[Party] BananaMambo: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
[Party] Pichuragi: Leaaaarning~ through~ dying~ Niú Mó Wáng’s~ Laboratory~
[Party] BananaMambo: It’s just hard because it’s fast ㅠㅋㅋㅋ You’ll get used to it after a few tries!!
[Party] Moto: (Doesn’t seem like it’s just a speed issue though)
[Party] Ratan: (The veterans always say the same thing)
[Party] BananaMambo: You become an adult…… by rolling a thousand times……^^
[Party] Moto: Was that…… what that phrase meant??
[Party] BananaMambo: The historicity of language~^^
After a few silly jokes, everyone adjusted their positions. The attack order started with the tank, Banana Mambo, followed by Pichuragi, Limousine, Jaheun, Moto, and Ratan, and since the ranged DPS players were inexperienced, jumping duties were assigned to Limousine, Jaheun, and Pichuragi.
Banana Mambo wasn’t just scaring everyone for no reason — Bì Jì was genuinely a high-difficulty boss.
Not only were the special patterns intense, but a regularly applied poison debuff was also a major issue throughout the entire fight. Since the poison would already be stacked quite a bit before the special pattern even began, the damage per second from poison would become significant. As a result, attacking the boss diligently during the patterns to trigger lifesteal — a.k.a. self-healing — was essential.
Since the lifesteal mechanic was based on returning a percentage of your damage dealt as health, beginners unfamiliar with the patterns often died frequently because they couldn’t land effective hits. Furthermore, the boss’s attack speed and pattern pacing were incredibly fast, so even outside of the special patterns, if the tank wasn’t solid, retries were frequent, earning the boss its reputation as a graveyard for tanks.
Regardless of Ratan and Moto whining and collapsing, Limousine casually walked to his assigned spot. A born DPS, Limousine didn’t care what happened to the rest of the party; he was only deeply invested in fulfilling his role and stuffing the boss with as much damage as possible.
Ratan, who had been tense even before the countdown began, unexpectedly stayed calm once the try started. Though his health dipped dangerously low a few times, Pichuragi — who had a hidden party healing skill — supported him at just the right moments, preventing him from dying.
The real problem was Moto.
[Party] Moto: ㅠㅠ?? ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
[Party] Moto: Sorry, I really am trying to move right away ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
During the consecutive cone-shaped pattern, if someone dies midway, the final cone-shaped strike randomly targets one of the surviving members. The problem is that with a speed reduction debuff already in effect, guiding and dodging the AoEs becomes extremely difficult. Even for melee DPS with movement skills, it’s rough, let alone for a ranged DPS whose movement is basically nonexistent. Unfortunately, Moto, who was at the end of the sequence, repeatedly failed to avoid the pattern and died midway, causing the last cone-shaped strike to wipe everyone out several times. The party had to call an emergency adjustment.
[Party] BananaMambo: What should we do, should we move Moto-nim’s turn earlier?
[Party] Pichuragi: But he should learn it anyway, so maybe try a few more times as practice……?
[Party] Pichuragi: Since this is a first-timer group……
[Party] BananaMambo: Mousine-nim and Jaheun-nim, are you two okay with that??
[Party] Limousine: I don’t mind
[Party] Limousine: Better than running into some random jerks in public parties and getting flamed while learning
[Party] Limousine: At least if we’re the ones flaming him while teaching……
[Party] Pichuragi: ㅋ
[Party] Moto: ㅠㅠ My mentors…
[Party] BananaMambo: What about Jaheun-nim?
[Party] Jaheun: I’m fine with it too
Limousine was a little surprised by the unexpectedly easy agreement. This guy…… maybe he’s starting to like our clan members?
With everyone’s consent, they kept the original formation and tried a few more runs. Moto and Ratan started to get the hang of things. When they cleared Phase 1 and Phase 2 and smoothly made it into Phase 3, Limousine had a feeling. They were going to beat it this time.
That’s exactly when things get dangerous. There’s a reason raid leaders always say to stay focused until the very end.
[Party] Pichuragi: Huh?
[Party] Pichuragi: My bad ㅎ
The unexpected variable was Pichuragi. In Phase 3, the AoE pattern expanded to 330 degrees. That meant the safe zone was a mere 30-degree cone.
Since the safe area wasn’t marked in advance, it was crucial to stand precisely at Bì Jì’s front or back. However, after a string of tries, Pichuragi had a brief lapse in focus and stood slightly off. Because of that, the safe zone skewed, and most of the players standing there were swept away. In an instant, gray corpses piled up, and the party chat caught fire.
[Party] Pichuragi: ㅋ Ah
[Party] Pichuragi: Had a brain fart for a sec ㅠ sorryyy
[Party] BananaMambo: Ah, Chu-nim;; Are you trolling? ㅠ
[Party] BananaMambo: Can you please uninstall your achievements;;
[Party] Limousine: The fake pro performance is real……
[Party] Pichuragi: ㅠ I’m just a baby
Ironically, in a party with both novices and veterans, it’s more fun when a veteran makes a mistake than when a newbie does. You can’t mock someone for not knowing, but you can mock someone who’s supposed to know better.
Thinking it’d be another retry, Limousine casually typed in chat, but something felt off. His brow furrowed. Bì Jì’s HP hadn’t reset.
Of course, bosses don’t reset unless the entire party dies.
[Party] Pichuragi: ㅎㄹ insane;
[Party] Pichuragi: OMG Jaheun-nim’s still alive omg how did you survive??
[Party] Pichuragi: Celestial Wind protractor;;;
Amazingly, Jaheun hadn’t been swept away by the AoE. What’s more, he wasn’t even fazed, as if he’d expected to be the sole survivor, and calmly continued handling the 6-man patterns on his own.
“Dominance Initiation.”
< Movement speed and recovery effects increase by 10%. >
Saying the AoE range wasn’t pre-marked meant it was impossible to know exactly when the targeting decision was made. Even with a movement speed buff, dodging those insanely fast AoEs while darting back and forth between Bì Jì’s front and back was almost an art form. On top of that, if a flower bloomed while dodging, he had to shift laterally to match the bloom’s location.
He was constantly in motion, yet still tracking the exact moment the AoE target was locked in, dodging with perfect timing? At that speed? Limousine had run Niú Mó Wáng’s Laboratory over a hundred times, but this was the first time he’d seen someone dodge through the AoEs with a movement debuff using sheer positioning.
“Severing Slash.”
< You are invulnerable to damage during attack animation. >
Since there were no other surviving party members, Jaheun had to solo all three jump attacks. He used an invincibility skill for one, tanked the second using the health he’d restored in between, and cleanly dodged the third with a movement skill — all with such composure that it looked like that was just the standard strategy. The way he flowed through each pattern was mesmerizing. Everyone just stared in awe.
The reason he chose to dodge the final jump with a movement skill became clear moments later: he was widening the gap to time his block for the next incoming charge. The realization followed that his near-stationary dodges during the first two jumps had been to keep the distance as short as possible to grab the flower blooming in the center.
So it wasn’t some fluke dodging from flailing around — he was countering every pattern by design.
What the hell am I watching……? This guy’s just…… insane.
[Party] BananaMambo: That was insane……
[Party] Pichuragi: Wow, for real, hard carry……
[Party] Pichuragi: Are we…… actually clearing this?
[Party] Ratan: omg omg omg…… like this??
[Party] Ratan: Wow, swordmaster is amazing…… Should I change class to Swordmaster?
[Party] Moto: Sir, that’s Jaheun-nim you’re watching
[Party] Ratan: Oh man ㅠㅠㅋㅋㅋ I seriously can’t believe this—those AoEs can actually be baited through movement??
[Party] BananaMambo: I just found that out too ㅋㅋㅋ
[Party] Pichuragi: ㅋ Tan-nim
[Party] Pichuragi: You seem livelier now that you’re lying down than when you were alive?
[Party] Ratan: When you don’t know something, you gotta ask ㅎㅎ
[Party] Ratan: While the mentors are finally free~^^
[Party] BananaMambo: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Ah, now that’s a true student
[Party] Moto: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Well, he’s not wrong. If you don’t know something, you should ask someone who does…… huh? A sudden thought flashed through Limousine’s mind, and his eyes widened. From his downed state, he couldn’t see it.
While the party members were chatting away, watching Jaheun’s performance, the special pattern phase was nearly over. Right after blocking Bì Jì’s charge, Jaheun used an invincibility skill and opened his inventory.
“Vajra’s Protection.”
< The first attack received within 3 seconds is nullified. >
The <Celestial Wind> class doesn’t have a revive skill. However, after heavy complaints from players about the dungeon’s high difficulty, the devs added two consumables that allow for in-combat resurrection: Phoenix Feather and Phoenix Wings. With a long cooldown, these items could only be used once per boss fight. Unlike Phoenix Feather, which could only resurrect yourself, Phoenix Wings applied to the entire party but required a 3-second cast time—still, a godsend compared to the old days, when death meant staying dead until clear or retry.
“Phoenix Wings.”
< All party members will be resurrected in 3 seconds. 3, 2, 1…… >
< Resurrection successful! >
Jaheun even timed the invincibility perfectly before using the item, so the cast wouldn’t be interrupted by AoE damage—flawless execution.
It was a textbook super play, a perfect super save.
[Party] Jaheun: Full DPS
[Party] Pichuragi: Just leave it to us
Deeply moved by Jaheun’s performance, Limousine took a deep breath for his soul-burst DPS. He tightened his grip on his staff, heart pounding. The party’s dazzling skill effects rained down on the monster like meteors.
< You have defeated ‘Modified Bì Jì’. >
< You have cleared ‘Niú Mó Wáng’s Laboratory’. >
< Bonus reward granted for a first-time clear. >
It was the sound of falling in love.