EX rank supporting role’s replay in a prestigious school-Chapter 938: Night Walk (11)

There are very few players who specialize in support roles in the conquest of otherworldly realms.

There are several reasons for this.

First, players who can handle healing abilities are extremely rare.

Among the players affiliated with Eungwang High, there are a few who possess healing skills, but the only healer who could potentially follow in Yoo Sang-hee's footsteps is Yoon Yeolang.

To output at Yoo Sang-hee's level, five priestesses would have to be gathered.

"But the role of a supporter isn't just limited to healing. Buffs, debuffs, executing gimmicks, and other special abilities to assist in the survival of other players in the otherworld can be just as crucial. Still, there are few supporters."

The second reason why supporters are rare:

The high mortality rate causes players to shy away from it.

At first glance, it seems like damage dealers have a higher mortality rate, but statistically, it's different.

The history of players is still short, and the information about the otherworld is insufficient, so players frequently encounter unexpected situations.

When it comes to sudden situations faced by either damage dealers or supporters, the damage dealers are more likely to survive.

Last year, during the labyrinth-like otherworld practicals with the half-demons, the separation of Sa Wol-seum and Kwon Lena was a prime example.

"Sa Wol-seum and Kwon Lena can fight, but their true strength shines through as supporters. Given their aptitudes and their past, it’s clear. And both were put in danger due to their lack of combat ability..."

Because of this, most players tend to prioritize developing offensive abilities over support skills in order to survive.

While they might develop some support-related abilities along the way, it’s not with the goal of becoming a full-fledged supporter.

Looking at the bigger picture, it might be more efficient to divide the roles of damage dealers and supporters within attack and defense units, but in reality, it's difficult.

Sa Wol-seum has excellent abilities as a messenger, and Kwon Lena's Illusory Banquet holds great potential, but we can't just stop them from developing offensive abilities and tell them to focus on supporting.

"For their safety, they need to learn how to fight on their own."

Had Sa Wol-seum and Kwon Lena lacked offensive abilities, when they fell into the labyrinth-like otherworld, the Hongryong I called might have never reached them in time, and things might have gone horribly wrong.

So, even well-known supporters often develop offensive abilities to protect themselves.

There are even players who were born with rare support abilities but focus entirely on developing offensive skills.

Take Ma Jin-seung as an example.

"Senior Ma Jin-seung, in terms of combat ability, is said to be above average even among third-years..."

Park Seung-hyun's face showed unease.

Their opponents were two third-years, while they were two second-years, and in reality, the other side had two damage dealers.

There's a huge difference between players who have trained for a year in a specialized school and those who haven't.

Additionally, Park Seung-hyun's physical abilities are not very impressive.

"Park Seung-hyun has little practical experience. His school practicals weren’t that great. Without making up for it on the written exams, he probably wouldn’t have been able to enter Eungwang High."

Even though Ma Jin-seung was strong, Gwak Gyeong-gu was the one who had beaten me in the qualifying rounds.

Looking at it, our chances of winning were very low.

This match was something I suggested, and Park Seung-hyun had been suddenly dragged into it, so I felt a little bad.

However, after hearing the conversation, it seemed Park Seung-hyun was confident of victory.

"With you on my side, I think we’ll win, but I’m still worried."

"Huh?"

"Ah, Uishin-ah. You don’t worry! The problem is me. This is the first time we’re teaming up. I’m worried if I can hold my own."

Park Seung-hyun’s eyes were filled with trust, but it seemed like he was relying entirely on me, not his own strength.

Looking back, ever since the April Fools’ incident last year, Park Seung-hyun has shown complete trust in me and kept the secret about the powers I used.

Even when I did suspicious things, he always trusted me first and never doubted.

I had always vaguely felt that trust, but now I could see just how much trust he had in me.

"Since this won’t be an easy opponent, I’ll support you with my Gwanglim. Do you know about my Gwanglim? It's called ‘The Marching Song of the Commander’..."

Park Seung-hyun explained his Gwanglim in detail.

He went over the conditions for activating the Gwanglim, how far the sound could reach with his current strength, and how much power it could enhance.

Even though we were fighting as a team, I wasn’t sure if it was okay for him to explain the Gwanglim so thoroughly.

Park Seung-hyun had often been seen as weak and was bullied at Flamagoo for being an irregular entrant, but he wasn’t a fool.

He probably understood very well how dangerous it was to explain his Gwanglim so thoroughly.

"I didn’t expect you to explain it in such detail. Thank you for trusting me."

"Of course, I trust you. But do you think this Gwanglim will help? It’s a versatile Gwanglim, but it doesn’t have high output. In terms of overall ability, it can only raise stats by around 2 to 3 levels."

From Park Seung-hyun’s words, I could sense both his belief in me and his frustration.

He seemed to be pondering a lot about the Marching Song of the Commander I had used during the military academy sports exchange, even going so far as to investigate it.

The peace in this world had reduced the number of battles, which resulted in Park Seung-hyun’s growth stagnating.

"In Flamagoo, Park Seung-hyun grew while supporting Ju Su-hyeok and Ahn Da-in. But in this world, he doesn’t have the same opportunities."

In that case, I needed to give him a different opportunity.

I recalled the situation when I had trained Park Seung-hyun in Flamagoo and the sense of using "The Marching Song of the Commander" in this world, then asked him.

"You said this Gwanglim gives buffs to specific targets within the sound’s range, right? How do you distinguish between friend and foe?"

"When I use the Gwanglim, I feel like I determine the targets in my head. Actually, just activating the Gwanglim can be overwhelming, and sometimes I can’t properly distinguish them."

After a few questions and answers, I faintly understood the issue.

Park Seung-hyun’s physical and mental health had improved since his time at Flamagoo, so his Gwanglim should have better output, but without opportunities to practice, it seemed he couldn’t control it properly.

"When you activate your Gwanglim, don’t spread the power to everything within the sound’s range. Focus it all on the target."

"How can I gather the sound?"

Park Seung-hyun looked confused.

It probably sounded like I was asking him to sing in the middle of a street and direct the sound only to the ears of the person he wants to hear it.

Normally, it would be impossible to sing like that, but since Park Seung-hyun’s Gwanglim is a player’s song, it was possible.

"You probably can’t control the sound."

"...I guess?"

"But you can control the ability. We’re players, after all."

Park Seung-hyun let out a short gasp, seemingly enlightened by my words.

However, he still didn’t seem completely confident.

Even though I said that, I knew it wouldn’t be easy.

"Distinguishing between friend and foe was the easy part, but manipulating the ability through sound would be extremely difficult."

Asking him to control the ability in the sound while activating the Marching Song of the Commander would be like running and balancing on a beam while singing.

If he made a mistake, both the song’s pitch and tempo could falter, and he could fall off the beam.

Similarly, he could fail at both controlling the Marching Song and the ability.

"And when I send a signal, increase the output after 30 seconds."

"What!"

"Since you’re using the ability, you should be able to increase the output at the right timing, right?"

"That’s true... but..."

Park Seung-hyun was caught off guard by the sudden instructions.

If he didn’t have determination, he would’ve run away as soon as he heard my words, but he didn’t.

Since he had applied for the representative selection later on, he must have prepared for this.

After taking a few deep breaths, Park Seung-hyun gave me the answer I was waiting for.

"I’ll do it."

As Park Seung-hyun adjusted his glasses and composed himself, the preparation time came to an end.

Even though the other side had their own strategy session, it didn’t seem to matter much.

Ma Jin-seung insisted that he hadn’t developed much of his support abilities and argued it would be better to fight as a dealer, while Gwak Gyeong-gu just said, "Alright, don’t interfere."

Even though I didn’t need to hear it, Ma Jin-seung’s loud voice made sure I heard everything.

"Our strategy is probably all heard."

"What! Ugh, but there’s no time to change the plan. Let’s go for a direct confrontation!"

No matter what their strategy was, it wasn’t going to change much about what we had to do.

I decided to keep my thoughts to myself.

As we headed toward the center of the arena located at Eungwang High’s training hall, Cheon Dong-ha introduced the judge.

"This match will be judged by Teacher Yong Je-geon."

"If it gets dangerous, I’ll step in."

"Yong-sensei’s standard for danger is what worries me, but we’ll leave it to him."

Cheon Dong-ha gave a slightly troubled look after seeing Yong Je-geon’s mischievous smile.

Looking at his face, it didn’t seem like he was planning to interfere unless someone was seriously injured.

Well, nothing that dangerous should happen in my match against my own playable character.

"I’ll win this time."

Updat𝓮d from freewēbnoveℓ.com.

"You won last time too."

"I didn’t think of it as a win."

Gwak Gyeong-gu, standing before me, spoke up.

It seemed like he was still bothered by the unclear victory last time.

While his fighting spirit had relaxed since Flamagoo, I was glad to see that it hadn’t disappeared entirely.

But this time, it seemed like it would end with my victory again.

"Are you ready? Then let’s begin!"

With Yong Je-geon’s relaxed voice signaling the start, Gwak Gyeong-gu and Ma Jin-seung rushed toward me simultaneously.

They decided to handle me first, believing that my offensive abilities and support skills wouldn’t pose much of a threat.

I heard the sound of a whistle and materialized a sword-type weapon item card, the same one I used when facing Gwak Gyeong-gu earlier.

[Skill "Universal Use" has activated.]

The system message echoed amid the whistling sound.

At the same time, I signaled to Park Seung-hyun.

If things went according to my plan, this match would be over in 30 seconds.

In the middle of the night, as the weather forecast said, rain began to pour outside the window.

Maeng Hyo-don stared blankly out the window and thought that if it rained like this, it would be difficult to go for a walk tonight.

Maeng Hyo-don looked away from the window and thought about the duel that had taken place today.