The Support Ate it All - Chapter 614: There’s a Minor Side Effect

Then I looked back and forth between Dang Gyu-young and Zhuge Soso.

“Try breaking it.”

“What did you do?”

“Not yet.”

What I’d used just now was for comparison.

Maybe they were thinking the same thing, because they trudged over and stood in front of the ice wall.

Then, at the same time, they swung a sword and a club.

The thick ice cut and shattered like tofu, collapsing with a rumble.

With just a B-rank ice wall, there was no way it could endure graduate-level attacks.

But what if the buff is added?

[‘Diamond Freeze’ will be used.]

An ice wall rose in the exact same spot.

I gave Dang Gyu-young and Zhuge Soso the exact same instruction.

“Break it.”

“Sure.”

They swung the sword and club again, just as before—

But unlike before, the ice wall was perfectly intact.

They exchanged looks and attacked again.

Still, the blade only kept scratching at the surface, and no matter how hard the club pounded, not even a crack appeared.

Not until the ten-second duration ended.

[Diamond Freeze(F)]

▷The next freeze effect you apply becomes ‘cannot be dispelled’ ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) for 10 seconds.

▷Cooldown:10 minutes

Building a structure is still, unquestionably, a ‘freeze effect.’

If you chain [Diamond Freeze], then for the duration, it’s basically indestructible.

Quietly, that made it a pretty versatile skill.

That said, it’s not like it has no weaknesses.

Because it makes the freeze effect you apply “cannot be dispelled,” if the application itself fails, it just burns the cooldown and ends.

For example, if the opponent has a debuff-defense skill active, then it doesn’t matter if you slap on [Mutual-Destruction Eye] or [Ice White Bullet]—it’ll just bounce off.

Or if you get interrupted while casting a freeze spell, or it gets canceled, the cooldown still runs and that’s it.

Though whether I’d allow a gap like that was another question entirely.

And if I had to pick one external drawback—

It’s a pain in the ass to rank up.

As a Unique Skill, the growth difficulty was absurdly high.

With training alone, it was basically impossible. Most people would have to use [Rank Up].

But the power is basically guaranteed in exchange.

At F-rank right now, it was ten seconds of duration, ten minutes of cooldown.

As the rank rose, the duration would increase and the cooldown would drop.

So I added “find [Rank Up]” to my goals and was turning various thoughts over in my head when—

The toy-hammer sounds pulled my attention.

Over there, of course, were Ahn Jeongmi, Seo Ye-in, and her mirror self.

Just like at the start, they were drooping and wobbling again.

“Tired…….”

“My lady, didn’t you promise? That you would do your best in everything.”

“There’s no Blood Cult…….”

At the beginning of winter break, the Blood Cult threat had been everywhere, and Seo Ye-in had insisted on staying at the Dang family anyway—so we’d attached conditions.

Wear the Sky-Healing Dragon Jupiter bracelet. Bring an escort when going out. Always train hard.

But did she really still need to keep those conditions now?

At least in Sichuan, you could say we’d wiped the Blood Cult out completely.

Ahn Jeongmi nodded.

“Then we can postpone sparring until later.”

“Unexpected……?”

“After you arrive at Hyeseong.”

Meaning: if you’re not going to do it, go home.

Seo Ye-in’s face filled with displeasure.

“That’s cheap…….”

“Those were conditions you already accepted. You can’t change them however you like just because the Blood Cult is gone.”

Ahn Jeongmi added in a firm tone.

“And postponing won’t solve it anyway. To clear the quest, you have to defeat me.”

“……That’s true.”

“At the latest, you must resolve it before the semester begins.”

They couldn’t exactly follow us all the way to the Dungeon Island over a single quest.

And if it stopped midstream, the next time they met would be when we visited Hyeseong New City.

In the meantime, who knew how many power-up opportunities Seo Ye-in would miss.

She had no choice.

She exchanged a look with Fast-Luckless, and they each grabbed their pots.

“Try harder…….”

But their resolve was meaningless—both wooden sloths still just flailed weakly.

Meanwhile, in one corner of the training grounds, I spotted Dang Eunbi.

Since when had she been there? She was half-hidden, only peeking her head out.

She didn’t need to hide, but seeing her do it anyway made it look like a habit.

“…….”

Watching Seo Ye-in struggle, a deep shadow of worry settled over Dang Eunbi’s face.

At the same time, she clenched a fist like she was making a vow—though what she was vowing, I had no idea.

*****

The contents of the cauldron began to boil, so Dang Eunbi slipped in a ladle and stirred slowly.

As she did, she recalled what happened that night.

Everything was carved into her memory in vivid detail.

Shouts and screams coming from every direction, swordlight flashing, blood spraying, Blood Cult fiends and jiangshi charging in to kill her……

Dang Eunbi shuddered without meaning to.

Of course, it wasn’t all bad memories.

She called it an ultra-first kill move…….

Seo Ye-in wrapped in brilliant radiance.

A steady stream of star clusters poured out from the muzzle, and the jiangshi that had been so powerful toppled like scarecrows, one after another.

Dang Eunbi had already admired her before, but after this, that feeling had only grown bigger.

Maybe that was why—

Watching Seo Ye-in suffer from the ultra-first kill move’s recoil made Dang Eunbi feel like she was suffering too.

I have to help her.

Thankfully, if she used her specialty well, she could see an answer.

She was skilled with blending and applying poisons—which meant she was skilled with medicines too.

The liquid in the cauldron was the result of putting that to full use.

Before, her goal had been to poison Kim Ho.

Now, her goal was to invigorate Seo Ye-in.

So she’d put effort into it in her own way, and she’d selected only precious ingredients.

She’d even used a few rare pills she’d been saving.

Maybe because of that, the cauldron’s contents looked extremely good for the body, and a deep fragrance drifted up.

If the Medicine Hall Head had seen it, praise would’ve poured out nonstop.

But Dang Eunbi’s face was slightly creased.

It doesn’t feel like enough.

Seo Ye-in would drink it and recover a little—but it felt like she’d revert again quickly.

It seemed like she needed to strengthen the effect even more.

…Add more medicinal herbs? Or rare pills?

Dang Eunbi agonized, then agonized some more.

Then her complexion brightened.

…Right. That!

She rummaged through her inventory and found an old pouch.

Inside were pellets that held a faint red glow.

A few years ago, she’d gotten them from a wandering peddler who’d passed near the Dang family.

To be clear, it wasn’t the same man who sold “medicine that changes randomly.”

This one had been blunt, not at all like a typical peddler, but his tone had been full of certainty.

Even doubling was beyond common sense, and he was claiming you could get more just by tossing it in?

When Dang Eunbi gave him a suspicious look, the peddler must have decided he needed to make it sound more credible.

The peddler fired back like it was nothing.

…Looking back, she must’ve been the type to be easily swayed—and weak to impulse purchases.

But that was in the past.

Right now, she had something else to think about.

A portion of emotions is amplified…….

…Wouldn’t it be fine?

If an ordinary person showed emotion at a level of ten, Seo Ye-in was only at two or three at most.

No matter what got amplified, it would probably still stop at an ordinary person’s level.

Meanwhile, the potion’s efficacy would increase several-fold and push her energy up fast.

So Dang Eunbi made her decision.

All right. Add it.

Of course, she didn’t just dump it in recklessly like last time.

To confirm whether the peddler’s claim was true, she ran an initial experiment first.

After mixing the red pellets into a separate medicine—

…It really does work.

So the man had at least the minimum amount of conscience.

Only then did Dang Eunbi pour every last remaining pellet into her “special energy potion.”

A fierce red smoke surged up.

At the same time, the liquid inside the cauldron began changing rapidly.

The original dark brown cleared, turning transparent and taking on a pink tint.

It even smelled vaguely like strawberries.

With just one added ingredient, the herbal decoction had become a potion.

It definitely feels stronger.

For now, it was only a feeling—but if she drank it herself, she’d know for sure.

Dang Eunbi scooped up a spoonful of the pink potion and put it into her own mouth.

Then, a moment later, she lifted her eyes.

“……Wow.”

*****

We focused on the bottle Dang Eunbi had brought—filled with pink liquid.

According to her, it was a “special energy potion.”

Maybe she sensed our suspicion, because she added a line.

“You can drink it. I tested it, and I also drank it myself.”

“How was it?”

“Like slightly strong coffee.”

“Yeah? No side effects?”

Dang Eunbi flinched and looked away.

“There’s a minor side effect…… there is.”

“What is it?”

“A little? Slightly? Your emotions get amplified, apparently.”

Zhuge Soso and Dang Gyu-young each tossed a comment while looking at Seo Ye-in.

“Then it seems fine, right? She’s usually quiet.”

“No. She just doesn’t show it. If she gets angry, she’s scary.”

“That would be bad if that gets amplified, but what are the odds?”

“You want to talk odds when her luck is kind of bad right now?”

Because of the ultra-first kill move penalty, she was currently dragging every kind of bad luck around with her.

Since we were already on the topic, I pointed at the potion and asked Seo Ye-in.

“What do you think?”

“……?”

“Do you get any kind of feeling from it?”

“……No.”

Seo Ye-in tilted her head as she answered.

In this case, that was actually a pass.

When the Lucky Charm radar reacted, it usually led to good outcomes.

When the reverse Lucky Charm radar reacted, it usually led to bad outcomes.

So if there was no reaction at all, the conclusion was that we could at least avoid a bad result.

Dang Eunbi added while looking at me.

“You know this. I may dislike you, but I like Seo Ye-in. I made it because I genuinely wanted to help.”

“That makes sense. But did you really have to stab me in the heart?”

“I dislike you because I dislike you. And it doesn’t look like you’re even scratched.”

“That’s also true.”

Anyway, I decided to leave the final call to Seo Ye-in.

I held out “Dang Eunbi’s special energy potion” and asked her.

“What do you want to do?”

“I’ll drink it.”

Seo Ye-in answered like it was nothing, then tilted the bottle and gulped down what was inside right there.

“…….”

“…….”

Everyone watched in silence—and soon, the effect appeared.

Her slumped posture straightened, and her half-lidded eyes opened.

Seo Ye-in clenched her fist.

“Infinite power……!”

“That much?”

She nodded at my question, then looked at Ahn Jeongmi.

“Resume sparring……!”

“My lady……!”

She was this proactive?!

Ahn Jeongmi’s face filled with emotion.

Then they swung pots and toy hammers again as they resumed their spar.

Dang Gyu-young frowned as she watched.

“What about the side effect? You said something about emotions.”

“Seems like nothing is happening yet. Or maybe her motivation got amplified.”

“Isn’t that way too optimistic?”

“Who knows. Let’s keep watching.”

We headed to the other side of the training grounds to spar on our end.

But then—

Seo Ye-in stopped her spar with Ahn Jeongmi and walked over.

Then she slowly reached out, grabbed my face, and turned it toward her.

“Don’t look away.”

“I have other things I need to do.”

But Seo Ye-in slowly shook her head.

“Look at me. Only me.”