Chapter 34: The Perfect Strategy

<Guys, just don’t ever join a trial party with Fanatic-h (Sephiroth) lol> Let me break down why:

1. As soon as you enter, if you aren’t helping, he tells you to just hide in the back.
2. If you jump out for no reason and die, causing the raid to fail, he’ll personally give you a “Fire-Bat” (verbal lashing/punishment).
3. He’ll suddenly commit suicide in the middle of a good run.
4. His reason? He thinks he found a “better way” to clear it.
5. Meanwhile, if someone else misses a pattern and causes a fail, he gives them the Fire-Bat again. Summary: He’s a Fire-Bat machine.

[Comments]

Haaang, I want to taste Fanatic’s Fire-Bat too… >< └ Ugh, f*ck, I wish these filthy creeps would just disappear;;;;

Sephiroth was rarely satisfied with the way a clear was progressing. While it was slightly annoying to be unable to finish a game we had practically won because of one person’s lack of cooperation, I secretly agreed that our previous method didn’t feel “perfect.”

What bothered me most was the heavy metal Slug. It kept going through the motions of playing the zither. If it were just a simple animation, it wouldn’t matter, but the Slug was clearly forming finger-like appendages to press specific strings. Given how needlessly precise the graphics in Zelpia tended to be, it wasn’t something we should ignore.

“Again.”

When the fourth attempt also ended in a forced failure, Seong-jin and Gyu-tae looked utterly exhausted. AngelA, having dealt with Sephiroth’s perfectionism before, seemed better off but wasn’t exactly beaming with energy.

I scanned their faces and made a decision. I tapped Sephiroth on the shoulder.

“Hey. I think there’s a connection with the Slug’s fingering.”

“I was thinking the same thing.”

“Let the other three rest for a bit. You stay down here and check the finger patterns. I’ll go up and see if the ceiling symbols change accordingly.”

“You think the Bagua and the Slug’s movements are linked?”

“Isn’t that the most logical way to tie all the gimmicks together?”

At my suggestion, Sephiroth rotated his torso lightly as if warming up. Despite the heavy armor, his movements were remarkably fluid. His heavy gauntlet patted my shoulder.

“Fine. That’s the most rational approach.”

I expected some pushback, but he was surprisingly cold and objective when it came to game mechanics. Sephiroth brushed past me and approached the other three.

“You guys are useless right now, so stay in the corner during Phase 3.”

He really had a talent for making “take a break” sound like an insult.

Seong-jin frowned slightly but nodded, while Gyu-tae just collapsed onto the floor. Only AngelA remained active, hopping around. His playful voice rang out:

“Is Blueberry-nim getting special treatment?”

“She’s better than you, Hyung.”

“Yeah. True. Looks that way.”

Both of them were nonchalant about it, but I was dying inside trying to pretend I hadn’t heard. I appreciated the compliment, but being praised in this situation made me feel like a criminal.

[Our dream!] [Do not wake us from it!]

By now, we could clear Phases 1 and 2 with our eyes closed. After finishing them quickly, the other three retreated to the back while Sephiroth and I headed toward the pavilion. The paper doors slammed open and the vortex howled, but I didn’t even blink. The heavy metal Slug hammered the zither with its frenzied fingering.

Sephiroth handled the aggro for both the Slug and the pavilion, while the other three just defended against stray attacks. Meanwhile, I rapidly scaled the falling roof tiles to get a view of the ceiling.

“Start!”

“Number one.”

Since it was hard to describe the Slug’s complex hand movements, we decided to number the fingerings. Our first goal was just to see if there was a correlation; we could worry about the exact timing later. When I asked if he could remember it all, Sephiroth didn’t bother hiding his smug personality.

‘I’ll probably remember it better than you.’

Wow. Listen to this guy. I got into Hankuk University with the second-highest score in my year…

I found myself wanting to brag about my grades—something I hadn’t even done as a freshman—simply because Sephiroth was being so annoying. I used my “adult patience” to keep it inside. Besides, I had plenty to memorize myself. It would be better if I could record the changes in the Bagua symbols.

Right. No time for distractions. Balancing on falling tiles while staring at the ceiling was no easy task, especially with the dragon lamps constantly snapping at me.

“Number two.”

The moment Sephiroth shouted, the ceiling pattern shifted instantly. The four Bagua weren’t static symbols. The pattern I had seen briefly in the previous try wasn’t a fixed form. As Sephiroth suspected, there was an additional gimmick.

“Back to number one.”

With his cold voice, the ceiling reverted to the first pattern.

“It’s the same!”

“Number three.”

This time, a brand new set of four Bagua appeared.

Sephiroth was right. Our previous clear method had been incomplete. To truly clear the stage, we likely had to attack the corresponding Bagua symbols every time the pattern shifted.

A ‘True Clear’? But what does that even mean? A clear is a clear, right? Although they say Zelpia has tiered rewards…

“Number four.”

The shapes changed again. Now I was certain. The Slug’s fingering was the key to the ceiling patterns. If we wanted a perfect run, we had to master the finger-to-symbol chart.

Is this just a memory test?

Fortunately, no. Zelpia featured a virtual memo system where you could jot down notes. I hurriedly opened a memo and sketched the Bagua shapes. There were five fingerings in total, which meant five Bagua patterns.

Yeah. The controls are already a nightmare; testing our memory on top of that would be heartless.

As I was scribbling the last pattern like a frantic earthworm, a massive lantern shot toward me.

“Ah!”

“Bluey.”

Hit by the lantern, my body turned gray and slumped to the floor. As I watched the pavilion flare with red light from my death screen, Sephiroth called out my name.

Once we figured out the method, the rest was easy. I shared my notes with the party. Sephiroth also recorded the hand shapes and shared them. Combining the two, it was like having a strategy guide floating next to us.

Phase 1 and 2 were now trivial. Just like two tries ago, I took the center. Instead of jumping on tiles, I stayed on the floor, dodging attacks while cross-referencing the Slug’s hands with Sephiroth’s notes.

“Number one!” “Number three!” “Number four!” “Number three!”

It was a complex pattern, but it actually felt easier than before. In the previous “brute force” attempts, breaking the Bagua turned them into sharp blades that hunted the party. This time, we were just “pressing” them like buttons, allowing us to stay out of their attack range entirely.

“Number five!”

As I called out the final pattern, four heavy thuds echoed through the hall.

At that moment, the Slug set down its zither.

“It worked!”

The lights of the massive pavilion turned a blinding, radiant white and began to absorb the Slug. The creature, dressed in its hanbok, surrendered to the pull and was sucked into the structure. As its white skin vanished inside, the pavilion glowed even brighter. The Slug was gone.

Then, the pavilion itself began to move.

“We did it!”

Gyu-tae, watching from the sidelines, pumped his fists and cheered. In that instant, the pavilion bent like a living thing and lashed out, striking him. It was as if the building had turned into a giant slime. We all stood frozen at the impossible sight.

“Dod—”

SLAM.

“Dodge.” Before Sephiroth could finish the word, the whip-like pavilion had already turned Gyu-tae into a gray ghost. Seeing him fall snapped me back to reality. I used the building’s blind spot to dodge the follow-up and drove my sword into a pillar during its recovery frames.

“This is it!”

A shiver ran down my spine. The sensation of cutting the pillar was different. It wasn’t a steel wall, nor was it a sponge. It felt like… honestly cutting through wood.

Sephiroth and Seong-jin joined the attack. The pavilion expanded and contracted at will, lunging at us like a snake, but the delay between its attacks was long enough to provide ample openings.

CRACK-BOOM!

Thunder struck as if trying to prove me wrong. But having cleared the first two phases so many times, our skills had sharpened. I watched through the chaos of falling lightning as Sephiroth buried his axe deep into the structure.

Did he know it would turn out like this?

THUD.

With a final, thunderous strike from Sephiroth, the pavilion’s health bar finally hit zero.