The Support Ate it All

When Hong Yeon-hwa accepted my proposal, I immediately selected a dungeon we could finish in a day.

It was a D-rank dungeon with no active bids, ice-themed, and ideal for her rank progression.

Later that evening, I met Shin Byeong-cheol and Hong Yeon-hwa, and we descended the stairs into the depths.

Leading the way, Shin Byeong-cheol cut through the path ahead while chattering non-stop.

“Hey, how come you never take a break during strategy battle weeks? You go in more often than most third-years.”

“That’s because I mostly choose easy dungeons.”

“I’m not so sure about that. This Friday, you’re—”

“Zip it.”

“Oh, sorry.”

If I had not warned him in time, he would have almost spilled the beans about our upcoming B-rank dungeon run.

Shin Byeong-cheol paused briefly but soon resumed his chatter as if nothing had happened.

“But, hey, hyung-nim, there really isn’t any reward for guiding this time?”

“You took that bet because you wanted to, remember?”

The previous bet was whether Shin Byeong-cheol would draw something D-rank or higher from the random box.

And sure enough, he pulled an E-rank tea set so this guiding job was free of charge.

“Sure, but, you see, my life’s been rough lately with all these tea sets piling up. I would appreciate it if you could show me some mercy—”

At that moment, Hong Yeon-hwa spoke up as if she was reaching the limit of her patience.

“Hey.”

“Huh?”

“Shut up.”

“Yep. Shutting up now.”

Shin Byeong-cheol zipped his mouth shut.

Since I too felt the need to manage the noise level, I didn’t say much to Hong Yeon-hwa.

Still, I thought it would be best to wrap up the conversation, so I added one last remark.

“I might be able to give you a box or two.”

“……!”

Shin Byeong-cheol expressed his gratitude with exaggerated gestures.

Well, I really did need his help to get that fifth stamp.

Thanks to the new reward, he eagerly focused on his role as our guide, and we reached the entrance to the D-rank dungeon without any major trouble.

[No.490] [Winterhalt Fortress]

“When should I come back for you?”

“We’ll probably be in there for a while this time. Morning.”

“Okay, see you then.”

Hong Yeon-hwa and I stepped into the teleportation portal one after the other.

In the next moment, we found ourselves inside a tent-like shelter.

The surroundings had a distinctly medieval feel, though the facilities weren’t in great shape.

The chill in the air was there even indoors, making it easy to imagine just how much colder it must have been outside.

Booooooong—!

At that moment, a deep resonant horn sounded from somewhere nearby.

Then came a chaotic mix of hurried footsteps, shouts, and calls, blending together in a frenzied hum.

I exchanged a glance with Hong Yeon-hwa and then stepped outside the tent.

Whoooosh—

Immediately, a blizzard struck against my face.

It’s freezing.

Though my uniform had a built-in cold resistance and elemental protection, the cold still bit through. It wasn’t unbearable, though, so I braced myself and surveyed the surroundings.

Winterhalt Fortress.

That was the setting for this dungeon.

As the word “fortress” implied, the main objective here was [Siege Defense].

Booooong—!

And the continued blaring of the horn in my ears signaled that the siege defense was about to begin.

Hundred-men captains commanded troops as they rushed toward the fortress walls.

“To your positions!”

“Move faster, you sluggish lot—!”

After watching the scene for a moment, I tossed a quick word to Hong Yeon-hwa and took the lead.

“Follow me.”

“Mhmm.”

We headed toward the fortress wall and began climbing the stone steps.

Along the way, I stopped a passing hundred-man captain.

“I have a few questions.”

“I told you to move faster, you maggots—ah, yes, Sir Mage.”

He had been barking at his soldiers in a gruff tone that matched his rough appearance, but the moment he met my eyes, he flinched and abruptly switched to a polite tone.

It was proof of the absolute authority mages held in this area.

Though it’s probably not just because of that.

The captain was likely sensing an intangible aura of authority from me.

This was one of the minor effects of [Monarch].

Thanks to this, getting information or giving commands had become much easier.

“Where should we go?”

“Yes, if you go in this direction… No, allow me to escort you personally.”

The captain had started to point the way but then stopped and began leading us himself.

“???”

Hong Yeon-hwa who was following behind glanced between me and the captain with a puzzled expression on her face.

It seemed odd to her that this rough-looking captain had suddenly turned so accommodating, as if he were a completely different person.

“This way.”

The captain guided us to a section of the wall.

It was higher than the other places, which gave us a clear view of the battlefield below.

An ideal vantage point.

The only downside was that we drew the attention of all the soldiers stationed there, but this was an easy problem to fix.

I frowned slightly as I glanced their way.

“You’re a bit distracting. It would be better if you could clear the area.”

“But Sire Mage, if we do that, we won’t be able to protect you in an emergency.”

“We can handle that ourselves.”

The captain hesitated, but as I continued to insist, he finally had to relent.

In situations like this, the mage’s word was absolute.

He gathered up the soldiers and led them away, and the once-crowded wall became empty and quiet.

Having secured our own spot on the wall, we set about properly surveying the battlefield.

The rugged terrain was blanketed in white snow, and the monster army advanced, covering the snowy expanse.

The largest group by number was the E-rank monsters, the orcs.

But these were adapted to their surroundings, with pale skin that matched the snowy landscape.

They were ice orcs, classified as E+ rank, and their ranks included everything from warriors and archers to shamans.

Scattered among them were larger monsters like ice trolls and golems.

And at the center of the ice monster army stood a woman draped in a robe as white as the snow.

Just the steady blue waves of energy emanating from her made it clear that she was a powerful mage.

The commander and boss-level entity of this army.

The “Ice Witch”.

The conditions to clear this dungeon were one of two things.

We could either hold the line for a set amount of time or defeat the Ice Witch.

Of course, there was no rush to take her down.

The longer we stayed, the more opportunities there were for rank advancement.

The ice monster army continued its steady advance.

Though we still had plenty of time before the monsters would be within range of the ally archers, some spells had a longer reach than arrows.

And if you had the range advantage, it was only natural to use it.

I gave Hong Yeon-hwa an instruction.

“Go ahead.”

“……”

Hong Yeon-hwa gave a slight nod, then pulled a staff from her inventory.

“You’ve switched weapons?”

“Uh, mhmm…”

She usually wielded a short wand for ease of movement, but now she had switched to a long, two-handed staff.

The ruby embedded at the end was noticeably larger too.

“Planning to go for battery?”

“That… I think it suits me better.”

Just a few weeks ago, Hong Yeon-hwa had been torn between becoming an all-rounder or specializing as a long-range battery mage.

I thought she might struggle with the choice a bit longer, but it seemed she had made up her mind sooner than expected.

“Good decision.”

It’s better to decide these things quickly.

When I nodded my head, a faint smile appeared on Hong Yeon-hwa’s lips.

She seemed pleased to have my approval.

But only for a moment, as she then focused her gaze intently on the battlefield.

Hong Yeon-hwa began muttering incantations under her breath.

The ruby at the staff’s tip glowed a vivid red, and a large magic circle formed beneath her feet.

After a moment, the large-scale magic spell was completed, the very one that had been used as a trump card back in the duel battle of the Cloud Stairs.

[Phoenix Flutter]

Whoosh—

A huge flame rose from the magic circle and took the shape of a phoenix.

With one powerful beat of its wings, hundreds of fiery feathers scattered forward.

The fiery feathers crossed the distance to reach the monster army, sparking countless small flames throughout their ranks.

The damage from this spell wasn’t usually significant, but—

If it’s Aqua Flame, that’s a different story.

Whoosh!

Monsters touched by the sparks melted away without exception, whether they were orcs, trolls, or golems.

With the added power of Aqua Flame, the fire magic was absolute poison to ice-attribute monsters.

– Ooohhh—!

The soldiers who watched let out cheers filled with awe and encouragement.

Hong Yeon-hwa couldn’t hide her proud expression.

The corners of her mouth kept twitching upward.

I threw in another word.

“Let’s keep going like this.”

“Mhmm.”

Hong Yeon-hwa summoned the phoenix again, and hundreds more fiery feathers swept across the battlefield.

Yet, despite this, the ice monster army still had plenty of forces left and continued their advance.

There’s no better hunting ground than this.

It was the perfect environment to rank up Aqua Flame and various fire spells.

While it didn’t have the density of Millennium Iron ice-attribute monsters continuously poured in.

She would rely on quantity over quality.

After casting a few large-scale spells, Hong Yeon-hwa seemed to get the hang of it.

As if she was ready to get serious about her rank-up work, she pulled out a rolled-up magic scroll from her inventory.

It was labeled with the word “Boost” and several arrows pointing upward.

Rank Boost.

Simply put, it was an experience boost item, almost identical to the event buff I received during the mentoring period.

It granted the user a timed buff and allowed them to gain rank faster even with the same training effort.

Unlike [Rank Up], it could be used at any rank and allowed the honing of various skills and traits at the same time.

I spoke honestly.

“How enviable.”

In this game, items related to rank were all highly valuable because they directly impacted one’s stats.

Especially Rank Boost, which only lasted a few hours, so it was typically saved for situations where rank-up efficiency was extremely high.

Hong Yeon-hwa was using it casually in her very first dungeon. Such a move would reveal just how wealthy the Ruby Magic Tower must be.

But for some reason, after hearing my remark about how envious I was, her gaze began to wander around nervously.

Finally, she cautiously extended a Rank Boost toward me.

“Do… do you want one?”

I hadn’t said it because I wanted her to hand it over.

Now I felt like I was coming off as the bad guy.

I shook my head.

“No, I’m good.”

“It’s, it’s okay. I have plenty.”

Hong Yeon-hwa took out even more Rank Boosters from her inventory.

Carrying around so many of something that’s hard to obtain even once… the Ruby Magic Tower was really going all out for her.

As I stood there, watching silently and lost in thought, Hong Yeon-hwa shivered.

Then she extended another Rank Boost toward me.

“Th-Then… how about two?”

Did she think I found one insufficient?

At this rate, she’d keep handing them over, so I decided to just accept her offer.

I wasn’t one to turn down gifts in the first place.

“One is enough. I’ll use it well.”

“Mhmm …”

Whoosh—

Maybe it was because the snowstorm was coming down hard.

Hong Yeon-hwa looked more timid than usual.