Dusk (BL Light Novel)

[Battle] You dealt 3,918 damage to Retaking a Class using Vanguard Command.
[Battle] Retaking a Class is stunned by the effect of Vanguard Command.
[Battle] The Calm Mind of Retaking a Class has blocked the stun effect.
Seeing me move, Gang Jaegyung quickly activated Calm Mind, but I managed to interrupt the skill just in time.
Well, would you look at that. As I watched Gang Jaegyung get stunned after his Calm Mind was canceled, I silently celebrated.

With just over a minute remaining, I began hammering away at Retaking a Class. At this point, it was more advantageous to kill him slowly with status effects than to knock him off the map. If I grabbed the 5-point token now, I’d be one point ahead—and to secure the win, it was best to run away or stall out the clock so he wouldn’t get another chance to turn things around.
Dragging it out as long as possible, I carefully stacked my status-inflicting skills one by one. It took about 12 seconds. Gang Jaegyung still had plenty of HP left, and most of my status skills had come off cooldown, so it was doable.
[System] You have proven your worth to the God of Ivria with 5 points.
[System] Your HP has slightly recovered under the God’s blessing.

Honestly, I’d respawned closer to the 2-point token, so getting the 5-pointer was tight on time. But going for the 2-point one was just not enough to win, so I pushed it—even if it was risky.
Fortunately, I made it just in time to grab the 5-pointer, and Gang Jaegyung, who had just reached me, barely managed to unleash a skill.
[Battle] You took 3,017 (-1,388) damage from Retaking a Class’s Snap Pivot.
[Battle] You took 4,722 (-2,172) damage from Retaking a Class’s Nerve Strike.
[Battle] You blocked the effect of Nerve Strike using Shield Block.

I successfully blocked the stun with Shield Block. Then, anticipating a follow-up with Joint Strike, I raised a resistance buff. Sure enough, instead of using a defensive skill, Gang Jaegyung started casting DOTs. Looked like he was trying to wait out my resistance buff while chipping away at my HP.
With not much else he could do, Gang Jaegyung focused on refreshing his DOTs, while I kept using status skills to interrupt him whenever he tried to land an actual hit. Then, seemingly frustrated, Gang Jaegyung activated casting speed boosters to make all his skills instant-cast. He must’ve given up on knockback and decided to just kill me outright.
I raised a defensive buff to reduce DOT damage. It was the only way to protect even a shred of my HP from the ridiculous number of DOT stacks coming in.

When the skill’s duration ended, Gang Jaegyung used an evasive move to distance himself, then followed up with more skills.
[Battle] You took 1,174 damage from Retaking a Class’s Research Virus XXI.
[Battle] The effect of Forced Mutation has been applied.
[Battle] Research Virus III has mutated and its duration has been reset.
[Battle] Virus V has mutated and its duration has been reset.
[Battle] Virus LII has mutated and its duration has been reset.
[Battle] Research Virus VII has mutated and its duration has been reset.
[Battle] Research Virus XXI has mutated and its duration has been reset.
[Battle] Flu Virus has mutated and its duration has been reset.
What the hell. How many… how many of them mutated just now?

I panicked and quickly calculated my survival options. Once is used, it forcibly mutates virus-type skills at a 20% chance—but for 5 seconds afterward, the extraction skill can’t be used. So I had to time a survival skill that temporarily boosts HP around the 4-second mark. If I didn’t, those six stacks would absolutely kill me.
[Battle] Virus I has mutated and its duration has been reset.
Oh, come on—you too...?

Seven stacks now. At this point, one-hit death was highly likely. The moment those DOTs mutated, my HP started dropping so fast it made my skin crawl.
I raised my survival skill while obsessively watching Gang Jaegyung’s every move. Ideally, I’d interrupt him with a status skill the moment he tried to use his extraction—stop the skill outright.
Gang Jaegyung clearly knew what I was thinking. He kept making unnecessary movements, trying to distract and throw off my concentration.
After a long back-and-forth of mind games, I finally caught a familiar animation out of the corner of my eye.

[Battle] You dealt 4,192 damage to Retaking a Class with Noble Execution.
[Battle] Retaking a Class is stunned by the effect of Noble Execution.
[Battle] Extraction of Mutated Virus has been blocked.
Got it—blocked the extraction skill!
The worst was over. All I had to do now was run until time ran out.

I started to move my character away from Gang Jaegyung. But right then—
[Battle] You took 4,693 damage from Retaking a Class’s Edge Slam.
[Battle] You are stunned by the effect of Edge Slam.
[Battle] You are bleeding from the effect of Edge Slam.
The tables turned.

[Battle] You took 2,387 damage from Retaking a Class’s Kick.
[Battle] You are knocked down by the effect of Kick.
I’d been too focused on stopping the extraction, and missed the window to refresh my resistance buff. The moment it expired, Gang Jaegyung slipped in and stunned me with Edge Slam.
With his extraction blocked and his odds of winning diminished, he pounced on this golden opportunity without hesitation.

I frantically checked my escape skill—still on cooldown.
[Battle] You took 2,973 damage from Retaking a Class’s Snap Pivot.
[Battle] You took 5,649 damage from Retaking a Class’s Twisted Strike.
[Battle] You are stunned by the effect of Twisted Strike.
Gang Jaegyung maneuvered around my defense, then used a knockback skill to launch me into the air.

[Battle] You took 2,754 damage from Retaking a Class’s Spinning Kick.
[Battle] You are knocked back by the effect of Spinning Kick.
Shit. I’m fucked.
My HP was still high—but fall damage doesn’t care how much HP you have. Once you fall, you die.

And no, I couldn’t get back to the ground.
Gang Jaegyung, fully aware of that, calmly turned his character toward the direction of the token.
If he grabbed a token in these last few seconds, he could reverse the game. Even if I knocked him off immediately after respawning, he’d still have time to collect it. And I had no way to get back to solid ground.

So what ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) now? Just fall and lose?
I bit my lip. …No way. I’m not letting it end like that.
Before I hit the void, I pressed the spacebar to glide and buy time, my fingers already racing across the keyboard. My aim was locked onto Gang Jaegyung.

The moment my fingers hit the keys, my falling character paused mid-air— Chains exploded from my body and wrapped around Gang Jaegyung.
[Battle] Retaking a Class has been hit by Executioner’s Shackles.
[Battle] Retaking a Class is stunned by the effect of Executioner’s Shackles.
I didn’t stop there—
I pressed another skill key to chain into the combo.

[Battle] Retaking a Class has been hit by Execution Preparation.
[Battle] Retaking a Class is stunned by the effect of Execution Preparation.
dragged the shackled enemy to me—
Which meant Gang Jaegyung’s character was instantly yanked into mid-air, right where I was falling.
The moment my skill animation ended, I dropped straight down into the abyss. And because he was stunned and couldn’t glide, Gang Jaegyung fell with me.

I died first, but only by a hair. Then Gang Jaegyung’s character followed me down, entering respawn too.
He’d lost his chance to collect the token—
The score stayed in my favor.
And the time left?

11 seconds.
Even if I sprinted out the second my respawn ended, the match would end before anything else happened.
“…Hah.”

Without realizing it, I let out the breath I’d been holding.
There was nothing more Gang Jaegyung could do now.