The Support Ate it All

Lee Seong-hyeon's greatsword swept wide across the ground once more.

Swaa—shhk—!

Another wave of bisected goblins joined the pile.

Of course, the enemies didn't just stand there and take it.

"Kereurk."

"Keek!"

Throwing aside concern for their own lives, they charged like moths to a flame, trying to stab their weapons into him.

Lee Seong-hyeon's response was always the same—

He kept swinging his greatsword.

Most of them were mowed down before they could even get close.

Barely enough time to sip a glass of water had passed before only a handful of goblins and the Beheader Goblin remained in the field.

"Grrr…"

The Beheader Goblin let out a low growl.

Then it charged forward with a flaming butcher's knife in hand.

The result was no different.

Shhk—!

The greatsword cleaved diagonally, slicing both the knife and the goblin into pieces.

Song Cheon-hye looked surprised and turned to me for confirmation.

"He didn't use mana, right?"

"Nope."

"And he still handled the Beheader like that… That's amazing."

"Looks like he's invested in physical strength traits too."

Once the [Core] is developed, raw strength tends to lose its meaning.

After all, mana reinforcement covers that.

But if someone had properly trained their physical traits, it could definitely enhance their fighting power.

Especially for close-combat types.

Lee Seong-hyeon likely learned [Super Strength], [Giant's Aura], and a few supplementary traits that combined into [Giant's Strength].

The reason he could handle a greatsword as tall as I was like it was a pair of chopsticks—

That couldn't have been easy to pull off either.

The Black Knight Set was a growth-type armor and now it was combined with the composite trait [Giant's Strength].

His foundation was rock-solid.

And this probably wasn't even the end of it.

Maybe I should copy it?

I had some empty trait slots. Wouldn't hurt to fill one up.

But I decided against it.

Even if I copied it now, everything was fixed at E-rank because of the Fixed Zone, and besides, I wasn't likely to engage in much close combat.

And even if I did, I had a much stronger skill "Mysterious Yin Jade Demon Finger".

The fire goblins' assault had only just begun.

Each time we thought they were all down, more would appear again and again, in an unending wave of attacks.

It was probably every goblin in the area converging on us.

In response, Lee Seong-hyeon basically turned into a human blender, grinding through everything in his path.

Swaa—shhk—!

Meanwhile, all Song Cheon-hye and I did was follow behind and cast an occasional spell.

I threw her a casual question.

"Be honest, this is kinda nice, isn't it?"

"It is… but I feel bad since we're the only ones not struggling."

"It's fine. Give it a bit more time and even the guilt will fade."

"You mean I'll get numb to it, to the guilt."

"Isn't that basically the same thing?"

"It's not! Don't try to drag me down with you."

Song Cheon-hye drew a firm line in the sand.

I just shrugged.

"Very responsible of you. But honestly, I don't think he even needs our help."

"…It's about being ready to help at any time that matters."

"What good is being ready if you're still just standing around?"

"I'm not standing around."

"So what, are you slacking off or not?"

"I am, but that's not the point!"

Bickering all the way, we finally arrived at the temple entrance while getting carried by the Lee Seong-hyeon express.

We exchanged glances, then kicked open the wooden door and stepped inside.

The interior was just as crude as the exterior.

In the center stood a grotesquely carved statue. It took a second look to even realize it was supposed to be a goblin.

In front of it, an old fire goblin who seemed to be a shaman was murmuring spells.

Every time his staff flared ominously, the flames surrounding the statue surged higher.

Whoosh!

Just then, as we entered, every fire goblin in the chamber simultaneously turned to look at us.

"Kereuk?!"

"Krukkek!!"

Then they all charged forward with blazing hostility.

All except the shaman.

"He's trying to run."

"We can't have that."

Fzzzzzzzt—!

A thunderous hummingbird flew from Song Cheon-hye's hand.

The shaman hurled fireballs in resistance, but the hummingbird, though a bit unsteady, weaved through the air and struck its target.

Fzzzzzt!

Then Lee Seong-hyeon rushed in and cut the shaman down in one swift motion.

I turned to Song Cheon-hye with a hint of surprise.

"Your control's improved."

"I've been practicing a lot."

Song Cheon-hye beamed at the compliment.

Then, with confidence, she asked,

"How many points out of ten was that just now?"

"I'll be generous today. Four."

"What? That's it?"

"What do you mean 'that's it'? That was a very objective score."

To get a ten, you'd have to control six at once and hit someone like Lee Soo-dok.

Looking slightly pouty, Song Cheon-hye pointed at the remaining fire goblin stragglers.

"Then let's see yours. Show me what you've got."

"No thanks."

"Why not, again?"

"Mana's too valuable."

And even if I wanted to, I couldn't use it right now.

I'd already overlaid it with Destructive Gale.

Before Song Cheon-hye could complain further, I cut in.

"Wanna bet on whose hummingbird flies better?"

"That's totally unfair to me."

"Then what are we betting?"

"Well… I'll tell you later."

As expected, Song Cheon-hye clammed up.

Just then, Lee Seong-hyeon finished off the stragglers and joined the conversation.

"You two are always bickering when I see you. But you don't really seem mad. Are you actually getting along better than it looks?"

Song Cheon-hye and I answered in unison.

"So-so."

"How is this getting along?"

Then we looked at each other.

Song Cheon-hye grew flustered and mumbled under her breath.

"Maybe… compared to before… you could say we're a bit… closer… I guess…"

"Is that so. Anyway, let's focus on the mission. This is where it really starts."

As Lee Seong-hyeon brushed it off and shifted back to the task, Song Cheon-hye's expression turned serious too.

Then the two of them looked at me.

I slowly walked over to the goblin statue, still holding the crystal I'd dug up earlier.

Fwoosh,

As I got closer, the crystal and the statue began to resonate.

The flames surrounding the statue surged toward the crystal like they were being sucked in.

So it's charging.

If this had been a ground-floor dungeon, a notification like [Crystal: 1%] probably would've popped up.

There was no real need to stand next to it, so I set the crystal down in front of the statue.

Meanwhile, Lee Seong-hyeon was staring at the statue, lost in thought.

Then he asked me,

"This just occurred to me. What happens if we break that thing?"

"That clears the dungeon."

"What about the defense phase or charging the crystal?"

"You just skip it. But the rewards drop, too."

Since we haven't really done anything properly, the reward would probably be barely worth it.

Same goes for the practical exam score.

Obviously, there's no way the Disciplinary Committee or the promising students would settle for a low grade.

I didn't care too much about scores, but since there was a side quest tied to this, I might as well aim for full completion.

"So this is where the defense starts?"

"Looks like it."

Sure enough, noise and goblin grunts began to echo from outside.

– Grrrrrk!

– Kehrrrk! Keek!

I stepped out through the door we came in from, and sure enough, the place was swarming with fire goblins in every direction.

There were easily hundreds visible at a glance, with more appearing by the second.

I also spotted plenty of Beheaders and Shamans among them.

They were probably swarming in to reclaim the statue.

Lee Seong-hyeon calmly took in the sight.

"Just looking at this, you'd never guess this was an E-rank dungeon."

"Visually, yeah."

Thankfully, we didn't need to wipe them all out.

Our only job was to hold out until the crystal finished charging.

There was only one entrance to the temple anyway, so a standoff here would do just fine.

Song Cheon-hye spoke up.

"We'll join the fight now."

"Save your strength a little longer. I think I can handle it on my own for now."

With a composed reply, Lee Seong-hyeon stepped up to the front line.

He still looked like he had plenty of energy left, so I gave him a nod to go ahead.

– Kyeeeek!

– Grrrrk!

Soon, the shamans pointed at us and shrieked, and the fire goblin horde came surging forward like a crashing wave.

At the same time, large fireballs and flaming weapons came flying toward us.

In response, Lee Seong-hyeon raised his tower shield to cover himself.

Up until now, he'd always carried it around but fought only with his greatsword. This was the first time he was actually using the shield.

And it looked like he was channeling mana into it too; a faint blue aura shimmered across its surface.

The next moment, the projectiles slammed into the tower shield, triggering small and large bursts of flame.

Boom! Boom-boom!

"Kerrrk."

Meanwhile, the fire goblins had closed the distance and were now right in front of the shrine.

Rather than attacking us, they seemed desperate to get inside as quickly as possible.

From their perspective, the statue was clearly the top priority.

But just as they approached, the shield tilted backward, and the greatsword swept out in a wide arc.

Slish—crack—!

Lee Seong-hyeon raised the tower shield again to block another wave of fireballs.

Then, with practiced ease, he transitioned back into offense, swinging his greatsword.

Slish—crack—!

So he's not just carrying the shield for show.

Even knowing it might cost him "manliness points" he stuck to it. And for a good reason, no doubt.

And it was definitely proving effective. His defense was solid.

Despite switching between a huge greatsword and a heavy tower shield, his movements didn't seem hindered at all. That level of fluidity meant he was well-trained.

Could our lucky charm even break through that?

Seo Ye-in was definitely one of the top first-years in terms of raw attack power, so if she went up against Lee Seong-hyeon, it would be a true clash of spear and shield.

Of course, in close combat vs. ranged combat, there were more variables than just offense and defense.

Especially movement speed.

If a close combat class was faster, they could close the gap in a flash and pummel their opponent.

But if the ranged class had the speed advantage, they could keep kiting endlessly while chipping away.

Come to think of it, I've never seen him run.

Up to now, his long strides seemed to be his top speed.

Might as well see everything while we're here.

I threw a comment to Lee Seong-hyeon.

"Looks manageable so far, but the shamans seem like the real problem."

"Mhmm. Mana's draining faster than I expected."

Boom! Boom!

Once again, a dozen fireballs exploded against the tower shield.

Each time that happened, he had to wrap it with mana and at this rate, his core would be drained empty in no time.

"You've done enough on your own. Now it's our turn to move."

"Understood. What's the plan?"

"We'll hold the line here."

"Then what about me?"

In response to Lee Seong-hyeon's question, I pointed to one of the shamans in the distance.

Among them, he was the one most aggressively hurling fireballs.

"Get in there and take him out."

"…Huh, what?"

Song Cheon-hye stared at me in disbelief.

It was understandable. What I'd just suggested was to charge into enemy lines and go around picking off the mages.

On the other hand, Lee Seong-hyeon's eyes gleamed with a strange fire.

"A knight who charges forward without fear, even against overwhelming odds, focused solely on his target…"

"A true role model for all men."

"I like it. I'll do it."

He grinned while baring his teeth.