Chapter 50: The Mark of the Beast

Whatever else he was, the guy was certainly overflowing with self-love. Sephiroth laughed out loud as I spat out my sharp, rapid-fire retort. Seeing as he didn’t seem the least bit offended, he was either genuinely handsome or just incredibly proud of his face. One of the two.

Still, could he really be better looking than Na Eun-hyeok? If I wasn’t personally acquainted with Eun-hyeok, I would’ve customized my character to look exactly like him.

“Why the sudden interest in the helmet, though?”

“I mean, you can read my expressions, but I can’t see yours. It feels a bit unfair.”

“Ahhh.”

Sephiroth leaned his head in close—so close the black visor was almost overwhelming.

“So, our Bly was curious about his Hyung’s face?”

“F*ck, who’s whose ‘Hyung’? I told you I’d kill you if you talked nonsense!”

Harsh words burst out of me. Sephiroth just laughed and patted my head. The cold, clanking sensation of his heavy gauntlets brushed through my hair. Being treated like a “pretty boy” was bad enough, but being treated like a younger brother by someone who probably just started college sent my irritation levels through the roof. If my anger were measured on the Scoville scale, it would be pure capsaicin. Go ahead, mix my rage into your ramen and see what happens. With Sephiroth around, you didn’t need a sauna. You were always boiling anyway.

“Hey! Seriously, stop messing around!”

“Well, it’s not like you won’t be seeing my face plenty later on.”

“You’re going to take the helmet off eventually?”

“Yeah.”

Sephiroth nodded nonchalantly. Wait, doesn’t that contradict what he said earlier? Based on what Seong-jin and Gyu-tae said, he hadn’t revealed his face once since he started the game. I figured it was just another one of his passing remarks and decided to ignore it.

But there was one thing I wanted to point out.

“Will I even still be hanging out with you by then?”

Instead of an answer, I only got a low, humored chuckle.

When we reached the 3rd floor, a low groan escaped our lips.

The 3rd floor still featured the same white marble walls and pillars. Apparently, the theme of this tower was “The White Marble Room.” Unlike the previous floors, there were no visible doors. This was clearly the final level.

A chilling wind blew through the room. There wasn’t a single hole in the walls, yet I couldn’t tell where the draft was coming from. While I scanned the surroundings, Sephiroth moved forward. The moment he passed the first row of pillars, the lights in the room flickered off and then snapped back on.

[O foolish ones. You have walked straight into a trap.]

A deep, masculine voice layered with a mechanical distortion echoed through the space. Stepping slowly from behind a pillar was a massive goat. A black goat holding a trident—and once again, its eyes were blood-red. It had four large, curved horns that possessed a greasy sheen, making them look as grotesque as a snake’s tail or an insect’s carapace. Its mouth and nose were huge; every time it unhinged its jaw, its pearly white teeth flashed in stark, eerie contrast to its black fur. The red eyes on either side of its head shimmered as they scanned us.

<Child of Ignas, Rezera the Goat King>

At this point, you’d have to be an idiot not to see it.

“This is…”

“A demon.”

Sephiroth voiced the exact thought I was having.

While the rat and the snake might have been ambiguous, a black goat with a trident was basically a neon sign screaming “DEMON.” The bluntness of the symbolism was actually a bit staggering.

But we couldn’t back down from a fight that had already started. Strategy first, lore analysis later. Sephiroth and I lunged at the goat.

[Zelpia Community Board]

# Did anyone else feel like there was an earthquake in-game just now? Right before the surprise event notice popped up, the ground started shaking like crazy. I drank a ton last night; is the booze still not out of my system? ㅡㅡ Anyway, what’s this surprise event… sh*t, I can’t even read the text right now T_T

[Comments]

User1: Ahjussi, if you sleep here, your mouth is gonna twist. └ User2: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ User3: No, I felt it too. └ User4: Did you drink yesterday too? └└ User5: I’m a high school senior, you psycho. └└└ User6: Why is a senior playing Zelpia? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

User7: I felt it too;; where were the people who felt the earthquake? └ User8: Hazel Mountains. └└ User9: Oh, I’m at Hazel Mountains too. Was it just there? └└ User10: Wait, no. └ User11: Borderlands. └ User12: Chezelen. └ User13: Harbor Entrance. └ User14: They’re all over the place… what is this…?

User15: Surprise Event = New 6:6 PVP map. Rank Point farming event. └ User16: Please get rid of the Rank Point events T_T └└ User17: Hey, it’s been forever since a PVP event, don’t be like that (PVP main). └└ User18: PVP mains please stand up and leave.

User19: So does nobody know what the earthquake was? └ User20: Server error? └ User21: Those devs take so much money but don’t maintain the servers ㅡㅡ └ User22: Maybe there was an earthquake where the servers are located? └└ User23: You’re a Humanities major, aren’t you? └└└ User24: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

# Holy sh*t, I just saw a tower literally grow out of the ground in-game;;; Post by: 1 (118.490) What the hell is happening;;;

[Comments]

User1: Proof or it didn’t happen. 1: Not lying. If I’m lying, I’ll call you ‘Master’. User1: Okay, if it’s true, I’ll call you ‘Master’. User2: Is someone doing a quest? 1: No, a tower just dropped out of the sky right in front of me;;;; User3: Kid, stop lying. User4: A video just went up [Link] User4: Here’s a screencap too [Photo] 1: Look at that, you jerks. User1: Holy sh*t. User1: Master.

The hardest part about fighting Rezera was a specific skill that neutralized melee characters.

[The Mark of Rezera has pierced you. Marks until death: 2/4]

“I’ve got two marks stacked.”

“Fall back.”

If you stood near Rezera, a random 15-second red mark would be placed on the closest person. The notification warning that 4 marks meant instant death was terrifying. Since both Sephiroth and I were melee-focused, marks were inevitable. They disappeared after the duration, so we were managing the count by swapping positions before anyone hit three, but it wasn’t easy. Rezera had an auto-heal skill.

“We need to burst it down next turn. It’s almost fully healed.”

“Got it.”

[Sephiroth has cast ‘Judgment of Scorch’ on you.] [Attack power increased by 5%.] [Sephiroth has cast ‘Curse of Fresh Blood’ on the target.] [Defense decreased by 5%. Critical hit damage increased by 30%.]

When I backed off and Sephiroth stood near Rezera, the goat took the opportunity to heal itself. Since Sephiroth couldn’t attack directly, there was nothing we could do. Instead, while he was in the “tank” position, he would stack massive buffs on me and debuffs on Rezera before tagging back out.

The positions swapped again, and my skills began carving into Rezera’s health bar. I dodged a downward hoof strike and used Sure-Kill Strike on its ankle. The health that had been ticking up just a moment ago started plummeting.

“I think we can do this!”

I was starting to feel relieved as the health bar dropped, but the moment we swapped positions again—

GWA-OOOOOH!

As soon as Phase 2 began, Rezera let out a bizarre, distorted cry. In that instant, Sephiroth’s mana was cut in half. Simultaneously, about 1/3 of his total health vanished in one go. Sephiroth, who rarely took hits and usually kept a full health bar, saw his HP dip significantly for the first time.

“Are you okay?”

“F*ck, I think that blast wipes out half your current mana.”

“Seriously?”

“And the health damage scales based on how much mana was lost.”

Sephiroth began chugging potions as if he were pouring them down a drain. Tossing an empty bottle aside, he wiped his mouth and rolled between Rezera’s legs to dodge. Rezera tried to sit down and crush him, but Sephiroth had already rolled out the other side. Preparing to tag back in, I asked:

“What should we do? Keep mana at a minimum?”

“That’ll mess up the damage cycle. This thing applies a mana-regen debuff for about 3 seconds.”

Sephiroth was firm. He was right—if we kept mana low to avoid damage, we wouldn’t have enough to use skills after the blast. Plus, with a 3-second regen lock, the gap in our offense would be too large. To beat a boss that healed constantly, we had to minimize the downtime in our damage output.

“Then I’ll just try to endure it with potions.”

“Yeah.”

GWA-OOOOOH!

Rezera roared intermittently while I was attacking. Each time, I frantically hammered my potion shortcut to refill the health and mana that had been halved. It was a good thing Sephiroth had given me those supplies earlier. If he hadn’t, I would have run out and died long ago.