The Support Ate it All-Chapter 550: Finals Week 17–18 (5)

The sky darkened as if it were covered in storm clouds, and fireballs poured down like rain.

Luckily, the place our main base sat was on the outskirts, so it seemed the effects of the volcanic eruption didn’t reach us as badly.

But we couldn’t completely relax.

KWA-KWA-KWANG—!

The volcano roared again and vomited out more fireballs.

One of them shot especially high, then came flying this way in a clean parabola.

Alarmed shouts burst out all over.

Uh, uh—?

H-hey! That!

Some people hurriedly prepared defensive Skills, and others threw themselves into a run—

but in the end, the fireball hit around the middle slope of the hill.

BWOOM!

“.......”

“.......”

Staring at the flames blazing out of the cratered ground, everyone seemed to be thinking the same thing.

......We need to invest in defensive facilities too.

That one had grazed us.

But what if a fireball dropped on our heads?

Or worse—what if it landed on buildings we’d worked hard to put up, or the Crystal Tower?

A ridiculously unfair situation could happen.

So the best move was to prepare in advance with defensive facilities.

They’d be useful if enemies attacked, too.

RUUUMBLE.......

Before long, the volcano that had been exploding quieted down, and the rain of fireballs almost stopped.

Only a little volcanic ash drifted in the air.

But now something else was the problem.

The volcanic zone—barren as it had been—was busy roiling with movement.

Because monsters were appearing everywhere.

Watching that, Song Cheon-hye guessed,

“Looks like they woke up because of the volcano.”

“Probably.”

Explosions weren’t exactly quiet, and it had even shaken us with an earthquake.

Monsters that had been quietly resting or hiding in their nests had all come spilling out.

The ones we saw most were goblins with reddish-brown skin.

Fitting the environment, they were called fire goblins.

Song Cheon-hye looked just a little pleased.

“This reminds me of that dungeon we went to before.”

“The fire goblin temple?”

I remembered the Fix Zone rules had applied back then.

Here, there was no such restriction, but the ratio of executioners and shamans was much higher than in normal goblins.

They moved around in swarms, hunting other monsters.

They targeted big turtles or hermit crabs crawling out of the overflowing lava river, but those things didn’t just roll over.

Flames spewed from the turtle’s mouth, and the hermit crab moved with shocking agility, ramming goblins with the rock it carried on its back.

‘It’s a complete mess.’

Thinking that, I lifted my gaze and stared toward the volcano’s peak.

The eruptions had stopped, but smoke was still leaking out, and through it, something that looked like a human silhouette seemed to be drifting.

‘Dragon-tooth soldiers.’

If it could fly freely, it was a top-tier individual at A-rank or higher.

Whether we’d actually run into one was still unclear, so I decided to wait and see.

I asked Song Cheon-hye,

“We good to go now?”

“Yes. Go ahead.”

With permission given, I exchanged looks with Seo Ye-in and Park Nari, and the three of us started down the hill together.

As we moved, I pointed toward the far distance and explained.

“First, we’re going deep.”

“Yeah.......”

“Go as fast as you can, and ignore anything you can reasonably ignore.”

“I will.”

Park Nari nodded, then climbed onto Beomi’s back.

When she gently stroked from its head down its neck, it let out a low rumble.

‘When it’s in its original form, it’s surprisingly calm.’

When it’s in mini tiger mode, it’s basically a demon cat.

Chaemi also sat neatly on my shoulder for a moment, then flew up high into the sky.

They looked ready, so I held a hand out to Seo Ye-in.

“Hold on.”

“Hand.”

WHIIIIING—!

When we cast Feather Step together and linked Wind Force, we floated a few centimeters off the ground.

Just pushing lightly off the ground sent us surging forward.

Soon, we were running toward the volcano.

We climbed and dropped over rough terrain, and whenever a lava river appeared, we hopped right over it.

Sometimes we ran into monsters.

An executioner fire goblin that showed hostility the moment it spotted us.

“Grrrrk—”

With a low growl, it hurled something from its hand, but I dodged lightly and repeated the earlier instruction.

“Ignore it.”

“Yeah.”

And we shot past it at tremendous speed, leaving it behind.

After we went quite a bit farther, a huge turtle that had been crawling sluggishly along the path turned its head toward us.

But a chill streak shot into its wide-open mouth.

PFFFT!

We fed it an Ice Shard Bomb and hurried on.

In similar fashion, we passed monster after monster, and after a long stretch, I glanced sideways to check our surroundings.

‘Feels like we’ve come pretty deep.’

Deciding it was enough, I changed direction.

“From here, we go that way.”

“‘That way’” meant Group C’s zone.

The reason we hadn’t run straight from the start—and instead went deep first before turning—was to reduce the chance of running into Group C participants.

It made our route longer, but we were fast enough that I’d calculated we’d still arrive first.

Sure enough, by the time we’d traveled a while more and slowed down, there wasn’t a single student in sight.

Meaning they hadn’t pushed out this far yet.

I tossed the two of them a question.

“Why do you think we rushed all the way out here?”

Park Nari thought for a moment, then answered timidly.

“To...... take the spot first......?”

“Correct. But why?”

This one, Seo Ye-in answered.

Tilting her head slightly,

“......Ambush?”

“Close, but there’s something you’re good at. You’ve got the Skill, too.”

“......Traps?”

“Correct.”

Group C sabotage, part one: fishing for people.

Trap placement was one part of that.

But if you placed them anywhere, it’d be hard to get results.

If some random monster stepped on them and set them off, all you’d do is raise awareness.

What I was aiming for was a place participants absolutely had to visit.

‘The sanctuary.’

They had to charge crystals. No one could avoid it.

Next step: figure out where the sanctuaries were.

I looked at Park Nari.

“I’m gonna ask you for a favor.”

“Mm.......”

Park Nari nodded slightly and focused.

A fresh green glow spread over her whole body.

Beomi and Chaemi also began shining green, so it looked like she was linking with them through some kind of Skill.

A moment later, Chaemi—flying overhead—sent a signal with a sharp cry.

PIIIIII—!

“Th-that way...... I think.......”

“Good. Let’s go.”

We ran in the direction Park Nari indicated, and sure enough, a shabby stone pagoda stood there.

I pointed at the ground and instructed Seo Ye-in.

“Lay some traps, then follow. We’ll go scout first.”

“Confirmed.”

Then Park Nari and I moved out.

Naturally, there wasn’t only one sanctuary, so it was best to identify everything in the area.

With Chaemi’s help, Park Nari kept searching, finding sanctuaries one by one and pinpointing their locations.

“Over there...... and over there too.......”

“Excellent.”

I nodded in satisfaction.

Bringing her instead of that useless Song Cheon-hye really was the right call.

How convenient was it, being able to look down from the air?

After we found the sanctuaries, we looked for a place to hide.

There were a few conditions here, too.

‘It can’t be too far from the sanctuaries.’

We had to confirm whether the plan was working, and respond quickly if things went wrong.

So the best option was to position ourselves between multiple sanctuaries.

‘We should avoid places that are easy to spot.’

If we laid traps and waited, but Group C spotted us first?

We’d fail before we even did anything.

‘But there also can’t be too many obstacles.’

It would interfere with both visibility and long-range attacks.

Even with all these picky conditions stacked on, Park Nari and Chaemi still managed to find the perfect spot.

One minor issue was that it happened to be an executioner fire goblin den.

Executioners stared at us and growled low.

“Grrrrk.......”

But before they could even raise their weapons, a shape pounced in at tremendous speed.

Beomi.

“KRHUUUNG!”

With a swipe of its front paw, one executioner’s jaw twisted clean around.

When it brought the next one down from above, the skull caved in with a dull dent.

Watching that, I thought,

‘Is this why it restrains itself in its original form?’

Because it couldn’t exactly twist Park Nari’s jaw around.

Chaemi seemed similar.

If it started pecking like it did in mini mode, it’d probably punch holes all over its owner’s face.

So it really was a spirit beast, showing at least minimal consideration.

With that thought, I supported with wind magic and Ice Shard Bombs.

Before long, we’d cleaned out the executioner fire goblin den completely.

Right then, Seo Ye-in seemed to have finished placing the traps.

I considered laying traps at the other sanctuaries too, but—

‘We don’t have time.’

We’d already been in this area for a while.

Group C could show up at any moment, so it was better to stop here than to risk getting spotted.

So Seo Ye-in joined up with us.

She glanced around and said shortly,

“Perfect spot.”

“Right? We worked hard to find it—our ‘friend’ and I.”

“Good work, friend.”

Park Nari’s face filled with pride and emotion.

“Yeah......! Friends......!”

Even if I’d said it half as a joke, she seemed genuinely happy.

Soon, a bit of small talk flowed between us.

“How do you manage Beomi’s fur?”

“Just...... brushing sometimes, and baths......?”

“Does it take baths well? Feels like it’d be hard.”

“Yeah....... Every time is a war.......”

Hearing us talk about it, Beomi let out a low rumble from the side.

“Grrr.”

Like it was complaining, ‘It’s not that bad, is it?’

Park Nari stroked Beomi soothingly, then flinched and looked up at the sky.

Without a word, she pointed toward Chaemi—like it had spotted something.

Sure enough, when I shifted my gaze to one of the sanctuaries, I saw students with a yellow ‘C’ on their chest.

A well-balanced four-person party: two melee, two ranged.

One of them—probably the party leader—pulled out an empty crystal and trudged toward the sanctuary.

Once they got close enough, a bright pillar of light connected.

PAAAAT-!

The party leader continued charging while the other three formed up around them like guards.

Seo Ye-in and I exchanged a quick glance.

“Bad luck.”

“......Regret.”

Unfortunately, it was a sanctuary where we hadn’t placed traps.

Of course, the plan had been built with this possibility in mind.

I curled «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» my lips into a wicked smile.

“Let’s pull it out.”

“Confirmed.”

Seo Ye-in began taking out the weapons we’d brought.

She set the sniper rifle aside and started adjusting the mortar.

“.......”

As if she’d caught on to what we were about to do, Park Nari began chanting as well.

A fresh energy settled onto Seo Ye-in.

‘A buff.’

I cast my own Skill.

[Using ‘Amplification’.]

[Target’s Skill ‘Explosive Round’ grade increases. (B+→S+)]

A moment later, a huge mana shell formed in Seo Ye-in’s hand.

When she brought it to the mortar tube, it slid inside smoothly.

After a final, precise adjustment, she pulled the trigger.

THUNK—

With a clear sound, the shell launched high into the sky.

It crossed the distance—

and dropped right into the middle of the four-person party that was still busy charging crystals.

KWAAAAANG—!