The Support Ate it All

My conflict with the swordsmanship club was resolved when I promised to get them another piece of the treasure map.

Meanwhile, there were still those who continued to show hostility towards me, particularly the faction that Mak Dae-wong belonged to. It was known as the Black Faction.

They tried to subdue me using the promising assassins called Jang Sam and Wang Pil—also known as Jang Moo-geuk and Wang Cheon-sam—but due to the timely intervention of the disciplinary committee, they failed to achieve their goal.

Just like Jang Moo-geuk had warned the day before the midterms, they were now trying to take me out by sending swordsmen after me.

I hadn’t expected to run into them so soon on the morning of the second day, but sooner or later, it was bound to happen.

I asked the leader of the swordsmen.

“So what’s your name?”

“Sa Gong-wook.”

“406 (Sa Baek-yuk)? Sounds like a hotel room number.”

“I see.”

Sa Gong-wook glared at me for a moment, then he turned his attention to Go Hyeon-woo.

“Go Hyeon-woo, I’ve heard plenty about your impressive sword skills, but if you interfere with the swordsmanship club’s affairs, you won’t escape unscathed either. Stand down.”

“I’m just grateful you think so highly of me.”

“But it seems you haven’t heard this particular rumor. Here, Kim-hyung is the first close friend I acknowledged. If such a friend is getting caught up in trouble, I can’t just stand by and do nothing, even if the opponent is the swordsmanship club.”

Go Hyeon-woo smiled slightly.

“Are you really willing to take such a risk? How foolish.”

“I hear that a lot. Miss Han even called me a ‘foolish idiot’.”

What on earth did you do to make Han So-mi call you that?

Curiosity bubbled up inside me, but now wasn’t the time to ask.

I directed another question at Sa Gong-wook.

“But are you guys confident?”

What I meant was that if Jang Moo-geuk who was a promising student and Wang Cheon-sam who was at about 0.8 of that level couldn’t do anything to me even when they teamed up, what makes you think you can?

Sa Gong-wook scoffed and replied.

“That’s not something you need to worry about. There are six of us here.”

He had reason to be confident; all six of the swordsmen had quite decent skills.

Sa Gong-wook and one other seemed to be in the 900-point range, while the rest were likely above 600.

Of course, that’s probably why Mak Dae-wong sent them instead of the two assassins again.

Bang! Bang!

Gunshots continued to ring out from the direction of the tower.

In addition to the six swordsmen in front of me, there were many other teams approaching the tower, so Seo Ye-in had to hold them off alone.

This meant we couldn’t rely on her concentrated support and had to finish the battle quickly if we wanted to defend the tower.

I guess I’ll have to show what I can do here.

I raised my hand and pointed sharply at the two swordsmen positioned in the back.

“You two.”

“……?”

“You’re too close.”

“What do you—”

Whoosh—

A whirlwind suddenly formed between the two swordsmen and pulled them together.

They were flustered by the sudden whirlwind and tried their best to escape, but their bodies were being pulled and twisted, making it difficult for them to even stand upright.

Then just as they tangled together, the compressed air exploded.

Booom!

“Ugh.”

“Argh.”

One collapsed to the ground and started groaning, while the other fell to his knees. Both of them were in a groggy state.

So much for not being outnumbered with six men.

I looked at Sa Gong-wook and grinned.

“Now there are four, huh?”

“……Attack!”

Led by Sa Gong-wook, the swordsmen charged at once.

However, as soon as they reached me, they were forced to hastily retreat.

Whoosh—

Go Hyeon-woo’s Clear Stream swept past in front of me.

At that moment, I pointed at the third swordsman with my hand, and a whirlwind began to gather around him.

Whoosh—

“Ugh…!”

He struggled to break free, but it was a futile effort.

Even Dang Gyu-young who was a third-year could barely move under its influence, so there was no way a first-year could escape.

Boom!

“Argh.”

He too collapsed halfway to the ground and started groaning like the two before him.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Go Hyeon-woo protected me from the three remaining swordsmen. He focused solely on blocking and deflecting their strikes with a mix of swift counterattacks.

Though the opponents were strong and he seemed slightly strained, he was holding his ground.

Meanwhile, Sa Gong-wook’s face showed clear signs of shock.

“What the hell is with these guys…?”

The “guys” he was baffled by weren’t us, but rather the swordsmen writhing on the ground.

All that happened was a burst of wind, yet they were all flailing and unable to regain their senses.

The exaggerated reactions compared to the simple effect created a sense of dissonance in Sa Gong-wook’s mind.

He likely couldn’t understand why none of them could escape the whirlwind.

My answer to that unspoken question was simple.

“You’ll know once you get hit.”

The three prerequisite skills for the Spiral Explosion.

When viewed one by one, the strengths and weaknesses of these prerequisite skills were clear, but when combined, they complemented each other’s weaknesses almost perfectly.

The One Point Explosion had the advantage of high flexibility but suffered from a narrow range and insufficient destructive power; however, when combined with the explosion of the Air Burst, it covered both range and destructive power.

Air Burst was a projectile magic so its accuracy was low, but when you added the flexibility of One Point Explosion and used Twister to immobilize the enemy, it became harder to miss than to hit.

This created a skill that was difficult for the opponent to predict, evade, and almost impossible to block due to its defense-piercing effect. This was Spiral Explosion.

The destructive power of a C-rank Spiral Explosion was enough to tear apart the iron dummies in the training room in an instant.

It could penetrate through all the various defensive gear worn by Dragon Slayer Academy students and deal damage.

To put that damage into perspective for an ordinary person, it was akin to the impact of being kicked in the chest or abdomen with full force.

Boom!

“Ugh….”

So it was only natural that those hit by the Spiral Explosion were left disoriented.

“Only two left now, huh?”

“……”

Before they knew it, only Sa Gong-wook and that one swordsman with a score in the 900s remained.

The confidence they had at the beginning was nowhere to be found. Now they opted for a serious demeanor.

Without a word, the two of them began to raise their internal energy to the maximum.

Each one of them was preparing to unleash their ultimate technique.

“Not going to happen.”

I wasted no time and pointed my root directly at Sa Gong-wook.

He was about to unleash his technique but quickly dodged instead.

As expected, his reflexes were worthy of someone with a score in the 900s.

However,

“—That was just a fake.”

Whirrr—

The target of the swirling wind wasn’t Sa Gong-wook whom I had pointed at, but the other swordsman with a score in the 900s.

Since Spiral Explosion inherited the properties of One Point Explosion, I could cast it in any direction within my perception, whether it was front, back, left, or right.

Sa Gong-wook who didn’t know this had fallen for my fake move.

Boom!

Even though the compressed wind exploded, the swordsman with a score in the 900-point range didn’t fall and managed to withstand it.

It was as if he was saying, “I’m different from those with a score in the 600-point range.”

But that was all he had.

Bang!

Seo Ye-in’s shot struck his head and he was knocked back. He was eventually ejected from the dungeon.

“Damn…!”

It was only then that Sa Gong-wook realized he had been tricked and his face turned bright red with anger.

But before he could even express his fury, Go Hyeon-woo charged at him with his sword.

I watched as the two of them exchanged strikes and then,

Booom!

I detonated a well-timed Spiral Explosion.

“Ugh….”

“Hurts, doesn’t it? Now that you’ve been hit.”

“…….”

Sa Gong-wook was rendered speechless by the overwhelming pain.

He glared at me with bloodshot eyes as if he wanted to kill me.

I shrugged my shoulders and casually waved at him.

“Send my regards to Senior Mak Dae-wong.”

Slash!

He was struck by Go Hyeon-woo’s sword and disappeared after being deemed unable to continue fighting.

All that remained in the spot where the six swordsmen had fallen were two crystals.

I handed one of them to Go Hyeon-woo.

“We can each take one.”

“I’m not sure I deserve it. I didn’t do much this time.”

“Didn’t do much? You held them off, didn’t you?”

If Go Hyeon-woo hadn’t stood firm as a wall in front of me, I wouldn’t have been able to unleash Spiral Explosions as freely as I did.

And we couldn’t overlook the fact that Shin Byeong-cheol handled the crystal charging.

Thanks to him, the three of us were able to focus entirely on defense.

If it had been just Seo Ye-in and me facing the six swordsmen, we would have struggled much more.

“So, it’s only right for each team to take one.”

“Hmm, if you put it that way, I’ll gladly accept.”

“Are you done, hyungs?”

Shin Byeong-cheol who arrived just in time chimed into the conversation.

In his hand was a green crystal that had just finished charging.

When we showed him the spoils we had just obtained, Shin Byeong-cheol grinned from ear to ear.

“An extra crystal for each of us.”

“Oh my~! You guys are the best. Is it really okay for me to just ride along like this?”

“Your role is important too.”

I took the charged crystals from Shin Byeong-cheol and handed him the ones that needed charging.

“Go ahead and charge these.”

“Oh my, of course, I’ll handle it. Leave it to me.”

Shin Byeong-cheol took the crystals while bowing repeatedly.

Since his fighting power was far below mine or Go Hyeon-woo’s, it made more sense for him to keep charging our crystals rather than switching out. It was easier on him too.

Shin Byeong-cheol quickly darted back into the tower,

Bang! Bang!

From the top of the tower, Seo Ye-in was still taking sniper shots here and there.

Go Hyeon-woo and I also rushed to assist with the defense.

***

After finishing the crystal charges, we took a break and tallied our resources a short distance from the sanctuary.

As a result, Seo Ye-in and I ended up with three crystals.

While Go Hyeon-woo and Shin Byeong-cheol had two crystals.

▷Crystals

[Red Crystal 100%]

[Blue Crystal 100%]

[Green Crystal 100%]

Red Crystal No. 2 was exchanged for a Green Crystal.

And we took a blue crystal from Sa Gong-wook and charged it as well.

Now, we just needed to find a yellow one to complete the midterm’s side quest.

Of course, the more crystals we could gather, the better, so we planned to collect as many as possible.

I suggested to Go Hyeon-woo and Shin Byeong-cheol,

“Let’s split up here.”

“I agree; it seems like the best approach.”

It was more efficient to search for crystals in pairs rather than all four of us moving together.

While our combined strength would be greater, the crystals we found would have to be split between the two teams.

So we agreed to meet up again after resupplying tomorrow.

Since we could track each other’s locations using the twin GPS, meeting again wouldn’t be difficult.

“Before we go, there’s one more thing.”

I pulled out the crystal detector that I had taken from Cha Hyeon-joo yesterday. It was an item that displayed the location of the nearest crystals.

The cooldown time for reuse was 12 hours.

When I activated the detector, three diamond-shaped icons appeared around us.

The three icons pointed in different directions, so I decided to leave the decision to the lucky charm.

“Choose one.”

“……”

Seo Ye-in stared intently at the detector before slowly raising her hand to point in one direction.

I nodded my head and turned to Go Hyeon-woo and Shin Byeong-cheol.

“We’ll head to the place Lucky Charm-nim chose.”

“Then we’ll try the other direction. Good luck to you.”