[Clan] Pichuragi: WOW……….
[Clan] BananaMambo: Wow……….
[Clan] Pichuragi: Leader, I thought this was like…… a fraudulent marriage……
[Clan] Pichuragi: Whenever people asked, I always defended you like—our Leader isn’t the kind of guy to do that cheesy online romance stuff…… I swore by it……
[Clan] Pichuragi: But I guess it’s real…… I misunderstood your character…… have a beautiful love life……
[Clan] Limousine: ffs
[Clan] Limousine: It WAS a scam, okay?
[Clan] Ratan: I’ll always support you!
[Clan] Limousine: Ratan-nim
[Clan] Limousine: We’re standing right in front of the dungeon, and you say that to my face?
[Clan] Ratan: Sry plz spare me
As soon as Limousine invited Jaheun, Banana Mambo, ever the polite one, reflexively typed a ‘Hello~’ and then silence fell over the party chat window. After a brief pause, the messages started pouring in—but only in clan chat.
[Clan] Americano: Wait, what?? You’re in a party with Jaheun??
[Clan] Americano: Ahhh;; I’m dying of curiosity;; someone stream it;;;;
[Clan] Limousine: Just go back to what you were doing
[Clan] Americano: ffs I missed the event of the century ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ I’ll cry a river so wide it’ll flood the Tumen River
[Clan] BananaMambo: Life is timing……
[Clan] Americano: And so it was……
Even Americano, usually quiet, jumped in with a late reaction, prompting Limousine to grind his teeth and type in the chat.
[Clan] Limousine: Let’s just start the dungeon already
[Clan] Limousine: I’m a busy man;
[Clan] Limousine: And let’s move to party chat—this just makes it obvious we all know each other too well
[Clan] Pichuragi: Wow… never thought Leader was the kind of guy who’d care about stuff like that
[Clan] Pichuragi: Love is terrifying…
[Clan] Ratan: fr…
[Clan] Moto: The transformative power of love ㄷㄷ
The clan members were going wild, clearly high on the rare opportunity to tease. This is the kind of thing you’re supposed to ignore so they’ll stop…… but Limousine just couldn’t help reacting. Chanting mantras to himself, he wrestled down the instinct to fire back in chat. Right then, the party leader, Banana Mambo, must have queued the dungeon, because the party entry message popped up, and they were transported to Niú Mó Wáng’s Laboratory.
Niú Mó Wáng’s Laboratory was a dungeon themed around the mysterious figure, Niú Mó Wáng, who conducted body modification experiments on martial artists. True to the setting, the dungeon corridors were littered with all kinds of experimental equipment and scraps, and chimera-like mobs—half-formed humans—were strategically placed throughout, giving the place a somewhat grotesque visual.
The named bosses in the dungeon were famous martial artists who had been modified by Niú Mó Wáng. Even Limousine had heard of some of them while progressing through earlier main quests. There had been some sudden NPC lore drops about them disappearing mysteriously—if only he had caught on to that back then…… Wasn’t it the World Map clan leader who first discovered this dungeon? If only it hadn’t been that guy……
Limousine, still brooding and caught in a stream of grumbling thoughts while dealing with the mobs, suddenly found himself standing before the first named boss.
The first boss, <Modified Chì Dǒu>, was a humanoid figure with an exaggeratedly muscular body, wearing a tattered changpao. He had a standard attack loop, but once his HP dropped below a certain threshold, he’d move to the center of the map and trigger a special pattern.
When Chì Dǒu reached the center and roared, he would trigger a party-wide AoE knockback and spawn four mobs from the four directions of the map. These mobs would each tether to the closest player and follow them. If not handled properly, they would explode and wipe out the party.
The wipe conditions were varied and fairly complex: moving too far from the mob, failing to interrupt the mob’s AoE, killing the mob too early, lowering its HP too slowly, touching a mob you’re not tethered to, or the tethered player dying—all of which made this boss pattern pretty difficult.
Therefore, the standard strategy was to pre-assign players to each of the spawn locations in advance, use invulnerability skills at the right timing to nullify the knockback and AoE attack, then move to the spawn point to get tethered to a mob. From there, players would ‘drive’ the mob while dealing damage, and after the next special pattern, finish it off. The mobs spawned three times total, and each wave got progressively harder to handle.
[Party] BananaMambo: I’ll tank
[Party] BananaMambo: Moto-nim and Ratan-nim can be the floaters, and the rest of us each take one mob?
[Party] BananaMambo: I’ll take the 12 o’clock mob
[Party] Pichuragi: ㄷㄷ tanking and mob too… god-tank… god-Mambo…
[Party] Pichuragi: I’ll take 3 o’clock~~
[Party] Limousine: 6 o’clock
[Party] Jaheun: I’ll take 9 o’clock
Once the roles were roughly decided, Banana Mambo moved to the 12 o’clock position for tanking and quickly gave a briefing.
[Party] BananaMambo: I’ll keep it simple. While DPS-ing, when Chì Dǒu moves to the center, Moto-nim and Ratan-nim should use their invulnerability skills and stay close to Chì Dǒu no matter what
[Party] BananaMambo: Four mobs spawn, and they tether to whoever’s closest. There’s a knockback from the center, so you MUST use your invulnerability skill ㄷㄷ otherwise you’ll have to drive the mob
[Party] BananaMambo: If a mob touches someone not tethered, it wipes the party, so keep social distancing from them and let the assigned players handle the mobs. Since all the mob handlers are melee DPS, once you see who’s tethered, just back off and DPS from range
[Party] BananaMambo: People will move around suddenly to handle the mobs mid-fight, so don’t panic. Just focus on not touching the mobs and DPS-ing
Moto and Ratan nodded enthusiastically at the newbie-friendly explanation and role assignments. When Banana Mambo started the countdown, everyone prepped for combat. Even though he’d only come for fun, it had been a while since they’d done this dungeon. His fingers were itching.
What started as a smooth 1st boss fight turned into a disaster when, during the second mob phase, Ratan failed to use his invulnerability skill in time and got knocked back by the AoE.
Ratan ended up flying straight into the 6 o’clock direction—Limousine’s position—and in classic newbie fashion, managed to crash into the mob with uncanny precision. Limousine, who had let his guard down after the first phase went cleanly, tried to quickly close the gap, but it was too late. Ratan was already tethered. Screwed.
“Ratan-nim, type in chat!”
Limousine quickly backed away from the mob that now exploded if it touched him (since he wasn’t tethered), and kept an eye on Ratan. Meanwhile, he returned to the center to target Chì Dǒu and DPS, typing the situation into chat—easier than voice when things got noisy.
[Party] Limousine: Ratan-nim took the 6 o’clock mob
[Party] Limousine: You’re ranged, so don’t get near Chì Dǒu, just stay there and DPS the mob
Ratan, who had been flailing in panic, stopped at Limousine’s quick leadership. Watching the mob’s HP drop gradually as Ratan ‘drove’ it away, Limousine typed more instructions.
[Party] Limousine: When the mob starts casting its command-input skill, stun it
[Party] Limousine: When its HP drops below 15%, a platform spawns under it, and another one will appear somewhere else on the map
[Party] Limousine: Don’t kill the mob before that happens. Once the platform spawns, stop DPS. The mob will force-move to that other platform soon, so guide it close to that spot beforehand
[Party] Limousine: After it moves, if it raises its left arm, it charges forward; if it raises its right, it charges backward
[Party] Limousine: Just face it away from others, dodge the charge, and finish it after
He didn’t really expect Ratan to pull it off cleanly. Honestly…… the explanation was more out of courtesy. Limousine just focused on avoiding the mob’s charge himself, keeping a close watch on Ratan and his mob.
[Party] Limousine: Stun
[Party] Limousine: Now stun it
Just before the casting ended, Ratan barely managed to land the stun skill and gasped for breath. Anyone could tell from his character’s jittery movement that he was extremely anxious.
[Party]Limousine: Good, now DPS down the mob to 15%
Following Limousine’s instructions, Ratan began to deal damage. He was a bit slower than a veteran, but not to the point of causing a wipe.
Once the mob’s HP dropped to 15%, a red AoE marker appeared beneath its feet. Limousine quickly scanned the randomly generated red zones on the map and clicked his tongue internally. That’s kind of far. Can he make it in time?
Of all places, it was in the opposite direction. Considering Ratan was a first-timer and a ranged DPS with no notable mobility skills, the situation was dicey.
[Party] Limousine: Over here
[Party] Limousine: Ratan-nim, over here
Limousine ended up giving up on dealing damage to the boss and dashed toward the red AoE zone to become a human signpost, jumping up and down. Thanks to the hardcore players’ intense DPS, the boss’s HP was dropping fast, giving him some room to act. Ratan, having finally spotted him, came running frantically.
[Party] Ratan: Plseae seve me
[Party] Ratan: Where do I go
[Party] Limousine: Run like your life depends on it
[Party] Ratan: Uwaaa ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
However, Ratan had started moving too late. The mob initiated forced movement before he could reach the area, and to make matters worse, it raised its left arm and prepared to charge straight toward Ratan, who was running across the center of the map. The charge dealt near-lethal damage and inflicted additional status effects, so it had to be avoided at all costs.
Limousine quickly dodged out of the charge’s path and scanned those still in the danger zone. Moto’s definitely a goner. He was too busy DPS-ing the boss and hadn’t noticed the situation. Limousine briefly offered a silent tribute…… and then flinched upon spotting someone else in the AoE.
He can’t die. Did he really miss all this chaos? No…… please, no……
[Party]Pichuragi: What the
[Party]Pichuragi: Ah ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ got assassinated ㅠ
Pichuragi, who had been handling her own mob on the opposite side, had gotten hit by the charge. She instantly turned gray and dropped dead. The mob linked to her exploded and triggered a party wipe. The full reset gave the group a moment of levity, and the party chat exploded.
[Party] BananaMambo: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Ah
[Party] BananaMambo: Mousine-nim, was that ratatouille for real ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ so funny ffs
[Party] Ratan: ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ Leader was trying so hard ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
[Party] Ratan: I’m sorry ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
[Party] Moto: ㄷㄷ Dang did it wipe cause of me? I didn’t see anything ㄷㄷㅠ
[Party] BananaMambo: Nah Moto-nim, you did fine ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
[Party] BananaMambo: Ratan-nim’s poop-show…… thanks for the entertainment
[Party] BananaMambo: Factoring in the lack of mobility, I give it 3 points, including pity score
[Party] Ratan: ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
[Party] Limousine: It’s okay, you still did well
[Party] Pichuragi: Fr if someone new gets the mechanic, they don’t make it to the forced move and can’t stun in time, so it wipes
[Party] Pichuragi: Chat was blowing up, but none of it was for me, so I was just tunneling DPS
[Party] Pichuragi: An assassin getting assassinated…… how disgraceful
[Party] BananaMambo: MVP bullfighter Mousine-nim;
[Party] Limousine: Failed to park, moving forward
[Party] BananaMambo: Fr if he parked clean, I was gonna send him to the nationals;
This was why you brought a first-timer — for moments like these. Everyone shrugged it off, while Ratan alone was drowning in guilt. The party comforted him as they prepped to take on the boss again.