The Support Ate it All

The Twin Demons stared at us with baffled expressions.

Just a moment ago, we had been nothing but serious, so seeing us all grinning together must have been unnerving.

“…Have these fools all gone mad?”

“Let’s begin. There’s no point wasting time with chatter.”

I cut off the conversation deliberately.

With only five minutes left on the amplification duration, there was no room for delay.

The Twin Demons hardened their expressions again, though they seemed to agree that time was too precious to waste.

Both of them raised their energy at the same time and scattered their power in all directions.

Pop pop pop!

They spread their poison far and wide to take control of the space, with the goal of slowly poisoning us all. Their plan was also to identify any weaker opponents and lay the poison on them for maximum effect.

However, what they hadn’t accounted for was,

I have S-rank poison resistance.

With Wind Barrier wrapped around my body, I charged straight at the paralyzing demon.

After taking a few hits, the Wind Barrier started to crumble and the poison began seeping into my body, but I ignored it and closed the distance between us.

“This bastard…?”

The paralyzing demon’s eyes widened in shock.

In all his life, he had likely never encountered an opponent as recklessly daring as me.

But his shock only lasted a moment before he swung at me with both fists.

I dodged his arm by a hair’s breadth and drove my Mysterious Yin Jade Demon Finger right into him.

Thud.

Got one hit in.

I then stepped back to create some distance to regroup,

“You!”

The paralyzing demon pursued me as if he was unwilling to let me go.

When his palm struck toward my head, I tilted slightly to avoid it. When he aimed a blow at my abdomen, I diverted it with a gentle twist of my waist.

The demon hesitated for a moment just as he was about to launch another attack, then stepped back.

Swish, swish, swish!

Shadow blades slashed through the spot he had just vacated.

Dang Gyu-young had intervened.

Shadows rose from beneath her feet and placed daggers in her hands, which she threw quickly, one after the other.

Taking advantage of the distraction, I glanced over to check on the corrosive demon. He was being handled by Go Hyeon-woo, Jang Moo-geuk, and Chae Da-bin.

Good.

The Twin Demons were difficult to deal with when they were together, having perfected their teamwork over many years. Now that they were naturally separated, I could focus all my attention on the paralyzing demon.

Swish, swish!

“You’re getting on my nerves.”

The paralyzing demon scowled as he dodged the incoming shadowed daggers, then unleashed a barrage of energy attacks in Dang Gyu-young’s direction.

Pop, pop, pop!

Thanks to her nimble movements, none of the attacks landed, but from each point where his energy had struck, a thick poisonous smoke began to rise.

Seeing this, a sinister smile crept across the paralyzing demon’s face.

He was a master of poison techniques.

Even if his attacks missed, he could gradually cover the area with poisonous smoke, so he wasn’t at a disadvantage.

No matter how agile the opponent was, as long as they were human, they’d inevitably inhale some of that smoke over time, and soon Dang Gyu-young would succumb to paralysis and collapse. Or so he calculated.

That’s assuming she doesn’t have poison resistance.

With her resistance holding at S-rank, she’d likely be fine standing amidst the poisonous spoke for at least five minutes.

Sensing it was time to go back on the offensive, I called out to Dang Gyu-young.

“Support me.”

“Okay.”

Then I activated Wind Barrier and launched myself forward.

Whoosh!

The distance between me and the paralyzing demon closed quickly.

Maybe remembering that I had just struck him with the Mysterious Yin Jade Demon Finger, the paralyzing demon kept a cautious distance between us and continued to unleash his energy.

I didn’t push too hard and kept pace while continuously casting Wind Barrier.

As I followed, shadow butterflies began gathering around the paralyzing demon one by one, until in an instant, more than a dozen had swarmed around him.

[Dream of Shadow Butterflies]

They suddenly dissolved and clung to the paralyzing demon’s body like a sticky, viscous liquid.

“Hmm!”

The paralyzing demon immediately generated a protective energy to shake them off, but in that brief moment, I drove the Mysterious Yin Jade Demon Finger into him.

Thud.

Only then did his expression harden, as though he just suddenly realized something important.

The cold air spreading through his meridians and my index finger that was frozen solid.

“…The Mysterious Yin Jade Demon Finger!”

“So, you recognize it.”

“You’re from the Demonic Cult? A young one, yet skilled in powerful martial arts.”

“Oh, thank you for noticing. I just learned this. Care to try it?”

It was the perfect chance to test out my newly acquired skill.

I extended a hand toward the paralyzing demon, and a chilling wind swept toward him.

[Chillwind]

[Twister]

Whoooooosh—

“What …?”

Perhaps sensing the danger, he immediately dodged to the side, but his movements were oddly sluggish.

Though he managed to avoid Twister, he couldn’t fully escape the range of the Chillwind which slowed him down.

And on top of that, the Chillwind had a second effect: Cold Enhancement.

The cold energy I had infused into Mysterious Yin Jade Demon Finger spread even faster.

Whoooooosh—

I continued to direct Chillwind to pursue the demon, and the paralyzing demon began to tremble like an aspen tree, perhaps because he felt the cold air through his eyes.

“You damned bastards…!”

Nevertheless, the demon gathered his energy and began to unleash poisonous attacks on us with renewed intensity.

By now, he likely expected that either I or Dang Gyu-young would soon collapse under the accumulated poison.

Whoooooosh—

Waves of chilling wind clashed repeatedly with the poison attacks imbued with paralyzing poison.

Each exchange only deepened the suspicion in the paralyzing demon’s expression.

“What in the world are you two…?”

By this point, even a small sign of poisoning should have been visible, yet both of us continued moving as if unaffected. This only made him suspicious.

“Are you both immune to poison?”

“Something like that.”

Though, to be fair, we’re not quite at full immunity.

In the end, it was the paralyzing demon who succumbed first.

Even while beingchased by Chillwind, he had continued moving and attacking. Well, until his feet froze in place.

After being hit twice by the Mysterious Yin Jade Demon Fingers and the effects of the Chillwind, his entire body finally froze.

Then the ground beneath his feet turned pitch black, and countless long shadow thorns rose up and pierced his body.

Thud thud thud!

“……!”

Unable to even scream, the paralyzing demon glared at me with bloodshot eyes.

Then, after he got impaled by the shadow thorns, he slumped forward lifelessly.

“You bastard!”

The corrosive demon saw this and let out a cry of anguish.

He then began to shake with fury.

“You miserable bastards. I’ll tear you apart!”

Then he unleashed his energy in all directions with even more ferocity than before.

Pop, pop, pop!

It was a desperate determination. As if he wanted to take at least one or two of us with him even if he fell here.

Go Hyeon-woo barely deflected the energy and stumbled back a few steps.

“Urgh…!”

Until now, he managed to push back the corrosive demon, thanks to Jang Moo-geuk’s joint attack, Chae Da-bin’s drones, and his own poison resistance. But as soon as the enemy charged with a resolve for mutual destruction, he began to be relentlessly driven back.

It was difficult enough for Go Hyeon-woo to hold his ground; if he was to strike the enemy down, it would take considerable time.

[Duration: 00:02:08]

Another problem was that the amplification’s duration was now less than halfway remaining.

There was nothing to be gained from dragging out the fight.

Let’s end this quickly.

I signaled to Dang Gyu-young with a look.

Dang Gyu-young then sank down into her own shadow, while I moved into the corrosive demon’s blind spot as stealthily as possible.

And then I stepped forward.

[Ghost Dance]

Just like during the trial, it felt as if invisible footprints were appearing between me and the corrosive demon.

When I moved along those footsteps, my body slid forward as if I had turned into a ghost.

In no time, I was close behind the corrosive demon and I drove the Mysterious Yin Jade Demon Finger straight into his back.

Thunk.

“……!”

Only then did the corrosive demon turn around and look at me.

His eyes were wide open, almost as if they were being torn apart. This was because he hadn’t noticed me sneaking in close enough to strike with deadly precision.

Perhaps too shocked, he stood frozen for too long.

Dang Gyu-young jumped out with a shadow leap, bound him tightly, and gave Go Hyeon-woo the perfect opportunity to slash diagonally with his magic sword.

Srrk!

Then, Jang Moo-geuk’s voice rang out.

“Well done.”

Thud!

A long, needle-like blade pierced through the corrosive demon’s upper body, sticking out the other side.

As to be expected from an assassin, Jang Moo-geuk had waited for the perfect moment to land the finishing blow.

When the corrosive demon’s crumbling body fell, Jang Moo-geuk withdrew his sword and looked over at me.

“So, that’s the ghost dance. It’s not just fast; its stealth abilities are astounding. Even while I was watching, you vanished for a moment. The stories I’d heard hardly did it justice.”

“It’s a truly remarkable technique. I’m looking forward to it.”

It was, after all, the ghost dance technique that had brought him into the dungeon. Now that he’d seen its performance firsthand, he was sure to be excited.

But this wasn’t the best time to focus on the ghost dance.

“Good work, everyone. First, let’s start with the antidote.”

Everyone was dealing with a gradual accumulation of poison.

Even though Go Hyeon-woo and I had [Hundred Poisons Immunity], it wasn’t enough to fully guard against the deadly poison used by a mid-boss B-rank poisoner.

Moreover, [Poison Resistance] only reduced the damage from poison after it had already entered the system; it couldn’t prevent poisoning itself.

Even as an S-rank skill, its limitations were clear.

[Duration: 00:01:02]

Moreover, soon the [Amplification] would end, and everyone’s poison resistance would drop from S to B, meaning the damage would start coming in rapidly.

If the enchantment goes away as well, they might end up collapsing and coughing up blood.

The poison needed to be dealt with before that happened.

I turned to Dang Gyu-young and asked,

“Do you have any antidote? If not, we can use this.”

In my hand was a basic elixir I had received from Angel Gap-doo.

If she didn’t have anything suitable, I intended to share this with the group.

But Dang Gyu-young immediately stopped me.

“Why use that? It’s too precious.”

After that, she pulled a few antidotes from her inventory and handed them out.

“As expected, you’re prepared.”

“Of course. I’m still part of the main family, after all.”

Though she hadn’t mastered the Dang family’s secret techniques, she had once been a direct descendant, which meant she had extensive knowledge about poisons and always carried antidotes with her.

She even used that knowledge to apply poison to the dimensional crow before.

Once we dealt with all the poison, I looked around to see two small chests placed near where the twins had fallen.

[Gathering of Villains Random Box (B)]*2

Unintentionally, we just earned rewards by joining in this “boss rush” raid.

These would be divided up later.

Dang Gyu-young gazed off into the distance. Her expression was a mix of worry and skepticism.

“Did Pang Mi-ryeong and her team get tangled up somehow? Looks like they let them slip by.”

“Seems that way. We’ll probably hear from them soon.”

Sure enough, just a moment later, the communicator rang like a ghost.

After a quick exchange of glances between us, Dang Gyu-young put on an innocent expression and answered while feigning ignorance.

“Hey, what’s up?”

– There’s been… a bit of a problem.

“Oh? What, did something blow up?”

– …Yes, Team 2.

Pang Mi-ryeong’s voice came through. It was low and tinged with complex emotions.

Apparently, it was Team 2 that had faced the Paracorrosive Twin Demons before we did.

Judging by her call, it seemed they took a fair amount of damage.

Well, we already took them down.

There was obviously no reason for us to tell her that just yet.

We had to keep the upper hand after all.

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