The Support Ate it All -
Chapter 42: Duel Battle (4)
Go Hyeon-woo was watching the duel battle from the spectator stands alongside Seo Ye-in and Shin Byeong-chul.
He let out a brief exclamation of admiration.
“Wow. That is truly a remarkable technique.”
The martial arts practiced by Go Hyeon-woo were also closely related to the wind, so his insight into the flow of the wind was better than that of others.
He immediately noticed a swift and powerful flow near Kim Ho’s hand.
However, even he could not read it perfectly until what happened afterward.
“……”
Seo Ye-in was also unusually focused on the duel with her eyes wide open.
“What’s that? What’s happening?”
Only Shin Byeong-chul was completely at a loss and unable to grasp the situation.
Go Hyeon-woo was about to explain as best as he knew but he suddenly recalled a past incident.
– Heh, I’m not telling~. Let’s leave it as a surprise for tomorrow
– Haah, the principles of the martial world have fallen indeed…
“Are you curious?”
“I am. How did he suddenly get attacked by a stone?”
“I’ll tell you after it ends.”
“Oh come on, really?”
This must have been how Shin-hyung felt back then.
Go Hyeon-woo laughed joyfully.
Kwak Seung-jae and the third-year students had more experience, so they saw much more but they too hadn’t fully grasped the situation.
Dang Gyu-young had a high understanding of hidden weapons so she was closest to the truth.
Wind magic, isn’t it?
As soon as the duel started, Kim Ho launched a highly compressed stream of wind.
He used this wind to strike a stone and then guided the struck stone to accurately fly towards Kwak Ji-chul’s face.
She understood it in her head, but frankly, it was unbelievable.
Hitting a small target from a distance is basic, but using the hit target to strike another?
This was no easy feat even for Dang Gyu-young.
Naturally, the question that had been lingering before surfaced again in her mind.
Is he really a first-year student?
“Ugh…”
Kwak Ji-chul who was struck in the face by the stone struggled to regain his senses for quite some time.
At this point, the duel was essentially decided.
If it had been a real battle, he would have died several times already.
However, Kim Ho stood leisurely at his spot and just waited.
As if he was saying that the first hit was just a taste, and the real match was just beginning.
Damn it… What was that? Another trick?
For Kwak Ji-chul, the participant, it was a deeply mystifying experience.
For a moment, his vision flashed with light and he barely managed to keep his consciousness from fading away.
If it weren’t for the armor he borrowed from his senior, he likely would have been knocked out.
Kwak Ji-cheol, who was desperately trying to maintain his posture, saw Kim Ho’s hand move.
Fearing that he would get beaten without being able to do anything again, he hurriedly gathered mana to cast a counterspell.
The situation was dire, but his spellcasting was quick.
[Earth Cluster]
Small and large stones scattered on the ground began to move as if pulled by a magnet towards a point in the air, clustering together to form a large ball.
The spell fused the earth into a ball that was useful for both attack and defense.
Kwak Ji-cheol maneuvered the ball to protect his front.
In the next moment, with a sharp snap! a stone flew off.
It was obvious that it had been launched by that guy.
When Kwak Ji-cheol lightly brushed the Earth Cluster with his hand, the ball began to rotate faster.
One by one, the clustered rocks shot out.
Kim Ho, walking as leisurely as if on a stroll, passed by the incoming projectiles.
The look he gave seemed provocatively challenging, causing Kwak Ji-cheol to grit his teeth in anger.
Let’s see how long he can keep up this attitude.
The emerald embedded in his staff shone brightly.
As the stones gathered, another [Earth Cluster] was formed.
The quality of his equipment was indeed remarkable.
Wrapped in the gear of the second and third-year level, any spell he cast was significantly faster and more powerful than usual.
Normally, maintaining two [Earth Clusters] would have been difficult, but now he could handle them with ease.
With this level, even three would be possible.
And just like he had guessed, he easily completed a third ball.
Three Earth Clusters rotated and they started firing stones like a machine gun.
Tutututututu!
“Yes, this is it!”
The sense of wielding enormous power.
The awareness that this strength was borrowed from others began to fade gradually.
I am strong. I can’t possibly lose!
Tutututututu!
He felt good just at the sight of Kim Ho’s previously leisurely footwork speeding up.
Though he adeptly dodged now, over time, he would inevitably start taking hits and eventually fall.
Kim Ho seemed to realize that his time was running out too, at least in Kwak Ji-cheol’s eyes.
As he dodged the barrage of gravel, Kim Ho gradually closed the distance.
When he was sufficiently close, lightning gathered in Kim Ho’s hand.
Kwak Ji-cheol’s lips curled into a smirk.
So he’s finally using it?
A bolt of lightning that looked like a hummingbird streaked across the air.
Kwak Ji-cheol didn’t think to dodge or block; he opened his chest wide as if welcoming the hummingbird.
Fzzzt!
“Thought that would work? What a pity.”
“…….”
Kwak Ji-cheol showed no signs of paralysis, not even a hint of being slightly electrocuted.
As if he thought things had gone wrong, Kim Ho once again increased the distance between them.
He was too busy dodging the rocks shot by the three [Earth Clusters].
Kwak Ji-cheol felt a thrilling sense of liberation and burst into an exhilarated laugh.
“Hahaha! What else is left in your arsenal—”
Bang!
And then his face was smashed into the ground.
To the audience, it appeared as though an invisible hand had grabbed Kwak Ji-cheol’s head and forcefully slammed it into the ground.
Ha Soo-yeon’s eyes sparkled with interest.
So that’s the skill.
The skill Kim Ho had personally written using the [Blank Skill Book] passed to him by Park Na-ri.
Though she didn’t know its exact effect, it gathered the wind and slammed it down like a hammer.
Not just anyone could create and make use of such a skill.
But that wasn’t all.
It was all planned.
Kim Ho had set a trap to use this unknown wind magic.
While using the hummingbird as bait.
There is no way he didn’t know that the Emerald Magic Tower would take countermeasures against his skills.
Yet he boldly cast the Hummingbird.
And a hummingbird that, when compared to the replay, was sloppy in every aspect.
It was thrown more for show than with any real expectation of success.
On the other hand, Kwak Ji-cheol, fully aware and intending to show off his resistance to paralysis items, willingly took the hit from Hummingbird.
In that moment of distraction by the bird in front of him, a wind was gathering and compressing above his head.
Adding meticulous planning to his genuine skills, he was an opponent who would surely be troublesome if made an enemy.
Ha Soo-yeon sighed in relief in her head. She was glad she had given him the [Rank Up] as a gift.
[Kim Ho 100% vs Kwak Ji-cheol 86%]
“Urgh…!”
Kwak Ji-cheol struggled to lift his head.
His face was so covered in dirt that it looked like a mask, with a stream of blood running from his nose.
His arms, trembling as they supported his body, were not shaking solely from the impact.
When he finally managed to get up, Kim Ho was already close at hand.
Thump!
A powerful punch spun Kwak Ji-cheol’s jaw.
Stumbling backward in a daze, he was stopped by what seemed like an invisible wall.
He had no way of knowing that it was actually a faint wind blowing from behind.
Thump!
Next, a kick landed squarely in his abdomen.
Kwak Ji-cheol’s waist bent violently.
Damn it… Damn it…!
What exactly went wrong, and where, and how?
Just moments ago, he was 200% confident of victory.
Thwack!
As if refusing to give him time to figure it out, Kim Ho struck his face again.
Kwak Ji-cheol stumbled and thought.
This can’t go on.
If things continued this way, he’d be beaten without a chance to fight back.
A conversation with Mok Jong-hwa flashed through his mind.
– Don’t use the golem if you can help it.
– Why not?
– Equipment that looks plain can be overlooked, even if it’s actually third-year gear.
But not a golem.
– …!
– Anyone can see that it’s a third-year golem; what will people think?
It wouldn’t be much help in boosting the prestige of the Emerald Magic Tower.
– I understand. I’ll try to win without the golem. And overwhelmingly
…Yet now, he was being overwhelmingly beaten.
Using the golem to win would be just breaking even.
But what if he held back and lost in the end?
The Emerald club would become a laughingstock for years to come.
And he, as the protagonist of the replay, would be too.
Then there’s the expulsion. A dreadfully scary word.
That must be avoided at all costs.
Alright… I admit you’ve got some skills. But I’ll be the one laughing last!
Just when Kim Ho, who had been swinging punches in pursuit, suddenly kicked the ground and retreated.
Boom!
A tree trunk-sized wooden fist then crashed down in his place.
The stones on the ground shattered into smaller pieces, scattering in all directions.
The giant wooden golem.
Its upper body was abnormally large compared to its lower body, and the hands were especially large.
“Oh, so that’s the golem?”
“What, you’ve never seen one before?”
Shin Byeong-cheol asked, to which Go Hyeon-woo nodded, his eyes still fixed on the wooden golem.
“Yes. I’ve indeed seen many firsts since enrolling at Dragon Slayer Academy. But I thought golems were made using elements of the terrain… Could I be mistaken?”
Why had a wooden golem emerged in a terrain where not even a single blade of grass, let alone a tree, was visible?
Shin Byeong-cheol initially considered retaliating against Go Hyeon-woo for his irritating behavior but decided instead to explain.
“What you know is correct, fundamentally. But if you rely only on the terrain, you end up helpless when there’s no material available. That’s why golems are prepared in advance like that.”
A golem refined with high-quality materials, extensive time, and layered with countless spells.
Far more powerful than those summoned on the spot.
And this wooden golem was certainly not something a first-year could refine.
If that were the case, the promising star of the Magic Tower Association would have been Kwak Ji-cheol, not Hong Yeon-hwa.
It made sense why Dang Gyu-young had immediately cursed upon seeing it.
“Hey! You shameless bastards! This is not right!”
“……”
Mok Jong-hwa did not respond and was only looking forward.
Kwak Seung-jae wore a complicated expression as if he hadn’t expected Mok Jong-hwa to go this far, but there was nothing he could do at the moment.
Dang Gyu-young pondered briefly.
Should this be stopped? Can that thing even be defeated?
Only Dang Gyu-young knew that Kim Ho had learned [Inferno Fist].
But the Inferno Fist was a strictly prohibited skill.
It couldn’t be used in an official setting like this.
The replay was ongoing, and Kwak Seung-jae from the disciplinary committee was watching the battle intently with sharp eyes.
This meant that the situation had to be resolved without the use of the inferno fist.
I see the kid looks fine for now…
When she looked at Kim Ho, he appeared as calm as ever.
His body was constantly in motion as he dodged the golem’s fists.
Dang Gyu-young decided to watch a bit longer.
If Kim Ho took even a single hit, she would have to step in.
Boom!
A heavy wooden arm swept across the ground.
Then, the other wooden hand, clenched into a fist, slammed down.
Despite its large and heavy body, the golem’s movements were agile.
That weight combined with that speed. Even one hit would result in immediate defeat.
A slow smile crept onto Kwak Ji-cheol’s lips.
“Think it’s just the golem? Try dodging this.”
Tututututut!
The Earth Cluster, which had stopped moving, began to rotate again.
Kim Ho was now busier than before as he was dodging the golem while simultaneously avoiding the flying rocks.
[Kim Ho 100% vs Kwak Ji-cheol 74%]
Even amidst this, the fact that his health hadn’t dropped from 100% was commendable.
It meant he had dodged every single attack without fail.
But the question was, how long could he keep this up?
While the golem could last indefinitely, his energy was finite.
As Kwak Ji-cheol accelerated the Earth Cluster, the ball began to spin even faster.
At that moment, Kim Ho looked directly at Kwak Ji-cheol and waved his hand.
A strong wind blew from somewhere, forcefully pushing Kwak Ji-cheol’s body.
The latter then crashed into the rapidly spinning ball.
“Aaaaaaaaagh!”
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