HFS 43

[You have acquired a Broken Moonlight Fragment.]

[Artilens awakens to the familiar scent.]

“Oh, the boss is coming out.”

“How did you know?”

“Well, this much is obvious when you just look at it.”

When his eyes met with Seo Hee-won’s, who was looking impressed and surprised, Lee Cheong-hyeon swelled with pride. It was just a coincidence that happened because he’d taken a liking to fishing, but that didn’t matter.

With the notification that the boss was appearing, the pattern drawn on the floor began to glow brightly. The pattern, now completely white, split in two revealing a gap, and from between emerged a bony, skeletal hand. Following the arm, then the head, Artilens slowly crawled out and revealed himself completely.

With the appearance of a male, he had white hair and one broken wing. His clothes, which must have originally been white, were now covered with mysterious dirty stains and dust to the point where it was hard to tell their original color.

With a thin, elongated body that looked like skin stretched over bone, and a twisted posture, he was visually disturbing enough to make anyone frown.

“Why…why does he look like that?”

The person most shocked by this bizarre appearance was Ji-min. Artilens had been the talk of the town for his beautiful appearance before release. Having waited eagerly for the release date to meet this beautiful boy, Ji-min felt deeply betrayed when the actual in-game appearance of Artilens differed from the teaser.

“How could they…! This disgusting thing is Artilens? They’re nothing but scammers!”

“Calm down, Ji-min. It’s just graphics…Let’s try hitting it first.”

Hyo-jeong calmed Ji-min, who was getting increasingly angry. Her calm nature matched well with both Heekkom’s character customization and her profession as a water mage.

Whether Ji-min continued to hurl insults about his ugliness or not, Artilens spread his one intact wing wide. His red glowing eyes fixed on Lee Cheong-hyeon.

[Artilens chants a forbidden rhythm.]

A-a-a. His split, creaking voice was similar to the noise of scratching a blackboard. When the song ended, a dark beam of light emerged from beneath Lee Cheong-hyeon’s feet and enveloped his character.

[Abyss status effect has been applied.]

Biz of God was a game where you could zoom in on just your character by moving the mouse wheel from a top-down view of the map. However, when afflicted with the “Abyss” debuff, the screen automatically zoomed in and the camera switched to a fixed viewpoint behind the character. It felt similar to a first-person perspective.

Whether it was the effect of the “Abyss” debuff or not, the screen was covered in darkness to the point where only a step or two ahead was visible.

“Wow, look at this. It seems like they added a new Abyss status effect.”

Lee Cheong-hyeon grabbed Seo Hee-won’s arm and shook it excitedly. Starting with such a unique experience made him feel like they were really clearing a new boss, and he began to get excited.

“They must have put a lot of effort into it…Can’t you zoom out?”

“No. It looks like it’s fixed until the debuff wears off.”

No matter how much he scrolled the mouse wheel, the forcibly changed viewpoint remained the same. Unable to see the surrounding situation at all, Lee Cheong-hyeon decided to move cautiously. Piles of dirt kept jumping up from the ground, hindering movement, but looking closely, they were graves with tombstones. Come to think of it, the background music had also changed to something eerie, creating a spooky atmosphere.

“I definitely heard the boss was an angel…Is this pattern allowed?”

“Be careful, hyung. Artilens has disappeared.”

Checking Seo Hee-won’s monitor right next to him, Lee Cheong-hyeon confirmed that Artilens was indeed gone. There were also quite a few zombie mobs summoned, which he couldn’t see on his own screen, and Seo Hee-won was clearing the mobs that were approaching Lee Cheong-hyeon.

It felt like something was about to happen. Lee Cheong-hyeon focused back on his own monitor.

“Hyung, it’s dangerous there with so many mobs.”

“Yeah…it’s hard to see because it’s so dark.”

It was frustrating not being able to assess the surroundings due to the narrow field of vision. Just as Lee Cheong-hyeon was trying to change direction while concentrating all his attention on the screen…

Artilens’s face—with pale skin, bloodshot eyes, and black pupils that occupied most of the eyeball—suddenly filled the entire monitor. His dry lips opened as wide as if his jaw might dislocate, attempting to devour Lee Cheong-hyeon.

“Ahhh!”

“Hyung?”

“Oh, that scared me! What’s going on?”

“What happened?”

Lee Cheong-hyeon, who had been focusing so intently he almost looked like he was about to enter the monitor, jumped up from his seat in shock. In the process, he reflexively pressed the keyboard to flee in the opposite direction.

The guild members, startled by Lee Cheong-hyeon’s scream, widened their eyes.

“A ghost suddenly jumped out! I mean, not a ghost, the boss. Ah, I was really surprised, I thought it was a horror game…”

“Hyung, there are mobs there too.”

“Ahhh!”

Startled once more by the sudden appearance of mobs, Lee Cheong-hyeon shuddered and used all sorts of attack skills. The mobs, victims of his misplaced anger, collapsed. Although Lee Cheong-hyeon enjoyed games, he didn’t particularly enjoy horror games.

Just when he thought it was over, the debuff still hadn’t been removed, and the revealed Artilens kept chasing only Lee Cheong-hyeon. No matter how many skills the other party members used to draw aggro, it was useless in the end. Artilens acted as if he could only see Lee Cheong-hyeon.

“Hyung, try to stay alive by running away for now. He keeps chasing only you.”

“Why is he like that? When is this status effect going to wear off anyway?”

“The boss disappeared again.”

“Again? I’m a bit scared…”

Lee Cheong-hyeon tensed up, waiting for Artilens who could jump out at any moment. Sure enough, a little while later, Artilens appeared once more, making a beast-like sound. Lee Cheong-hyeon’s hunched body flinched violently.

The other guild members attacked whenever Artilens appeared, gradually reducing his health. Lee Cheong-hyeon also attacked cautiously while glancing at Seo Hee-won’s screen, but without Lee Cheong-hyeon, their strongest damage dealer, being able to deal damage freely, there was no progress in the battle.

“I think the boss keeps chasing whoever summoned it.”

“Is that so? Should we just restart from the beginning then? I can’t deal damage efficiently while being chased like this…”

At that moment, Artilens disappeared again. Lee Cheong-hyeon turned to Seo Hee-won urgently, but he appeared to be thinking.

“Hmm…do we really have to do that?”

“Hee-won? Honey?”

“Are you scared?”

“Hey!”

Unless Seo Hee-won, the guild master and party leader, made a decision, they had no other choice but to continue the game. Seo Hee-won seemed unwilling to restart the game and smirked. He appeared to be enjoying Lee Cheong-hyeon’s fear.

Having lost his support, Lee Cheong-hyeon glared at Seo Hee-won once and hurriedly opened his item window. He didn’t want to face the ghost-like Artilens again.

With a hopeful expectation, he dragged the [Broken Moonlight Fragment] item that occupied a space in his inventory. When he placed it on the ground, the item was discarded.

Simultaneously, the ‘Abyss’ status effect was removed and his vision returned.

“Oh, it’s gone!”

“Ah…”

Checking Lee Cheong-hyeon’s screen, Seo Hee-won openly showed his disappointment. The vanished Artilens appeared in front of the dropped item and a cutscene played. Artilens bent down and picked up the softly glowing item with two fingers that looked like spider legs. He opened his mouth wide, placed the moonlight fragment on his red tongue, and swallowed it.

[The Broken Moonlight Fragment has been stolen.]

[Artilens regains his lost power.]

A thrilling song began to play. With the guidance text, the boss started to glow and was soon completely enveloped in white light.

“Uh, this doesn’t look good.”

As Taeyoung spoke and used several skills, his character Hyutzzi grew a dragon’s tail and hard scales. Lee Cheong-hyeon nodded while watching him prepare for danger. It did seem like something had gone seriously wrong.

As the light that enveloped his entire body gradually subsided, Artilens reappeared, but not with the skeletal, creepy appearance from before.

While his torn wing remained the same, he had filled out nicely, and his dirty clothes had become clean, making him look like a completely different person.

He was now the beautiful figure from the teaser that Ji-min had been fond of.

“Mmm…now this is more like it.”

A rather mature-sounding appreciation came from somewhere. Ji-min, who suddenly received everyone’s attention, looked confused.

Artilens, standing in brilliant moonlight, slowly opened his eyes. Meanwhile, Lee Cheong-hyeon tried using attack skills, but they had no effect whatsoever.

[Ah- My dear…]

[Now the intruders are no longer needed.]

After finishing his lines, Artilens crouched and wrapped himself with his wings. The surroundings rippled and hummed, then he spread his wings wide, releasing blade-like feathers in all directions. There was no proper way to dodge in the open map. As Lee Cheong-hyeon urgently looked around, he found Taeyoung closest to him. Having found a perfect shelter, Lee Cheong-hyeon quickly hid behind him. Taeyoung made a peculiar expression.

“You two are really alike.”

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing.”

“You two” referred to him and Seo Hee-won. Puzzled, he checked Seo Hee-won’s monitor and saw that he was using Kang Woo-jin as a shield to hide himself. Lee Cheong-hyeon understood why Taeyoung said they were alike. As he smiled awkwardly, Taeyoung just told him to stay well-hidden.

There was no reward for abandoning dignity and using a teammate as a shield. The feathers flew through the characters, and all guild members who were hit died instantly.

[Fail]

As all party members were expelled from the dungeon, their first attempt ended just like that.