttered, inspecting the altar.

On the altar was a censer with eerie blue flames lit up in it, and anyone could see that it was some sort of special relic used for the ritual that would bring about the descent of the Creator.

Hamchi raised his right hand, aimed his palm at the censer on the altar, and fired a laser beam.

Ziiiing!

The laser struck the censer, but it failed to leave even a scratch on it.

Surprisingly, the censer was sturdy enough to withstand even the laser beam shot by Hamchi while he was in his true form.

“Tsk... This thing is annoyingly sturdy,” Hamchi grumbled, clicking his tongue.

Though annoyed, he was not surprised. He expected that a relic used for the ritual that would bring about the descent of the Creator was naturally going to be exceptionally durable.

Still, Hamchi was not concerned, as he simply had to wait until Siegfried defeated Maugris. No matter how durable the censer was, there was no way it could withstand Siegfried’s attack.

Cheon Woo-Jin stepped forward and said, “Get away from it for a second.”

“Hm? Are you saying that you’ll try destroying it? It won’t work, Cheon Woo-Jin,” Hamchi said.

He was not doubting Cheon Woo-Jin’s strength. He knew that Cheon Woo-Jin had reached the realm of Grandmasters earlier than Siegfried by several years and was a powerful warrior himself.

Although Cheon Woo-Jin’s class characteristics made it impossible for him to always exert one hundred percent of his power, he could unleash an attack far more destructive than what anyone else could cause if he had enough stacks accumulated.

Still, Hamchi doubted that Cheon Woo-Jin could destroy the censer on the altar.

“We will need owner punk to destroy this. Let’s just wait and not waste our energy trying to do the imposs—”

Cheon Woo-Jin shook his head and cut him off, “No. We can’t rely on that guy all the time.”

“Hm? What do you mean?”

“We should at least be capable of solving this much on our own. We can’t call him just because we can’t destroy that thing,” Cheon Woo-Jin said with a shrug.

Right after he said those words, he gathered a terrifying mass of energy in his right hand. The mass of energy was so dense and radiated immense power that it was comparable even to Siegfried’s ultimate single-target skill, Touch of Death.

Cheon Woo-Jin gathered every bit of stack he had accumulated and compressed them until they turned into a single condensed mass of energy, one comparable to a nuclear bomb.

“We handle this ourselves,” he said.

Cheon Woo-Jin swung his fist with all of his strength.

Whoosh!

Flash!

A blinding white light illuminated their surroundings before engulfing everything in sight.

Fwooooosh!

Then, the light concentrated on the censer, as if directing all of the energy into it.

C-Crack! Craaaack!

Taking the full brunt of the energy unleashed by Cheon Woo-Jin, cracks began forming on the censer before—

Crack!

—It split into two.

Rumble!

Cheon Woo-Jin’s punch carried so much energy that it split the altar as well.

[Alert: You have destroyed the Advent Censer!]

[Alert: You have destroyed the Advent Altar!]

Two notifications popped up in front of Cheon Woo-Jin’s eyes.

Quest cleared!

They had succeeded in destroying one of the six altars of the hexagram.

***

Flash!

A pure white light shot high into the sky before vanishing without a trace.

“You heathens dare?!” Maugris raged.

The Enlightened King was tasked with using the censers placed on the six altars to complete the ritual that would start the descent of the Creator.

The destruction of an altar and censer was a major setback.

“To think you would dare to commit such a grave sin against the One True God...!”

Shwiiiik!

Annihilation’s Grasp split into tens of thousands of projectiles and rained down upon Maugris. The projectiles swarmed like a swarm of angry bees and exploited every single gap in his defense, striking him mercilessly.

Bam!

Siegfried swung the body of Annihilation’s Grasp—the Rod of God—and struck Maugris directly on the head. After hearing Deus’ advice, he renewed his resolve and struck with the intent to kill this time.

Caught off guard, Maugris coughed up blood. He hurriedly tried to counterattack, but he was one step behind.

Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!

Siegfried seized the opening and unleashed a barrage of attacks that forced Maugris to defend.

Each swing of the Rod of God was laced with killing intent, and a single strike alone could prove fatal.

“How dare you!” Maugris roared, swinging his mace.

Siegfried skilfully dodged the counterattack. ‘An opening!’

Whoosh!

Twisting in mid-air, he used the momentum to swing the Rod of God and strike Maugris on the side.

Crack!

The Rod of God smashed into Maugris’ side and broke a few ribs.

Without skipping a beat, Siegfried waved his right hand, sending hundreds of projectiles straight for Maugris.

“Ghhhhk!”

He was far from done.

Flash!

Sseuuu...!

Siegfried activated Absolute Zero and Frozen Hell.

“...!”

An extreme chill crept up Maugris and completely froze him on the spot. The destruction of the altar and censer had distracted him for a split second, and it proved to be a fatal mistake.

Even though Siegfried was not on the same level as Deus, Maugris knew that the former was still not an opponent he could afford to underestimate. No matter how much combat experience he had and how powerful he was, he knew that lowering his guard against Siegfried could have dire consequences.

However, the destruction of the altar and censer caused him to let his guard down, and he had to pay the price for it.

Woooong!

Siegfried charged up Touch of Death on the Rod of God.

Then, he bit his lower lip and muttered, “Carell...”

Maugris was frozen solid and immobilized, so this was the perfect time to deliver the finishing blow.

What made him hesitate to the very end was, of course, Carell. All he had to do was land the Touch of Death, but his concern for Carell weighed heavily on his heart that he couldn’t bring himself to deal the finishing blow.

“The body is merely a vessel to contain the mind...” he muttered under his breath. Then, with renewed resolve, he said, “I’m sorry, Carell. I’ll figure it out later... somehow.”

Whoosh! Baaaam!

The Rod of God charged up with Touch of Death struck Maugris squarely on the head.

Kaboooooom!

A massive explosion followed, and Carell’s body, which was being possessed by Maugris, disintegrated into tiny particles.

A black phantom seeped out of Carell’s body and mocked Siegfried, “Foolish child. A physical body is nothing more than a vessel to me.”

It was the true form of the parasite, Maugris.

“You cannot defeat me. You might destroy my vessel, but you will never be able to touch my soul.”

“...”

“You cannot stop what’s predestined. I will bring Him back into this world, and this world will ultimately—”

Whoosh!

A pale figure wrapped itself around Maugris.

“Your Imperial Majesty... Now...”

It was none other than Carell.

“Carell—”

“I cannot restrain him for long! You must finish this quickly!”

“But!”

“As a knight, I swore that I would gladly give my life away to uphold the peace. And my life belongs to Your Imperial Majesty. I have no regrets sacrificing myself to aid my lord in saving this world.”

“...”

“There is no time, sire!” Carell said with urgency in his voice.

“...Okay. I will never forget your sacrifice, Carell,” Siegfried replied with a nod.

“It has been an honor to serve you, my lord.”

“The honor was mine, Carell.”

“Please take care of my father. Now, make haste, my lord!”

With those words, Carell squeezed out the last of his strength to restrain Maugris.

“Let go! Let go of me!” Maugris thrashed wildly.

Carell tightened his grip and said, “We’re going to the afterlife together, demon.”

Siegfried touched the Dark Abyss: Necklace of Greed and Betrayal.

Wooooong!

The necklace emitted a faint glow and vibrated, as if responding to his touch.

“N-Nooo!” Maugris screamed in terror after realizing what was about to happen.

The Dark Abyss: Necklace of Greed and Betrayal possessed the ability to absorb souls and soul energy, which meant that it could suck in Maugris while he was in his spirit form.

“Time to disappear from this world, parasite,” Siegfried said, activating the necklace.

“Kieeeeeeek!” Maugris shrieked.

“I hope we will meet again someday, my lord,” Carell said with a smile.

The necklace absorbed both souls, and that was the end of the fight.

The Executor of Destiny, Maugris, who had plotted the descent of the Creator, was now completely removed from the world.

[Alert: You have defeated the Enlightened King Maugris!]

[Alert: Congratulations!]

[Alert: You have cleared the Quest — Master’s Regret!]

With that, Siegfried completed the first quest he had received after becoming the Debuff Master, and at long last, Deus’ long-awaited wish was finally fulfilled.

***

After defeating Maugris, Siegfried went straight to Deus, who had been observing the battle from a distance. He bowed deeply and proudly exclaimed, “Master! Your disciple has completed the mission you have bestowed upon me!”

“Yes, I have seen it,” Deus replied with a smile.

Siegfried had never seen Deus smile like this before—not even once.

“I have seen everything.”

“...Pardon me, Master?”

“I have been watching how you, my one and only disciple, crushed the descendants of those bastards.”

“Ah...!”

“You have made me proud. You are truly worthy of being my disciple.”

“Master...”

“You have finally resolved my long-held grudge. After four hundred fifty years, you have fulfilled the one thing I couldn’t fulfill back then.”

Deus began fading away.

“M-Master!” Siegfried shouted in shock.

Why was he so shocked? It was all because the way he began fading away was the same as how an Adventurer would fade away when they logged out from the game.