LS 113

yssyss: “Did we get it?” lmfao what a line

DidWeGetIt: Someone call me?

MoonbaDiMoonbaBaralla: LOL I’m dead, seriously. Are other raids dealing with this?

ByoByo1919: Doesn’t seem like many raids have made it this far yet.

UlalaSupport: No talk about other raids

GrayCircleUltraDragon: What are you on about? LOL Xeno’s kind of catching up, but they’re briefing in GameTalk right now

[DidWeGetIt has donated ₩1,000!] DidWeGetIt?

[DidWeGetIt has donated ₩1,000!] What got done in was us…

The stream chat and donation alerts were chaos with laughter, but Human raid team’s heads were throbbing. What kind of sick mechanic was this? While clutching their heads, they regrouped at the safe zone, restocking items and potions as they held a quick meeting.

“Maybe we’re not supposed to break the matching symbol?”

To Dohee’s question, PrettyHealerHyung quickly typed in chat.

[Raid] PrettyHealerHyung: [crying emoji] I swear it was the yellow moon…ㅠㅠㅠㅠ

[Raid] PrettyHealerHyung: What if we’re actually supposed to break all the yellow ones and all the moon ones?

[Raid] PrettyHealerHyung: Yellow moon, yellow star, yellow sun, red moon, green moon, that’s five?

[Raid] SoftRiceCake: Maybe?? Should we try it that way?

“This didn’t seem this complicated in other raids…”

Moonhyuk mumbled under his breath. He had a point. Sword of God raids were known for complex patterns and mechanics, but this was on another level. There had to be a hint buried in that popup message. The devs at SoGod wouldn’t throw in dialogue like that for no reason. Dohee went over it again in his head.

Only those who can discern truth from lies may escape this place. The faithful shouted lies, but in the end, it was the truth that survived. The shattered fragments of lies stirred vengeance in the hearts of the deceived.

Dohee replayed the recorded footage, from the moment Moonhyuk and Yeohoo were exiled to the popup. That’s when he spotted something.

“Wait a second.”

— Huh?

“On my screen, right here where it says ‘The faithful shouted lies, but in the end, it was the truth that survived.’”

— Yeah?

“Look. The phrase ‘the truth that survived’ is in blue. And under it, ‘the shattered fragments of lies’ is in red. See?”

Gasps broke out from the others. The chat sped up so fast it was unreadable.

“I’ll use the last round as an example. Here’s what I think.”

Dohee calmly began explaining his theory to the team.

“When the yellow orb with the moon symbol showed up above the boss, we called it the yellow moon, right? Let’s assume that the ‘truth’ is represented by that color-symbol combo. So in that last round, the yellow moon slab represented truth. If that’s the case, then the line about truth surviving means we shouldn’t have destroyed it. That would make the other eight slabs ‘lies.’”

He pulled the Paint sketch back up and drew lines through all the slabs except the yellow moon:

Star Star Star

Moon Moon Moon

Sun Sun Sun

“What if we break all the slabs except the yellow moon? The system said truth survived and lies shattered.”

— Honestly? That sounds legit.

Noodle spoke seriously.

— No way NGA threw in flavor text for nothing. Last time we broke the truth and wiped, so doing the opposite now makes sense.

— I agree with GoSupp’s theory. If what we destroyed was the symbol the boss pointed to, and we wiped, then that must’ve been the truth. Which means the color and symbol above the boss’s head indicate the truth. I’m on board with trying the reverse.

Tando voted yes. Yeohoo and Yeojin agreed too, and RiceCake, Mr. Evil, PrettyHealerHyung, and Oreckthat chimed in with support in chat. The broadcast chat was also reacting positively.

thesunwaves: wow;; wtf; I don’t get any of this

LLALLA: LOL I must have instant ramen where my brain’s supposed to be… what are they even saying?

wooHyunMamaMia: idk… I give up on gaming lmao

todayisclearskies: woof woof!

cutyourmouse: Mom, there’s a dog in the chat ㅡㅡㅋ

[HongSamHongSamSam donated ₩3,000!] This grandma doesn’t understand a word, but I trust my son so let’s goooo ^^7

“Thanks for the 3,000 won! I’m not sure we’re right, but… let’s try.”

— Let’s gooo~ Sometimes you just gotta slam your head into it till it breaks.

With Yeojin’s rallying cry, the raid team prepared to reenter the dungeon. Judging from the fast pace of the chat, the Human team still seemed to be ahead. Xeno was reportedly close behind, but they probably hadn’t cleared this mechanic yet.

“I didn’t even think of that…”

Moonhyuk’s tiny voice came through the headset. Dohee turned to look at him. Moonhyuk sat there blankly, his mouth slightly open. Something about it embarrassed Dohee, and he reflexively ran a hand down the back of his neck.

“What?”

“Just… like, figuring it out from the color of the text…”

Dohee clicked the Enter Dungeon button and chuckled softly. Then, without thinking, he reached out and brushed Moonhyuk’s damp bangs back. A casual habit.

“You haven’t played much, and this is your first no-guide dungeon. Sometimes hints really do pop out of nowhere like that.”

Yeohoo backed him up.

— For real. Sometimes something just clicks unexpectedly. Like when IngSupp remembered the Kellathus token earlier.

“Exactly. You did great, hyung.”

And he meant it. Moonhyuk was proving to be a far greater asset than anyone expected. Honestly, no one in the raid thought he’d keep up this well.

Dohee brushed his bangs again and smiled warmly. Moonhyuk’s cheeks flushed as he turned his head. Dohee wanted to give him a hug for doing so well, but there was no time. And because he was entering the dungeon, he didn’t see the explosion in the stream chat.

watchulname: ??? What was that just now? Did GoSupp just give him literal heart eyes?

momoomomoo: LOL see?? The world hasn’t abandoned me. GoSupp’s gay??

1191011why: tf are you saying

1191011why: like that’s gonna get you a girlfriend?

momskrr: lol nopeㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

joy8282joy: not gonna lie that was cute. If he smiled at me like that, I’d fold

howmuchisthat: gay alert

joy8282joy: screw you, I’m a girl actually lol

buffmypriest: what’d he even do? couldn’t see from this angle…

mybroisacuttlefish: idk;;; probably just patted his head or something…

devilsooyoung: I washed my hair too… sigh…

fryingpan15degrees: ??? lmao GoSupp’s gone full circle… gay panic support squad

prettyweather: Can we not jump to conclusions?? Don’t witch-hunt GoSupp into quitting again…

scentedsorcerer: Serious cop just logged in lol

momskrr: oh my god this is killing me lmaooo it’s just jokes guys c’mon

“Looks like the first mechanic triggers at 155 bars, so let’s burn it down fast.”

After several retries, the raid was starting to get a feel for the patterns. The health bar was dropping faster now. Once the damage reduction phase began, Dohee and Moonhyuk coordinated buffs with their parties for synchronized DPS bursts. Tando and PrettyHealerHyung provided tight support while the DPS pushed through with sheer determination.

— Almost at 155 bars!

Right on cue, the health dipped to 155, and the first mechanic triggered again. This time, the ones exiled were Dohee and Oreckthat. It seemed the exiled pair was chosen at random.

[System] ‘GoingSupporter’ and ‘Oreckthat’ have been exiled to the ‘Strange Stone Chamber’ by the Curse of the Echo.

[System] Only those who can discern truth from lies may escape this place.

Soon the chamber lit up, and the same floating slabs came into view.

“Tell me the color and symbol.”

[Raid] 4EvilPrettyGirl: Looks like a green star?

— It’s a green star.

4Evil and Yeohoo said it almost at the same time. The green star slab was in the upper-right corner.

[Raid] Oreckthat: Leave it to me! (⊙v ⊙ﾉ)ﾉ

As a ranged DPS with plenty of AoEs, Oreckthat confidently took the task. Dohee stepped back and let him go to work. With a burst of flashy skills, Oreckthat shattered all the slabs, except the green star. And then, an ominous system message appeared.

[System] ‘GoingSupporter’ is consumed by darkness.

[System] ‘Oreckthat’ receives the Eye of Truth buff. You will return to the main map shortly.

“Huh?”

With that, the screen went black and GoingSupporter’s health started dropping rapidly.