Hard Carry Support

Chapter 16 - Learning the Ultimate Attack (2)

'Vision... Sword?'

Hyun's eyes widened after reading the description.

He had never seen or heard about the technique. It basically seemed like a weapon summoning skill.

…But the most amazing thing was its spec!

«Vision Sword»'s attack was equal to the damage absorbed.

So the stronger attack he managed to defend against with «One Second Immortality», the stronger «Vision Sword» he would be able to get.

'This... Is almost like a completely different skill from «One Second Immortality».

Hyun tried to think if the skill was actually worth it.

It had amazing potential.

For a moment, he thought that he must have been sleeping.

"Is it real...?"

Even though he had lost an arm and his partner had died, Hyun couldn't help but smile.

"It's an offensive skill!"

Hyun laughed like an edgelord, just like he always did when he felt good.

At that moment, Ain's shadow charged toward him.

"That one also looks like a powerful skill!"

He dodged the fire and immediately counter-attacked.

After two attacks, Ain's shadow, whose HP was already nearing zero, turned into fire and disappeared.

"First of all, let's eliminate these guys."

The Support shadow was easier to deal with.

Ain had lost because of the incredibly high amount of damage she could deal and not because of the opponent's strength.

What happened, probably, was that her attack was absorbed, and then the shadow counter-attacked with the «Vision Sword».

But a Support didn't have any high damage offensive skill, so the «Vision Sword» wouldn't be a menace to him!

It didn't take Hyun a lot of time to defeat his shadow.

Whish-

Once the opponents were defeated, the clock began moving again, and its hands made of fire began rotating.

He was about to go deeper.

[As a reward for clearing the third trial, every party member will be awarded temporary stats points!]

<Reward>

[Temporary Stat Points] +80

[Temporary Skill Points] +50

[The Support's Awakening Skill «Inverse Shield» has been unlocked!]

[The Close Range Magician's Awakening Skill «Magical Power Rush» has been unlocked!]

[Warning: You can choose only one Awakening Skill, so before choosing one, think about it carefully!]

[You'll get some rest time! Take your time to distribute the points received!]

While going down to the fourth floor, the number of messages he got from the system increased.

The amount of stat and skill points received had increased, and there was also a new thing…

Awakening Skill Unlock.

He had received the right to learn a new ultimate skill.

It was one of the things that had made many users struggle in Asra Online.

The reason why people often struggled with that decision was that the next awakening skill was at level 100.

'The deeper I go, the better the skill they'll give me.'

Usually, most people managed to go to the second or even third floor. In some rare cases, some lost in the first round.

If that happened, you were forced to choose between 3 'Basic Awakening Skills', but they were different in terms of quality compared with the skills you could obtain on the higher difficulty floors.

The deeper you went, the better skill you could obtain, and you only had one chance to do it right, at least until you reached level 100—this made many users laugh or cry.

'Oof... This is when it really begins.'

Most people weren't able to beat the third trial, so Hyun was already above average.

But from the fourth trial, the difficulty increased a lot.

If until the third floor, it was the tutorial, from the fourth floor onwards, it was like the wall of lamentations.

To obtain the sweet rewards, one had to go through very hard and difficult trials.

'How should I distribute the skill points?'

The fourth-floor trial was probably going to be very similar.

Hyun tried to think about possible strategies.

He thought about a strategy he wanted to try before going back in time and resurrecting Ain.

'Finally, my time has come... I'll be able to deal damage as a Support.'

He spent all the temporary skill points he had in 1 Second Immortality.

The points necessary to level up were 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, and 20!

Cling- Cling- Starting from 0, the skill level went up until the number 8 appeared.

There was a big jump from level 7 to 8 because that was probably the section where the skill evolved.

[ «The Heavenly God's Protection» Lv.8 ]

- Increase all defenses of any target within 20 meters by 100 points for one second.

- You can create a «Vision Sword» that has an attack equal to the total of the absorbed damage.

(Required Mana: 50)

- The «Vision Sword» lasts for (Empathy/100) seconds.

<Cooldown Time: 10 seconds>

Hyun changed the skill's name that had been reset to «One Second Absorption».

It was probably okay to express it as 'absorb’ since it was a skill that created a sword with an attack that was based on the amount of damage you could defend against.

Okay, as long as one ignored the horrible naming sense.

"I need to increase my stats!"

He put 45 points in Empathy, 15 points in agility, and 20 points in vitality.

Agility was very important. If he was slower than the enemy, there would be attacks he wouldn't be able to avoid.

He had increased his vitality because the difficulty would probably raise a lot from that point onwards.

Since the damage enemies dealt would increase, he had to avoid getting killed in one shot.

Ain: Hyun... You look like you're having fun.

Ain had sent a message to him through the capsule.

"From where are you watching?"

Ain: After dying, I'm just wandering around like a ghost... The function to talk to party members via whisper has been locked.

"Oh, I see."

Hyun understood the current situation.

Translator - Daniel Shin

Proofreader - ilafy

* * *

The reason why her awakening quest hadn't ended was that she still had one chance to revive.

"I'm going to revive you soon, so stick close to me."

Ain: H... Huh...? Why... Where, stick close?

"While fighting, I can't watch my back, so do it in my place. I don't know when a long-range attack will come."

Ain: Yeah. That... Will be easy.

[The fourth trial will start soon! Please distribute the points as fast as you can!]

<Current Location: Fourth Basement Level>

The alarm that had been silent for a while appeared again, and two giant flames were created in the air.

Once the fire died down, he could see two familiar shadows.

Imaginary Hyun (Grade: 4)

HP: 4000/4000

Mana: 300/300

[Strength: 10] [Agility: 35] [Vitality: 40] [Magical Power: 30] [Empathy: 100]

<Skill List>

[«The Heavenly God's Protection» Lv.8]

[«Shield» Lv.3]

[«???» Lv.2]

[«???» Lv.0]

Awakening Skill - [«Inverse Shield» Lv.0]

Imaginary Ain (Grade: 4)

HP: 6000/6000

Mana: 1000/1000

[Strength: 10] [Agility: 50] [Vitality: 60] [Magical Power: 100]

<Skill List>

[«Flame Claws» Lv.4]

[«Surge» Lv.2]

[«???» Lv.2]

[«???» Lv.1]

Awakening Skill - [«Magical Power Rush» Lv.0]

Since you could obtain better awakening skills from the fourth floor onwards, the enemies became much stronger.

After opening their status window, Hyun saw specs that were on another level compared to before.

"They're incredibly strong..."

There were many hidden skills!

…the HP also had gone from hundreds to thousands.

To make things worse, they had begun unlocking ultimate attacks, and because Ain was dead, he would have to fight against both of them.

Ain: It looks hard.

Hyun could hear Ain's voice.

Ain: But, if you leave the Close Range Magician alive and keep using her for the «Vision Sword», you could have a chance of winning.

Hyun smiled after hearing Ain's words.

By mere coincidence, he had thought of the same strategy.

"I know."

Fwoosh-

While they were talking, the Close Range Magician approached him while having both of her hands covered on fire.

Behind his back, the shadow Support made a hand gesture, and the size of the flames increased by three times.

The fire was way bigger than him, and it looked like it would devour Hyun at any moment.

"What happened...?!"

Suddenly, the size of the fire had increased.

What skill was it?

The speed in which he thought accelerated. He ended up finding the answer to his question in previous memories.

'I remember!'

[«Sophisticated Magic»]

- Increase the magical attack range of an ally by one meter.

- While attacking an opponent, if the target is within the increased attack range, the damage they receive increases by 1.5 times.

That was probably the reason why the fire had suddenly gotten bigger.

The attack range of the Close Range Magician had increased by one meter.

'If it touches me, I'll die!'

While thinking that, Hyun tried to get as close as possible while using «One Second Absorption».

Ain's shadow landed two attacks on him.

'I survived!'

Thanks to «One Second Absorption», he survived by a narrow margin.

He saw an opening on the opponent's chest that would allow him to land critical hit damage.

«Vision Sword».

Once he activated the chained skill, a cyan-colored sword appeared.

He pointed the two-meter cyan sword toward her heart.

Since he had absorbed the attacks of both hands, the sword's potential damage output was double the attack of Ain's clone.

That meant that the damage dealt would probably be in the thousands!

Crash-!

When he thought that the attack was a success, he heard the sound effect of his shield breaking.

'This...'

It was the sound that «One Second Immortality» made when it couldn't withstand the incoming attack.

When Hyun turned his head around, he saw another shadow standing there.

That's right. There was more than one enemy.

The shadow Support had used the same technique to protect against his attack.

Whoom-

Following that, just like he had done before, Hyun's shadow summoned a «Vision Sword».

'Damn!'

Hyun rolled sideways.

The wind generated by the «Vision Sword» brushed past his eyebrows.

Hyun sighed in relief. He had barely managed to survive.

'I almost died as soon as the battle began...!'

Since that «Vision Sword» had absorbed his attack, the damage output was probably at least one thousand.

He felt as if a death scythe had almost cut his throat.

Ain: An attack is coming from behind!

"Tsk...!"

While biting his lips, Hyun instinctively lowered his waist.

The fire attack went past his back.

‘Did I avoid damage?’

Even if he had managed to survive, the attack wasn't over yet.

Just like Aid did, the shadow of the Close Range Magician attacked while using both hands.

"Ugh..."

Hyun avoided the attack by rolling on the ground.

However, the Close Range Magician's fire attacks didn't have a cooldown time.

As if the shadow was making fun of him, consecutive attacks came toward Hyun.

'I should have increased my agility more!'

Ain: Be careful!

Whish- He subconsciously managed to brush off a silver attack that flew towards him.

[You've received 52 damage!]

The Support had his hand extended towards the front.

The attack covered in silver light was probably a skill he used.

"Did I have a long-range attack...?"

Hyun sighed.

[«Supporting Fire» Lv.0]

Throw a Vision Shortsword at an enemy within 30 meters and deal [Empathy] x3 as damage.

<Cooldown Time: 30 seconds>

There was nothing more bothersome than a long-range attack that came out of nowhere.

If that scenario of avoiding and blocking the enemy's attack continued, he would eventually die.

[You've received 55 damage!]

The remnants of the fire brushed past his body.

Even after using «One Second Absorption», he hadn't been able to block the damage completely.

[You've received 32 damage!]

That time, it was the Support's long-range attack.

He had managed to brush it off with his hands, but since he hadn't used «One Second Absorption», he received damage.

[You've received 49 damage!]

Ain: Hyun! If this continues, you'll die! Let's turn back the time!

"Wait."

Ain closed her mouth.

She felt that Hyun's voice had changed from before.

"Watch closely."

After saying that, Hyun suddenly remained still in his place.

Immediately, the attack of the two shadows came toward him.

If Hyun kept remaining still, the fire would soon devour him.