The Support Ate it All-Chapter 304: No. 482 Old Sapphire Temple (1)

The descent was smooth.

Before long, we arrived at the D-floor where a teleportation portal stood open before us.

[No.482] [Old Sapphire Temple]

Shin Byeong-cheol glanced at it briefly before asking,

“Want me to wait up front, or should I come by later?”

“Come later, at dawn. I’ll be training for quite a while.”

“Okay, see you then.”

With a grin, Shin Byeong-cheol vanished like the wind.

After exchanging a glance with Hong Yeon-hwa, I stepped into the teleportation portal.

In the next moment, a vast, snow-covered mountain range unfolded before my eyes.

Soft snowflakes drifted down, settling into the profound silence.

“……”

Perhaps because of that, Hong Yeon-hwa stood still for a while and looked blankly at the snowy landscape.

There was no need to rush, so I gave her a moment to take in the view before taking the lead.

“Follow me.”

“M-Mhmm!”

Startled out of her daze, Hong Yeon-hwa quickly scurried after me.

As we approached the snow-covered mountain, the uneven outline of stairs became faintly visible beneath the white blanket.

I looked up along the stairs and a snow-covered building, or rather the remains of the building, came into view.

That was the Sapphire Temple.

Whooosh—

Casting Wind Force sent the accumulated snow flying away, revealing the stairs beneath.

However, since a thin layer of ice coated them, I gave Hong Yeon-hwa a warning.

“Be careful. It’s slippery.”

“Mhmm…”

She cautiously glanced down at her feet and began climbing the stairs.

But her efforts were in vain. Within moments, she slipped sideways and tumbled into the snow.

“..……”

“You okay?”

“I-I’m fine…”

Hong Yeon-hwa took my outstretched hand and pulled herself up.

Her face was slightly flushed which was likely from a mix of embarrassment and frustration.

Perhaps that was why, the moment she got up, she began chanting a spell. The ruby embedded in her staff became engulfed in flames.

Whoosh.

The fire melted the surrounding snow within a certain radius, making it vanish without a trace.

With each step up the stairs, the next step naturally came into view.

This is incredibly convenient.

As expected, a portable bonfire was the way to go.

We murmured our admiration, continued our ascent, and soon arrived at the snow-covered temple.

Though the structure had been severely weathered, leaving behind little more than a few pillars, the temple still retained an air of solemnity and reverence. ℝ𝘼ꞐộꞖÈś

It’s probably because of that.

A single important relic had the power to dictate the entire atmosphere of a place.

At the end of my gaze stood a grand statue of a goddess carved from solid ice.

She wore a benevolent smile as if welcoming us.

But that didn’t bother me. I pointed to the statue and gave Hong Yeon-hwa an order.

“Burn that.”

“…Burn it?”

She blinked as if questioning whether such blasphemy was truly allowed.

Still, trusting that I had my reasons, she conjured a ball of fire in her hand and hurled it straight at the statue.

Boom!

An explosion erupted, engulfing the ice goddess in flames.

Considering the overwhelming power of Aqua Flame, it should have melted away in an instant just like the snow Hong Yeon-hwa had cleared on our way up.

But the statue remained intact. The surface had become slick with moisture, but its shape held firm.

The only noticeable change was its face.

The once-gentle smile had vanished. It was replaced by a grotesque snarl as it glared down at us.

“It’s mad.”

“Y-Yeah… I guess so?”

Thud!

The statue stepped forward, breaking free from its pedestal to stand before us.

At the same time, a swirling blizzard gathered in both of its hands, freezing into solid weapons.

As I watched this unfold, I spoke in a calm and casual tone.

“Today, we’re taking that thing down.”

“Mhmm. Got it.”

Hong Yeon-hwa’s voice had settled into quiet determination.

The main objective of this dungeon was a boss raid. That is to defeat the Sapphire Goddess Statue.

To elaborate on that,

“As you just saw, it doesn’t melt easily. It has fire resistance.”

“What’s its rank?”

“D.”

The statue was the guardian of the Sapphire Temple.

Because of that, while it could be destroyed by other means, it was designed to resist burning or melting.

It was a glimpse into the relationship between ruby and sapphire.

I smirked slightly.

“If anything, this makes it better for training.”

“……!”

Most ice-type monsters melted the moment they came into contact with Hong Yeon-hwa’s flames.

But this statue would hold out much longer, making it the perfect opponent for practicing fire magic and Aqua Flame.

A growing sense of anticipation appeared on Hong Yeon-hwa’s face.

Then, as if remembering something, she rummaged through her inventory and pulled out two magic scrolls.

They were Rank Boost scrolls.

She hesitated for a moment before holding one out to me.

“Uh… here….”

“You’re giving me another one? I feel kind of bad taking it.”

“No, it’s f-fine! I just got them from a random box anyway….”

Now that I thought about it, she had mentioned getting two of them from a Winterhalt random box.

Of course, no matter how she had obtained them, they were still valuable. But since she was offering, I decided not to refuse.

Some of my skills were already approaching B-rank, so I needed to push forward quickly.

“Thanks. I’ll use it well.”

“Should… should we use them now?”

“Let’s fight it first.”

It wouldn’t be too late to use them after getting a sense of how the boss fight played out and repeating the process as needed.

Just in time, the Sapphire Goddess Statue had also finished preparing for battle.

In one hand, it held a trident. In the other, a spellbook.

The next moment, the statue strode forward and thrust its trident at me.

I met its attack with the sapling wrapped in Twister and Wind Force.

Clang!

I deflected the strike to the side.

Without hesitation, the statue retrieved its trident and stabbed again.

And just like before, I diverted the attacks.

Clang, clang!

“I’ll handle the melee attacks. Just focus on the ranged ones.”

“Mhmm, I’ll do that.”

Even without being told, Hong Yeon-hwa was already chanting spells rapidly while I exchanged blows with the goddess statue.

As expected, the statue withdrew its trident and extended the spellbook in its other hand.

With a blue flash, icicles and snowballs rained down in a torrent.

Facing the spectacle, Hong Yeon-hwa let out a scoff, as if she was unimpressed.

“Hmph.”

Whoosh!

Flames erupted, forming layered barriers. The icicles that were still midair vanished in an instant and got reduced to nothing.

Not only that, but multiple red magic circles appeared beneath the statue’s feet, summoning towering pillars of fire.

It was Fire Pillar, Hong Yeon-hwa’s signature spell.

Kwoooosh!

Watching the scene, I gave a small nod.

“You’ve improved a lot. Both your defensive magic and Fire Pillar.”

“R-Really…?”

“Yeah. Your casting is smoother than before. Your spell chaining is faster, too.”

“……..!”

The corners of Hong Yeon-hwa’s lips twitched upward.

Her eyes practically screamed, “Tell me more!”

But as if reminding herself that the battle was still ongoing, she quickly turned her gaze forward again.

“….……”

As the pillars of fire subsided, the Sapphire Goddess Statue was revealed once more.

Its body was warped in several places, with one arm and one leg completely blown off.

The Aqua Flame had bypassed its fire resistance and inflicted real damage.

With such a powerful trait and a clear rank difference, the outcome had been decided from the start.

Thud.

The statue soon dropped to one knee.

Ice gathered around it, cocooning the statue like a protective shell as it began restoring its melted parts.

Hong Yeon-hwa was about to hurl another fireball at it when she noticed me standing still and asked,

“Wait… We’re just leaving it alone?”

“We have to. Otherwise, you won’t get another chance to hit it.”

“Ah…!”

A figurative exclamation mark popped up over Hong Yeon-hwa’s head.

If we finished off the statue now, the dungeon would be cleared immediately.

To maximize rank progression, she had to beat it down, let it recover, then beat it down again. She should keep repeating the process to the extreme.

And there was one more thing.

“I stopped by the Ruby Magic Tower yesterday, right?”

“Mhmm, you did…?”

“I borrowed this from senior.”

When I pulled out the Book of Chaos, an exclamation mark practically appeared over Hong Yeon-hwa’s head.

She turned to me and asked,

“Are you planning to use it now?”

“It’s the most efficient way to farm.”

Hong Yeon-hwa stared at the Book of Chaos with a mix of anticipation and unease.

But since her excitement outweighed her worry, she didn’t object.

Without hesitation, I tore out the first page.

Fwoooosh!

The space around us trembled, sending ripples of energy in all directions.

I kept my eyes locked on the Sapphire Goddess Statue, watching closely to see what kind of effect the Book of Chaos would have.

And then, I noticed it. The parts that had melted were now regenerating at a visibly faster rate.

“It’s got a healing boost now.”

That actually worked out in our favor.

If it healed quickly, that meant less downtime between fights.

Soon, the fully restored statue shed its icy cocoon and stepped forward.

“Let’s use it now. The boost.”

“Mhmm.”

We both activated Rank Boost at the same time.

A bright light flared from the magic scroll, and a system notification popped up.

[Activated ‘Rank Boost’.]

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[Skill and trait growth speed has greatly increased.]

Farming officially started now.

We planned to keep repeating this cycle until Rank Boost wore off.

Swish!

The goddess statue lunged forward, thrusting its trident while launching a flurry of ice spells.

I countered with wind magic while red magic circles formed beneath its feet.

Kwoooom!

***

After repeatedly pummeling the Sapphire Goddess Statue, letting it recover, and pummeling it again…

[The rank of ‘Wind Force’ has increased. (C+ → B+)]

At last, Wind Force had broken through its wall.

Now, there was no one in the first-year class who could match me.

I turned to Hong Yeon-hwa and asked,

“Did any of your skills rank up?”

She hesitated before answering,

“…No, not yet.”

Hong Yeon-hwa slowly shook her head.

Reaching B-rank was never going to be that easy.

My goal was to raise Twister as well, but there was still no sign of progress.

The only option was to keep going.

Meanwhile, even though the Book of Chaos accelerated the Sapphire Goddess Statue’s recovery speed, there were still occasional gaps in the cycle.

Especially when Hong Yeon-hwa misjudged her firepower and left the goddess statue on the brink of death; it took much longer to recover in those cases.

During those breaks, we took the opportunity to rest and chat about random things.

At one point, something came to mind, so I asked,

“Before we left, you were about to ask me something but stopped.”

“……”

Hong Yeon-hwa instantly looked startled and her eyes started darting around.

But soon, as if she had made up her mind, she laid some groundwork before speaking.

“Well… I was just curious about something, that’s all…”

“Yeah? Go ahead.”

“Um… are you… dating Seo Ye-in?”

So this was what it was about.

I immediately understood why the Hong Yeon-hwa and Hon Ye-hwa sisters had been acting so cautiously.

Of course, there was no reason I couldn’t answer.

“No, we’re not dating.”

When I shook my head, Hong Yeon-hwa’s eyes widened slightly.

It seemed like she had leaned more toward believing that we were.

“Th-Then… what about Senior Dang Gyu-young…?”

“We’re not dating either.”

Hong Yeon-hwa’s expression grew even more confused.

But perhaps thinking she might as well go all the way, she continued asking questions.

“Then… is there someone you like…?”

“There are plenty.”

“P-Plenty…?”

Hong Yeon-hwa’s pupils wavered from side to side.

I smirked and added,

“I’m a greedy person, you know.”

***

TN: Lol! I wasn’t familiar with your game, young monarch~