Dusk (BL Light Novel)

[Party] Honeybread: ???
[Party] Honeybread: The trade didn’t go through?
[Party] Retaking: No.

It was the kind of situation that made you want to call in an exorcist. I traded the item, got rid of the bomb, survived—yet the person who supposedly received the trade says he never got it?
I scrolled up and down the chat window, digging through the system log. I definitely initiated the trade and handed the item over. But the log showed no trace of any trade happening. If a trade request had gone out, it should say something like “Trade request sent,” but that message was nowhere to be found.
Did I hallucinate it because I was exhausted from over an hour of nonstop attempts? But then again, my HP was still perfectly intact. If I’d imagined the trade, how come I still hadn’t died?

Stuck in a fog of confusion, I checked the system log again—then my HP—then the log—then my HP. Back and forth like that. Just like the time I got a 14 out of 100 on my first test as a kid, reading it over and over again like something had to be wrong.
Meanwhile, the boss cast a massive AoE, scattering a glittering cloud of light across its body. Since I’d offloaded the bomb somehow, I was fine. Retaking, however, had failed to deal with his bomb—his HP was sitting at 1—and when the AoE hit, he let out a short, pained shriek.
A lump of glowing light burst upward from the spot where he'd stood.

[System] Retaking has died.
[Party] Retaking: I mean, we’re different races—was it ever even possible to trade?
…That was a good point. With our races being different, would the system really allow trades, even in a hidden dungeon or against a hidden boss?

[Party] Honeybread: But it’s Dusk
[Party] Honeybread: Maybe it does allow it?
In any other game, maybe not.

The chat went quiet for a moment.
[Party] Retaking: '0')
[Party] Retaking: You’re right…

[Party] Honeybread: lol
Seriously, the way a grown-ass man could use cutesy emoticons like that… What a skill in itself.
[Party] Retaking: Still, the fact is I never saw a trade window pop up.
If Retaking said he didn’t see it, then I couldn’t argue. You get a chime when the trade window opens—it’s not something you’d miss. And he was streaming, so if it had popped up, his viewers would've definitely called it out in chat.

So… who did I send the trade to?
I retraced my steps in a flash. I’d confirmed there was no “Untradeable” tag, and in a rush, I’d spam-clicked Retaking, opened the trade window, and shoved the bomb in without a second thought.
But what if—while spam-clicking Retaking—I’d accidentally clicked something next to him?

Like… the boss?
What if the trade window had popped up because I’d selected the boss instead, and I’d just assumed it was Retaking?
What if that’s why Retaking never saw the window—because it never went to him?

[Party] Honeybread: I might be a goddamn genius
[Party] Retaking: …Excuse me?
Retaking typed like he had no idea what I was on about, but I didn’t care. I was pure genius.

[Party] Honeybread: Just trade with the boss
[Party] Honeybread: Pass the bomb that way
[Party] Retaking: ?

[Party] Retaking: Oh
[Party] Retaking: Ohhhhh
[Party] Retaking: lmaoooooo AHHHHHH ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

The second he got it, Retaking burst into laughter in the party chat. Of course he did. Who the hell thinks to trade with the boss?
I didn’t either—at least, not on purpose—but the absurdity of it was overshadowed by the overwhelming relief of having solved the mechanic.
With my head clear and my heart lighter, I ran over to where Retaking had fallen. I figured there was no way I could solo this phase and survive long enough to see the next mechanic, so I might as well burn a resurrection scroll and bring back his trolling ass.

Not knowing when the next auto-attack would come, I preemptively used a survival buff, then opened my inventory and selected an Emergency Resurrection Scroll. Unlike regular res scrolls, this one had a cast time equal to a healer’s revive spell—and ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) it could even be used while I was dead. It was a rare item, more expensive than a whole bundle of top-grade potions, but I didn’t care.
[Party] Retaking: Wait, is that an ER scroll?
[Party] Honeybread: Yep

[Party] Retaking: Those are pricey… feels like a waste…
[Party] Honeybread: Cheaper than hiring someone to duel you 1v1
[Party] Honeybread: lol

[Party] Retaking: Ah…
[Party] Retaking: Can’t argue with that
[Party] Retaking: -"-)

As I cast the scroll, I rotated the camera to keep a close eye on the boss—watching for any sign of an attack.
But even after the cast bar progressed and golden shimmer started swirling around Retaking’s little pile of glowing light, the boss still hadn’t budged.
[Party] Honeybread: Why isn’t it attacking?

[Party] Retaking: Right? It’s way past time for an auto.
The nameless boss didn’t make a move while I was reviving Retaking. Not that it was totally idle—it raised one hand to its chin, like it was thinking deeply about something.
No way it’s being considerate… right?

It was highly unusual for a boss mob to stay still this long and not attack.
Watching Retaking’s resurrection progress, I recalled all those glitchy “god-tier bugs” that sometimes went viral on other games—like the scarecrow T-pose bug, where enemies flailed around without animation, or the ones where the AI locked mid-motion and just stood there.
But this boss… this felt different.

[Party] Honeybread: I don’t think this is a bug or glitch.
The moment I typed that, the boss suddenly extended a hand toward me.
And right above my character’s head, a glowing white needle—the same as the one that had stabbed Retaking during our first attempt—materialized instantly.

The boss flipped its hand over, and the needle dropped in a flash. I hit my dodge skill on pure reflex.
[Combat] You used Backstep. Evasion applied.
[Combat] Evaded [Boss]'s [Skill].

Thank god it was dodgeable. I survived. Barely. If I’d been a second slower, I would’ve revived Retaking only to die immediately myself.
The only reason I dodged in time was because I’d studied the boss’s motion during our first attempt when it attacked Retaking. Otherwise, I would’ve died at the dumbest possible moment and wasted the entire pull.
Retaking didn’t flinch even after seeing the needle spawn. No healing, no reaction. Just casually buffed himself like he knew I’d dodge it. Seriously, no sense of urgency.

[Party] Retaking: That’s the same thing from earlier, right? The one that targeted me first?
[Party] Honeybread: yeah
But why was it showing up again?

Aside from that first surprise attack on Retaking at the very beginning, this pattern had never appeared again during any of our attempts.
Maybe it’s part of a late-phase gimmick that only triggers post-pickpocket…? But that doesn’t add up—Retaking got hit with it during our first pull, right at the very start.
Could be that it’s a random gimmick. There was no warning before it happened. No tells. Nothing.

After that one strike, the boss didn’t create another needle or use any other threatening pattern, so we put the weird incident aside and went right back to pounding away. We needed to make up for the time spent reviving Retaking.
What was weird, though, was that even as its HP dropped steadily, the boss just stood there—eyes moving, but otherwise not reacting.
We shaved off 5% HP without a single response.

From 19% to 14%, the boss just stood there like a scarecrow. And watching that happen, doubt started to creep in.
…Was my DPS really that bad?
Was the boss just giving itself up? Letting me hit it out of pity?

No way. That couldn’t be it.
Maybe it’s because we’re a tank-healer duo and just don’t have the DPS output to trigger the next mechanic? That made a lot more sense.
Especially considering we’re probably the worst possible combo for single-target damage—Holy Guardian and Harmonizer.

Yeah. It all clicked now.
It was because we were running Guardian-Medic. Makes sense.