Dusk (BL Light Novel)

All dealers using the Slaughterer or Destroyer stance shared a common mechanic: which skills you could use depended on the target’s status effect. If your opponent was knocked down, only knockdown-related skills would be available; if they were stunned, then only stun-chain skills. That’s why playing a dealer class in Dusk was considered relatively difficult.
The Assassin-Slaughterer was a burst nuker who used daggers to unload a barrage of skills in a short time to deal explosive damage. Meaning, they were the fastest type of dealer to kill someone—but if they didn’t kill the target with that burst, they became useless while waiting for cooldowns to reset.

I was planning to ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) use that. I couldn’t hit him directly since he was from the same tribe, but I could mess with that guy—ugh, his name was too long. Let’s just call him SetTheTable.
I positioned myself at a reasonable distance from where Gang Jaegyung was still fighting, then watched closely as SetTheTable entered cooldown mode after unleashing a burst. He hadn’t managed to wipe out his target in one go since Gang Jaegyung was a tank, but he didn’t seem to be taking much damage either and was visibly relaxed.
Then I saw it: the Assassin’s second burst was about to start. I picked that exact moment to use a skill on Gang Jaegyung.

[Combat] Retaking a Class was hit by the Warden’s Restraint skill.
[Combat] Retaking a Class is now Stunned by the effect of Warden’s Restraint.
[Combat] Retaking a Class is now Bleeding due to the Hunting Mark effect.
Then I reeled him in with a capture, dragging Gang Jaegyung 22 meters toward me.
SetTheTable had been standing at 0 meters—right in melee range—and now suddenly found himself 22 meters away, unable to do anything but run, panicking.

[General] SetTheTable: wtf was that??;
He ran over desperately, but his combo was already gone. (Combos in Dusk had time limits—if you didn’t complete them in time, the skills would deactivate.) So, that was one burst baited out and successfully defused.
[Combat] Retaking a Class is now Stunned by the Pommel Strike effect.

He’d gotten a stun in, so now SetTheTable would try a stun-chain.
Which meant... time to knock him down.
[Combat] You used Low Slash on Retaking a Class for 1,191 damage.
[Combat] Retaking a Class is now Knocked Down by the Low Slash effect.

[General] SetTheTable: ?
The moment he began a combo animation, I hit knockdown. That canceled all his follow-up skills—the first hit might’ve gone through, but the rest got interrupted and went on cooldown. Good.
Now, if he had any brains, he’d stop chatting and use the knockdown combo instead. So...

[Combat] You used Shield Bash on Retaking a Class for 1,356 damage.
[Combat] Retaking a Class is now in a Groggy state from the Shield Bash effect.
[General] SetTheTable: you f*cking lunatic what are you even doing
[General] Honeybread: hmm?

[General] Honeybread: not my problem?
While he was busy typing, he tried to chain a groggy combo, so I stunned him again. When he went for a follow-up combo, I knocked him back, then dodged backward using an evasion skill. The moment my capture cooldown reset, I yanked Gang Jaegyung toward me again.
[General] SetTheTable: are you out of your f*cking mind
[General] Honeybread: hmm?

[General] Honeybread: not my problem?
[Guild] RomanticCat: LOLOLOLOLOLOL
Even though I was actively helping him, Gang Jaegyung just stood still and didn’t use any skills. Probably worried someone would accuse us of abusing. To be fair, he was being hit with status effects nonstop and had no time to attack. That’s why the HP gap between the two of them kept widening.

Despite that, thanks to skills that didn’t require a status effect trigger, Gang Jaegyung’s health was still draining fast. SetTheTable kept trying to reapply crowd control, but I made sure to change up the CC types each time, rendering his combo attempts meaningless. And every time I did, he exploded in chat with a new curse.
And finally...
[General] SetTheTable: are you fcking kidding me you orphaned piece of sht

[Guild] RomanticCat: whoa
Jackpot.
Now I had a legitimate excuse to step in and really help.

I cheerfully took a screenshot and began calculating the report penalty. He wasn’t a first-timer, so hopefully he’d get a few months’ suspension—or better yet, a permanent ban. If he could say something like that to a Supreme Commander, there was no way I was the only person he’d said it to.
[General] SetTheTable: oh look you shut up when I brought up your dead mom lmao you orphan b*tch
For the record, my mother is the CEO of a construction conglomerate that does trillions in sales every year. She’s a bit older, but she’s alive and well.

Saying that now would just give him something else to laugh at, so I ignored him entirely and focused on knocking Gang Jaegyung down, pushing him, stunning him—rinse and repeat. Even with all that, SetTheTable kept chipping away and finally got Retaking a Class down to a sliver of HP. His persistence alone was impressive.
Too bad I don’t give a sh*t. I don’t like you.
I timed my skill to land right as SetTheTable went for his final burst.

[Combat] You used Contradictory Prayer on Retaking a Class for 8,739 damage.
[Combat] You killed Retaking a Class with Contradictory Prayer.
[System] You have defeated Folded-Ear Tribe Supreme Commander Retaking a Class.
[System] You gained 840 reputation points.
[Faction] Via Tribe Commander Honeybread has defeated Folded-Ear Supreme Commander Retaking a Class.
[General] SetTheTable: you b*tch
[General] SetTheTable: f*cking ahole**

[General] Honeybread: hmm?
[General] SetTheTable: was that f*cking abuse? you serious?
[General] Honeybread: ;; I’m the one who killed him, how is that abuse exactly ㅇㅅㅇ;

[General] SetTheTable: all you did was throw f*cking CC at him then stole the kill
[General] SetTheTable: what a f*cking joke lol
[General] SetTheTable: is that how your mom raised you??

What kind of logic says my mom taught me how to play Dusk?
[General] Honeybread: I stunned him to make it easier for you to hit, and all I get is insults ㅇㅅㅇa
[General] SetTheTable: fck off you piece of sht

[General] SetTheTable: reported you for abuse, cya
[General] Honeybread: What exactly are you gonna report me for?
[General] Honeybread: Like seriously, for real, if you’re actually going to be like—

[General] Honeybread: “He stunned the Folded-Ear player I was fighting and stole my kill, boohooㅠㅠ”
[General] Honeybread: Then just go post my name on the forums and beg for sympathy;
[General] Honeybread: That’s the only place left where someone might still take your side

No response. Maybe he really was off filing a report.
[General] Honeybread: Should’ve just left when I told you to
[General] Honeybread: Why’d you have to piss me off ㅇㅅㅇ

[General] SetTheTable: all I did was PvP in a PvP game and now I’m getting this bullsh*t
[General] SetTheTable: I didn’t even do anything against the rules, f*ck off
[General] Honeybread: Calling someone an orphaned motherf*cker isn’t against the rules? ㄷㄷ

[General] SetTheTable: I wouldn’t have said that if you hadn’t pulled that sht first you fcking trash
[General] Honeybread: I was just being petty because you wouldn’t let my pet go
[General] Honeybread: Didn’t think you’d rage-swear like that lol

[General] Honeybread: Got mad, took the kill, so what?
[General] Honeybread: But you dropped slurs and family insults
[General] Honeybread: So now you’re getting punished ^-^v

[General] SetTheTable: fcking report me then, dckhead
[General] Honeybread: Obviously I will
[General] Honeybread: If you hadn’t cursed, I’d have left after messing around a bit ㅉ

[General] Honeybread: This is why people need to be polite
[General] Honeybread: Right?
To be honest, even if he hadn’t cursed, I still would've done the same thing. But if he’d stayed civil, maybe I would’ve felt a little bad about it.

Whatever had him so worked up, he kept spamming profanities in chat. He’d already dropped family insults and was about to get reported anyway—he had nothing left to lose.
I slowly moved my character in front of the glowing light where Retaking a Class had fallen, blocking SetTheTable’s speech bubble from view.
[General] Honeybread: My baby only sees beautiful things~ ^^

That guy’s mouth was seriously disgusting. It felt like I was getting hit with every low-grade insult I’d never heard in real life all at once.
I was planning to keep blocking the chat bubble until Gang Jaegyung respawned—but time passed, and he didn’t come back. I can’t move till you get up, dude. I was thinking that when a new message popped up on KakaoTalk.