Dusk (BL Light Novel)

[You have died in a conflict zone. Respawn cooldown: 0 seconds.]

[Would you like to resurrect at the Atelierna Wisha base?]
Base Resurrection | Resurrection Cooldown
The grayscale screen was cracked in places like a shattered mirror, and between the fractures, the game character—reduced to a glowing bundle of light with no HP left—appeared slightly misaligned, following the lines of the breakage.

I stared blankly at the screen, wondering if the monitor actually cracked every time I died, then quietly closed my eyes and placed a hand on my chest. Had I truly killed that newbie with ill intent enough to deserve revenge?
The answer was no.
My eyes snapped open in indignation. I could confidently shout that I had no ulterior motive whatsoever—I killed the newbie solely out of a desire to help. Why would a fully geared-up top-tier player even bother going around killing newbies?

Especially a clueless little ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ newbie who was circling the entrance of the dungeon he’d stumbled across by mistake. The guy was even jumping around, trying desperately to enter the dungeon by forcing his way past the portal—it was cute.
It’s like I was being punished for some kind of karmic wrongdoing, as if I’d killed him with bad intentions. Totally unfair. I only killed him because it had to be done.
In the PvP MMORPG Dusk, there was a unique race war system that prevented different races from communicating through chat—unless one of them died.

After a character died, their chat bubbles were no longer filtered into gibberish. In other words, unless someone was rendered combat-ineffective, any message you typed was completely incomprehensible to the other side.
So what was I supposed to do in that situation?
Obviously, kill the newbie first.

One party had to die (albeit unilaterally) for communication to even be possible, and since I was the one with something to say, it was only natural I killed him. After that, I kindly explained: “This dungeon entrance is exclusive to the Bia race. Jeopa race players can’t enter.”
If it hadn’t been me but some other player—especially one of those merciless assholes who don’t go easy on newbies—they might’ve just killed the poor guy and walked off without a word. Then the newbie, clueless and lost, might’ve gotten massacred and rage-quit with a final thought like, What a shitty game. I was trying to prevent that outcome by generously explaining he couldn’t enter here and then walking away.
Still feeling unjustly wronged, I downed the ice water next to me in one go, then crunched the remaining ice with a vengeance as I flung open the door.

I passed through the quiet, dark living room and entered the kitchen, refilling my cup with water and ice. Meanwhile, I tried to mind-control myself with a these things happen attitude, but the fury refused to subside.
It wasn’t because I was a sore loser who couldn’t stand being killed by a mere newbie despite being a ranker. That kind of thing happens sometimes when you’re roaming the field at low HP.
But still—

Isn’t it seriously messed up to finish off someone who just survived a 3v1 and helped you?
I gulped down the newly filled glass of ice water and replayed the whole scene in my head. After giving a newbie from the opposing race some friendly directions, I even escorted him safely back to base, then resumed wandering the field. Not long after, I came across a party of three Jeopa race players…
My class, Holy Guardian, was a high-defense tank with low personal DPS—hardly ideal for solo PvP—but as the #1 ranked Holy Guardian on the server, I was used to this. After a long but manageable fight, I took all three down, though I was left with barely triple-digit HP.
Usually, a brawl like that would attract other players roaming the field, turning it into a messy group PvP, but since it was late at night, no one else showed up.

So I wasn’t overly concerned about recovering HP. I was even thinking about when I should log off for the night.
And then—
[Combat] Virus I from Retaking a Class has hit you.
[Combat] You’ve been attacked and are now in combat state.
[Combat] You resisted Virus II from Retaking a Class.
[Combat] You’ve taken 122 damage from Retaking a Class’s DoT effect.

A DoT skill came flying in from somewhere. It was a debuff skill used by the “Medic” support class.
Unlike regular attack skills, which can be blocked or mitigated with defense skills, the Medic’s debuffs chip away at your HP from the moment they hit until the effect wears off. And since it’s classified as a “debuff,” not a status ailment, you can’t even cleanse it.
With only triple-digit HP left and all my healing potions on cooldown, I couldn’t do anything but watch my health bar tick down.

Eventually, my character’s HP hit zero. I became combat-ineffective and disintegrated into a ball of light, and the screen splintered into grayscale with the sound of breaking glass.
That far, I could accept. Just bad luck. Judging from the fact that the DoT only did about 100 damage, I figured I got sniped by a passing newbie right when I was low on health.
But then I looked at the combat log and saw the username of the player who killed me—and watched that same player walk up and type in chat, “Thanks^^”—and I felt the back of my neck go stiff.

Retaking a Class. That was the name of the Jeopa newbie I helped out just minutes ago.
Did this bastard seriously trek all the way into the heart of Bia-controlled territory just to say thank you? How the hell did he even know where I’d be? Maybe he wasn’t a newbie after all?
A dozen questions buzzed in my head. Maybe it was someone’s alt account. But… I remembered him jumping around and throwing a tantrum at the Bia dungeon entrance, and it didn’t seem like an experienced player acting.

...
As the water nearly overflowed, I pulled the cup away from the dispenser. The familiar chime of the machine rang out, and at the same time, the tangle of thoughts in my head came to a stop.
Yeah… who cares if he was a real newbie or an alt? Either way, I can just go pay him a visit myself.

I took a sip of the chilled water filled to the brim, returned to my room, and sat down in front of the computer. After taking a deep breath and leaning back in my reasonably comfortable chair, I grabbed the mouse and hit the "Base Resurrection" button.
“Retaking a Class, Retaking a Class…”
I muttered the cute newbie’s name under my breath to make sure I wouldn’t forget it, then moved my respawned character. I spoke to the healing NPC to remove the resurrection penalty, pulled a base teleport scroll from my inventory, and warped to the outpost nearest to where I’d died. As soon as the loading screen vanished, I double-tapped W to activate sprint.

I checked the minimap carefully for Jeopa players as I approached Outpost 42. There, I found six Bia players prepping to enter the dungeon. Wondering if any of them had killed the newbie, I stopped near the dungeon entrance and hit Enter.
[Normal] Honeybread: Guys
[Normal] Honeybread: Did anyone see a Jeopa called Retaking a Class around here?
[Normal] oniy: ?nope
[Normal] Black: Nah, we just got here
[Normal] Honeybread: Thx thx
Judging by the chat, it was likely he’d already left this area.

If he accomplished his mission of killing me, his next destination would be… the Jeopa-dominated region with the dungeon he’d originally wanted to enter—Outpost 26.
I redirected my course toward the Jeopa-controlled zone and headed for Outpost 26. As I got closer, Jeopa players—who hadn’t been as visible before—started to pop up more frequently. Some backed off when they saw my rank, while others, in parties and confident in their numbers, charged at me.
I slaughtered all the Jeopa players in my way, but as I was wondering what to do if Retaking a Class wasn’t at Outpost 26 either, I spotted a familiar Jeopa character entering the outpost from a distance.

“Found you, you little shit.”
I don’t know why, but the words “retaking a class”—which I never welcomed back in college—sounded weirdly sweet right now.
It seemed he noticed me on the minimap too, because his character turned to face mine. Level 44. Just one level away from max. His class: Medic. His stance… holding a scholarly tome and a quill, so likely in support mode: Harmonizer, the healer stance.

I strode toward Retaking a Class as he hurried to buff himself, shooting a glance at the other Jeopa players nearby. Two priests and one warrior. Including him, four Jeopa players total—but I ignored them all and walked straight past Retaking a Class and into Outpost 26.
Then I used a charge skill and rushed at the priests and the warrior. Quick scan: the priests were level 43 and 44, the warrior was level 45.