Chapter 51: The Demon in the Marble

Rezera also heavily restricted Sephiroth’s usual combat style. If we left the boss’s line of sight, Rezera would systematically demolish the pillars one by one. For Sephiroth, who relied on dropping pillars at precise coordinates to deal indirect damage, this was a frustrating development.

Of course, technically, Sephiroth didn’t need to deal damage. We could have just let the pillars fall and stayed out of Rezera’s sight, as one of its major AoE attacks didn’t trigger if the target was obscured. However, there was a reason we couldn’t do that.

“Should I just focus on supporting?” I asked.

“No way. I’ll get bored,” Sephiroth replied.

Lord Sephiroth apparently found Zelpia without attacking utterly dull, so what else was there to do?

“Fine. Have it your way.”

The situation was too urgent for petty bickering. My blade cut across Rezera’s chest. The boss had ten health bars in total; we had already chewed through two, and the indicator now read x8.

At that moment, Rezera jerked its head back violently.

KREEE-OOOOH!

“What kind of goat screams like that?!”

“Maybe it’s a stylistic choice,” Sephiroth answered nonchalantly, though his gaze remained sharp. Following his eyes, I saw the white marble walls rippling. It looked as though something was pressing from behind, stretching the stone into bizarre shapes until—pop—masses of marble detached from the wall. These pale lumps kneaded themselves like clay, slowly gaining color and form before splitting into two distinct creatures.

“Adds incoming.”

They looked like the satyr Pan from Greek mythology. Though I called them “adds,” they were only small compared to Rezera; they were nearly twice our height. They looked like upright goats, but their faces were those of bald human men. Long goat horns sprouted from either side of their hairless scalps—a truly grotesque sight.

“I’ll handle these,” Sephiroth said.

“Okay.”

GWA-OOOOOH!

Along with Rezera’s roar, my health plummeted again. As I hurriedly chugged a potion, I glimpsed Sephiroth out of the corner of my eye. He was already smashing a pillar. As the marble column began to tilt, Sephiroth rushed toward me. My “Mark” count had already reached two.

“Switch!”

At the same time—CRASH! The pillar Sephiroth had weakened toppled over, crushing one of the adds. It was a calculated drop that perfectly predicted the monster’s path. Without looking back, I lunged at the remaining satyr. As my swords connected, the vibration from its steel-hard hide traveled up my arms.

“This thing is incredibly sturdy!”

“Ignore it. I’ll take care of it,” Sephiroth called out.

It was a reassuring sound—the kind of dependable voice you want in a dungeon. I tagged back in with Rezera. Compared to those iron-skinned adds, Rezera actually took decent damage. Everything is relative, I suppose. Thinking that Rezera was actually the easier target, I unleashed a horizontal slash. Another thunderous crash echoed from behind me.

[Friend] PpoongPpoongLove: Where r u? [Friend] PpoongPpoongLove: Says ur at an unknown location.

A message from Seong-jin arrived, but I had zero room to reply. Rezera had started using a “Charge” skill. Watching a goat with four sharp horns sprint madly from one end of the hall to the other was enough to make my blood run cold.

And yet, I loved that chill.

“Not bad!”

I found myself grinning. I used to read in martial arts novels about the importance of a comrade you can trust with your back; I realized now this was exactly what they meant. With Sephiroth behind me, I didn’t have to worry about the adds. I didn’t have to worry about dying from the Marks. Even if I missed the timing to retreat, Sephiroth was always there, stepping closer to Rezera to take the Mark for me.

“Of course. Look who you’re playing with,” he said confidently.

Even his arrogance wasn’t annoying in this context. It was comforting. For all his faults, there was no better partner in battle than Sephiroth.

Rezera summoned more adds every time its health dropped by two bars. While the first wave had startled us, we quickly refined our strategy. Staring at the rippling wall, I asked a question.

“The wall itself isn’t considered a monster, right?”

“Right.”

“Then is it okay to attack the wall before the adds come out?”

GWA-OOOOOH!

I swallowed a potion with practiced ease. I wasn’t afraid of the stomping hooves or the incoming AoE attacks. I rolled out of the way and jumped to avoid the shockwaves. There were plenty of ways to dodge without hiding behind pillars.

“Seems worth a try,” Sephiroth replied, sprinting nimbly toward the wall. He picked up a large chunk of marble and hurled it at the rippling surface. Nothing happened—no penalty, no “invulnerable” message. That silence was as good as a green light. Without hesitation, Sephiroth pulled his double-edged axe from his back and raised it high above his head.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

He went wild, like a demon lord whose seal had been broken. Cracks began to spiderweb across the wall. Naturally, the rippling sections where the adds were trying to manifest also began to splinter. He hacked at the wall until it was nearly falling apart before pulling back. As if waiting for him to finish, the marble chunks finally transformed into the satyrs.

“Bingo, Bly.”

“Don’t call me that,” I grumbled, but a smile touched my lips. The adds were born already cracked and missing chunks of their bodies. Even though I had three Marks, Sephiroth was already there to swap with me. Watching the Marks fade, I struck the cracked marble monsters with my swords.

CRACK.

The fissures widened, and the monsters crumbled into rubble on the floor.

[You know nothing!] Rezera screamed.

I didn’t know why it could speak so clearly now when it spent the whole fight making weird GWA-OOOH sounds, but regardless, a red light began to gather between its four horns. I tensed up, ready to dodge the ominous glow.

At that moment, Sephiroth, who had been moving to drop a pillar on an add, pivoted. One of the adds caught sight of him. The bipedal goat-man leaped toward Sephiroth at a frightening speed, but then—

FLASH.

The red beam from Rezera’s horns struck the satyr instead.

“Oh.”

The goat-man froze in mid-air. No, it wasn’t even a goat-man anymore. The grotesque creature had been transformed into a tiny, white, cute baby goat, suspended in space. Its expression was fixed, its breathing stopped. It was as if time itself had frozen around the little animal.

I didn’t hesitate. I poured damage into the frozen goat. I didn’t know how long it would stay like that, and I wasn’t in the mood for mercy. The baby goat fell to the floor as a grey corpse.

“If that had hit us, would we have turned into that?”

“Yeah,” Sephiroth nodded.

I swapped positions with him again. Rezera, down to its final health bar, began desperately mixing all its previous patterns together. There was no set order anymore; I had to watch the startup animations to guess what was coming. It was pure chaos.

But, as always, the victors of the chaotic battle were Sephiroth and I.

[Everything goes according to His plan!]

Rezera’s raspy voice echoed one last time as it died. It was a meaningful final statement. I looked up at the ceiling, but only the marble, stained with Rezera’s blood, looked back down at me.

His plan, huh.

“That was intense,” I muttered, looking at the fallen goat king. System alerts chimed in succession.

[You have defeated Rezera the Goat King, Child of Ignas.] [Floor 3 cleared.] [Hidden] <Children of Ignas>

• Defeat all enemies and gain the recognition of the Tower of Ignas. [Cleared]

“Quest cleared,” I said.

“Me too,” Sephiroth nodded. But his voice sounded muffled, as if clouded by fog. It wasn’t his usual crisp, confident tone. I knew exactly why he sounded that way.

“That last line… it’s ominous, isn’t it?”

Everything goes according to “His” plan. Usually, in games like this, when a “He” is mentioned, it refers to either an untouchable Great Evil or a surprising enemy waiting to stab you in the back. If it was the former, the difficulty was about to spike; if it was the latter, the story was about to get depressing.

Wait, maybe the latter is actually better?

“The story probably isn’t headed toward a happy ending,” Sephiroth said, echoing my thoughts. I nodded in agreement.

Sephiroth’s armor clanked as he walked toward the corpse. He flipped the goat over, peeled back its eyelids, and meticulously inspected its hands. After wrestling with the carcass for a while, he finally shook his head.