Dusk (BL Light Novel)

[System] Elite: Raindrop That Cannot Return is in a frenzy and has fixed its gaze on you.

[Combat] You have taken 8,997 damage from Raindrop That Cannot Return’s skill Stagnant Tears.
I hesitated in a panic, hurriedly raising my defensive skill, while Retaking—having pulled off his plan—got excited and began casting an offensive skill.
I couldn’t just sit back and watch. Even if I died, I was determined to take Retaking down with me, so I charged straight at him. But now Retaking dodged my attacks with slick, agile movements, throwing out skills as he weaved around. Earlier his footwork had been clumsy on purpose—he’d clearly played like crap to screw with my judgment.

[Combat] You have taken 4,453 damage from Retaking a Class’s skill Mutated Virus Extract.
[Combat] You have been slain by Retaking a Class’s attack.
[System] You have died in a contested zone.

[System] You were killed by a player and lost 4,490 Fame.
[Race] Jeopa faction’s Supreme Commander Retaking a Class has defeated Bia faction’s Supreme Commander Honeybread.
In the end, I got caught by Retaking’s dirty trick and handed over a win.

Even with his attack power cut by 12%, he landed the final hit with precision. If I’d been killed by the monster, maybe I could’ve shrugged it off—but it was Retaking who got the kill, so I lost a staggering 4,490 Fame. I guess I’d racked up some bonus points earlier killing Jeopa players, so the penalty came out a full thousand higher.
...To earn that score back, I’d have to kill two Supreme Commanders or Commanders, three High Officers, or at least seven or eight mid-level officers.
Just like I had done earlier, Retaking now began circling my corpse. Then he stopped, and typed in chat:

[Normal] Retaking a Class: Even if you divide rank 8 in half, you still don’t get rank 1, huh.
[Normal] Retaking a Class: Grats on being a one-time #1 ^^7
Seeing him repeat the very words I had used—after pulling a stunt like that—pissed me off.

I swallowed the boiling rage with metaphorical ice water and checked the time: 9:41 PM. Twenty minutes left. No—realistically, ten to fifteen, since Party PvP prep time was coming up. No time to sulk. I had to resurrect and get revenge.
I pressed the return button. After the loading screen, my fallen character slowly lifted off the ground, came to his senses, stretched out his arm, unfolded his wings, and dusted himself off. I couldn’t move until the full resurrection animation played out.
I saw players who had been laughing in race and zone chat while watching Retaking’s stream now begin to approach me. I had neither time nor reason to deal with them, so the moment the animation ended, I was about to move—but a thought crossed my mind.

I hesitated briefly, then without further delay turned my aim toward the weasel NPC near the statue and looked for the storage keeper.
[System] Retrieved 1 item: .
[System] Retrieved 1 item: .
[System] Retrieved 1 item: .

[System] Retrieved 1 item: .
[System] Retrieved 1 item: .
[System] Retrieved 1 item: .

[System] Retrieved 4 items: .
I pulled out a full set of fashion gear and dyes, and began dyeing each piece one by one in my inventory. I didn’t put them on yet. Without a word, I pushed through the chattering players and went to the warp statue to transfer to Outpost 45.
The loading screen ended with that chilling sound effect indicating I’d entered a contested zone. I immediately opened my inventory again and equipped the dyed fashion gear into my appearance slots. My character, previously dressed in a pristine white commander uniform with ornate decorations, turned blindingly blue in an instant.

I also chose a weapon with blue visual effects to overwrite the skin, and swapped out the previously elegant wings—jet black base with red and gold intertwining designs—for a cheap pair that shimmered faintly with a blue aura. Even my own eyes felt refreshed just looking at it.
Let’s see how you like a dose of psychological warfare. I charged back into the field, silently declaring war.
***
TIP – When you equip items in your Appearance Slots, the stats are not applied—only the visual appearance is overwritten on your character. Style your character in a unique and fabulous way!
***

I saw Retaking freeze.
The same guy who would normally lunge at me like a wild dog now just stood there, frozen after spotting me. Through the screen, I could almost hear Retaking’s shocked voice like an auditory hallucination.
[Guild] Summoner: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

[Guild] Ceylontea: Wwhat the fuck is that bastard ssshit
[Guild] Ceylontea: WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING????????
[Guild] Summoner: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

[Guild] soloist: zzzzz LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
[Guild] EveryNameWasTaken: ??? What? What happened?
[Guild] Ceylontea: PFFFFHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA

[Guild] EveryNameWasTaken: What did our dear guildmaster do this time?
[Guild] RomanticCat: What the hell. All the fishing folks suddenly stopped and broke into hysterics.
[Guild] RomanticCat: I was watching Moonrise’s stream, should I switch to Retaking’s?

[Zone] Taurus: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
[Race] HyenaKillerFromHowl: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
[Race] Massacre: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

[Zone] Mandragora: Ah... this is what it means to be a Korean gamer... Taste the ‘Taeguk Harmony’ of KOREA—!
[Zone] Tangerine: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
[Race] WaitINeedaHeal: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL today’s Retaking stream is legendary

The guild chat was a lost cause, and even race and zone chat had gone ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ nuclear. Was it really that funny? He started it. Well… yeah. It was funny.
A praying mantis head, a red fur nut sack, a red flag on his back—and now facing off against me: fox head, blue fur nut sack, blue aura wings, and the Bia flag fluttering behind me.
Two giant testicles. Standing on a breezy, sparkling grassland. Facing each other.

Yeah… I started chuckling too.
[Race] OffShoulder: Fire-type Pocket Mob vs Water-type Pocket Mob
[Race] Crow: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

[Race] DipEatShovelEat: Pocket mob LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL
[Race] Alliance: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL pocket mob line got me dead
[Race] Spiraea: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

Anyway, Retaking hadn’t moved in a while… Could I hit him? Looked like he was so cracked up he couldn’t move his character properly. Honestly, I wanted to wait until everyone had their laughs, but I didn’t have much time left.
*[Normal] Honeybread: 79 (friend)
*[Normal] Honeybread: 7979 (friend friend)

I tried talking to him in Normal chat. The game system allowed numbers and basic special characters from the keyboard to show up unfiltered, so even if one side didn’t die, you could still communicate with a bit of creativity. Most players just used it to throw insults like 1818 (fuck), 772 (loser), or ^^|8 (middle finger emoji).
I called out to Retaking and did a quick side-to-side wiggle with my character. The long ears of the blue desert fox mask and my silk-like wings swayed gently with the motion.