TWKH Ch 11

The resting place of the spirits was a dungeon with a very dreamy atmosphere, where purple flowers glowing with light flew around, and the sound of music mixed with humming could be heard. Unlike the faint presence of the game, the BGM of the resting place of the spirits was very famous, and it had even been used as background music for an ion drink commercial on TV. Jehyun hummed along with the familiar tune as he stopped his character.

The owner of the resting place of the spirits was the great spirit Anakia, who had lost her mind in anger over the invasion of raptors. Anakia was the parent and master of thousands of spirits, and her personality was somewhat dirty.

If you left the protected area, the bombardment of spirits would begin immediately, so Jehyun stood still and waited until all his party members gathered, then activated a buff and entered together.

“I’ll go.”

“I hate the crazed Anakia! I’ll kill them all!”

Anakia wasn’t a raptor capable of over-saturation, so she was even angrier due to the over-saturated raptor legion commanders. With her sharp voice ringing in his ears, Jehyun quickly entered the options menu and lowered the NPC voice.

But as the first clear party moved forward, Anakia’s monologue appeared on the screen, and the enraged spirits began to swarm toward the party members.

Boss→ Ah, this is really disgusting.

“Why, they’re cute.”

Contempt→ Dude, your taste is really weird.

Anakia’s creations, the enraged spirits, were giant moths with bodies resembling humans. Where the human eyes should have been, there were large, shiny, round eyes, and their bodies were covered in messy pink fur. Additionally, they had objectively disgusting wings on their backs.

People called these enraged spirits “Tinkerbell,” a term not for the fairy from Peter Pan, but for a moth the size of an adult palm found deep in the mountains.

However, to Jehyun, the enraged spirits just seemed cute. They were fluffy and pink, almost like dyed puppies.

“Ah, damn! What is that?”

However, that sentiment quickly faded. What seemed tolerable in the saturated dungeon turned into horrific forms as they gathered together in over-saturation and transformed into new monsters.

With a sudden cutscene, the monsters gathered in front of the users. The fur on the enraged spirits grew long, and they wrapped around themselves like cocoons.

Soon, light flowed from inside, and sharp claws tore through the cocoon, revealing bright red eyes glinting through the cracks.

Contempt→ I give up on my eyes. Just make it quick…

“Wow, are you crazy? This needs a warning. Those caster bastards have lost their minds.”

It was an extremely grotesque sight. But it wasn’t just the red eyes that were disgusting. The “frenzied spirit bodies,” now about four times their original size, were moving in a bulging and wobbly manner.

Underneath the messy fur, the soft skin of small human-shaped figures popped out here and there, moving around. It was terrifying enough to resemble a creature from a horror movie.

Boss→ I mean, the boss in the dungeon next door is so handsome, users even wrote fanfic about it, and what do we have here? What is this?

Contempt→ This is so nauseating… Ugh.

Jehyun agreed. Frowning deeply, he stretched his mouth wide and shuddered. It looked so grotesque it sent chills down his spine.

“Well, let’s go. This… it’s kind of like the underground ruins with the Mergolem, right?”

But still, they had to continue the strategy. Jehyun calmed his startled mind and took a steady look at the form of the frenzied spirit.

The spirit didn’t hold a weapon. Judging by its appearance, it seemed like a mud monster that had appeared since lower levels, but since it was appearing in an over-saturation dungeon at max level, there was a high probability of new patterns being included.

Boss→ First try, right?

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

Jehyun quickly activated the buffs and started the countdown. When the word “Start” appeared in the center of the screen, SpellChecker used a skill and charged toward the frenzied spirit.

The spirit, merged with Anakia, roared in anger.

Synesthesia effects are being felt.

[Party] Habaek: ?

[Party] Contempt: What the hell;ㅅ;

And as soon as it started, Jehyun’s expression hardened from the debuff that immediately hit.

[Synesthesia: Anakia went into a rampage, and the time in the spirit world twisted. The memories of fighting Anakia emerged. Due to synesthesia, the remaining memories in the resting place of the spirits are merging.]

The resting place of the spirits was a dungeon connected to the main quest.

When the raptors invaded her territory, Anakia lost her mind, and the spirit stone, a symbol of the great spirit, became tainted with anger.

As the surrounding land gradually dried up due to the enraged Anakia, the great mage Artlaksha from Caplet stepped up with the heroes in response to the shocking event of the great spirit’s corruption.

Artlaksha said that if the spirit stone held by Anakia could be purified, Anakia could return to normal. So, the heroes infiltrated the resting place of the spirits to steal Anakia’s spirit stone, which was part of Caplet’s infamous main quest, “Infiltration.”

During the infiltration quest, users took “Artlaksha’s special transformation potion.” Drinking it would turn them into an “enraged spirit,” allowing them to sneak into Anakia’s lair.

However, as soon as they began the strategy against the frenzied spirit, the synesthesia debuff transformed all users into enraged spirits. The important thing was that, when they became spirits, users could only move.

“What… what are we supposed to do?”

Jehyun, flustered, tried moving his character around. Due to the transformation effect, the skill bar had turned completely black. He couldn’t attempt a purification to remove the debuff.

Boss→ Is this another bug?

Contempt→ Again!?

In the center of the map, the frenzied spirit chased after SpellChecker, who was flying away, while the other party members just stood around, unable to do anything.

Since the movement speed was slow in the transformed state, SpellChecker didn’t last long before being struck and killed by the spirit. After SpellChecker’s death, the spirit flew toward another victim, and soon all the party members were dead, cold corpses with no resistance.

“What is this? Is this really a bug?”

Jehyun had no idea what he was supposed to do. He resurrected and alt-tabbed into the cabin. In the early stages of a dungeon’s release, it might have been faster to get information from the community.

Clicking on the forum, users who had entered over-saturation were posting their questions.

“These bastards didn’t finish the dungeon and intentionally inserted bugs.”

“They’ll use this as an excuse to do an emergency maintenance and update late.”

“Ahn Yiyoung probably sent a file that couldn’t open to the professor back in college, huh?”

Comments (10)

Anonymous 1: Ok, understood.

Anonymous 2: Just do an extended maintenance, this is so frustrating.

Anonymous 3: I think you won’t get hit if you use invincibility.

└ No, you can’t avoid it.

└ Not avoidance, invincibility.

└ Yeah, if you use invincibility, you won’t get hit.

Anonymous 4: It seems purification works?

Jehyun read through the comments and, upon hearing that the debuff could be purified, quickly returned to the game.

“If you use invincibility, you won’t get the synesthesia debuff, and purification works too. I’ll use invincibility and try to clear it. Matgom, please watch the countdown and go in.”

Matgom→ Yes.

He hadn’t expected a response, but Matgom replied with a strange voice. Was he finally using a microphone after all the role-playing? Before Jehyun could ask, Contempt shouted first.

Contempt→ Wait! Matgom is using a mic now?

Matgom, in a grumpy voice, asked back.

Matgom→ Why? Shouldn’t I?

Contempt→ No? I’m just curious, you’ve been too embarrassed to use a mic until now, right?

Contempt, not a killer of role-playing, had always been poking fun at Matgom since he started role-playing. As Contempt laughed, Matgom fell silent. After a brief pause, he replied in a calm voice.

Matgom→ Why are you asking so many questions? Are you five years old? Let’s go, Guildmaster.

Contempt→ I’m not five!

Boss→ Shut up, kids.

Contempt→ I’m not a kid!

Contempt’s loud voice echoed. Jehyun couldn’t help but chuckle at the antics of the twenty-year-olds, as he activated the buff and began the countdown.

“Let’s go.”

Using the Shield of Salvation.

The holy shield protects the party.

Using the Call of the Battlefield.

The party is watched over by the God of Destruction.

Attack power and attack speed increase.

3

2

1

Start!

As soon as SpellChecker entered, the party members transformed into spirits again. Jehyun, who had used the invincibility skill, saw the resistance to synesthesia activate and quickly moved to clear the debuff from the party members.

“It really works. What is this? Is it just a regular entry pattern? Anyway, let’s go.”

The priest had their own invincibility skill, and the spirit master also had a new invincibility skill. This meant both the priest and spirit master parties weren’t greatly affected by synesthesia. Other than the cooldown of the invincibility skill, synesthesia had no real use.

That was strange. Casters wouldn’t just put in debuffs telling you to use purification for no reason… Jehyun frowned and began applying a defense reduction debuff to the spirit while analyzing the pattern.

“This is just like the Mergolem’s pattern, right?”

Contempt→ It’s just like they changed the outfit…

Matgom→ There’s no trace of effort anymore.

The basic pattern of the spirit was simple enough that even with their eyes closed, they could avoid it, just like the Mergolem. Jehyun continued the strategy, cursing Casters along with the guild members.

A strange event happened shortly after.

The spirit merged with Anakia lets out a roar of fury.

The effects of synesthesia are felt.

You cannot use skills.

You cannot use skills.

“What the hell?”

Suddenly, the spirit screamed, and without a chance to use the invincibility skill, everyone was hit by synesthesia again.

Matgom→ I’m dead.

Boss→ Damn it, I’m dead too.

Without a chance to try anything, the party members who transformed into spirits were struck and killed by the spirit, and Jehyun also lay cold on the ground. The party, which had wiped for the second time, quickly resurrected and re-entered the dungeon.

To analyze the pattern, Jehyun stood at the starting point and asked,

“Wasn’t our health 63% just now?”

“Really? 64? Not 65?”

64 or 63 was an ambiguous number. If it had dropped in increments of 5 or 10, it would have made sense, but a number like that seemed too vague for a pattern. The person who answered Jehyun’s suspicious comment was Matgom.

Matgom→ It was 64, but I think it’s based on the entry time, not the percentage. The damage meter says 59 seconds, so with the delay, it should be exactly 1 minute, right?

Jehyun pressed alt-tab to check, and sure enough, his damage meter showed the previous strategy time as 1 minute and 4 seconds. Considering the time it took for the tank, Matgom, and Jehyun to die after the second synesthesia, it meant that synesthesia would trigger again exactly 1 minute after it was cast.

“Ah. I see. It looks like the cooldown is every minute. I’ll keep track and purify right away. Let’s go again?”

Fast repairs were essential for the first clear. After Jehyun used the buff, the party once again charged toward the aggressive spirit.

1

Start!

The spirit merged with Anakia lets out a roar of fury.

Resisted synesthesia.

Using the invincibility skill to ignore synesthesia, Jehyun began clearing the debuffs from the party, but he felt a lingering sense of unease. He had a strong feeling that Casters wouldn’t use debuffs this way.

So far, all the debuffs in the saturation dungeon had played a crucial role in clearing the dungeon. However, synesthesia, a debuff that even carried Anakia’s name, seemed a little too flimsy to be a mechanic for wiping the party when it could be resisted with purification.

Using invincibility.

The spirit merged with Anakia lets out a roar of fury.

Resisted synesthesia.

As the 1-minute mark approached, Jehyun kept quiet, and Habaek did the time check instead. Did he think Jehyun would miss it? Jehyun scoffed and used invincibility just in time. As expected, resistance appeared, and he immediately used purification to clear the second debuff from the party.

The strategy, which had been going so smoothly, hit an obstacle when the aggressive spirit was down to 10% health.

The malevolent energy wasn’t purified, causing the spirits to go berserk.

The aggressive spirit becomes significantly stronger.

With that message, the spirit’s attack speed became incredibly fast.

SpellChecker has died.

Contempt has died.

[Party] SpellChecker: ?

[Party] Contempt: ㅇㅅㅇ……

Boss12MoreHours has died.

[Party] Boss12MoreHours: lollollollollollollollollollollollollolㅋ

The enraged spirit dealt 192312 damage.

You have died.

[Party] Contempt: When did… we come to the club ;ㅅ;

The attack speed of the enraged spirit was ridiculously fast. It was so fast that every action seemed to pass by as if it were on 5x speed.

The pattern itself wasn’t difficult, but with the pattern going 4 times per second, everyone fell like reeds in the storm, dying one after another. With increased movement speed, it only took 3 seconds for the spirit to close the 20-meter distance to Jehyun, and despite using evasion, Jehyun was hit by a basic attack due to the increased attack speed, missing the timing, and immediately collapsed.

Dumbfounded, Jehyun remained silent, staring at the screen. The spirit approached Habaek, swinging its arm quickly to kill him.

[Party] Contempt: Shurp Shurp

[Party] Contempt: This sound isn’t coming from my mouthㅡㅅㅡ

Habaek has died.

Habaek had held out for a while, but it was still a wipe.

Jehyun hit resurrection and re-entered the dungeon, rolling his tongue in his mouth. Then he moved the mouse to scroll up the chat window.

‘The malevolent energy has not been purified, causing the spirits to go berserk.’

With that message, all of the spirit’s stats increased. However, there was no space or item on the map where it seemed like something could be purified. Wondering if those heartless devs wanted players to use a quest item, Jehyun checked his inventory, but there was nothing related to purification.

“Purification… Why purification?”

As Jehyun voiced his question, the guild master replied. Caplet, the veteran of dirty tricks, didn’t need to explain further since everyone had already guessed that something needed to be purified.

Guild Master→ Was there something that got corrupted? I only got the debuff synesthesia.

Contempt→ Same here….

Matgom→ Same for me.

“Nothing on the map, right? Why did such a message suddenly pop up? There was nothing to purify.”

[Party] Habaek: Shall we go again? Let’s check the map again

“Shall we? Let’s go a bit slower this time and check the map carefully.”

Since nothing useful came to mind, Jehyun cast buffs on the party again for another attempt. Just like before, he used the invincibility skill to resist synesthesia, cleared the debuffs from the party, and then tried the third phase of the spirit fight.

However, despite dealing less aggressively this time, they couldn’t find anything on the map during the downtime. They checked the boss’s health bar and the party’s status bars thoroughly, but no one found anything odd.

Then, when the spirit’s health reached 10%, the spirit started to go berserk again.

“Is it asking us to clear it in this state?”

Matgom→ I don’t think we can clear this.

Contempt→ Yeah. How are we supposed to clear this?

“Looks like it, huh?”

There didn’t seem to be any other options, and after asking just in case, the party members shared similar thoughts. There was no way to kill something that was hitting for 150,000 damage with 4 hits per second.

Once again, the party wiped.

“Let’s take a 3-minute break.”

Jehyun left the character standing at the dungeon entrance and took off his headset. After drinking a cold glass of water, he narrowed his eyes and scanned the combat log several times.

There were no hints anywhere. The only thing that bothered him was the message about the malevolent energy not being purified.

Malevolent energy…

Malevolent energy was a term that often appeared in Caplet. In dungeons with raptors, the phrase was used when the boss was defeated, and in the Sanctuary of Spirits, it was mentioned that Anakia, consumed by anger, lost her purity and became engulfed in malevolent energy.

“Has anyone done a stealth mission recently?”

The main quest in the Sanctuary of Spirits, stealing Anakia’s Spirit Stone, was a story that appeared after reaching the max level. This meant that while leveling up alternate characters, it wasn’t necessary to complete the quest.

The Guild members of Countess had all long reached max level and had already progressed through the main quest, so the most recent person among the five to clear the stealth quest had done so about two years ago.

[Party] Contempt: ㅇㅅㅇ I did it when it came out, but didn’t do it after.

[Party] SpellChecker: Me too.

[Party] Boss12MoreHours: 33 I don’t even remember.

Shin Jehyun was the same. After completing the difficult stealth quest when the Anakia story was updated, he leveled up countless alternate characters but only cleared up to the first saturation dungeon and never revisited the max level main quest. Jehyun made a sound and pursed his lips.

[Party] Habaek: I tried it a month ago.

[Party] Contempt: Ohhh ㅇㅅㅇ

[Party] Healer: No way, really?

When Jehyun questioned the unbelievable statement, Habaek laughed in disbelief.

[Party] Habaek: lol?

[Party] Habaek: Why would I lie about something like this?

[Party] Healer: There’s no reason to lie about that.

[Party] Habaek: I made a fake character to mess with you, but got tired and gave up.

[Party] Healer: OK That makes perfect sense given your personality.

Jehyun was dumbfounded. He let out a hollow laugh and nodded. Regardless of the reason, he didn’t think Habaek would lie about something like this. Jehyun stood still at the starting point and asked Habaek.

“How do you progress in the stealth quest? I remember it was a pain, but I can’t recall the details.”

The Anakia stealth quest was notorious for its difficulty. You had to approach Anakia while disguised as a spirit, passing through maze-like areas and playing a game like “Mugunghwa Flower Has Bloomed,” making sure you didn’t get spotted. It was a torture-like quest for native Koreans, who absolutely hated slow and careful actions.

[Party] Habaek: You break the wall here and enter.

[Party] Habaek: ?

[Party] Boss12MoreHours: Huh?

When Habaek was explaining the stealth quest route, he was striking a wall with his sword.

Suddenly, a health bar appeared above the wall, and smoke began to rise as the wall collapsed. Caught off guard, Jehyun frowned and stared at the spot before the thought that popped into his head escaped his lips.

“About that message earlier…”

Guild Master→ Hmm?

“He said that the first boss merged with Anakia, right?”

Anakia and the merged spirit let out a furious roar.

The message clearly said that. Jehyun hovered his mouse over the sentence and recalled the now-vanished synesthesia debuff description.

“Didn’t the debuff say we merged with the spirits in the Sanctuary of Spirits?”

[Party] Habaek: I have a screenshot, wait.

[Party] Habaek: Anakia goes berserk, and the time in the spirit world becomes distorted. Memories of fighting Anakia resurface with the synesthesia, merging with the remaining memories in the Sanctuary of Spirits.

[Party] Contempt: I’m typing too fast… ㅇㅅㅇ

“Doesn’t the part about memories of fighting Anakia refer to the stealth quest? Turning into a spirit is also part of the stealth quest, right?”

Guild Master→ Ah….

Contempt→ So, do we have to do the stealth quest with the debuff?

“Isn’t that the case? Since the wall broke, this seems plausible.”

Jehyun said that as he moved his character inward. A narrow gap appeared between two walls, and as he passed through it, he came to a nest-like area with a stream of water. Inside the nest, hundreds of large eggs were stacked. It was where the spirits were born.

“If we go in like this while under the synesthesia debuff, like we’re doing the stealth quest…”

[Party] Habaek: lol You can’t go in there.

[Party] Contempt: Whoa… Hyung, you’re so fast…

Just then, a message popped up in the chat, and Jehyun’s eyes widened.

Anakia detects the intruder in the nest.

Anakia’s guardians have appeared!

Suddenly, there was a flashing sound, and several moths with long spears appeared around Healer. Ah. As the memory resurfaced, Jehyun frowned just as Anakia’s guardians charged towards him.

You have died.

Anakia’s guardians have vanished!

Those damn guardians. As the forgotten memory returned, Jehyun realized why the stealth quest had been so difficult.

A user transformed into a spirit must break through the wall and infiltrate the nest. They need to pass through the nest without touching the eggs and approach Anakia’s lair, but that was incredibly difficult. It was due to the next map, the corridor.

The place was overflowing with other spirits, aside from the user. But Anakia was a paranoid boss, and if users moved oddly compared to the other spirits, it would sense danger and summon the guardians, who would quickly eliminate the user.

That odd movement was something users found embarrassing. For example, moving along faint lines drawn on the floor, moving without hitting walls, or not standing in line with the other spirits.

If the rules weren’t followed, the paranoid boss’s guardians would instantly sever the user’s head. It was a quest that many players had to attempt over twenty times due to not knowing the rules or being too impatient.

After reviving his character and entering the dungeon again, Jehyun sighed as he realized a considerable amount of time had passed.

He knew that the stealth quest had to be done while under the synesthesia debuff, but he still had no idea how many people were needed or how to deal with the boss. Jehyun quickly applied buffs and urged the Party members to attempt the stealth again.

“Alright, let’s go again. For now, the most recent one to clear the stealth, Habaek, should stay at the entrance and wait until he gets the debuff, then try to infiltrate?”

Contempt→ Yes.

Jehyun immediately started the countdown. As Matgom entered, all Party members except for Jehyun were afflicted by the debuff. Habaek, who had been far from the first boss, was also affected. Jehyun watched Habaek’s blue dot move on the mini-map and kept an eye on the other Party members.

Habaek provided a briefing of the situation through the party chat.

[Party] Habaek: Passed the nest.

When infiltrating, one had to move carefully in the nest to avoid touching the densely packed eggs and follow the same rules as the other spirits while navigating the corridors. Anakia’s eyes were embedded throughout the walls, leaving no room to relax.

After passing through the corridors, they reached the sanctuary. At its center, Anakia lay sleeping, and behind it rested the Spirit Stone. The players’ objective was to steal the Spirit Stone and escape.

[Party] Habaek: Reached the sanctuary.

However, there was a major problem—the main quest’s stealth section ended the moment anyone touched the Spirit Stone. The instant they laid hands on it, Anakia would detect them, and the quest would transition to clearing the Spirit’s Sanctuary.

So, what now?

Jehyun couldn’t grasp the situation and kept his eyes on Habaek. It seemed stealth was indeed the solution, as there was one notable difference: even after a minute had passed, the shared sensory debuff hadn’t been reapplied. It seemed like anyone under the debuff only needed to attempt stealth for the effect to dissipate.

With the party working on the spirit’s corporeal form and the boss’s HP nearing 15%, Habaek spoke up.

[Party] Habaek: Almost done?

[Party] Habaek: I’m in front of the Spirit Stone.

[Party] Habaek: Hm.

[Party] Healer: ?

Jehyun turned nervously at Habaek’s sudden pause. Checking the party window, he noticed Habaek’s sensory debuff blinking, signaling it was about to be removed.

It’s lifting? While Jehyun was still processing what this meant, the debuff vanished…

Anakia detects an intruder in the nest.

Anakia’s guardians have appeared!

Habaek has died.

Habaek was dead. It had essentially been a timed challenge.

The aftermath was no different from before. Once the boss’s HP hit 10%, the berserk spirit went on a rampage, and the entire party was wiped out for the fourth time.

“Ugh…”

Back at the starting area, Jehyun tapped his mouse thoughtfully before deciding.

“If we send Habaek, we’ll lack damage.”

Contempt → Guh….

“We need someone else to go for the stealth attempt. Tank is out of the question. What about Noona or Contempt?”

Boss → I don’t think I can do it.

Contempt → Pretty sure I’ve failed stealth over 10 times. You’ll scold me if I mess up, won’t you…?

“Obviously. If the stealth player dies, it’s an automatic retry.”

Matgom → The most capable person should go.

“Exactly. Or we could have Habaek deal for one minute, take the second debuff, and then start the stealth phase. There’s no point wasting time or resources.”

Contempt → So sending me or Noona isn’t a waste?

Contempt sulkily complained in the chat window.

[Party] Contempt: A little respect for me too, please..ㅠㅅㅠ

[Party] Boss12MoreHours: Guild leader won’t even treat us like humansㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠSo sad to be this bad at the gameㅠㅠ

[Party] Habaek: lol

[Party] Habaek: Everyone, step up;

[Party] SpellChecker: Habaek is such a jerk.

“So, who’s going? Stop stalling.”

If the infiltrator died, the party had to retry regardless of the outside progress, which was likely why no one wanted to volunteer. As Jehyun started to nominate the easiest target to pressure—Contempt—Habaek interrupted.

[Party] Habaek: Healer should go.

[Party] Healer: ?

“Me? You want me to go?”

What nonsense. Jehyun frowned in disbelief.

[Party] Habaek: The first boss’s mechanics aren’t even hard. Just buff up and enter. We can clear without heals, no problem.

[Party] Habaek: Even if the priest steps out, we’ll only lose a single defensive buff. It’s better for the four remaining DPS and tank to focus on damage.

[Party] Habaek: Isn’t it way more efficient for you to handle stealth?

“No way.”

Jehyun hated stealth missions. For someone as impatient as he was, they were nothing short of torture. As Jehyun prepared to refuse outright, Boss and Contempt chimed in.

[Party] Boss12MoreHours: Makes sense.

[Party] Contempt: Totally! We won’t need heals for the first boss anyway!

[Party] SpellChecker: Right. Plus, if someone goes for stealth, the sensory debuff won’t reapply, so this is definitely the most efficient option.

“Wait, hold on!”

Jehyun raised his voice, trying to stop them. Frustrated, he ran a hand through his hair and pointed out a critical flaw they’d overlooked.

“If I’m the one to go stealth, I’d need to be affected by the debuff. But to trigger the debuff, I can’t use my immunity skill. If I do take the debuff and enter stealth, who’s going to cleanse the debuff for everyone else? It’s impossible from the start.”

[Party] Contempt: Oh…

[Party] Boss12MoreHours: LOL, true.

[Party] Habaek: What about timing the cleanse instead of using invincibility at the start?

[Party] Habaek: The cleanse activates after the motion ends.

[Party] Habaek: If you time it well, can’t it just clear the party members’ debuffs?

[Party] Healer: Mine would get cleared too, how is that possible?

[Party] Healer: Stop spouting nonsense if you don’t know what you’re talking about.

It was all nonsense. Jehyun dismissed Habaek’s suggestions and turned his focus back to Boss and Contempt. One of them had to go for the infiltration.

It was impossible for a healer to go, and Shin Jehyun himself had no confidence in his ability to infiltrate. As he was about to point at Contempt again, Habaek, persistent as ever, finally came up with the answer Jehyun had deliberately been ignoring.

[Party] Habaek: Then have someone wait at the entrance. You go in, use invincibility, cleanse the party members, and then use Companion Rescue on someone with the synesthesia debuff. That should work, right?

“…”

The clarity of the solution left Jehyun speechless. Companion Rescue was a skill that swapped places with a party member, transferring their debuff to the user….

Damn it, am I really the one who has to infiltrate? Jehyun stared blankly at the chat window as his mind raced.

With Habaek in the party, defeating the boss within the three-minute debuff duration seemed possible. While other parties might need to chip away at its health before starting the infiltration, this party’s damage output, thanks to Habaek, made it feasible to defeat the boss within the time limit—if Jehyun succeeded in the infiltration….

Jehyun bit his lip repeatedly. Infiltration? Damn it, how hard can it be? As long as he took it slow, he wouldn’t get caught. Convincing himself, he finally spoke.

“Fine. I’ll go.”

[Party] Boss: Oh, feeling confident?

[Party] Contempt: You can do it, bro.

[Party] Matgom: We’ll try not to mess up.

Despite the guildmates’ encouragement, Jehyun’s expression was half-sour. Far from confident, he couldn’t shake the feeling he would cause the party to wipe again. But there was no time to waste. Leaving Contempt at the entrance, Jehyun initiated the countdown and headed inside.

He used invincibility to resist the synesthesia debuff, cleansed himself, and then used Companion Rescue on Contempt, who had transformed into a moth.

Using Companion Rescue.

You feel the effects of synesthesia.

Within moments, the positions switched, and Jehyun found himself where Contempt had been standing. Taking a short breath, he approached the wall leading to the infiltration path. Since Habaek had already broken the wall, all Jehyun had to do was follow the stream and make his way to Anakia’s nest.

Inside the nest, which was paved with marble-like white stone and supported by Greek-style columns, a transparent glass dome ceiling loomed above. Hundreds of spirit eggs filled the space, lying dormant. Listening to Boss report the boss’s health, Jehyun carefully maneuvered his character through the nest.

[Party] Boss: 69%.

“Already?”

Unlike when Habaek was absent, having four damage dealers made the boss’s health drop rapidly. Jehyun hadn’t even exited the nest yet. Seeing that over a minute had passed, he pressed his lips together and frantically tapped the WASD keys, weaving between the eggs.

[Party] Matgom: Have you reached the corridor?

“Just entering now.”

[Party] Matgom: Oh, we might need to adjust our damage. The timing seems off.

“No, I’ll just go faster.”

Dismissing Matgom’s suggestion to adjust damage output, Jehyun sped up. He didn’t want to slow down the DPS. Not wanting to be a burden, he quickly entered the corridor and scanned the area teeming with spirits.

The first zone prohibited running. Switching to walk mode, Jehyun adjusted his character’s speed and began strolling through the corridor. Watching the healer’s moth-like form amble along irritated him, but he bit back his frustration.

Patience. All infiltration required was patience. Taking a deep breath, Jehyun made it through the first zone.

In the second zone, taking more than five steps at a time was forbidden. Counting his character’s steps, he calculated: two seconds. His character took exactly five steps in two seconds.

“One, two.”

“One, two.”

He alternated between running and pausing, carefully blending in with the spirits around him to avoid detection by the overly sensitive Anakia. He bit his lip repeatedly, advancing cautiously.

[Party] Habaek: 30%. ^^

[Party] Habaek: At the nesting ground yet?

“Not yet.”

Finally clearing the second corridor and entering the third, Jehyun still had two more sections to pass. Hearing Habaek’s message, Jehyun guessed he was being mocked and grit his teeth, pushing forward.

When he finally reached the nesting ground, he heard the others talking.

[Party] Matgom: Stop DPS? Should we stop DPS?

[Party] Contempt: Where are you, bro?

“I’m just at the nesting ground now.”

[Party] Matgom: How much time is left on the debuff?

“30 seconds left. Stop talking to me for a moment, will you?”

The synesthesia debuff indicator was blinking. Once it wore off, the guardians would appear, and this attempt would fail. Sweat forming on his palms, Jehyun wiped them on his thigh and cautiously pressed W.

Then, with a slight movement, the central guardian spirit Anakia, lying in the middle of the nesting ground, opened its eyes. Jehyun froze, hands off the keyboard. Anakia, sensing no further movement, slowly closed its eyes again.

Fully aware that one mistake would mean a party wipe, Jehyun’s tension was at its peak. His trembling hand returned to the W key, inching forward cautiously, pausing, and moving again.

Until, suddenly, Anakia’s eyes opened and remained fixed on him, its black pupils gleaming menacingly.

“Shit…”

A quick glance at the debuff bar revealed the truth. The synesthesia debuff had expired.