Dusk (BL Light Novel)

I expected my HP to rise to maybe 60–70%, but Retaking blew past that with an explosive heal like a popped rubber seal on a tube of frozen ice cream—instantly restoring me to full. From his perspective, it was probably pure survival instinct: if I died, he was going down with me, so save me first, think later. Still, the speed was insane.
Watching 120k HP refill in under two seconds made my eyes pop. The hope I’d given up on came flooding back. I’m not gonna die after all. And sure enough—I didn’t. Thanks to Retaking’s clutch heals and my perfectly timed block, I tanked the second buster just in time.

Curious how the hell he managed such a fast full heal, I checked his status window. The first thing I noticed: a whopping 8 stacks of the stress debuff. That meant Retaking had restored me to full while taking a 16% penalty to attack, defense, and penetration.
…After that level of coverage, if I keep milking his minigame failure forever, he probably won’t party with me again, huh? I guess I should tone it down. Just a little.
Because of his reduced damage, I could clearly feel the pace slow down. But the boss’s HP was already low, and with his regen-based DoTs and my steady DPS, things evened out after the double buster phase. We finally cleared it.

The golem collapsed in a dry, crumbling heap. A small figure glowing faint green rose into the air from its remains. A spirit.
["Ha ha ha… Truly, I can never win against you. It was the same when you first came to this land…"]
["You stole our world with your overwhelming strength—and now you play at being heroes."]

["If I had known this world would only use us before discarding us, I would’ve run long ago."]
The green spirit trailed off in sorrow and slowly disappeared. I couldn’t tell if it had died or simply vanished.
As the spirit disappeared, the chains and lock that had sealed the archway crumbled into dust, and the door slowly swung open to reveal the path ahead.

…Wait, wasn’t that the one labeled PULL?
Anyway, despite all that chaos, we’d cleared the first boss without a single wipe. Honestly, it felt like a miracle. By all rights, we should’ve wiped when Retaking failed the minigame—but thanks to a miraculous revival cast, we made it through.
[Party] Honeybread: holy shit

[Party] Honeybread: boss that’s both chill af and sweat af
[Party] Honeybread: like a hot iced americano
[Party] Retaking: lololol hot iced americano

[Party] Honeybread: is that funny?
[Party] Retaking: Yes ^^
[Party] Retaking: I had 8 stacks of stress, gotta laugh to unwind...

[Party] Honeybread: oh~~
[Party] Honeybread: I’ll help you relax then ^^
[Party] Honeybread: what does Jesus say when he finds clothes he likes?
[Party] Retaking: n—

[Party] Retaking: dnt
[Party] Honeybread: Jerusalem~ :)
[Party] Retaking: ah

While Retaking flailed in secondhand embarrassment, trying not to laugh at my horrible pun, I started picking up the loot dropped where the golem had fallen. Since it was a party-based random share system, some of it went into Retaking’s inventory too.
As I scooped up the last junk item, I made a comment.
[Party] Honeybread: aside from two gimmicks, p smooth fight overall

[Party] Honeybread: if someone hadn’t failed the minigame
[Party] Retaking: heh
[Party] Retaking: heh heh

[Party] Retaking: true
[Party] Honeybread: only hard part was last phase’s double buster
[Party] ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) Retaking: heh heh

[Party] Honeybread: right?
[Party] Retaking: heh heh
[Party] Honeybread: lol

[Party] Retaking: still, I did work hard healing you with 8 stress stacks on ' ^')...!
[Party] Honeybread: you really did great
[Party] Honeybread: but if you had passed the minigame

[Party] Honeybread: none of that would’ve been necessary, right?
[Party] Retaking: ; -;)...!
That marked the second day Retaking had to kneel before me.

[Chat]
That party with those two on Server 3 went full godmode
Not only was the streamer riding peak hype—

They cleared 1st boss on first try with zero info???
Has anyone else ever cleared Hidden Story 1st boss on their first attempt?
(+ fr Honeybread too is insane. That “Jerusalem” joke I’m in shambles 💀💀)

(GIF)
[LV.78 PersimmonCola]
[▼ Comments (29) Sort: Old | New]

LV.53 OtterTanuki
👍 2 👎 1
Was it possible because it was a Holy + Medic pair, or because it was them?
└ LV.89 Regend
👍 13 👎 2
Definitely the latter. Holy guessed the gimmick, and Medic tanked through it all with pure reflexes.
└ LV.24 LeftRightUpWoong
👍 21 👎 7
“Holy”

LV.64 RoseMalaTang
👍 5 👎 0
I had to comment ‘cause I legit don’t believe it. Cleared 2 mob phases then first boss on first try with just tank and healer? At sub-10% HP boss does back-to-back tank busters and the autos hurt like hell. I die just trying to save the tank, but they cleared it?
└ LV.22 DaeSooriHawkHead
👍 17 👎 0
That phase only spawns if you fail the DPS check. If your DPS is too low, you don’t skip the first Flower of Mourning, so the golem still has both arms for the double buster.
└ LV.78 PersimmonCola (Author)
👍 11 👎 2
Yeah and the Medic had 8 stacks of stress but still full-healed through it lmfao. Even more insane—he failed the minigame, Holy died, revived him, and still cleared it first try.

└ LV.25 FattyButt
👍 0 👎 0
(PNG)
└ LV.64 RoseMalaTang
👍 3 👎 1
Deadass why didn’t that dude go med school? He’d be rich as hell.
LV.49 LambyAchooKyu
👍 2 👎 2
Brooo lmfaoooooo that “Jerusalem” joke seriously hurt my pride 🤣🤣🤣

—
find unused program
bloc_moth reboot fail. (0xc??null?)
—

The archway marked PULL led into a building colder and darker than the last. No lights near the entrance—only the artificial sunlight from the garden streaming faintly inside. The deeper we walked, the dimmer it got.
But it wasn’t totally dark. Far ahead, a faint white glow flickered at the edge of our view. I had the dumbest thought: maybe the spirits turn off the lights at the front to save candles.
As we moved deeper, the quest updated with a chime, and a story cutscene began. It showed me and Retaking walking briskly forward, the camera watching from above like a third party. Behind us, two NPCs followed.

Unlike us—focused and silent—Abrea and Adam had a different dynamic. Abrea looked disoriented, still rattled from the first boss. Adam wasn’t the type to leave someone like that alone, apparently. He grabbed Abrea’s sleeve and tugged him along behind us.
Unexpected. I’d figured Adam would just spectate in amusement or ignore him altogether. But he was actively keeping him close.
The camera zoomed in on Abrea and Adam. Abrea, seemingly the spirit’s chosen host, stared at the ground with lifeless eyes. Adam watched him silently.

Was it concern? Was he observing? I couldn’t tell. But the way Adam gripped Abrea’s sleeve tighter suggested it might be the former.
As the screen brightened—probably because we reached the light—the focus shifted again, now showing the group halting. When we stopped walking, Adam and Abrea quietly lifted their heads.
The room, lit by soft white glow, was full of ornate decorations, with mirror-covered walls. It looked like a fancy chamber where you'd expect lavish furnishings. But no wall sconces. Between the mirrors, there was a narrow hallway.

…Was it even a hallway?
[- Adam: uirevm…… kuiruit.]
— “Oh, the path.”

The space where the floor should have been was completely black. From the start of the corridor to its unseen end—just a gaping void.
Retaking’s character strode confidently into the darkness. Startled by his boldness, my character reached out with his mouth open—then gave up and chased after him.