The Support Ate it All

Chapter 121: 7th Week Mentoring and Duel Battle (6)

The misuse of the “bad” wind magic was the cause.

As a punishment, I ended up accompanying Hong Yeon-hwa to the infirmary.

Not only was a bump protruding on one side of Hong Yeon-hwa’s forehead, but it was also swelling increasingly larger; fortunately, it healed almost immediately after the ointment and healing magic were applied in the infirmary.

But Hong Yeon-hwa slowly caressed the area where she hit as if she still felt a tingling numbness.

I said while looking at her.

“Let’s go back to the arena.”

“Ah, Mhmm …”

“If you really feel off, take a rest. I’ll talk to senior-nim.”

“No, I’ll go, to the arena.”

Hong Yeon-hwa shook her head vigorously.

She wasn’t really in bad condition, but taking a break would surely result in a smack from Hong Ye-hwa’s backhand.

Therefore, we continued on our way to the arena to finish our mentoring session.

And I soon realized something.

This kid has reverted back to being timid.

In the past few weeks, Hong Yeon-hwa had been gradually reducing her fear of me through our joint mentoring sessions, but the recent sparring seemed to have reset her fear gauge.

“…”

She didn’t dare walk beside me but kept her position diagonally behind me, just over my shoulder.

This was mainly because our strides differed, and as she continually checked my face, her pace naturally slowed.

Whenever she fell slightly behind, she would scurry forward to walk just beyond my shoulder, and if the distance increased, she would hurry back up.

After several repetitions of this pattern, I slowed my steps and called back to her.

“Are you going to keep walking like that?”

“Mhmm? No, no? It’s not like that…”

Only then did Hong Yeon-hwa hesitantly come closer to my side and match my pace.

However, the fact that he kept fidgeting and checking my face did not improve at all.

Resigning myself to it, we walked on in silence until,

“……”

During her fidgeting, Hong Yeon-hwa made a face that seemed to suggest she had something she wanted to say.

It was more due to her clumsiness in hiding her expressions than anything else.

Once again, I was the one to break the silence.

“If you have something to say, say it. If you’re curious about something, just ask.”

“Well, um…”

After a pause, what came from Hong Yeon-hwa was,

“… How was it?”

A question that omitted and conveyed much.

To put it at length, what she meant was, “Did you think I managed the crystal duel battle well earlier, from your perspective as my opponent?”

I gave her an honest impression.

“It wasn’t bad. That Fire Pillar, did you modify it?”

“Uh, Mhmm…”

“I hadn’t seen it before.”

“I just started using it recently. That, the last time at the blacksmith’s workshop…”

Hong Yeon-hwa had first used the small Fire Pillar about two weeks ago when she decided to unleash fire magic on Millennium Iron at the blacksmith’s workshop.

It was a method she had devised to concentrate and maintain firepower most efficiently, and after using it continuously, she was inspired to adapt it for combat.

Now, it could practically be considered a different spell altogether due to those modifications.

The fact that a first-year who was barely a month into her enrollment could adapt magic to her tastes showed her capability.

But that wasn’t the only impressive thing.

The duel had started after Dang Gyu-young gave Hong Yeon-hwa the crystal and sent her off. This gave her some time to prepare.

However, it didn’t take me long to locate Hong Yeon-hwa and catch up to her.

In that brief period of time, she had laid down numerous magic circles and turned the area into a minefield.

Even considering the small size of the Fire Pillar, her casting speed was tremendous.

“There was no room to step. With that casting speed, you could probably set them up even during battle.”

“Maybe. With a bit more practice…”

She had only started using it in actual combat since the defense strategy battle last week, so there was still much to refine and her proficiency needed improvement.

I nodded my head in agreement.

“Overall, I think you did great.”

“……”

Hong Yeon-hwa seemed surprised by my praise, with half of her expression revealing disbelief and the other half showing pride in being acknowledged.

Then after glancing around and with a hesitant voice, she asked,

“Could you… perhaps point out any drawbacks… for reference…”

If I were to elaborate on her implied request, she was asking for feedback on areas for improvement.

I responded honestly once again.

“First, the range of your magic circles is a bit limited. If it were me, I would have laid them out more broadly. Packing them closely does make the defense more solid, but it also limits the caster’s own movements.”

“!”

Hong Yeon-hwa’s eyes widened. She clearly sensed a similar issue herself.

She had carefully laid out numerous magic circles to fortify the area, but when I pushed her out of the circle a few times using Wind Force, most of the magic circles became useless.

While forced movement skills are an unusual case, there are often situations where the caster needs to move positions, such as when dodging long-range sniper attacks or when area-wide magic spells strike.

If you set up magic circles more broadly in preparation for such a situation, your range of movement will expand later on.

I then pointed out the next issue.

“You’re also too hasty. You activate the magic circles too quickly.”

“That…. What do you mean by that?”

“You laid out the magic circles and used them every time I tried to step into the area.”

“That’s true, but…”

Hong Yeon-hwa still seemed puzzled and somewhat confused.

I elaborated on my explanation.

“It would be more effective if you waited a bit longer, drew the opponent in more, and then used them. It would also be harder to predict.”

“Ah…!”

Hong Yeon-hwa had been activating the Fire Pillar every time I stepped on a magic circle, which made it easy for me to respond and predict.

For me, it was simply a matter of circling around, pretending to enter, and then retreating while gradually reducing the magic circles.

However, if Hong Yeon-hwa had intentionally delayed activating the magic circles,

Suppose the Fire Pillar was activated after I had fully entered the midst of the fortress heavily laid out with magic circles.

It would have been much more difficult to react.

It seems like her impulsive nature is the biggest issue.

Due to Hong Yeon-hwa’s nature of attacking and attacking until the enemy falls, it must have been a bit frustrating for her to build a fortress and react to the enemy’s actions accordingly.

Her lack of patience probably led her to activate the Fire Pillar immediately whenever she saw even a slight opportunity.

On the other hand, she might have been terrified of me which made her hurry to activate them to keep me from getting too close.

Either way, the conclusion was the same.

If she constructed a fortress, she needed to operate it as leisurely as a spider spinning a web.

Hong Yeon-hwa stared blankly at me for a moment before looking down at her own feet and murmuring.

“… I hadn’t thought that far. Thanks for the feedback.”

“Let’s go back and try again. Keep thinking about what we just discussed.”

“Mhmm, I’ll give it a shot.”

Hong Yeon-hwa nodded her head calmly.

We returned to the arena to resume the duel that had been interrupted.

Expanding the range of the Fire Pillar magic circle setup,

laying down magic circles intermittently during the fight,

and operating slowly and strategically.

Focusing on these three aspects,

I made sure not to break Hong Yeon-hwa again and used only Twisters this time instead of Wind Force.

I needed to rank up Twister after all, so there was nothing to lose.

The next day,

As soon as class ended, I was heading straight for the arena when Shin Byeong-cheol called out to me.

“Hey, someone from another class came looking for you.”

“Who from another class?”

“That, Cha Hyeon-joo came?”

The slight strangeness in Shin Byeong-cheol’s expression was probably because he knew who Cha Hyeon-joo really was.

After all, it was Shin Byeong-cheol who had tipped me off that there was a promising archer in our group.

He then asked me,

“How did you get mixed up with her?”

“She was my opponent in yesterday’s duel battle.”

“Who won?”

“I did.”

“So she came looking for you.”

Shin Byeong-cheol immediately understood.

Of course, it wasn’t just as simple as “I won, so she came looking for me.” Quite a lot had happened.

If I had to point out one decisive factor, it might have been the fact that I sent her flying twice with Wind Force.

Shin Byeong-cheol lowered his voice and murmured,

“Be careful, she has a really nasty temper.”

“Worse than Song Cheon-hye?”

“Song Cheon-hye is cute compared to her.”

“I think so too.”

Zzzt!

As if our conversation could be heard, a sharp energy pierced through from outside the classroom.

Shin Byeong-cheol threw up his hands and backed away as if pleading his innocence with a, “I didn’t do anything wrong~ I’m just a harmless animal~”

“Good luck. Oppa, fighting.” (TN: fighting means good luck; oppa means older brother but only girls say it lol.)

Leaving behind the luck Shin Byeong-cheol wished for me, I stepped out of the classroom and found a girl that I think was Cha Hyeon-joo waiting for me.

During the duel battle yesterday, only her eyes were visible behind a mask, but now she was wearing large glasses that covered the upper part of her face instead.

The half of her face visible below the glasses was quite attractive, yet the glasses made her overall appearance seem very plain.

People often joke that glasses are a “beauty seal” and in her case, it was no joke.

A disguise artifact.

It was far more powerful and natural than any crude item like an [Anonymous Badge].

Most people wouldn’t even realize that a recognition interference magic was cast on it.

But how did I immediately know this girl was Cha Hyeon-joo?

Zzzt,

It was because of the killing intent she had been directing solely at me all this time.

As I got closer, her irritation became unmistakable.

She was clearly furious.

I looked at Cha Hyeon-joo for a few seconds, then pretended to be shocked and shouted loudly enough for everyone around to hear.

“Isn’t this the one? The power of the Guild Union! The hidden genius archer! Cha! Hyeon—!!”

“Shut up. Just shut up.”

Cha Hyeon-joo quickly covered my mouth.

She cast a sharp glance around to see if anyone heard us, but the other students had only glanced briefly in our direction when I shouted and soon continued on their way as if they were uninterested.

Cha Hyeon-joo then shot a piercing glare at me again and muttered a single word before taking the lead,

“Follow.”

“Yes.”

I obediently followed Cha Hyeon-joo.

We continued walking until the crowd thinned down.

“You.”

“Yes.”

“Do you know why I called you?”

“I’m not sure?”

The reason was too obvious to truly be unknown, but I had to give her the chance to say it herself.

Facing me, Cha Hyeon-joo spoke each word clearly and one by one.

“I can’t accept that loss. Let’s fight again.”

She sought me out for a rematch. A revenge match.