The Support Ate it All - Chapter 591: Why Doesn’t It Work? (1)
Before long, a spot for the duel was set up in the training grounds.
Shadows rippled under Dang Gyu-young’s feet.
Dang Junyeop, meanwhile, had both arms hanging loosely at his sides.
His sleeves were wide and long enough that you couldn’t even see his hands—just like Dang family martial artists usually were, it looked like his main specialty was hidden weapons and poison.
No way to know how much he had hidden inside.
And Dang Huiyeon was holding several long iron spikes—or maybe stakes.
They watched each other and faced off for a moment, then Dang Gyu-young politely gave formal courtesy first.
“Please show me a move.”
“Since you talked that big, I hope you fight like you meant it.”
“You won’t be disappointed.”
“……Then let’s begin.”
With that, the fight raised its curtain.
Dang Gyu-young drew up mana and focused.
Behind Dang Gyu-young, shadows spread wide, pillars rose, and a roof covered them.
Dang Gyu-young had unfolded Umbral Corridor.
Even though Dang Gyu-young had pulled out a powerful move right from the start, Dang Junyeop and Dang Huiyeon looked like they were silently focusing on nothing but their own work.
—SSSSS….
Dang Junyeop slid through footwork across the training grounds, continuously throwing something.
Dang Junyeop was scattering dozens of bean-sized pellets, and yellowish smoke began to rise from all over.
Dang Huiyeon, on the other hand, didn’t spread things out in bulk. Instead, Dang Huiyeon put full force into throwing the spikes—or stakes—one by one.
—THUNK!
A stake loaded with inner power sank deep into the training ground floor.
Then Dang Huiyeon moved a bit and drove in the next stake, then moved a bit and drove in the next stake.
There weren’t even that many yet, but you could already see a consistent pattern.
‘Formation array.’
They were claiming space and trying to apply a special effect.
I couldn’t tell exactly what kind of formation array it was, but one thing was certain.
‘If it’s completed, this gets really bad.’
Maybe Dang Gyu-young had the same thought, because Dang Gyu-young moved immediately.
Dang Gyu-young tried pulling a stake out as a test, but of course it didn’t budge.
Pretty Dang-family of them—the throwing skill itself was impressive.
Then dismantling the formation array was impossible, and—
‘Interference is the answer.’
When Dang Gyu-young twitched a finger, two Gyu-Shadow Undead walked out of the corridor and shot forward toward the opponents.
—TAP!
Dang Huiyeon kept the Lab Director and Dark-Shadow Commander ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) in sight as they closed in moment by moment.
“Looks like undead.”
“Why are you acting like it’s new? You’ve been watching the whole time.”
“Watching the whole time? It’s my first time.”
Dang Huiyeon flatly played dumb.
In reality, they’d probably been secretly watching from the first day we started training, but admitting it wasn’t an option.
They had pride as martial artists.
Soon, Dang Huiyeon pushed footwork to the limit, and the Dark-Shadow Commander’s thrust skimmed past by a hair.
After dodging the Lab Director’s bulked-up punch the same way, Dang Huiyeon threw a stake with all their strength.
—THUNK!
And then, in a mutter that sounded like they were guessing—
“Doesn’t look easy to destroy. They’re undead, so they’ll probably regenerate fast.”
“Of course—you’ve seen that too, so you know.”
“What are you talking about? I’m just guessing.”
Dang Huiyeon shamelessly kept insisting they weren’t watching.
Still, the analysis itself was fairly on point.
The Twin Heroes of the Dang Family and the Hyeseong Group gunners had overwhelming firepower, so whenever the Gyu-Shadow Undead showed an opening, it had been possible to destroy them.
Even the Lab Director, who was basically a meat shield.
But Dang Junyeop and Dang Huiyeon’s overall level seemed lower than the Twin Heroes, and their combat style also looked pretty far from raw firepower.
‘They can kill the undead.’
If they poured out every means they had, they could.
But it was obvious they’d just be re-summoned from the corridor immediately, so it wouldn’t be worth it.
“Do we really need to fight head-on?”
“So you came with that kind of strategy.”
“I just made it up.”
Dang Huiyeon answered in a calm tone, kept stepping through footwork, and drove in the next stake.
—THUNK!
In short: keep avoiding the Lab Director and Dark-Shadow Commander, and focus only on completing the formation array.
Of course, it wasn’t as easy as it sounded to slip every attack from A-rank undead.
—SWISH!
Dark-Shadow Commander flashed by at a terrifying speed and tore a cut into Dang Huiyeon’s side.
It was long but not deep—probably because they were pushing footwork and defensive technique to the limit.
Even so, the damage was still accumulating, but—
‘They’re accepting a certain amount of it.’
If they completed the formation array no matter what, they could seize the advantage.
So Dang Gyu-young hoisted the shadow club up onto their shoulder.
If the Gyu-Shadow Undead alone couldn’t deal meaningful damage, Dang Gyu-young was going to join the combined attack personally.
But as if they’d read that thought—
—BOOM!
The pellets scattered on the ground exploded and foul, stinging smoke surged up.
When Dang Gyu-young tried to go around it, more explosions and smoke erupted.
—BOOM BOOM!
Dang Junyeop asked in a tone that sounded like a sneer.
“Did you think I’d just let you?”
“Of course you came prepared.”
“Cut the baseless guessing. At this point, it isn’t even important.”
“That’s true.”
Whether Dang Junyeop and Dang Huiyeon had worked closely with the Elder Council side to plan it out, or whether they really came up with it on the fly like they claimed, didn’t matter.
What mattered was that the duel had already begun—and they had the upper hand.
—BOOM!
Dang Junyeop kept raising poison smoke and even kindly added an explanation.
“As I said earlier, it’s nerve poison. There are many types, but the effects are similar.”
“What does it do?”
“One mouthful dulls your senses. Two mouthfuls stiffen your whole body. Three mouthfuls and you’ll wriggle on the ground like a bug.”
“That’s truly terrifying.”
Dang Gyu-young nodded like they’d learned something new.
Then Dang Gyu-young took a huge breath in, puffed their cheeks out like a chipmunk, and kicked off the ground toward Dang Huiyeon.
Dang Junyeop’s eyes went wide.
“Idiot!”
Holding your breath for a moment wasn’t going to solve anything.
It was a perfect blunder.
Dang Junyeop waved a hand in triumph, and explosions went off in succession.
—BOOM BOOM BOOM!
Dang Gyu-young charged straight through the thickened poison smoke.
After reaching Dang Huiyeon, Dang Gyu-young joined the Gyu-Shadow Undead that were already coordinating attacks.
Dang Junyeop watched it with unmistakable delight.
“Looks like you’re doing it with a ‘to hell with it’ mindset, but this is the end.”
All Dang Gyu-young had left now was maybe swinging that club a few times at most.
After that, the nerve poison would spread through the body and drop them.
But contrary to Dang Junyeop’s expectations, Dang Gyu-young kept swinging the club like it was nothing, thud-thud-thudding away.
—SMACK!
Dang Huiyeon got hit in the forearm and staggered back.
Before they could recover their stance, Dark-Shadow Commander stabbed in with a longsword.
—SHHHK!
The moment Dang Huiyeon barely avoided it, the shadow club hammered their shoulder again.
Even though Dang Huiyeon had stopped installing the formation array and put everything into evasion, bruises kept piling up everywhere.
After getting beaten around, Dang Huiyeon finally yelled.
“Hey, idiot! Are you just going to stand there and watch!?”
But Dang Junyeop, as if they’d inhaled nerve poison, stiffened up and muttered.
“It didn’t work……? My poison……?”
They must have prepared carefully to pierce resistance, yet it didn’t even take a little. Of course they’d panic.
Then Dang Junyeop regained composure and shouted.
“Calling your brother an idiot—what kind of disrespect is that!”
“Shut up, you idiot bastard! Help me!”
“This won’t do! Use ‘that’!”
“‘That?’ Now?”
“There’s no choice!”
Dang Huiyeon twisted their face in irritation, but stepping backward through footwork, they rummaged inside their clothes.
Then they pulled out something shaped like a cylinder and aimed it at the onrushing Gyu-Shadow Undead and Dang Gyu-young.
The next moment, with a quiet CLICK, the front of the cylinder opened—
—KWA-KWA-KWA-KABOOM—!
With an enormous roar, it erased everything in front of it.
‘You’d expect at least one or two hidden weapons.’
Easy, strong, fast—there’s nothing better for getting out of a crisis.
Of course, there was no way Dang Gyu-young, born of the Dang family, wouldn’t have anticipated what I had.
—SSSSSH….
A pale shape rippled a short distance away, and Dang Gyu-young’s figure was revealed.
Dang Gyu-young had timed Ghostless Shadow perfectly.
Dang Gyu-young frowned and threw a question at Dang Huiyeon.
“That was Thunder Heaven Thunder, right?”
“It was. Why?”
“Doesn’t that seem excessive to use here?”
No way something with that kind of power was easy to make.
Either it cost an insane amount, or the manufacturing process was complicated.
Using it in a simple duel—worse, not even as a decisive blow, but just to escape a crisis—was absurd.
Then Dang Junyeop smiled as if they were relaxed on purpose.
“It’s true we spent a hidden weapon of that level rather emptily. But do you really think that was our only move?”
“…….”
“That your poison didn’t work was a bit unexpected as well, but if you think that’s the end, you’re gravely mistaken.”
With that, Dang Junyeop pulled out purple pellets and began scattering them in all directions.
—SHHHHH….
The smoke that rose was purple as well.
In the meantime, Dang Huiyeon seemed to have finished resetting too, gripping stakes again and adding a word.
“It wasn’t a complete waste, either. Look around once.”
“…….”
When Dang Gyu-young slowly looked around, the training grounds were already packed with stakes.
A gigantic formation array was on the verge of completion.
If Dang Huiyeon had been neutralized, it would have all gone down the drain—so even if they’d used it to escape a crisis, it still had more than enough value.
“Just a little more!”
—THUNK!
With another stake driven in, the fight resumed.
Dang Huiyeon moved while pushing footwork to its limit.
Dang Gyu-young and the shadow undead pursued.
Dang Junyeop focused on spreading the unidentified purple poison pellets, and from time to time fired hidden weapons to interfere with Dang Gyu-young.
As time passed, the empty gaps in the formation array filled in—
—THUNK!
The final stake was driven deep into the training ground floor.
Dang Junyeop and Dang Huiyeon curled their lips into triumphant smiles and spoke at the same time.
“It’s over.”
“It’s over.”
—SSSSSSS….
The green and purple smoke rising from all over thickened several times over.
And yet it stayed inside the formation array’s range instead of spilling out.
Maybe thinking, now that they’d seized the advantage, there was nothing to worry about, Dang Junyeop kindly added another explanation.
“There’s no need to bring down the undead. We only have to suppress you.”
“That’s true.”
“So we unfolded a formation array so you can’t escape or avoid it. Can you see the poison rising?”
“I can.”
—SSSSSSS….
Sure enough, the poison smoke was gradually claiming the inside of the formation array and reducing how much space Dang Gyu-young had left to evade.
“And not only that—if we trap multiple poisons like this, they mix together and produce an even stronger effect.”
“Mixed poison.”
“As expected, you know. No matter how you are, you won’t be able to endure even this.”
—SSSSSSS….
The poison smoke grew even thicker, until they could barely make out each other’s figures.
The siblings’ confidence swelled as they watched their opponent, clearly convinced Dang Gyu-young would collapse with a pained expression any moment now.
But no matter how long passed, Dang Gyu-young just stood there in the smoke, blankly.
Their expression was calm beyond belief.
“……?”
Dang Junyeop’s face twisted strangely.
