[Divine Punishment: Protection – Defense Weakening Level 0][Divine Punishment: Slaughter – Attack Weakening Level 0][Divine Punishment: Destruction – Attack Weakening Level 1][Divine Punishment: Harmony – Defense Weakening Level 1]This meant the balance was now set in a way similar to the golem fight.At least we wouldn’t fail the named boss run because of a lack of DPS or healing. Feeling the reduced damage from the weakened Groove-Eye, I smoothly ran through my familiar DPS cycle. Gang Jaegyung, true to someone who had gotten plenty of enjoyment from running dungeons as a Military Surgeon, stood at the boss’s rear and dealt steady damage.The mechanics after that weren’t anything special. — I was briefly thrown off by the name, but it turned out to be a simple boss-centered AoE you could avoid with a dodge skill. — Also confusing at first, but since it was the same feather-preening motion the boss had done as a mob before unleashing a heavy hit, I guessed it was a tank buster and handled it accordingly. — A rear attack that sent Gang Jaegyung flying.[Party] Honeybread: lol[Party] Honeybread: You actually got hit ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) by that[Party] Retaking a Class: lol…— “How am I supposed to know if ‘Whoosh-whoosh’ means wings whooshing, body whooshing, or tail whooshing? …Didn’t you dodge all of them, Honeybread?”Gang Jaegyung shut his mouth.The occasional auto-attacks coming in between mechanics only tickled as long as I kept my shield blocks up. The damage was clearly tuned so that a tank could solo it without a healer — which would be useful, since some parties would certainly have none.And with the debuffs lowering my defense, my HP dropped much faster. That drop felt even more noticeable for a reason: as Groove-Eye’s health went down, its size visibly shrank.— “It’s gotten a lot smaller. It’s starting to look like the Groove-Eye plush I’m holding.”Gang Jaegyung said this while stroking the Groove-Eye doll snug in his arms.When its HP dipped below 70%, Groove-Eye let out a furious biiiik-biiiik before starting to cast something. The skill name was: . Why so long?Anyway, last time “Boom!” was a centered AoE… so this time maybe it’s a chained attack?— “The second boss only uses physical attacks with its own body, except for the first skill. This could be the AoE. We haven’t seen one yet, so it’s about time. Judging from the name, it’s probably multi-hit.”Just as Gang Jaegyung said, all mechanics so far had either fixed-range effects or targeted attacks. An AoE was overdue. Combining my hunch with his reasoning, “Boom-boom-boom” probably meant it would stomp repeatedly for an unavoidable AoE.I used protective and light defensive skills in preparation. Right before Groove-Eye finished casting, Jaegyung used Damage Reduction, a Military Surgeon-exclusive skill, to temporarily lower its attack power.Groove-Eye gave a sharp biiik! and, as expected, stomped its feet for an unavoidable AoE. One hit, two hits, three hits… damage rolled in consecutively.Even shrunken, the boss was still large enough that each stomp made the whole lounge tremble. The chandelier and lights overhead shook violently and flickered.— “…The lights… Young-a, over here!”Jaegyung suddenly called me urgently. Without even knowing why, I used a dodge to move to him — he wouldn’t call for nothing.Sure enough, moments after I reached him, a massive chandelier crashed down where I had been, shattering to pieces. In real life, that would have crushed my skull and spine completely.[Party] Honeybread: thx— “Even if it wouldn’t damage you here, I called you just in case. Glad you’re fine.”But as I started to return to my spot, the flickering lights went out all at once. The lounge was plunged into darkness, and Groove-Eye began to shine with a white light.…Wait. In the dark, didn’t it…?A giant white creature reveals its ego in the darkness!Didn’t it get stronger?I quickly checked its status bar. Sure enough — [Attack Power Up], [Attack Speed Up], and even [Defense Up] buffs were stacked thick.If its autos hurt this much as a mob, what would happen if the boss version hit me with these buffs? I’d… probably die.The moment I saw a fierce auto flying toward me, I shield-blocked. Even with perfect timing, the damage was brutal. Before I could even recover, the attack speed buff let it follow up immediately, leaving me no chance to use any skills except more blocking.I wanted to ask Jaegyung for help, but he was in Military Surgeon mode, not a Soldier, so he couldn’t help much.If I just blocked like this, I’d either run out of HP or fail the DPS check and get wiped by its enrage. I had to find a way to counter it.To weaken its ego, I needed light. But it had smashed every light source around.— “Wait. We’ve got a buff.”Jaegyung, my only hope in this chaos, spoke up.— “A buff called ‘Faint Ego.’ Judging from everything so far, ego is the key mechanic. In the mirror maze, ego got stronger when something lit up in the dark or went dark in the light. Here it’s dark, so to strengthen ego, we need light.”Strengthen ego → need light. And since all lights were broken, that reasoning made sense.Yes, keep going. You’re on the right track, Jaegyung.— “To shine as much as Groove-Eye… we’d need…”I started to think with him, but another auto made me drop all thought and just block again. Damn it, that attack speed is ridiculous.While I was struggling, Jaegyung’s sharp mind found the answer.— “When a pair sticks together… the wings glow. That’s the only light we have.”Oh, right. Wings. I knew paired players’ wings glowed when they were close, but it had become such a routine part of daily play I’d stopped noticing.— “But it’s not enough. Our ego’s still faint. I don’t think you can hold out like this, Honeybread. …Get closer? This is already as close as we can get. If that’s the case, there must be another way to make the wings glow brighter…”So, just sticking together wasn’t enough. We had to make the wings shine more — but even pooling all the known mechanics didn’t reveal how.By the time my HP fell below 40%, nearing 30%—— “…Flight.”With that, Jaegyung’s character spread his wings wide and took off. The glow from his wings grew much brighter, making their presence obvious despite their small size.— “We can’t make the light stronger, but we can make it bigger. If we spread our wings in flight, the glow’s area increases.”I instantly hit my flight key. Honeybread’s wings spread wide, meeting Retaking a Class’s wings, and the glow flared even more brilliantly. When Groove-Eye’s next auto landed, I realized—This tiny chip damage… This was it. This was the answer.— “The buff’s changed to ‘Clear Ego.’ Looks like it worked. Our damage on Groove-Eye is… way higher now.”[Party] Honeybread: good[Party] Retaking a Class: ＼'-`)/ !!!Jaegyung sent an excited victory emoticon. If he were right next to me, I’d ruffle his hair nonstop.Smiling inwardly, I hammered away at Groove-Eye. Our buff seemed stronger than its buffs — our damage had nearly doubled. Apparently panicking, Groove-Eye stopped auto-attacking entirely and fidgeted.Then, as if making up its mind, it drew a deep breath and let out a powerful biiiik! before casting another vicarious Authority.A giant white creature summons the illusions of the Mirror Maze…The lounge we stood in began to slowly tilt. No — not tilt, but rotate clockwise like a stage set changing. Soon, an entirely different location was revealed.

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