The Support Ate it All

The strategy of the Kim Ho-Hong Yeon-hwa team was simple.

They took advantage of their mobility to quickly secure the high ground, then suppressed the opposing team as they tried to follow.

Whenever the distance closed to a certain point, they would swiftly fly upwards and continue their suppression from above and repeat the process.

It was blatant and predictable, but effective.

We still haven’t found a breakthrough.

Go Hyeon-woo thought as he slashed his magic sword diagonally.

The wind wrapped around the blade lashed out fiercely and sliced through the falling flaming feathers.

Shhk!

However, Hong Yeon-hwa’s magic was seamlessly linked in the blink of an eye.

Not even a moment to breathe.

There was the option to just endure it physically.

Those spells were focused on suppression, so their destructive power didn’t seem too significant.

But even with that, there was still one problem.

Boom!

Some of the feathers exploded mid-flight.

It was because Hong Yeon-hwa occasionally mixed in a fire explosion spell, [Outburst].

Since he couldn’t tell which ones would explode, Go Hyeon-woo couldn’t afford to ignore the feathers and it slowed his pace even more.

[Go Hyeon-woo: 83% Seo Ye-in: 87%]

Considering the time that had passed, they had only lost a small amount of health.

Still, the current situation wasn’t very optimistic for them.

[Kim Ho: 100% Hong Yeon-hwa: 98%]

On the other side, the opposing team had barely taken any damage at all.

If this keeps up, we’ll lose for sure.

But as Go Hyeon-woo had assessed at the start of the match, Kim Ho could easily secure victory whenever he wanted.

That meant there had to be some reason for dragging the fight out this long.

“……”

Go Hyeon-woo continued to slice through the flaming feathers, all the while keeping his eyes on the opposing side.

Then his gaze met with Kim Ho, who was staring down at him with a calm expression.

Somehow, Go Hyeon-woo felt like he understood Kim Ho’s intent.

He’s waiting for us to make the first move.

Seo Ye-in seemed to have come to the same conclusion.

Her figure wavered for a moment and then vanished.

She had put on the invisible ghillie suit.

Go Hyeon-woo’s eyes flashed.

If that’s the case…

He gathered his momentum and pushed off the cloud platform.

Meanwhile, Hong Yeon-hwa had been keeping a close eye on Seo Ye-in and quickly realized that she had gone into hiding.

But why?

Why now, of all times?

She had been sending more flaming feathers toward Seo Ye-in than Go Hyeon-woo.

Since Seo Ye-in who was a long-range type was more threatening, the more she was suppressed, the less likely there would be a counterattack.

But it didn’t seem like she was just hiding to avoid the suppression.

There had to be another reason…

Suddenly, Hong Yeon-hwa’s eyebrows shot up.

…Ah! Her weapon!

Come to think of it, Seo Ye-in’s magic gun could transform into several forms.

An assault rifle, a shotgun, or a sniper rifle.

And in this situation, the most fitting choice would be…

A sniper, most likely.

The assault rifle hadn’t done much damage since it was blocked by the three layers of defensive magic, so she was probably aiming to end it with one powerful shot from the sniper rifle.

Can I block it…?

Even now, things were precarious, but could she withstand a sniper shot?

It felt like it would pierce right through…

Hong Yeon-hwa glanced at Kim Ho with a bit of unease, but he responded nonchalantly.

“Don’t worry.”

“…Mhmm.”

It seemed he had already prepared something.

His calm demeanor filled Hong Yeon-hwa with both reassurance and relief.

Kim Ho added one more thing.

“This is actually an opportunity.”

It took quite some time to switch the magic gun into a different form.

In other words, during that time, they could cast magic without being interrupted by Seo Ye-in.

“Let’s finish this too.”

“…….!”

Hong Yeon-hwa immediately grasped Kim Ho’s intent.

If the opponent was making a bold move, then they would respond with one of their own.

And the bold move she had prepared was,

Large-scale magic.

She had already decided on the most suitable one for this battlefield.

Until now, she simply hadn’t had enough time to use it.

But now the time had come.

A magic circle appeared beneath Hong Yeon-hwa’s feet.

The magic circle rapidly expanded in size. It grew so large that it extended beyond the cloud platform.

Intricate symbols began to fill the space within it.

This is definitely a bold move.

Go Hyeon-woo’s eyes gleamed as he watched the magic circle suddenly appear.

As expected, Kim Ho had been hoping they would confront them with their last resort.

The fact that they responded with a large-scale spell as if they’d been waiting for it was proof enough.

That was why he had been desperately climbing up the cloud platforms.

The steady stream of attacks had been interrupted, and Hong Yeon-hwa was now bound to remain on the magic circle.

That meant this was his first and last chance.

Thud!

Go Hyeon-woo kicked hard off the platform.

At last, he reached the same level as Kim Ho and Hong Yeon-hwa’s platform.

The two exchanged faint smiles as they faced each other.

“You’ve come.”

“I have.”

That was the end of their conversation.

Go Hyeon-woo unleashed the technique he had prepared in advance.

The golden magic sword that had been moving smoothly pointed at Kim Ho.

In response, a soft breeze blew in the same direction.

Clear Stream.

Kim Ho who was standing protectively in front of Hong Yeon-hwa planted his black spear into the platform.

Next to him, a small black cloud that was summoned at some unknown point floated lazily.

Then, with a simple wave of his hand,

Whoooosh—!

In an instant, the wind concentrated and formed a whirlwind that slowly advanced forward.

Then, as the gentle breeze collided with the whirlwind,

Creaaaaak!

The sound of weapons clashing violently echoed in the air.

The whirlwind dissipated first, but Go Hyeon-woo’s Clear Stream had also nearly exhausted its strength.

As a result, part of the sword energy was deflected toward Kim Ho,

“……”

As if he had expected this, Kim Ho casually moved the black cloud and effortlessly blocked the remnants of the technique.

Then, once again, he lightly waved his hand.

Whooosh—

“Damn…!”

The moment the wind blew in from all directions, Go Hyeon-woo swiftly leaped backward.

Having observed it several times beside Kim Ho, he knew that this was the precursor to a whirlwind.

And after the whirlwind gathered,

Boom!

It would explode just like that.

As expected, the cloud platform that had been there moments ago had vanished without a trace.

Kim Ho didn’t stop there. He immediately unleashed a series of spiral explosions.

Go Hyeon-woo clicked his tongue in regret while evading from one platform to another.

I wanted to exchange a few more blows, but I guess this is as far as we go.

Now, all he could do was hope that Miss Seo would do her part.

Thud—!

At that moment, a heavy blast echoed from somewhere.

Hong Yeon-hwa felt as if a thin blue line had been drawn toward her from that direction.

A black cloud swiftly intercepted the line, but the magic projectile pierced through it with ease, shattering the triple-layered defense and striking Hong Yeon-hwa’s body.

Bang!

“Ugh…!”

[Hong Yeon-hwa: 98%]

[Hong Yeon-hwa: 95%]

Thankfully, the damage wasn’t severe.

Even though all her defensive spells had been breached, they had acted as a cushion of sorts.

Hong Yeon-hwa resumed the casting that had been briefly interrupted.

Just a little more…!

As if to prevent her from finishing, a second shot came flying soon after.

Bang—!

[Hong Yeon-hwa: 89%]

“……..!”

Hong Yeon-hwa’s body staggered violently.

With the barrier only partially restored, the impact and damage were worse than before.

But there wouldn’t be a third shot.

Despite the continuous interference, she had finally completed the large-scale spell.

Whoosh!

Hong Yeon-hwa raised her wand high.

A huge flame erupted from the magic circle at her feet and took the shape of a phoenix.

Soon, the phoenix flapped its wings powerfully and hundreds of fiery feathers filled the sky, falling like rain.

[Phoenix Flutter]

Fwoosh,

As the feathers poured down like a downpour, they touched the cloud platforms and spread flames like wildfire.

One of the feathers even set Go Hyeon-woo’s shoulder on fire, but he didn’t care and remained focused on the scene unfolding before him.

“What a sight.”

Fwoosh!

In no time, the cloud platforms were completely consumed by flames and scattered, not even lasting long enough to drink a glass of water.

The sky that was once dotted with scattered platforms was now entirely clear.

With no foothold left, Go Hyeon-woo and Seo Ye-in had no choice but to fall.

“…….”

In the midst of this, Go Hyeon-woo turned to look at Seo Ye-in.

She had a dull expression on her face with one side of her gray hair on fire.

For some reason, Go Hyeon-woo found himself in a strangely good mood.

“Haha, Miss Seo. It looks like we lost.”

“Kim Ho is unfair.”

[Kim Ho Hong Yeon-hwa Win]

VS

[Go Hyeon-woo Seo Ye-in Lose]

Hong Yeon-hwa looked at the scoreboard with a face full of joy.

I won…!

She had two victories now!

Since Kim Ho was on the same team as her, Hong Yeon-hwa had expected they would win somehow, though she thought it might be a bit challenging since their opponents were Go Hyun-woo and Seo Ye-in.

But when she followed his instructions during the match, they managed to secure victory far more easily than she had anticipated.

Even in moments that felt dangerous, he stepped in and resolved everything.

Once again, Hong Yeon-hwa confirmed that Kim Ho was a guaranteed ticket to victory.

The two of them left the arena almost at the same time.

When their eyes met, Kim Ho threw out a simple remark in his usual indifferent tone.

“Well done.”

“Oh, uh, yeah! You too… well done…”

Without another word, Kim Ho turned and walked toward the exit of the arena.

It seemed he had already finished all three of his quota matches.

As Hong Yeon-hwa watched his retreating figure, something suddenly came to her mind.

In a rush, she hurried after him.

“U-Umm!”

“What is it?”

Kim Ho responded in his usual nonchalant way.

Hong Yeon-hwa shifted her gaze around nervously as she spoke.

“Well… my sister asked if you could come by… just once…”

“Right now?”

“If… it’s not too much trouble…?”

Hong Yeon-hwa had received various forms of help from Kim Ho up until now.

During the mentoring period, he had tailored sparring sessions for her which allowed her to master Fire Pillar, which in turn helped her secure an easy victory over Bukgong Han-seol.

The same went for the midterm exam on the deserted island.

At that time, Hong Yeon-hwa had been left alone after her partner became incapacitated, but Kim Ho had readily offered to share his resting spot with her.

He even exchanged items to help her complete the crystal set.

Without that, achieving a high score would not have been so easy.

For these reasons, Hong Ye-hwa had invited Kim Ho to stop by the clubroom when he had time.

As a form of gratitude and to discuss her future plans,

And there’s something I need to check… too…?

However, perhaps because she had vaguely said “When you have time,” Kim Ho had only responded with an “okay” and she hadn’t heard from him since.

Just a few days ago, Hong Ye-hwa had asked, “When is he coming, anyway?” and she remembered that and called out to stop him.

After hearing her explanation, Kim Ho seemed to think for a moment.

Then, as if deciding he couldn’t put it off any longer, he nodded his head.

“Okay, let’s go.”