LS 112

Entering a dungeon with no guide means having to invest time to figure it out yourself. That could be part of the fun in a heading party, but it was also part of the pain.

Among the fearless members of the Human raid team who charged at Momba’s Echo, groans of frustration erupted almost immediately. The attack patterns of this insane monster were absurdly nasty.

Each time someone got hit by the poison gas spewing from Momba’s Echo, they received a stack of a poison debuff. Once it reached five stacks, it became contagious, spreading to nearby raid members. The more stacks piled up, the faster their HP dropped.

Some members didn’t even realize why their HP was vanishing so quickly and died in a panic. It took until their third attempt to finally figure out that the debuff became infectious at five stacks.

They agreed that everyone would go in with antidote potions and keep an eye on their debuff bar to cleanse it before reaching five stacks. After that, thankfully, no one died from the poison anymore.

But just managing the poison debuff was already overwhelming. On top of that, Momba’s Echo periodically summoned a whirlwind of darkness. Anyone caught in it would be blasted to the edge of the map and stunned for five seconds. Even its basic attacks dealt significant damage.

The donut-shaped AoEs spreading from Momba’s body at regular intervals and the bizarre, vaguely hand-like appendages it swung could take out a third of Dohee’s health in one hit, and he was one of the tankiest players. Since the patterns repeated with subtle directional changes, everyone had to stay alert constantly to avoid getting hit.

After a few retries, Tando swapped out all his damage skills for healing ones and fully switched to a support setup. After all, you had to survive before you could deal damage.

Momba’s Echo had a total of 180 health bars. When it hit 170, a system alert popped up saying damage dealt to the boss would be reduced by 20%.

[System] Momba’s Echo writhes in agony, releasing dark energy.

[System] Damage taken by Momba’s Echo is reduced by 20% for a certain period.

From the headset, Noodle grumbled.

— Seriously? Like it’s not already chaotic enough, now we get a damage nerf? Are they telling us to kill it or not?

— I just threw a Despair Bomb and tried hitting it, but it barely did anything. Even special potions don’t seem to help.

Yeohoo added that the defense-reducing Despair Bomb wasn’t working, either. So it looked like the game wanted them to just endure and keep DPSing during this “certain period.” Dohee tried using Enk’s Footsteps, a skill that reveals hidden paths, and the supporter’s debuff skill that removes all buffs from the boss for 10 seconds – neither had any effect.

“Support skills aren’t helping either. I’ll throw out the max DPS buff, so Party 1, let me know when you’re ready. We don’t know how long this phase lasts, so let’s sync our burst windows to make it count.”

As party members called out, Dohee applied buffs and turned to look at Moonhyuk. Since RiceCake was already calling out the timing in chat, Moonhyuk was able to match Party 2’s DPS burst without issue. Their eyes briefly met. Moonhyuk looked tense, but even in that moment, he gave Dohee a quick smile.

Dohee turned back to the monitor and checked the health bar. Their effort was paying off. The pace was slower than at first, but the HP was steadily decreasing.

Dodging minor patterns and managing the poison debuff, the Human raid managed to push Momba’s HP down from 180 bars to 155. And when it hit 155, the first mechanic triggered.

“Huh?”

They only realized a new gimmick had started because Moonhyuk suddenly gasped and clicked his mouse like mad. Almost at the same time, Yeohoo spoke up through the headset.

— What the? Only IngSupp and I got teleported?

With ten people in the raid, no one had noticed the missing two. A quick check of the minimap showed only eight players left. Then, all damage being dealt to the boss turned to “0” as it entered an invincible state. A translucent barrier had appeared around it.

Dohee pulled his character back and scooted his chair closer to Moonhyuk to see his monitor. Being seated next to him was a blessing right now.

youyouluve21: What?? What’s happening????

mymelon: Only two of them got teleported, right?

ohc23pm: ㅠㅠ where toㅠㅠㅠㅠ we can’t see their screens??

DownWithMangG.A: the hell is this lol what kinda wild gimmick is this

[User 쩜쩜 donated ₩3,000!] Seriously, why is it always us getting shafted again LOL. We’ve got eyes too, you know~~!!

“Hold on, everyone. Guys, stop attacking for a sec. DPS isn’t going through anyway.”

The chat and donation alerts were exploding. With the boss now invincible and two members sent somewhere else, the remaining raid backed off following Dohee’s call. The boss, which should have been chasing the aggro holder, just stood still. Dohee spoke again.

“Looks like the invincibility stays on until we clear the mechanic.”

He dragged his chair closer to Moonhyuk and peered at the monitor.

— There’s a message saying IngSupp and I got exiled.

Dohee looked at Moonhyuk’s chat log.

[System] ‘YeohooHae’ and ‘GOingSupporter187’ 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.

“Only those who can discern truth from lies may escape this place.”

Dohee read the system message aloud. The Strange Stone Chamber where Moonhyuk and Yeohoo were trapped was so dark it was hard to make out the structure. Moonhyuk, clearly rattled, had his character running around aimlessly.

Just then, the BGM warped like a stretched-out cassette tape and transitioned into a new track. Dohee turned back to his own monitor. A popup had appeared at the bottom.

The faithful shouted lies, but in the end, it was the truth that survived. The shattered fragments of the lie stirred vengefulness in the hearts of the deceived.

— What the hell is it even saying?

Noodle’s voice was full of disbelief. Dohee frowned.

Yeah, no idea what this shit means either.

But the program didn’t care if they were confused. The popup message appeared for those still in the ruins, while torches in the Strange Stone Chamber flared to life, lighting the room. Only then could they finally see it.

The Strange Stone Chamber was a cube-shaped room with nine ancient moss-covered stone slabs floating in midair. Of the nine slabs, three were yellow, three red, and three green. Each had a large, easily visible symbol of the sun, moon, or stars.

Thinking it’d be best to share this layout with everyone, Dohee quickly opened MS Paint.

“There are nine stone slabs where Yeohoo and hyung got exiled. Each color appears three times, and the symbols are different too. Everyone, hop into my stream.”

[Raid] PrettyHealerHyung: ㅠㅠㅠㅠ I’ve been watching since earlier….

[Raid] SoftRiceCake: LOL I’ve got dual monitors just for thisㅋㅋ

“Let me sketch this out real quick.”

He drew a rough diagram in MS Paint:

Star Star Star

Moon Moon Moon

Sun Sun Sun

“See it clearly? That’s the layout. The exile message said, ‘Only those who can discern truth from lies may escape,’ and the popup here says, ‘The faithful shouted lies, but truth survived. The fragments of the lie stirred vengeance in the hearts of the deceived.’ There’s gotta be something in that.”

— Wait, hold up.

Tando spoke up.

— If you get close to Momba’s Echo, a small orb floats above its head.

Tando’s character moved closer to the boss. The others pulled their characters up to check. Just as he said, there was a small orb above the boss. Tando continued.

— It’s yellow now, and something’s spinning inside it…

[Raid] 4EvilPrettyGirl: Looks like the moon to me

[Raid] SoftRiceCake: Yeah, I see the moon too

Then Yeohoo’s voice came through.

— I just hit one of the slabs with a basic attack and it took damage! What are we looking for?

“Yellow and moon! Break the yellow slab with the moon symbol!”

— Just that one?

“Yeah, just that one!”

Yeohoo’s character quickly targeted the correct slab and unleashed skills on it, carefully avoiding the others. The yellow slab with the moon symbol shattered. In that instant, Momba’s Echo trembled and the barrier vanished. Noodle asked nervously,

— Did we get it?

Boom!

An explosion rocked the ruins.

“…You think that was it?”

Dohee’s voice was dry. Yeohoo sighed right after.

— Don’t drop a ‘Did we get it?’ flag, man…

[System] Failed to defeat Momba’s Echo.

[System] You will return to the entrance shortly.

The result: a total wipe.