The Support Ate it All

Under the concentrated fire of four gunners, the Dark-Shadow Commander turned into a honeycomb again.

Dang Gyu-young was about to wave for a resummon, then froze.

“……!”

Catching it instantly, Ahn Jeongmi raised a hand and stopped everyone.

In a polite tone, they asked,

“Are you finished?”

“Yes. Thank you for your help.”

Dang Gyu-young returned the greeting in the exact same way.

A notification like this was probably floating up.

[Sub-Quest: Stage 18 Austerity] (Completed)

▷Umbral Garden’s range greatly expanded

▷Condition 1: Fight while maintaining Umbral Garden

▷Condition 2: Fight while maintaining at least 2 Shadow Undead

▷Objective: Achieve proficiency (100/100%)

Right after, the shadow “garden bed” spread wide beneath our feet rippled and began shrinking rapidly.

From a perfect square into a long rectangle.

Next, thick shadow pillars rose, and a roof slid over them.

What formed was a long corridor-shaped structure.

Dang Gyu-young stared up at it with eyes full of awe and pride mixed together, then fluttered their hand and called me closer.

“Hey, hey, look. I learned something new.”

[‘Umbral Corridor (F+)’ has been acquired.]

I nodded and said,

“As expected, it’s an upper-tier skill.”

“Yeah. Austerity gives good stuff. But what’s different about it?”

For now, it looked like the only change was that the garden had turned into a corridor.

If anything, the range had shrunk a lot.

It would be better to show them directly, so I grabbed Dang Gyu-young’s hand and tugged.

“Step out.”

“If we step out, doesn’t it cancel— huh?”

Dang Gyu-young’s eyes snapped wide.

Unlike Umbral Garden, which required the caster to hold the center, Umbral Corridor stayed standing exactly as it was even after we walked out.

And I added,

“It’s closer to installing it. Even if it still consumes mana to maintain.”

“Mana used to eat a lot even before, so fine. But being able to come and go whenever you want is so good.”

Then, as if something occurred to them, Dang Gyu-young waved a hand toward the corridor, and the Lab Director and the Dark-Shadow Commander surged up and walked out.

The restriction had lifted for them too—they could leave the range.

“And it’s easier now, right?”

“Yeah, yeah. That too.”

During the Challenge Austerity, they’d had to focus with everything they had just to keep Umbral Garden up, but now it looked like they barely had to think about it.

They had a lot more breathing room. Once they got a bit more used to it, they’d be able to swing that paddle again.

Dang Gyu-young looked at the corridor with a satisfied smile.

“It’s almost exactly what I wanted. If I had to pick one thing, it’s that the range is narrow, but it’ll get bigger later, right?”

“It will. It’s F right now.”

“Good. Starting tomorrow, I’m grinding ranks.”

Since night was already deepening, we decided to stop here for today.

On the way out, I figured we should take Seo Ye-in too, so I glanced to one side of the training grounds—

and the evasion duel was still going strong.

Hologram arrows poured down in a storm.

In the meantime, the soldiers had multiplied into over a dozen.

Some even looked like they’d been upgraded into elites, shifting into forms closer to knights, and their attacks had become that much faster and fiercer.

Outnumbered, stuck in the limited space of the training grounds, and with random turbulence on top of that…

No matter how genius a sloth was, dodging everything was impossible.

Even if nothing landed cleanly, arrows, spears, and twin blades brushed past now and then.

Another flurry from the hologram spearman came flying in, and Seo Ye-in used Featherstep and Sailboat to open distance.

Depresso-Sloth on the other side did the same.

Even while moving that frantically, the two of them seemed to be spying on each other whenever they could.

Seo Ye-in flicked a glance across and tossed out a line.

“I dodged more.”

“By two.”

But the next moment, a hologram arrow skimmed past Seo Ye-in’s shoulder.

Depresso-Sloth spoke in an even tone.

“I’m still ahead.”

Seo Ye-in’s brow twitched faintly.

They pushed Featherstep even harder.

Watching that, Dang Gyu-young let out a hollow laugh.

“Why are they trying so hard?”

“Because of who the opponent is.”

They already had a strong competitive streak, but losing to themself?

And getting teabagged with the exact same tactics they used?

There was no way they could stand it.

‘Still, we should cut it off soon.’

If we left them alone, it felt like they’d keep going all night.

Rest improved training efficiency too.

So I called out to Seo Ye-in.

“Let’s stop here for today.”

As if they’d been waiting for it, both of them stopped moving, and the hologram unit vanished like it evaporated.

Seo Ye-in and Depresso-Sloth faced each other.

“Do it again tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow, I win.”

Then Depresso-Sloth stared at me with sad eyes, left a short line, and disappeared.

Maybe because it was a mirror image, even that obsession with the pillow was exactly the same.

Seo Ye-in suddenly sagged and reached both hands toward me.

“Carry me.”

“The guest annex is right there.”

“Tired. Carry me.”

“So you really are tired. You didn’t look it.”

“I worked hard while holding it in.”

Sure. The only thing that changed was their personality—their insides were still pure sloth.

Less annoyed didn’t mean less exhausted.

They’d been running all day with barely any breaks. Normally they’d have collapsed ages ago, so lasting this long was impressive.

So I readily offered my back.

“Alright. You worked hard, so I’ll carry you.”

“Mm…….”

While riding on my back, Seo Ye-in waved at the Hyeseong Group employees.

“Good work. Rest well and see you tomorrow.”

“Miss……!”

Ahn Jeongmi looked like they were about to burst into tears again.

They were probably thinking something like, Miss actually told us to rest well…!

While walking toward the guest annex, I spoke over my shoulder.

“It’s nice when you express things. Do it when you’re less annoyed, at least.”

“……Confirmed.”

Seo Ye-in answered briefly.

Then, as if something occurred to them, they rested their chin on my shoulder and tightened their arms around my neck.

“…….”

“What?”

“It was expressing.”

Dang Gyu-young’s face twitched as they walked alongside us.

They looked like they wanted to say, “Hey, get down. Let me get carried,” but since the guest annex was already right there, it seemed they decided to let it slide.

We’d all had a hard time, too.

Instead, they sent me a not-at-all-innocent look, like they were deciding where to bite me later.

And of course, that bad feeling never missed.

The moment I lay down on the bed, Dang Gyu-young clamped down on my shoulder.

“Chomp.”

“Why today? I don’t think I did anything wrong.”

“Do you really think that?”

“What did I do wrong?”

“Everything.”

“Are you just sulking?”

“You know me so well. Chomp.”

Dang Gyu-young kept nibbling at my shoulder and arm, leaving tooth marks all over.

“…….”

Seo Ye-in watched with eyes full of curiosity, then brought one of my arms to their mouth.

They gave it a small nibble, then tilted their head.

“……?”

“Not tasty, right?”

“I can’t tell.”

“I think it’s fine ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) not to know things like that.”

Seo Ye-in tilted their head again, but seemed to decide to let it go.

They handed my arm back and changed the subject.

“I have something I’m curious about.”

“Ask away, Miss Seo.”

When I answered with a Go Hyeon-woo impression, Seo Ye-in used the same old-fashioned style right back.

“When does this end?”

[Sub-Quest: Stage 11 Austerity] (In Progress….)

▷Objective: Win an evasion duel against your mirror image

“Well, obviously, doesn’t it end when you win?”

“I already won.”

Seo Ye-in answered in a dissatisfied tone, then added for emphasis,

“……By one.”

“You did take the lead, but it seems the other Miss Seo hasn’t accepted it yet.”

“They’re being unreasonable. Stubborn.”

“If you describe your mirror image that way…”

Isn’t that basically an introduction? I wanted to say.

As if they’d heard the rest, Seo Ye-in looked away.

“……Maybe one hit is too small a difference.”

“Didn’t you just say it was unreasonable?”

“……Now that I switch positions, I kind of get it.”

“Then tomorrow, let’s widen the gap even more.”

Since no clear victory condition had been presented, we had no choice but to keep going until the mirror image accepted defeat.

If it really was as stubborn as Seo Ye-in said, it wouldn’t be quick.

*****

The next day, and the day after that, training continued the same way.

Dang Gyu-young actively cast Umbral Corridor, alternating between the Twin Heroes of the Dang Family and Hyeseong Group’s four-person team.

[‘Umbral Corridor’ rank has increased. (F+→D+)]

As expected, the corridor’s area expanded as its rank rose.

By around B, it would probably become wider than the Umbral Garden that had been affected by Austerity.

There was more good news.

Dang Gyu-young swung the shadow club through the air with a buzzing whirl.

“It’s finally back. I felt empty not using it for a few days.”

“So Paddle-Gyu-young is back.”

They had enough room now to manage the corridor, keep two shadow undead, and still fight up close.

And I got results of my own while supporting Dang Gyu-young’s sparring.

[‘Movement Command’ rank has increased. (E→D)]

▷Forced movement resistance penetration 1→2 ranks

▷Additional 2-rank penetration every 3 minutes

[ ‘Twister’ rank has increased. (B+→A+)]

[‘★Blink★’ rank has increased. (B→A)]

▷Cooldown 1 minute 20 seconds→40 seconds

‘★Blink★ went up ridiculously fast.’

Movement Command was still low-rank, so its growth speed was naturally high.

Twister was a sub-skill of Spiral Explosion and got used as often as windforce, so that made sense too.

But ★Blink★ hit Rank A so fast even I was surprised.

At this pace, S wouldn’t be far off.

Meanwhile, the evasion duel had become far more vicious than the first day.

A heavily armored hologram knight leapt high and slammed down a long spear.

Seo Ye-in retreated to avoid the crashing shockwave, but the next instant another knight charged and thrust the spear straight in.

The training grounds were packed with knights in heavy armor.

The hologram unit had turned into a hologram knight order.

The difficulty had risen so much that full evasion was basically abandoned—now it had become a contest of who got hit even one time less.

Even while moving that frantically, Seo Ye-in and Depresso-Sloth kept talking nonstop.

“Six-hit difference.”

“Back to six.”

“Stubborn.”

That was when it happened.

The turbulence rising from under Seo Ye-in’s feet felt noticeably more violent.

‘It went up.’

Featherstep had finally broken through the wall and reached Rank A.

And Seo Ye-in had raised their proficiency in Sailboat a lot in just a few days.

On the other hand, Depresso-Sloth’s specs seemed the same as when it was first summoned.

Even if it was a mirror image, it didn’t update in real time.

‘So ranking up was part of the quest process, too.’

And maybe because of everything they’d realized along the way, Seo Ye-in’s movement was completely different from before.

Not sprinting off the ground, but floating a few centimeters up, riding the wind as if flying.

From that point on, the gap between them started widening sharply.

Seo Ye-in slipped out of the knight order’s assaults lightly, while Depresso-Sloth allowed one hit, then two solid hits through.

And in the end, it was pierced by hologram spears.

There wasn’t any gruesome bloodshed, but it was like an invisible health gauge had run out—Depresso-Sloth flopped facedown on the floor.

The next moment, both sides’ hologram knight order disappeared cleanly.

Seo Ye-in trudged over to it, squatted down, and said,

“I won.”

“Good match, rival.”

That was as far as Depresso-Sloth answered before scattering away, just like the other holograms had.