NOVEL WEB chapter 82
[Guild] RomanticCat: what is this drop rate lmao
[Guild] Honeybread: lol 1 drop from 9 mobs
[Guild] Honeybread: let’s run another pull over there
[Guild] RomanticCat: okok
Since they were regular mobs, it was a relief that they were scattered all around. We herded another group of Sunset Stem Flowers twice and waited for the respawn. While waiting, Romantic started casually gathering nearby materials, saying she might as well while we had downtime.
And that’s when the Zepa tribe started creeping in.
The first one that bravely charged in alone got intercepted by me before it could even touch Romantic. The second wave—two of them in a party—fell to Romantic’s axe after she finished gathering.
By the time we’d gathered about six stems through a steady rhythm of fighting, gathering, and respawning, I was circling near Romantic, keeping watch while she gathered again—when I noticed a red marker moving in on the minimap.
Just one again. Free reputation, thank you very much. I turned the camera toward the blip… and immediately recognized a welcome name popping up for the first time today.
[Retaking a Class]
It was Gang Jaegyung.
I’d lost to him at the very end of yesterday’s mass PvP, so I’d been itching to stomp him today. Lucky for me, he was alone, and aside from Romantic, the area was deserted—perfect for a one-on-one.
I got into position, ready to fight as soon as he got in range.
…but as Gang Jaegyung’s character got closer, something about his gear seemed off. The design had changed a little, and weirdly, it looked very familiar.
Wait, that outfit...
I squinted at his character to make out the model—and then a skill hit me.
[Combat] You are stunned by Retaking a Class’s Executor’s Restraint.
[Combat] You are stunned by Retaking a Class’s Execution Prep.
[Combat] You received 3,498 damage from Execution Slash used by Retaking a Class.
Chains.
Chains that don’t exist in the Medical Officer’s skillset.
My character was yanked forward, stunned and bound by a glowing chain effect, dragged straight to Retaking a Class’s feet. And up close—he looked even more ridiculous.
Why the hell… was he holding a sword and shield?
[Normal] Retaking a Class: ^^!!
What the fuck is this clown doing playing Divine Messenger?
I shook off my confusion, and as soon as the stun ended, I immediately started chaining my skills. Fighting another Divine Messenger wasn’t hard since I knew the class inside out, but still—Defender-types were tough to kill, almost as tanky as healers.
Thankfully, Gang Jaegyung had next to no experience playing Divine Messenger. He was basically a slightly beefy mob with flashy armor.
His shield block timing was off, so once I landed a combo, his health dropped at a decent clip. He must’ve already fully geared the class, because he wasn’t melting instantly, but apart from that, it felt like fighting a mid-level NPC Divine Messenger.
[Guild] RomanticCat: huh what?
[Guild] RomanticCat: Retaking switched to Divine Messenger??
[Guild] Sillonti: ?? Retaking is playing Di.vi.ne Mes.sen.ger?
[Guild] RomanticCat: yeah lmaooo
[Guild] RomanticCat: this is wild
[Guild] Sillonti: wtf I wanna see this too lol
Romantic, who had finished gathering, typed in chat as she strolled over. Gang Jaegyung hesitated, inching backward. But Romantic didn’t jump in—just stood there and watched.
He was still clumsy with his skills, his combos failing to link smoothly. While fending off his awkward attacks, I glanced at our HP. The difference was night and day compared to fighting him as a Medical Officer.
Watching his smaller character flail around with a sword, I almost felt… sorry for him. Maybe this was how Abrea felt watching me struggle back in my newbie days.
But there was no miracle comeback. I cut him down without mercy and typed:
[Normal] Honeybread: day drinking?
I already knew he had polished off eight boiled eggs and four packets of bibimmyeon earlier, alcohol-free. But I threw that in to bait him—maybe he’d show up again in his usual class, wanting to set the record straight.
He lingered for a moment, staring at my message, then disappeared in a flash as he hit the respawn button.
He’d definitely be back.
We resumed farming mobs while waiting. A random 4-man party rushed us at one point, but couldn’t keep up against one active Commander-in-Chief and one former Grand Commander—they wiped instantly.
More Zepa players showed up one by one, and we picked them off as we waited for Gang Jaegyung to reappear.
Eventually, like clockwork, he showed up again.
Still as a Divine Messenger.
[Normal] Honeybread: ;?
[Normal] Retaking a Class: ^-^!!!!!!
I typed a question mark out of sheer disbelief, but Gang Jaegyung just charged me with a cheerful string of exclamation marks. He had clearly picked up a few tricks—he used a sloped hill to glide down into me with a skill-enhanced rush.
[Combat] Retaking a Class’s Executor’s Restraint hit successfully.
[Combat] You are stunned by Executor’s Restraint.
Sure, the glide sped him up a little, but when he comes at me in a perfect straight line like that, there’s no way I wouldn’t land a stun.
He could’ve blocked it with perfect timing, but I doubted he’d ever fought another Divine Messenger before—so he got caught and dragged in helplessly again.
His status effects stacked. His health bar dropped.
There was no surprise turnaround.
2–0.
Another clean win for me.
[Normal] Honeybread: bro you can’t beat me with Divine Messenger
Gang Jaegyung wasn’t awful, but Divine Messengers at this level were everywhere. I’d fought what felt like tens of thousands of them throughout my time playing Dusk.
He read my chat and, once again, disappeared into respawn.
This time… please just come back as a Medical Officer.
We waited.
[Guild] Honeybread: stems everywhere
[Guild] Honeybread: can’t we just loot one from a corpse?
[Guild] Honeybread: over 20 kills and still just 1 drop what the hell
[Guild] RomanticCat: hey bossman, Retaking’s back there again
We’d finally gotten one measly stem after all that mob grinding, and just then—poking his head out again—came Gang Jaegyung, proudly holding sword and shield with undying confidence.
Forum Thread Title: Why Is Our Server’s Grand Commander Playing Divine Messenger?
Posted by: [Zepa] Jabba
Have you lost your mind??
(10 comments)
Retaking? Support class?
└ [OP] Retaking.
Said he’s studying Divine Messenger because life is war.
└ [OP] WAT???????
At least he’s not throwing points. Only gets stomped by Honeybread.
└ [OP] Isn't that still throwing?
└ They fight a lot, it’s fine as long as he doesn’t lose to lower ranks.
└ He’s fully geared and high ranked, so he’s hard to kill. If he holds out, someone usually comes save him.
└ [OP] Should someone be babysitting him or what?
└ LMAOOOO they were just talking about that in race chat
***
TIP — The Medical Officer’s Grand Commander skill revives all allied players who died within the last 10 seconds within a 100m radius, and grants 2 seconds of invincibility.
***
5–0.
A lopsided score that came entirely from him respawning and charging straight back at me over and over again. And still, Gang Jaegyung stubbornly stuck with Divine Messenger.
If he told me he switched to that class just to mess with me, I’d believe it. His combos were a mess. The way he used his skills—things that should’ve been obvious ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) just from reading the damn descriptions—he completely fumbled. It had to be on purpose.
[System] You have defeated Retaking a Class, Grand Commander of the Zepa Tribe.
[System] You have gained 2,400 reputation points.
[Tribe] Honeybread, Commander-in-Chief of the Via Tribe, has defeated Retaking a Class, Grand Commander of the Zepa Tribe.
…Still, he was improving. It was like he was trying to prove he wasn’t trolling me on purpose. His combos were starting to land more cleanly. He was making fewer stupid mistakes. And judging by the way he started mimicking my movement and positioning—like attacking from the left, where right-handed characters are more vulnerable—he was definitely picking things up.
Watching him grow… weirdly made me feel proud.