The Support Ate it All - Chapter 653: No. 104 Black Serpent Fang (7)

“Gah.”

The black-clothed men were struck by one or two sword-energy blows each and staggered.

A few barely managed to defend themselves, but they were the minority.

Thanks to that, the encirclement loosened considerably—

We kept up our speed, smashed straight through the black-clothed men, and ran down the corridor.

A thunderous shout rang out behind us.

“Catch them!”

“You can’t.”

[‘Amplification’ will be used.]

[‘Ice Wall’ rank will increase. (B→S)]

An ice wall abruptly rose up and sealed the corridor shut.

I could hear shouts from the other side like, “What kind of sorcery is this?!” and “Break it already!” followed by a barrage of blade strikes, but a rank was a rank. It would not shatter easily.

‘It’ll be enough to buy time.’

Still, several layers were better than one, so I put them up across every important passage as we ran.

Go Hyeonwoo and Han Somi handled the job of cutting open the path ahead.

Black Serpent Fang men jumped out from time to time to block us, but—

“You bastards—”

I cast one last Ice Wall behind us, then left Black Serpent Fang together with the others.

A battlefield had spread out in front of the main gate.

There was no trace left of the marketplace. Everything had burned, and even now flames were still raging.

On top of that, acrid smoke kept rising from the poison puddles scattered here and there.

And in the middle of that battlefield, the Bond trio and the Black Serpent Fang Lord were facing one another.

‘It’s almost over.’

Judging by the heavy defeat written all over the Black Serpent Fang Lord’s face.

The demonic energy wasn’t pouring out of his body anymore.

It was leaking out.

Like water seeping from shattered pottery.

The damage had piled up to the point that the grand spell had broken down, and even the life force he’d extorted from the young men was dispersing.

If I turned his remaining health into numbers, he had maybe five percent left at most.

‘Our side looks perfectly fine.’

Dang Gyu-ri, Seo Ye-in, and Hong Yeonhwa all looked like they had taken little to no damage at all.

Not that Fast-Luckless even needed to be mentioned.

Well, looking at their specs and their control, a boss on the level of the Black Serpent Fang Lord was definitely within their ability to handle.

Before long, I gave Go Hyeonwoo and Han Somi an order.

“Wait here, and join us once the exit opens.”

“That shall be done.”

Since they still didn’t have ★All-Poison Immunity★, the best option was to keep them away from the poison entirely, just like when I’d raided the hidden storage room.

It wasn’t like we were short on fighting power. If they stepped in just to help and got poisoned, that would only create more problems.

After leaving Go Hyeonwoo and Han Somi there, I walked over to the rest of the party.

“……!”

The three of them stopped in the middle of casually pounding the Black Serpent Fang Lord into the ground and turned to look at me.

I greeted them in a perfectly calm tone.

“I’m back.”

“Ah! We were really almost done!”

A look of delight and regret crossed Dang Gyu-ri’s face at the same time.

The latter was obviously because of the bet.

We’d agreed that if they killed the Black Serpent Fang Lord before I got back, they’d earn a [wish ticket], a big one.

A moment later, they put on their professional sales smile and tried to haggle.

“Kim Ho, why don’t you come back a little later? Or go have another bowl of duck stew first.”

“I’m not really hungry.”

“Then go eat some taffy or something. Big Sis’ll give you spending money, okay?”

“I already bought plenty.”

Naturally, none of that worked on me in the slightest.

Dang Gyu-ri jutted out their lips and started grumbling in complaint.

“Come on, who shows up right before it ends?”

“It’s not like I timed it on purpose. You were the one who proposed the bet in the first place.”

If you weren’t sure, maybe you just shouldn’t have made the bet.

Right then, Fast-Luckless raised a hand and cut into the conversation.

— I think everyone fought hard.

“That’s true. You all fought well.”

I nodded readily.

The three of them often exceeded my expectations, so I’d raised the bar even higher than usual for them.

And they had cleared even that.

They just barely failed to kill the Black Serpent Fang Lord first.

Fast-Luckless raised a hand again and spoke.

— I think they qualify for a consolation prize.

“I don’t understand. It was a bet, so why should there be a consolation prize? Shouldn’t I be the one getting the prize?”

— Consolation prize, I think.

Even if she’d gotten a little faster and a little more diligent, it seemed that trademark stubbornness of hers had stayed exactly the same.

Then the Bond trio exchanged tempted glances and started backing the consolation-prize argument too.

“Little Sovereign, doesn’t that look like a pretty reasonable compromise?”

“……Consolation prize.”

“I also……. think that…… might be…… nice?”

The one who reacted most strongly against their words was the Black Serpent Fang Lord himself.

From his point of view, they were already chatting like they had beaten him.

He let out a bitter laugh and said,

“Heh heh……. So this is the state of our cult now. I struggled so desperately for its restoration, and this is as far as I could reach?”

“Whatever else, that business ends today.”

Dang Gyu-ri answered while resting the shadow club against their shoulder.

Raising strength under the surface was one thing, but he had dragged in innocent lives and used them as vessels for a grand spell.

That was not only morally indefensible, it was also easy to expose.

Even in the original story, he had ultimately been exterminated by Murim Alliance experts.

But the Black Serpent Fang Lord showed not the slightest sign of remorse.

“One thing is regrettable. If only I had been given a little more time. If only I could have completed that grand spell. I would have torn every one of you to pieces.”

“The moment your tongue starts wagging with ‘if only this’ and ‘if only that,’ you’ve already lost.”

“……!”

“Let’s stop dragging it out and finish this. If it’s your last moment, at least end it like a martial artist.”

“……Fine! Then let it end as such!”

At last, the Black Serpent Fang Lord drew up every last shred of inner energy he had left and concentrated it into his fingertips.

His already dark fingernails turned even blacker, longer, and thicker.

Dang Gyu-ri likewise raised the club slightly.

[Stand Alone]

Then they were absorbed in a single instant, granting an enormous surge of power.

The very next moment, the Black Serpent Fang Lord and Dang Gyu-ri lunged straight at each other, and claw met club in one final collision.

Soon after, Dang Gyu-ri casually retrieved the shadow club.

In contrast, the place where the Black Serpent Fang Lord had stood now held only a deeply caved-in crater.

It had started faintly, but the sensation kept growing stronger and stronger.

The Black Serpent Fang Lord had fallen, and the dungeon had been cleared.

As if to confirm my guess, a teleportation portal opened up a short distance away.

Go Hyeonwoo and Han Somi immediately rushed over using lightness techniques.

“Looks like it’s over.”

“It’s overrr! Good workkk!”

“Thank you for your hard work, Senior Dang. Miss Seo and Miss Hong as well.”

The party exchanged congratulations in a warm, friendly atmosphere.

Then, almost at the same time, they all looked toward the hologram Fast-Luckless and hesitated.

Because it was time to part.

As part of Challenge Austerity, she had only appeared for the duration of the dungeon clear.

Dang Gyu-ri spoke with obvious regret.

“Guess we won’t be seeing you for a while. You were fun.”

— I’ll be back.

Fast-Luckless answered calmly, as if she had something to believe in.

Then, with everyone seeing her off, she waved her hand.

And a moment later, she scattered apart as particles of light.

“…….”

“…….”

After that, everyone’s gaze shifted to Seo Ye-in.

Naturally, they were all looking at her like they wanted to ask what had happened with the quest.

Maybe she picked up on that herself, because she simply shared the notification message outright.

[Sub Quest: Stage 16 Austerity] (Complete)

▷Clear a B-rank dungeon in cooperation with your mirror image

▷Reward: [Legendary Unique Skillbook Fragment D]

“Another fragment this time too.”

I nodded in satisfaction.

Quest rewards were not necessarily consistent. There was always the possibility that something of a different type could be mixed in halfway through.

But up to now, it had kept giving fragments in sequence.

Meanwhile, Seo Ye-in slowly raised the pot and started bringing it toward my head.

“…….”

“What exactly is this action supposed to mean?”

“Getting ready to be mad.”

“What are you mad about?”

“If it still doesn’t combine.”

She had gone through one hardship after another since winter break, cleared Challenge Austerity over and over again, and gathered up all the fragments.

And if, even after collecting A, B, C, and D, it still didn’t turn into a skillbook—

If that meant she’d have to keep gathering E, F, and beyond—

Then she was saying she would hold me, the root cause of all this, accountable.

So I offered my defense.

“It’s a [Legendary Unique Skillbook], okay? Good stuff is supposed to be hard to get.”

“I understand.”

“You understand?”

“I’ll still be mad.”

The Immortal Kim Ho Kim Ho Pot hovered around the crown of my head.

Even so, I kept my composure, got ready to dodge a pot swing at any moment, and said,

“Let’s claim it first. Whether it combines or not.”

“Okay.”

Seo Ye-in nodded and took Fragment D into her hand.

Then she pulled A, B, and C out of her inventory one after another.

And the moment all four fragments gathered together—

The others watching let out exclamations without exception.

“Oh.”

“Hoh.”

“Combined!”

“So you finally gathered them all?”

Except for Han Somi, all of them had gone through Austerity themselves and suffered through it.

They knew how hard those clears were.

So of course they were curious what the result would be after doing it four whole times.

As everyone watched with keen interest, the radiance filling the area slowly faded away.

And at last, the skillbook revealed its identity.

[Skillbook – Mirror Image]