The Support Ate it All

[Copy] might have seemed like an all-purpose skill that could bring in anything, but it came with its own set of limitations.

One had to identify the activated skill/trait and its rank.

Skills or traits unique to the target couldn’t be copied.

And if the copied skill was of too high a rank, the [Core] couldn’t handle it, rendering it unusable.

Setting aside all the things restricted by these conditions, what I had been eyeing in the Underworld Dragon King was his—

Defensive trait.

Since it was a trait possessed by an S-rank, even if it leaned toward general use, it would still prove incredibly useful.

The only issue was that a defensive trait, naturally, had to be triggered by taking damage.

Just like when I assaulted the principal with my Inferno Fist.

Because of that, I had put off copying the trait for later, but then, unexpectedly, I ran into the Witch of Death….and a battle broke out between two S-ranks.

So I decided to cheer them both on.

Of course, the one who won had to be on our side, but still—

Just land a few hits, will you?

Let me get that copy.

Baang—!

Their clash continued.

When the Witch of Death swung her pitch-black scythe, the Underworld Dragon King would deflect it with a translucent, clock-shaped shield and counter with a sword that resembled a clock hand.

Then the witch would block it with a flutter of jet-black fabric.

Just as the Underworld Dragon King was about to swing his sword again, something shot up from below and bounced off the shield.

Ting.

It was a bone sword.

Some of the skeleton soldiers spawned by the Spine Tower had made it this far.

Not that they could even scratch the barrier at that level.

The Underworld Dragon King seemed to share the same thought and spoke in a bored tone.

“Pointless efforts.”

“Are you sure about that?”

The Witch of Death subtly curled the corners of her lips into a smile.

Soon, black threads extended from her body and touched a few of the skeleton soldiers.

Their once-white bones turned pitch-black in an instant.

Not only that, but the skeletons kicked off the ground and leaped into the air, now floating and moving just like the witch.

Then they began to surround and press in on the Dragon King.

“Didn’t I say it was pointless?”

With a wide sweep of his clock-hand-shaped sword, the Underworld Dragon King sliced the skeleton soldiers clean in half in a single stroke.

However, the Witch of Death’s smile only deepened as she snapped her fingers.

[Corpse Explosion]

Boom-boom-boom-boom!

The shattered skeleton soldiers exploded all at once, scattering hundreds of bone fragments.

By imbuing ordinary skeleton soldiers with the energy of death, she had maximized their destructive power, sent them in close, and then triggered Corpse Explosion.

It was a well-known skill combo frequently used by necromancers.

Even so, not a hint of concern appeared on the Dragon King’s face.

Soon, his shield which was shaped like a clock began to glow and rapidly expanded, taking control of the space around them.

The fragments that had been flying in all directions suddenly slowed down, as if the flow of time had been altered.

The Underworld Dragon King casually moved between the shards and swept them away with his sword.

Still, the fact remained that the flying fragments, however slowed, were limiting his movement.

That must’ve been her real aim.

Screeeeech!

The Witch of Death charged straight at the Dragon King.

Possessing [Time Resistance], her movements weren’t significantly slowed even in the space he controlled.

The Dragon King cast Blink, but she immediately caught up with her own Blink.

Then, enlarging her pitch-black scythe several times over, she brought it crashing down with all her might.

Craaaack!

The Dragon King’s layered defense mechanisms shattered instantly.

Dodging the reflexive swing of his clock-hand sword, the Witch of Death quickly widened the distance again.

Then she asked,

“Still think it was pointless?”

“No, that was a fine move. I saw it coming and still fell for it.”

“Thank you.”

The Dragon King acknowledged it cleanly, and the Witch smiled gently.

It resembled the demeanor of old men in the neighborhood playing janggi or baduk.

However, the fierce battle that followed was as brutal as ever.

Whoooosh—!

As expected, the Dragon King is getting pushed back a bit.

He seemed to be at a disadvantage, about four to six.

The Underworld Dragon King played more of a support or debuffer role.

He was the main reason why the Meteor Dragon raid was so difficult, but his own fighting power was relatively lacking.

Especially since, in a battle between S-Ranks, time magic lost much of its effectiveness.

In contrast, the Witch of Death was a case highly specialized for combat more than anyone else.

True to the word “death”, she possessed skills and traits that inflicted devastating damage on enemies.

It was only natural that the Dragon King would be the one getting beaten from the start.

Swishh!

The jet-black scythe cut through the barrier and slashed across the Dragon King’s body.

However, his body remained completely unharmed.

Finally.

The long-awaited defensive trait had activated.

“……”

For a moment, the Witch of Death’s eyes flickered with interest, but as if she had realized the same thing as I had, she continued her assault.

She must have been convinced it wasn’t true invincibility.

She dragged in several skeleton soldiers at a time, enhanced them, hurled them, and detonated them.

Boom-boom-boom-boom!

At the same time, she fired off black orbs, closed the distance quickly, or followed up with Blink to swing her scythe again.

The Dragon King, worthy of his S-Rank, put up a decent defense, but in the end, he began to let attacks through.

Then, as the second and third swings of the scythe struck—

Swishhh!

Three deep wounds had appeared on the Underworld Dragon King’s body.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t been wounded. It was that the moment he took damage had simply been delayed.

And that was precisely the trait I had been aiming for.

Let’s make some space first.

[Activated ‘Fixed Pin’.]

[Fixed ‘Retrocovery (S)’.]

[Activated ‘Copy-Trait’.]

[The target’s trait ‘Pain Delay’ has been registered in the slot.]

[Traits]

▷Retrocovery (S)

▷Copy-Trait [3/3]

1. The Sovereign’s Crown

2. Time Resistance (S)

3. Pain Delay

[Pain Delay]

▷Stores up to 2 instances of damage.

▷After 10 minutes, or upon receiving 3 instances of damage, all stored damage is taken at once.

▷Cooldown: 3 days

Strictly speaking, Pain Delay wasn’t a particularly good trait on its own.

After all, it didn’t change the fact that you were still taking damage.

But combined with other traits, the story changed.

“……”

The Underworld Dragon King’s wounds were healing rapidly.

True to its nature as a time-affiliated dragon, it had also mastered Retrocovery.

A combo of taking damage all at once with [Pain Delay], and instantly healing it with [Retrocovery].

A perfect match.

The biggest drawback of Retrocovery was that it triggered automatically, whether you took 100 damage or just 1, and then went on cooldown. But with Pain Delay, that timing could be pushed back.

This should let me use it three times too.

Whether it was Inferno Fist or the Mysterious Yin Jade Demon Finger.

The Witch of Death made a sour face when she saw the Underworld Dragon King recover completely.

“……How utterly pointless.”

“I told you, didn’t I?”

The Underworld Dragon King went a step further, raising a glowing clock above his head.

Its hour and minute hands spun at incredible speed.

A cooldown reduction skill.

It looked like he intended to rapidly reset the cooldowns of [Pain Delay] and [Retrocovery] to use them again.

With specs like his, losing three days meant nothing.

That meant, from the witch’s perspective, she would have to successfully land her scythe strikes three more times to remove both traits.

The odds were still four to six, and she remained at a disadvantage, but for the outcome to shift, it would have to turn into a drawn-out battle.

…Should I just copy one more while I’m at it?

Just as I was seriously contemplating what to give up and what to bring in—

Bang!

A sniper shot came flying from somewhere and struck the Witch of Death.

Even though her black cloak was still fluttering in the air, she was hurled far back and crashed into the ruins of a building.

It was a level of power on a whole different scale from what we’d seen so far.

When I turned my gaze toward the direction the shot had come from, I saw a tall skyscraper standing far in the distance.

It was the same building we had found on the first day.3

The old man finally made his move.

I had wondered what the Chairman of Hye-seong Group was up to amidst all this chaos. Turns out, he had been preparing the sniper shot.

He probably had all sorts of equipment and support personnel with him, so it must have taken some time.

Then, the top of the skyscraper seemed to flash—

Boooom!

A massive explosion swept through the Spine Tower.

Even the skeleton soldiers stationed nearby were reduced to ashes.

The Underworld Dragon King gave the scene a brief glance and spoke.

“Looks like it’s over.”

“It really does.”

The Witch of Death emerged from the rubble of the collapsed building.

She hadn’t been able to inflict the slightest damage on the Dragon King, had only dragged things out, the Spine Tower was destroyed, and now even the Chairman had joined the battle.

If anyone knew she had no chance of winning, it was her.

Even so, the witch maintained her composed demeanor to the very end.

“This will be it for today. Still, I’m glad I got to confirm a few things.”

From the earlier conversation, I could guess that she had come to gauge the potential of the City.

In that sense, she had achieved her intended goal.

After taking a slow, lingering look around, she spotted me and locked eyes.

“Can I look forward to next time?”

“It’ll be better than you expect.”

“That sounds wonderful.”

I answered confidently, and the Witch of Death smiled in satisfaction.

If we met again, I wouldn’t just be running away.

“……Still, it’s a bit of a shame. Shall we do one more?”

Soon after, she floated gently into the air, spreading her arms wide to either side.

At that moment, the scattered remnants of the skeleton soldiers throughout the battlefield suddenly shot into the air and flew toward her, clinging to her like magnets.

In the blink of an eye, a sphere of bones was formed.

Boom!

Right after, the Chairman’s shot hit its mark, blowing off a significant portion, but the bone sphere remained suspended in the air, albeit slightly dented.

And then, it began to turn pitch black in an instant.

It wasn’t hard to figure out her intention.

Corpse Explosion.

She was planning to go out with a bang. One massive explosion before she left.

With that size, both the power and the range would be no joke.

For the first time, a frown appeared on the Dragon King’s face.

If he used Blink, he could escape alone without much trouble, but everyone left behind would be caught in the blast.

Even if he bought time with a slow spell, the range was too wide to guarantee anyone could get away in time.

The Underworld Dragon King looked at me.

“Young monarch.”

“Don’t worry about us.”

Even in a situation like this, I answered calmly, and something curious flickered in the Dragon King’s eyes.

“Do you have something up your sleeve?”

“I do. This.”

I took the wooden box out of my inventory and showed it.

It was an item I had received from the principal, densely engraved with spells.

And the nature of those spells was—

Defensive magic.

Since it had been enchanted by an S-rank hero, it was bound to boast incredible defensive power.

I had been saving it for a moment when I absolutely needed it. So I could stay on the battlefield as long as possible.

Thanks to that, I managed to copy one more trait.

And now was exactly that kind of moment. The moment when I absolutely had to use it.

The Underworld Dragon King immediately used Blink to teleport to my side.

“Perfect timing. Let’s use it together.”

Then he began rapidly chanting a spell toward the sphere, apparently intending to minimize the blast’s impact from a safe position.

Soon after, Seo Ye-in and Ahn Jeong-mi also took position beside me, and I infused mana into the wooden box.

Almost at the same time, the pitch-black bone sphere exploded.

KBOOOOM—!