The Support Ate it All

Chapter 251: 14th Week Duel Battle (3)

The tiger was a spirit beast in its own right; it even knew how to use mana, and each of its attacks carried the full weight of its body. This made it difficult for most close-combat classes to withstand.

As for a mage like me, there was no question about it.

I just have to dodge no matter what.

The moment the tiger’s front paw swung toward my face, I lightly twisted my body and sidestepped.

Bum realized immediately that it had swiped at nothing but air and swiftly adjusted its body to land.

However, the spot where it landed wasn’t solid ground but an ice sheet.

It couldn’t avoid slipping either.

To make matters worse—

Bang!

As the tiger slid rapidly into the distance, I briefly shifted my focus away from it and cast Wind Force on Park Na-ri and Jeong Soo-ji.

Whooosh—

“Ah, ahhh!”

“S-Stop…!”

The two of them wobbled and flailed like inflatable dancing tube men at a festival.

They could barely stay upright on the ice, as if someone kept pushing them from the side.

As the wind continued to blow, Jeong Soo-ji lost her balance and toppled over again.

[Crystal: 23%]

The charge is going smoothly.

“Graaaah!”

When I turned my body again, I saw Bum charging at me with terrifying speed.

I planted the sapling firmly on the ice and stretched out my other hand toward the tiger.

[Earth Line]

[Chill Wind]

[Wind Force]

Whooooosh—!

A wind imbued with cold and physical force swept forward.

The charging Bum began to slow down, and before long, it was being steadily pushed backward.

Even just the combination of slowing effects and pushing force was impressive on its own, but with the blizzard raging and the slippery ice beneath it, the effects were amplified significantly.

“Grrrr.”

“B-Bum!”

But Park Na-ri was a promising student and she wasn’t about to just stand idly by.

At some point, she had cast a spell and a green light radiated from her staff before it enveloped Bum.

Flash!

Debuff weakening.

“Grrrgh!”

Thanks to her spell, Bum shook off the slowing effect and regained its speed.

With a powerful leap, it moved to my side and swung its front paw in a wide arc, as if to strike across a broad range.

Mana infused into its claws created three streaks of crescent-shaped slashes.

I surrounded the sapling with dark clouds and cast Wind Barrier while retreating.

The crescent-shaped slashes tore easily through the barrier but ultimately collided with the dark clouds and were neutralized.

As if determined not to give me any breathing room, Bum kept following me while swinging its claws relentlessly.

I narrowly dodged each strike, and when a small opening appeared, I used the chance to cast Wind Force on Park Na-ri and Jeong Soo-ji.

Whooosh—

“Ugh.”

“Ah…”

Jeong Soo-ji slipped and fell again, causing the spell she was casting to be canceled, while Park Na-ri, though staggering as she lost her balance, managed to complete her spell to the end.

This was the difference between someone with their score in the 600s and someone in the 1,000s.

Flash!

Once again, a glowing aura enveloped Bum’s body.

As the buffs kept stacking, the longer the fight dragged on, the more it worked in their favor.

Still, it won’t go on for too long.

[Crystal 61%]

The charge would be complete soon enough. I only needed to hold out until then.

A claw swung diagonally toward me.

I leaned to the side to dodge and simultaneously exploded compressed air.

Bang!

Bum slid across the ice once more, but the distance it was pushed was noticeably shorter this time.

I had a good idea of what kind of buff Park Na-ri had just cast.

Increased weight.

The less Bum slid, the more opportunities it had to attack, and the more force its strikes carried. It wasn’t a bad choice.

As expected of a promising student, she had learned a variety of buffs.

That said, it’s about time for this to end.

Every buff had a duration.

The green glow surrounding Bum’s body began to fade and eventually disappeared entirely.

This meant the “Debuff Weakening” buff she had used to counter Chill Wind was no longer in effect.

Which meant—

I can use Chill Wind again.

Whoooosh—

The chill wind slowed Bum’s movements considerably.

“Grrrr.”

The tiger let out a frustrated growl as it glanced at Park Na-ri. Irritation was clear in its voice.

If translated roughly, it might mean something like, “What is my team even doing?!”

“A-Ah, s-sorry.”

Park Na-ri fumbled and hurriedly cast another debuff-weakening spell.

At this point, it felt like the scoreboard should display Bum’s name instead of Park Na-ri’s.

Of course, such trivial internal conflicts were nothing but opportunities for me.

I cast Wind Force again and aimed at Park Na-ri’s main base.

Whooosh—

“Ugh.”

Once again, Jeong Soo-ji flailed and fell, scrambled to her feet, and flailed some more.

But whether it was misfortune or mercy, her clumsy struggle ended here.

Bang!

A magic bullet struck her temple.

Jeong Soo-ji’s body twisted sideways as if she were stretching, then collapsed flat on the ice.

Moments later, she disappeared in a swirl of white light.

[Jeong Soo-ji – % Park Na-ri 92%]

I glanced briefly in the direction of the sanctuary.

Honestly, I didn’t expect this.

The blizzard had ruined visibility, making it nearly impossible to attempt long-range shooting.

I had only hoped Seo Ye-in would recharge the crystal, yet somehow, she had managed to land a direct hit with a magic bullet despite the severe conditions.

It made me realize again how exceptional her aim was.

“Grr?”

Even Bum who had been charging at me suddenly stopped in its tracks and quickly retreated.

The next moment, a streak of blue light zipped past the spot.

I felt immensely satisfied.

Sniping and support fire. Excellent teamwork.

I decided I’d buy her some hot chocolate after this was over.

With that thought in mind, I turned to Park Na-ri and asked,

“Do you want to keep going?”

“Ah…”

[Crystal: 94%]

The crystal’s charge was almost complete. Even if she somehow managed to take me down, the match would end before she could even reach the sanctuary.

“Grrr…”

Bum too was openly showing its reluctance to continue fighting. Through the repeated clashes, it had come to understand one thing: “This human is cold and annoying.”

On top of that, Jeong Soo-ji had been rendered incapacitated without contributing anything, and Seo Ye-in’s support fire continued to rain down.

Park Na-ri seemed to realize all this as well. Her arms dropped limply to her sides.

[Kim Ho, Seo Ye-in Win]

vs

[Jeong Soo-ji, Park Na-ri Lose]

As soon as I stepped onto the teleportation circle and exited, warmth rushed in from all directions.

Seo Ye-in appeared right after that. She had pulled her hoodie low over her face while tightening the drawstrings as much as possible.

“Why are you turning into a hoodie person?”

“It’s so cold…”

Even after I gave her elemental resistance and four hand warmers, she still seemed particularly vulnerable to the cold.

Then again, the environment was harsh for everyone.

Nearby, groups of students gathered in small groups and were chatting loudly. Judging by their stiff movements, they had probably just finished a match like us.

– Seriously, how is it even allowed to be this cold?

– I almost froze to death!

– You almost froze. I actually froze to death.

Only a small handful of teams, like ours, had prepared hand warmers (heat packs).

Park Na-ri’s team had managed to hold out thanks to their health regeneration, but teams without even that would’ve steadily lost health in the blizzard until they became incapacitated.

On top of that, they must have struggled terribly with the snowfields and ice. By the next match, they’d surely bring at least the bare minimum of items.

In other words—

Taking it easy from now on is impossible.

In the first match, there had been a noticeable gap in information and item preparation between teams, but now the playing field would be much more even.

That being the case, it seemed wiser to take a break before rushing into another match. Besides, we needed to wait 35 minutes for the cooldown to reapply elemental resistance anyway.

I turned to Seo Ye-in and asked casually,

“Want to grab something to drink before the next match? Something warm.”

“Something warm.”

An imaginary exclamation mark seemed to pop up over Seo Ye-in’s head.

We stepped out of the arena for a while and headed toward the snack bar.

“……”

“Feeling better now?”

“Mhmm.”

Seo Ye-in who was evidently melting in the outside warmth slowly began shedding her hoodie mode.

Meanwhile, although I hadn’t suffered much from the cold itself, my body still felt like a block of ice.

I brought the back of my hand to Seo Ye-in’s cheek.

“Look, my hand’s still freezing. See?”

“!!!”

Seo Ye-in suddenly shrank back and sidestepped away like a crab, increasing the distance between us.

Her eyes were filled with caution as her hand hovered near her inventory; she was hesitating whether to grab something or not. It looked like she was moments away from pulling out her beloved Kim Ho pot.

“I don’t like cold things.”

“I won’t do it.”

At that, Seo Ye-in slowly approached me and placed a hand warmer in each of my hands.

“Your hands will be warm now.”

“Thank you.”

But isn’t one of these originally mine?

It didn’t seem worth arguing over, so I just fiddled with the hand warmer as we walked.

Before long, we arrived at the snack bar. Each of us bought a cup of hot chocolate and sipped at it as we walked.

It seemed other people had similar ideas, as Jeong Soo-ji and Park Na-ri’s duo also entered the snack bar and ordered their own hot chocolates.

When our eyes met, the two whispered to each other briefly before Jeong Soo-ji hesitantly approached me and started to speak.

“Uh, so, um.”

“Hmm?”

“Well, about the replay… I was wondering if you could, maybe, keep it private…”

Jeong Soo-ji’s face was flushed with embarrassment, probably because she had spent the entire game performing what could only be described as “sophisticated performance art” on the ice.

And all of that mortifying display had been perfectly captured and stored in the replay.

What made the situation worse was that her partner in this tragedy was none other than the promising student, Park Na-ri.

If that replay were to be uploaded to the student marketplace, it would sell like hotcakes. But for her, it would mean her entire cringeworthy disaster would be preserved for the future.

It would be like switching classes from “Earth Mage” to “Clown”.

I understood how she must feel and readily agreed.

After all, it was partially my fault.

“Sure, no problem.”

“…Thank you.”

Jeong Soo-ji let out a deep sigh of relief.

As a token of appreciation, Jeong Soo-ji handed me two Random Rank Up scrolls.

Since keeping the replay private would mean a loss of points for me, this was her way of helping offset the cost.

“I’ll get going now.”

“Alright, take care.”

After Jeong Soo-ji and Park Na-ri left, I handed one of the Random Rank Up scrolls to Seo Ye-in.

“Here, this one’s yours.”

“Mhmm.”

Seo Ye-in wasn’t the type to care about accumulating points or saving replays, so I accepted Jeong Soo-ji’s offer without bothering to ask for her opinion.

Still, since we were on the same team, splitting the reward felt fair.

Seo Ye-in stared quietly at the Random Rank Up scroll in her hand.

“……”

“Are you going to use it right away?”

“Mhmm.”

Flash—

The scroll began to emit a faint, bright light.

Whooshhh…

Then it turned to ash and scattered.

While her innate luck might help push through in other areas, Random Rank Up scrolls weren’t so easy to exploit.

They weren’t affected by probability-related skills or traits.

Still, thanks to this, I managed to add another stamp to the collection.

[Stamp Coupon (C)]

▷ Stamps: 7/10

Not much left now.

Random Rank Up scrolls also appeared as side quest rewards, so the goal was finally within reach.

Of course, to complete it, we would need to successfully finish the remaining matches.

“Now that we’re warmed up, shall we get going again?”

The cooldown for buffs was almost over as well.

However, Seo Ye-in averted her gaze and started inching sideways.

It seemed the thought of diving back into the snowstorm made her hesitant.

I approached her and spoke gently to persuade her.

“Let’s do just one more match.”

“……”

“If we finish this, we’re done for the week. Let’s charge just one more crystal, then we can rest.”

“……A pillow?”

“I’ll positively consider that too.”

Using sweet talk, I coaxed the human sloth all the way to the arena and queued us for a match.

I checked over the items while waiting.

There’s no need to spend more points.

The spiked soles were still intact, and the hand warmers were holding their warmth.

Of course, as usual, all four hand warmers belonged to Seo Ye-in.

Soon, the scoreboard displayed our names alongside our opponents’ names.

“……It’s these two again.”