The Support Ate it All-Chapter 319 - 18th Week Final Exam (12)

Swaaash!

The moment I sidestepped to evade, Lee Soo-dok swiftly retrieved his blade and slashed diagonally.

I barely dodged again by tilting my body, but just as the cleaver was about to complete its arc, it suddenly halted midair, then lunged straight for my chest.

Swaaash!

Ignore inertia.

It was a skill embedded in my shoes, [Cloudstepper]. It allowed me to disregard a certain amount of weight shift and move freely.

Since sword techniques involve wide sweeping motions, they naturally create openings. By using “Ignore inertia”, those gaps could be minimized. Or as he was doing now, they could be turned into an unexpected attack.

I was wondering why he hadn’t used such a great skill until now.

Turns out, he had been saving it for this very moment.

He’s trying to activate [Distortion].

Of course, I had no intention of letting him get away with it.

Pop!

Right on cue, a fist-sized dark cloud burst forth. It blocked the cleaver’s path and gave me just enough time to dart backward.

“…….”

Even though his carefully planned move had been thwarted, Lee Soo-dok only grinned and bared his teeth as if he was enjoying this.

Then, he swung his blade even more ferociously.

Swaaaaash!

Looks like I’ve suddenly been forced into the role of the main tank.

From the moment he reached the rear lines, Lee Soo-dok had been relentlessly targeting me alone.

As if nothing else even mattered.

“Kim-hyung!”

“Butler.”

Even though Go Hyeon-woo, Seo Ye-in, and the other party members kept chasing after him and trying to keep him in check, Lee Soo-dok only responded minimally and poured the rest of his strength solely into attacking me.

Honestly, this is actually better.

It would be a much bigger headache if he were running around wreaking havoc all over the place.

If he deliberately went after Hong Yeon-hwa, Park Na-ri, or Seo Ye-in, they would be taken down in an instant since they were weak in close combat.

In that case, wasn’t it actually more convenient for him to focus all his attacks on me instead?

Not that my body agrees.

Swaaash!

I narrowly deflected his cleaver using the sapling and the dark clouds, dodging his attacks by the slimmest margins.

Whenever Lee Soo-dok threw a punch or unleashed a burst of force, I countered by mixing Wind Force and Twister.

Boom!

After exchanging multiple blows while constantly evading, a thought crossed my mind.

A battle of attrition could work, but since I was already putting in the effort, wouldn’t it be better to end this quickly and decisively?

So, I shouted to my party members.

“Use your strongest moves! Don’t worry about me!”

Even if I ended up incapacitated, I could just wait six hours and re-enter.

New novel 𝓬hapters are published on ƒreewebɳovel.com.

As long as we successfully broke through the control room, we would earn 1,500 team points.

Not that I planned on going down, of course.

Han So-mi and Jo Byeok responded.

“Understood!”

“Let’s do that.”

As they ramped up their energy, flames engulfed my body, a protective fire barrier formed around me, and a fresh green aura shimmered in the air.

Hong Yeon-hwa and Park Na-ri had cast defensive magic and buffs on me.

This feels pretty rewarding.

After the midterms, I had worked hard to strengthen my defenses, and now, look at this.

This was exactly what made raising heroes so satisfying.

Meanwhile, I also needed to push my stats a bit higher at this point.

So I used the amplification I had been saving.

[Activated ‘Octopus Limbs’.]

[Activated ‘Amplification’.]

[The rank of ‘Wind Barrier’ has increased. (C+ → B)]

[The rank of ‘Spiral Explosion’ has increased. (C+ → B)]

[The rank of ‘Hummingbird’ has increased. (C → B)]

[Duration: 00:14:58]

[Cooldown: 06:29:28]

Everything was capped at B-rank due to the fixed zone rule.

Still, being able to raise my specs even a little wasn’t a bad thing.

Whoooosh—

With multiple layers of defensive magic stacked on top of the Wind Barrier, my defense had become remarkably solid.

The next moment, Jo Byeok and Han So-mi unleashed their ultimate techniques.

Giant palms and fists formed from intangible energy, along with freezing-cold sword energies, rained down in a relentless assault.

Whooooooooooooooosh—!

Swiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiishhh—!

“Not bad.”

Lee Soo-dok bared his teeth in a grin.

His energy suddenly surged, and a cracking sound echoed from all over his body.

It was as if his muscles were screaming, pushed beyond their limits.

Then, for a brief moment, I had the illusion that his body had split into multiple figures before realizing he was activating the same skill he had used at the start of the raid.

Not just once, but three times in succession.

Fwooooooooosh—!

The entire area became a chaotic storm of fist shadows, palm strikes, sword energies, and energy waves, leaving no space to step.

Amid the chaos, I carefully moved myself into the safest possible position.

Oh my, someone save me. Save Kim Ho.

Attacks I couldn’t avoid, I blocked with dark clouds or absorbed with my barrier.

As a result, I had exhausted all my defensive magic, but I remained unscathed.

On the other hand, Jo Byeok had taken Lee Soo-dok’s counterattack head-on and had been forcibly ejected from the dungeon.

Han So-mi’s pale complexion suggested that she had also suffered internal injuries.

Of course, Lee Soo-dok wasn’t unscathed either.

[Lee Soo-dok: 93%]

“Not much left. I’ll keep going.”

With those words, Lee Soo-dok charged straight at me.

But just then—

Swish…

The air on the side wavered, and Seo Ye-in revealed herself with her shotgun aimed forward.

She had taken advantage of the chaos to stealthily approach using Ghost Dance.

Lee Soo-dok immediately responded by unleashing a blade energy—

Flash!

Seo Ye-in dodged using Bullet Time and pulled the trigger.

Baang!

A barrage of magic bullets rained down.

Individually, their destructive power was weaker than that of an assault rifle, but their wide spread made them much harder to dodge.

And, of course, that applied to me as well.

I guess I’ll have to use it here.

Swish…

I weaved through the air using Ghost Dance and started dodging the magic bullets one by one.

Meanwhile, Lee Soo-dok who couldn’t use the same skill due to cooldown had to rely on other means. A few bullets grazed him before he could fully evade.

[Lee Soo-dok: 92%]

“Grrr.”

At that moment, Bum darted in and swiftly grabbed Seo Ye-in by the scruff of her neck, pulling her to safety.

Lee Soo-dok tilted his chin slightly.

“Not bad. Is Song Cheon-hye next?”

Fzzzt!

Sure enough, Song Cheon-hye was closing in, gripping a huge bolt of lightning in her hand.

Hong Yeon-hwa had also summoned a ball of searing flames above her palm.

However, there was one critical problem—

It’s too easy to dodge.

Which meant I needed to step in here.

The first thing that came to mind was using Hummingbird to inflict a paralysis status on him—

But it won’t last long.

That guy had high resistance to debuffs. Even if I managed to land a hit, it would only make him hesitate for a brief moment.

Of course, there was a simple solution to that.

If once wasn’t enough?

Then I’d just hit him multiple times.

[Octopus Limbs]

[Hummingbird]

[Hummingbird]

…

I cast Hummingbird six times in succession using Octopus Limbs.

As a penalty, my mana consumption skyrocketed to 36 times the usual amount.

Mana drained from my entire body, leaving me with a sudden wave of exhaustion.

Still, thanks to that—

Fzzzzzzzzzzzzt!

Six lightning-charged hummingbirds took flight.

They hovered above Lee Soo-dok’s head before scattering in all directions, closing in on him with unpredictable trajectories.

“……!”

Lee Soo-dok’s face was filled with exhilaration. He must have realized that this was my decisive move.

Once again, cracking sounds came from his body as he swung his cleaver at an incredible speed.

Anything that got too close would be shredded to bits.

Swiiiiiiiiiiiiiish—!

In response, the hummingbirds moved as if they were living, breathing creatures.

They dodged the cleaver by shifting slightly to the side, briefly retreating, pausing mid-air, or accelerating in an instant to charge forward.

In the end, only one hummingbird was cut down by the cleaver.

The rest struck Lee Soo-dok’s body all at once, unleashing an explosive surge of electricity.

Fizzzzzzzzzzzzzz—!

“Excellent…!”

Lee Soo-dok whose entire body was paralyzed barely managed to part his lips in admiration.

Right after, Song Cheon-hye unleashed a bolt of lightning, followed by a fireball hurled by Hong Yeon-hwa which crashed down and exploded.

Booooom—!

But at that decisive moment, Lee Soo-dok’s upper body glowed white and a round barrier of energy erupted around him.

Guardian Shell.

Come to think of it, he could equip up to two pieces of gear.

It seemed he had saved his trump card for just this moment.

Emerging through the fire and lightning, Lee Soo-dok swung his huge cleaver downward.

Of course, I had also saved one item skill.

A dark cloud formed between my head and the descending cleaver.

“Soft and cushy.”

Pong!

The cloud instantly expanded, repelling the cleaver.

If there were a sound effect for it, it would probably be a “boing”.

Just as Lee Soo-dok was about to regain his stance—

Slashh.

Go Hyeon-woo suddenly appeared from nowhere and slashed with his magic sword.

Just like Seo Ye-in had done earlier, he had approached silently with Ghost Dance and launched a surprise attack using [Rapid Current].

[Lee Soo-dok: 90%]

Lee Soo-dok glanced at Go Hyeon-woo, then at his health gauge, and then back at Go Hyeon-woo again.

“…It seems I’ll have to reevaluate this year’s first-years. Three of you have mastered Ghost Dance?”

“I was lucky enough to come across a great opportunity.”

“A great opportunity, huh.”

Lee Soo-dok’s gaze shifted toward me.

He had probably noticed that Go Hyeon-woo and Seo Ye-in were always hanging around with me.

He must have guessed that they had obtained Ghost Dance thanks to me….and he wouldn’t be wrong.

The only thing he didn’t know was that five more people had also learned it.

After a moment, Lee Soo-dok slowly nodded his head.

“You have earned your victory. I’ll pull the lever for you.”

“….…!”

“….…!”

Everyone’s faces lit up with joy.

Pulling the lever meant he acknowledged his defeat.

It meant we had successfully cleared the Control Room Raid.

Everyone bowed deeply to Lee Soo-dok.

“Thank you.”

“You fought well.”

Just as we were about to turn away, Lee Soo-dok called out to us.

“Before you go.”

“….…?”

“….…?”

“Take those with you as well.”

He gestured with his chin toward a pile of items stacked like a small mountain.

They were things left behind by previous challengers who had fallen. Among them, several cheese boxes stood out.

Since we were the first to succeed, he was telling us to take everything.

“Thank you.”

“Now, be on your way.”

Everyone offered their thanks once more, but Lee Soo-dok turned his back on us as if he had no interest.

***

After Kim Ho’s group had left,

Lee Soo-dok sat alone in the center of the control room,

His eyes closed in silence.

“…….”

He remained that way for a long while until the iron door creaked open and a few students peeked inside.

No doubt, they were the next challengers.

But without opening his eyes, Lee Soo-dok simply spoke.

“Come back in thirty minutes.”

“Ah, y-yes….”

The students quickly shut the door and left.

Technically, teachers were supposed to accept challenges at any time, but no one was bold enough to argue with Lee Soo-dok’s words.

Once again, silence filled the control room.

And once again, Lee Soo-dok sank into his thoughts.

Flashes of the battle that had just taken place crossed his mind.

There had been too many opponents to properly gauge each individual’s skill.

But overall, it had been a satisfying fight.

For the first time in a long while, he had felt true tension….no, he felt something even beyond that.

At the center of it all, of course, was Kim Ho.

Thinking about him left a slight sense of regret.

I wanted to land at least one clean hit.

But he had been impossibly slippery and kept dodging every attack with ease.

Forget landing a single strike. Lee Soo-dok hadn’t even managed to trigger Kim Ho’s defensive traits.

Still, today wasn’t the only day.

Lee Soo-dok made a quiet promise to himself.

Next time, for sure.