Dusk (BL Light Novel)

The max-level priest sidestepped, dodging the charge skill, but I had already predicted that. Before she could use another evasive move, I hit her with a stun skill. While she was immobilized and unable to cast anything, I casually tapped and killed the lowest-level priest first. As for the warrior, even though there was a gear gap, he was in a defensive stance and could hold out to some extent, so I didn’t bother killing him. I just left him there. Even if he grit his teeth and threw every skill he had with that ragged axe, it couldn’t even put a dent in my health. And the only mildly annoying stun skill of his could be blocked just by reading the motion.
Next, in terms of order, it should have been Retaking a Class’s turn to die, but since I wanted to save him for dessert, I revised the priority and focused on the max-level priest. She was holding a staff, which meant she was in an offensive stance—a DPS role—so taking her down wouldn’t take as long as it would for a tank or healer.

More than anything, judging by the damage I dealt earlier when I landed a quick stun and hit her, there was no way she had good gear. Her reactions didn’t look like someone with much PvP experience either.
With players like that, taking a few hits wouldn’t put my life at risk, so I saved my rare status effect and defensive skills and went straight in with attack skills. Even though she was a spellcasting class, she used something like a teleport skill to widen the distance, but I was used to that kind of move. I just reeled her back in using a pulling skill and closed the gap again with a charge.
Even while it was more like a one-sided beating than an actual fight, I kept rotating my screen to make sure Retaking a Class wasn’t trying to run. He stood a little distance away but didn’t seem to have any intention of escaping.

Maybe he couldn’t just stand there watching someone of his own race get beaten down. He threw a DoT skill at me, but what could it really do? A level 44 newbie wearing cobbled-together gear from NPC shops and low-level dungeons—how much could it possibly hurt? It was just cute.
The health they’d chipped away was restored with a single potion. When Retaking a Class saw that, he stopped abruptly, hesitated for a moment, then switched tactics and began dumping heals on the max-level priest. Realizing so quickly that his own damage was useless was honestly admirable. Not that healing made any difference either, of course.
In the meantime, the priest’s movement skill must’ve come off cooldown—she widened the distance again and this time used a root skill, one with a short casting time, to pin me down, then started casting an offensive skill. It was a charge-up skill, one of the most powerful damage spells in the Priest-Destroyer’s kit.

Casting that kind of spell without securing enough distance made me wonder, just for a second, if it was supposed to be a psychological ploy. But she didn’t seem like someone with good PvP instincts, and even if it was a mind game, she had nothing to follow up with. I relaxed and used a pulling skill to drag her back in.
As expected, she got pulled right in without any tricks. I started attacking her, but then something caught my eye on the minimap. A Jeopa was running in. For a second, I thought it might be backup, and quickly swung the camera in that direction—only to spot our adorable little newbie, Retaking a Class.
I got curious what he planned to do. He ran right up to me and lifted his book, clearly about to swing it at me. The motion was for Corner Smash, a stun skill. Looked like a desperate attempt to help, since he couldn’t really do damage or heal effectively.

Of course, his brave little charge was easily blocked with my shield. He probably hadn’t expected me to be watching him, because as soon as his attack was blocked, he scrambled backward in a panic to avoid getting countered.
He kept inching forward, clearly thinking of trying again, but every time he did, I shifted a little too. After some hesitation, he seemed to give up on melee skills and started casting a DoT at me from where he stood.
With gear that bad, he probably didn’t even have any effective skills to use on me. And yet he didn’t run. Then again, considering he’d gone out of his way to find me after I killed him earlier—whether it was for revenge or to say thanks—he clearly wasn’t an ordinary player.

I started spamming skills again, focusing back on the max-level priest, when suddenly Retaking a Class’s casting was interrupted.
Before I could even process what happened, a skill flew at me, almost like a martial arts move. My skill was interrupted, and I was staggered. Then came a follow-up combo that stunned me, and finally, a knockback hit landed clean. Retaking a Class used a backstep to retreat.
I’d thought he gave up on melee after getting blocked and was just trying to land a DoT, but… he’d baited me with a fake cast. While I froze for a second, caught off guard by the unexpected psychological tactic, three large fireballs flew in from behind, one after another.

The priest, who had been knocked away earlier, had finished her cast just in time. With the natural class counters and the ridiculous coefficients on that spell, my HP dropped to about 60% for the first time.
Of course,
You have defeated Live with the skill Final Judgment.
You have slain Jeopa Sub-Officer Live.
You have gained 440 Fame.

The priest had already been at death’s door, so there was never any chance of a comeback.
Once I confirmed she was dead, I quickly turned the camera to scan the area. The warrior had apparently died somewhere along the way—he was nowhere ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) to be seen. Only Retaking a Class remained, trying to run too late. I caught him with a pulling skill and dragged him over.
His character made no move to resist, clearly understanding it was useless. I examined him thoroughly. He wasn’t wearing any cosmetic gear, and the mismatched set he had on was fully visible. He definitely wasn’t a smurf. If he were, his gear wouldn’t be this sloppy—at the very least, he would’ve had some cosmetics on.
Thinking back on that psychological trick he pulled, it was clear he had potential—even if he was annoying. I was glad I’d caught him before he quit the game. I hoped he wouldn’t quit later either, and that he’d get some proper gear and come back to fight me in the field. Preferably in a different class. Not Medic. Harmonizer healers are a serious pain to deal with.

I stood still for a while without killing him, and maybe because he got confused, Retaking a Class tried to edge away. When I fired off a couple of skills at him, he dropped like nothing. His gear sucked for now, but he had potential for the future.
Standing in front of Retaking a Class’s dead light-fragment, I carefully, sincerely, typed each word into chat.
Honeybread: You’re very welcome^^

Right after that, a whole party swarmed in and killed me, popping up a chat bubble that said, “What the hell was that?” But even so, I smiled and clicked the respawn at base with a light heart.
***
TIP: Welcome to Dusk, a world where two extremes coexist. Graceful, yet brutal combat awaits.

***
Title: So I heard Honeybread was being toxic to a newbie—is that real?
Author: [Jeopa] Ilhwasumokgeumtohee

I heard he’s not the type to grief randoms, but someone said that at Outpost 26 today, Honeybread was chatting something in front of a newbie…
Is this true or just gossip?
(17 comments)

“It’s true. A newbie from our guild got wiped by Honeybread at 26, so we formed a party and went there. He was typing something in Normal Chat in front of this total newbie named Retaking a Class.”
“Did anyone catch what he said?”
“Same, I wanna know.”

“I was the priest who got killed at 26 while helping newbies run a dungeon. Honeybread killed everyone and just stood there glaring at the newbie Medic. When the newbie tried to run, he killed him and said ‘You’re very welcome^^’ in Normal Chat…”
“Any idea why he said that?”
“Wait, this is the first I’m hearing of Honeybread teabagging a newbie. Didn’t the newbie attack first?”

“What could a newbie possibly do to a ranker from the enemy faction?”
“I bet he just got farmed so much he lost his humanity.”
“Wait—Holy Guardian? Isn’t that a tank? It’s better than Priest-Destroyer, isn’t it?”

“In dungeons and party PvP, yeah. But Honeybread’s a solo PvP player.”
“He runs solo PvP as a Holy Guardian?? Seriously??”
“Bia’s already the dominant server and now Jeopa newbies don’t even wanna log in. This is too much.”

“No joke.”
“Is typing in Normal Chat even toxic? I’m a newbie, so I really don’t know…”
“Hold up, let me adore this precious newbie real quick.”

“Typing anything to the enemy in Normal Chat is basically teabagging.”
“You can report it if you take a screenshot while dead, but the real concern is that if it’s a newbie, they might get scared or shamed and quit the game entirely…”
Title: So that newbie Honeybread ‘teabagged’ the other day—

Author: [Bia] Pixie
Username was Retaking a Class, right?
I just checked out streamer JSK’s Dusk stream and… turns out he’s a max-level Medic on Server 3, Jeopa faction;;;

(54 comments)
“Wait, that Retaking a Class?”
“Yeah, for real.”

“He’s playing Dusk now??”
“Yep. Said he tried it briefly during open beta and just came back recently.”
“Damn. Wasn’t he mostly into indies and shooters before?”

“Who even is JSK?”
“It’s his in-game name. People who played Overblitz would know him—he was an insane sniper.”
“Not super famous, but not a nobody either. Great voice, solid gameplay. Started streaming not long ago and blew up.”

“Sounds pretty famous to me?”
“Kinda. It’s like, if you know, you know. He doesn’t bait with flashy clips, so…”
“Honeybread’s so screwed. Thought he was griefing some random newbie, but turns out it was a beloved streamer with a massive fanbase.”

“Isn’t this basically career over for Honeybread now that the Retaking a Class fans are involved?”
“Stop trying to paint the fans as some evil mob. That trope’s so tired. He’s not getting ‘canceled.’”
“Sorry, but once it came out that it was that Retaking a Class, he did get called out a few times in Bia faction chat. Not saying all the fans are like that, but this stuff has happened before…”

“Why are we even talking about Honeybread in a Retaking a Class thread?”
“Thanks, I’m on it.”