The Support Ate it All

Chapter 312: 18th Week Final Exam (5)

The Banshee’s ability was a wide-area debuff.

Anyone who heard its wail would have one of their skills or traits randomly drop by a rank.

Although the effect would wear off after some time, losing stats mid-battle was a critical disadvantage.

And it didn’t just happen once, either.

– Kyaaaah!!

The Banshee let out another piercing scream.

If we hadn’t prepared for it, system messages would have been popping up one after another by now.

“The rank of OOO has decreased”, “It has decreased again” … Something like that.

Fortunately, Seo Ye-in was wearing high-performance earplugs.

As for me—

I was a Monarch.

My mental barrier was solid beyond measure.

Even an original Banshee wouldn’t be able to break through it.

A mere replica dungeon Banshee didn’t stand a chance.

On the other hand, Park Na-ri’s duo seemed to have taken the full brunt of the debuff.

The mana covering Bum’s claws had weakened, and his movements had slowed slightly.

They should have been able to finish off the sword-and-shield specter quickly after cutting off its arm, but the debuff was dragging things out.

With three of them on that side, the damage was even worse.

Since their formation consisted of two people and one beast, the Banshee’s wail meant three ranks dropped at once.

And because all their skills were funneled into Bum, the rank drop must have felt even more severe.

“Grrr…”

Perhaps that was why Bum turned his head and let out a frustrated growl.

His growl probably meant something like, “What’s my supports doing?”

Flustered, Park Na-ri hurriedly began chanting a debuff removal spell.

“B-Bum, just hold on for a moment.”

However, it seemed the Banshee would let out a third wail before the spell could be completed.

At this point, just standing by and watching wasn’t an option, so I casually spoke up.

“If you leave it alone, it’ll just keep doing that.”

“…I’ll take care of it.”

Jeong Soo-ji responded briefly and began chanting a spell.

Her emerald gemstone glowed with a green light, and earthen bullets shot up from the ground.

That should have been enough to take down a mere Banshee.

Of course, that’s only if they actually hit.

–Kiiiek?

The Banshee twisted its head at an unnatural angle and floated erratically, dodging the bullets with ease.

As the attacks kept coming, it suddenly slipped into the wall, only to reemerge moments later with another piercing scream.

– Kyaaaaah—!

It was making full use of its advantages as a ghost-type monster.

Once again, I spoke up casually.

“Want me to help out a bit?”

“M-Mhmm…”

“Grrr.”

Park Na-ri and Bum answered at the same time.

Only then did I glance to the side, where Seo Ye-in had already aimed her gun at the Banshee.

Tududududu!

As a gunslinger, her accuracy was far higher than Jeong Soo-ji’s, and in an instant, the Banshee was riddled with bullets.

It staggered desperately and tried to retreat back into the wall.

Not happening.

Whooosh—

A gust of wind pinned it in place.

Then, as a barrage of magic bullets rained down, the Banshee finally dispersed like smoke.

And from where it had vanished, an item dropped with a soft plop.

[Earplugs]

Again?

Leaving the loot for later, we used the momentum to take down the remaining two Specters.

As soon as the battle ended, Park Na-ri’s team approached us. They repeatedly expressed their gratitude.

“Th-Thank you.”

“Grrr.”

The tiger rubbed his forehead against me repeatedly, as if he was pleased to see me.

Even a giant tiger was still just a feline at heart.

I scratched his head and neck and made a suggestion.

“I just got the earplugs. Want to trade?”

“You sure?”

“Of course.”

Park Na-ri’s team had been hit with the Banshee’s debuff three times over, so they needed the earplugs far more than we did.

Seo Ye-in was already wearing a pair, and since I had [Monarch], I didn’t need them at all.

Maybe we’d need more if we got additional teammates, but that was a problem for later.

For now, trading a useful item made the most sense.

“For what…?”

Park Na-ri showed me the items the two Specters had just dropped.

One was a ceramic jar, sculpted in the shape of a Banshee’s head, with the number “0” engraved on it.

The other was a test tube filled with a hazy translucent liquid.

[Screaming Jar (0)]

[Phantom Potion] ×2

They’ve got good luck too.

How did both drops turn out to be this good?

[Screaming Jar] was a PvP item.

Every time a Banshee shrieked nearby, the jar would accumulate a stack. The moment it was shattered, all the stored stacks would be unleashed at once.

It could inflict a huge area-of-effect debuff.

[Phantom Potion] allowed the drinker to take on the same state as ghost-type monsters for one minute, letting them pass through walls.

In a maze-like terrain, that meant they could cover a vast distance in an instant.

And since there were two of them, they’d be perfect for a pair to use together.

Either way, they were far better than a pair of earplugs.

The only issue was that I had to pick just one. But I didn’t hesitate for long.

“Let’s go with both.”

“Th-That’s…”

Park Na-ri hesitated and trailed off.

She clearly wanted to refuse but couldn’t bring herself to say it outright.

Then Jeong Soo-ji spoke up and cut straight to the point.

“Sorry, but that’s not gonna work. Our items are already better, and asking for both in exchange for just earplugs is a bit much, don’t you think?”

“It is, yeah. A bit greedy.”

I admitted it without hesitation.

From the start, I had no intention of stubbornly demanding both items for nothing.

To balance things out, it was only fair to put something else on the scale.

So, I made an offer.

“In exchange, I’ll tell you the location of a hidden room and how to find it.”

“……!”

No matter how much of a stagnant water I was, time was limited, and we couldn’t visit every hidden room.

Rather than trying to explore them all, it made more sense to trade information for valuable items.

Especially since those items were quite powerful.

Park Na-ri and Jeong Soo-ji fell silent and went into deep thought.

They were probably hesitating because there was no guarantee of what they’d find in the hidden room.

I tried to persuade them.

“The jar and the phantom potion for the earplugs. This is obviously better. It might even be better than whatever you’d get in a hidden room. Besides, aren’t these things just dead weight for you anyway?”

To use the Screaming Jar effectively, they would need countermeasures against debuffs.

On top of that, they would have to actively hunt down Banshees and take them down quickly, which required considerable fighting power.

But right now, they were struggling just to get a pair of earplugs.

Their combat skills weren’t particularly high.

Just moments ago, they had failed to land a hit on a single Banshee and had to rely on us.

The same went for the phantom potion.

Being able to pass through walls was useful.

But since it only lasted a minute, they would need a clear plan on where to go before using it.

That meant they had to know their current location and destination like the back of their hand.

And with only two potions, if Park Na-ri’s team used them, one of the three would have to be left behind.

“…….”

“…….”

The two exchanged silent glances.

Now that they thought about it, my words made sense.

It seemed like they were almost convinced, but Jeong Soo-ji made one last check.

“What if we go and there’s nothing there? It’s not that I don’t trust you, but someone might have taken it already.”

“It’s definitely there. If it’s really gone, consider it my debt.”

Whether we met again during finals to settle it or sometime after that.

Only then did Jeong Soo-ji nod and hand over the items.

I took them and pointed out the location of the hidden room.

“It’s not that far, right?”

“Mhmm, we’ll go check it out.”

After exchanging brief farewells in a warm atmosphere, we each went our separate ways.

***

Even after parting ways with Park Na-ri’s team, we kept moving and searching for more hidden rooms.

The only difference was that we now had one more objective.

– Kyaaaah—!!

– Kieeeeek—!!

A Banshee was chasing after us, shrieking relentlessly.

Each time it screamed, the number engraved on the jar updated.

[Screaming Jar (3)]

[Screaming Jar (4)]

……

Gotta keep stacking it.

With four stacks of screams, a B-rank skill could instantly drop to F-rank.

What if it reached 20 stacks? 30 stacks?

Even a promising student could turn into a complete rookie in an instant.

It’d be great if it worked on the teachers too…

Unfortunately, that probably wouldn’t happen.

The teachers’ main role was to guard the control room, but in emergencies, they were also responsible for eliminating potential threats.

They were bound to carry all sorts of items. So would they really not have earplugs among them?

They probably have mental barriers too.

If they were at least A-rank heroes, they would each have their own mental barrier skills or traits, so there was no way the Banshee’s debuff would work on them.

Of course, I had already considered this when exchanging for the jar, so it wasn’t a huge disappointment.

Even if it doesn’t work on the teachers, there are plenty of other uses for it.

On the first day, things usually progressed peacefully.

Everyone was too busy trying to survive in the labyrinth, and taking down other participants didn’t offer much benefit.

So, at most, people avoided each other or made small trades, like our team and Park Na-ri’s team.

But things change on the second day.

As participants regrouped with their teammates, they grew more confident, and with cheese boxes being unlocked, the rewards for taking down opponents became much greater.

That was when real battles would begin.

Of course, over time, more people would obtain earplugs, but—

Not everyone will.

That meant the Screaming Jar was still a powerful card that could be used at least once.

There was no harm in charging it up whenever possible.

– Kyaaaaah—!

“……”

Seo Ye-in glanced at the Banshee, then at me.

Since she was wearing earplugs, I mouthed the words to her.

“Act like you’re struggling. Act like it’s hard.”

That way, it would get excited and keep following us.

Seo Ye-in tilted her head, then said,

“I’m tired.”

“I see.”

“I’m exhausted.”

“You’re good.”

“Carry me.”

“That’s not happening.”

She wasn’t that tired.

I coldly pushed away the arms that were subtly reaching out toward me.

Meanwhile, the Banshee continued screaming at the top of its lungs.

– Kyaaaaah—!

However, whether it was because the attack had no effect or because it had screamed too many times in a row, the Banshee’s cries were quieter than before.

Somehow, it even seemed to be panting.

Do ghosts get hoarse?

Before long, it started to lose interest in us and attempted to drift away.

But—

“You have to drop an item before you leave.”

Before it could escape, I cast Spiral Explosion.

A whirlwind gathered around the Banshee, compressing tightly before erupting into an explosion.

Boom!

***

Even after that, we continued dragging the Banshee along, stacking up charges.

[Screaming Jar (14)]

Of course, we didn’t forget our original goal. We moved quickly and swept up items from the hidden rooms.

[Calorie Bar (Spicy Flavor)] ×2

“What do we do? We keep getting spicy ones.”

“Bad luck…”

[Sleeping Bag] ×2

[Earplugs]

“We can give these to the others.”

“Mhmm.”

[Frying Pan]

“Why is this even here? It’s not like we’ll be cooking anything.”

“Give it to me.”

The determined Seo Ye-in managed to claim it as her secondary weapon.

She examined the frying pan from every angle and was clearly pleased.

Just then, a faint static sound came from somewhere.

I quickly opened my subspace bag and saw that the radio had turned on.

Through the crackling noise, a voice came through.

– Ah, ah. Can you hear me?

The voice belonged to none other than Hong Yeon-hwa.