Chapter 113: Solving the Statue’s Gimmick

Without another word, both Na Eun-hyeok and I immediately began scanning the books lined up across the library. If nothing else, our synchronization whenever we played this game was terrifyingly precise. Even without exchanging a single syllable, we instinctively knew exactly what needed to be done.

Before long, a few peculiar books caught my eye. They were entirely wrapped in a sleek velvet fabric, completely devoid of any text or markings along their spines. The color of the covers varied from book to book, with vibrant shades of red, yellow, green, and blue mixed together in a completely random assortment.

SLAM!

Na Eun-hyeok initiated the first strike. Swiftly following his lead, I raised my dual swords and ruthlessly stabbed into a nearby book—a crimson-covered volume.

SCREECH!

The moment my blade pierced the fabric, the book violently lunged upward, dropping straight back down as if attempting to completely smother me. The second I executed a sharp backward step to evade, the book slammed onto the tile where I had just been standing, baring a massive row of jagged teeth. It was a mimic, its physical mass expanding to roughly four times the size it had occupied while sitting innocently on the bookshelf.

Naturally, dispatching it was a breeze. Mimic attack patterns were inherently simplistic.

The exact moment I cleanly eliminated the target and whirled around, I caught sight of Na Eun-hyeok ruthlessly executing the next mimic. However, what truly commanded my attention was the massive mid-boss statue standing dead in the center of the library. A vibrant layer of color was gradually creeping upward from the very soles of the statue’s feet. The bottommost layer near the base was a distinct shade of green, while the section climbing directly above it bled into a deep crimson red.

So Na Eun-hyeok killed a green mimic.

Structurally speaking, it looked as though filling this statue with a complete coating of color was the exact mechanic required to awaken the boss. Even if that assumption proved incorrect, our only realistic option was to test the theory. I forged ahead, systematically stabbing and clearing the velvet books on my side of the library while keeping a razor-sharp eye on the shifting colors of the monument. Exactly as I had predicted, the specific color corresponding to each mimic I slaughtered was mapped directly onto the statue’s surface.

And the absolute second the monument was fully saturated in absolute silence—

[Who dares refuse to offer their deepest reverence to the God of Fire?]

The stone statue violently awakened.

Without exchanging a single word, we instantly assumed our optimal combat positions. Relying on his massive health pool, Na Eun-hyeok firmly held the front line while I anchored the rear.

Since this was our absolute first attempt at the run, it was entirely impossible to predict how the encounter would unfold. Amidst the heavy tension, the colossus raised an immense stone greatsword and slammed it violently into the floor. Executing a perfectly synchronized scatter maneuver, Na Eun-hyeok and I cleanly evaded the impact and immediately unleashed a furious barrage of counterattacks. While every single strike from that massive blade possessed lethal power, its attack velocity was incredibly sluggish; the brief window immediately following a swing up until the exact moment he recovered his weapon constituted our prime DPS phase.

“Wait, what……?”

The boss’s health bar hadn’t budged a single millimeter.

“Tsk.”

Na Eun-hyeok clicked his tongue in sharp irritation. Before we could adjust, the statue raised its greatsword once more and drove the blade directly into the ceiling. A violent vibration that threatened to shatter the earth rippled through the chamber, and the stone roof immediately began to cave in. I desperately scanned the falling debris for a blind spot to evade the collapse, but there was physically no viable angle left to escape. Within seconds, my vision bled into absolute darkness before fading into a dull shade of grey.

“A one-shot wipe mechanic?”

The moment we executed our automatic respawn, Na Eun-hyeok’s deeply bewildered voice drifted over. This was a question I was highly curious about myself.

“Didn’t Zelfia strictly avoid instant-death wipe mechanics originally?”

“Yeah. They didn’t exist. Even the high-tier bosses relied almost exclusively on mechanical control rather than strict puzzle gimmicks.”

“Is this a new addition? Simply because it’s a hidden quest?”

“Who knows…… Regardless, it’s clearly signaling that they have zero intention of letting us simply out-maneuver the damage through pure evasion. Why the hell would they suddenly introduce an instant-death mechanic out of nowhere?”

Na Eun-hyeok lightly tapped his index finger against his temple. Reflecting on it now, even that minor, subconscious habit was a perfect mirror of his real-life mannerisms. It truly was a case of seeing only what you know; details I had previously brushed off as mere coincidences because we shared a lot of commonalities now hit me with a completely different weight.

“Thinking about it, the whole thing is bizarre. The introduction of the movement speed debuff, the presence of a one-shot wipe mechanic, and the very existence of a hidden quest that forces even veteran players to struggle this hard to begin with……”

Na Eun-hyeok systematically listed out the glaring anomalies. Hearing it laid out like that, it was undeniably true. This entire hidden quest directly contradicted every core characteristic of Zelfia that Han Gyu-tae and Park Seong-jin had consistently praised up until now.

“Well, for now, our priority is cleanly breaking this stone statue.”

It was an anomaly that wouldn’t yield any definitive answers no matter how much we pondered it anyway. I gave a firm nod of agreement to Na Eun-hyeok’s words. Right now, figuring out how to successfully resolve the mechanics of a boss armed with a literal one-shot wipe condition was a far more pressing issue.

“First off, when we kill a mimic, the boss is painted in that mimic’s specific color.”

“Huh? That wasn’t the case for me though?”

“What?”

At my sudden interjection, Na Eun-hyeok tilted his head in visible confusion.

“When I killed a red mimic, the statue turned green, and killing a yellow mimic painted it blue. Furthermore, the green and blue mimics applied the exact inverse colors.”

“Why are our rules completely different?”

“Who knows?”

“Are you sure you didn’t just misread the visual cues?”

I simply shrugged my shoulders at his skepticism.

“As if there’s any possible way I’d make a mistake like that, Bleewee-ya.”

“Ugh, seriously.”

Hearing that distinct Sephiroth tone for the first time in a while caused a sharp spike of irritation to flare up in my chest. Because I was starkly aware that Na Eun-hyeok was sitting right inside that avatar, the irritation doubled instantly. As if he had fully anticipated my exact reaction, Na Eun-hyeok let out a bright, refreshing laugh.

“Alright, for now, let’s deliberately target and eliminate only the mimics that paint the statue entirely red.”

“The logic being?”

“Because this is the Fire Temple.”

“Simplistic, but solid enough.”

Na Eun-hyeok gave a firm nod of assent.

“If there’s a problem, it’s simply the fact that our color mapping rules are completely inverted.”

“Let’s just proceed under the assumption that our respective rules remain consistently applied to each of us individually and start the next run.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

With a mutual nod, we immediately scattered back to our positions.

To skip straight to the conclusion, our second attempt resulted in an absolute failure. The discrepancy in our color rules applied exactly as predicted and didn’t pose an issue, but the moment the stone statue was fully saturated in a crimson red coat, it raised its greatsword and delivered an ominous line.

[O God of Fire, descend into this vessel.]

Following that cryptic incantation, the colossus instantly burst into violent flames. Merely stepping into the immediate vicinity of the blazing statue inflicted massive burn damage, and with every step the boss took, the library steadily caught fire until the entire chamber was thoroughly engulfed in a raging inferno. With absolutely zero safe zones left to escape the flames, we managed to land a few desperate blows on the colossus before our health bars evaporated from the ticking burn damage, leaving us flat on the floor.

On the bright side, unlike our initial attempt, our attacks were actually registering valid damage numbers this time. Were we supposed to unleash an absolute maximum burst DPS phase right from the very start? Having discussed the possibility, Na Eun-hyeok and I immediately entered our third attempt, but the outcome remained entirely unchanged. Despite layering every single available buff in our arsenal, the library was ruthlessly swallowed by the firestorm once more.

By the time our fourth attempt collapsed under the exact same pattern, a brief lull settled over us.

“It’s not a burst DPS check. The damage we just outputted was the absolute maximum limit we are physically capable of producing.”

“Should I go grind a few more levels and come back?”

“Considering the game permitted us to enter this dungeon sector to begin with, a level disparity isn’t the issue here.”

Before I even realized it, the two of us were seriously putting our heads together, entirely engrossed in deducing the optimal strategy to clear the Fire Temple. A game had to be played with absolute sincerity, after all. As I tossed out various concepts, Na Eun-hyeok would systematically veto or accept them.

“Then let’s try deliberately killing a completely different color combination of mimics next.”

“Deal.”

While the fact that the boss only took damage when fully saturated in red remained a highly critical clue, we decided it was best to test the alternative paths first. We initiated the next sequence with green.

A few more attempts rapidly cycled through. Green, yellow, and blue all resulted in absolute failure. We bit the dust in the exact same fashion as our very first run—zero damage registered on the boss, followed by a one-shot wipe via a collapsing ceiling.

By this point, both Na Eun-hyeok and I had developed a stubborn streak of pure spite. A fierce determination to conquer this dungeon at any absolute cost radiated clearly from both of us. Never in my entire history of playing Zelfia had I racked up this many consecutive failures. The sentiment was clearly shared by Na Eun-hyeok, as I could vividly hear him muttering under his breath in a distinctly irritated tone.

“One-shot wipe mechanics are absolute garbage……”

Up until now, we had always managed to survive through sheer mechanical control, perfectly dodging every incoming threat. If we ever died, it was a voluntary choice to systematically map out a superior strategy. Even though the end result of death was technically identical, dying to an un-evadable one-shot mechanic felt infinitely more unjust. If it was a standard attack, I could have easily dodged it! It was that exact brand of raw frustration.

“For now, coating the boss in red is definitely the correct path.”

“Yeah. I agree.”

The only time the boss’s attack pattern shifted and permitted us to deal valid damage was when the statue was painted entirely crimson. Furthermore, while the library being engulfed in flames functioned as a soft wipe mechanic, it wasn’t an instantaneous death. The fact that our health bars were ticking down gradually meant there was still a window to actively execute an alternative counter-strategy.

“In that case, how about we try systematically killing more mimics during the actual fight this time?”

“Not a bad idea.”

Na Eun-hyeok gave a serious nod of approval to my suggestion. Since we were backed into a corner where we had to actively experiment anyway, testing every available variable—regardless of success—was the only logical path forward.

Once again, we meticulously saturated the statue in a deep crimson coat. Right on cue, the colossus raised its greatsword.

[O God of Fire, descend into this vessel.]

Completely abandoning the ignition sequence of the boss, we rapidly scanned the surrounding area for mimics. I lunged at the nearest green mimic, driving my blade straight through it. SCREECH! The mimic let out a sharp wail before being swiftly deleted. Instantly, a faint green hue washed over my field of vision.

“It’s a protective barrier.”

Catching sight of my status shift, Sephiroth immediately followed suit, ruthlessly cleaving a nearby red mimic with his battleaxe. A matching green barrier instantly enveloped Sephiroth’s frame. The ticking fire damage that had been violently consuming the chamber failed to pierce the barrier. It was a direct, definitive hit on the puzzle mechanic.

“Should we just continuously slaughter the mimics that yield green barriers?”

“I highly doubt it’ll be that simple.”

Na Eun-hyeok immediately countered my prediction. Even as the words left his mouth, I harbored the exact same skepticism. Right on cue, the flaming knight hunched over, unleashing a massive torrent of fire breath directly from its jaws.

“What the hell! I thought this guy was strictly a greatsword wielder?!”

I frantically dropped low to evade the direct trajectory of the breath, but avoiding the residual thermal damage was entirely impossible. Simultaneously, the flames dancing across the chamber began to flicker violently, shifting into a distinctly more vivid shade of yellow.

“Blue!”

I immediately struck a blue mimic, while Na Eun-hyeok perfectly synchronized to pierce a yellow volume. This time, a brilliant cyan barrier enveloped our characters. The residual fire damage that had begun to creep back in was instantly nullified once more.

I quietly muttered under my breath.

“Easy.”

I meant it with every fiber of my being. The moment a game’s damage-negation mechanics were fully exposed, the encounter was practically as good as cleared. After all, when it came to standard attacks, wasn’t dodging them through pure mechanical control our absolute specialty?

“Let’s finish this.”

Na Eun-hyeok was in absolute, perfect alignment.

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