Live Dungeon!

Today, Tsutomu had come to the ninety-first layer for two reasons. First, to reinforce anti-Slime combat strategies with the Attackers and Tanks. And second, to finally have a proper talk with Stephanie, whose behavior had grown increasingly erratic.

He did not know when it had started, but somewhere along the line, Stephanie had changed. Tsutomu had even paid a tidy sum to an information broker to look into the matter. The only thing they had been able to confirm was that, for some reason, Stephanie had become fixated on him.

The cause of that obsession remained a mystery, but there was no doubt it had grown excessive. Members of Ealdred Crow’s main party now avoided even mentioning Tsutomu around her. In fact, Sova had made that mistake recently, only to be immediately cornered and rattled into spilling all the details.

There were more disturbing rumors, too. That Stephanie’s room was plastered floor to ceiling with newspaper clippings and photos of him. That she chanted his name like a spell while slicing monsters apart with [. Each story painted a picture of someone deeply, dangerously unwell. Tsutomu naturally found himself recoiling, even at this secondhand news.

Frankly, he preferred to stay far away. But Stephanie had once been his student, and with the current state of their progress down the Dungeon, avoiding her was not an option. If anything, a conversation was long overdue.

Still, watching her now, hair in disarray and eyes wild, he was already second-guessing that decision.

”Guys… if things go south, protect me,” Tsutomu muttered.

”Yes, sir!” Daryl responded with cheerful readiness.

Tsutomu placed a hand on the large boy’s shoulder, then descended toward the Ealdred Crow party. As he landed in front of them, it was clear none of them had expected his arrival on this layer. Rook and Bittman stiffened at the sight of him, wearing looks that screamed ‘This is bad!’ Dorssia, for some reason, gave a formal bow and dropped to one knee.

”Hi, guys,” Tsutomu greeted them casually.

”…Hi,” Sova returned, eyeing him warily.

Tsutomu gave him a look that all but said ‘if something happens, stop her,’ and Sova gave a solemn nod in reply. Then Tsutomu turned to Stephanie.

She was staring at him, face painted with disbelief, her signature pink ringlets clenched in both hands.

”AAAAAAHH!? H-h-h-hello, M-Mister Tsutomu!!”

”…Rook, mind if I borrow Stephanie for a moment? I’d like to have a word.”

”Uh, y-yeah, sure. Go ahead…”

Rook glanced between the euphoric mess that was Stephanie and the calm, unfazed Tsutomu standing before her. The contrast left him speechless.

”First off,” Tsutomu began, ”Congratulations on clearing the ninetieth layer.”

”Ah… a-ah…”

”…Hello? You okay there?”

Knowing full well that Stephanie had long since tipped into madness, Tsutomu deliberately took a lighter tone, waving a hand in front of her face like one might with a dazed animal.

But she was too overwhelmed. Her legs gave out, and she collapsed in a heap, her breathing erratic. Dorssia immediately moved to support her, while Sova looked on with furrowed brows. He seemed like he wanted to intervene and take over the conversation, but he hesitated between that and letting Stephanie have her moment.

”Hannah and Leleia, keep the monsters off us.”

”You got it!”

”Understood.”

”Daryl and Diniel, stay by my side.”

With a plan in mind, Tsutomu arranged his party members around him, just in case. He also deliberately directed the God Eye, positioning it so that it captured the entire vicinity, including their group. Rook, noticing this, hurried over with an uneasy expression.

”Uh… Tsutomu? Is it really necessary to bring the God Eye in on this?”

”I’ve heard that even Sova backed off when she lost it. Better safe than sorry, right?”

At this point, Stephanie was a landmine. If he took the wrong step somewhere, there was no telling what she might do. And judging by her current mental state, a violent outburst wasn’t off the table.

But if that outburst happened in front of the God Eye and broadcast to the Monitors in town, the consequences would ripple through Ealdred Crow like a row of dominoes. Their Clan depended heavily on its robust support structure and cutting-edge equipment. A large enough public scandal, and they could spiral into dysfunction. Tsutomu knew this. And so, if things did go sideways, he would have leverage.

”We’ll do what we can to handle things on our end,” Tsutomu whispered, ”but if you don’t want this to turn into a disaster, make sure your side holds her back too.”

He knew Rook would put himself on the line even if not asked, and he had no real intention of destroying Ealdred Crow anyway. SO, with the warning delivered, Tsutomu finally turned back to Stephanie, who now seemed to be regaining some composure. When he approached, she flinched again — but this time, at least, she did not collapse.

”Feeling okay now?”

”Y-yes… But why… why are you here, Mister Tsutomu?”

”I could tell something was wrong the last time we talked at the Guild. So I figured I should come check on you.”

”A-ah…! About that day, I… I am SO sorry for what I did!!”

The memory of her outburst at the Guild — screaming at the top of her lungs without a care in the world, biting down on her own fingers until they almost tore — was still fresh. And now, faced with Tsutomu, Stephanie bowed low with a snap, her forehead nearly slamming into the ground.

Ever since that moment when she had been praised through the Monitor, her mind had clawed its way back toward something resembling sanity. Even she now recognized how unacceptable her behavior had been. And before Tsutomu could stop her, she dropped to her knees, clearly about to throw herself flat on the ground.

”W-whoa, stop! You really don’t have to go that far. Sure, I was surprised, but I’m not holding it against you,” Tsutomu said quickly, lifting a hand in alarm.

”R-Really!? You don’t hate me, Mister Tsutomu!?”

”You don’t need to worry about that. What I AM concerned about is what led you to that point in the first place. If I remember right, it was around the sixty-fifth layer that you started… turning reckless. Did something happen back then?”

In Tsutomu’s memory, Stephanie had not shown any strange behavior during the Bolseyer battle. Even the information broker he had hired had said it was only afterward that she became obsessed, eschewing self-care, proper meals, and even rest in favor of extended sessions of Dungeon exploration. That pattern seemed to begin right around the sixty-fifth layer, and he had come prepared with that hypothesis.

The moment Tsutomu’s question left his mouth, Stephanie’s eyes lit up like a child receiving a long-awaited present.

”I KNEW IT! Mister Tsutomu, you WERE watching over me after all! Yes, that was when I began shedding everything unnecessary! Ah, yes–” As she spoke in an almost rapturous voice, Stephanie fished a stack of papers from her Magic Bag and thrust them toward him. ”This! This is what you gave me… this guide! I discarded everything for the sake of mastering it! All so I could meet your expectations! I pushed and scraped and honed myself. Ah, I knew it! You HAVE been watching me all along!”

The papers were worn, creased at the edges and smudged with fingerprints. A glance at the pages revealed handwritten copies: drawings and diagrams of the Healer’s guide Tsutomu had put together a year prior.

”So you… gave everything up to master these tactics?”

”Yes, yes! Because you watched over me even during the hardest moments, I was able to endure. Isn’t that right? You saw me, didn’t you? You always greeted me every morning and night, without fail. You always had your eyes only on ME, didn’t you? That’s why I cast everything else aside, so I could be even a step closer to you!”

”……”

To some extent, it was true. Tsutomu had expected a great deal from her. Even after her time as his student ended, he had continued to keep an eye on her progress. But… he had never greeted her every morning and night, nor had he ever stared at her with such exclusive attention. And yet, Stephanie believed it with all her heart, her face alight with sincerity unmarred by deception.

It was those hollow, stripped-bare eyes that he couldn’t bear to look at directly. He had seen her plenty of times through the Monitors’ projection, but had her pupils always been so wide and dilated, so devoid of light?

”…But then, Mister Tsutomu, you changed. You began to look at others. Not those who had strength or had worked for it, but people far beneath what I thought deserved your attention. And I couldn’t understand it. Why wouldn’t you look at me? If it had been someone more capable, I might have understood. If it were someone who put in real effort, I could accept it. But those people? I… I just couldn’t comprehend it.”

”What about now? What do you think of it now?”

”Looking at the results, I can understand why you chose to observe them. Eunice successfully invented her so-called Dumpling [. Lorena became famous as a Mobile Healer. Even Korinna, your Channeler, developed to the point of being called an expert Healer in her own right. But still, I am confident that I am the greatest among your students. Those others… they’re too soft. Don’t you agree?”

Stephanie’s head tilted at an unnatural angle, like a broken doll. Tsutomu didn’t respond; he couldn’t. He simply stared, frozen, as if he were seeing an all too realistic horror film. Her intensity, the sheer force of her emotion, was overwhelming.

”At the very least,” Stephanie went on, ”Lorena and Eunice are not worthy of your attention. The rabbit only thinks of her own enjoyment. And that sly fox… she still has time to flirt with the wolf. I, on the other hand, discarded everything I didn’t need. I poured every drop of my being into God’s Dungeon and the teachings you bestowed upon me. And the result, as it SHOULD be, speaks for itself: I was the first of your students to progress past the ninetieth layer. I’ve refined myself to the utmost just for you, Mister Tsutomu!”

”H-Hey now…” Tsutomu began, his voice cracking as he instinctively leaned away.

Stephanie was drawing closer with every sentence, the distance shrinking far too fast for comfort.

”I am the best. I AM the best. Mister Tsutomu, do you remember? That day you praised me on the Pedestal. I will never forget your words. But to be placed on the same level as Lorena, that is unthinkable! I am the one you should see. Why won’t you look at me alone? Why do you always praise others? It’s wrong. It’s so, SO wrong. That’s not like you. Mister Tsutomu… are you really him? The one who always watched over me? The miracle-worker of the ninetieth layer?”

As if to confirm his presence with her own hands, Stephanie reached toward him.

Daryl instinctively moved to intervene, but Diniel held him back with a firm arm.

”Miss Diniel!?”

”She isn’t hostile yet. And if it does come to force, Tsutomu is a man. He’s been trained by Garm; he won’t be overpowered easily. If Stephanie draws her weapon or activates a skill, THEN we move.”

Stephanie’s status ratings and experience as an Explorer were certainly higher, but Diniel judged Tsutomu strong enough to hold his own in a scuffle, considering how he had been trained by Garm. She would act only if things escalated.

[Nah, Diniel, I would NOT win! Help me!] Tsutomu screamed in his mind.

Stephanie’s words made no sense. Her expression was slipping into the grotesque, teetering on the edge of madness. He’d half-joked to himself before that she was like a bomb waiting to go off. Now, face to face, he realized just how catastrophically unstable that bomb truly was.

[What the hell am I supposed to say to that? Whether I agree or deny, it’d end in disaster! I can’t see a safe way out of this at all!]

It struck Tsutomu with dismal clarity: the woman standing before him was no longer the Stephanie he once knew. Whatever bridge might have once connected them had long since crumbled. There would be no reasoning with her, no mutual understanding to salvage. The instant he stepped on one of her many invisible landmines, she would surely do something far more extreme than biting her own fingers. That image alone was enough to keep him rooted to the spot, unable to move, as though trapped in a minefield.

Then her hand reached his face. Frozen as he was, Tsutomu couldn’t react in time. Stephanie’s fingers brushed his cheek, and at that, she let out a euphoric shriek, as if she had touched something divine.

”I’m touching you! I’m touching Mister Tsutomu! Aaaaahhh!? Mister Tsutomu, Mister Tsutomu, Mister Tsutomu!!”

”W-whoa, back off–!”

Tsutomu recoiled as though he’d just been touched by a Skeleton. He staggered back, eyes wide, voice cracking.

The joy on Stephanie’s face evaporated in an instant. Her expression went blank. Her arm dropped limply to her side, fingers still grasping at empty air. Then she clawed at her pink curls, tangling them in her fists.

”Why…? Why would you look at me like that, Mister Tsutomu? You’ve NEVER made that face for anyone else! Why do you look at ME that way!? Why can’t you understand!? All I’ve ever wanted was for you to SEE me!”

As though trying to deny the reality before her, Stephanie shook her head violently, sobbing as her tears came pouring out in a torrent. Her makeup ran, revealing harsh, discolored rings beneath her eyes, and she bit her lower lip until it bled. It was a pitiful sight, one that turned unbearable the longer he watched. Tsutomu backed away, and in response, she let out a scream laced with anguish.

”I just wanted to be your equal, Mister Tsutomu! That’s all! I gave up everything for that! How can you treat me like this!? I don’t need anyone else! I only ever needed you! I gave my everything! Every single thing!”

”……”

”I only ever wanted to speak with you! To talk about the Dungeon with you and ONLY you! That would be enough! That’s all I wanted! Just the two of us, helping each other improve! I will master every technique written in this guide! I just want you to see me, Mister Tsutomu! That’s all I need! I’ll do anything you say, obey your every word! If you just watch ME, I’ll surpass everyone else. They won’t even come close! I’ve never needed anyone else! Never! That’s how I’ll become a better Healer!”

”…Huh?”

Up until now, Tsutomu had stared at her with something between horror and disbelief, looking like he was trying to keep a rabid animal from latching onto his throat. But when he heard her mention the word ‘Healer,’ his brows lifted slightly. And when she finally stopped to catch her breath, he tilted his head thoughtfully.

”Well… I mean, you’re not wrong,” he started. ”It IS true that when skilled Healers bounce ideas off each other one-on-one, it can really speed up the process of refining their positioning. So, yeah… me and you brainstorming together doesn’t sound all that strange…”

”…Huh?”

Stephanie’s eyes widened. Her voice came out small, stunned. Just seconds ago, she had been met with a look colder than a stranger’s. But now, Tsutomu’s expression softened into something vaguely reminiscent of the man who had once mentored her.

”But before we get to that,” Tsutomu continued, ”I think you might want to talk things over with Lorena or Eunice. Maybe exchange ideas with them first.”

”…What?”

The moment the names left his mouth, Stephanie’s expression shattered again. Her face went blank. It was eerie, devoid of all light and warmth. Worse than before. He’d just stepped on a landmine even bigger than the one that had made him recoil earlier.

A suffocating tension began to pour into the air like a miasma. Diniel and Sova, sensing the danger, got ready to intervene. But to their surprise, Tsutomu held up a hand, stopping them.

”And why do you look so confused?” he said, tilting his head. ”It’s like we’re not even talking about the same thing anymore.”

Yes, he had stepped on a landmine. Yes, it was practically glowing red. But Stephanie had also just triggered something in him. She’d invoked the one topic Tsutomu refused to treat lightly: Healers. In the seven years he had poured into Live Dungeon, his main account had been a Healer, and his dedication to that role bordered on obsession. The subject of Healer optimization was his sacred ground.

So when she brought that up, sweaty hair plastered to her face, eyes wild and ringed with madness, Tsutomu took a step forward, unflinching.