Stalkerizing

[Party] Shokrates:

[Party] Shokrates:

[Party] Shokrates:

[Party] Shokrates:

[Party] Shokrates:

“…It’s real?”

Checking the item links that Shokrates had suddenly posted, he was greeted by a dazzling display of equipment entirely covered with cast speed reduction options. Some even had two out of three options stacked.

Why is someone like this being treated this way here?

[Party] Freedeal: Jeon-gi, what are you doing?

[Party] furple: Showing off gear?

[Party] Shokrates: I don’t know; Inseong suddenly whispered me, asking me to link the tavern gear I had.

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: ??? Who here doesn’t already have top-tier gear? Why are you showing off?

[Party] a10235044: ?

Oof. The stone that Frog casually threw hit Sa-yoon squarely.

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: Ah, my cat just walked across my keyboard.

[Party] furple: Frog, what are you even doing?

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: I think I need to send my cat to school soon; it’s practically learned Hangul on its own.

[Party] Shokrates: Oh, and by the way, I freaking love Dionysus.

[Party] Shokrates: I love him so much I’m just going for fun ^^ You get it, right? Like going to an amusement park. Beating up Dionysus is so thrilling. Ah, I’m so excited ^^

[Party] Freedeal: That realization, LOL

[Party] furple: Ah, I was wondering why all of a sudden, LOL

“Ah…”

As the party members, who had been confused, came to a realization, Sa-yoon also picked up on something.

[Whisper] Chasa: 44, don’t do it.

[Whisper] a10235044: I’m not doing anything?

[Whisper] Chasa: Alright, you can stop now, LOL.

The temporary nickname was denying it, like a puppy pretending innocence after causing trouble. But what did it matter? There was only one suspect here.

For some reason, this reminded him of when they had argued about making the warlock handle the transport. Whatever this guy wanted, with this level of dedication, Sa-yoon figured he might as well play along.

[Whisper] Chasa: Thanks.

[Whisper] a10235044: ? I don’t know what you’re talking about.

However, unlike the still-feigning-ignorance temporary nickname, Shokrates was going wild in the party chat.

[Party] Shokrates: I will never be late again.ㅠㅠ

[Party] Freedeal: Is this a regression novel? I swear I’ve seen you say that before.

[Party] Shokrates: You’re imagining things. I just want to start already, so everyone hurry up and enter.

[Party] a10235044: Stop overreacting.

Of course, the temporary nickname quickly put an end to the chaos.

[Party] Chasa: I’ll be there soon.

Sa-yoon belatedly started moving toward the dungeon. The blue names representing his party members were huddled together at the entrance.

Freedeal spotted Chasa and ran up to him. The character was a petite female with large fox ears.

Dressed entirely in white from head to toe, she looked like a rolling snowflake from a distance.

[Party] Freedeal: Chasa! Welcome!

Freedeal, who had dashed over, immediately buffed him. It had been so long since he received a healer’s buff. His precious little HP increased by 15%.

[Party] Chasa: Thank you.

[Party] Freedeal: Wait, are you thanking me just because I buffed you? Are you an angel?

If anyone who knew Sa-yoon’s true nature had seen this, they would have foamed at the mouth and collapsed. Fortunately, the party members were all strangers, so things remained peaceful.

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: By the way, who’s tanking in this setup?

Frog’s question was valid. They had five damage dealers and one healer, but no tank.

[Party] Freedeal: Uh, obviously you.

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: Me?

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: I’m a delicate Blade Master, I can’t tank.ㅠㅠ Booing booing~

[Party] Shokrates: In this composition, if not you, then who? ㅠㅠ

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: You?

[Party] Shokrates: I’m made of paper…

[Party] Freedeal: Frog, are you out of your mind?

In Divine, the lowest-defense armor was robes. At least warlocks could summon demons—black mages were just fragile sugar glass that cracked with a single tap. Seeing them trying to pass the tanking role to a black mage made Freedeal, the healer, jump in frustration.

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: I have a great idea!

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: Let’s roll dice, and the lowest number tanks! What do you think?

[Party] a10235044: Just tank before we vote to kick you.

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: Come on, you guys know I suck at dungeons.ㅠㅠ

[Party] a10235044: Just go.

Frog made a crying emote, pounding the ground, but the temporary nickname remained firm. In the end, with no other choice, Frog reluctantly stepped up.

Blade Masters were relatively sturdy for a damage dealer. If a party lacked a pure tank, they could fulfill the role of an off-tank. This was also why they were often considered a “broken” class.

But right now…

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: Agh, I’m dying!

As the first named boss of Dionysus’ Tavern, Silenus, slammed his arm down, Frog’s HP fluctuated like waves in a storm.

[Party] Freedeal: Potions! Chug your damn potions!

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: ㅠㅠ Frog is spamming potions!

[Party] Freedeal: Instead of wasting time on third-person speech, how about dodging?!ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

[Party] Shokrates: No, but…

“…Did he even try to dodge?”

From what Sa-yoon could see, he hadn’t.

Silenus had a distinctive trait—he didn’t move from his position while attacking. His attack power was insanely high, but as long as players dodged his randomly appearing ground AoEs, he wasn’t too difficult. At least, not if you were fully experienced.

Frog wasn’t exactly doing anything terribly wrong. Tanks were supposed to hold aggro and keep attacking in place.

On top of that, if the tank moved out of Silenus’ attack range, he would enrage and wipe the entire party. Dionysus’ mentor truly was a nasty old man.

But that was precisely the problem. Frog wasn’t a tanky character, and Freedeal wasn’t a pure healer meant to sustain heavy damage.

In a party setup like this, it was crucial to dodge every single AoE.

“Did he not memorize the pattern?”

Frog stood still, facing off against Silenus, completely ignoring the AoE indicators. Either he forgot he wasn’t a pure tank or hadn’t properly learned the boss pattern.

To make matters worse, Blade Masters had almost no invincibility or escape skills. Every time he got hit by a major attack, his large HP bar nearly emptied before Freedeal desperately healed him back up.

Uwooooh!

Silenus let out a deafening roar, stunning all the damage dealers and forcing them to stop attacking.

Sa-yoon should have been safe next to the healer, but he wasn’t. Since Silenus only recognized attacks within a certain range, both melee and ranged DPS had instinctively clustered around him.

As soon as the stun wore off, a large red circle appeared around Silenus.

Only a tiny sliver, barely one degree wide, remained untouched by the crimson glow. The party members quickly gathered there, lining up neatly in a row.

All except for one—Frog.

[Party] furple: AoE

[Party] furple: AoE

[Party] furple: AoE

[‘GegulGegulFrog’ has died.]

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: Agh! ㅠㅠ My DPS ㅠ

[Party] Chasa: I’ll resurrect.

Frog, who had been running over a second too late, turned into a corpse. Sa-yoon rushed in and cast a resurrection, but the vicious old man had already set his sights on his next prey.

The second target was the temporary nickname. Frog, now revived, stuck close and resumed attacking, but Silenus refused to turn his gaze away.

[Party] GegulGegulFrog: Aggro’s not switching ㅠㅠ

Of course, it wasn’t. Tanks had skills specifically designed to pull enemy aggro, but Blade Masters were damage dealers. To steal back the aggro once it shifted, Frog would have to outdamage the current target significantly.

Unfortunately, that current target was a Hunter—one of the most notoriously overpowered classes.

[Party] a10235044: Just go.

Hunters had low defense, and their health dropped sharply with each hit. Even with evasion skills, there were limits. The sub-healer, Freedeal—who had been dragged here as a secondary healer—was practically in tears.

It was absolute chaos.