Chapter 32
When I smiled, Hwanseong-nim must have thought I didn’t believe him, because he insisted once again that he was telling the truth. The way he looked at that moment matched perfectly with the Hwanseong-nim I had imagined in my head, which made me smile even more.
Before long, he stopped insisting and simply told me to think whatever I wanted, smiling in an easygoing way.
As we kept going—getting swatted by tails left and right—we eventually spotted the second boss, floating above the water.
Even as we were running toward the second boss’s room, unlike the rest of us, Jangyeong-nim was still constantly using skills, saying he needed to maintain some kind of state.
“What’s your class, Jangyeong-nim?”
“He’s a mage-type class, Fire Magician. It’s a class that does about the same DPS as a Dual Blade.”
Ah… so that’s why every time he spoke, fire effects appeared.
Now that I thought about it, his quips seemed like a perfect blend of his class and his love of baseball—cleverly put together. As expected of a guild master.
[Party] Hwanseong: brb
When we reached the entrance to the second boss’s room, Hwanseong suddenly typed “brb” in chat. Curious, I glanced over and saw him lean slightly toward me, just like when he’d helped me with my key settings earlier, pointing at a specific spot on my monitor.
“Honey, when the boss uses a mechanic called Water Wave halfway through, you have to use this new skill to interrupt its casting.”
“Uh… what’s the skill called?”
“Ambush. I bound it to the X key.”
So that’s why he had done a skill check before we entered Blue Canyon—there was a mechanic like this here. Which also meant that future dungeons might have similar mechanics where I’d have to use Ambush to cancel a cast and stop the boss from using its gimmick.
Hwanseong explained more about Water Wave.
“Wait… if you fail to interrupt Water Wave, the whole party gets a Wound Deepening debuff?”
Exactly. If Water Wave wasn’t interrupted properly, everyone would get that debuff, which made incoming damage hurt even more. And right after Water Wave, there was always an AoE attack, so the debuff made a huge difference.
Hwanseong nodded like it was no big deal.
“It’s fine. I’m the healer, so even if you miss it, I can cover for you.”
…
His words sounded strangely muffled to me, almost like noise-canceling headphones had kicked in, dragging me into my own little world.
Why did everyone have to suffer if the tank made a mistake? And why was it the healer’s job to clean up after the tank’s mess? This felt like a setup to make the tank look like the villain.
“Besides… in a marriage, if the wife makes a mistake, the husband should handle it, right?”
And seriously, tanks already had so much to worry about—now I had to handle this too?
Sure, healers had their own mental load, but couldn’t a DPS do this? Tanks had to hold aggro, position enemies, deal damage, use defensive skills, and now… break mechanics too?
…Had I somehow absorbed Hwanseong’s “DPS are peasants” mindset? No, but seriously—DPS really didn’t have to do much besides damage.
Thinking about how everyone would take damage if I messed up was stressing me out. I placed my fingers on the X key, practicing.
Water Wave, X key, Ambush.
Water Wave… Ambush…
After flicking my index finger between the keys a few times, I muttered—
“So I just need to—”
“Water Wave! X key! Ambush!”
“….”
“Let’s go!”
“…Right.”
[Party] Hwanseong: gogo…
[Party] Kim Sooki: lol something definitely happened while you two were whispering ♡♡ looks all sentimental haha
It was becoming clear to me that the main reason Blue Canyon was harder for tanks was because of Water Wave. Even if it was a simple mechanic, to a newbie like me, every new mechanic felt like a huge mountain.
I swallowed hard and gently pressed W to move toward the boss.
[Party] Jangyeong: wait!!
Startled by Jangyeong-nim’s urgent message, I quickly braked and tapped S to back away.
[Party] Kim Sooki: omg why is everyone taking turns saying “wait” can we just get this done in one go ;;
[Party] Jangyeong: sorry sorry haha my food delivery’s here. Just let me grab it and we’ll go ^^~~!!
Thankfully, we hadn’t entered the boss’s aggro range, so Jangyeong had time to grab his delivery. He’d be back in a second… or so I thought.
[Party] Kim Sooki: let’s just start lol
[Party] Seon-ya: huh? what?
[Party] Seon-ya: but Jangyeong-nim’s not back yet…!
Ignoring my message, Sooki started running toward the boss. Even normal hits would hurt a DPS badly, so I dashed forward too, using Flash to grab aggro.
Luckily, my Flash went off before the boss noticed Sooki, so it turned to me instead.
“Wait, is this okay?”
“Who cares? I’m not a tank or a healer.”
Ah… a very on-brand answer for someone who saw DPS as peasants.
Inside the boss room, three of us were fighting hard while one person stood idle at the entrance—it felt like we were in different time zones.
A few seconds later—
[Party] Jangyeong: wtf
[Party] Jangyeong: I told you to wait
[Party] Jangyeong: do you not understand the words wait??
[Party] Jangyeong: you don’t know “stop” or “chotto matte kudasai”??!!
Jangyeong came sprinting in—well, jump-sprinting. And even in a rush, he didn’t forget his DPS duties, firing off blazing spells as he ran.
I still didn’t get why everyone in this game ran while constantly jumping. Even earlier, Jangyeong had said to jump if you needed healing, and the DPS I’d met in my first dungeon had also jumped to signal “hurry up.”
Maybe… jumping was a universal language in this game?
[Party] Kim Sooki: lol I carried you for a few seconds there
[Party] Jangyeong: ♡♡ you just wanted to secure 1st place safely huh^^?! I can see right through you^^~~!!
[Party] Kim Sooki: nah I’m not that petty lol
[Party] Kim Sooki: instead of typing, maybe you should’ve filled those few seconds with some ranged casting~
[Party] Kim Sooki: also, who told you to order delivery mid-run?? lol
[Party] Jangyeong: wtf!!!!!!!!@@@@!!!!@@@!!!@@
[Party] Jangyeong: hey!!!!!
The argument escalated instantly, with no sign of stopping.
Since a dungeon party was usually one tank, one healer, and two DPS, I’d never noticed before—but apparently DPS had an unspoken rivalry with each other. Made sense: in a pure damage-dealing role, your worth was proven by your DPS output. If there wasn’t competition, that would be weird.
Especially since Hwanseong had told me that Sooki’s Dual Blade and Jangyeong’s Fire Magician dealt about the same DPS—it was no wonder the rivalry was intense.
[Party] Jangyeong: O Almighty Hwanseong-nim, please bless me with Priest’s Blessing…
[Party] Hwanseong: And why would I do that?
[Party] Jangyeong: ♡♡ omg rude
When Hwanseong refused, his divine status plummeted to something unmentionable.
[Party] Hwanseong: I’ll do something else instead. I’ve got my own grudge against him.
Saying that, Hwanseong moved even farther from the boss, all while skillfully keeping his casting uninterrupted. Then, instead of targeting the boss, he turned his gaze toward Sooki.
[Party] Kim Sooki: hey ♡♡ don’t
[Party] Kim Sooki: I already used my dash skill;;
Sooki must have sensed danger as soon as Hwanseong looked his way.
Ignoring him, Hwanseong yanked Sooki from the 9 o’clock position near the boss all the way over to the 3 o’clock position—just like that time in the Pristic Ruins when he’d pulled Yuchan.
[Party] Kim Sooki: ahhh ♡♡!!!!!!
Because Hwanseong had set up far from the boss, melee DPS Sooki couldn’t deal damage at all—forced to pop Sprint and dash back to the boss.
[Party] Jangyeong: omg this is so satisfying hahahahaha
[Party] Jangyeong: O great and glorious Hwanseong-nim! Please do it again^^!!
And Hwanseong did—every time Hand of Salvation came off cooldown, he pulled Sooki away, wrecking his skill rotation and burst damage timing.
Amid Sooki’s swearing and Jangyeong’s laughter, the boss suddenly thrust out a hand. Blue-tinged water began swirling rapidly in its palm.
“Wait, is this…?”
“Water Wave is coming next.”
It was here.
That mechanic.
