The Support Ate it All

Hong Yeon-hwa trembled slightly as she watched Kim Ho burn brightly.

I-I knew it would turn out like this…

This was why she had wanted to avoid the match.

Not even the enhanced Fire Pillar had left a mark on him, so how could mere flames or lava have any effect?

She wondered if there was any way to deal damage to that man.

Wang Cheon-sam was having similar thoughts.

His endurance is incredible…

From the moment he first encountered Kim Ho until now, he had never once managed to land a hit.

Seeing Kim Ho maintain 100% health even in the midst of the raging flames, it was clear that his endurance was extraordinary as well.

Even if by some stroke of luck an attack did land, it wouldn’t even leave a scratch.

He would likely be sent flying into the lava before that could happen.

So, Hong Yeon-hwa and Wang Cheon-sam reached the same conclusion.

Against Kim Ho, there was no chance of victory at all, so,

This is ultimately a fight for second place.

In truth, Wang Cheon-sam didn’t mind this outcome.

It wasn’t often he got the chance to compete against someone of this caliber.

If he could secure a victory against Hong Yeon-hwa, he might finally gain some recognition in the swordsmanship club.

Besides, didn’t Kim Ho even ensure the replay wouldn’t be shared so that Wang Cheon-sam could fully showcase his abilities?

The sword at his waist slid smoothly into his hand.

His eyes gleamed with a chilling intensity.

“……”

Hong Yeon-hwa met his gaze and grew a bit more tense.

She instinctively knew he wasn’t an opponent to be taken lightly.

She also suspected there was a reason Kim Ho had suggested she take him on.

If Wang Cheon-sam were someone who could be turned to ashes with a single fireball, Kim Ho wouldn’t have bothered proposing the match, nor would he have encouraged him to show his true abilities.

As Hong Yeon-hwa and Wang Cheon-sam silently locked eyes,

Boooooom!

The volcano erupted once more, shaking the ground beneath them.

In the split second that Hong Yeon-hwa took a half-step to the side to steady herself, Wang Cheon-sam’s figure shot forward with terrifying speed.

In a single breath, he closed the distance and thrust his sword toward her.

Hong Yeon-hwa quickly leaned to the side and narrowly dodged the thrust.

An assassin!

Technically, he was from the martial artist class. But specifically, he was an assassin type.

He was her complete opposite.

Hong Yeon-hwa stepped back to create some distance, but Wang Cheon-sam pressed even closer and continued his relentless sword attacks.

Since she couldn’t dodge them all perfectly, small cuts began to accumulate on her arms, waist, and thighs.

[Hong Yeon-hwa: 97%]

[Hong Yeon-hwa: 95%]

[Hong Yeon-hwa: 91%]

However, just as Wang Cheon-sam was persistently closing in, he suddenly gave some space.

Boom!

A fireball had fallen between them.

If he had continued his pursuit out of greed, he would have suffered significant losses.

Thanks to this, Hong Yeon-hwa had a moment to catch her breath.

She quickly activated the spells she had been preparing while dodging.

[Flame Orb]

[Overheat]

Whoosh,

A large orb of flame formed at the tip of her wand, which was immediately absorbed into her body.

To keep up with the speed of the assassin class, enhancing her physical abilities was the top priority.

Wang Cheon-sam closed in again.

He aimed three quick thrusts at three key pressure points on her body.

Hong Yeon-hwa twisted her body desperately to avoid them.

And she surprised herself.

Is this… working?

Am I really dodging this?

All the beatings she had endured during her training with Dang Gyu-young and Kim Ho were finally paying off.

She instinctively dodged the sword strikes that she could barely see.

Yet, despite this, the situation hadn’t improved much.

The class advantage remained unchanged, and she was still on the defensive.

Even though evading had become somewhat easier thanks to Overheat, the damage was slowly accumulating.

[Hong Yeon-hwa: 87%]

[Hong Yeon-hwa: 86%]

If this keeps up, I’m going to lose.

Her health was steadily draining over time, while she hadn’t inflicted any damage on her opponent.

She needed to find a breakthrough.

As Hong Yeon-hwa clenched the hand not holding her wand, her fist burst into flames.

She thrust it forward.

[Fire Punch]

She intended to see how her opponent would react to the flaming fist, hoping to devise her next move based on that, but Wang Cheon-sam’s response was unexpected.

He thrust his sword directly at her with his blade in front.

Swoosh!

Wait, this isn’t right.

Hong Yeon-hwa was flustered, but she quickly ran a simulation in her head.

If she landed the Fire Punch, she could inflict significant damage, but at the same time, her heart would be pierced by that thrust.

If dealing a heavy blow meant becoming incapacitated in return,

That’s a huge loss!

As soon as she finished calculating, Hong Yeon-hwa canceled the Fire Punch and flung herself to the side.

In the next instant, Wang Cheon-sam’s sword slashed across her shoulder.

[Hong Yeon-hwa: 85%]

[Hong Yeon-hwa: 80%]

Ugh…

Just that took 5% off her health, so if she had been hit directly, the fight would have ended just as she predicted.

It was a mindset typical of an assassin. The opponent was willing to take damage if it meant bringing down the opponent.

Wang Cheon-sam continued his relentless attacks without giving her any time to recover.

Hong Yeon-hwa felt her mind go blank for a moment.

Wow, what do I do now?

A half-hearted counterattack wouldn’t work.

To be precise, it might work, but just like before, he would ignore defense and thrust straight in which would cause far greater damage to her.

That meant she needed to end this with one powerful strike… but…

If I had something like that, I would’ve used it by now!

Hong Yeon-hwa glanced toward Kim Ho as if asking for help.

She also wanted to see what he was doing.

He was just standing there and watching them.

With his knees submerged in lava.

That’s not a human…

Hong Yeon-hwa shook her head in disbelief, but then suddenly remembered the advice he had given her.

– Think big.

In hindsight, it was thanks to that big-picture approach that she had easily won her fight against Bukgong Han-seol.

Maybe she could try that again now.

Hong Yeon-hwa busily dodged Wang Chun-sam’s sword strikes while taking in her surroundings one by one.

Boom!

The volcano kept hurling fireballs, and the lava river continued to overflow, gradually shrinking the size of the arena.

Though the lava was dangerous, the fireballs could be put to use.

Amid the confusion in her mind, a plan began to take shape.

Hong Yeon-hwa kept retreating as she had been, but now, there was a difference. The wand she held was pointing downward.

With every flash of the ruby’s red light, a magic circle was drawn on the ground.

Wang Cheon-sam didn’t know what kind of magic these circles held, but he knew enough to avoid stepping on them.

She’s using her head.

Her intention was clear. It was to gradually take control of the space.

The longer time he gave her, the more likely the tide would turn against him.

So Wang Cheon-sam pressed his attack even more fiercely.

[Hong Yeon-hwa: 75%]

[Hong Yeon-hwa: 72%]

[Hong Yeon-hwa: 67%]

Hong Yeon-hwa’s health gauge decreased even faster.

But she seemed oblivious to Wang Cheon-sam and was focusing solely on increasing the number of magic circles.

One by one, the magic circles multiplied until they completely covered the area.

Hong Yeon-hwa’s eyes gleamed, and Wang Cheon-sam instinctively knew she was about to make her move.

And then,

Boom!

The volcano erupted.

At that moment, the magic circles engraved on the ground simultaneously emitted a red glow.

Now.

Wang Cheon-sam quickly scanned his surroundings.

He was already prepared to escape from the area of the magic circles at any time.

The next thing to worry about was the falling fireballs.

Some of them were headed straight for him, and not only did he dodge them, but he also calculated the range that would be engulfed in flames and moved to a safe position.

However, that was exactly what Hong Yeon-hwa had intended.

[Outburst]

A spell that grants explosive power to fire.

And it didn’t necessarily have to be fire magic that she cast herself.

Hong Yeon-hwa pointed her wand at the descending fireballs.

As soon as they touched the ground,

Kaboom!

A huge explosion of flames engulfed the entire area.

It was a range far beyond Wang Cheon-sam’s expectations.

His entire body was consumed by the flames.

What the…!

At that moment, two thoughts flashed through Wang Cheon-sam’s mind.

He’d been outplayed, and,

This is all or nothing.

Win or lose, the fight had to end here!

With his body still engulfed in flames, Wang Cheon-sam shot forward.

But then, from the numerous magic circles on the ground, pillars of fire erupted at the same time.

When Hong Yeon-hwa waved her wand once, the pillars of fire connected into one and formed a huge wall of flames.

[Fire Wall]

Whoooooooooooosh—!

However, Wang Cheon-sam was as tenacious as they come.

[Wang Min-soo: 85%]

[Wang Min-soo: 72%]

[Wang Min-soo: 61%]

He should have faltered when he hit the wall of flames, but instead, he charged straight through.

He didn’t care that his health was rapidly draining.

But just as he was about to break through the wall of flames,

[Fire Punch]

Boom!

A flaming fist struck him square in the abdomen.

Wang Cheon-sam staggered and was pushed back before disappearing into the flames.

[Kim Ho: 100%]

vs

[Hong Yeon-hwa: 61%]

vs

[Wang Min-soo – %]

It’s, it’s over…!

Hong Yeon-hwa cheered inwardly as she looked at the scoreboard.

Just then, Kim Ho who had been in spectator mode the whole time spoke up.

“Well done.”

“…….!”

Hong Yeon-hwa’s face lit up.

But the next words made her go pale.

“Shall we decide who’s first now?”

“…….”

Whoosh—

A gust of wind blew from somewhere.

Lava bubbled right next to her, but Hong Yeon-hwa shivered as she felt a chill.

Kim Ho looked at the lava river and said.

“Shall we go in together?”

“N-No, I-I-I’m fine.”

Hong Yeon-hwa took a step back and her face grew even paler.

Even for a fire mage, diving into a river of lava was crossing the line.

Before Kim Ho could say anything further, she quickly declared her forfeit.

[Kim Ho 1st]

[Hong Yeon-hwa 2nd]

[Wang Min-soo 3rd]

***

After leaving the arena, Hong Yeon-hwa let out a long sigh.

At least I held my position….

Second place in a three-way match.

She hadn’t gained many points, but at least she hadn’t lost any either.

Considering she had competed against a monster and a master assassin, it was a decent performance.

However, she had exhausted so much energy that she felt it would be difficult to continue with the second match right away.

I’ll just rest for today….

With only one match left to complete her quota and a whole week to do it, it seemed wiser to finish when she regained her strength.

When Hong Yeon-hwa started to leave the arena,

“…….”

“…….”

She once again ran into Kim Ho.

Unlike her, it seemed he had already completed his two assigned matches.

As Hong Yeon-hwa gave a small nod in greeting and tried to walk past him,

“Hong Yeon-hwa.”

“M-Me?”

Kim Ho’s voice grabbed her attention and stopped her in her tracks.

When she slowly turned her head with a creak, he casually threw out a suggestion.

“Coffee?”

“C-Coffee? You want to… drink coffee?”

“When you have time.”

During the mentoring week, Hong Yeon-hwa had bought Kim Ho a cup of coffee as a thank-you gesture and now he was offering to return the favor.

His unexpected offer caught her off guard.

Though she still harbored a strange sense of fear towards Kim Ho, there was also a part of her that wanted to get to know him better.

In that sense, having a light conversation over coffee didn’t seem like a bad idea.

There were also a couple of things she was curious about.

Two big questions, to be exact.

Hong Yeon-hwa nodded her head.

“I’ll go.”