The Support Ate it All
Chapter 60: 4th Week Strategy Battles (2)

Even in the duel battles, we had faced each other in two consecutive games.

And now, I found myself partnered with Hong Yeon-hwa.

It was interesting how fate kept throwing us together.

Well, it’s not bad.

I preferred her over a mediocre student for this strategy battle.

After all, she was considered a promising student and her combat skills were well proven.

I could simply delegate the necessary fighting to her.

Moreover, there was an inexplicable sense of familiarity about her.

The Ruby Magic Tower Master had been a favorite pick of mine in the past,

And the more I saw Hong Yeon-hwa, the more she reminded me of that Ruby Magic Tower Master.

It was like looking at a version of her from a few years back.

If only the facial expressions were similar, they’d be indistinguishable.

The only difference was the way she looked at me.

The Ruby Magic Tower Master always seemed like a ticking time bomb, ready to explode at any moment with her fiery temperament on full display. In contrast, Hong Yeon-hwa in front of me was completely frightened and intimidated.

Of course, I couldn’t deny some responsibility for her state.

Having bested her in battle not once but three times, it was understandable she’d be intimidated.

Yet, it seemed excessive for her to be so immediately overwhelmed with fear upon seeing me.

Perhaps there was some huge misunderstanding at play.

I could have chosen to sweetly engage with her from this point forward and gradually resolve misunderstandings,

But did I really need to?

Was resolving this truly necessary?

My aim was to complete the quest quickly and efficiently.

Maintaining a somewhat fearful atmosphere might actually aid in achieving my objectives.

So, I decided to act in accordance with the image she seemed to hold of me.

If she saw me as a tyrant, then a tyrant I would be.

With a menacing glare, I watched as Hong Yeon-hwa’s face turned even paler.

***

Hong Yeon-hwa felt like crying.

It was entirely her fault that things had come to this.

Hong Yeon-hwa arrived at the dungeon building as usual and tried to find a match.

But just before scanning her student ID, she saw him.

Kim Ho was there, waiting for his turn nearby.

Luckily, he was looking the other way with his back turned to her.

Yet, even the sight of his back sent shivers down Hong Yeon-hwa’s spine.

Now she had a new goal.

One that surpassed even the importance of her performance in this strategy battle.

I must avoid him as a partner at all costs.

While team members were assigned randomly, scanning her ID now risked the slim chance of being paired with that monstrous man…

And if they ended up alone in a confined space…

The mere thought was suffocating.

Hong Yeon-hwa decided to take her sister Hong Ye-hwa’s advice.

She would wait a bit longer before applying for today’s strategy battle.

When Kim Ho enters the dungeon with someone else that will be when she would find her own team member.

So, she stealthily watched Kim Ho and waited endlessly.

Just waiting for a teleportation portal to open near him.

Waiting…

And waiting…

And waiting some more…

She continued to wait.

As the wait dragged on, Hong Yeon-hwa’s pride was increasingly crumpled.

And her sense of self-loathing grew in inverse proportion.

Am I, who is destined to be the next Ruby Tower Master, really reduced to hiding around like a mouse and wary of others’ gaze?

When she glanced at Kim Ho again, she saw that he was deep in thought with an expressionless face.

There was still no sign of a match being made.

I can’t wait any longer!

Her pride which was suppressed by fear until now sparked a fierce backlash.

She wouldn’t just keep looking over her shoulder!

…Not that she had suddenly gained the confidence to partner up with Kim Ho but she had slightly changed her strategy.

She decided to quickly enter on her own.

Hong Yeon-hwa then added a bit more cunning to her plan.

Let’s go into real combat mode instead of practice mode.

Since the other party was a normal human, he would surely be matching for the practice mode.

By skipping practice mode and jumping straight into real combat, she could eliminate even the slightest possibility of ending up as his partner.

She felt somewhat uneasy about starting with real combat from the get-go, but she figured she could somehow get through it.

While Hong Yeon-hwa was marveling at her own ingenuity and scanned her student ID…

A teleportation portal opened before her.

And another opened before Kim Ho.

Hong Yeon-hwa’s pupils darted around uncontrollably.

Why is this…?

It couldn’t be, could it?

It must just be a coincidence that they opened at the same time, right?

My partner must be somewhere else, right?

While Hong Yeon-hwa fervently denied reality, Kim Ho stepped into the dungeon without hesitation.

It was her turn to enter next.

But her feet wouldn’t move so easily.

What was just an ordinary teleportation portal now seemed like a gateway leading straight into the abyss.

Hong Yeon-hwa who had been hesitating finally took a deep breath.

Haah… Alright, I need to go in.

Standing around wasn’t going to solve anything.

She forced herself to walk into the dungeon with heavy feet.

Of course, a sliver of hope remained in her heart.

The hope that someone else would be inside.

“…….”

But that was just wishful thinking.

As soon as she entered her eyes met Kim Ho’s who had been waiting inside.

Hong Yeon-hwa’s gaze involuntarily dropped to the floor.

I’m done for…

The unforeseen had indeed happened.

She had never imagined Kim Ho would sign up for real combat mode from the get-go.

That explained why he had been waiting for so long.

The strategy session had just begun, so the vast majority of students flocked to practice mode and those who ventured into actual combat were few and far between. In fact, there were none.

It was only natural to keep waiting when no partner seemed to emerge.

And it was just as expected that she would become his partner as soon as the system found a match who also chose real combat mode.

It was as if she had willingly walked into the tiger’s den.

Why did I even do that?

Regret washed over her belatedly.

She should not have tried to maintain her pride,

Nor should she have tried to be cunning,

She should have just rested today and left it for tomorrow…

But the damage was already done.

Regretting it now wouldn’t change the situation at hand.

Hong Yeon-hwa forced herself to focus.

No matter the circumstances, she had to give her best within this dungeon.

[Remaining Monsters: 88]

The objective of this strategy session was clearance.

If you were to eliminate all 88 monsters you would receive a perfect score of 100% clearance.

The strategy session teacher had emphasized “details”, “paying attention” and “observation skills”, which meant that the likelihood of these monsters coming to them of their own accord was slim.

They were undoubtedly hiding cunningly throughout the dungeon.

How should we start looking for them?

There was a need to discuss this with her teammate.

Baek Jun-seok who had been part of her team before tended to avoid thinking too much so Hong Yeon-hwa often ended up giving one-sided orders.

Such was the inevitable nature of those brute-force fighters.

Kim Ho on the other hand was the same caster class as her.

She surmised that he must have his own thoughts on the matter.

Hong Yeon-hwa lifted her eyes from the floor to start a discussion.

She immediately met Kim Ho’s cold gaze.

“……”

She found herself at a loss for words.

The words that flowed so easily with Baek Jun-seok now just circled in her mouth.

While Hong Yeon-hwa fumbled silently, only moving her lips without making a sound, Kim Ho curtly uttered a single word.

“Follow me.”

“W-What?”

And then he began to walk away on his own with a calm stride.

Hong Yeon-hwa who was completely clueless about what was happening followed him.

After moving at a brisk pace for a while, Kim Ho suddenly stopped on his own and stared at a bush on one side of the forest.

Hong Yeon-hwa looked in the same direction but saw nothing out of the ordinary.

There’s nothing there.

At that moment, Kim Ho casually kicked a small stone that was lying nearby with the tip of his foot.

Then the stone shot out at a terrifying speed before disappearing beyond the bushes.

“Kwaaaag!”

[Remaining Monsters: 87]

Following a single death cry, the number of remaining monsters decreased by one.

Hong Yeon-hwa’s eyes widened in shock.

…There was one?

“Keruk!”

But her surprise was short-lived as three goblins burst out from the bush.

It seemed like they were lying in ambush and were now enraged by the death of their kin.

Kim Ho glanced at them briefly, then, showing no interest at all, he started walking again.

The goblins’ attention turned to Hong Yeon-hwa who was still standing there.

Hong Yeon-hwa blinked rapidly and her gaze shifted between Kim Ho who was walking away and the goblins charging towards her.

“Umm, well.”

Was he just going to leave like this?

The absurdity was so extreme that she couldn’t even feel angry.

When the ruby in her staff flashed a brilliant red light,

Boom!

The three goblins turned into heaps of charcoal.

In truth, goblins were mere minions she could handle on her own.

Having somewhat convinced herself of this, she looked up to find Kim Ho already far ahead.

And since she didn’t want to lose him Hong Yeon-hwa sprinted with all her might.

By the time she barely caught up,

Kim Ho had a large rock in his hand which he picked up from somewhere.

He hurled it mercilessly into a nearby bush and four more enraged goblins sprang out.

Having already experienced this, Hong Yeon-hwa did not panic and immediately cast her spell.

Boom!

[Remaining Monster Count: 80]

When she turned around, she saw Kim Ho had once again put a great distance between them in that brief time.

Hong Yeon-hwa finally lost her patience.

Honestly, holding back this long was quite an achievement considering her temper.

“Hey! Can’t we stick together?! Are you going to clear this all by yourself?!”

— is what she said in her heart.

But what actually came out was much softer.

“Hey, wait for me.”

Strangely, her volume automatically lowered when addressing Kim Ho.

He seemed to hear her faint plea and glanced back.

Then he slowed his pace.

He really is slowing down…

At that moment, Hong Yeon-hwa realized that this man could indeed communicate.

Anyway, the pattern was becoming clear to her.

When Kim Ho walks ahead and throws a stone or uses some unseen power to disturb an ambush spot such as a bush, tree, or behind a rock, monsters will pop out in response.

And it was Hong Yeon-hwa’s responsibility to deal with them.

Generally, dealing with low-rank monsters like goblins or orcs presented no real challenge for her.

Whoosh!

[Remaining Monsters: 66]

“Keruk!”

But not all monsters reacted the same way.

Occasionally, some would turn and attempt to flee when discovered.

In the [Clearance] rule, these escapees were particularly troublesome because if they managed to hide elsewhere, it meant you would have to go back to places you had already cleared.

“Keruk?”

However, escape was never successful.

A gust of wind would blow, and the creatures would find themselves unable to proceed as if blocked by an invisible wall.

Soon after, they were engulfed by the flames summoned by Hong Yeon-hwa.

Whoosh!

And then Hong Yeon-hwa, who had no idea about the hidden aspects at first, began to notice something after a few repetitions.

A unique sense of unease marked the spots where monsters lay in ambush.

The more she looked, the more pronounced the sense of unease became.

Her observation skills were rapidly improving without her realizing it.

While Hong Yeon-hwa was watching Kim Ho’s back, she tilted her head in puzzlement.

Isn’t this strange…?

Could it be this easy?

Given her impatient nature, she was hardly suited for meticulous and time-consuming tasks like clearing out areas.

Thus, when she first entered the dungeon, she braced herself for a tough time.

However, in reality, monsters sprung up wherever Kim Ho went and all she had to do was to follow him closely before everything was taken care of.

Throughout the entire strategy battle, Kim Ho did not hesitate for even a second before moving on to the next spot, and then the next without hesitating even for a second.

He seemed as if he had done this dozens, if not hundreds, of times before.

But logically, it was impossible for him to have done this hundreds of times so it was clear that he either had incredibly sharp intuition or a detection skill to match.

Hong Yeon-hwa updated the information she had on Kim Ho in her mind.

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“……”

And then while she was thinking of this, Kim Ho stopped in his tracks once again.

When Hong Yeon-hwa stopped to survey the area ahead, she noticed a terrain resembling a deep pit lying before them.

The topography of this great forest was known for its irregular terrain, but this particular formation appeared unnaturally out of place.

It was suspicious to any onlooker.

With a casual flick of his hand,

Bang

Kim Ho caused the soil on one side of the pit to crumble away which revealed the entrance to a burrow.

Hong Yeon-hwa’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.

He can actually see that?

She indeed thought it would be worth going down and taking a closer look, but she never thought he would find it so quickly.

Setting aside her astonishment, Hong Yeon-hwa too examined the burrow.

It seemed tailored to the size of goblins which meant that a human would have to crouch uncomfortably to enter.

It was then that Kim Ho spoke up.

“Check it out.”

“…Me?”

“You don’t want to?”

Kim Ho’s expression gradually hardened.

Hong Yeon-hwa sensed an instinctive danger and quickly responded.

“I-I can go in, right? If I just go in…”

While muttering under her breath she crawled into the burrow.

In reality, Kim Ho’s suggestion to “check it out” was meant to hint at using fire magic inside but Hong Yeon-hwa had no way of knowing this.

Shortly after she entered,

Boom! Bang!

[Remaining Monsters: 35]

A series of explosions echoed from within before the number of monsters was greatly reduced.

Soon after, Hong Yeon-hwa emerged from the burrow with thick smoke.

She was covered in dirt and looked utterly disgruntled and her dirty appearance and sour expression said it all.

Why do I have to do something like this?

However, when she made eye contact with Kim Ho, she quickly managed her facial expression.

…. Now that I think about it, I think I should do something like this.

After all, she had been riding on the coattails of this man’s efforts until now.

She quickly rationalized the situation.

“……”

Seemingly oblivious to Hong Yeon-hwa’s inner turmoil, Kim Ho silently proceeded to the next location.

And Hong Yeon-hwa hastily followed him with her footsteps echoing softly behind.

***

[Remaining Monsters: 2]

The battle that raged like a storm was now coming to an end.

The last two monsters seemed like they wouldn’t require much effort to find.

Because they were right before their eyes.

Trolls.

They were medium-sized monsters slightly larger than an adult male.

With their high regenerative abilities and fair resistance to magic, they posed a challenging match for any mage.

And there stood two such trolls.

Their presence was far from ordinary and they were exuding the aura of boss monsters.

One wielded a large club, while the other brandished a pair of axes.

Hong Yeon-hwa cast a cautious glance at Kim Ho as if silently asking about their next move.

After holding her gaze for a few seconds Kim Ho curtly replied.

“Fight them.”

“…alone?”

“…….”

Hong Yeon-hwa sighed inwardly.

Yes, I was a fool to harbor even a sliver of expectation.

The idea that he would kindly join in was utterly unlikely.

Hong Yeon-hwa took a step forward.

Soon, the air around her began to simmer with heat.

The trolls wavered within the rising haze.

I can handle this alone.

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