The Support Ate it All

Chapter 117: 7th Week Mentoring and Duel Battle (2)

After school.

When I arrived at the arena, Dang Gyu-young was already there. She was leaning nonchalantly against the spectator seats and waiting there.

“Good afternoon.”

“Oh— you’re here—”

In response to my greeting, Dang Gyu-young lazily waved her hand and then pointed to the arena with an outstretched finger.

“Go have one match first. The others have already gone in.”

“Yes, Senior-nim.”

This week’s quota was a total of three matches.

The first of these would be conducted without the intervention of a mentor.

The [Crystal] was a rule introduced for the first time this week and it was unfamiliar to most students.

Although Lee Soo-dok had given a brief explanation, as the saying goes, seeing is believing; it’s faster to learn by directly experiencing something than by discussing it all day.

Additionally, the academic administration wanted to maintain at least a minimum level of fairness between students who participated in mentoring and those who did not.

If a mentor entered, they could tell the students everything from what’s inside, where to go, and how to strategize, etc. They could essentially guide them from start to finish, which could lead to unfair competition regardless of actual skill.

So even if tailoring advice and training to individual needs would come later, they wanted to ensure everyone started from the same baseline.

After scanning my student ID at the terminal, a match was quickly found.

[Kim Ho 513 points] vs [Cha Hyeon-joo 510 points]

As soon as I stepped onto the teleportation magic circle, my surroundings changed dramatically and the next moment, I found myself standing in the middle of a forest lined with dense vegetation.

The location of the “Sanctuary” was immediately obvious even without searching.

A huge tree stood tall alone with a grand presence.

What’s more, it was glowing with a mystical light.

And the Crystal? It was time to start looking.

It would be hidden somewhere in this forest, and the first to find it would gain the right to charge it.

Cha Hyeon-joo, my opponent in this duel battle, was nowhere to be seen.

But just like me, she must have finished preparing somewhere on the other side of the forest as the countdown began.

[3]

[2]

[1]

[Start!]

[Kim Ho 100%] vs [Cha Hyeon-joo 100%]

[Crystal: 0%]

I immediately kicked off the ground and began to run.

Heading straight in one direction without wandering or turning back.

If it’s forest terrain, it’s probably around there.

There were likely spots where the crystal could be.

I was heading toward the spot that my stagnant water intuition was pulling me towards.

As I pushed my Thief’s Step skill to its limit, trees whipped past on either side of my view.

Soon, a small clearing appeared, and at its center, a makeshift altar held a crystal the size of a palm.

I quickly grabbed it and tucked it into the front pocket of my uniform before attempting to run off, but then—

Swiiiiish!

With a sharp piercing sound, two streaks of light flew towards me.

I twisted my body to dodge and saw that they were two thin and small throwing knives.

Standing where the knives had come from was a girl.

A mask covered the lower half of her face making it hard to see her full features, but her eyes which were exposed glared at me with killing intent.

Cha Hyeon-joo nodded towards the crystal in my front pocket and said,

“Put that down.”

“Would you put it down if you were me?”

Her hand blurred and then two more streaks of light were hurtling towards me.

Swiiiiish!

I leaned to the side and the knives narrowly missed me.

She was the type to throw knives first if things got tricky.

I turned around swiftly and started running.

Right towards the tree glowing with a mystical light, right towards the Sanctuary.

Throwing knives continued to fly at me from behind and they were accompanied by a voice filled with killing intent.

“Stop right there.”

“Would you stop if you were me?”

Instead, I increased my speed even more.

How many times had I dodged and run,

Whizz—!

The pillar of light emanating from the sanctuary illuminated me like a spotlight.

And the crystal in the front pocket of my shirt began to fill with a mysterious light.

Having entered the range of the sanctuary, the crystal connected with it and started charging.

[Crystal: 1%]

[Crystal: 2%]

…

However, the charging speed was much slower compared to when Lee Soo-dok demonstrated it in the classroom.

Back then, it was set to charge quickly as an example, but now the connection had to be maintained for at least several minutes.

Meanwhile, it was natural that I had to dodge Cha Hyeon-joo and protect the crystal.

It would be great if it could just be stored in the inventory.

Regrettably, the inventory is considered a space isolated from the outside, so the connection would be cut off.

Charging it there was impossible.

Moreover, to teach a lesson to those foolish enough to try such tricks, a teleportation spell had been placed on the crystal.

The moment someone tried to place it in their inventory, the crystal would whoosh away to another location.

After that, the advantage of having secured the crystal would be lost and the duel battle would be back to square one.

So it was best to keep it in the front pocket.

Swishhh!

I leaned forward to avoid the throwing knives that came flying at me again.

Cha Hyeon-joo clicked her tongue briefly.

“Tsk.”

As if she decided that throwing was ineffective, she gripped a dagger in each hand and quickly closed the distance between us.

I pointed at Cha Hyeon-joo with my Root.

[Wind Force]

[Twister]

Whoooosh—

A whirlwind filled with physical force seized Cha Hyeon-joo and pinned her in place.

She struggled desperately, but all she managed were slight flinches.

Then, it seemed she used some kind of movement skill as her body that was previously restrained suddenly slipped free.

However, by the time Cha Hyeon-joo had escaped the whirlwind, I had already closed in on her.

Boom!

Compressed air exploded and Cha Hyeon-joo’s figure was sent flying across the forest.

As she disappeared from view, I briefly checked the scoreboard.

[Kim Ho 100%] vs [Cha Hyeon-joo 98%]

[Crystal: 31%]

Swiiiiiish—!

Cha Hyeon-joo hurled her throwing knives furiously and charged at a terrifying speed.

I cast [Twister] again, but she quickly dodged after she anticipated the onset of the whirlwind.

Her reaction speed is impressive.

Cha Hyeon-joo pressed close and alternated slashes with her twin daggers.

I dodged the first dagger and blocked the second one with Root.

Then the swinging first dagger was lightly struck on Cha Hyeon-joo’s wrist, altering its trajectory.

But Cha Hyeon-joo seemed to have anticipated me dodging and deflecting as she smoothly retrieved the dagger and transitioned into her next attack.

Not bad.

Twin daggers are a more difficult weapon to wield than one might think.

To move them as freely as one’s own body not only requires effort but also a certain innate talent.

It was a moment that revealed the talent Cha Hyeon-joo possessed.

Of course, talent is talent, and a match is a match.

No holding back.

Especially since there’s a side quest for this week.

I continued to pretend to barely manage, then suddenly stepped forward and thrust out my Root weapon.

Then the short metal spear ingeniously inserted itself between the trajectories of the two daggers.

Clank,

We came to a standstill with the spear and the two daggers pressed against each other.

But you know what?

I was wielding Root with one hand.

I flashed my empty hand that was holding nothing.

“What’s this?”

“Kuh…!”

Perhaps sensing what was about to happen, Cha Hyeon-joo’s eyes widened.

But before she could react, the compressed air exploded faster.

Bang!

Cha Hyeon-joo’s body was again sent flying in an arc far away.

This time I used a bit more force with Wind Force, so perhaps she flew a bit further.

[Kim Ho 100%] vs [Cha Hyeon-joo 96%]

[Crystal: 57%]

It seems like it’s over already.

We had clashed at close range twice, and both times the skirmish ended with Cha Hyeon-joo being sent flying away.

It seemed as if she had given it her all, and I figured that any further collisions would have the same result.

…or so I thought.

Swiiiish—!

Another streak of light came flying at me.

I tried to dodge it as I had been, but feeling an odd sense of unease, I moved significantly to the side.

It soon became clear that this was the right decision.

Thump!

A beam of light that barely missed me pierced through the tree that had been behind me.

Had it been a throwing knife like before, it should have stuck deeply, but this time it left a fist-sized hole.

Sssss—!

This time, three beams of light surged toward me.

Upon closer inspection, the projectiles flying toward me were quite different from any dagger.

They were thin and elongated with a sharply pointed end.

Arrows.

And not just any arrows—these were arrows filled with mana.

It turned out Cha Hyeon-joo’s main class was an archer.

It seems she was deliberately concealing her true abilities just like me.

However, the fact that she had been posing as a dual-dagger rogue and suddenly switched to using a bow meant one thing,

She must be really angry.

I surmised that her anger had overcome her reason.

Well, having been sent flying by Wind Force not once but twice would make anyone furious.

Sssss—

Each arrow that flew was filled with emotion.

Since she didn’t show herself, it seemed she had slightly revised her objectives for this duel.

Instead of just stealing the crystal, she aimed to incapacitate me.

Knocking an opponent out was indeed part of the victory conditions, so it wasn’t too far off.

Sssss—

Of course, hitting me was necessary for that to be possible.

I kept using my Thief’s Step and maintained my speed while subtly changing directions to dodge the arrows.

I really wanted to go after Cha Hyeon-joo and knock her back once more, but if I strayed too far from the sanctuary, the connection with the crystal would be severed.

[Crystal: 72%]

Since it was already significantly charged, I decided to keep running.

Perhaps she read my mind.

The barrage of arrows thinned for a moment,

Wizzzzzzz—!

Then a bundle of arrows was launched at me all at once.

The sound they made as they cut through the air was distinctly different from before.

I continued using Thief’s Step and zigzagged to avoid the arrows.

Wizzzzzzz—!

However, the arrows that should have flown past me and embedded themselves in a nearby tree bent mid-flight and turned to chase after me.

She’s using homing arrows.

That’s a high-level skill too.

Wizzzzzzz—!

Cha Hyeon-joo launched additional homing arrows.

It seemed her plan was to keep increasing the number of arrows until it was impossible to avoid them.

I should scatter them and go.

After gathering wind at my fingertips, I quickly spun around and linked Twister with Wind Force.

The whirlwind spread in the opposite direction and drastically changed the trajectory of the chasing arrows.

Sounds of arrows embedding themselves into various trees echoed around.

But at that moment,

“Oh, what’s this?”

A very thin arrow, breaking through the whirlwind I had created, aimed straight for my solar plexus.

It was a sly move, designed to distract me with the guided missiles while secretly firing this one shot.

That was really clever.

I admired her tactic in my heart, filled Root with mana, and swung it towards the arrow.

Clang—!

For a secretly fired arrow, the force it carried was extraordinary and the impact was strong enough to make my hands grow numb.

If my skills were any less, I might have torn my grip.

I briefly transferred Root to my other hand and shook out the numbness from my hand.

That was really close to triggering my distortion trait.

It seems there are quite a few hidden gems among the first-year students this year.

But this is as far as it goes.

[Crystal: 100%]

Regrettably, the charge was already complete.

Fwoosh—!

The crystal emitted a bright flash of light, signaling the end of the match.

Then the scoreboard displayed the result.

[Kim Ho Win] vs [Cha Hyeon-joo Lose]

I cheerfully waved my hand in the direction where Cha Hyeon-joo was.

“Good fight~!”

Swiiiiiiishh—!

Cha Hyeon-joo continued to fire arrows at me until the moment I teleported out using the magic circle.

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