The Support Ate it All-Chapter 518: No.183 Poison Python Abyss (1)

With this, the Sculpture Club had definitively escaped the brink of dissolution.

They’d created a masterpiece that would go down in the history of Dragon Slayer Academy, and from here on they’d be taking commissions from various clubs—there was no chance they’d ever fall short on performance again.

That same afternoon.

Dang Gyu-young ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) came out after finishing her run.

Even while chanting about how tired she was, she immediately got herself ready to head into the next dungeon.

And so, around evening, we stepped onto the circular stairs and entered the underground floors.

The route down to Floor C was extremely smooth.

It helped that Dang Gyu-young had taken over as our guide instead of Shin Byeong-cheol, but even accounting for that, there wasn’t a single tense moment.

I stared at the disciplinary committee members in the distance, who looked like tiny dots.

“They seem more spread out than usual. Did they reduce their deployment?”

“Yeah, they probably pulled some out and sent them somewhere else.”

“Somewhere else where?”

“A temporary storage facility, most likely.”

At this point it wasn’t 100% confirmed—so even the Thieves’ Club was only speculating—but it was a guess with a lot of weight to it.

“Looks like the disciplinary committee finally drew their blade. They’re already getting everything ready.”

“They don’t have anywhere left to retreat.”

The next ban wave would be the period when prohibited-item trading peaked: right before finals.

There were still about three weeks left, yet the disciplinary committee had already started designing a temporary storage facility. That meant they intended to be fully prepared and sweep up every single person who tried their luck.

That was the only way they could restore their damaged prestige—and make next year less exhausting, too.

“What about the alliance?”

“Almost a done deal.”

Apparently, exchanges between the Swordsmanship Club’s Black Blade faction and the Archery Club had been increasing more and more.

Since their opponent was the disciplinary committee, there was always a real chance they might back out midway—but if they were pushing ahead like this, they must have some confidence.

There was still plenty of time, so we’d just keep watching.

Even after we stepped onto Floor C, we had to go much farther down, because the dungeon we were heading for was practically at the very bottom.

[No.183][Poison Python Abyss]

I stared at the teleport portal for a few seconds, then exchanged looks with the others.

And stepped forward.

The moment we entered the dungeon, sticky, stifling air slammed into us.

Before our eyes stretched a dense tropical rainforest.

Go Hyeon-woo looked around with eyes full of wonder.

“It’s as if we’ve come to some southern wilderness.”

“Pretty close.”

As I answered and flicked my eyes to the side, Dang Gyu-young casually swept one hand.

The shadow at our feet stretched long, and the silhouette of a man in a lab coat rose up.

Then its whole body swelled like a balloon, bulking up—Yeon-Ggyu Director, Kkyurim Shadow Undead No. 1.

When it swung its arms wide, the brush and trees ahead were swept away in one go.

CRUNCH, CRACK,

Yeon-Ggyu Director advanced like a bulldozer, flattening everything in its path.

All we had to do was follow behind it.

Of course, while the obstacles were gone, this was still very much a dungeon, so letting our guard down was out of the question.

We moved forward while watching all sides.

Everywhere we looked, plants in vivid, flashy colors caught the eye—and naturally, nine out of ten of them were poisonous.

Which meant this place was saturated with poison.

On top of that, we could feel massive beasts, reptiles, and spiders watching us from afar.

For now, they were keeping their distance because we were unfamiliar, but there was no telling when that attitude might change.

After we’d been walking for some time—

A large pond appeared before us.

Though the water was stagnant, it was clear enough to see the bottom, and from it a blue aura rose like shimmering heat.

Go Hyeon-woo murmured in awe.

“Such pure and dense energy....”

A mana concentration that made even the special training room look laughable.

It felt like you could reach out and touch it.

Maybe because of that, Go Hyeon-woo looked like he wanted to sit down on the spot and start mana cultivation right away.

Hong Yeon-hwa seemed the same—she wore the expression of a puppy that had just found a treat.

We’d come here to build mana in the first place, so in the end everyone would get what they wanted.

But everything has an order.

I looked over the group and said,

“First, let’s secure safety.”

“You’re right. I was being hasty.”

Go Hyeon-woo nodded.

Hong Yeon-hwa obediently switched into “wait” mode as well.

All the various threats we’d seen on the way here could come for us at any time.

If we went into mana cultivation like this and got attacked while defenseless, we wouldn’t be able to do a thing—and our lives would be in danger.

So we needed to secure at least a minimum level of safety.

First, I picked up a large rock nearby and threw it straight into the middle of the pond.

SPLASH—!

Water sprayed up, and ripples spread wildly.

I watched in silence, and after a moment one part of the pond began to bubble, staining dark green.

Then something burst through the surface.

Its true form was a gigantic python, as thick as a human torso.

Venom dripped from its flicking tongue.

“SSSSSS.......”

“That’s why it’s called Poison Python Abyss.”

A pond where a venomous serpent-dragon made its lair.

The clear condition was to defeat the boss monster—meaning that thing.

Or you could clear it by defeating the hidden boss that appeared under specific circumstances.

But as the saying goes, we were more interested in the feast than the ceremony. Our concern wasn’t clearing the dungeon.

We’d just come in—it’d be a waste to leave now.

So I gave the group instructions.

“Don’t kill it. Just drive it off.”

“Understood.”

Seo Ye-in gripped a pot instead of her mana gun, and the other party members readied themselves in their own ways.

The next moment, the giant python’s neck bulged, and it spat venom at us.

SHHHRAAAK!

We all scattered instantly, and unlucky trees and rocks melted under the venom.

After several venom attacks that we all dodged, it seemed to switch to close combat and began slithering out of the pond.

With its mouth gaping wide, it charged straight at me.

“!?”

But it stopped halfway.

At some point, Yeon-Ggyu Director had gotten close and wrapped its arms around the beast’s body.

With the python immobilized, everyone’s attacks focused on its head.

Fireballs and shadow clubs, scabbards and pots, staffs—everything slammed in one after another.

THUDTHUDTHUD! CLANG! THUDTHUD! CLANG!

When it finally went limp from the pain, I raised my hand and stopped the others.

“Let’s call it here. If we go any further, it’ll die.”

It had felt good to finally get some hits in, but we needed to avoid the misfortune of actually clearing the dungeon.

I walked up to the giant python and said one short line.

“Hey. Vacate the room.”

“SSSS.......”

As if it understood, it nodded frantically, then staggered off into the depths of the rainforest.

Hong Yeon-hwa watched it go with eyes full of sympathy—and just a little sense of kinship.

With that, Poison Python Abyss was effectively ours for the time being.

But to truly secure safety, we needed a few more measures.

So we installed alarm magic around the pond.

Since this was a C-rank dungeon, everything that appeared here was a spirit beast, but none of them had the intelligence to grasp the intent of magic or bypass it.

On top of that, Dang Gyu-young and Seo Ye-in set traps, and Hong Yeon-hwa drew magic circles—once that was done, all preparations were complete.

By this point, everyone looked like they wanted to dive straight into the pond, but I smiled and said,

“Sorry, but you’ll need to wait a bit longer.”

“Is there another problem?”

“Yeah. It’ll be faster to see for yourself.”

We waited, staring at the pond like it was a feast just out of reach.

Not long after, from the depths, dark green energy began to seep outward.

The once-blue water turned murky in an instant, and instead of dense mana, poisonous miasma rose up.

I added an explanation.

“At fixed intervals, the poison fills it up, then drains out. Right now, it’s in the filling phase.”

“How long does it last?”

“Eight hours. Then it stays clean for four hours, and after that the poison fills again.”

“I see. Then we have no choice but to wait.”

“That’s true, but eight hours is too long.”

There was a way to adjust it a little to our liking.

I took the [Book of Chaos] from Hong Yeon-hwa, then tore two pages out in one motion.

FWAAASH—!

A wave spread out from us, and then the entire dungeon began to shake.

Everything stretched and shrank, grew and diminished, twisted and snapped back, over and over.

Then, as if nothing had happened, the wave abruptly stopped, and everything fell silent.

“.......”

“.......”

The first change that caught the eye was the pond.

The surface, once dark green, had turned pitch black.

The rising miasma had grown even more vicious, making everyone instinctively step back.

“Poison Immunity won’t cut it.”

“Not even close.”

We’d once gained it by splitting the core of a poison creature, but with miasma like that, Poison Immunity would just get pierced straight through.

“One more piece of bad news. The hidden boss probably got buffed too.”

“Any good news?”

“Of course.”

If all I wanted was to raise the difficulty, I wouldn’t have used the Book of Chaos in the first place.

I held up eight fingers, then folded two of them.

“The poison-filling time drops to six hours.”

“That’s definitely welcome news.”

That meant two more hours for mana cultivation.

Since we planned to stay three days, that added up to twelve extra hours total.

So what did we do for the next six hours?

First, I looked at Dang Gyu-young and Seo Ye-in.

“We’ve got one bonding slot open, right?”

“You had this planned, didn’t you? I’m in.”

Dang Gyu-young raised the corners of her mouth, clearly catching on, and Seo Ye-in’s eyes sparkled.

It didn’t seem necessary to explain, so I moved straight into action.

[Registering ‘Ten-Thousand-Poison Immunity’ to the slot.]

▷Shared Trait [2/2]

Distortion

Ten-Thousand-Poison Immunity

I pointed at the pond, black smoke rising from it.

“Let’s go do mana cultivation.”

The thing elixirs and poisons had in common was that they both contained powerful energy.

So did blessed lands and cursed lands.

The problem with poison was that it harmed the human body before you could even regulate its energy—but that didn’t apply to the three of us who had Ten-Thousand-Poison Immunity.

And we’d even strengthened the poison further with the [Book of Chaos], so the cultivation efficiency would have risen as well.

Then I spoke to Go Hyeon-woo and Hong Yeon-hwa.

“We’ll go for six hours. When the poison drains, you two go.”

“I see. Then while we wait, we can stand guard.”

Having grasped the overall plan, Go Hyeon-woo nodded with satisfaction.

When I turned back, Seo Ye-in was already pulling off her stockings to go barefoot, and Dang Gyu-young was unbuttoning her shirt one button at a time.

So I asked,

“Why the shirt?”

“Aren’t we going in?”

“You only need to put your feet in.”

Dang Gyu-young immediately fastened her collar again.

She pouted and complained,

“......Hey, you should’ve said that earlier. I was the only one getting excited.”

“Is it that?”

“You’re supposed to pretend you didn’t notice, right?”

At Dang Gyu-young’s razor-sharp look, I mimed zipping my mouth shut.