Light of Arad: Forerunner

Chapter 3

It wasn’t just because of the concept.

Jinseong quickly changed his tone to his recording voice and spoke.

“Huh? Did you all see that too? Not a skill, but a basic attack—. What? While typing such a long message… His attack wasn’t interrupted ?”

In the game Dungeon Fighter Online, all attacks are performed using the keyboard.

It’s common to use assigned shortcut keys or to input commands combined with directional keys to use skills.

‘It’s possible to use a gamepad, but gamepad users are rare. No, using a gamepad is even stranger. Controlling with a gamepad while typing on the keyboard… doesn’t make sense! If we assume they’re a keyboard and mouse user—. Sure, skills! If they managed to pre-input the skill commands perfectly, it’s not entirely impossible, but—.’

However, he was attacking with basic attacks.

In other words, he must have been repeatedly pressing the X key on the keyboard.

But he typed in the chat during that time?

And not just a word or two, but such a long sentence?

‘In a situation where he’s pressing X repeatedly, he hits Enter, types the message, hits Enter again, and continues pressing X… Is that even possible?’

Theoretically, it’s not entirely impossible.

Physically, it’s not something that could never happen.

But it’s certainly not a normal situation.

‘Could someone with a typing speed of about 1,000 characters per minute do it? I’m a pretty fast typist myself, but even I can’t do it, tch.’

As the thought that it was impossible began to surface, Jinseong quickly shook his head to clear away the distracting thoughts.

If it wasn’t a coincidence, it might be something he would see several times during the coming raid.

Above all, since they had just successfully defeated the boss at the intercept base, Jinseong himself had to fulfill his role.

Jinseong immediately pressed the voice chat button and said,

[Go-, good job. Now we just need to descend at Garden 8. And there’s no need to prepare potions… since you didn’t take any hits.]

[Hoo, that’s the one thing I was confident about. I’ve been living like that all this time…]

[Yes, well… ahem, anyway— the difficulty of the garden will depend on whether it’s Senbi Cloud or Omega Guardian. Have you faced them before?]

[No. I only have a vague idea about the structure needed to defeat the separated Isys… It’s embarrassing.]

Jinseong had a few things to say but had to swallow them.

‘Wasn’t it active five years ago when the Isys raid was popular? Well, judging by his gear level, he might not have been able to go even then.’

He instinctively knew that such things weren’t important to the person now.

So Jinseong provided a rough explanation.

[The name Omega Guardian sounds more intimidating, but in reality, it’s easier to deal with. Senbi Cloud is… After all, they have the concept of controlling rain on the planet Tayberrs and were appointed as a guardian by Prey. That aspect is reflected in the raid, making them a bit more challenging to face-.]

[You seem to know a lot. Do you know the entire lore of Dungeon Fighter Online?]

Before he could steer the conversation further.

Jinseong thought for a moment and then pressed the voice chat button again to respond.

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[I know the general storyline. It’s interesting, right? Oh, but it’s not like I can recite every line word for word. Still, I know some of the more touching episodes and particularly entertaining events in detail. Like the part, or, ah! You know the Screaming Cave incident, right? Or even Jacter-.]

[Indeed… With eyes that sparkle like that, I’m envious. I should have done that a long time ago.]

The user interrupted Jinseong again.

To be precise, one might say he ‘muttered’.

‘Crazy, muttering what! It’s not like Dungeon Fighter Online has a muttering function…’

Maybe it was because of the expression ‘eyes that sparkle’ directed at Jinseong.

Gulp.

Jinseong somehow felt that the pixelated game character in Dungeon Fighter Online, the user beyond the screen, was smiling wistfully.

‘No, what a silly thought-. Focus. Focus.’

It was time to encounter the next monster, so Jinseong chuckled and made a comment for the video.

“Ahem, at this point… Everyone, I hope you can see the chat well. If someone sets a concept, they should at least go this far. Almost like Jinseong Aradian! The adventurer himself! I’m learning a big lesson today.”

Above all, if he couldn’t convey his own seriousness, handling it in a light tone seemed appropriate for someone whose job was creating ‘Dungeon Fighter Online enjoyable video content’.

If he was this determined to maintain the concept, Jinseong resolved that there was no need to provoke him further.

[Anyway, now we’re entering the garden-. Ah, the Floating Garden! It’s Senbi Cloud! This is actually good, let’s melt him as quickly as possible and aim for the sacred ground.]

[Sounds good. May we survive this one too!]

With another comment that gave Jinseong a strange sense of discomfort, they entered the dungeon.

In the past, in the Prey-Isys raid, a boss monster known as the ‘coin thief’ stood before them.

* * *

The patterns had already been explained.

When the patterns manifested, Jinseong’s role was to remind the player, guiding them in appropriate directions or the timing of using movement skills.

Jinseong did his best to communicate all the pattern information and immediate actions needed, and the player diligently followed his instructions.

At least in this aspect, the synergy between Jinseong and the player wasn’t bad.

[Senbi Cloud! Like I told you, just be careful when the purple zone explodes! Other than that, you can take a few hits while dealing damage!]

However, what Jinseong found slightly disappointing was the lack of an aggressive and proactive attitude.

The player only pushed the attack during the perfect moments when they wouldn’t get hit.

‘At the very least, if I draw the aggro, there might be less damage lost…’

Jinseong smacked his lips, pressed the voice chat button, and shouted.

[Should I draw some aggro from the clouds? If you focus on dealing damage, that might be better-.]

[No! It’s fine! If there’s any external interference, the situation might become unpredictable-. Grr!]

[-Alright, alright,, I understand. Then I won’t interfere! Just focus on dealing as much damage as possible and don’t worry about the chat!]

[Ha, ha, don’t worry about the chat. Just keep an eye on the patterns!]

Jinseong frowned.

It wasn’t because of the player’s words to not worry about the chat.

‘No matter how fast you type, spending time on ‘ha, ha’ could be used for dealing damage instead… Though, it’s hard to argue when they’re linking skills and basic attacks in between with no latency.’

Still, it would be more efficient!

If the player focused a bit more on attacking, they could defeat the boss monster more efficiently, which was why Jinseong’s forehead wrinkled.

At least one thing was certain.

‘They really don’t get hit. It seems they weren’t lying about having always played like this.’

Despite Jinseong meticulously informing about the patterns, it would be useless if the player didn’t have the control and reflexes to react.

From this perspective, the player’s evasion skill was at a top-notch level.

‘At this rate, it should be smooth sailing… Huh?’

It was then that Jinseong noticed something.

One of the berserk patterns of the boss monster Senbi Cloud, “Twin Dragons of the Radiant Sky.”

It summoned two dragons, a black dragon and a white dragon, which would follow the player. If the two dragons collided, a merciless attack pattern would trigger an instant death explosion across the entire area.

[These are the two dragons I mentioned earlier. Just dodge them by moving in circles. Head downwards! I’ll go up! As long as we keep the dragons apart, nothing will happen!]

Jinseong, who had been in the corner of the map, ran upwards while speaking.

In the response he received, Jinseong sensed something was off.

[What?! Are we doing this together?]

Panic.

A kind of panic that surpassed mere confusion.

Jinseong felt as if he had done something wrong and hurriedly added an explanation.

[Y-yes. That’s why I told you to move up and down.]

Even in the midst of this, the player quickly typed to Jinseong.

[Why are you telling me this now! No, if that’s the case-. Instead of the boss’s random attacks, it’ll be directly targeting Baek Jinseong-. Ah-.]

No, he tried to say.

“Uh?”

Jinseong saw it.

A sudden yellow pillar of light flashing around the player.

‘Did Senbi Cloud have such a pattern? I don’t remember any debuffs like that-.’

What made Jinseong even more flustered was the visible chat.

[Ugh, ughhh-!]

It was, in fact, a scream.

The player, touched by the white thunder dragon, was screaming.

The only way they could express it was through chat.

‘Even in this situation? No matter how much they’re into the concept, there’s no time to type chat now-.’

Jinseong couldn’t even swallow his dry saliva due to the mix of guilt and absurdity he felt.

He knew there was temporary stiffness and continuous damage when hit, and he had informed the player about it.

[Move! Use Windmill! Or Acceleration Trigger! Now!]

The player wasn’t moving.

It was as if they were writhing in place.

[You don’t need to deal damage, just move! You’ll die at this rate! There’s no need to waste a coin!]

Even though reviving after death was possible, Jinseong couldn’t accept it.

Everything was being recorded, and the player being taught by him, renowned for his educational raids, dying in the Prey-Isys raid would render the footage useless!

[Hey, hey!?]

Jinseong urgently called out to him.

He spoke.

But it wasn’t a response to Jinseong’s call.

[Ugh, ugh… How did I get this far-. How did I get this far-.]

The player, typing until the very end, ultimately died.

He typed a somewhat long chat as his final moments.

“Ah….”

Before all sorts of thoughts flitted through his mind, Jinseong first tried to utter a line for the video.

“Ah, what a pity. It’s good that you were dedicated to the concept, but being too absorbed in the chat was your downfall. Ultimately, you died-. Hmm?”

However, Jinseong couldn’t finish his sentence.

It was as if he had logged out. The party was disbanded, and he was gone.

“He… left. Suddenly. Instead of breaking the concept, he just broke the party… Aww. What a pity.”

It wasn’t just the regret of not being able to use good video content.

While talking to him, Jinseong genuinely wanted to see him solo the Prey-Isys raid.

He truly wanted to help him.

“Since it turned out this way, let’s at least try to interview him. Whisper… seems not possible for now. Did he log out?”

Swallowing his regret that he couldn’t be of much help in the end, Jinseong spoke.

“Okay, since whispers aren’t working! I’ll check the adventure team name through his nickname and contact him again later! I’ll follow up with a review. His adventure team name is… Huh?”

Quickly, he exited the dungeon, accessed the official Dungeon Fighter Online website, and entered the [Character Search] category, where he typed in the nickname.

All of this was being recorded.

Thus, Jinseong couldn’t help but be flustered.

“What… is this?”

No search results appeared.

Switching back to the game screen, he repeatedly checked and re-entered the nickname he had just conversed with, but the result remained the same.

—Please check the character search conditions again.—

—Only characters level 11 and above can be searched.—

Despite the official website system including all servers and level 11 and above characters, he could not be found.

The meaning of this was simple.

He did not exist.

Not a single trace of him existed at this moment. (EN : F for the ‘NPC’)