Dusk (BL Light Novel)

[Combat] Gonyanyanya2 has taken 367 damage from Gunmandu-gosipda’s bow.
It was the sound of an arrow striking.

And that arrow was embedded in Gonyanyanya’s back.
The arrow soon disintegrated into dust and vanished, but the reduction in Gonyanyanya’s HP confirmed that he had been attacked.
Because he’d been attacked, his [Sprint] skill was interrupted and he could no longer keep running. I also stopped running and approached him. I locked on to the bastard who attacked Gang Jaegyung—Gunmandu—and stared him down.
Why the hell is he suddenly acting up?

[Combat] Gonyanyanya2 has taken 411 damage from Gunmandu-gosipda’s bow.
Another normal attack came flying.
Even though he was being looked at, Gunmandu didn’t stop shooting Gang Jaegyung, as if there was something more he wanted.
[Combat] Gonyanyanya2 has taken 326 damage from Gunmandu-gosipda’s bow.
[Combat] Gonyanyanya2 has taken 375 damage from Gunmandu-gosipda’s bow.
[Combat] Gonyanyanya2 has taken 796 damage from Gunmandu-gosipda’s bow.
[Combat] Gonyanyanya2 has taken 444 damage from Gunmandu-gosipda’s bow.
[General] Gunmandu-gosipda: '-'

Even dropped a damn emoji I couldn’t make sense of.
[Party] Gonyanyanya2: Should I be healing right now…?
Gang Jaegyung seemed torn about whether to heal, use a potion, or just let it be, taking that ambiguous level of damage.
Honestly, yeah. I wouldn’t know what to do either in that situation.
Sure, they say not to skimp on consumables, but should you really burn a heal skill or chug a potion for a scratch like that?
While I was debating with him, Gunmandu shifted into a new stance.

That’s the sniper stance… Wait.
[Combat] Gonyanyanya2 has taken 52,743 damage from Gunmandu-gosipda’s [Sniping]!
Gonyanyanya’s HP barely capped at 60,000, so in an instant, he was down to a sliver. That was practically a near-death experience.

That damn Mandu bastard.
I turned direction immediately and rushed straight at him.
Gunmandu tried to bolt when he saw me coming, but he got caught in a [Capture] and was dragged back.
[Party] Gonyanyanya2:
You
It really hurts ;0;)!!!

[General] Honeybread: Use a potion and heal
While calming the panicked Gang Jaegyung after that headshot, I began pummeling Gunmandu.
[General] Honeybread: '-' ?
[General] Honeybread: '-' ?
[General] Honeybread: '-' ?
[General] Honeybread: '-' ?
[General] Honeybread: '-' ?
[General] Honeybread: '-' ?

[General] Honeybread: '-' ?

Held him down and beat the living shit out of him while he flailed trying to escape.
Sure, as a party leader his gear wasn’t bad, and he was decent at psychological plays—slipping and dodging well enough—but in the end, to a Saint Knight, Ampa was the easiest target.
[General] Gunmandu-gosipda: 652!! 52!!!@
[Combat] Used [Blade of Radiance] on Gunmandu-gosipda for 8,905 damage.
[Combat] Killed Gunmandu-gosipda with [Blade of Radiance].
[System] You have defeated the Jeojajok Party Leader Gunmandu-gosipda.
[System] You have gained 1,390 Fame.

Cowardly bastard… Going after a newbie’s back?
You’re not even worthy of dying to a newbie.
Sure, I know Gonyanyanya is actually Retaking a Class, but from Gunmandu’s point of view, he’s just a real newbie.
That’s what pissed me off.
If he had just fought him normally like any other player and killed him, I could’ve let it go.
But cozying up to a newbie just to betray them?
[Party] Gonyanyanya2: I’m all healed up now

While I was blowing Gunmandu to pieces, Gang Jaegyung had fully recovered and walked up to me.
I swallowed my rage and gently patted him.
[Party] Honeybread: Stepped in shit
[Party] Honeybread: Let’s keep going
[Party] Gonyanyanya2: Yep

Gang Jaegyung answered obediently and followed after me as I picked up the pace again.
This time, I wasn’t going to get distracted—we’d go straight to Base 44.
There were a few solo Jeojajok stragglers wandering around on the way, but they didn’t dare approach us.
We were a duo party, and more importantly, I was high-ranked enough that they wouldn’t attack recklessly.
More precisely, a "Tank Supreme Commander with a Healer."
This is what real power feels like.
Using the free pass of being a Supreme Commander with a healer, we made it near Base 44.
Before approaching the base, I activated [Syria’s Eye] to check for hidden enemies.

And then I locked eyes with an Assassin, one of the Jeojajok, who was already creeping up behind Gonyanyanya, just about to ambush him.
The nerve of these bastards.
[Combat] Used [Desperate Sword Aura] on BlueSky for 6,257 damage.
[Combat] BlueSky used [Sharp Ambush] for 1,998 damage.
[Combat] BlueSky’s [Sharp Ambush] inflicted Bleeding.

The battle began when I struck first at {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} the Assassin I spotted at Base 44.
Gang Jaegyung faked surprise but quickly regained composure and counterattacked BlueSky.
Thinking his rank as a junior officer meant he wasn’t anything special, I half-heartedly tapped skills while observing Gang Jaegyung.
He kept using virus-type skills, but to be honest, I had no idea what kind of DoT that even was.

Meaning: I couldn’t tell if Gonyanyanya was using those skills appropriately or just spamming garbage.

What I needed to see was him using a self-defense skill… but how could I naturally push him into using one?
Do I need to set up a 1v1?
I was mulling that over when I heard another hit sound from the side.
Sure enough, Gang Jaegyung was bleeding again, this time from another Assassin’s attack.

The second one also had a low rank. Maybe this guy would be good to pit against Gang Jaegyung and observe.
While I was still leisurely considering the setup, suddenly a Pyromancer jumped out of nowhere.
Three enemies we could handle.
But then another 2-man party appeared from somewhere, and things started getting tight.

Two vs. five. And the side with the newbie was the duo.
Gang Jaegyung was holding out firmly without faking his skills, but his gear had limits.
I could only handle so many at once too, and the situation kept tilting against us.
Priority one: protect Gang Jaegyung.

Instead of locking down the Assassins and Pyro, I let them roam and blocked their fatal skill casts on Gang Jaegyung with [Shield Block] or protection skills.
Meanwhile, I quickly typed out a message while interrupting enemy skills.
[Race] Honeybread: 44 support

That should draw in bored PvP players from elsewhere to gather at Base 44.
Sure, we could tank and heal for a while, but wiping out this many people quickly wasn’t feasible.
This area was a Jeojajok hot zone. The longer we dragged this out, the more enemies would spawn.
Then it’d get too rough, and Gang Jaegyung wouldn’t be able to finish his quest.

Outside help was absolutely necessary.
I had no time to track which skills Gang Jaegyung was using—just reacting to the incoming attacks to keep him alive.
But one thing was clear: Gang Jaegyung was absolutely not playing like a newbie.

He used self-defense skills to neutralize threats in the blind spots I couldn’t cover.
No real newbie juggling their HP would ever have that kind of awareness.
How the hell do I pretend not to notice and still praise him like he’s a rookie?

His gameplay was peak veteran. Anyone could see that.
While my brain scrambled for excuses and my body fought like hell, reinforcements finally arrived.
Fire-element magic rained down from somewhere, targeting the Jeojajok.
I heard the distinct sound of a stealth Viajok Assassin launching a surprise attack.

As each person arrived, I invited them to the party to make it easier for Gang Jaegyung to heal.
Soon, a Scholar and two more Assassins joined the fray, and the Jeojajok reinforcements showed up too, turning our skirmish into a full-blown battlefield brawl.
For now, I was relieved that it had become a mass brawl.
In those kinds of fights, Retaking a Class was nearly unbeatable on our side.

Sure enough, the once-dire battle started to swing in our favor. If I exaggerated a bit, it was practically a slaughter now.
More healers arrived besides Gang Jaegyung, and thanks to his miraculous healing distribution, no one died.
I knew this style. I’d seen it more times than I could count.

It was terrifying.
Just when someone looked sure to die, a heal would land and save them.
His single-target prioritization was perfect—if someone got focused, the heals hit instantly, and they wouldn’t drop.
The Jeojajok tried to take him out, of course, but I kept getting in their way and they fell one after another.

Right now, the only reason people died at all was because his level and gear weren’t great, so his healing output had limits.
But considering everything, it was a god-tier performance.