Swakkkoong: That bastard… that goddamn son of a…”
Oath’s Vow: Marking now.
A number quickly appeared above the Burning Wolf’s head.
Furple: I’m number 1!
Jeon-gi: I’m number 2.
“I’ll take number 3.”
[Guild] WildGrassHare: 4
The four DPS, excluding the tank, each dashed toward their assigned adds. The Hellhound assigned to Sa-yoon was [Chasa]. A crimson hound lunged at the black crow. It was faster than expected.
Sa-yoon’s eyes narrowed as he pulled his demon back.
It didn’t touch me just now, did it?
Even though he had dodged the attack, his demon’s HP had dropped. The drooling Hellhound lunged at him again.
So just being near it causes damage?
After testing the range a bit, Sa-yoon was sure of it. The party members who had come into contact with the Hellhounds had their HP bars fluctuating wildly. The experienced players quickly realized this and pinned their adds to the ground.
The problem was Killer. As a melee DPS, he had no choice but to get up close to attack.
“Come over to my side.”
Sa-yoon removed his mic and whispered to Shin-jae. As soon as the two Hellhounds came together, their flames flared up like candles on a birthday cake. The moment their minions rushed in, Chasa swung its staff.
[Combat] Alloces’ Curse engulfs the Hellhounds.
Baa—
The cursed Hellhounds transformed into goats. The flames surrounding them vanished as well. The two goats wagged their short, chubby tails and tried to bolt in opposite directions.
But they were already hit with a speed reduction debuff. After skillfully herding them with Harpas, all that was left was for the group to finish off the slowly approaching goats.
[You have reclaimed the name stolen by the Hellhound!]
[Quest: Reclaim your name from Cerberus’ minions. (Complete)]
[You have obtained Hellhound Hide.]
When the [Chasa] Hellhound died, a change occurred above Chasa’s head. The static noise effect crackled over “AlmondCrunch,” and then his original nickname, “Chasa,” was restored. The same happened to the other party members.
[Guild] Swakkoong: Omg my name ă… ă… ă… ă… ă… ă…
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: Frog’s back, complete.
[Guild] Shokrates: Ahh. Are people out here really living with stolen names these days?
[Guild] WildGrassHare: –
[Guild] Freeriding: Give me back my name.
[Guild] ForgottenGuardianA: Just do your DPS 🙂
Oath’s Vow: Focus.
[Guild] Shokrates: Yes, sir.
The smiling emoticon 🙂 and the way “focus” had been emphasized felt ominous. It was as if the phrase had an unspoken continuation—something like “before I drive a lance through your skull.”
The party quickly refocused and lunged at Cerberus again. Flames burst up irregularly from the ground, and as they dodged, another party member spontaneously combusted. This time, it was Killer.
A small murmur came from beside him. “Ah, fuck…”
Sa-yoon turned his head to see Shin-jae staring back at him with wide, innocent eyes, feigning complete ignorance. His expression was pure as a baby angel’s.
“Something wrong?”
The way he whispered with feigned innocence was so natural that Sa-yoon couldn’t help but chuckle. He really was a great actor.
At that moment, all three of Cerberus’ heads simultaneously lifted toward the sky. This was the rage pattern that triggered at 75%.
Chasa immediately dashed toward the spot where the glowing stone had been earlier. Clicking on the stone caused a harp to appear, and just in time, he started playing before the buff took effect.
Jeon-gi: That timing was insane.
The problem was, this was the second phase. The speed and difficulty had ramped up.
Ding!
“What the hell…”
“They want me to press six keys at once?”
But there was no time to complain. Warlocks were already infamous for their busy hands, and the sheer number of notes raining down from above was overwhelming. His fingers flew across the buttons without pause—it was practically harp-playing at rap speed.
Sa-yoon focused on selecting the right notes, pouring out debuffs in rapid succession before finally taking his hand off the mouse.
CC!!
But he was just a fraction too late. A discordant sequence of missed notes rang out, and Sa-yoon let out a slow exhale.
“Sorry.”
[Guild] Swakkoong: It’s okay, okay! Better than being tone-deaf!
[Guild] ArcherofDarkness: ă… ă… Stop making tone-deaf people feel bad…
Swakkkoong: This song sounds really familiar.
Freedeal: Oh, it’s that one. Chopin’s variations.
Freedeal: Earlier, it was Paganini’s 24th Caprice.
GegulGegulFrog: Pa… nini…?
Freedeal: Ugh, ignorant.
GegulGegulFrog: Freedeal, you’re such a nerd.
Freedeal: Stop pissing off someone who actually studied music.
Using both hands made things slightly more manageable. One DPS had to completely forgo damage, but since Sa-yoon’s DPS was the lowest anyway, it was the right call.
The familiar melody was reaching its climax. If he could just get past this part, it would be over. Sa-yoon let his tension ease—he shouldn’t have.
Eight glowing bars descended at once. He had been watching Cerberus’ HP when, without thinking, he pressed all eight keys simultaneously.
Ding!
[MISS!]
[You failed the performance.]
The enraged Cerberus lifted its heads, and a triple-stack buff activated. A full wipe.
“Ah, fuck…”
What went wrong? Wasn’t I supposed to press them all at once?
As he buried his face in his hands, a reassuring pat landed on his back.
Jeon-gi: What the hell is with this difficulty?
“…….”
Freedeal: Should we consider switching the harp player?
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: Frog wants to play rhythm games too!
[Guild] WildGrassHare: lol go ahead, anyone can try.
Jeon-gi: Then I’ll give it a shot!
The third harp player was Shokrates.
And the party wiped even faster than when Sa-yoon had played.
Jeon-gi: Turns out I was the one getting destroyed.
Jeon-gi: Holy shit, I can’t do this. Do you need, like, twelve fingers? Chasa, how the hell did you even manage this? Serious respect.
Swakkoong: Jeon-gi, breathe. Breathe.
The harp-playing duty was handed back to Sa-yoon.
“This harp shit is seriously insane.”
A glance at the clock showed that three hours had already passed since they started. It looked like they were going to be pulling an all-nighter. Sa-yoon took a big gulp of the Americano he had ordered.
Oath’s Vow: Focus, going again.
After the first add phase, Chasa once again took his place at the harp. Having played a few times already, his hands had gotten the hang of it. He reached the section where eight notes dropped at once without any mistakes. Looking closely, two of the notes had slightly different heights.
Cheap bastards.
Muttering a curse under his breath, Sa-yoon tapped them in succession instead of all at once.
Finally, the performance ended, and Cerberus’ HP dropped to 25%. The second wave of adds spawned.
“Ha…”
Hearing a sigh from beside him, he glanced at the screen. At some point, Killer’s name had been restored. WildGrassHare was cute while it lasted. Pushing aside the momentary regret, he refocused on dealing damage.
The lower Cerberus’ HP got, the more chaotic it became, but they managed to survive using invulnerability skills when necessary.
When the boss’ HP fell below 5%, Cerberus began casting a skill. It was clearly the kind of wipe mechanic that named monsters used when they were on the verge of death.
Oath’s Vow: Kill it before the wipe.
A barrage of dazzling effects rained down on Cerberus. With a heavy thud, the massive hound collapsed onto its side.
[You have defeated the Hellgate Guardian, Cerberus.]
[Due to Cerberus’ Death Escort, you have taken 87,991 damage.]
[You have died.]
At the same time, the entire party collapsed. No one had used their invulnerability skills because they were too focused on DPS.
[Guild] furple: LOOOOOOL
[Guild] Freedeal: Full wipe LMAO
[Guild] Shokrates: Ahhh lolololol
[Guild] Swakkoong: Nongae strat (suicidal victory tactic)
[Guild] GegulGegulFrog: Damn, rez pls
[Guild] Swakkoong: On it, on it
With Swakkoong’s resurrection, the party members staggered back to their feet and slumped down in front of Cerberus’ corpse.
Just as Sa-yoon was about to join them, something caught his eye. A red dot had appeared over his inventory icon, indicating a newly acquired item.
When he opened his inventory, an unfamiliar piece of hide was inside. Hovering the mouse over it displayed a description.
[You have obtained Hellhound Hide. Using this item allows you to transform into a Hellhound.]
A reward for completing the quest.
Transform into a Hellhound?
Sa-yoon tapped the item, thinking nothing of it.
Jeon-gi: Ah, fuck, garbage loot.
Shokrates reached into the corpse, triggering Cerberus’ slow disintegration. Just as the boss faded completely—
[The Lord of Darkness has taken notice of Hellgate Guardian Cerberus’ death.]
[The Lord of Darkness has placed a curse upon you!]
A pitch-black buff was added to every party member’s status bar.
Jeon-gi: Damn, that reaction time.
GegulGegulFrog: Hades would be cracked at reaction-based games.
Furple: What is this debuff?
Freedeal: It can’t be cleansed.
Oath’s Vow: Potions don’t work either.
Jeon-gi: Holy shit. How the hell do we clear this with this on?
[HP -10%, Mana -10%, Movement Speed -8%, Attack Speed -3%, Cast Speed -3%]
It was practically a debuff disaster package. The fact that it couldn’t be cleansed had the entire party going through the five stages of grief.
GegulGegulFrog: Goodbye, everyone! These three hours were fun, let’s meet again with a smile!
Oath’s Vow: Wait. Someone doesn’t have the debuff.
Come to think of it, there were six of them huddled around the corpse.
As everyone turned their cameras around in confusion, they spotted something in the distance. Near the cave entrance, two Hellhounds were striking a pose alongside a black firebird.
