The Support Ate it All-Chapter 564: Finals Week 17–18 (19)

At first, both Jeong Jin-myeong and Moyong Jun probably thought the nonaggression pact would be enough.

But unexpectedly, Group B pushed forward fast—and before long, a few of the core forces even crossed over with [Defection].

There was no way they wouldn’t feel a sense of crisis, and in truth, there was only one solution.

‘Strengthen the alliance.’

From “Let’s not fight each other,”

to—

“Let’s hit those guys together!”

Soon, the enemies would come swarming into Group B’s territory, either attacking outright or sabotaging.

‘If we clash like this, we lose no matter what.’

Just in raw headcount, they were double. Same for item cards.

We brought three prospect/disciplinary committee club-level fighters, but even that became roughly equal once you combined Groups A and C.

Of course, I’d expected it to turn out like this, and I’d half-guided it in that direction.

And to place the next move—the decisive move—I’d come out with only the elites selected.

Just like Day 2, we went straight toward the volcano without deviating.

On the way, we didn’t run into any other groups. It was early morning, so they probably weren’t fully ready yet.

Before long, the terrain rose higher and higher, and the altar where we’d gotten the Hidden Piece came into view.

“We came this far yesterday.”

“GRRNNG.”

Beomi growled curtly.

Looks like that fight hadn’t been a pleasant memory.

We’d been running all over the place, with enemies constantly piling in.

Of course, today’s goal wasn’t the Hidden Piece.

The battle would be even more vicious, contrary to what it wanted.

As I moved my steps toward the volcano summit, I gave an order.

“Get ready.”

“From now on, enemies can appear at any moment.”

Go Hyeon-woo picked up my words.

We weren’t shooting a pillar of light into the sky to advertise ourselves, but this was their territory.

It was only a matter of time before they noticed we were approaching.

Sure enough, it wasn’t long before a group of monsters came down.

As we’d seen countless times by now—a mix of flame spirits and dragon-tooth soldiers.

Seo Ye-in immediately leveled her muzzle forward.

“We kill them.”

“Kill! Them!”

Han So-mi shouted just as forcefully as she kicked off the ground, and the rest of the close-combat party members surged forward, not wanting to be outdone.

After sweeping away the first wave in an instant, we kept advancing as if nothing had happened.

When another monster group came down almost immediately, Han So-mi said,

“There are more!”

The scale was more than twice what it had just been.

The ratio of dragon-tooth soldiers had also gone up.

They’d noticed the first wave got wiped faster than expected, and ramped up both quantity and quality even more sharply.

‘Still feels like it’s not enough.’

You could tell just by how fast the second wave got erased too.

BOOM!

With Spiral Explosion knocking them down, Go Hyeon-woo swept them with sword aura.

He half-sheathed his blade, then looked upward and drew it again.

“They come again.”

An even larger monster group was descending from the volcano.

The third battle opened its curtain.

As I cast wind magic, I thought—

WHOOOOSH—

‘If I really wanted to, I could shake them off.’

We could also slip past with [Concealment].

Even so, there was a reason we were fighting them as they came down.

‘We clear the trash mobs in advance.’

To raise the success rate of what we were about to do.

Soon, it looked like our efforts were starting to show results.

The fourth monster group was smaller in scale, but had become more elite.

‘So they’re not sending spirits anymore.’

They must have realized it was just wasted mana, no matter how many they summoned.

There weren’t many dragon-scale soldiers either. It was mostly dragon-tooth soldiers, with some dragon-turtle soldiers mixed in.

“We’re almost there. Hang on a little more.”

“Yeah...!”

Hong Yeon-hwa nodded and began chanting.

Red magic circles started blooming in succession beneath our feet.

*****

Around the same time, in Group B territory.

Shin Byeong-cheol was sprinting like his life depended on it.

“Good grief, good grief, my fate...!”

What a brutal morning.

The moment that thought formed, a sharp tearing sound split the air behind him.

KREEEEE—!

Thick mana arrows surged in, aiming for his back.

Shin Byeong-cheol focused with everything he had and stepped into thief footwork.

“Hah, chah-hahp! Trah-hahp! Chwah!”

It didn’t look cool at all, but the results were excellent.

Several arrows skimmed past by a hair.

For the ones he couldn’t fully dodge, he snapped chopsticks out in a throw.

CLANG!

The spec gap was too big to fully cancel them, but he could nudge their trajectory.

Either way, every arrow missed, so Shin Byeong-cheol pulled the corner of his mouth up toward the people behind him.

“Hmph. Prospects aren’t all th—”

KREEEEE—!

“—that weak, sorry! I apologize!”

He apologized mid-sentence and kicked off the ground again.

The chase didn’t last long.

Shin Byeong-cheol, still stepping thief footwork in a frenzy, stopped short and leaned back—

KAGAGAGAK!

A vicious sword aura swept across the space in front of him.

A moment later, several swordsmen vaulted over the uneven terrain and revealed themselves.

“Of course he’s a thief—he’s quick, at least.”

They were Sagong Uk’s swordsman party.

A yellow “C” was stuck on their chests.

Cha Hyeon-ju, who’d been pursuing him, also settled into place with Group A party members.

With a deep scowl, they said,

“Say it again. What about prospects?”

“Heeey, don’t take it so hard. You know I didn’t mean it, right? I just blurted anything out because I was desperate. Hehe.”

Shin Byeong-cheol laughed cravenly.

Then he looked back and forth between Sagong Uk and Cha Hyeon-ju and asked,

“But you guys seem to be together a lot lately. Get close?”

“Shut up.”

“Shut up.”

They spat it out at the same time.

The last temporary storage facility infiltration had ended in failure, and the relationship between the Archery Club and the Black Blade faction had worsened even further—same for them.

They just happened to end up chasing Shin Byeong-cheol together.

Sagong Uk stepped forward with their sword hanging down.

“Enough wasting time. Hand over the crystals.”

“You’ll let me go if I do?”

Shin Byeong-cheol asked while showing an empty crystal.

But only silence drifted through the space.

“.......”

“.......”

“......Fine, then. Either way I die.”

Shin Byeong-cheol thrust an item card toward Cha Hyeon-ju.

“[Discharge]!”

But the card only glowed for a moment before turning into black ash and scattering.

PSSSSS....

At the same time, a similar ash scatter happened on Cha Hyeon-ju’s side, as if [Protection] had activated.

Cha Hyeon-ju snorted.

“You think we’re idiots?”

“Good grief. Of course not, you’re not idiots at all.”

While still bowing and scraping, Shin Byeong-cheol pulled out another card.

“Of course, neither am I! [Return]!”

“This—!”

The swordsmen hurriedly swung their blades, but Shin Byeong-cheol was already wrapped in light.

PHAAT!

“Farewell, everyone! Have some pretty romances!”

“What the hell are you say—”

In the next instant, he flew off to Group B’s main base.

PHAAT!

Shin Byeong-cheol landed in a flashy pose.

He walked up to Song Cheon-hye and reported what had just happened—

while grabbing the back of his neck like he’d suffered greatly.

“Ahh~ it was kinda rough, you know. I fought Sagong Uk and Cha Hyeon-ju all by myself. I battled one-versus-ten to the death, and I had no choice but to use [Return].”

“I see.”

Song Cheon-hye answered blandly.

It was obvious she didn’t believe even a fraction of it.

Awkward now, Shin Byeong-cheol handed over the empty crystal.

“Anyway, I brought this. I paid for my card, right?”

“Yes. Good work.”

PHAAT! PHAPAPHAAT!

Other members were using [Return] one after another to fly back as well.

Each holding one or two empty crystals.

Song Cheon-hye praised them too, and thought,

‘So far, it’s according to plan.’

Just as Kim Ho predicted, many Group A and Group C parties crossed over and started causing trouble.

No matter how they responded right now, they’d only take losses—but they also couldn’t just barricade themselves in the base forever.

So they selected only the faster members, gave them cards, and sent them out to search for empty crystals.

Charging could wait until things calmed down a bit, but if other group members took their crystals, they might never get them back.

‘He said to wait after this, but...’

Song Cheon-hye flicked her eyes toward the volcano.

What was that person thinking, going there?

*****

We kept climbing the volcano, fighting battle after battle in succession.

Luckily, it didn’t look like we’d need to go all the way to the summit.

The monster group that appeared this time felt different, even from a distance.

The others seemed to feel it too—tension showing on their faces.

“.......”

“.......”

As we got closer, we could make out their composition.

Not a single spirit among them.

Even dragon-scale soldiers and dragon-tooth soldiers were few enough to count on one hand.

And there were dozens upon dozens of dragon-turtle soldiers.

As heavy air filled the space, they didn’t attack—instead, they slowly surrounded us.

“GRRNNG....”

Beomi raised its fur and crouched low.

The others were ready to fight at any moment too, but because of my order, they didn’t strike first.

Then, from within the crowd, one of them stepped forward.

Like the other dragon-tooth soldiers, it had a half-human, half-dragon form—and it looked like a caster type, with a slender build.

What stood out was its tail.

It was almost as thick as my thigh, with red scales protruding like armor.

It was long enough that it was wrapped around its whole body in coils.

‘Dragon-tail soldier.’

A dragon’s tail doesn’t detach and regrow like a lizard’s—it’s as important as its wings.

If this thing was made using [Dragon Body Casting] with that as material, then its combat level would be similar to the dragon-wing soldier from <Craft Haven>.

‘A+ rank.’

The dragon-tail soldier looked us over one by one, then finally fixed its gaze on me.

“I cannot see the end of your potential. There has never been a case like this. If you had ten years—no, even five—you would have become an enormous threat.”

“.......”

“But it is regrettable. You stood before me due to a reckless ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) judgment. All of you shall perish here.”

“I didn’t come to fight.”

At my words, the dragon-tail soldier showed a puzzled look.

“You climbed all the way here, yet you did not come to fight?”

“Sorry about clearing your guys on the way up, but they kept getting in the way, so I didn’t have a choice.”

“You say amusing things. Then what did you come for?”

“I want to borrow some strength.”

“......?”

The dragon-tail soldier looked like it found my answer deeply intriguing.

If its personality and thought patterns were human, it might have burst out laughing.

Then it pointed toward Groups A and C and asked,

“Because of the humans over there, correct?”

“Right.”

“Sooner or later, I plan to sweep them all away as well, but why should I move according to your wishes?”

“For the record, this isn’t a request or a proposal. It’s a notice.”

When I said that with a grin, the dragon-tail soldier looked intrigued again.

“Everything you say is amusing. I would like to keep listening, but my duty is to protect my master. I cannot delay any longer.”

Then it loosened the tail wrapped around its body slightly, and pointed its tip at us.

“Kill them.”

The instant the dragon-turtle soldiers were about to rush in from all directions—

we each pulled out a card from our chest.

“[Freeze].”

“[Freeze].”

Five cards activated at once, and the space filled with the sound of everything locking in ice.

JEOK JEOK JEOK—!