Chapter 29: The Target and the Angel

While I was lost in thought, Sephiroth finished shredding the mermaid’s health bar. The swarm of piranhas dissolved into the water and vanished. Immediately, the mermaid’s final phase began.

[There is one among you who defies the rules!]

Along with the first actual words I’d heard from the mermaid (aside from screams), the final phase introduced a targeted attack pattern. Targeted attacks—rare in Zelpia—were marked by a flaming red icon over the victim’s head. The red mark surrounding me blazed brightly.

Ah. It’s on me.

It felt like my time had come. Come, sweet embrace of death. I folded my hands demurely over my chest and closed my eyes. Just as I was bracing for the end…

CRUNCH!

A sound like something shattering rang out. It didn’t come from me. It was the sound of the mermaid’s long claws sinking into Sephiroth’s gauntlet as he stepped in front of me. His health bar instantly dropped by more than half.

“Whoa.”

“Get your head in the game, Bluey.”

“Why are you shortening Blueberry to Bluey?”

“If you don’t like it, play properly.”

There wasn’t much time for banter. The mermaid began to thrash its tail frantically, launching a series of feral attacks at Sephiroth. Periodic waterspouts erupted, scrambling the party members’ positions at random. We also had to dodge poisonous needles spat out intermittently; the spots where they landed became corroded and impossible to stand on.

Because of the waterspout pattern, the three who had been spectating from the back were forced into the fray. Just as the glowing mermaid half-raised its body, Sephiroth shouted.

“En!”

“What do I do?”

“Aggro.”

“What’s the condition?”

“Block the one in front of her.”

After a quick exchange with the weasel, Sephiroth pointed toward me.

Wait, me?

The moment I thought it, the red mark flared up around me again. Me again?! While I was panicking, the tiny weasel dashed over and puffed out his fur. Without a second thought, I ducked down and hid behind him.

THUD.

The claws aimed at me slammed into the weasel instead. The mermaid went on another rampage, this time directing its fury at AngelA. Using his small weasel body, AngelA began dodging the attacks with nimble movements. Any chip damage he took was easily covered by his own healing abilities. Meanwhile, if you took five hits, a Giant Piranha would spawn.

“Next is you.”

“Ah. Right.”

Seong-jin nodded at Sephiroth’s command. It looked like Seong-jin was scheduled to be my shield this time. It seemed this targeted attack specifically fixated on me, and if the hit connected, the target had to shoulder the mermaid’s full aggro alone.

Wait, does ‘the one who defies the rules’ refer to me being a ‘Regressor’? Even though I didn’t actually regress…

The red mark flared again. Seong-jin ran up and raised his shield in front of me. In the split second before the claws struck, he whispered:

“Hey, you’re actually really good at this.”

“Thanks.”

The claws pierced Seong-jin’s shield the moment I thanked him. Unlike the first two, Seong-jin chose to tank the mermaid’s onslaught with his body. The Knight’s invincibility skills and shields flickered in and out of existence before him. He couldn’t land a single proper attack. Even with invincibility, his health plummeted, barely kept afloat by AngelA’s desperate heals from the back. Giant Piranhas were spawning like crazy, so I took the lead in kiting them so Gyu-tae wouldn’t get hit.

“I’m sorry!”

“It’s okay!”

AngelA replied with a smile to Seong-jin’s shout as he watched the Giant Piranhas swarm. He truly lived up to his name; he was an angel.

In the midst of this, Sephiroth—who was relentlessly dps-ing the boss—called out to Han Gyu-tae.

“You’re last.”

“Wait, me? I’m…”

“Noona! I’ll help you! Don’t worry!”

Before Gyu-tae could say another word, the weasel was bouncing around him. To be able to pull the exact right healing cards and pin them to Seong-jin while bouncing around in this chaos… this person wasn’t a normal player either.

Gyu-tae squeezed his eyes shut and stepped in front of me with a face like a man on death row. I whispered:

“You should have lived a kinder life.”

“He really was the first one!”

“The fact that you did it is what matters.”

Before Gyu-tae could argue, the claws flew. His health bar dropped so low it looked like a thin barcode. AngelA’s explosive healing covered him instantly. Gyu-tae began dodging the mermaid’s attacks mechanically, looking completely soul-dead.

Gyu-tae wasn’t bad, but he couldn’t dodge everything. More Giant Piranhas spawned, and Seong-jin and I scrambled to kite them. Sephiroth wove through the Giant Piranhas, stuffing damage into the boss. The mermaid’s health was finally hitting zero.

“KYAA!”

The moment its HP hit zero, the mermaid screamed and spat a fountain of poison from its mouth. Sensing a trap, I sprinted between the streams of the fountain. Usually, you’d regroup after a kill, but a pattern after death? If one person died, it probably reset—or worse, if I, the “Regressor,” died, it would reset. Given the targeting earlier, the latter was likely. Luckily, standing directly under the giant mermaid’s body provided a safe zone from the fountain.

The poison fountain soon subsided. At the same time, Sephiroth, AngelA, and I—who were all under the boss—rolled away as if we’d rehearsed it. The giant mermaid’s corpse collapsed, slamming into the floor. BOOM. Hearing that sound, it was clear there was a final crushing trap.

“Phew, that was hectic. You’re really good, Blueberry-nim.”

AngelA was the first to get up. He used resurrection scrolls on the downed Gyu-tae and Seong-jin, topped off their health, and approached me. Gyu-tae, finally separated from AngelA after an hour in the dungeon, let out a massive sigh of relief.

“Thank you. I wasn’t much help with the damage…”

“You kited all those fish. We were able to breathe because of you.”

“Breathe? I just shoved them to the back because they were in the way.”

“And I didn’t even have to hear that from him for once,” the weasel giggled, pointing at Sephiroth.

“I’m going to go check the map for clues.”

“Should I help?”

“You’re fine. You don’t even know the story anyway.”

Well, that’s true, but…

Sephiroth walked away heartlessly. I was exhausted from concentrating so hard anyway, so I had no reason to complain about being allowed to rest. AngelA stayed behind, hopping in place.

“It’s interesting. I’ve never seen Sephiroth do a first-time run with someone else before.”

“Does he usually do them alone?”

“He usually says it’s annoying when people who don’t know the patterns get hit, so he hides them in the back and does it himself. As you know, he believes the best tanking is just not getting hit.”

“Mmm. That sounds like him.”

“Seeing you play, I understand why Sephiroth is interested lately. You have exactly the playstyle he considers ideal.”

“You flatter me.”

He was a very sociable weasel. I kept repeating my thanks, but then something he said caught my attention.

“That jer— I mean, that friend is interested in me?”

“Yeah, we met up yesterday and he said someone interesting showed up and he was going to keep an eye on them.”

“Wait, you guys met in real life yesterday?”

“Yeah. We’ve known each other since we were kids.”

So when he logged out yesterday saying he had plans, he had gone to meet AngelA. However, regarding this “interesting person,” I knew a bit more.

“But he probably wasn’t talking about me.”

“I’m pretty sure he was.”

“Mmm… maybe, but I don’t think so.”

I couldn’t bring myself to tell him about the dating advice Sephiroth had asked for earlier. Especially since it seemed AngelA didn’t know about that side of things. Even if it was just a kid’s first crush, I had to protect his secret. I shook my head and changed the subject.

“Anyway, you must be a really nice person. Sephiroth’s personality is a bit… unique. Is he like that normally?”

“Haha. He’s definitely something,” AngelA laughed. “We’ve known each other since we were little. He’s always been like that.”

“I see…”

“Actually, he’s better in the game. You wouldn’t believe how twisted his personality is in real life.”

“Ah, ahaha.”

I couldn’t exactly agree with AngelA, so I just laughed awkwardly. His personality is even more twisted in real life? Just how broken is this guy? While I was pondering that, the weasel hopped up and patted my shoulder—if you could call it that.

“Be careful. When he’s interested in something, he’s the type who has to have it no matter what. It can get pretty annoying.”

“Ah, thanks for the warning.”

So he’s obsessive on top of everything else. Whoever is currently the target of Sephiroth’s obsession, I hope they stay strong. I was just immensely relieved it definitely wasn’t me. I sent a silent prayer for the unnamed victim of Sephiroth’s attention.

“Well, I’ll be heading out now.”

“Ah, wait a moment.”

I hurriedly called out to AngelA. No matter how I looked at it, it was too tragic to let such a kind weasel be scammed by a Net-kama jerk. AngelA tilted his head and looked back at me.