'Tis a Dragon Hunt
Both feet were off the ground.
It felt as if her entire body had been snatched right into midair.
Jiyu kicked her legs on reflex, but instead of solid ground, her feet met only empty air.
“Huh?”
Sunwoo had scooped her up in a sudden bridal carry, and in that fleeting instant, what Jiyu felt above all else was an uncanny sense of stability.
Needless to say, it wasn't because she was nestled in Sunwoo's arms.
The culprit was her drastically reduced height and weight. Under normal circumstances, carrying her like this would have been an awkward, cumbersome chore. Now, Jiyu weighed barely more than a single sack of cement. Sunwoo had been able to hoist her in an instant and haul her without breaking stride.
KABOOOOM!
Not that this meant they had cleanly escaped the attack, however.
They had barely, by the skin of their teeth, dodged the dragon's breath. After punching a massive crater straight through the estate's walls, the incinerating ray was already sweeping back toward them at terrifying speed.
“Shit!”
The dragon swung its breath weapon like a colossal lightsaber, poised to cleave both challengers and the entire mansion in half.
“What are you doing?! Run!”
“Urgh!”
Holding Jiyu firmly in his arms, Sunwoo sprinted for his life. Shockwaves ripped fractures across the estate, reducing the surroundings to absolute bedlam, but true to his role as a ranged DPS, Sunwoo nimbly darted and weaved past the falling debris.
“When does that damn beam stop?!”
“How should—cough!—how should I know?!”
“Ah, so last time, you just ate the breath the second you walked in and wiped instantly, huh?”
Even with her life hanging by a thread, jokes tumbled out of Jiyu's mouth.
“Keep your legs pumping, buddy!”
She held firm faith that Planet Buster Ray would be able to cancel out the breath. Her only justification was Hunter's Knowledge, of course, but sometimes, believing you can pull something off matters far more than knowing whether you actually can. And for Jiyu, this was precisely one of those moments.
Now, how the hell do I fire this skill?
Jiyu strained her senses, tuning into the instincts whispering inside her mind. First, she needed to block out all the extraneous emotions clouding her head.
What kind of situation am I in right now?
To start, right in front of her eyes was her friend's face. And thanks to this impromptu bridal carry, it was excessively close—close enough that his body heat and ragged breath washed directly over her. Next were the arm muscles pressed firmly against her thighs and back, lean, supple, and rock-solid.
Ugh... Gross...!
It was a sight that made her want to plant a fist right into his mug. Though even if she did unleash a full-power uppercut, her dainty, shrunken fist probably wouldn't hurt in the slightest. Worse yet, being cradled in this position served as an unavoidable, visceral reminder: she truly had turned into a woman. Which naturally made her already foul mood plummet even further.
I'm a mess. But this isn't because of skill information or side effects.
Her head was a jumbled storm of chaotic emotions. Yet within that whirlwind, she had to fish out the intuition belonging to the Support role. Shoving aside the swarm of distracting thoughts, Jiyu concentrated deep within herself.
A desire to protect. A warm, swelling sensation. It was the Support instinct that had pulsed within her ever since stepping foot into the tower.
What even is a Support?
She had always assumed it was just a class meant to hang back and provide backup. Yet anyone looking at the Support's third skill could tell it was never intended for mere babysitting.
I have to pull this off.
Steeling her resolve, she looked back upon everything she had experienced. Only now did she finally understand the true meaning of a Support.
“Urgh! Can you do anything?!”
“I'm sitting here because I can, obviously.”
The moment your team is about to take damage—you eliminate the source of that damage entirely.
That was the essence of a Support. Having reached enlightenment, Jiyu raised her staff and aimed straight at the dragon's head. Holding her breath, eyes wide and sharp, a humming, pulsing light at the tip of the staff signaled that the skill was primed.
“Planet Buster Ray!” Jiyu shouted in urgency.
A blinding flash erupted from the staff. From its tip burst a cataclysmic torrent of light.
BOOOM! CRASH!
“Gah?!”
Dragon breath collided with the Planet Buster Ray. The clash of the two colossal beams unleashed devastating shockwaves in all directions.
Szzzt!
—KRAAAAGH!!
Astonishingly, the first to sputter out was the dragon's breath. Having channeled it continuously for so long, the beast simply couldn't sustain the output.
“What the hell is this, seriously?!”
“Support, obviously.”
Even after obliterating the dragon breath, Jiyu's beam punched right through, surging forward to slam dead center into the overgrown lizard's brow. Sunwoo, the A-rank porter, was so dumbfounded he forgot he was still holding her.
“Ahem! Cough!”
“Ah.”
Awkwardly nudging Sunwoo, Jiyu finally set her feet back on the floor. A peculiar sense of smug satisfaction washed over her. Catching Sunwoo completely speechless like this was a once-in-a-blue-moon spectacle. While the raw firepower had shocked Jiyu just as much, her philosophy had always been: enjoy the moment while you can.
“It's not dead yet.”
“Tsk.”
“?”
Unfortunately, the infuriating redhead swiftly reverted to his usual composed demeanor.
“Enemy survival confirmed. Moving in for the kill.” Sunwoo briefed her with flat indifference. Evidently, a dragon was still a dragon; beaten and battered as it was, breath still clung to its lungs.
“Is it charging another breath?”
“Probably.”
“No problem. My ultimate's cooldown will definitely finish before then.”
◈ Skill duration increases as time elapses after entry.
◈ Cooldowns are drastically reduced.
A buff granted by the tower's adjustment. Time was entirely on Jiyu and Sunwoo's side.
“Death-Imbued Arrow!” Sunwoo drew his bow once more to secure the kill. As the skill triggered, a dark reddish-black aura swirled around his frame. “Here goes!”
The aura spiraled into the arrowhead in a tight vortex. A heartbeat later, it loosed straight toward the dragon.
Thwack!
Having just witnessed that apocalyptic spectacle moments ago, it did look a bit pitiful by comparison.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
A relentless volley of arrows fired in rapid succession, every single shaft embedding itself with pinpoint precision into the dragon's eyes and brow.
“Haa... haa... Another round!”
“Pfft!”
Sunwoo's breathing grew ragged, the strain catching up to him. Rapid-firing a bow had always taken an immense toll on physical stamina, and his dress shirt was gradually soaking through with sweat.
Ding!
Not that his stamina would ever run dry. After all, Jiyu possessed a skill that restored stamina on demand.
“Bwahaha! Go on then, show me what thou canst do!” Jiyu had somehow scavenged a chair from somewhere and lounged on it. Before anyone realized, her tone had turned absurdly regal again.
“Shut up.”
“I shall do no such thing!”
Granted, she wasn't bothering to resist the urge this time around. Feeling a strange emptiness down below, Jiyu couldn't help but rest an awkward hand over her lap. She sorely needed someone to vent her frustration on.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Even so, Sunwoo continued loosing arrows without a shred of hesitation. Not a single shot missed its mark. It was a masterclass technique only a seasoned ranged DPS could pull off, yet right now, it just looked hilarious. She couldn't help laughing—especially since the one sweating bullets like that was none other than Baek Sunwoo.
Of course, had they climbed higher floors, Sunwoo would have been able to purchase a full loadout of items. Even with Jiyu's passive boosting gold drops, it was nothing compared to the upper tiers. Had that been the case, this would have looked far more like a proper battle.
“Ahaha! You look like a performing monkey!”
“What kind of... No, why the hell is there a dragon on the tenth floor in the first place?!”
“How should I know? Er—I mean, neither doth I possess such knowledge!”
“Wait, just now, you—”
“A lowly ranged DPS shall not talk back to imperial Support royalty!”
“As long as you're happy, I guess.”
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
Even while bantering, arrows flew without a moment's pause.
—Whimper... skree... yelp!
At first, the dragon had reacted as if a speck of dust had merely flown into its eye. But as the damage accumulated, it began letting out downright pitiful whimpers.
“Did everyone get booted straight out of the gate yesterday the moment they took that breath to the face?”
“...”
“Is this for real?”
Bingo. The emergency standby hunters had been blasted by that very breath the second they entered the gate. With two critically injured, they had no choice but to retreat. They wrote the first raid off as a wipe and planned to reinforce their roster before trying again. The dragon's appearance had been completely unforeseen to begin with.
“Don't tell me you were one of the injured?”
And as luck would have it, one of the wounded happened to be the rookie damage dealer, Baek Sunwoo. Viewed harshly, Sunwoo had directly contributed to the raid's failure. People had undoubtedly whispered behind his back. It was unfair, but such was the bitter reality of how DPS were treated. That was the current state of damage dealers in South Korea.
“Whoa... You must've gotten reamed out so hard.”
“Focus on the boss.” Sunwoo deftly deflected the topic the second his blunder came up. He was clearly changing the subject out of embarrassment, but his point stood.
—Whimper...
The dragon was taking a merciless beating. Even so, it watched for an opening to unleash another breath.
—ROOOAAAR!
“Planet Buster Ray!”
Not that it mattered, since Jiyu had already cooled down her skill and was waiting for this exact moment.
BOOOM!
Once again, the two beams clashed. And once again, Jiyu's skill outlasted the dragon's. The beast had dragged the fight out far too long.
—Yelp! Screeech...
In the end, the dragon took the full brunt of the ray once more.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
An almost cruel barrage of arrows rained down upon it without mercy.
—Gurgle... ack!
It was only after a considerable span of time that the pitiable reptile finally breathed its last.
“Man... that thing was ridiculously stubborn.”
“Is it finally over?”
Disintegrating in a wash of white radiance, the dragon's massive carcass crumbled away. Because this was a boss battle, instead of gold that vanished upon exiting the tower, the drops were paid out entirely in mana stones.
“Mind if I grab those?”
“Wasn't planning on taking them anyway.”
Jiyu reached out, and the mana stones drifted toward her, slipping straight into her inventory.
“Heheh.”
“Happy now?”
Although Sunwoo was the one carrying her this time, truth be told, he was probably well accustomed to surrendering mana stones. Because that was the life of a damage dealer. For Jiyu, who had lived as a C-rank ranged DPS, the sensation was entirely novel. How should she put it? Like a mother who had spent years giving all the chicken drumsticks to her children, only to finally taste one herself after ages? Back then, she could never get a fair share of mana stones and had to scrape by scavenging miscellaneous loot to hawk on the market.
“That's not the main attraction, anyway.”
“Yeah. You're right!”
Pockets full of mana stones were sweet enough, but the real main course awaited them.
“I wonder what's inside the reward room?”
The reward room unlocked upon clearing a boss fight—a room whose loot the tower itself had explicitly promised to upgrade via system prompt. Judging by how wild the previous stages had been, whatever lay ahead was bound to be extraordinary.