MTLNOVEL chapter 111
[System] The Ancient Viajok Temple Sector is now sealed.
The main tank pulled aggro—dragging the monster into position near the party—causing the boss’s attention—or rather, its gaze, despite not having eyes—to shift in the opposite direction. At that moment, the DPS rushed in and began attacking from behind.
Gonyanyanya and I also approached the boss and stood side by side on its flank as we started attacking. The healer could’ve stayed in the rear, but for some reason, they insisted on sticking close to me.
As the first boss in the dungeon, the Muddled Spirit was among the easier ones to deal with. The mechanics were simple, and the damage wasn’t particularly threatening.
The real nuisance was the debuff.
Each time a player was hit by the Spirit’s attacks, their character would get splashed with dirty water. As time passed while soaked, they’d gain a debuff called [Mud Husk], which increased defense but significantly lowered both movement and attack speed.
For tanks, the bonus defense made HP management easier, but the lower attack speed also slowed down block timing, making it harder to parry basic hits. For DPS, slower attack speed meant reduced damage output, and the movement speed debuff made dodging mechanics more difficult.
And for healers—sure, it seemed easy to manage the party’s HP since the damage wasn’t that bad, but… that illusion would shatter fast.
At the start of the fight, the Muddled Spirit went wild, spewing muddy water everywhere. Its huge, squishy body would slam against the ground to create circular AoE attacks, or it would contort itself to form swirling whirlpools.
But it didn’t stop there—it split into tiny droplets that suffocated the party, burst itself to create threatening shockwaves, and attacked in all sorts of ways. Meanwhile, the characters doused in muddy water continued to stack up more and more [Mud Husk] debuffs.
DPS classes with ample evasive abilities could still move and attack relatively freely… but for Gonyanyanya and me, both priests, we had hit 12 stacks and were barely managing to get hits in. The main tank had fully hardened—literally turned to stone. Not a metaphor. Actually stone.
At that point, the boss began casting its next phase transition skill. The Muddled Spirit’s cast bar lit up with
So what were those conditions?
[General] Honeybread is praying to the Muddled Spirit.
[General] MinchanThat’sNotIt is praying to the Muddled Spirit.
[General] MinchanStopShittingPlease is praying to the Muddled Spirit.
[General] Gonyanyanya2 is praying to the Muddled Spirit.
[General] It’sMyStoryAlt is praying to the Muddled Spirit.
At least four players must pray to the Muddled Spirit.
Once we finished the prayer, the boss’s Final Rite cast was interrupted. Not long after, two globs of water dropped out of the bubbling, anguished-looking mass of mud.
These were the key objects necessary to clear the Muddled Spirit.
One orb was the Sacred Water of Fire, and the other, the Sacred Water of Water. If you picked up the Sacred Water of Fire, your [Mud Husk] stacks would accumulate faster whenever you used self-protection skills. If you took the Sacred Water of Water, the [Mud Husk] stacks would decrease for party members who received healing or buffs from you.
As soon as the orbs appeared, Gonyanyanya quickened their pace and dashed toward the Sacred Water of Water. They picked it up with a snap, then immediately began casting skills at a rapid pace.
[Combat] Gonyanyanya2’s AIT-II-XV Injection passive stat boost has been applied.
[Combat] Gonyanyanya2’s Healing Formula IX restored 12,562 HP.
[Combat] Gonyanyanya2’s Conversion effect restored 9,674 HP.
Gonyanyanya began neutralizing [Mud Husk] debuffs for the party by rapidly applying beneficial effects. They dumped even more healing onto the stone main tank. The stone, nourished by the healer’s love, began to crumble away until a person reemerged—and that person lumbered forward and picked up the Sacred Water of Fire.
With the Fire orb in hand, the tank began using shield blocks and other survival skills to intentionally stack up thick layers of [Mud Husk], increasing their defense. And Gonyanyanya continued healing them, [N O V E L I G H T] even if their HP didn’t drop much, to prevent them from turning back into stone.
Both of them were solid players. The tank made a few mistakes, probably due to being unused to the slow attack speed, but seemed like someone who normally nailed their blocks. Gonyanyanya was perfectly syncing heals with the tank’s attacks, stripping away the [Mud Husk] stacks with expert precision. Definitely not a noob.
As I admired these promising newbies and felt proud of the future of our Viajok faction, the Muddled Spirit ramped up its tempo. Not only were the mechanics coming faster, it started using two of its previous attacks at once—classic mid-phase escalation.
Didn’t matter. Our party had four max-level players. (That dark mage had “story alt” in their name, so they probably had a main account somewhere too.) Add to that Gonyanyanya, who washed away [Mud Husk] stacks with the polish of a veteran. Everything moved smoothly. No problems.
Soon after, droplets fell from above, creating muddy puddles all over the floor. Then came the boss’s body slam, generating circular AoE zones around it. The puddles were easy to dodge by watching where they formed. The circular zones just needed a well-timed evade skill.
As I was dodging, I noticed someone just standing there. I turned my camera, and there was the priest Minchan, eating the attack straight on while casting a skill.
Sometimes DPS-obsessed maniacs pulled this kind of stunt. They claimed moving or dodging interrupted their casts and led to damage loss.
He’d been flaunting his DPS all this time, and now here he was, ignoring mechanics to tunnel damage. Unless he had coordinated this with the healer ahead of time, it was just being a burden. A real damage dealer finds ways to avoid mechanics without losing DPS.
Not that I expected better. A guy who forced a solo-heal on a newbie would never follow basic job ethics.
I let out a quiet sigh. Poor Gonyanyanya. Having their first run of such an important dungeon ruined by a guy like that. I figured the least I could do was console them with my damage output. Time to show what full +25-enhanced endgame gear could do.
[Combat] Blade of Radiance dealt 411,648 damage to the Muddled Spirit.
[Combat] Blade of Annihilation dealt 526,762 damage to the Muddled Spirit.
[Combat] Blade of Supplication dealt 700,154 damage to the Muddled Spirit.
[Combat] Judgment of Desires dealt 923,500 damage to the Muddled Spirit.
[Combat] Sword of Honor dealt 917,629 damage to the Muddled Spirit.
[Combat] Resonance of Light dealt 1,003,551 damage to the Muddled Spirit.
[Party] Aresuis: hOLY bReAd
[Party] Aresuis: I can't hold aggroㅠㅠ
[Party] Aresuis: Too intenseㅠㅠ
[Party] Honeybread: Got it
…Fine. Just a little peek.
As the main tank wailed about losing aggro to me, I kept dishing out DPS but couldn’t help feeling a little deflated. The whole point of being a high-level player showing off to newbies is delivering DPS so overwhelming it’s impossible to compete with. But thanks to aggro management, I couldn’t even put out my full damage as the top-ranked Holy Knight. It felt like my existence was being denied.
It’s not like full +25 gear is common across any class. And here I was, having to hold back because of aggro. Not being able to show these newbies the real power of fully maxed endgame gear was just plain sad.
Even while grumbling internally, the trial kept progressing. The attack patterns were randomized, but the mechanics were ones we’d already seen—recycled over and over—so to be honest, it was getting a little boring. As long as you watched the boss's movements and tracked the floor AoEs, you could avoid just about everything.
Maybe that’s why… two dumbasses decided to spice things up.
[Party] Honeybread: What are you even doing?
I’d been quietly observing them for a while now. After the priest Minchan started tunnel-DPSing without moving, the assassin Minchan joined in. Didn’t matter if AoEs spawned, or puddles appeared, or waves crashed in—they barely even pretended to dodge and just ate every mechanic.
And sure, they were max-level, so it’s not like the damage hurt that much. If this were a low-level dungeon, I could’ve brushed it off as them just being lazy and wanting a smooth run.
But the issue wasn’t damage.
It was the [Mud Husk].
By ignoring mechanics, the Minchans were stacking [Mud Husk] like crazy. DPS classes had to attack, so they needed their attack speed restored. That meant someone had to cleanse their stacks. Once they hit 15, they’d turn to stone and be completely useless. In order to clear the dungeon, the healer had to remove those stacks.
But did either of those idiots ever ask for permission to dump that job on the healer?
[Party] Honeybread: What the hell are you doing?
[Party] MinchanThat’sNotIt: ?
Oh, get that “?” out of here.