Dusk (BL Light Novel)

After the respawn ended, I grabbed Gang Jaegyung, who was darting around to mock me, and poured out a genuine extreme attack on him. Just as the second round ended, I was trapped inside a spiked cage. Because of that, my skill combo was interrupted, and I couldn’t finish him off—but in hindsight, that was lucky. If I had killed him, not only would I have failed to gain points, but Gang Jaegyung would have started the next round with full HP.
The screen shifted, and the map changed. The final third-round map was a series of floating islands gathered on a high plateau, connected by rickety suspension bridges.
An area where you could fall to your death. For me—loaded with hitback skills and status-inflicting abilities—it was the perfect place to make up points. Of course, Gang Jaegyung also had a knockback skill, so I had to be careful. But he only had one, and as long as I avoided that, I could prevent getting knocked off.

The moment the bind released, I charged forward, activated a status resistance buff, and immediately leapt across the suspension bridge, gliding through the air. It was a risky spot where I could fall to my death, but I didn’t have the luxury of choosing between hot and cold rice right now.
Seeing Gang Jaegyung standing across from me, I used my charge skill. My character sped toward him. The charge alone wasn’t enough to cover the distance, but by linking another skill, I managed to cross the suspension bridge in one breath.
When I got close, Gang Jaegyung tried to fire off a defensive skill, but I had already used a resistance buff earlier, so I landed safely right next to him. Without giving him a second to breathe, I launched a relentless assault.

Because of our repeated use of skills, the rope that prevented falling broke from wear and tear. Now, if I pushed Gang Jaegyung off where the rope had snapped, I could earn points. Dropping him was far more efficient than whittling his HP down to zero, so I focused entirely on knocking him off.
Gang Jaegyung, fully aware of this, tried desperately not to show any openings—and he kept sneaking in knockback attempts whenever he could.
I blocked Gang Jaegyung’s defensive skills with my shield, and he deflected my status-inflicting moves. It was a fierce, breathless exchange. Just as I started thinking it might be better to just beat him to death, Gang Jaegyung, losing the psychological battle, got hit with a stun.

[Battle] You dealt 3,991 damage to Retaking a Class using Noble Execution.
[Battle] Retaking a Class is stunned by the effect of Noble Execution.
[Battle] You took 1,143 damage from Retaking a Class's Central Control.
[Battle] Retaking a Class recovers from all status effects via Central Control.
[Battle] Retaking a Class is afflicted with Resistance Reduction via Central Control.
Knowing he was finished the moment he got stunned, Gang Jaegyung immediately used an escape skill. Then he triggered an emergency evasion, retreating backward. It was basically a last-ditch move.
I stuck close and unleashed an extreme burst of damage on him. In the end, unable to withstand the onslaught, his character’s HP hit zero and he burst into a ball of light.

I hadn’t managed to knock him off, but a kill was a kill. Besides, I was right near Gang Jaegyung’s respawn zone, where an extra 8-point token had appeared. With the score at 18 to 25, grabbing this would instantly put me 1 point ahead.
Holding out between the 2- and 5-point tokens during Round 2 had paid off. If I hadn’t, it would’ve been hard to turn the game around even after picking up the 8- and 5-point tokens.
[System] You have proven your worth to the God of Ivria with 8 points.
[System] Your HP has slightly recovered under the God’s blessing.

Even though I struggled in the last round, thanks to what I’d built up, I managed to reverse the score in one shot.
While I was thinking about how best to cause a fall next, Gang Jaegyung’s respawn ended. Instead of charging straight at me as expected, he turned and sprinted toward the suspension bridge on the left. Smart move—staying where he was would only work in my favor.
I needed to catch up to him fast. I wanted to jump across like before, but my charge skill was still on cooldown. So I crossed the floating islands via the center bridge, quickly reaching the middle, then cut sideways to intercept him.

The moment I approached, Gang Jaegyung stopped running and activated a skill.
[Battle] You took 8,766 damage from Retaking a Class's Joint Strike.
[Battle] You are incapacitated by the effect of Joint Strike.
[Battle] Your attack speed is reduced by the effect of Joint Strike.
[Battle] Your movement speed is reduced by the effect of Joint Strike.
I had suspected a Joint Strike was coming... It was such an obvious situation that I second-guessed myself, expecting a sudden Snap Pivot instead. But sure enough, it was Joint Strike.
As soon as the brief stun ended, I used my status resistance buff. The vital strike that followed was nullified thanks to the resistance, and I even blocked the stun attached to the nerve strike that came next. My skill could block three status effects—now only one resistance remained.

At this point, Gang Jaegyung might try to bait out my remaining resistance with Snap Pivot... but he wasn’t that easy.
He probably intended to chip away my remaining resistance by using Edge Slam first—
[Battle] You dealt 12,901 damage to Retaking a Class with Annihilation Blade.
[Battle] You took 4,536 damage from Retaking a Class's Edge Slam.
[Battle] You resisted the stun effect of Edge Slam. (Sturdy)
[Battle] You are bleeding from the effect of Edge Slam.

Then came the DOT casting...
[Battle] You took 3,002 (-1,381) damage from Retaking a Class’s Snap Pivot.
[Battle] You blocked the effect of Snap Pivot using Shield Block.
…Fake Snap Pivot.

I tried to activate my resistance skill to block the next real stun—but a chill ran down my spine. I spotted the attack speed reduction debuff still clinging to my status window. I’d been too distracted to notice it until now.
In PvP, attack speed reduction is fatal. In urgent situations where you need to quickly fire off a skill—
[Battle] Activation of Forced Will has been canceled.

—your skills get canceled more easily.
[Battle] You took 4,662 damage from Retaking a Class’s Twisted Strike.
[Battle] You are stunned by the effect of Twisted Strike.
[Battle] You took 2,315 damage from Retaking a Class’s Spinning Kick.
[Battle] You are knocked back by the effect of Spinning Kick.
Gang Jaegyung’s character kicked me with all his strength—and I fell off the bridge into the void.

Because I got too obsessed with pushing him off, I lost my cool and made a fatal mistake.
While I was stuck in respawn, Gang Jaegyung collected the nearby 5-point token and recovered his HP.
[26 : 30]

I was behind again, but it was fine. There were still over two minutes left. Judging by Gang Jaegyung’s remaining HP, it looked like I could kill him with a simple stun combo without needing to knock him off.
The moment my respawn ended, I hit my doping buffs and charged toward Gang Jaegyung, who was loitering near the 8-point token. He didn’t have Joint Strike available right now, and the cooldown on Snap Pivot was still awkwardly timed.
[Battle] You dealt 3,891 damage to Retaking a Class using Vanguard Command.
[Battle] Retaking a Class is stunned by the effect of Vanguard Command.
[Battle] You took 3,815 damage from Retaking a Class’s Central Control.
[Battle] Retaking a Class recovers from all status effects via Central Control.
[Battle] Retaking a Class is knocked down by the effect of Central Control.

Gang Jaegyung’s character used an escape skill, causing my character to fall again. Supposedly, it was a low chance to knock down... but it felt like I was getting knocked down eight out of ten times.
Of all times, I got hit with a knockdown debuff. At this point, Snap Pivot’s cooldown was probably back, and knockback was imminent—
[Battle] You dealt 4,127 damage to Retaking a Class with Spirit Escape.
[Battle] You recovered from all status effects via Spirit Escape.
[Battle] Your movement speed increased via Spirit Escape.

In the end, I had to burn my own escape skill just to counter his.
Time ticked away, reaching around 1 minute and 40 seconds remaining. During the prolonged fight, my status window was showing that the duration on my DOTs was almost over—time for a refresh.
Of course, I would’ve preferred he didn’t. Gang Jaegyung had so much immunity now that even if a zombie virus exploded, he’d probably just brush it off.

But the ever-diligent Gang Jaegyung went through the motions, casting fresh DOTs to keep the pressure up.
I just stood there, calmly taking the hits to conserve my skills. Then, the moment he made the motion to grab a vial, I bared my teeth.