The Support Ate it All

I looked over the faces across from us.

Kang Huichan belonged to the Guild Alliance and often paired up with Cha Hyeonju.

Right now, he had lost that spot to the higher-spec Eom Jeongtae, but judging by the fact that he had shown up like this, he still seemed to be part of the same gang.

I had no real connection with the others. Most of them were people I had only seen in passing.

One was Sagong Uk’s lackey A. Another was from Jeong Jinmyeong’s side in the White Magic Club.

And the remaining two felt less like they had come to target me and more like they were half here out of curiosity, half here to see if there was anything to pick up.

Before long, Kang Huichan stared at me and said,

“As expected, you’re not surprised. Did you know we’d come?”

“Honestly, it was obvious.”

For the people who usually held a grudge against me, this was the perfect opportunity.

They had entered far earlier than us, so they could hold a stat advantage, and if we clashed, their odds of winning would be high.

Then Sagong Uk’s lackey A spoke.

“In that case, I assume you also know what’s going to happen from here.”

“Obviously we’re going to fight, right?”

“That’s right. We’ll take you down. And once your re-entry time comes, we’ll come wait for you again.”

If someone was rendered unable to fight and ejected, they had to wait outside for eight hours.

So they were saying they would raise their specs in their own way during that time, then come back and catch us again when the time came.

Kang Huichan nodded and added,

“Of course, if you’re lucky, you might avoid us.”

There were multiple starting points.

Cha Hyeonju’s group and Sagong Uk’s group probably could not cover all of them, and had most likely sent gangs like this to only a portion of them.

This time, we just happened to get caught.

Of course, as they said, we might get caught again after re-entering. Or if we were lucky, we might avoid them.

The two lackeys pulled up the corners of their mouths.

“But do you really want to take the exam after suffering that kind of humiliation? It would be better to give up early.”

“I hear you were doing an outside request. Why not take this chance to get some proper rest?”

I looked at them with faint admiration.

“Wow, I’m seeing you in a new light, Huichan. You’re even worrying about me.”

“......”

“I also heard all your ambitious plans. There’s just one problem.”

“......What is that?”

Kang Huichan asked with a frown.

I propped the crow tree on my shoulder.

“You have to catch me here first for any of that to matter.”

“You think we’ll let you get away?”

“Who said I was running?”

“......!”

Since that was practically the same as saying I would fight, everyone’s face filled with disbelief.

We had only just entered, so our ranks were low as it was. What chance did we have fighting two against five?

Kang Huichan let out a hollow laugh.

“......Then again, you were always overflowing with confidence.”

“Because I have the skill to back it up.”

“I think you’ve misjudged the situation this time.”

“That remains to be seen, doesn’t it?”

“......Indeed.”

At those words, everyone in the area shifted into battle stance.

Kang Huichan drew a sword and shield. Seo Ye-in summoned a [Mirror Image] and slowly aimed her mana gun straight ahead.

Sagong Uk’s lackey A held a longsword, Jeong Jinmyeong’s man held a staff, and the remaining two each held a bow and throwing daggers.

The next moment, Kang Huichan seemed to bend his knees slightly.

“Let’s find out, then....... Whose judgment was wrong!”

Then he kicked off the ground and charged straight toward us.

Seo Ye-in immediately aimed her muzzle and poured out a shower of [Mana Rounds].

RATATATATAT!

Kang Huichan maintained his speed and swung his shield as if swatting away flies.

Normally, they would have pierced right through and dealt considerable damage, but this time, he blocked them perfectly.

Because of the rank difference.

Right now, all of Seo Ye-in’s and my skills, traits, and equipment were fixed at F-rank.

By contrast, those guys looked to be between D and D+.

A one-rank difference was one thing, but overcoming a gap of two ranks or more was not easy.

On top of that, F-rank was the level where you had only just learned a skill, so the power was especially weak.

Kang Huichan broke through the shower of [Mana Rounds] with extreme ease and forced me into close combat.

I dodged his shield bash with a backstep, and he strode in again, cutting with his sword.

SWISH—!

I slowly pushed the crow tree forward.

[Transplanting Flowers, Grafting Trees(F)]

The blade and staff stuck together with a sharp smack.

When I shook it hard to the side, he lost his balance and staggered.

“......!”

But I could feel a tingling in my grip too.

Maybe because of the rank difference, I had not been able to redirect it 100% perfectly.

Still, I had somehow created an opening, so I was about to counterattack.

SWISH, SWISH, SWISH, SWISH!

The next moment, sword energy, arrows, and daggers poured down in a rush.

Sagong Uk’s lackey and the others had fired them.

So I stepped back, treading [Featherstep] this way and that, and Kang Huichan, who had regained his stance, kicked off the ground again.

I should use it now.

[Using ‘Octopus Arms.’]

[Engraving ‘Concussion Mark(F)’ on the target.]

[Engraving ‘Concussion Mark(F)’ on the target.......]

[On the target.......]

.......

[‘Time Double(F)’ has activated.]

[Duration 00:00:06]

[Cooldown 49:59:59]

Double decided to pop here, huh.

It was one of the pocket watch’s options, and it had the effect of doubling the duration at a certain probability.

At F-rank, the chance was pretty low, but it seemed to have activated somehow.

Of course, even doubled, it was still only six seconds.

Still better than nothing.

Six seconds was better than three.

“......!”

“What the......!”

Everyone saw the notification message, flinched, and froze in place.

The two Seo Ye-ins sprayed the mana guns at them.

RATATATATAT!

Only Kang Huichan kept chasing after me, swinging his sword and shield in turn.

Then—

“......Urk?”

Maybe the concussion effect had activated, because he staggered again.

Unlike the first exchange, he would not get any support this time.

So I pointed my index finger at him.

PYOONG.

A water droplet formed at the tip.

I stirred it in a circle, made a disk of water, and flipped it over him as it was.

[Bubble Bubble]

PONG.

Kang Huichan ended up trapped inside a bubble as large as his own torso.

It was already a skill with a short duration, and right now, its rank was F too, so it would release him quickly.

Obviously, I still have more combos left.

A stream of cold shot from my index finger toward him.

[Diamond Freeze]

[Frost-White Shot]

[Chain Explosion]

BOOM!

CRAAACK—

Two cold explosions went off, and the water bubble froze solid in an instant.

Trapped inside, Kang Huichan opened his eyes wide and said something or other.

“......!”

“Huh? What was that, Huichan?”

“......! ......!”

“I can’t hear you. Speak up, speak up!”

FLASH!

Instead of answering, light kept bursting from his body.

It looked like he was using debuff cleanses.

But I used Diamond, didn’t I?

Uncleansable, isn’t it?

He must have seen the replay, so there was no way he did not know that, but maybe because he had panicked, he kept spamming cleanses at random.

FLASH! FLASH!

Well, anyone would panic if they were suddenly trapped in a bubble and frozen solid.

While he was wasting precious cleanses like that, Seo Ye-in was also fighting fairly hard in her own way.

RATATATATAT!

[Mana Rounds] struck the enemies evenly across their bodies.

“......Ugh.”

“Kgh.”

Kang Huichan had blocked them cleanly, but that was because he had equipped a shield and his build was also half defensive.

The others were not like that, so even with the rank difference, they had no choice but to take damage.

Sagong Uk’s lackey stuck close to Seo Ye-in and slashed with his longsword, but—

CLANG.

It was blocked by the F-rank Immortal Pot, and more [Mana Rounds] came flying at him.

While four of them were failing to do anything about one Seo Ye-in, everyone saw it.

They saw Kang Huichan trapped inside the ice bubble, struggling desperately to escape, and how useless it was.

A brief silence flowed through the area.

“......”

“......”

The first ones to act were the archer and the dagger thrower.

They exchanged glances with pale faces.

“......Hey, this isn’t going to work.”

“Run. Run.”

Then they both turned at the same time and bolted away.

From the beginning, they had only been lurking around to see if any scraps would fall. Their motivation to catch me was not that strong.

So the moment they sensed the situation was flowing strangely, they immediately changed course.

Sagong Uk’s lackey A ground his teeth.

“This is why rabble is useless. We never should’ve let them join us from the start.”

Then, just as he raised his longsword again and glared at us—

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM!

Large chunks of mana flew in and slammed into his back.

They seemed to have quite a bit of destructive power, because Sagong Uk’s lackey was sent flying and rolled across the ground several times.

Then he turned his head with his eyes bulging as if they would tear open.

“You bastard......!”

The one who had fired them was the White Magic Club member, Jeong Jinmyeong’s friend.

He had not participated in the fight until now and had only been quietly casting in a corner. Now, at last, he had manifested his magic.

Not at us, but at Sagong Uk’s lackey.

He spoke with a refreshing smile.

“Why are you so surprised? We don’t get along in the first place.”

“Even so....... You hit me in the back like a coward?”

“And waiting near the starting point isn’t cowardly?”

That did not seem exactly fair and square either.

Before long, another sphere of mana formed over his hand.

“If you have a problem, come at me anytime. Bring Sagong Uk too.”

“You’re the one bastard I’ll—!”

BOOM!

Another mana explosion erupted, and the area flashed blue.

The next moment, Sagong Uk’s lackey was gone without a trace.

He had been rendered unable to fight and ejected outside the dungeon.

Jeong Jinmyeong’s man glanced at the sight, then looked at us.

“You heard everything, so you know already, but Jeong Jinmyeong sent me.”

“Is that so? Thanks for the help.”

“Looked like you would’ve done fine without me.”

Of course, he had not come looking for me out of simple goodwill.

He probably wanted something.

But before we talked about that—

“Let’s take care of this first.”

All of our gazes turned at once toward “this,” meaning Kang Huichan trapped inside the ice bubble.

His face was now filled with a sense of danger, in a complete one-eighty from earlier.

I spoke to him in a gentle tone.

“Huichan, can you hear me?”

“......!”

“If you can hear me, blink.”

Blink.

“Do you want to end up like that guy just now?”

Meaning, did he want to be deleted by a mana explosion like Sagong Uk’s lackey?

Needless to say, Seo Ye-in and I would be hitting him too, and if we aimed for the moment the ice released, then from his perspective, he would only get beaten without being able to do a thing.

I kept speaking to him as cold sweat ran down his face.

“Blink twice if you want to live.”

Blink, blink.

“I see. But you did all that stuff just now, didn’t you? We should get something too.”

“......!”

“If you have crystals or item cards, blink once. If not, blink twice.”

“......”

“You don’t, huh?”

With that, his fate was basically decided.

We exchanged glances and came to a silent agreement.

Then, while Kang Huichan looked at us anxiously, all of us moved to one side of the ice bubble together.

“Hey, roll him.”

“......! ......!”

Kang Huichan urgently said something or other, but we began pushing the ice bubble toward the slope at the same time.

At first, it moved slowly, then gradually picked up speed.

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!

With a thunderous noise, it rolled away out of sight.