Dusk (BL Light Novel)

I exchanged a few casual greetings in party chat while scanning the party list with my eyes.

Saint Knight Guardian Lv.45 | Honeybread
Saint Knight Guardian Lv.44 | Areswiss
Assassin Slayer Lv.45 | MinchanStopPooping
Assassin Destroyer Lv.44 | StoryModeAlt
Priest Destroyer Lv.45 | MinchanThatsNotIt
Harmonizer Medic Lv.43 | Gonyanyannyang2
No caster. And both tanks were Saint Knights, which meant we weren’t working with a particularly high DPS setup.
It would be safest if I took the main tank role, but that Level 44 Saint Knight had shown up as a Guardian — probably here to practice as the main tank. It would be better for me to step back and let him. I could switch to Destroyer stance. My gear was good enough to tank in that mode anyway, and from a pure DPS perspective, that was the more efficient option.

[Party] Honeybread: Going sub-tank.
[Party] Areswiss: Got it!
[Party] Areswiss: I’ll do my best!
With that sorted, I switched to Destroyer stance. It’d been a while since I played as a DPS Saint Knight. Most of the time, I had to be the main tank since I was usually the one most comfortable with the role.
I habitually opened my equipment tab to check my durability. Meanwhile, I waited for the Priest — who’d come in as a Destroyer — to switch over to Harmonizer stance. Unlike tanks, who could still take some hits even in offensive stance, a healer couldn’t use healing skills at all while in Destroyer or Slayer stance. If you were going to heal, you had to be in Harmonizer mode.

But not only did the stance not change — a moment later, party chat lit up.
[Party] MinchanStopPooping: Gonyang-nim
[Party] MinchanStopPooping: You’re the Jo-class, so solo heal plz
[Party] MinchanStopPooping: The four of us will go full DPS and speed-clear, cool?
So because Gonyanyannyang2 was a Jo-class Harmonizer with solid heals, they wanted them to solo heal while everyone else focused on damage. A fast-clear strat. Fair enough — in low-level or easy dungeons, or with a well-coordinated party, this was common.

Koreans and their obsession with efficiency — always looking to shave off seconds by minimizing low-DPS roles like tank or healer.
But less stability meant a higher risk of wipes. In many cases, a full-party wipe with a solo-heal setup made things take longer than just doing a safe dual-heal clear. You needed to make that decision based on level, gear, and most importantly, player skill.
[Party] Gonyanyannyang2: Me...?

Gonyanyannyang2 was only Level 43, one level below the recommended minimum for the dungeon — and clearly undergeared. And they wanted them to solo heal?
They even watched the intro cutscene, for crying out loud. Total newbie.
[Party] MinchanThatsNotIt: This dungeon’s nothing. Just keep healing and it’s fine.

Bullshit. This was a level-gating dungeon — a checkpoint before max level where your ability to play your role would be tested. The mechanics weren’t complicated, sure. But tanks had to block every single random boss auto-hit. DPS had to meet hard damage checks. And healers? Healers had to handle constant, relentless gimmicks and keep the team alive.
If a tank or healer was on their first run, at least one wipe was practically guaranteed.
And Gonyanyannyang2 was already on shaky legs after getting slaughtered repeatedly by griefers. If they tried to solo heal and failed, I could already see them apologizing and wanting to bury themselves in the ground.

[Party] Honeybread: They’re Level 43 and it’s their first run. Let’s go two healers.
The moment I pushed back against the two damage-crazed maniacs, the party chat went quiet.
[Party] MinchanThatsNotIt: It’s really fine tho
[Party] MinchanThatsNotIt: This place isn’t that hard
That’s easy for them to say. Max-level DPS with nothing else to do but spam damage — no responsibility.

[Party] MinchanStopPooping: They’ll have to solo heal later anyway, right? Think of this as early training.
[Party] MinchanThatsNotIt: Yeah, just focus on healing, it’s no big deal.
[Party] MinchanThatsNotIt: Call it a head start.
Unbelievable. They had this planned all along. The fact that the Priest entered the party in Destroyer stance made it clear — they never intended to heal at all.
[Party] Honeybread: Don’t push speedrun meta.
[Party] Honeybread: If we wipe, the clear time’ll be even worse. No reason to force solo heal.

I didn’t care if we wiped — what I did care about was the newbie losing heart and quitting the game altogether. That kid might end up becoming a future Supreme Commander. I wasn’t about to let him get chased out like this. He was clearly soft inside — someone who needed steady guidance, encouragement, and confidence, not a brutal trial by fire.
Even if those two DPS assholes rage-quit, I wasn’t backing down. Hell, I’d prefer they quit — one DPS, one fake healer gone? Requeue would barely take a minute. Running a dungeon with them would just give me a migraine anyway—
[Party] Gonyanyannyang2: I’m okay, I’ll try solo healing.

What?
[Whisper] Honeybread >> Gonyanyannyang2: ?
[Party] MinchanThatsNotIt: LOL
[Party] MinchanThatsNotIt: OK solo heal gogogo. Healing’s not hard!
[Party] MinchanStopPooping: You said it’s fine, right healer?
[Party] MinchanThatsNotIt: I once solo healed this as a low-tier Jo too.
[Party] MinchanStopPooping: We’ll nuke the bosses, ezpz.
There’s no way anyone ever said this dungeon was easy. And now this kid was volunteering to solo heal?
Even with those two railroading him, I’d just stepped in to shield him — and he goes and kicks my support to the curb?

My head went numb. I yanked open my settings and re-enabled whispers.
[Whisper] Honeybread >> Gonyanyannyang2: Are you serious?
His reply came instantly.

[Whisper] Gonyanyannyang2 >> Honeybread: I studied hard.
[Whisper] Gonyanyannyang2 >> Honeybread: I’ll try my best!!
What happened to that terrified little thing trembling from griefer deaths earlier? This kid was suddenly glowing with confidence.
But I wasn’t the kind of guy who’d try to drag someone out of a minefield once they’d already jumped in. I gave up. Who knows — maybe he really was some god-tier healer, strong enough to clear this dungeon solo under all these ridiculous conditions without even one wipe.

[Party] Areswiss: Should we go...?
The main tank, who’d been keeping quiet through the standoff, finally spoke up in a hesitant voice. The Minchan duo cackled in glee and shouted "go," and even the silent assassin — who hadn’t said a word since joining — dropped a simple:
[Party] StoryModeAlt: g

Goddamn it. What was I even thinking, trying to help a newbie like this? Should’ve just handed over some gold and walked away. If he really was good, I would’ve noticed him eventually.
…But if he’d lost motivation and quit the game before that, then I wouldn’t have noticed at all.
I shoved down the urge to give his character a virtual forehead flick and followed behind the others. It felt weird not being the one leading the charge — a rare sensation, but not a pleasant one.

We moved through the map a little and soon came across a pack of small scorpions. The first mob wave.
There weren’t any special mechanics here, so it was easy to clear. But considering the tank was Level 44 and the healer was only 43, it felt a bit reckless to see them pull the whole group. Still, the DPS output was strong enough that the danger passed quickly.
Checking the damage meter, the Minchan duo were actually putting up solid numbers. Better than expected, even. Their PvE gear was all +25, outperforming even my fully enhanced set.

Guess all that bragging about their damage wasn’t empty talk.
I’d been hoping to catch them slipping, but no dice.
After the mob room came the first named boss chamber. The stone floor of the ruined temple had long since crumbled. The crumbling walls and shattered pillars revealed the muddy earth beneath.

Water began to pool over the damp, dark-brown soil. Slowly, a viscous mass bubbled up — the swirling mire took shape, expanding, rising, until it formed a massive blob.
The first named boss: .