Episode 43
[Combat] Used the skill <Will of Sacrifice>.
[Combat] Jaesugang took 53,996 damage from 's .
[Combat] received 37,798 damage from 's used on Jaesugang.
[System] The abandoned temple area is sealed.
[Party] Jaesugang: It can't be a bug a;sldkfj;sldkfj
The moment I saw the needle that looked like it would pierce straight through Jaesugang, I pressed <Will of Sacrifice>. For 16 seconds, it was an ultimate-class skill that took 50% of all damage received by party members within 8 meters, reduced it by 30%, and absorbed it in their place, but I had pressed it reflexively.
For a split second after pressing it, I thought it was a bit of a waste, but when I saw the damage coming my way, my mind changed. Thank goodness I had pressed it in a daze. Even though I had clearly taken reduced damage, my HP had dropped by over 20%, and Jaesugang's HP was left hanging at a mere 50%. If he had taken it head-on, he probably would have died. At the very least, he would have been near death.
[Party] Jaesugang: What di
[Party] Jaesugang: I do??
[Party] Kkulppang: Right;
I quickly taunted that nameless bastard to draw aggro, then typed rapidly in chat.
We weren't even close enough for aggro to pull, and I hadn't used a skill first, so why did it attack out of nowhere? The question crossed my mind, but when I scoured my memory, I recalled that monsters who made the first move like this were rare, but not nonexistent. Of course, that was mostly in event dungeons, and such things never happened in story dungeons like this, but it wasn't entirely incomprehensible.
Right after I used Taunt, the nameless one rolled his sun-and-moon eyes to give me his gaze. But that was only for a moment; as if having lost interest, he looked away from me and back at Jaesugang. Even the threat target marker (*top aggro priority) displayed beside the boss's HP gauge was stamped with Jaesugang's name, not mine.
The Taunt skill hadn't worked at all.
[Party] Jaesugang: Didn't the taunt land?
[Party] Jaesugang: I us
[Party] Kkulppang: Huh;;
[Party] Kkulppang: I did;;;
I was on pins and needles that Jaesugang might get beaten to death by that terrifying-looking nameless bastard. However, my worries grew increasingly meaningless as time passed. Even though Jaesugang was the threat target, the boss made no move to attack him.
Could it be that this wasn't aggro at all, but simply an event? If so, a threat target's name shouldn't have appeared on the HP gauge in the first place. Besides, hadn't a combat-start message popped up earlier saying something about the temple being sealed when I got hit instead of Jaesugang?
To check if I had really pulled aggro, I approached the boss and used a skill. Truly, truly bizarre—no damage numbers appeared, but the nameless one snapped his pupils around to stare at me again, and the threat target switched to my nickname as well.
Battle had definitely begun, and the boss was definitely looking at us. Yet it only looked at us, taking no action or attack whatsoever. It just stood there, rolling its pupils around.
Was it a named monster with a pattern where it stayed quiet before striking all at once? Then why weren't damage numbers appearing? Was I even hitting it? Was I slashing at empty air? Like the minion just now? No, but I could clearly hear the impact sounds of the boss being hit?
My head grew muddled at this unexpected snag. It seemed I wasn't the only one with this issue.
[Party] Jaesugang: Why isn't the boss attacking
[Party] Jaesugang: and why can't we see our damage??
[Party] Kkulppang: Because the attacks aren't working?
[Party] Jaesugang: But the percentage keeps going down as we keep hitting it?
Huh? Really? I checked the boss's HP gauge with widened eyes. Just as Jaesugang had said, the boss's HP, which had been at 100%, had dropped to 99%.
At this point, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it a complete bugfest. If this were any other game, I would have been convinced it was a bug and logged out. But this was Zero Soft's 《Dusk》, which boasted the lowest bug occurrence rate in the MMORPG genre. Was it really a bug? Or was it an intentional mechanic, as Jaesugang had said?
[Party] Jaesugang: Let's just keep hitting and think later
[Party] Jaesugang: When it's not doing anything
[Party] Jaesugang: it might be better to shave off as much HP as possible
Having apparently concluded that this thing was indeed the boss, Jaesugang calmly pointed out what I should do right now. Save the thinking for later and just hit it. That was what I did best.
Jaesugang and I blindly poured in attacks. Even until its HP was cut to 90%, the nameless one remained a bystander to the situation.
I was grumbling that I couldn't see how much damage I was dealing, and the boss's stiff, wooden movements made it feel like I was beating a scarecrow, so this was no fun at all. When its HP fell below 80%, the nameless one finally began to stir. My eyes sparkled as I observed its motion.
Gazing into empty air, it lightly raised its hand. Moving its arms and wrists gracefully as if conducting an orchestra, a casting bar appeared above its HP gauge. Naturally—and unfortunately—the skill name displayed on the casting bar was blank, just like its name, so there was no way to tell what skill it was using.
Jaesugang, who solved mechanics by inferring what they were from the skill names, must have been quite flustered. His improvisational skills weren't bad, but his primary style of play was to predict beforehand and devise countermeasures, moving from Plan A to Plan B or C.
Earlier, he had shown a marvelous feat by saving me from the <Earth Golem>'s unexpected double tank buster, but that too had come at the cost of 8 stacks of Stress. If I expected such antics again this time, Jaesugang might be completely sucked dry, reaching 20 stacks of Stress and instantly dying from the Military Doctor's penalty.
Since the chances were high that it would be a simple AoE at first, I used a damage mitigation skill (*damage reduction technique) and an external survival skill (*external survival technique; a protective skill for allies). Jaesugang seemed to be thinking the same thing, as he was casting a heal skill timed to the end of the boss's casting bar.
When the boss's casting finished, it lowered its hand as if making a payment. No damage came in. Instead, something changed on my screen. Specifically, in my quick slots (*separate slots that assist in quickly using registered skills or items).
Startled, I stopped mid-DPS and hesitated. The Holy Knight skills that had been densely packed in my quick slots vanished without a trace, replaced by unfamiliar skills. I urgently activated my mouse cursor to check the skills.
[Vaccine Lv. 46/Immunity Skill
Cast Time 0 sec
Cooldown 50 sec
Spreads a vaccine to increase the status ailment resistance of all allies within 15m, including yourself, by 2%, and grants the caster immunity to Waste Miasma/Regenerative Miasma debuffs for 6 seconds.]
Huh?
I froze for a moment after checking the skill, then moved my mouse to another skill icon beside it to check again.
[Research Progress Lv. 1/Attack Skill
Cast Time 3 sec
Cooldown 1.5 sec
Deals 200 magic damage to a designated target within 21m afflicted with a virus-type skill cast by the user, advancing the research.
With each successful hit, the probability of the virus mutating increases slightly.]
The icons were somewhat unfamiliar, but the skill names and descriptions were incredibly familiar. They were Military Doctor skills. All the other skills were the same—everything belonged to the Military Doctor.
[Party] Jaesugang: Kkulppang-nim
[Party] Jaesugang: My skills got switched
[Party] Kkulppang: 22
[Party] Jaesugang: The layout is exactly the same as your skill layout, Kkulppang-nim
Jaesugang's words clicked. It was obvious that this sly boss had swapped our skill layouts. Upon closer inspection, it looked very similar to Jaesugang's skill layout that I had always seen in videos. No, it was exactly the same.
…But how did Jaesugang know my skill layout?
[Party] Kkulppang: But how do you know my skill layout
[Party] Kkulppang: How did you know?
I got chills and asked him. I had never uploaded screenshots to any board on the official website, let alone videos. Even my ball-less ball-friend Munseonhwa wouldn't know about that. Though he wouldn't care either.
[Party] Jaesugang: From the story video you sent me
[Party] Jaesugang: I saw it
[Party] Kkulppang: Aha
In my head, I had been writing a novel: 'No wonder he gave me his KakaoTalk so readily and kept telling me to contact him—did he have some ulterior motive?' But his clarification wiped that thought away in an instant.