Live Dungeon!

[So just dying is a fail condition now!? That’s bullshit!!]

Despite the storm of frustration roiling in Tsutomu’s chest at the sight of Amy and Garm having turned Undead, his body moved on its own, backing away from the battlefield.

[The way the blood weapons and clones vanished… it’s practically a written cue: Now fight those two instead. But the Corroded Elder Dragon itself isn’t staying put, and Amy’s still got her [ effect active. They’re breaking their own damn mechanics!]

In Live Dungeon, layer bosses never moved during phases in which they sent out their minions, but this world’s Corroded Elder Dragon seemed all too eager to ignore that precedent. Its whole posture now was poised to breathe devastation across the field. Amy, meanwhile, had launched herself into the air using [ in tandem with [. If she could still use skills like that, then Garm surely could as well.

“…[,” came the low growl.

“Ah!?” Amira cursed.

“[!” Tsutomu chanted swiftly.

Garm’s crimson aura flared outward like wildfire, heavy with primal fury. If the target retained a sufficient amount of control over their own mind, [ wouldn’t land. But with Amira in [, all bets were off. The surge of rage was more than enough to cloud Amira’s mind, and Tsutomu didn’t hesitate to snap her out of it with a well-aimed [.

He then turned to fire another wisp toward Daryl, anticipating the same effect, but surprisingly, the latter remained level-headed despite his confusion about the situation.

“The corrosive breath’s coming! Don’t get caught chasing Garm into it!”

“Yes, sir!”

Daryl, clearly the most shaken by the transformation of Amy and Garm, now seemed oddly composed, shouting back as he followed the others skyward.

“I know, dammit!”

Amira, her frustration seeping through in a snarl, darted after him, just in time to avoid the foul breath that melted the ground below them with a sickening hiss.

“Daryl!” Tsutomu called as they flew, “Try using [ on them. If it works, pull both of them while Amira keeps Amy occupied. I’ll handle the Corroded Elder Dragon for now, but building enough aggro will take time, so don’t get clipped by that breath attack!”

“…Understood!”

Daryl nodded, though his pale face betrayed every ounce of unease. Facing Amy and Garm in a mock battle was one thing. They were already powerful then. Facing them both at once, corrupted and enhanced in a fight to the death, was another entirely. Tsutomu offered a wry smile, half apology and half encouragement.

“If [ does work, it means they’ve lost their minds. Even if they can still use skills, they won’t be as sharp as usual. And don’t worry; I’ll be giving you support the whole time. If anything, I’m the one who should be nervous. If they ignore you and go for me, I’m toast. So give me the best damn [ you’ve ever done!”

“Does trying harder actually make it… better?”

“It has to! And Amira, go for the softer target first. You’re up for Amy. Daryl should be able to hold out against Garm one-on-one, so don’t worry about him!”

“Tch. That guy always takes his time… what a pain. And I guess you’re not gonna let me transform for now, huh?”

“Yeah, you can’t. As long as Garm’s around, you’ll get pulled into his aggro loop the second you try.”

“Tch…”

Amira clicked her tongue in frustration. Her fighting style leaned heavily on her unique skill, [, so having it sealed off was a major blow. Watching her out of the corner of his eye, Tsutomu turned his attention back to the Corroded Elder Dragon.

“Even if this were a mock battle, this would be a nightmare scenario,” he said. “And from how they’re moving, those two are way stronger than the blood clones. Look at Amy: she’s twirling her blades like she’s bored, waiting for some action.”

Indeed, Amy sat perched atop the Corroded Elder Dragon’s shoulder blade, idly spinning her dual blades like pens. Across from her, Garm stood still as stone, tower shield raised, eyes fixed on Tsutomu with chilling hostility. They weren’t just clones, and what they inherited from the originals were not just stats and skills; these two were fighting like themselves.

“But it’s still better than fighting them while they were alive,” Tsutomu added. “Amira, use all the combat-viable skills you’ve got. Time to show those other Greatsword Fighters you’re more than just [!”

“…You’ve got a lot of nerve, you know that?”

Amira scoffed. After all, it was Tsutomu himself who’d once said she was nothing without [. But despite her grumble, a grin tugged at the corner of her mouth.

“Daryl,” Tsutomu said, “stick to what we practiced. Focus on avoiding critical hits and buy us time. You can handle this. Just fight like you always do.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. Now go!”

“…[!”

Reluctantly, Daryl launched his taunt. His eyes met Garm’s across the arena, while the latter simply stood with his arms crossed, his expression the same as always.

“[, [!”

Tsutomu cast both buffs simultaneously, then sent a barrage of [ and [ at Garm. The wisps hit their mark, but the wounds barely healed, and the undead curse’s effects lingered untouched.

[Okay, healing won’t work… that means the [ method is no longer viable against the Corroded Elder Dragon, either. Great. What kind of bullshit mechanic is this? And don’t tell me they’re actually thinking in that direction…]

His disappointment in the consistent uselessness of [ and its indiscriminate area-healing effect was immeasurable. Just as he cursed inwardly, Amy began waving her arms with exaggerated gestures, as if asking for a soccer ball. ‘Over here!’ she seemed to say with her movements, mimicking the way players made to call for a pass.

In ordinary circumstances, Tsutomu could imagine the logic: Amy must’ve seen Garm being healed and figured, ‘Then I can be healed too!’ And it would be a perfectly reasonable assumption. But she was now undead; the very fact that she could string together that kind of thought process made her all the more dangerous. Still, the way she responded to Daryl’s [ suggested she was at least susceptible to aggro effects. Best to assume she was operating on the level of a particularly clever chimpanzee, close enough to humans but still easily tricked.

After throwing an exaggerated tantrum, as if shouting ‘Why won’t you pass it to me already!?’, the undead Amy finally turned her attention toward Daryl’s [. Tsutomu, doing his best not to look at her, aimed a [ blast straight at Garm, who still stood atop the Corroded Elder Dragon.

This time, unlike before, Garm raised his tower shield and absorbed the beam. The Holy attribute was effective.

While deflecting the blast, Garm leaped from the Dragon’s back and dove straight for Daryl with crushing force.

“…[.”

“Sir Garm…!”

Though he had clearly become a monster, Garm’s outward appearance had not changed much save for his unnaturally pallid, darkened skin. Daryl grimaced with a pained expression as he caught the brunt of the attack. Amy, seizing the opening, slipped in close.

“Tch…!”

“…[…”

“[!!”

Amira moved like a thunderclap, her greatsword cleaving through the air, aiming to slice Amy in two but Amy twisted her body with deceptive ease and ducked just under it. The blade whooshed past her, ruffling her blood-matted white hair.

The counterstrike came fast; Amy swung both blades in a crisscrossing arc, but Amira anticipated the follow-up, canceling her missed motion with another skill and parrying Amy’s slash with her own greatsword.

Amy’s ears, partially shredded cat-like tufts, flicked upright in alert. Her blades swayed lightly at her sides as she closed the distance with predatory caution. If Amira launched a heavy strike, Amy would punish her with a quick step-in. If she hesitated, she’d be drowned in a flurry of blows. It was a rhythm Amira had seen many times in their sparring sessions, and she hated it.

“God dammit, it’s like she’s still alive! She’s such a damn pain!”

[You think that’s bad? I don’t even want to be moving right now…]

Tsutomu, hearing her shout, grumbled silently to himself while keeping his distance from the shambling mass that was the Corroded Elder Dragon. It was the one monster that had ever killed him, and now he had to deliberately draw its aggro.

He shivered as he watched it lumber forward. If he did not do his part, Daryl and Amira would not be able to concentrate on the battle, increasing the chances of defeat.

The Dragon’s bones alone were too durable to harm, even for Amira. In Live Dungeon, the standard tactic was to deliberately heal it to regrow some of its flesh then strike those weak spots. Right now, several of its internal organs still remained, albeit inert; attacks would do good damage if they landed there. But one stood out: the heart, a sickly gray yet still twitching.

“[!”

Tsutomu fired a volley of glowing feathers straight into the heart. The feathers struck like arrows, purging the malevolent aura clinging to the surface as they embedded themselves deep within.

The Corroded Elder Dragon let out a low, resentful groan and went still. Then it turned to face him much sooner than expected.

“[, [, [!”

Suppressing the instinct to flee, Tsutomu kept up his support for Daryl while lobbing another [ at Garm to disrupt his assault.

“[!”

“…”

“[, [!”

Even if Garm now fought as an undead, he retained his full combat prowess and possessed a body that never tired out. But Tsutomu was no amateur either; in Live Dungeon, he ranked among the top-tier Healers even in competitive Clan battles. And now, with only one Tank on the field, he was funneling far more [ casts than usual. Daryl, bolstered by a surge in both VIT and AGI, held his ground well under Tsutomu’s protection.

“[!”

“…!”

With impeccable timing, Tsutomu shot a tiny [ projectile at Garm. It was not to help him, but to disorient him. This weak of a shot gave a speed boost that lasted only a few seconds, and that fluctuation could throw off even a monster’s sense of timing. It was an unconventional form of interference, uniquely doable in this world.

“Daryl, keep using [ regularly. Even if Amy’s aggro isn’t fully on you, she’ll be distracted enough for Amira to attack her. As for Garm… unless he uses a joint-lock, most of his moves won’t be fatal. Just power through him with your VIT. Amira, wait for Amy’s focus to shift. Don’t waste time on [ — she’ll dodge it. Use [ or [. Her VIT is low, so a clean hit or two should knock her down.”

It was deeply annoying that these two Undead retained both thought and combat skill. But it wasn’t as if there was no answer to them: all they had to do was treat it like an anti-personnel combat encounter.

When it came to making people miserable in such situations, Tsutomu was second to none. With his meticulous recovery and interference, and his ability to formulate real-time strategies based on the flow of battle, he’d helped turn the tide. Now, both Daryl and Amira were regaining momentum.

“Hooooo…”

Even so, handling both healing support and battlefield control while simultaneously drawing aggro from the one monster he feared most was eating away at Tsutomu’s stamina. Normally, he could count buff duration timers in his head as naturally as breathing, but now, with the Corroded Elder Dragon right in front of him, that rhythm faltered. There was no room to let his guard down.

Since creating the two Undead, the Corroded Elder Dragon had lost the ability to manipulate blood. All it had left now was its massive frame and that noxious breath. In raw capability, it was little more than a slower, grotesque version of an unboosted Mount Golem. And yet, the mere fact that it was targeting him made the pressure on Tsutomu unbearable.

If he did not give this his all, he would die again, to the same monster. That possibility alone kept his nausea tightly leashed. Even with the Dragon looming before him, he continued his support and interference without letting up for a moment.

[The Corroded Elder Dragon does seem to follow the usual phase pattern, which means there must be at least one more stage to this fight. I have to make sure Garm and Amy are both completely eliminated before that happens. Best-case scenario would be reviving them… but I’m not holding my breath.]

Based on the system’s usual parameters, a White Mage’s resurrection window was five minutes. That meant Garm and Amy were likely beyond saving, and the real ones were probably out of the Dungeon by now. Worse, if they weren’t thoroughly dispatched, there was a real chance they’d be recycled as Undead once again. That meant putting them down for good, and that would require the Holy element.

“Amira!” Tsutomu called out. “Finish Amy off with your greatsword! She shouldn’t come back if you land the killing blow with a Holy-elemental attack!”

“Got it!”

Thanks to Daryl’s frequent [ usage, Amy had begun taking more and more hits. The tide had clearly turned in Amira’s favor. Seeing this opening, Tsutomu relayed his plan. Once Daryl also gave a quick nod to signal his understanding, Tsutomu turned his focus back to the Dragon.

Amy’s right calf had been gashed deeply by a [, the one ranged technique in a Greatsword Fighter’s arsenal. Her movement was now visibly restricted. As for Garm, he remained largely unaffected… but so did Daryl. With Amira joining in, they could bring him down in one coordinated strike.

“If you’d just stay quiet for once…”

But of course, the Corroded Elder Dragon wasn’t going to make things easy. It looked weakened. Or rather, it was conserving strength. Tsutomu watched it closely, assuming the worst.

And as if reacting to those thoughts, the Dragon let out a harsh, wet gurgle and fired a shot of corrosive breath.

The breath moved sluggishly through the air, no faster than the water jets of a Shell Crab. Tsutomu evaded it easily, though he could not help but narrow his eyes suspiciously at the Dragon. Its eyeless sockets seemed to meet his gaze for an instant, then, suddenly, the Corroded Elder Dragon raised its right arm and plunged it into its own chest, clawing toward its still-beating heart.

A low, cavernous groan echoed out from deep within its ribcage.

[Its stomach is gone. We destroyed that already. So this isn’t like the Devourer Dragon’s self-cannibalization. Then what the hell is it doing?]

The Dragon was tearing out its own heart with a sickening, squelching sound. The image was too close to the Devourer Dragon’s suicidal frenzy not to recall it. But Tsutomu knew the stomach had been obliterated, there was just a gaping hole where it used to be. There was no digestive function left to consume anything. It couldn’t be eating its heart to trigger some ability… could it?

Unable to make sense of it, he did the only thing he could: he hurled a [ blast directly at the heart. Whether it had any effect, he could not say.

Moments later, the Corroded Elder Dragon yanked the organ free from its chest and curled in on itself, clutching it tightly. Two dazzling beams of light surged upward from its core, reminiscent of the [ skill.

[…Dude, you can’t be serious.]

Tsutomu’s stomach sank as the lights fell back down onto two spots on the Dragon’s body. Once the monster straightened once more, its heart fell from its claws, reduced to nothing but a charred lump of carbon.

But in its place, two brand-new organs had emerged deep in its abdomen: the lungs and liver, which should have been utterly destroyed.

The Corroded Elder Dragon drew a massive breath, the air rushing into its newly restored lungs.

“Amira! Daryl! Get off the ground NOW!”

As soon as they heard him, both launched themselves into the air with [, just in time to avoid the next breath attack. But this one was nothing like before.

A roiling tide of decay surged forth, vast enough to almost swallow the arena whole. Undead Amy didn’t even have time to escape; she crumbled into rot on the spot. Even undead Garm, with his formidable VIT, managed to withstand it for only a few seconds before the force of the blast tore through his joints and peeled the flesh from his bones.

“What the hell was that!?”

[…Yeah, what the hell!?]

Amira’s voice was full of alarm, but Tsutomu had already lapsed into silence. Despair pooled in his throat. The resurrection of the Dragon’s liver meant its regenerative capacity was in full force. The Corroded Elder Dragon was inching closer to its complete form.

“[! [!”

Tsutomu spammed the resurrection spell, desperate to bring back Garm and Amy before it was too late… but got no response. The skill remained inert.

Worse, the mangled corpses of the two undead began to reform. Flesh and limbs regrew, and the remnants of their destroyed armor were once again being strapped into place.

[…It’s trying to kill us. Completely.]

As he stared at the twisted mockery of his fallen allies, Tsutomu took a half-step back. It was not out of fear of them, but of what was behind them. There, looming larger than the Dragon itself, was the will of God. Clear, overwhelming, and totally murderous.

Back when he first fought the Corrupted Shell, Tsutomu had sensed a faint shred of that murderous intent. But now, faced with the absurdity of the present moment, that intent had become unmistakable. There was no intention of letting him walk away alive, no matter how hard he tried, no matter how perfectly he played his role.

[I’m going to die again!? Shit, shit, shit… I’m not dying here, dammit!! Why the hell is this happening to me!? This is bullshit!]

The Corroded Elder Dragon was regenerating through its newly restored liver. Meanwhile, the undead Garm and Amy were closing in. It was the worst possible situation. Tsutomu didn’t dare entertain the thought of what might come next. Instead, he raised his staff and immediately began casting.

“[, [! Daryl, pull their aggro! Amira, focus on destroying that liver! We can’t let its regeneration run wild!”

Despite the odds, Tsutomu hadn’t yet abandoned the fight or his will to live. Even in disastrous situations where most of his Live Dungeon party members would throw in the towel, he had always held the line as a Healer. It was both pride and desperation that drove him now. Those instincts galvanized him into issuing orders to his stunned companions. Daryl, frozen in a daze, and Amira, momentarily paralyzed by shock.

“Daryl! Snap out of it! Get your ass going!”

“R-right!”

It was only after Amira kicked him square in the back that Daryl finally snapped back to reality. He launched a [, drawing the undead’s attention. But just as Amira’s [ landed squarely on the Dragon’s liver, both Garm and Amy ignored Daryl entirely and turned to charge at her.

“…[.”

“…[.”

“God dammit–!?”

Even as undead, they possessed the same trait of the blood clones: they targeted whoever damaged their creator’s organs over whoever drew aggro. That same trait now made them relentless, forcing Amira into pure evasion, unable to counterattack or retreat.

[Shit, I can’t figure anything out anymore… That’s it. We’re dead.]

The party simply didn’t have enough members to handle the situation. While Amira was stalled, the Corroded Elder Dragon’s regeneration was accelerating. The word ‘checkmate’ sank like a stone into Tsutomu’s chest. It meant the Dragon would kill him… again.

“Hah… hah…”

The moment he accepted that inevitable future, fear took hold. No matter what he did, he was going to die. That fact chilled him to the bone. His body grew clammy with cold sweat. Though [ kept him aloft, his vision swam, and his balance faltered in the air.

With each passing second, the path to survival drifted further out of reach. Still, Tsutomu clung to the illusion of control, casting and dodging, keeping up the fight. But in truth, he was just stalling. There was no real solution left.

“…”

And then, just as the constantly-regenerating Corroded Elder Dragon began to reconstruct its brain, Tsutomu caught sight of something on the ground below.

The Ancient Castle of Oblivion.

“…!”

Daryl and Amira’s eyes had not gone dim yet. They were still fighting. But Tsutomu’s decision was made the instant he took a single step toward that looming ruin.

Without a word, he broke into a run… and fled the arena alone.