The Support Ate it All-Chapter 530: No.287 Walking Turtle (4)
For long-range types, it was basically an endgame Skill.
It boasted a broken performance where you could count the ones better than it on one hand.
The crow Great Sage must have been thinking something similar, because it said to Seo Ye-in,
“CAW, a secret art among secret arts! It is not something taught to just anyone. I made a special exception, only this once, for the Meteor Dragon’s sake.”
“Thank you.”
“You should thank the young sovereign as well! It seems he had something he wanted, but gave it up.”
“Top butler.”
Seo Ye-in quietly clung to my arm.
Then the Great Sage looked at me.
“CAW! It was a good trade, young sovereign!”
“Likewise.”
“If you find more sparkling statues, bring them!”
“I will. We’ll see each other again soon.”
Then it flapped hard, rose into the air, and circled once overhead.
“CAAAW—!”
After that, it opened a rift and crossed over to another dungeon.
The blizzard immediately came roaring back.
WHOOOOO—!
Because as the Great Sage left, the barrier naturally released too.
Seo Ye-in shivered and tugged on my arm.
“I want to go in.......”
“Yeah. Let’s go in.”
I could endure it well enough, but there was no reason to waste time.
So we moved indoors without argument.
After shutting the iron door, we turned the hatch and locked it tight.
Next, I told Crewman B—the older guy who’d been playing the role of a folding screen until now—our plan going forward.
“We’re going to stop by a few more auxiliary power rooms, then head to the main power room.”
“Ah, yes! I’ll guide you right away!”
We’d make a full sweep to raise dungeon completion, give Seo Ye-in and Hong Yeon-hwa more real combat experience, and then finish with a boss fight at the main power room.
Walking along under Crewman B’s guidance, I casually made a request of Hong Yeon-hwa.
“For the time being, stick mainly to Flame Orb.”
“Okay. I will.”
Hong Yeon-hwa nodded readily.
The reason was easy to guess.
We need to test-drive Space Fold.
Most long-range Skills can be chained.
Not just to what you cast yourself, but also in a way that supports an ally.
At first, it’s better to start with projectile-type stuff.
It’s highly visible, so it’s easier to practice than other types like beams.
And Flame Orb is slow—so it’s even more perfect.
Just then, mages in sky-blue robes appeared at the far end of the corridor.
The moment they recognized us, they fired icy beams and snowballs our way.
Naturally, it wasn’t nearly enough to break through the barrier.
FWOOSH,
Hong Yeon-hwa formed a sphere of flame over her palm.
She was about to throw it, then hesitated and checked our reactions.
I spoke to Seo Ye-in in the tone of a kind teacher.
“The fireball is about to fly, right?”
“Yes.”
“Try it once.”
“Challenge.”
Hong Yeon-hwa seemed to take it as a signal to throw, and lightly pushed her hand forward.
At the same time, Seo Ye-in cast Space Fold—so the fireball that had been drawing a parabola felt like it slid forward a little.
BOOOOM—!
“......?”
Seo Ye-in tilted her head with a puzzled look.
She probably couldn’t tell what changed.
Well, I told her to use it without any real explanation.
At first, there was no helping it.
I had to meet the copying condition.
I needed to get it first—how else would I show it, or explain it?
[Using ‘Copy-Skill’.]
[Registering the target’s Skill ‘Space Fold (F)’ to the slot.]
I could’ve asked the Great Sage to demonstrate once and copied it at S-rank, but I didn’t feel the need.
It’s a Skill where proficiency matters more than rank.
Like ★Blink★—once you get the feel, the rank climbs fast.
A genius sloth would learn it quickly.
And when teaching, it’s better if the ranks are similar.
If only my version performs better, the person copying me is bound to get confused.
It’s better to match pace and grow together—more profitable long-term.
S-rank would be a foregone conclusion anyway, so there was no need to rush.
▷Copy - Skill[4/4]
Feather Step (B+)
Space Fold (F)
Ice Wall (B)
Vendetta (S)
For now, I overwrote the slot where [Destruction Gale] had been.
That was from Seo Ye-in too, so I could always take it back later.
Now I need a practice dummy.......
And right as I thought that, more Sapphire Magic Tower mages showed up.
I signaled Hong Yeon-hwa to throw whenever, then said to Seo Ye-in,
“Watch closely.”
“Focus.”
FWOOSH,
When I cast Space Fold on the fireball, the parabola-blazing orb flashed out of sight—then appeared right in front of the Sapphire mages.
“Wha—!”
Before they could even finish reacting, the explosion went off.
BOOOOM—!
“You saw how it skipped in the middle, right?”
“I saw.”
Space Fold’s effect is deleting a fixed percentage of a long-range Skill’s travel distance.
At F-rank, the maximum is 20%.
If we assume the fireball’s travel distance is 10, then with Space Fold chained, its total travel distance becomes 8.
Depending on how you use it, you can land a hit on the enemy around 8, or you can move it from around 5 to 7.
As the rank goes up, the deletion ratio increases—reaching a whopping 50% at S-rank.
Its cooldown is fixed at 3 minutes.
“That’s the basic explanation. Now let’s use it again.”
“Confirmed.”
Seo Ye-in answered with sparkling eyes.
After we walked for a while, gunfire and shouting grew close from somewhere.
RATATATAT!
Crewmen appeared soon after.
Maybe they’d just come out of a fight—ice was crusted over various parts of their bodies.
The moment they saw us, they started spraying magic rifles at us.
RATATATAT!
Again, Hong Yeon-hwa cleanly defended, then threw a fireball—and Seo Ye-in chained Space Fold to shave off its travel distance.
BOOOOM—!
I nodded and said,
“Better than the first time. But the efficiency’s still bad, right?”
“Yeah.”
When I used it, I cut the full 20%—maximum efficiency.
For Seo Ye-in, it wasn’t even 5%.
It’s a space-type Skill, after all.
In some ways, its operational difficulty is even higher than ★Blink★.
I pointed at Flame Orb as I explained.
“Basically, you need an understanding of projectiles.”
Long-range Skills carry a lot of information.
For example: at what speed, on what trajectory, how far it flies, and where it hits.
If you don’t know the fireball travels a distance of 10, you can’t shave off 2.
Likewise, if you want to move it from 6 to 8, you have to know when it passes through the 6-zone.
That’s why we start with fireballs.
Magic bullets lodge in before you can even see anything.
Fireballs are much slower, so it’s easier to gather information.
“Observe carefully while your cooldown’s running.”
“Okay.”
Seo Ye-in nodded.
She was so absorbed in practice she forgot the cold.
Every time Hong Yeon-hwa threw a Flame Orb, Seo Ye-in tracked the trajectory with her eyes—and whenever the cooldown came back up, she cast Space Fold once.
BOOM! BOOOOM!
She really learns fast.
Efficiency that hadn’t even been 5% climbed up to 10% before I knew it.
At this rate, 15% and 20% would come soon too.
Should I teach her more?
Originally, I planned to spend the rest of the run focused purely on “raising projectile understanding,” but at this level, it should be fine to move to the next step.
So I said to Seo Ye-in,
“Now let’s pay attention to timing too.”
“Timing.”
If you want to move a fireball from 6 to 8, the most efficient moment is the exact instant it passes through the 6-zone.
If you’re late and use it at 6.1 or 6.3, that’s pure loss.
“You can do it while using Bullet Time, too.”
“Good idea...!”
It was like an exclamation mark popped above Seo Ye-in’s head.
[Bullet Time] accelerates the caster’s perception for a very short period, making everything look like slow motion.
The cooldown is similar too, so it pairs well with [Space Fold].
Soon after, we reached an auxiliary power room and fought a Sapphire Magic Tower expert guarding it.
Hong Yeon-hwa didn’t use any other spells—she just kept throwing fireballs nonstop, as if trying to give Seo Ye-in even more practice chances.
Then—
FLASH!
Her gray eyes filled with a sharp light, and a fireball flashed out of sight and jumped forward.
Just like I suggested—she chained Bullet Time and Space Fold.
BOOOOM—!
“Kyaaaagh!”
The Sapphire Magic Tower expert fled while engulfed in flames.
I nodded with satisfaction.
She’s using it right away.
Efficiency passed 15%.
Even if she practiced on relatively easy fireballs, this was enough to say she’d gained the minimum proficiency.
“The rank probably went up too, right?”
“It went up.”
Seo Ye-in nodded.
For space magic, it hadn’t even been that long since she learned it—and it already rose to E-rank.
Then I should update mine immediately too.
[Using ‘Copy-Skill’.]
[Registering the target’s Skill ‘Space Fold (E)’ to the slot.]
▷Copy - Skill[4/4]
Feather Step (B+)
Space Fold (E)
Ice Wall (B)
Vendetta (S)
“Good. Let’s keep going.”
*****
As we advanced while burning everything we ran into, enemy appearances grew more and more sparse.
Even when we did encounter them, most didn’t pick a fight—watching from a distance before running away.
“Guess word got around.”
“Strong.”
Yeah. After beating down that many, it’d be weirder if it didn’t spread.
The mobile fortress side probably likes it, if anything.
At first, things were chaotic and our identities were unclear, so they were hostile.
But by now, they’d have figured out what we were doing.
We’d stop at each auxiliary power room, beat up the Sapphire Magic Tower experts, then leave immediately.
We weren’t pulling anything on the turtle.
So they probably decided there was no need to spill blood by forcing a fight.
But what about the Sapphire Magic Tower side?
They’ll probably go all the way.
An unexpected obstacle got involved and their plan got badly thrown off.
But it was too late to withdraw—too much manpower invested.
They were avoiding clashes with us, same as the mobile fortress side, but for the opposite reason.
They’re preparing. To fight us properly.
In the next battle, they’d bring a sure way to take us down.
A little later, when we arrived at another auxiliary power room, three Sapphire Magic Tower experts were waiting for us, just like I expected.
Among them, the witch I’d burned and chased off before stood out—her whole body was dark like charcoal, and parts of her robe were scorched and torn.
She glared at us like she wanted to kill us, grinding her teeth.
“Disgusting......!”
On the other hand, Hong Yeon-hwa looked emotionless, barely acknowledging the glare as she spoke to me.
“This time... I’ll try doing it alone.”
“Go ahead.”
If it got too much, I could ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) always join in.
Three-on-one is good for rank grinding too.
The reason we’d been chasing the Sapphire mages off without killing them until now was for exactly a situation like this.
It would let Hong Yeon-hwa grind AquaFlame rank more efficiently.
FWOOSH!
Flames began to rise around Hong Yeon-hwa.
