The Support Ate it All

Sa Gong-wook’s gang consisted of two in the 900-point range and four in the 600-point range.

They weren’t as powerful as the assassin duo, but they were still a force to be reckoned with.

And that was based on their midterm scores.

Time had passed since then, and they had likely trained and improved their scores in the meantime.

They probably came prepared for Spiral Explosion too.

During the midterms, Spiral Explosion had served me well, but I wasn’t sure if the same trick would work again.

That meant taking an aggressive approach like before wasn’t the best choice.

I also need to conserve my strength.

I had no idea how many more battles awaited us, so victory with minimal damage was crucial.

So, my best option was—

Hit-and-run tactics.

I would watch how they moved and counter accordingly.

I kept a close eye on their every move.

“…….”

At Sa Gong-wook’s subtle signal, two swordsmen slipped to the side and began advancing toward Seo Ye-in.

They’re splitting us up. Four against two and two against Seo Ye-in.

Four would take on Hong Yeon-hwa and Baek Jun-seok, while two focused on restraining Seo Ye-in.

I decided to back up Hong Yeon-hwa.

“Just hold out for now.”

“Okay.”

Seo Ye-in gave a slight nod before stepping backward and opening fire.

Tudududu!

As if that had been a signal, the four swordsmen swiftly closed the distance.

Each of their blades gleamed with a sharp aura.

“I won’t let you through.”

Baek Jun-seok raised his shield and blocked their path.

It should have been an annoyance, yet Sa Gong-wook only grinned.

“One down first.”

Shwaaaak!

With that, they focused all their attacks on Baek Jun-seok.

Even though he was from the knight class, he was the weakest among us, making him an easy target to eliminate quickly.

Blades came slashing in from four directions.

Baek Jun-seok had no way to avoid taking damage.

But then, a small dark cloud suddenly appeared between them—

“Soft and cushy”

Boom!

In an instant, the cloud swelled up and deflected the incoming blades.

The swordsmen stumbled back a few steps before adjusting their stances.

As they did, a gust of wind rushed toward them.

But before it could reach them, Sa Gong-wook gave a sharp command.

“Dodge.”

The swordsmen quickly shifted their footwork and evaded the whirlwind.

As expected, they weren’t going to fall for the same trick as before.

That’s exactly why I faked it.

It wasn’t Spiral Explosion. Just a simple Twister to stir up some wind.

Meanwhile, I redirected my remaining energy elsewhere.

[Wind Force]

Boom!

Compressed air exploded, sending Sa Gong-wook flying.

As expected of someone in the 900-point range, he landed steadily and tried to return to his original position.

But—

“Isolation.”

Before he could, an ice wall surged up, sealing off the passage completely.

From the other side, Sa Gong-wook’s panicked voice rang out.

“What the—?!”

Clang! Clang! Clang!

He hacked away at the ice with his sword, but whether he could break through was another question.

“……!”

“……!”

The sudden turn of events threw the remaining swordsmen into confusion.

With their leader trapped, they had to decide whether to continue fighting Baek Jun-seok or try to break through the ice wall.

Before they could make up their minds, Hong Yeon-hwa made the choice for them.

[Reverse Curtain]

Fwoooosh.

Flames flared up beneath Baek Jun-seok’s feet, forming a round barrier that encased him.

“……!”

“Attack!”

Realizing they had to end the fight before more defensive magic stacked up, the swordsmen made their move.

Three blades surged toward Baek Jun-seok.

Swish!

The first strike cut through the Reverse Curtain, leaving a deep gash. From the opening, flames burst out wildly.

Whoosh!

As the first swordsman retreated to avoid the fire, the second immediately stepped in and swung his sword.

Baek Jun-seok barely managed to block it.

Right then, the third swordsman lunged forward, aiming to pierce him—

Boom!

—but was blasted back by Wind Force before slamming into the wall.

While keeping up the pressure on the remaining enemies, I stole a quick glance over my shoulder.

.

She’s holding her own.

Behind me, Seo Ye-in was locked in battle with two swordsmen.

One was in the 900-point range, the other in the 600s.

For convenience, I decided to call them “Nine” and “Six”.

The two worked in perfect sync, attacking Seo Ye-in from both front and back. Meanwhile, she weaved between their strikes with Feather Walk and kept firing her magic gun in between.

Ratatatatatatata!

But Nine was no ordinary fighter. He skillfully dodged the mana bullets at close range, deflecting some with precise movements.

He even used his sword aura to strike at her magic gun or target her hands, trying to disrupt her attacks.

“…….”

Perhaps she realized this wasn’t going to work.

Seo Ye-in suddenly let go of her magic gun.

Immediately, the weapon began to disassemble and reassemble itself—

It was transforming into a different form.

But in the meantime, she was almost completely defenseless.

Sensing the opportunity, Nine and Six simultaneously surged forward and unleashed a flurry of sword strikes.

Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash—!

Blades came crashing down like a net, closing in on her.

Yet Seo Ye-in simply watched, as if it were someone else’s problem.

Then, in the decisive moment—

Flash!

Gray eyes gleamed with an eerie light.

Seo Ye-in’s body moved as if gliding, slipping through the small gaps between the sword energies.

She had linked Bullet Time with Ghost Dance.

“!?”

Six’s eyes widened in shock.

Before he even realized how she had gotten so close, Seo Ye-in was already swinging a frying pan at him.

Clang—!

“……!”

Six collapsed with his head twisted at a 45-degree angle.

Moments later, he was deemed unable to continue the fight and was forcefully ejected from the dungeon.

Nine who was watching this ran a hand down his face.

“What an absolute idiot……”

It was bad enough that a swordsman had lost in close combat against a gunner, but to be taken out by a frying pan?

After the finals, there was no doubt Mak Dae-woong would beat the hell out of him.

Of course, Nine knew he could end up in the same position at any moment.

Perhaps that was why he continued the fight in a state of extreme tension.

He poured an overwhelming amount of sword energy into his blade and swung.

Slaaash!

Seo Ye-in met his attack with a frying pan, but there was no way she could match him.

The only reason she had managed to take down Six was by using Ghost Dance to gain a brief advantage. Her actual close-combat skills were barely above a beginner’s level.

As a result, the battle was decided within just a few exchanges.

The frying pan was sliced cleanly in half by his sword aura.

Seo Ye-in stared at the remaining handle of the frying pan with a sad expression.

“……A shame.”

“This is the end!”

Nine lunged forward, ready to deliver the final blow.

But then, his eyes widened in shock.

Seo Ye-in’s magic gun had finished reassembling itself—

And what emerged was a shotgun.

“No way—”

Boom—!!

A barrage of magic bullets scattered through the air, blasting Nine away.

“Gaaahhh!!”

“……Vengeance for the frying pan.”

In the meantime, we had already taken care of the remaining swordsmen.

The only one left was Sa Gong-wook who was still hacking away at the ice wall with all his might.

Crack, crack!

His efforts weren’t entirely in vain. Small fractures had begun to spread across the ice.

And just as a corner of the wall broke off and crumbled, the entire thing collapsed. Of course, that was because I had dispelled it myself to save time.

“…….”

As soon as the ice wall fell, Sa Gong-wook hurried to assess the situation.

But all he saw was us, completely unscathed—

And Seo Ye-in aiming a shotgun straight at him.

I offered him a few parting words.

“Send my regards to your senior.”

“You bastard—”

Boom!!

After reducing Sa Gong-wook to dust, we took a moment to mourn the late frying pan.

Seo Ye-in seemed particularly regretful as if she had grown attached to it.

“……A shame.”

“It’s in a better place now.”

That is, if kitchenware had an afterlife.

At the same time, I casually threw out a remark.

“You’ll have to be careful with the Kim Ho Kim Ho Pot. If this happens again, what then?”

“……!”

Her gray eyes widened.

She was probably picturing the Kim Ho Kim Ho Pot being sliced clean in half.

Leaving the stunned Seo Ye-in behind, I moved on to check our loot.

The items had dropped when Sa Gong-wook’s gang went down.

[Calorie Bar] ×2

[Earplugs]

[Cheese Box]

[Healing Scroll]

“Quite the haul.”

Just yesterday, I wouldn’t have even dreamed of getting this much.

It seemed PVP rewards would only get bigger from here.

Which also meant battles would become even more frequent.

“Let’s get moving.”

We began moving toward the Cheese Room, just as we had originally planned.

***

We walked for a long while, checked the map, walked some more, checked the map again, and repeated the process several times. Before long, we were almost at the Cheese Room.

Just then, a familiar sound rang out.

Fizzzz—

The sound of a radio.

Everyone quickly exchanged glances.

“….…!”

“….…!”

If the radio was working, it meant the other pair of Go Hyeon-woo’s team had finally gotten their hands on one as well.

A voice came through right after, confirming our suspicion.

– Hey, hey, can you hear me? You can hear me, right?

It seemed Shin Byeong-cheol had taken the radio instead of Go Hyun-woo.

I responded immediately.

“I hear you, but why do you sound so frantic?”

– Hey, hey, where are you guys?!

“We’re almost at the Cheese Room. Why?”

– We’re almost—fizz—there too!

As expected, they had figured things out on their own and were already making their way to the Cheese Room.

But the urgency in his voice wasn’t a good sign. I kept pressing for more information.

“Are you being chased?”

– Yeah! Yeah! Get over here, quick!

“Your location?”

– We’re at—

The moment Shin Byeong-cheol gave us a rough estimate of their location, we picked up the pace.

Before long, we spotted them in the distance. Tiny figures were running toward us.

And behind them, a swarm of other participants was in hot pursuit. Even from afar, I could tell there were at least seven or eight of them.

Baek Jun-seok immediately moved to go help, but I raised a hand to stop him.

“Hold on.”

“What?”

“Let’s hide here.”

I motioned with my chin toward a corner. It was perfect for concealing ourselves.

At the same time, I looked at Hong Yeon-hwa and pointed to the ground.

She seemed to understand my intention. She gave a small nod before quietly beginning to chant a spell.

As layers of Fire Pillar magic circles formed on the ground, I continued exchanging messages with Shin Byeong-cheol.

“Do you see us?”

– I see you! But why are you hiding?!

“Just keep coming. Trust us.”

If we revealed ourselves now, there was a high chance we’d be forced into a fight.

I was confident we could win, but we’d inevitably take some damage as well.

There was also a slight possibility that the moment they spotted us, they’d abandon the chase and flee instead.

If they were just a bunch of nobodies, they’d probably turn tail the moment they saw Hong Yeon-hwa.

Of course, neither scenario sat well with me.

I didn’t want to take any damage before an important battle, and I sure as hell didn’t want to let the bastards who went after my teammates walk away unscathed.

So I made my choice.

Set a trap.

Soon, I heard the frantic sound of footsteps. Shin Byeong-cheol and Go Hyun-woo rounded the corner while panting.

Right behind them, the footsteps of their pursuers grew louder.

Peeking out slightly, I waited until they were positioned perfectly over the magic circles. Then, I activated my skills.

[Activated ‘Tentacle Limbs’.]

[Activated ‘Ice Wall’.]

[Activated ‘Ice Wall’.]

Thud!

Two layers of ice walls shot up in front and behind them, trapping them completely.

Panicked voices erupted from inside.

– Wh-What the hell?!

– A trap!?

– These are magic circles!

– Break the walls! Hurry!

With that many of them hammering at it, the Ice Wall wouldn’t hold for long.

But I had no intention of giving them even a second.

With a quick glance, I signaled Hong Yeon-hwa.

She activated the magic circles.

Fwooooooooooooooosh!