Dusk (BL Light Novel)

[Race] Shinha: Our Lord Honeybread... is heading out to the field as a Harmonizer, who, despite being a “Grand Commander,” only knows the “basics.”

[Race] Angel: ??
[Race] Yeonaein: ?
[Race] Shinha: Our lord has generously decided to bestow his presence upon the barbaric Silver-Foxes.

[Race] Yeosubalbadak: A Holy Knight Grand Commander going out to the field as a Harmonizer???
[Race] Shinha: I can’t just sit by and watch our lord commit such atrocities.
[Race] Taurus: 22222

[Race] IJustGotHitByABone: Absolutely can’t watch.
[Race] Honeybread: Excuse me;
[Race] Jopabtree: LOL what the hell, this is gonna be hilarious.

The situation was spiraling out of control. I tried to step in and stop this Shinha guy, but the chat window was already flooded with people joking along or agreeing with him. No point trying to control it now.
[Race] Shinha: It is our solemn duty to protect our lord, who has cast off his armor and become as vulnerable as a piece of paper!!
[Race] Grapes: What the hell is going on now?

[Race] Deguldegguldegguldegguldeggul: Hey, hey, let's stop treating Harmonizers like paper shields, okay?
[Race] Shinha: Okay.
[Race] Shinha: It is our solemn duty to protect our lord, who has become as tender and fragile as a leaf!!!!!!!!

[Race] Yeosubalbadak: Tender and fragile, my ass.
[Race] Woo Wang: LMAO x 100000
[Race] WhatsForLunch: If we don’t protect Lord Honeybread, we’ll all get hit with the intimidation penalty... unless Honeybread drops the Harmonizer.

[Race] Shinha: Our lord needs us!!!!!
[Race] Regram: Indeed!
[Race] MenWearHotPink: Indeed!!!!!
[Race] FabricSoftenerScent: Yindeed.

[Race] CryingCatRipsUpTissues: You really think Honeybread is gonna drop the Harmonizer? He’s probably so excited about running around the field right now, his ass is probably wiggling in joy.
[Race] GraduationBeefBroth: LMAOOOOOOOOO
How do you know my ass is wiggling?

[Race] Shinha: We must protect our lord’s precious body from even a single touch of those filthy Silver-Fox barbarians!!!!!
This was bad. If this kept up, I wouldn’t get a single chance to hang out with Gang Jaegyung. I quickly tore up a teleport scroll and headed back to Base 45. Meanwhile, the race chat was still burning up like a wildfire.
[Race] Shinha: Our lord has fled!!!!!!!!

[Race] Shinha: We must find him before the Silver-Fox barbarians do!!!!!!!
[Race] CryingCatRipsUpTissues: Hey, we seriously need to find him, or we’re all gonna get royally screwed.
[Race] WhatsForLunch: Yeah, it’s hilarious, but also kinda serious, right?;

Can’t they just let me play? I’m not going to die that much.
I hurried back to where I’d last seen Gang Jaegyung, trying to stay ahead of the swarm of lunatics from the race chat. A bunch of them had already loaded into Base 45, just seconds behind me. I had to find Gang Jaegyung fast, before they did.
Luckily, he hadn’t moved. He was crouched down in the same spot where we’d parted ways, waiting. When he spotted me, he slowly stood up.

[Public] Honeybread: 100 (fallback; retreat)
[Public] Honeybread: 8253
I sent the numbers quickly and walked past Gang Jaegyung. When I glanced back, he had already figured out what the numbers meant and was dutifully following behind me.
Where was the least populated Silver-Fox base? I opened the map and scanned the Silver-Fox territory, trying to recall. If memory served, Base 27, located past Base 26 and down in the southernmost corner of the map, was usually dead quiet. It was a low-level area, mainly used by beginners trying to reach Base 15 through the teleport statue.

I ran along the walls to avoid other players as much as possible. Thanks to that, the only player I ran into was a level 43 newbie gathering materials nearby. I was worried about passing through Base 26, but thankfully, no one else was around.
When we arrived at Base 27, the grassy field swayed softly in the wind, the whole area peaceful and still. Scanning the mini-map, the only red marker in sight was Gang Jaegyung.
Perfect. We could play around here without interruptions.

Gang Jaegyung, who’d followed me without knowing the reason, started circling me, his character tilting its head curiously. He must have noticed I was holding a Harmonizer staff now.
[Public] Retaking a Class: ' 0')
I couldn’t help but laugh at his exaggerated expression of surprise.

Facing Gang Jaegyung’s character, I typed:
[Public] Honeybread: ->
You.

[Public] Honeybread: <-
Me.
[Public] Honeybread: =

Same.
[Public] Honeybread: 9 '-')9
So let’s go a round.

I waited patiently until he got it. It didn’t take long for the chat to update.
[Public] Retaking a Class: wtewtwtwtwtwtwtwtwtwtwtwtwtwtwtwtwtwtwtwtwtwte
That was how the Silver-Fox players spammed “kekekeke” in English characters.

[Public] Retaking a Class: 9 ^^)9 !!
Looks like he got the message. Smiling, I switched to my Harmonizer setup and refreshed my doping buffs. Gang Jaegyung did the same, signaling his readiness.
Alright, let’s see how tasty this rotten character of yours is.

It had been so long since I last played Harmonizer. I barely remembered what each skill did, much less their detailed effects. Well, guess I’d just figure it out as we went along.
[Combat] You used Research Virus XXI on Retaking a Class, dealing 601 damage.
We started the fight in the swaying grass field. The DoT landed, and a skill icon flashed on the bar. I hovered over it to check. . It had a 20% chance to mutate any existing DoTs on the target. So this was a follow-up skill to the DoT I just cast. Learned something new today.

…Do I really even know the basics?
Gang Jaegyung, having failed to grab me earlier, now charged at me with a dash skill. He always tried to cancel incoming skills using his guard skill. Guess I’d give it a shot too.
Just as his dash was about to connect, I activated the guard skill.

[Combat] You used Quick Turn on Retaking a Class, dealing 864 damage.
[Combat] Retaking a Class’s Leading Strike was canceled by Quick Turn.
My guard skill went off a bit late, so the follow-up hit landed, leaving Gang Jaegyung staggered. I immediately chained a stun skill.
[Combat] You used Twist Snap on Retaking a Class, dealing 905 damage.
[Combat] Retaking a Class is stunned by Twist Snap.

Instead of immediately following up with another combo, I decided to cast another DoT, just like Gang Jaegyung had been doing.
While he was still stunned, I began casting another DoT, but as the cast finished, he broke free and countered with a dash skill. Before it could connect, I used the last charge of my guard skill and knocked him back.
Now was the perfect time to stack more DoTs. Watching those debuffs pile up felt oddly satisfying. Gang Jaegyung was my insurance. The first step in extracting the Mutation Virus. Hurry up and mutate, babies.

Gang Jaegyung got up from the knockback and raised his arm, preparing to use the stun-inducing skill. The hitbox was pretty narrow, so it’d be easy to dodge—
Wait.
It was a feint. The skill he actually used was another one with a similar animation. He’d copied the same trick I’d used earlier to drag him to Base 44. Damn, his ability to adapt was frightening.

Caught off guard, I ended up # Nоvеlight # eating the full skill combo.
 
Caught off guard for a moment, I was a split second too slow, and the skill hit me dead on. That one hit chained into a status effect combo. If just one of his skills had missed, it would’ve broken the flow, but unlike when we fought earlier, he was landing every single one in perfect sequence.

By the time the combo ended, my HP had dropped to around 80%. I quickly used a dodge skill to widen the gap and then spammed every healing skill I had to recover. I didn’t even know how much each one would heal, so I just pressed them all.
I was about to top off my health when a sudden realization hit me, and I canceled the cast, turning to check my status window. I’d already accumulated one stack of Stress. That was the price for spamming my healing skills earlier.
There was way too much to keep track of: the cooldowns of his skills, the mind games, the remaining duration of my DoTs, the number of mutated DoTs, my guard skill cooldown, the Stress stacks... And on top of that, I couldn’t even remember which DoT I’d just applied—was it Research Virus or just a regular Virus? How the hell does Gang Jaegyung keep track of all this? Is he even human?

While I was mentally cursing, Gang Jaegyung rushed at me, pretending to strike, but his real aim was to stun me with a dash skill. Fortunately, I caught the skill animation in time, dodged just outside its hitbox, and waited.
Before the end-lag of his dash skill wore off, my guard skill’s cooldown finished, and I activated it.