Live Dungeon!

[I’m getting hungry…]

The team had been fighting the Fire Dragon for three hours since Camille’s return; now Tsutomu remembered that he hadn’t gotten to eat anything. It was thanks to the team being composed of Garm the unbreakable Tank and an Attacker who responded well to his directions that Tsutomu had enough breathing room for such mundane thoughts.

Camille, possessing the ability of flight under the > spell’s effect, readied her greatsword while observing the Fire Dragon’s behavior from the air. Garm had started getting used to taking on the Dragon’s attacks, which enabled him to conserve his energy; as such, he had yet to show signs of fatigue. Although he had gotten his arm fractured at one point when a tailwhip had sent him flying into a wall, he was otherwise fine and perfectly functional.

Tsutomu chugged down about a half-bottle of Blue Potion, then cast Barrier for Garm so that the latter could catch his breath. Although his force of will was high enough to give him decent natural recovery, he still had to take a half-bottle drink of Blue Potion every hour.

Tsutomu took out a canteen and a salted candy from his Magic Bag and passed them to Garm. While Garm drank, Tsutomu lightly wiped dry the former’s sweat-drenched head with a towel, then fanned him.

The Fire Dragon tackled the Barrier, shattering it. Tsutomu cast > and retreated; in sequence, Garm used his Warrior Howl to draw the Fire Dragon’s aggro.

Garm essentially was taking all of the Dragons’ attacks with this tower shield, only dodging its stomps and bites, while also striking its front legs with his sword whenever the occasional chance arose. Camille, taking orders from Tsutomu’s hand signs, approached the Fire Dragon from the air and attempted to cut off its tail with her greatsword.

The Fire Dragon’s tail whip had been the most disruptive among its attacks. Tsutomu had deemed it too dangerous after seeing Garm getting hit by it once, which was why he had told Camille to try and chop it off. The base of the tail was too thickly scaled to be easily wounded, but they had been getting attacked consistently over the past two hours; those ganoid scales were in fact getting weaker.

If Camille were to assume her Dragon Form, she might have even lopped the tail off already, but she was unable to use it now. She appeared to still fear the Fire Dragon, and as a result, was unable to activate her ability.

Tsutomu was disappointed, after all that practicing, to find that he still couldn’t reliably place down pick-up > — and to add insult to injury, strategies involving the Dragon Form’s usage were now not an option. He couldn’t bring himself to blame Camille, though, what with her being so apologetic; instead, he smiled and assured her that things would work out just fine.

After all, the team had originally planned to get through this same Fire Dragon with Amy, their original Attacker. With that in mind, Tsutomu changed his mind with a positive outlook; even without the Dragon Form ability, the team’s firepower had still increased.

Camille, being told as such by Tsutomu, gritted her teeth in self-shame. She felt that, compared to the other two, she was a disappointment. That was all she could think about while she kept on attacking the Dragon’s tail.

Thanks to Garm’s efforts to attract the Fire Dragon up to now, she had yet to be targeted with a full-force attack. Although the Dragon did attack her with its tail and hind legs, its eyes were almost always fixed onto Garm. Whenever it tried to avert its sight to Tsutomu or Camille, Garm would promptly draw its aggro back.

These were her friends — Camille had never known that it would be so reassuring to have them.

The other day, they had had to fight their way through four consecutive waves of monsters. Camille had thought that the party would be spent by the third wave, so she had activated her Dragon Form, unleashing her full power without considering the consequences. However, Garm had drawn the monster army’s aggro efficiently, and never collapsed no matter how many hits he had taken. Tsutomu had kept up all the while with his support skills; whenever she or Garm took a hit, he would heal them up not even a second later. In the end, they had made it through all four waves without anyone dying once; Camille’s expectations, albeit a negative one, had been betrayed.

From when she had first entered the Dungeon to now, Camille had never had such reliable friends. She had previously thought of her friends as those who followed her as she pressed onward.

Until now, there had never been anyone who could compare to her in Dragon Form. She had always taken the lead, cutting the way open for her friends to follow. That was the case with her husband, too.

She had achieved greater prestige than anyone else, and as a result, had become intoxicated. She would share it all with her party and clan members, but never had she been able to make it a true sharing; she was the clan’s heart and its ace Attacker, but the difference in power had isolated herself from others. Her friends had always followed her, but none she had been able to fully rely on.

After the four-wave battle, it had struck with Camille that this team could be the one.

Then again, despite that feeling, she had found herself unable to trust them as soon as the Fire Dragon appeared before her. She had trembled like a rabbit, thinking there was no way the Fire Dragon could possibly be defeated; the two others, however, had kept their calm and went up against the monster. Furthermore, they had even helped her out of her faint-heartedness.

She couldn’t use her Dragon Form — Despite Camille telling Tsutomu so, the latter had hand-waved it, saying it was all right. And he would be right; they had been able to keep up with the Fire Dragon for a long time now. She was relieved, but at the same time, miserable and frustrated at her own shortcomings.

By now, Garm had been blown away by the Fire Dragon dozens of times, and at one point had suffered a severe injury from its tail attack. Still, he showed no sign of giving out, standing against the powerful Dragon as firmly as ever.

The same went for Tsutomu; he had taken over the role of striking the Fire Dragon’s crystal and had had no difficulties with it thus far, while also keeping an eye on the monster’s every movement and keeping up with his support skills. Camille knew that she herself was the one dragging the team down — that, she could not let stand any longer.

Her friends had always been behind her, but now, they were running right by her side.

She told herself that, if this was how it must be, then she must not stop.

“>…”

Red photons radiated from the scales on Camille’s body. Not faint light like before — this time it was as intense as the sun.

Her red hair and eyes were dyed a deep crimson. Wings sprouted off her back; the intensity of it made her appear more powerful than ever before.

“AAAAAHHHHH!!!”

Camille shouted, as if to unleash all the strength she had hidden in her body, and swung her greatsword down at the Fire Dragon’s tail.

The sword smashed through the cracked scales. The Fire Dragon was prompted by the sudden, crippling impact to turn around. By now, however, Camille was no longer frightened by the Dragon’s eyes.

“>!!”

Wielding her greatsword two-handed, she brandished it and swung down once again, unleashing a shockwave around her upon impact. This time the blade went through, tearing its way right past the flesh, and in the end, struck the ground.

Its tail was beautifully severed. The Fire Dragon flinched from the first severe pain it had ever felt. It writhed on the ground, as if trying to crawl away.

“>. …Garm! Draw aggro now!”

“>.”

The Dragon, bleeding profusely from the stub of its tail, seared the wound with its own fire breath. Its muffled cry of pain echoing through the air, its golden eyes turned bloodshot with rage.

Now it recognized that the little creatures in its opposition were very much capable of harming it.

Camille had garnered a great deal of aggro from her cutting of the Fire Dragon’s tail. Once she stopped moving, Tsutomu shot a > at her; the latter had considered it troublesome if she were to generate more aggro, and had decided to dispel her transformation. Garm then followed, directing his > at the Fire Dragon… but the enemy’s hostility was still on Camille.

Moreover, Camille proceeded to side-step away from the > shot. Tsutomu, startled, tried to shoot her another >c; this time she waved back at him.

[…She’s in control?]

The Dragon Form raised all of its users’ statistic ratings except for LUK, but in exchange, put them in an unstable mental state — According to Camille’s explanation, that was the effect of the skill, and Tsutomu had already confirmed that to be the case with his own two eyes. Previously, Camille had never been conscious enough in her Dragon Form to respond to his words.

But now, she was gesturing in the distance, as if to say that there was nothing to worry about. Then the Fire Dragon, its tail wound now closed, stood up on its two hind legs and started biting the wind, hoping to catch Camille out of the air.

Even though the crystal on its forehead had been broken and its flying ability had been reduced, that didn’t mean the Fire Dragon was completely grounded. It climbed up a cliff with its claws and jumped off, getting itself airborne and going after Camille.

Camille avoided the incoming attacks, swooping down to the ground instead. The Fire Dragon followed right behind her, spreading its wings and gliding down.

“>. >. >.”

Garm chugged down a half-bottle of Blue Potion, having been permitted by Tsutomu to do so, and proceeded to unleash a red energy wave from his body at the Fire Dragon. Then he made his shield vibrate by slamming it onto his armor — and while it was still vibrating, threw it right at the Fire Dragon’s face.

The shield, ringing under the effect of Warrior Howl, hit a horn on the Fire Dragon’s head, disrupting its sense of hearing. Having pulled off multiple mentally-taxing moves at once, Garm started to feel weary, but the effect of the Blue Potion worked to cancel it out.

“Breath incoming!”

The Fire Dragon inhaled, unleashed its breath at the ground, and then landed. Garm blocked the breath with his fire-resistant coat, but the wind pressure from the Dragon’s landing caused the coat to flip up, causing some of the fire to hit his body.

But Garm’s VIT, counting Protect’s enhancement, had the rating of A; even though he was taking direct damage, he still managed to withstand the fire well enough to keep moving. Disregarding the burns on his own face, Garm put on his hood again and held up his tower shield.

“>.”

His burns were then promptly treated by Tsutomu’s >. The Fire Dragon, having lost most of its tail, seemed to have difficulty keeping balance walking on its two hind legs. Its eyes were finally glued onto Garm once again.

Tsutomu cast Protect for Garm and then approached Camille, who still maintained her Dragon Form as she descended to the ground. Noticing Tsutomu, Camille greeted him with a smile.

“Hello? Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“What, you messing with me now? Of course I can hear you just fine.”

“I mean, you’re still in Dragon Form, right? How are you able to speak?”

“Beats me. But it’s good this way, isn’t it?”

“Could this be a mid-battle evolution…?”

[She really does come from a combat-oriented race,] Tsutomu thought to himself as he moved to a position where he could see Garm. Camille, seeming quite happy for herself, repeatedly clenched and unclenched her fists.

“You know, it’s probably thanks to you two. I appreciate it.”

“Huh? What are you on about?”

“No, it’s nothing. Anyway, I’d like to hurry and test out this power! I can keep going like this, right!? RIGHT!?”

“>.”

“AHHHH!!”

Tsutomu, seeing how overly excited Camille was getting while proposing such a dangerous plan, cast > on her. The dispelling effect disengaged the Dragon Form, just as it had before; Camille’s red scales ceased their glow, and her wings turned black before fading away.

“Come on… You’re such a party pooper.”

“Seriously, though… what were you thinking, suddenly using Dragon Form and going straight at the tail like that? That really spooked me, you know. Almost gave me a heart attack…”

“…Can’t you praise me a little more?”

Peeved, Camille stuck her greatsword into the ground; Tsutomu, keeping a sidelong glance on Garm, produced a lowkey-sadistic look and proceeded to say,

“I would have done that if you hadn’t chickened out at the beginning… and wet yourself.”

“What the — I’ll admit that I was scared, but I DID NOT wet myself! Look!”

Camille pulled up the edges of her leather pants; Tsutomu ignored her and shot > at Garm”s left arm. Camille still persistent, Tsutomu nodded to pacify her and proceeded to give her his next orders.

“I’d like you to use Dragon Form again in about three minutes — and aim for the wings then. Also, that new form of yours might have been achieved by accident, so if you’re in control, please wave to me.”

“…Understood.”

“Hmm? Your pants… aren’t they totally wet?”

“Sweat! It’s sweat!”

“Yes, yes, whatever you say!”

Panicking upon Tsutomu’s remark, Camille pulled up her pants again. Tsutomu carefully moved away from her and approached Garm, getting ready to support him the best he could.