What kind of… fashion skill is this?
Cha Sa-yoon muttered, forgetting to even take a screenshot.
“Try a different skill, something else.”
He was so flustered that his words came out awkwardly. Meanwhile, Persephone, now at 10% health, swung her spear. Sa-yoon, convinced this round was a lost cause, took his hands off the keyboard and pressed his fingers against the inner corners of his eyes.
As the black petals vanished, eight phoenixes—now reduced to skeletons—hopped around the characters. It wasn’t just distracting; it was downright dizzying.
“Hyung, the debuff didn’t apply.”
“……What?”
Now that he looked, only the summoned phoenixes had turned into skeletons, while the characters remained unaffected. Persephone lunged forward and stabbed Oath’s Vow. The miniature skeleton beside her collapsed at the waist and crumbled into dust.
Swakkoong: Isn’t this that thing? Meat shield?
Jeon-gi: Except now it’s just bones, no meat.
In short, it was an extra life that took attacks and debuffs in their place. Judging by how it collapsed in a single hit, its HP must not have been high—but still, having something that could block a transformation at least once was invaluable.
At Oath’s Vow’s urgent call to “Hurry up and burst it down,” Sa-yoon snapped back to focus and spammed his skills. The poisonous flowers on the ground were multiplying rapidly, shrinking the safe zone.
The mini summoned creatures, slowed after transforming into skeletons, failed to keep up with their master and crumbled upon touching the flowers. In the end, everyone had to stack on Persephone and deal damage in close quarters.
[You have defeated the God of the Underworld, Persephone.]
As Persephone fell, the black flowers that had covered the entire map withered all at once, creating a breathtaking spectacle.
[Guild] Shokrates: If we open that, is Hades gonna pop out now? LOL
In the spot where the flowers had disappeared, a black box—resembling a coffin—appeared.
[Guild] Oath’s Vow: If it’s Wartum, that’s actually possible?
[Guild] Freedeal: Then let’s scout a bit before opening.
[Guild] Chasa: Yeah, let’s play it safe.
Sa-yoon agreed. If they opened it immediately while their skills were still on cooldown, they might just end up adding to their death count.
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: Huh?
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: I already opened it though?
[Guild] Shokrates: Cancel that!
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: Too late.
[Guild] Freedeal: You absolute psychoㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜㅜ
Before anyone could stop him, the reckless poison frog had already pried open the black coffin lid and reached inside. The seated party members instantly stood up and backed away.
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: Oh, LOL. Jackpot.
[Guild] Freedeal: Stop messing around and just get out of there.
[Guild] Freedeal: Not like I was expecting much anyway.
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: No, no, this time it’s legit!
[Guild] Killer: If it’s real, stop stalling and link it.
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: <Gold>
[Guild] Freedeal: You goddamn frog, I swear.
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: <Floating Dust> <Deep Blue Energy>
[Guild] Swakkoong: LOL, didn’t expect anything anyway.
‘Floating Dust’ was a junk item that sold for 1 gold at shops, while ‘Deep Blue Energy’ was a common crafting material.
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: <Dark Lord’s Wristguards>
[Guild] Shokrates: ?
Sa-yoon clicked the link with a skeptical expression—and then let out a surprised gasp.
Dark Lord’s Wristguards
Magic-class exclusive
Binds to character upon acquisition
Grade: Heroic
Base Effects
Physical Defense +320
Magic Defense +320
Intelligence +35
Health +215
Mana +300
Casting Speed +5%
Attack Speed +2%
Set effect is not active.
“This is insane.”
Normally, magic-class armor only came with a casting speed boost. But this had an attack speed bonus as well. If attack speed increased, then skill animations would naturally speed up too.
In short, gloves that boosted both casting and attack speed were the best armor in existence.
[Guild] Swakkoong: Listen up, everyone. This is super important.
Swakkoong suddenly lowered his voice.
[Guild] Swakkoong: What’s the most crucial role in a party’s survival? The healer, right? And among them, Priests handle both healing and cleansing, yeah? So they need both casting and attack speed, right?
He continued his relentless barrage of rhetorical questions. His conclusion? He should get the item.
[Guild] Jeon-gi: Black mages need it too, you know?
[Guild] Freedeal: Pri— I mean, Priests need attack speed too.
“If we’re talking attack speed, then Warlocks, who rely on damage-over-time skills, need it the most.”
[Guild] Swakkoong: Tsk, no one’s falling for it.
No one was willing to back down. And so, a fierce, bloodthirsty dice roll battle began.
[‘Shokrates’ rolled a 97.]
[Guild] Shokrates: First strike secured.
“Ah, what the hell.”
The maximum roll was 100.
[‘Swakkoong’ rolled a 98.]
[Guild] Swakkoong: I’ll be taking that~ ㅇ.<
[Guild] Shokrates: Ugh.
Now, only Chasa and Freedeal remained. For three tense seconds, neither rolled their dice. The mind game had reached its peak.
[Guild] Freedeal: Haha.
[Guild] Freedeal: Chasa, would you like to roll first?
[Guild] Chasa: You go ahead.
[Guild] Freedeal: Alright, first strike wins.
[‘Freedeal’ rolled a 32.]
[‘Killer’ rolled a 99.]
[‘Furple’ forfeited their roll.]
Sa-yoon blinked at the unexpected name. Why the hell was a melee DPS rolling for a mage item?
[Guild] Swakkoong: Are you out of your mind???
[Guild] Shokrates: Inseong, what the hell are you doing?
[Guild] Furple: Ah, LOL, I was wondering why it got so quiet.
[Guild] Swakkoong: Are you seriously planning to use that for damage?
[Guild] Killer: If I win, I’m giving it to hyung.
[Guild] Killer: We killed the boss together, so why don’t I get loot rights?
“Shin-jae.”
“Why can’t I roll? I helped kill it too. I’ll take it and give it to hyung.”
“That’s not the point…”
That was just bad manners, man.
Bind-on-pickup items couldn’t be traded once they left the dungeon, so the unspoken rule was that if you couldn’t use it yourself, you forfeited your roll.
Ignoring this unwritten code, Killer had just thrown his name into the mix, leaving Sa-yoon staring blankly at his monitor.
[Guild] Freedeal: I give up trying to understand.
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: Then Frog’s rolling too!
[‘GegulGegulFrog’ rolled a 1.]
[‘Oath’s Vow’ rolled a 44.]
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: Eh? ㅜ
[Guild] Shokrates: Wtf, Oath, what are you doing?
[Guild] Swakkoong: Ohhh, so this is how we’re playing it, huh? LOL
[Guild] Freedeal: What a beautifully dysfunctional guild we have!
[Guild] Furple: Chasa, you rolling or not?
[Guild] Swakkoong: Thanks for the donation. I’ll take that now. LOL
Well, at this point, if he won, he’d probably just hand it over to Swakkoong anyway. Half resigned, Sa-yoon rolled his dice.
[‘Chasa’ rolled a 100.]
[‘Chasa’ has obtained <Dark Lord’s Wristguards>.
…Wait.
[Guild] Furple: He did it.
[Guild] Swakkoong: Holy shit, we need to check if he’s hacking his dice.
[Guild] Freedeal: Was gonna have a follower steal it, but damn, taking it outright is badass.
[Guild] Chasa: LOL, thanks.
[Guild] Shokrates: Chasa, you sure you’re not a Divine insider???
Sa-yoon let out a dry chuckle at Shokrates’ last remark.
[Guild] Chasa: If I were really with Divine, wouldn’t I be playing Warlock instead?
[Guild] Shokrates: Fair point.
After the chaos caused by Killer’s surprise interference, the dice battle finally ended peacefully—with Sa-yoon sharing a generous cut of loot to smooth things over.
[Guild] Jeon-gi: But now I have a question.
[Guild] Jeon-gi: How do other parties even get past the skeleton phase?
That was exactly what Sa-yoon had been wondering. There was no way every single party had a Warlock on hand. But at the same time, it was unlikely that the developers had designed the fight to be impossible without one.
[Guild] Furple: Maybe there’s some method we don’t know about?
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: I hope no one can clear it without a Warlock.
[Guild] Jeon-gi: Seriously, it doesn’t make any sense.
[Guild] Freedeal: That’s not what’s important right now. We need to find the hint to move to the next room.
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: Wow, Divine’s even giving us a free escape room.
It had taken them a whole 40 minutes just to find the way from the first to the second boss. That reminder snapped everyone back to reality, and the party scattered, cutting off their chatter.
Luckily, this time, as they approached a pomegranate tree, a single fruit hanging from its branch shimmered and activated. Just as everyone was about to move on to the next stage, Swakkoong suddenly turned around.
[Guild] Swakkoong: Wait, why isn’t that box disappearing?
[Guild] Oath’s Vow: Did someone forget to loot?
Normally, once all items were distributed, the reward chest would vanish. However, the opened coffin remained, still glowing blue.
Swakkoong hopped over and reached inside.
[Guild] Swakkoong: Huh? Chasa, why didn’t you take this?
“…What?”
Chasa walked over and stuck his hand into the coffin. The wristguards he thought he had already looted were still sitting inside.
“Hyung, why… Oh.”
Shin-jae, who had leaned over to glance at Sa-yoon’s monitor, let out a sigh. Out of the 99 inventory slots, eight rows were filled with cosmetic outfits. The last remaining row was packed with spare armor and buff items. He was completely out of space.
“You carry all this around?”
“I feel more at ease that way.”
Everyone knew about Sa-yoon’s obsession with fashion items… but now it made sense why his outfit would change seamlessly during dungeon breaks without a word.
“Give me one of your outfits.”
“…If you give me the wristguards, I’ll trade it back once we’re out.”
“Uh…”
Sa-yoon hesitated, his mouse moving sluggishly. The trade window popped up with an unfamiliar-looking pair of pants as the offered item.
[You have acquired a new cosmetic item! Added to the collection.]
What the hell was this?
Without much thought, Shin-jae—an avid collector—clicked on the new fashion piece Sa-yoon had given him.
In an instant, the tall, dignified figure wrapped in a pristine white uniform was stripped bare, left completely exposed in nothing but his skin.
“……”
