Chapter 64: The Shadow of Endless

If only one person had been chatting, we all would have ignored it. Over the course of fifteen battles, many people had shown interest in Sephiroth. Some even demanded explanations, claiming he had killed them before. To all of them, Sephiroth remained consistent with a single phrase: “I don’t remember.” Since conversation was impossible, everyone eventually gave up, and the chat usually stayed quiet after the first 10 seconds.

This time, however, they were persistent.

[All] Buguallo97: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[All] Buguallo97: Are you managing your image now because you got a girlfriend?

[All] SoldierAfrica: Keh-heh.

[All] SoldierAfrica: Sephiroth, your pride is totally dead~ ㅎ

[All] Brrrbrr: zzzzzzzzzzz

[All] Buguallo97: Girlfriend, wake up ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[All] SoldierAfrica: That guy is a psychopath~ ㅎ

[All] Brrrbrr: zㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ F*ck, this is hilarious.

[All] Hyang-i’s-Variant: Did you block chat? ㅋ

[All] SoldierAfrica: As if the great Sephiroth would ever do that~?

[Party] Nago-Rang: Let’s just block the chat and go ㅇㅇ

[Party] NinjaBuffPls: ㅇㅇ

[All] SoldierAfrica: And guildies, listen up ~ㅎ

[All] SoldierAfrica: If you can help it, don’t hang around that psycho~

[All] SoldierAfrica: Unless you want to get slaughtered in the open field ㅎ

[Party] PpoongPpoongLove: ;; They’re really loud.

The opposing team kept calling out to Sephiroth. They didn’t just mention him; they addressed me and our guild members as well. Nago-Rang and NinjaBuffPls seemed to have blocked the chat, but for some reason, I kept staring at it. I had a premonition that I should.

[All] Hyang-i’s-Variant: ㅋ We’re being gentle and telling you in advance, so appreciate it while we’re being nice.

[All] Brrrbrr: ㅌㅋㅌㅋㅋㅋㅋ If dying is your hobby, I won’t stop you ^^ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅌㅋㅋㅋ

[Party] PpoongPpoongLove: Sephi-nim, don’t pay them any mind.

[Party] PpoongPpoongLove: They’re just attention seekers.

[All] Buguallo97: 10 seconds left.

[All] Buguallo97: Shall we give them a little taste this round?

[All] Hyang-i’s-Variant: ㅋ Not bad.

[All] 99Pigeon99: Go go go.

[All] SoldierAfrica: ㅎ Guys, consider today your punishment for accepting Sephiroth as a guild member~ ㅎ

[Party] Nago-Rang: Are they still talking;;?

[Party] BlueberryWhiskey: Yeah; they keep talking nonsense.

[Party] Sephiroth: Hmm.

Sephiroth, who had been silent until then, finally typed.

[Party] Sephiroth: This round is going to be difficult.

[Party] BlueberryWhiskey: What?

What do you mean? I tried to type it out, but the countdown ended heartlessly. With the beep marking the start of the battle, we dashed forward as planned. I kept glancing at Sephiroth while running, but I was only met by his unreadable black helmet. What are you thinking? I was staring intensely at the helmet when Sephiroth suddenly turned his head toward me. Startled like a child caught doing something bad, I looked away.

Wait, what did I do wrong? Thinking about it, I wasn’t the one who should be surprised. I glared back at him, but Sephiroth had already turned away.

We arrived at a circular, open space that looked like a central hall between the altars—a space resembling an open terrace with the only unbroken domed ceiling in the area. The moment we stepped foot there, Sephiroth, eyes fixed forward, pulled a Paralysis Fire Bomb from his pouch and threw it.

It was a sudden move, but none of us protested. An assassin had been spotted emerging from the shadows with daggers where the bomb landed. As everyone took their combat stances, magic cast from afar flew toward us threateningly.

“Dodge!” Won-jae hyung shouted as he ran. I managed to scramble out of the Area of Effect (AoE) circle just in time. At that moment, an assassin aimed a sharp dagger at my back. I twisted my body and barely dodged, but Nago-Rang was hit instead. Seong-jin didn’t even manage to dodge the magic circle. Won-jae hyung hurriedly poured out AoE and single-target heals.

[Party] Nago-Rang: Oh fck;;;

[All] SoldierAfrica: Guild members, don’t resent us ~

[All] Buguallo97: Who told you to accept Sephiroth? ㅋㅋ

[All] Brrrbrr: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[All] SnowBloodFragrance: ㅋㅋ^^ㅋㅋ

[Party] NinjaBuffPls: Sht.

[All] Brrrbrr: This is just a taste ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[All] Brrrbrr: If you’re still with Sephiroth tomorrow…

[All] Brrrbrr: Look forward to it~ >_<

The attacks rained down without pause. A Staff Master dug fiercely into our ranks, disrupting our formation, and our scattered teammates became easy prey for the assassin. We couldn’t even see where the Mage was standing. While we dodged magic flying from outside our field of vision, the Soothsayer’s debuffs poured down. Between the various attack effects flooding the screen, even Sephiroth was busy just trying to dodge. Eventually, I ran to escape a circle targeting me, but caught the edge of it, and half my health vanished instantly.

Ah. We can’t use skills, and our movement speed is slow.

Only then did I truly feel how fatal the 10% movement speed reduction was. It must have been the same for Sephiroth. It was confirmed when I saw his health bar—usually untouched—drop below 100%.

[Sephiroth has defeated Brrrbrr.]

[All] Brrrbrr: Oh, f*ck.

Amidst the chaos, Sephiroth managed to kill the Staff Master for the first kill. But bad news followed immediately.

[Buguallo97 has defeated Nago-Rang.]

[Buguallo97 has defeated PpoongPpoongLove.]

Almost simultaneously, Seong-jin’s chat appeared.

[Party] PpoongPpoongLove: Wait a second.

[Party] PpoongPpoongLove: Aren’t they the “Endless” guild?

[Party] BlueberryWhiskey: What’s that?

[Party] PpoongPpoongLove: The current #1 guild.

[Party] PpoongPpoongLove: Isn’t that Sephi-nim’s former guild?

Sephiroth’s former guild?

Knowing the identity of the bullies didn’t change anything. Once the momentum shifted, the game became irrecoverable.

[Buguallo97 has defeated JujiyukLim.]

[All] Buguallo97: ㅋ

[All] SoldierAfrica: Oh dear, the Priest is dead ~

[All] 99Pigeon99: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[All] Hyang-i’s-Variant: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

The chat was filled with “ㅋ”. One Knight even danced on top of Nago-Rang’s corpse before being turned into a gray body by Sephiroth’s axe. Even as he died, he didn’t forget to type “ㅋ”.

[Sephiroth has defeated 99Pigeon99.]

[SnowBloodFragrance has defeated NinjaBuffPls.]

[All] 99Pigeon99: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

[All] 99Pigeon99: Look at him struggling.

[All] SnowBloodFragrance: Sephi-oppa, you look pathetic >_<♡

“Let’s just surrender and end this quickly.”

Won-jae hyung’s voice, sounding deeply upset, accompanied the surrender vote. As the “Yes” votes climbed one by one, Sephiroth was being focused down. With every skill aiming for him from all directions, even Sephiroth couldn’t withstand it. I threw items with stun effects to provide cover, but that too soon reached its limit. Sephiroth’s health plummeted.

[Buguallo97 has defeated Sephiroth.]

[Sephiroth has defeated Buguallo97.]

Almost at the same moment the death notification appeared, the Core Castle in my arms exploded. We had lost by surrender.

The battlefield result window appeared, but none of our party members spoke. Sephiroth had managed a one-man show with 3 kills in the worst situation, but in terms of overall performance, it was a total defeat. In such a situation, who would want to chat happily?

[All] 99Pigeon99: Sephiroth, hi.

[All] SnowBloodFragrance: I feel so bad for those guild members, what should I do ㅇㅅㅇㅋㅋ

[All] Hyang-i’s-Variant: Members of the “Proud Korean” guild, I’ll tell you this clearly once.

[All] Hyang-i’s-Variant: Kick Sephiroth out of the guild by tomorrow.

[All] Hyang-i’s-Variant: If you don’t, don’t even dream of walking around the open fields ^^ㅋ

[All] Hyang-i’s-Variant: I hope you make a wise decision.

The enemy team looked very pleased with themselves.

The opposing team, who had arbitrarily demanded Sephiroth’s expulsion, left the result window in a crowd. I and my guild members all moved back to the lobby. A silence hung between us. I glanced between Sephiroth and the other guild members.

Was it because they were former guildmates? Or was there some other reason for such malice? I looked toward Sephiroth, but he didn’t seem interested in making excuses or giving explanations. Standing a bit apart from the others, leaning against a wall and watching us silently, he looked as if he were waiting for our judgment.

I was torn. I didn’t want to cause trouble for the guild members, but I felt we should at least verify if it was Sephiroth’s fault before kicking him out. Even if that ill-tempered guy wasn’t likely to be the innocent one, what if—just in case—it was an unfair situation? Would we still have to expel him just because the guild was suffering?