Live Dungeon!

After a while, Amy shyly moved away from Tsutomu; the latter, feeling that things were getting awkward, excused himself as if trying to escape the situation. In distracting himself, he took a walk through the town, heading to the plaza where the live broadcasts were taking place.

The area around the single-digit Monitors was at its busiest from six o’clock in the afternoon, after which the day laborers got off their work shifts; it was practically a festive riot here now. At a nearby stall, a stern man raised his voice to compete with the audio of Monitor #1 at pulling in customers, while his hands were busy cooking diced meat on a griddle.

Tsutomu, as if drawn by the smoke of grilled meat, approached the stall and bought some of the diced meat. Eight pieces of the cube steaks and crudely shredded vegetables glistened with grease in the paper bag; he used a wooden skewer to pick them up.

While chewing on his food, Tsutomu walked through the crowd to the lower platform; in the distance, he saw Monitor #1 showing the Scarlet Devil Squad exploring the sixty-second layer.

Monitors #1, 2, and 3 were dominated by the usual Scarlet Devil Squad, Golden Tune, and Ealdred Crow respectively; on the Monitors after them were parties of major Clans exploring the Canyons. Tsutomu observed all of them while he ate, and at one point, the party on Monitor #5 caught his eye.

It was the second party belonging to Ealdred Crow, facing a group of Orcs. Tsutomu folded up his paper bag and put it away in his Magic Bag, then waded through the crowd to get closer to Monitor #5. Once there, he looked up at the Monitor, the height of which almost matched his.

Ealdred Crow’s parties up until now had been mostly specialized in making a profit by defeating monsters quickly with simultaneous attacks, and in turn, minimizing the use of Potions. Their composition had included four Attackers and one Healer.

But the Ealdred Crow party shown fighting on Monitor #5 now had a Warrior as their sole Attacker. The four others included a Knight, a Paladin, a White Mage, and a Minstrel — a stark difference from their parties’ usual structure.

By having their lower-tier members test out other Clans’ tactics, they could then re-strategize their higher-ranking teams if those approaches proved to be useful. The Ealdred Crow had a great number of members, and they came in a wide variety of races and Jobs, so one could say that they had the advantage of access to talent than any other Clan.

As such, their rates of progression and combat adaptability were higher than those of the other Clans and parties. Their lower-tier parties, which had started learning Tsutomu’s tactics with the knowledge gained from their informants, have been overtaking the higher-tier ones. By using Tsutomu’s approach of assigning the roles of Attacker, Tank, and Healer, those of the Healer and Tank Jobs among the Clan’s weaker members were now getting their time to shine.

Their White Mages and Enchanters have effectively soaked up Tsutomu’s tactics and use of skill shots. Their Knights, Heavy Knights, and Paladins have accepted that they were inferior in terms of attack power, and in turn, have understood their roles as Tank classes. As such, they have stopped thinking about pure firepower, and started using skills for managing aggro instead.

Up until now, their spotlight had been hogged away by the Attackers; now they were absorbing knowledge and practicing their roles like there was no tomorrow, and at this point, they have already managed to get to a practical skill level. But the Attackers were still essential, and Ealdred Crow still hasn’t managed to get most of them to cooperate with the new mindset.

Attackers maximizing their firepower had been the norm for many years, which meant that many were still too prideful to change now. That approach had been prevalent especially since Attackers were the main factor in cutting through the forty-first layer onward.

As a result, many of those with Attacker Jobs had looked down on Explorers of other Jobs. It would take a long time for these Attackers to adjust to working with Jobs that had never been in the limelight before, partly because of their lack of awareness of roles’ importance. The Clan’s informant, probably having anticipated that, had tried changing their party’s composition for the time being.

Running two Attackers, two Tanks, and one Healer would make them end up with excessive firepower. As such, they had the idea to cut down on the Attackers, and had instead gone for one Attacker, two Tanks, and two Healers. That party setup has been showing some good results.

Although their progression through the layers had not been all that efficient so far, their rates of death and Potion consumption have greatly reduced compared to those of other parties, in turn increasing their profits. This also allowed them to more effectively utilize the talented personnel among their ranks. As a result of their approach, their makeshift party of high-leveled Explorers managed to fight their way through the Canyons.

“Ooh!”

Tsutomu, seeing that the one-Attacker party was about to fight some Orcs, shouted out excitedly as he watched on.

Facing four Orcs, the Knight and Paladin in the front used Combat Cry to keep the Orcs’ eyes on them. One man in the back, the Minstrel, held up the ukulele-like instrument in his hands.

“>.”

Along with the chant, he began to strum his instrument, producing a morale-inducing timbre. Upon hearing it, the VIT of all other party members increased by one tier. The Knight deflected the Orc’s sword swing with his shield and landed a counter attack.

The Minstrel Job was characterized by their ability to strengthen all members of the party and weaken multiple monsters using the sounds of their singing voices and musical instruments. And unlike Tsutomu’s > and > skills, these skills would never accidentally strengthen monsters.

They were capable of performing healing skills, too, but theirs were less effective than those of the White and Gray Mages; as such, they were a stronger player in the Buffer role. And as a result, Minstrels were widely recognized as those who mainly supported allies.

The Warrior cut down the Orc that was about to strike the Knight from behind. Then, the Orc next to that one turned to the Warrior instead.

“>.”

The Knight struck the second Orc with his shield, and while it was staggered, the Warrior then made quick work of the Orc. In between taking down the two Orcs, the party noticed some Kungfu-garoos in the distance, hopping toward them on the reddened earth.

“>.”

The Minstrel used his singing voice to activate a skill that increased his party’s AGI by one tier. Its effective time was longer than those of > and >, and one did not need to worry about misfiring its support effect.

In fact, it was the existence of the Minstrel Job that had caused the White Mages of the White Strike Wings, one of the major mid-tier Clans, to stop trying to develop their skill shots.

But of course, Minstrels did have their list of disadvantages. For instance, if they were to stop singing or performing mid-way, they would not activate any enhancement effect. Moreover, the types of support skills they could use depended on the number of instruments they were able to play. In this case, the team’s Minstrel only carried one instrument with him. As a result, he could use only two types of support skills, one through his instrument and the other from his singing voice.

Additionally, if party members were to lose their sense of hearing, a Mintrel’s support skills would have no effect on them. The same applied to monsters; they could not be weakened if they didn’t have a sense of hearing.

Therefore, White Mages had the advantage when it came to healing skills and >, while Enchanters had access to a greater variety of buffs and debuffs. Leaving White Mage aside, however, the Enchanter Job was considered bad luck; it was said that one’s Explorer career was doomed from the start if they were to get it as their Job. In fact, only one famous Enchanter existed: the bespectacled man who managed the Security Team.

Ealdred Crow’s party had just finished killing the four Orcs when a Kungfu-garoo rushed them, springing off the ground and pointing its legs forward, striking the Warrior like a spear. The Warrior was sent flying by the surprise attack from behind. Seeing that, the Knight and Paladin panicked; both ended up unleashing a > at the same time.

[Not good… their timing is thrown off. It’d still be fine if they had the mental stamina to spare, but it doesn’t look like they do.]

Seeing how his tactics were being adopted, Tsutomu observed the battle with a broad grin on his face. The White Mage ran to the Warrior then had been blown away, then placed the tip of his staff on the latter’s back.

“>”

The bruises under the Warrior’s armor faded away, his internal wounds mended. The Warrior quickly stood up and headed to the Kungfu-garoos as they rushed down the Knight and Paladin; the White Mage hurried after him.

“>, >.”

The White Mage placed his staff on the Knight and Paladin’s backs, undoing the damage that the two had sustained. Seeing that, Tsutomu retracted his grin and pondered things over.

[Hmm, so he still can’t shoot >. The Silver Beast’s Header did say that doing that weakens the effect, now that I think about it. I’ll have to look into that in full detail after the Solit Company fiasco is over. Also, if I remember correctly… Camille said that she’d be going with Silver Beast this Wednesday? Garm will be meeting with them soon, too, so maybe I’ll have them ask their Healer for information on what might have caused it.]

While Tsutomu took notes of what he was planning to do later, namely investigating the weakening of > skill shots, he kept on watching the Ealdred Crow’s battle.

Although the Kungfu-garoos’ attacks were powerful and precise, the Knight and Paladin still managed to counter them while using skills to generate aggro. Although the party’s firepower was somewhat insufficient since they had only one Attacker, the battle situation was fairly stable.

The Knight and Paladin made use of their high VIT to Tank the monsters’ attacks, while the Minstrel supported them with his skills. The White Mage stayed right behind the Tanks and healed them. The Warrior, thanks to the team setup, was free to attack the monsters as he pleased.

After defeating all of the Kungfu-garoos and confirming everyone’s safety, they loosened up a little and whispered something amongst themselves while exploring more of the Canyons.

They encountered some Wyverns and initiated a battle; the Wyverns’ tail spikes, meant for the Knight, hit the White Mage instead, resulting in the latter being paralyzed. The Orcs in the area then rushed them, weapons in hand.

The White Mage could not move. The Knight and Paladin were completely occupied by the Wyverns in front of them, leaving the enemies’ reinforcement Orcs running free. In the end, one of the Orcs smashed the White Mage’s head, killing him. The Knight and Paladin shifted to all-out offense, abandoning their Tank roles and their aggro-generating skills, but their strength was whittled down by the Wyverns and Orcs, and in the end, the party was wiped out.

[Well, they’ve got a long way to go.]

Tsutomu, grinning again, went around to check out the other Monitors, and when he felt it was about time to leave, he headed back to Garm’s room.

The next day, he had a formal meeting with Garm, Camille, Amy, and the Deputy Guild Master to discuss the case surrounding Solit Company. Amy looked a little disgruntled, perhaps due to how she wasn’t all too happy about the topic at hand.

Camille had been in a bad mood toward Tsutomu since the start of the meeting, too. This being the first time he was treated like this, and not at all knowing the reason, Tsutomu asked Camille why she was acting like that. Unfortunately, all he got, however, was a look from Camille as if she was a reptile staring down her prey.

“So, Tsutomu, I heard this from Amy… You told her that, if you could only have one Attacker in your party, you’d choose her over me… Is that true?”

“Yes, that’s true~~! Tsutomu chose me~~!”

“Now, Tsutomu, how about you try looking me in the eye, hmm?”

“…U-um, Garm? Deputy Guild Master?”

Tsutomu turned away from Camille, whose eyes were fixed on him, and looked pleadingly at the Deputy Guild Master and Garm. The Deputy Guild Master quickly looked away, while Garm shook his head.

“I ought not to meddle in your party’s affairs, so…”

“Neither do I regarding this case, actually…”

“Tsutomu, boy! You’ll choose me, right!?”

“No, of course it’s gonna be me! You told me that yesterday!”

“…I mean, having both of you are great–“

Camille grabbed Tsutomu’s right shoulder. The creaking pain caused him to writhe and slap her hand to signify his surrender.

“That’s out of the question. Why don’t you try and choose one or the other, hmm?”

“Hmm~~? Tsutomu already chose me, though~~? Right~~? You said that yesterday, right~~?”

And then Amy grabbed him on his left shoulder. Her nails dug a little into Tsutomu’s skin, causing him to let out a short scream.

“Come on, which one will it be? Out with it, Tsutomu!”

“Well, I already know what the answer actually is, but I’d like to hear it from you again, yeah~~?”

If he were to choose right, his left shoulder would bleed, and if he were to choose left, his right shoulder would be pulverized. Tsutomu, cold sweat running down his forehead, closed his eyes thread-thin and chanted,

“>!”

Using his blinding skill, Tsutomu managed to escape from the conference room… at least… for a few steps… before the two caught him and dragged him back inside; they proceeded to give him a long string of lectures and arguments. As for Garm and the Deputy Guild Master, they had already slipped out of the room.