Live Dungeon!

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Upon reaching the eighty-third layer, Tsutomu ignited a flare. The team swiftly dealt with the gathering monsters before catching sight of two figures in the distance — Rara and Riri, two Birdkins, their red and blue plumage striking against the sky. With their arm-wings spread wide, they glided through the air with effortless grace. They each carried a person, clutched tightly in their talons. Below them, a Conykin raced ahead, leaving a cloud of dust in her wake.

“Ah, Tsutomu! And your comrades too, I see — good day to you all!” Lorena greeted them with a beaming smile, her breath not the least bit labored despite the distance she had covered.

“Hi. Looking forward to working with you,” Tsutomu replied.

“Mm-hmm! Likewise!” she chirped back, her energy infectious.

Tsutomu’s eyes shifted to the two who had descended from the Birdkins’ talons — Misil and a Sorcerer shrouded in shadowy robes.

“…lo…”

“That was a ‘hello,’” Misil interjected with a grin. “This is Madeleine. Not much of a talker.”

“Oh, yes, I see,” Tsutomu responded, nodding.

Madeleine, draped in black robes that seemed to swallow the light, gave a silent bow, her hood concealing her face. Misil covered for her silence, while Tsutomu responded with a mild nod of acknowledgment.

The odds of encountering another party while exploring the same layer hovered around fifty-fifty, so Absolute Helix had split into two teams for the eighty-third. Meanwhile, only a single one of Silver Beast’s parties had made it past the eightieth layer. As such, it had been agreed that whichever Absolute Helix group they met, they would join forces for the exploration ahead just like that.

Silver Beast’s party was an unusual sight: two Birdkin, Rara and Riri, acted as evasion-based Tanks. Their two Attackers were Misil the Adventurer and Madeleine the Sorcerer. Lorena, the Conykin White Mage, rounded out the team as the Mobile Healer.

[Quite the odd crew,] Tsutomu mused.

From his perspective, their setup was anything but ordinary. Having two evasion-based Tanks was uncommon enough, but adding a front-line Healer seemed downright risky. Madeleine, too, defied convention, sometimes abandoning her spells to engage in close combat. Her quiet demeanor only added to the mystery — Tsutomu rarely heard a word from her unless she was casting her skills.

Yet, despite the apparent chaos, Misil held the group together with a steady hand. His scouting was sharp, rivaling Diniel’s expertise, and he deftly supported the inexperienced evasion-based Tanks whenever they faltered. He managed the party’s unpredictability with practiced ease, using items with precision when needed. And as an Attacker, Misil could output decent damage himself.

Still, Tsutomu wondered if Misil’s talents would shine as brightly in a more conventional group. It was within this peculiar dynamic that he thrived, acting as the anchor for Silver Beast. This was how Tsutomu saw them — a party unlike any other, held together by Misil’s quiet competence.

“Let’s start after we gather the Magic Stones. We’ll handle the scouting from here,” Tsutomu offered.

“Ugh…” Diniel sighed dramatically, rolling her shoulders as if the mere thought of work exhausted her.

“Come on, it’s nothing new,” Tsutomu coaxed.

Misil, with a warm half-smile, raised a hand. “Actually, your team took care of the last fight. We’ll handle scouting this time, and the next battle.”

“See? Misil’s got it,” Diniel said, pointing lazily at him, her gaze droopy and unfocused.

“Don’t point like that… Sorry about her, Misil. Please, go ahead,” Tsutomu apologized, gently lowering Diniel’s hand with his staff.

“You got it.”

Rara and Riri shot into the air, quick as arrows. Hannah, another Birdkin but of a different species, watched them with thinly veiled envy before reminding herself that she could fly too. Tsutomu had already cast > on her, after all.

“Hey, Teach! Mind if I join them?”

“…As long as you stick to their lead — it’s for scouting, not fun.”

“You got it!”

With a grin, Hannah spread her wings wide, combining her natural abilities with the > spell’s magic, and took off with eager grace. Diniel, watching her, yawned, unimpressed by the enthusiasm. Meanwhile, Daryl examined the unfamiliar Dark Magic Stones, his brow furrowed in concentration as he attempted to compare their quality. Nearby, Leleia was distracted, lightly prodding at the Sylph perched on her head with playful curiosity.

This time, Tsutomu’s party had been formed from the members left after Amy had handpicked Xeno, Garm, Amira, and Korinna for her own group. Apparently, she wanted to focus on refining her > technique, which left the long-range Attackers — Diniel and Leleia — to accompany Tsutomu in this current arrangement.

With little else to do while waiting for the scouts’ return, Tsutomu’s attention drifted to Daryl, who was muttering quietly as he scrutinized the Dark Magic Stones in his hands. His focus wavered, and out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Lorena stretching nearby. She moved with the elegance of a dancer, her body folding into positions so fluid it seemed almost unnatural. Tsutomu found himself staring.

Midway through a full split, Lorena glanced up and noticed his gaze. Her hands flew instinctively to her groin, her eyes narrowing with reproach.

“Hey! What do you think you’re staring at?” she snapped.

“Ah, sorry. I was just thinking… you’re as flexible as Amy,” Tsutomu said, his words coming out hurriedly.

His mind flickered back to Amy’s stretching routines at the Clan House — how her alarming flexibility had once startled him into commenting, only to be ‘rewarded’ with a particularly grueling stretching session. The memory drew a sheepish smile from his lips.

Lorena, however, seemed more flattered than offended by the comparison. She nodded to herself, resuming her stretches but with her back now pointedly turned to Tsutomu. Yet, even as she bent and flexed, her small white tail, peeking from the waistline of her trousers, twitched with every movement. Tsutomu rolled his eyes and sighed, willing himself to look elsewhere.

At that moment, he locked eyes with Madeleine, who had been watching silently from the shadows. The two exchanged a brief glance before she quickly averted her gaze. Shrouded as she always was in her dark robes, her face hidden beneath a heavy hood, Tsutomu could not be certain whether she was a man or a woman. Her name and the soft voice that accompanied her spellcasting suggested she was female, but beyond that, Madeleine remained an enigma.

[Would be nice if we could at least get one chest drop per day…] Tsutomu thought, shifting his focus away from his wandering musings and back toward the exploration ahead. Absent-mindedly, he began practicing his skill control, though his gaze occasionally flickered toward Daryl, still engrossed in his examination of the Magic Stones.

▽▽

“Amazing…” Daryl’s voice, barely above a whisper, carried a note of awe as he watched the Silver Beast clash with the Dark-elemental monsters — Gargoyles and Dark Sculptures. Tsutomu, seeing the group in action with his own eyes for the first time, mirrored Daryl’s admiration. His expression softened into one of intrigue as he observed the battlefield unfold.

At first glance, Silver Beast’s formation seemed outdated, like a relic of older tactics: four Attackers, one Healer. They charged in together, seemingly a chaotic mass of bodies and weapons. But upon closer inspection, it became clear that the Evasion-based Tanks — Rara and Riri — were expertly drawing the bulk of the enemy’s strikes. Even the Healer, Lorena, was in the fray, her agility matching that of the Tanks as she delivered swift kicks between casting spells.

To an outsider, the battle looked nigh incomprehensible. Yet Madeleine’s > skill lashed through the chaos, precise and deadly, burning enemies without ever striking an ally. Meanwhile, Misil, as one of the Attackers, seemed to be overseeing the battlefield, subtly adjusting their strategy mid-fight with the calm precision of a commander — just like Ealdred Crow’s Rook would.

Unlike most other parties, Silver Beast had every member contributing to their offensive, resulting in a damage output that surpassed the approaches of teams like Ealdred Crow and Absolute Helix. They excelled in clearing out monsters during the brief skirmishes typical of these Dungeon layers.

But even they had their limits. The eighty-third layer had proven a formidable barrier, with powerful monsters appearing more frequently. Dungeon Maniacs speculated as to the reasons, but it all came down to the nature of the foes lurking here.

“Whoa! An eyeball just fell from the sky!” Lorena exclaimed, her voice pitched with surprise as her rabbit ears folded down.

A monster resembling a massive eyeball had dropped from above, landing before her with a sickening splat. Despite its grotesque appearance, the creature — an Eyene — was classified as a type of Slime.

This monster, which began to show up frequently beyond the eighty-third layer, was a bizarre fusion of light and dark. Its sclera-like exterior was light-elemental, while its pulsing pupil-like core was dark-elemental. It was resistant against all forms of physical attacks, so destroying it required exploiting both its light and dark properties to reach its core — only those who could strike at both elements stood a chance of defeating it.

And the Eyene was not the only challenge. Giant Serpents with light-imbued scales and Fallen Angels, powered by both light and darkness, added to the fray. These monsters were on par with mid-bosses from previous sets of layers, and they appeared with alarming regularity, slowing progress to a crawl.

Silver Beast’s dynamic approach gave them an edge in short battles, but against these durable, multi-elemental monsters, their lack of stability compared to groups like Ealdred Crow often became apparent. Prolonged fights led to more monsters converging on the area, and when that happened, retreat was inevitable. In the worst cases, they risked being overwhelmed entirely, facing annihilation.

Noticing two Eyenes materializing amid the ongoing battle with the Gargoyles, Tsutomu tapped his staff against the ground, stepping forward with calm authority.

“This isn’t looking good — time for us to jump in. Daryl, you’re up.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Whoo, yeah baby! That’s what I’ve been waiting for!” Hannah’s exuberant shout rang out, but Tsutomu held up a hand, halting her on the verge of rushing in.

“No, Hannah, you stay. Diniel, focus on clearing the nearby enemies. Leleia, target the Eyenes’ outer layer.”

With precision, Tsutomu unleashed a series of support skills. Hannah turned to him with a pout, only to be met with his knowing gaze.

“You’re not trying to impress those two, are you?” he asked, eyes flicking toward the Birdkin duo in the distance.

“…W-what? No, of course not!”

“Really? Because it sure looks like you’re itching to show off what an amazing Evasion-based Tank you are…”

Though Hannah scratched the back of her head in a gesture of feigned innocence, her excitement dimmed slightly under Tsutomu’s watchful eye.

“…All right, fine, go ahead.” Tsutomu gestured toward the looming Eyenes. “But if you act recklessly and take a hit, you’re paying a fine.”

“A fine!? You’re gonna charge me!?” Hannah’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“Look, just don’t do anything stupid. We’re not here on a picnic, so take it seriously. Now get going.”

“Unbelievable…” Hannah muttered under her breath, but she wasted no time, springing forward to join the frontlines, albeit with a sour glance thrown over her shoulder.

Tsutomu, noticing the Gnome emerge from the ground, sent its secondary body over to engage the Eyene and proceeded to join in on the offense.

“>.”

One of the White Mage’s attacking skills, > — previously largely useless outside of the Wasteland layers, was indispensable here in a realm dominated by dark-elemental monsters. A thin, needle-like manifestation of light hovered behind the Gnome, poised to strike.

As the Gnome’s relentless strikes, an unexpected contrast to its secondary body’s dainty appearance, wore down the creature’s light-elemental mass, the > needle darted forward, piercing through the weakened slime and driving into the core, deep within the dark substance. The core shattered, and the Eyene melted into nothingness, leaving behind a Magic Stone that dropped to the ground with a soft thud.

“>, >.” Tsutomu’s voice remained steady as he cast healing spells, restoring the team’s vitality.

Though the battle demanded relentless aggression, there was an art to maintaining balance — managing aggro, healing, and support. Overextending the attack would inevitably draw the monsters’ attention, a dangerous misstep. But Tsutomu, with his wealth of experience as a Healer here and knowledge from Live Dungeon, had mastered the intricate dance of aggro management, almost replicating the precision he had in his gaming days. Where others might falter, pulling back out of fear, Tsutomu pushed forward with calculated certainty, making the optimal move most of the time.

Lorena, too, had grown adept at maintaining her presence on the frontlines without drawing undue attention from enemies. Yet, as her instincts guided her through the ebb and flow of battle, she marveled at Tsutomu’s cold precision, a methodical mastery that never ceased to amaze her.

“Diniel, use elemental arrows,” Tsutomu instructed.

“Mm-hmm.”

“Looks like Daryl’s struggling. Hannah! Pick up the pace!”

Hannah, already breathless, glanced back incredulously. “Didn’t you just say not to get hit, Teach!?”

Between healing, support, and issuing commands, Tsutomu’s attention never wavered. Even in the eighty-third layer, with its mounting dangers, he handled his role as Healer with the same precise execution. From an outsider’s perspective, it might appear effortless, but those who understood the intricacies of the role, especially the Healers who had learned under him, knew the extraordinary depth of skill involved.

After the battle, as the dust settled, Lorena couldn’t hold back her curiosity any longer.

“…I’ve always wondered,” she began, “How do you manage to attack so much without drawing the monsters’ attention?”

“Huh?” Tsutomu looked mildly confused. “Because I generate less aggro than the Tanks, of course.”

Lorena stared at him, her lips pressing into a thin line. “That’s not what I meant…”

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