The Support Ate it All

Outside the director's office was utter chaos.

–Wheeeeeeeing—!

The blaring of sirens and alarms echoed throughout the building.

It had already been noisy inside, but out in the hallway, the sound was deafening.

Of course, that was the least of our problems.

"There they are!"

"Kweeeegh!"

"Kiyaaah—!"

Researchers were charging toward us, leading a horde of chimeras.

They had initially attempted to teleport straight to the director's office.

While they were stopped once by the [Caw?], nothing prevented them from simply running up manually.

And with only four floors to climb, it wouldn't take long at all.

One way or another, we had always planned to break through.

"Looks like I'll have to use this."

Seo Cheong-yong smiled slightly, reached into his inventory, and pulled out a few magic scrolls.

These were powerful spells prepared for the worst-case scenario, likely close to [Time Freeze] in potency.

But I stopped him.

"Please save them for now. I'll break through first."

"That might be best."

Each scroll was incredibly valuable and in limited supply. Better to save them for when they were truly needed.

I quickly visualized the M-shaped layout of the fourth floor and mapped out our path in my head.

Straight ahead, turn once, straight again to the stairs, then to the exit.

With that, I took the lead and clenched my fist.

Crimson flames erupted violently, and I hurled them at the enemies flooding the hallway.

"Kieeek—!"

Booooom—!

Even in an A-rank dungeon, chimeras usually had pretty tough bodies. But they couldn't possibly withstand an S-rank Inferno Fist.

Sure enough, nothing was left in the trail of the fiery storm.

Whatever the building was made of, it didn't collapse, fortunately.

With the path clear, I motioned for the team to run.

"This way."

Just then, a system message popped up in midair:

['Pain Delay' has been activated.]

[Cooldown: 2 days 23:59:55]

Including the two strikes with the Mysterious Yin Jade Demon Finger on the lab director, which made a total of three S-rank elemental attacks.

When the accumulated damage was delivered all at once, my index finger shriveled and burned, and the burns crept up my forearm.

Immediately, another trait kicked in.

['Retrocovery' has been activated.]

[Cooldown: 2 days 23:59:58]

My arm returned to pristine condition, as if nothing had happened.

But the escape had only just begun. It wasn't the time to relax.

As we rounded a corner, more researchers charged in with another group of chimeras.

I responded the same way with an Inferno Fist.

Booooom—!

The enemies evaporated in an instant again, but this time my hand was scorched black from the heat.

I pulled out a basic elixir I'd been saving which was also known as a "Gap-du Potion, and poured it over my hand.

After using about half of it, the burn began healing rapidly.

"I'll take a breather for a bit."

"Leave it to us."

Seo Cheong-yong patted me lightly on the shoulder and stepped forward.

He cleared the path ahead, taking down the remaining chimeras as he went.

Meanwhile, in the rear, Lee Soo-dok held back the pursuing enemies.

After slashing down a few, he summoned his internal energy and swung his large butcher knife diagonally.

A powerful gust of energy erupted, blowing the enemies away.

Whoooooosh—!

Some chimeras were long-range types. They kept launching sharp spinal fragments or mana projectiles at us.

But in the next moment, a shadow shot upward and formed the shape of a man in a lab coat.

One of his arms ballooned like a giant inflated bag, shielding us from the incoming projectiles.

The lab director.

His abilities as a flesh golem made him incredibly tanky.

He probably had excellent close-combat potential, too.

While he might not be able to use all of his original skills or traits, he'd still be able to crush second-years with ease.

But since it was Dang Gyu-young controlling him, shouldn't we call him "Qyu Lab Director"?

Or maybe "Qyu-Qyu Director" sounds better?

A tough call, really.

As I mused over this completely unnecessary dilemma, I followed behind Seo Cheong-yong and soon reached the stairs.

– Keeeeeeek!!

– Kekekekeke!!

The stairs too were packed with chimeras.

Seo Cheong-yong exchanged a brief glance with me, then pulled out a magic scroll.

It seemed he had decided it was finally time to use it.

As he tore it open, an enormous surge of water exploded out, sweeping down the stairs like a flood.

Naturally, the chimeras were swept away with it.

Swooooosh—!

For a spell of this magnitude in a place without natural water, it had to be at least A+ rank.

We quickly made our way down the stairs and reached the first floor.

To clear a path toward the exit, I fired off another Inferno Fist.

Rumble rumble rumble—!

I finished off the rest of the Gap-du Potion and silently sent my heartfelt thanks to Toad Senior.

At the same time, I kept my feet moving, and together with the others, we managed to escape the research lab.

– The director's down—!

– Kieeeeeeeeek!

– After them! Don't let them get away!

There were still enemies chasing us, but they were far enough behind that we didn't worry.

Besides, we had already returned to a safe zone.

Seo Cheong-yong used an emergency escape scroll, and a small portal opened up.

We passed through it and arrived at the underground A-floor.

After the portal shrank and disappeared, Seo Cheong-yong gave us a gentle smile.

"Glad everyone made it out safely. Good job."

"Thank you for your work."

"The rest will be handled by others."

We had left the place in total chaos, which probably bumped up the dungeon's clear difficulty a bit, but considering we took down the boss, who was the lab director, it actually made things easier overall.

They'd probably send in staff later to finish the cleanup.

Soon after, Dang Gyu-young came over and took my hand, turning it this way and that to check it over.

"Your hand okay? You were throwing those iron fists nonstop."

"It's all healed now."

Though I had used up all my Gap-du Elixirs.

Seo Cheong-yong seemed to have noticed that and added,

"Since you helped us save some scrolls, it's only fair we give you a larger share."

Originally, we had planned to split two random boxes, one for me and one for the teachers, but now he was saying I'd get both.

These were A-rank random boxes; even Shin Byeong-cheol would probably pull a C-rank item from them. So this was a good deal.

Meanwhile, Lee Soo-dok had been messaging someone since the moment we left the dungeon.

Then he turned to Seo Cheong-yong and said,

"They're asking for us to come now."

"Working this late, huh?"

"Same goes for you, doesn't it?"

"You've got a point there."

Seo Cheong-yong gave a wry smile, then turned to Dang Gyu-young and me.

"You're probably tired, but let's stop by the principal's office one last time. That okay with you?"

"No problem."

So the person he'd been messaging must've been the principal.

Best to get this kind of thing over with quickly.

We followed the two teachers as they started walking.

***

The principal's office looked exactly the same as before.

The principal sat slouched in his chair, lazily scribbling on some documents, while the vice principal handled the work briskly, despite casting disapproving glances his way.

As we entered, the principal brightened up. He pushed the pile of documents off to the side with a loud shuffle.

"Ah, you're here. Good to see you, teachers. Hey there, kids."

After a brief exchange of greetings, Lee Soo-dok and Seo Cheong-yong got straight to the point.

They gave a detailed report of everything that had happened in the dungeon.

The principal listened quietly, nodding along, and only after the explanation was over did he speak.

"You've both done excellent work. You're free to go now."

"Understood."

Lee Soo-dok and Seo Cheong-yong gave a polite bow and exited the office.

Then the principal turned to Dang Gyu-young.

"Student Dang Gyu-young."

"Yes."

"That new skill you gained. Would you mind letting us take a look?"

"I don't mind."

We had agreed on this in advance, so Dang Gyu-young shared the details of the skill without hesitation.

She even summoned the "Qyu Lab Director" on the spot.

The principal observed it with interest, glancing between the summon and the skill info, then slowly turned to look at me.

"So you're saying she can freely command an A-rank boss-level entity… Could she go even higher?"

"As long as we can take them down."

As long as we can defeat and kill the target, she can designate them for [Shadow Extraction].

Whether it was a Heavenly Demon or a dragon…it didn't matter.

Right now, it was just a distant goal. But one day, we would get there.

"I'm guessing two slots aren't the limit, either?"

"Of course not. She can increase them."

Quest rewards or slot-type items would do the trick.

The principal frowned.

"So there's basically no ceiling to this. That's completely cheating."

"And there are also a lot of materials to work with."

I pointed to the floor as I said it.

Going from dungeon to dungeon, taking down bosses and extracting their shadows…each dungeon would directly add to our overall power.

From Dang Gyu-young's perspective, the entire underground level was practically a gold mine.

The principal seemed to agree, but then something seemed to occur to him, and he asked,

"This is all great, but doesn't Student Dang Gyu-young graduate at the end of this semester?"

"We'll need to figure out a way for her to stay even after graduation."

Back when her path wasn't clearly set, we had considered taking missions outside the Dungeon Island.

But now that Shadow Extraction was possible, there was no reason for her to leave.

"……"

Dang Gyu-young was doing her best to appear quiet in front of the teachers, but she couldn't hide her happiness when she heard what I said.

The principal seemed to notice that as well.

Still, he wanted to hear it directly and asked,

"Do you want to stay, too, Dang Gyu-young?"

"Yes."

She answered without a moment of hesitation.

In fact, from the academy's perspective, it wasn't a bad deal either.

The more powerful people who stayed on Dungeon Island, the safer it was for the students.

The principal thought for a moment longer, then spoke.

"…I'm sure we can come up with something. Still, let's take a bit more time to think this through."

"Understood."

***

We had barely walked out of the principal's office when Dang Gyu-young clung to my arm.

She flashed a playful smile and said,

"'We'll need to figure out a way for her to stay', huh? So that was your plan all along?"

"Not from the start. Somewhere in the middle."

"Middle when?"

"When I saw you going through the Hardship stages. That's when I was sure."

If her progress on the Hardship Quest had been slower, I probably would've taken longer to decide on a direction too..

But she pushed through all ten stages so quickly…this whole thing became possible because of that.

Dang Gyu-young gave a shy smile.

"Feels good to know my hard work paid off."

"Please keep working hard."

"Of course. We've got world peace to protect, after all."

She gave a casual nod of her chin.

Then, with a hint of mischief in her eyes, she asked,

"…Still, don't you think we deserve a day off? We did wrap up something huge."

"Yeah, I think one day off sounds fair."

"Come over to my room. Noona's buying late-night snacks."

"Sounds good. Let's go."

"Just crash there. Stay the night with me."