Chapter 3
SonyeoGajang and Beodeul’s characters stood face to face with the boss of Trial Gateway III.
The massive deity statue that had been sitting and commanding guardian golems now rose with its enormous body and looked down at the two characters. The boss, “The Third Deity,” emitted such tremendous pressure that tension was visible on the characters’ faces.
Even Beodeul was tense as he took a sip of water. The deity took a step forward, and phase 1 began.
“Pillar pattern coming. Starting from the right,” SonyeoGajang said.
“Yes.”
“After the left pattern ends, floor AoE will appear at the rear in 3 seconds. Get on it to deal damage.”
Beodeul moved his character according to SonyeoGajang’s orders.
SonyeoGajang was boldly showing precarious movements near the deity’s enormous feet. When Beodeul’s character, Girmu, successfully approached behind the deity after avoiding the pillars falling from the sky, a dazzling white magic circle immediately appeared below.
“I’ll move diagonally in 5 seconds. 5, 4, 3…”
When the deity struck the ground with its massive staff, the earth split in all directions.
“Laser pattern coming next. If the height is ambiguous, don’t jump, just lie down. The hit detection is better that way.”
“Ah, yes.”
According to the videos Beodeul had watched, the correct move would be to dodge the lasers by moving or jumping. But Beodeul followed SonyeoGajang’s orders and avoided the lasers by lying down.
“Wow.”
As Beodeul inadvertently let out an exclamation and quickly closed his mouth, SonyeoGajang spoke in the same voice as before.
“We’ll time the next burst damage with the bell pattern. Save your cooldowns a bit even if they’re ready, and for now, let’s avoid the floor AoE.”
As the split ground returned to normal, a red mark appeared under Beodeul’s character.
“Ah.”
“It’s okay. Move one more step.”
Due to the close call, his character’s health dropped by about 20%.
But before Beodeul could panic, SonyeoGajang sent a heal as if they’d been waiting for it. Beodeul secretly felt relieved as he watched his health bar rapidly fill up.
“Phase 2 is coming soon. Boss has little HP left, so we’ll chip it down with basic attacks. But before that, we’ll see the pillar pattern once more.”
SonyeoGajang’s orders were as clear as their voice. Beodeul was following their words like a gentle lamb in a trance.
“You dodged well. Now let’s move to the safe spot before the bell pattern. Even if the earthquake pattern comes right after the bell, you can keep dealing damage from here.”
“Yes, yes.”
As the bell pattern signaling the start of phase 2 began, numerous status effect icons appeared above Beodeul’s character. In his first party, he had died from all sorts of patterns because he couldn’t handle these status effects from the bell pattern. But now…
“Don’t touch the directional keys and just deal damage. You can be a turret DPS now.”
SonyeoGajang’s reassuring voice, who had just placed a floor AoE, encouraged Beodeul’s fingers. Even though a dizzy confusion icon floated above SonyeoGajang’s head, Beodeul’s trust in them was deep.
“Don’t move during the horn pattern either. I’ll use shield.”
The Holy Wizard’s shield was commonly called “glass.” This was because its duration was extremely short, making it useless unless timed perfectly with patterns.
‘It’s such a tricky skill to use in actual combat that people rarely take the risk of using it…’
The angels surrounding the deity made motions as if blowing horns. This was an area-of-effect pattern that spread like a shockwave, requiring one to be as far away from the deity as possible to avoid it.
Still, Beodeul trusted SonyeoGajang and kept dealing damage. Consequently, the boss’s health bar depleted steadily.
Almost simultaneously with the hemispherical shockwave spreading around the deity, there was a sound of glass breaking. The fact that the shield, which would disappear without a trace if not timed correctly, had broken meant that SonyeoGajang’s shield had fulfilled its purpose.
“Well done. Adds are spawning next, so let’s back up a bit.”
It wasn’t Beodeul who had done well, but SonyeoGajang. They were the one who had used the shield with such exquisite timing. All Beodeul had done was trust them, stand firm, and deal damage.
Yet SonyeoGajang didn’t boast at all and instead praised Beodeul while calmly doing their job. So Beodeul, trapped in a prison of praise, could only diligently deal damage until their fingers turned to mush.
Thud! Finally, the deity knelt before the two characters.
“Good job.”
Despite the simple greeting, Beodeul just stared blankly at the treasure chest descending from the sky.
They’d cleared it. That hellish Trial Gateway III. The dungeon that had given him all kinds of humiliation and trauma. With just two people, no less.
Beodeul blinked, unable to believe it until the chest gently settled on the ground.
“We cleared it.”
“Yes.”
“We really… cleared it.”
Then, for the first time, laughter came through from the other side of the headphones. Beodeul laughed along with that voice that naturally tickled the inside of his throat.
This was fun. So much fun. After bringing the boss that had been tormenting him to its knees, he felt refreshed from head to toe, as if he’d showered in soda.
‘So this is why people do this.’
Beodeul’s eyes sparkled as he realized for the first time the thrill of clearing a dungeon. His gaze soon turned to the main contributor to their success. To the very pretty party member who had grabbed a first-timer by the collar and led them to victory.
“I’m glad I trusted you,” Beodeul said in a sweetened voice, intoxicated by the joy of victory, sounding quite like a fanatic.
*PK: Player Killing. Refers to attacking other users.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
