Live Dungeon!

While Tsutomu was agonizing over his choices of team members, Melchor, with his Magic Stone supply fully replenished, went down to layer eighty again to challenge the Winter General again. Gaining a significant power boost and elemental advantage by using the Volcano layers’ Inferno Magic Stones with his Magic Fist, he impressively succeeded in taking the monster down.

[Huh, so going solo does have differences other than power levels…]

The Absolute Helix team also got to witness this victory live, as they had decided to stay in the Guild and watch the Monitor after today’s Dungeon exploration. Tsutomu noticed that many of the Winter General’s attacks did not match up with what he was used to from Live Dungeon, however. For one, Ealdred Crow had recently managed to reach the fight’s final phase, so he knew that there would be three phases to the fight — but during Melchor’s fight just now, the second phase had been skipped over.

Still, it was beneficial that he got a look at the Winter General’s final phase. These days, Ealdred Crow was the only Clan attempting layer eighty, so Melchor’s winning attempt today was sure to be a good source of reference material.

Another thing worth noting was that some of Ealdred Crow’s top team’s members had leveled up to 80. Absolute Helix’s strongest member, on the other hand, was Diniel, whose level was 74. The difference in level numbers was only 6, but that gap was made up of an absurdly high amount of experience points.

The Explorers who had reached level 80 seemed to have also learned some new skills, as they were seen testing out some never-before-seen moves. Back in Live Dungeon, Tank and Attacker-type Jobs would learn especially powerful skills as they got closer to the level cap, so one could expect them to make even faster progress going forward.

[I probably won’t get much of a boost, though…]

Upon reaching level 80, a White Mage would unlock <<Holy Justice>>, a powerful Holy-elemental attack magic. It had its uses, but it was not an essential part of a conventional White Mage’s skillset. In fact, most of their high-level skills were considered unnecessary bonuses, since they learned most of their essential skills at a relatively low level. The biggest benefit they would get from leveling up was the boost to their MND status rating — which, to be fair, would help them strategize and manage energy more easily, so it would not necessarily be a waste of effort.

The crowd was celebrating Melchor’s victory; Amy and Hannah, the team’s party people, were among them. As Tsutomu watched Hannah being thrown over the shoulder of another Explorer lady, Amira leaned closer and whispered to him,

“Hey, what’s the holdup? We would hurry and try the boss out too.”

“Didn’t I say that we wouldn’t until everyone’s level 70? It’s just two more levels — no need to rush. Also, your breath… stinks.”

“What the hell!? This thing is damn good, man! Here, have some!”

“No way. I don’t want to destroy my bowels tomorrow.”

Tsutomu narrowed his eyes, already feeling wrong in his stomach upon seeing that Amira was eating raw meat.

“Tch, this is why you’ll never get a girlfriend… I mean, what difference are 2 levels gonna do?”

“Better stats and more skills, that’s what. Besides, we haven’t been getting anything good from treasure chests these days — it’d be nice if we got something for our Tanks or Attackers before the fight.”

Although the Clan had found some treasure chests while exploring the Snow Field layers, the three latest ones had yielded Magic Bags. Countermeasure equipment would not be as essential on layer eighty as they were on layer seventy, but they would still be nice to have — if they could find some while leveling up.

“But you know, don’t you think it’s still worth a try? Training with actual combat, and stuff.”

“I don’t want to DIE. Besides, our equipment doesn’t come cheap, you know?”

“Shaddup! C’mon, just one time!”

“Yeah, sure, if you go by yourself. And the cost to replace your gear is coming out of your pocket.”

“…Look, man, I don’t wanna die, either. But I know I’ll get to fight at full power if you’re with me. If that’s still not enough and we both die, well… shit happens, yeah?”

Amira let out an annoyed sigh. Tsutomu, caught off guard by what he had just heard, coughed to hide his surprise and averted his line of sight.

“Uh-huh…”

“The hell’s with that reaction? You got a prob–“

As Amira was about to continue, Melchor emerged from the Guild’s Black Gate. That very moment, he was greeted with thunderous applause which drowned out Amira’s voice.

Tsutomu gave Melchor a round of applause as well. After that, there was not anyone the team wanted to watch on the Monitors, so they decided to call it a day.

Returning to the Clan House, Tsutomu went up to the second floor and took a bath before having dinner. As he was the first person to use the bathroom today, steam rushed out as he opened the door. He proceeded to wash his body with warm water, and then dipped into the bathtub.

[I’m already making compromises, you know…]

As Tsutomu sat in the tub, he pondered what Amira had said.

To him, fighting a layer boss was like riding a roller coaster. Once the car started climbing, he would wish it would never descend, but once it did go down the rails, it would turn out to be not as terrifying as expected. Tsutomu had already been killed once — by the Corroded Elder Dragon — so he knew he would be coming back to life, thus the assurance of safety that allowed him to make the roller coaster analogy.

Against the Fire Dragon and Mount Golem, however, Tsutomu could not help but feel frightened. Once he was in the fight, the only ways out were either death or victory. That was why he felt the need to level up and plan things out — so that everyone’s safety was ensured.

But it would not be easy to upgrade everyone’s gear and get them to train until they reached level 80, however. They all were accustomed to death in battle, so they had a casual attitude toward going into the fight to try things out, even if it meant certain death.

Moreover, spending too much time on preparations could lead to Ealdred Crow getting to the hundredth layer before them. This was particularly important because it might jeopardize his chances of returning to Japan.

That was why Tsutomu now planned to challenge the Winter General when everyone reached level 70. He had already informed everyone of it, but still wanted to make sure they were well-prepared so that he could avoid dying. On the other hand, he wanted to conquer the hundredth layer before Ealdred Crow did. Such was the dilemma Tsutomu found himself trapped in.

[Would it be less scary if we all die together?]

Garm, Amy, and Amira were sure to say ‘yes’ to that question without a second thought. But while Tsutomu trusted his Clan’s members, he could not bring himself to say ‘yes’ like them. If he could, he would not have proposed an escape plan during the Stampede.

[Maybe the arena will be so cold that I won’t feel any pain when I die. And hell, this is a fantasy world — and they don’t even have any medicine that numbs the pain! Like, super effective painkillers? Why don’t they have those?]

With such disturbing thoughts in his mind, Tsutomu tapped on the bucket floating in the tub.

―▽▽―

“……”

“Uh, why do you look so… scary…?”

Korinna averted her gaze, confused as to why Tsutomu was giving her an astonished stare.

Today, Tsutomu had formed a party with Korinna, whom he hadn’t been working with much recently, to observe her actual performance. The full party lineup was Hannah, Tsutomu, Korinna, Amira, and Diniel.

Korinna, serving as the party’s Healer, showed a performance that exceeded Tsutomu’s expectations.

“Looks like I need to step up my game…”

“H-huh!? T-that can’t be right!”

“Hehehe… Feel like you need extra training, Teach?”

“That’s rich, coming from YOU.”

“Owowow–!? S-stop it, Teach!”

Hannah let out a somewhat delighted scream, seemingly enjoying the way Tsutomu was pulling the corners of her mouth.

Since her role required her to move quickly, Tsutomu had somewhat of a hard time keeping up with shot and placement-type <<Haste>> due to having not worked with her for quite a while.

Korinna, on the other hand, could simply use her Channeler skills for the desired effects on her targets, making her exceedingly more compatible with an evasion-based Tank. And despite requiring less effort to maintain, Korinna’s AGI boost for Hannah was not any less effective than Tsutomu’s.

Tsutomu had already seen this coming, however, so he was not particularly surprised. What actually got him, though, was Amira.

“I didn’t notice how much better your teamwork with Amira has gotten.”

“Ah… To be honest, I never expected us to get along so well either…”

“WHAT?”

“Eep!! I’m sorry!!”

Korinna, who had been nervously fiddling with her cream-colored hair, let out a frightened scream in response to Amira’s displeased groan. At first glance, Korinna and Amira would seem incompatible due to their contrasting personalities, but from what Tsutomu could see, they turned out to have surprisingly good chemistry.

Ever since Amira saw the Greatsword Fighter from Golden Tune in action, she had stopped solely emulating her mother’s fighting style and started checking out the Monitors from time to time. And despite her aversion to reading, she even started scanning through Tsutomu’s newspapers every morning for extra information.

And when Amira found out that Korinna knew a lot about the Monitors, she started asking the latter a lot of questions, which seemed to be the starting point of their friendship. These days, they would even go out to check the Monitors in the market together on their days off.

Tsutomu, having spent most of his time in his room, organizing Dungeon-related information and discussing finances with Ollie, had completely missed these relationship developments. As such, he found their teamwork quite surprising, and was also amazed that Amira had become close with someone other than the Clan’s original members.

Amira and Korinna, having built up a certain level of friendship, had become quite compatible in combat as well. Previously, Korinna could not provide support to Attackers, but now she could cast her <<Blessing of Swiftness>> for Amira and Diniel as well. Furthermore, she understood how Amira’s <<Dragon Form>> worked, and was able to provide healing and support accordingly.

Amira’s control over her <<Dragon Form>> was not yet perfect. She would lose consciousness when things got too heated, and sometimes, she would not be able to disengage it herself. Korinna, understanding that, provided Amira with the appropriate level of healing and support, which required observing Amira’s <<Dragon Form>> extensively and refining her overall approach compared to before.

Moreover, Korinna had the ability to foresee death — dubbed the ‘eyes of a reaper’ after the Mount Golem battle. Perhaps her performance would be even more remarkable if she were to fight on the eightieth layer.

[Now this is getting interesting…]

There have been so many new Healer-related things popping up lately — the Mobile Healer style, a new type of skill, and newfound potential in more Healer-type Jobs. Thanks to Korinna’s achievements, he believed that people would start seeing the Channeler Job in a new light — in a positive way.

“You gonna demote yourself, Tsutomu?” Diniel asked with a straight face.

“No. And don’t jinx it.”

“Just kidding.”

“You should have made it more obvious that you were…”

Tsutomu narrowed his eyes, feeling a bit of a chill run down his spine.

<hr/>