31m, 30m, 29m……
Chasa sprinted, keeping an eye on the distance to the summoned monster. But even as he neared the edge of the map, the distance still read 25m.
What the hell? Don’t tell me, just because this is an underworld setting, they actually buried it underground? Are they expecting me to dive straight into a pit of bones to kill it?
But the memory of instantly dying the moment he touched the bone-covered ground was still vivid. The further he ran, the more his mind reeled in confusion.
And then, finally, upon reaching the very end of the world, he saw it. Every player wishes for fresh dungeons and unexpected mechanics.
But this… was just ridiculous.
“…Fucking pervert.”
“Huh?”
Sa Shin-jae, who had been pretending to rest his chin on Sa-yoon’s shoulder while secretly pressing his nose against the nape of his neck, startled and jerked back. Whether or not his younger boyfriend was flustered, Sa-yoon’s eyes remained glued to the screen.
“There it is.”
His long, straight fingers pointed sharply at a spot. Rising between the fields of scattered bones was a jagged rock pillar, looking as if it had been crudely carved out of the earth.
Sa Shin-jae furrowed his brows as he spotted the Cerberus prowling atop the flat summit.
How the hell were they supposed to get up there?
At last, the couple—who had each been in their own world—found themselves perfectly in sync for once.
[Guild] Chasa: Found the summoned monster.
At his words, all party members except for the ones handling Hades rushed to Chasa’s side.
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: Wow……
[Guild] Jeon-gi: Guess this is why they made the area so damn huge.
[Guild] Freedeal: But how do we even get up there?
[Guild] Furple: Maybe there’s an invisible bridge?
With that, Furple bravely stepped into the air—
[Guild] Furple: Ah, fuck.
[Guild] Shokrates: Ah… He was a good Sharpshooter…
[Guild] Freedeal: Who wants to propose the next hypothesis?
Well, at least it was confirmed that an invisible bridge wasn’t the solution.
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: Jumping?
[Guild] Swakkoong: Even if we brought in an Olympic long jump champion, they’d curse us out and leave.
[Guild] Freedeal: If the Guardian uses Shield Push, wouldn’t that send me flying up there?
At that, everyone turned to Oath’s Vow. The party’s one and only Guardian was currently getting pummeled endlessly by Hades, barely holding on.
Yeah, that wasn’t an option. The party collectively reached that conclusion and turned away again. Someone brought up skill combinations, but no one had any movement-related abilities.
[Guild] Shokrates: We let Persephone off easy, and this is what we get, lol. A goddamn escape room.
[Guild] Freedeal: Jeon-gi, how long has it been since escape rooms went out of trend? And you’re bringing that shit into a map?
[Guild] Shokrates: At least escape rooms let you call for hints. This is just a fucking exitless hellscape, lol.
[Guild] Furple: If there were more objects around, maybe… but what the hell are we supposed to do in this barren wasteland?
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: I’ve been stuck in this dungeon for so long, I’m breaking out in hives, TT_TT
[Guild] Swakkoong: Guys.
[Guild] Swakkoong: I’m done. I’m out of mana.
[‘Oath’s Vow’ has died.]
[Guild] Oath’s Vow: gg
[Guild] Furple: Well fought, well lost, TT_TT
While the party was racking their brains, the tank-healer duo, who had been desperately trying to hold the line, finally threw in the towel.
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: Screw it, I’m going first.
The one who had been insisting on the rock climbing theory all along, GegulGegulFrog, leaped off the ledge. The result was obvious—failure.
See? Told you that wasn’t it… But with a wipeout inevitable anyway, everyone started using their movement skills and attempting long jumps off the cliff.
Not a single person succeeded.
Back at the starting point.
Furple urgently declared a bathroom break. Taking advantage of the short pause, Chasa sprinted back to the previous spot. But before the fight began, the stage remained intact—nothing was visible.
Would he have to use the new movement skill?
One of the newly added skills allowed him to move by stepping into another’s shadow. The problem was what came after. Even if he managed to cross over, he wouldn’t be able to take down Cerberus alone. Well, technically, as a Warlock, he had his ever-present demon, so he wasn’t completely alone…
What a goddamn shitty pattern… They’d already been stuck on Hades for four hours. Was this even meant to be cleared?
At this point, Chasa felt like collapsing and crying.
“Why do you think this dungeon is designed for eight players?”
He was debating whether to drag his emotions onto his skill bar when a question came from the seat next to him.
“Huh?”
Well, obviously…
“Because Cerberus requires two tanks?”
“If that’s the case, Blade Masters aren’t really tanks either, right?”
“…That’s true.”
He’d momentarily forgotten, since GegulGegulFrog had been holding the off-tank role so steadily, as if he’d been trained for it.
“A Guardian and a Spearmaster could duo-tank. Or a Guardian and a Brawler could make a six-man run work too. Worst case, a single tank plus a Warlock could pull off a tank-Warlock comp. There’s no real reason for the first boss to require a full eight players.”
Now that he thought about it, that made sense.
“The same goes for Persephone. The tank just holds the main target while four DPS spread out and clear the bone piles in the north, south, east, and west. Once players get better, I bet they’ll run this with six people, guaranteed.”
“So why exactly do we need two tanks and two healers…?”
If that were the case, it meant the dungeon required the tanks and healers to be in specific locations at specific times.
Thinking back, there had been a buried harp on the ground during the Cerberus fight, and when they transitioned to Persephone, they had discovered murals along the cave walls.
It was movement progression.
They weren’t supposed to be flinging themselves off the edge in a desperate long jump contest. The method to move forward was hidden within the map itself.
At that moment, the ground beneath them began to glow faintly.
It was the same floor marking they had assumed was just a transition point from Persephone, merely indicating the starting location.
“0 | 7 | 14 | 1.”
Was this what it felt like to see a single beam of light shining through utter darkness? Finding the mechanism reignited his confidence—victory was finally within reach.
“Whose boyfriend is this smart?”
Sa-yoon grinned and playfully flicked Shin-jae’s cheek. Shin-jae, acting cutesy, rubbed his cheek against Sa-yoon’s hand before turning his attention back to the screen.
“But… it’s inactive.”
No matter how much he hovered the mouse over it, there was no activation prompt.
“Is there some kind of condition?”
Chasa abruptly stood up and began cycling through every emote from start to finish. He dusted off his clothes, cried, laughed, bowed in reverence—complete chaos.
[‘Chasa’ shyly offers a bouquet to ‘Killer.’]
[Guild] Freedeal: Uh… what do we do?
[Guild] Freedeal: Chasa seems really stressed out…
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: Someone is dying over here, TT
[Guild] Swakkoong: You chose this Tryhard Hell-party.
[Guild] Shokrates: But honestly, even Inseong is acting weird right now.
Regardless of the guild chat noise, Sa-yoon was laser-focused on finding the movement mechanism. Shin-jae, too, was thoroughly searching every inch of the starting point.
[Guild] Oath’s Vow: If everyone’s ready, I’ll head back in.
[Guild] Chasa: Wait a second.
Even by then, they hadn’t found the activation mechanic. In the end, the two of them shared their hypothesis with the party. The response was explosive. Fired up, GegulGegulFrog retraced the exact path Killer had taken earlier.
And thirty minutes passed.
No matter what they tried, the floor magic circle refused to activate. The party, having scrutinized the starting point down to the nanometer, finally moved on to the main stage.
At this point, Sa-yoon was pretty sure that if someone blindfolded him and handed him a sketchpad, he could perfectly redraw the entire area from memory.
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: Yeah, I don’t think this is it.
[Guild] Swakkoong: If this turns out to be a bait mechanic, I’m taking a sledgehammer to my PC.
[Guild] Furple: If this were real life, we’d all have shattered kneecaps by now.
[Guild] Oath’s Vow: Well, there’s always a chance it’s not the right answer. Should we just go back? Maybe if we hit Hades again, something else will trigger on the main stage…
Reluctantly, Sa-yoon pulled himself up from the floor, staring at the magic circle with sheer disappointment dripping from his face. How could it not be this?
But orders were orders. Everyone moved back into position. Even as buffs started appearing on Oath’s Vow’s status window, Sa-yoon’s eyes remained locked onto the starting point.
“…Did you see that?”
“…Yeah.”
And the moment Oath’s Vow attacked Hades, the magic circle flickered briefly. So brief that if they hadn’t been watching closely, they never would’ve noticed it.
As Sa-yoon hovered his mouse over it, the cursor changed to a gear symbol. The movement mechanism they had been desperately searching for—finally activated.
[Guild] Killer: Found the movement mechanism.
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: WHERE? WHERE?
[Guild] Swakkoong: My frog has lost its mind.
[Guild] Killer: Starting point.
[Guild] Killer: It flickers for a moment when the fight starts.
[Guild] Killer: It’s active now.
[Guild] Shokrates: Holy.
[Guild] Furple: Inseong is a fucking lunatic.
[Guild] Freedeal: Who the hell just stands there staring at the starting point when the fight begins? TT
The starting point was at 9 o’clock.
This meant the melee DPS had their backs to it, and Oath’s Vow, positioned at 3 o’clock, couldn’t see it because Hades blocked the view. The ranged DPS standing at 12 o’clock were in the same situation. They were focused on the 6 o’clock direction, while the healers were looking toward 3 o’clock.
Once the battle started, no one paid attention to the 9 o’clock direction—because there was nothing there.
It was a downright bullshit placement.
