Live Dungeon!

”Guys, I’m really sorry I couldn’t be there from the beginning.”

”O-oh, it’s fine…”

”I didn’t think the crowd would get so big that we couldn’t even reach the Pedestals. I took Amy’s warning too lightly — so really, it’s my fault. I’m sorry.”

Korinna, still disheartened from her team’s complete wipe on the ninetieth layer and their retreat back to the Clan House, looked up at Tsutomu — who somehow appeared even more dejected than the rest of them — and offered a stiff, awkward reply. Amira and Garm, struck speechless by the rare sight of Tsutomu showing such sincere remorse, exchanged confused glances.

Amy, on the other hand, gave Xeno a knowing look before giving a casual wave.

”Well, this is the first time you’ve ever gotten this popular, Tsutomu. Can’t really blame you, right? I mean, even I didn’t think it’d get this bad.”

”Hmph,” Xeno added with a smirk, ”You’re not quite on THE XENO’s level, though!”

Thanks to all the reputation garnered by prominent Healers like Stephanie and Lorena, Tsutomu’s popularity had skyrocketed after his remarkable performance on the ninetieth layer. Yet despite the sudden surge of attention, he remained calm and composed, continuing in a matter-of-fact tone.

”Anyway, until the commotion dies down, Smith’s agreed to use Shield magic to clear a path for me. So starting tomorrow, it shouldn’t be a problem anymore.”

”Who’s Smith? …Oh, wait, you mean House Babenberg’s eldest son?”

”Yeah. In exchange, I agreed to give his party some guidance when I’ve have free time.”

”R-right… huh?”

Amy’s voice trailed off in disbelief as Tsutomu explained the outrageous arrangement without so much as a shrug. She turned to Leleia and Daryl, standing quietly behind him, seeking confirmation. Their lack of protest suggested he was not joking.

Until the situation calmed down, Smith and Biancaea would take turns escorting Tsutomu to and from the Absolute Helix Clan House each day. Under normal circumstances, a noble like Smith wouldn’t bother with such mundane errands — but Tsutomu’s unparalleled performance on the ninetieth layer had changed that. Smith himself had witnessed it through the Monitor. He had already acknowledged Tsutomu’s strength during the Devourer Dragon battle, but the electrifying brilliance of that recent feat had left him deeply impressed and in unusually high spirits — enough to personally arrange this rather luxurious escort system, complete with true magic.

”Well then,” Tsutomu said, clapping his hands lightly. ”Let’s start the review meeting. Team 2 talks first, then I’ll chime in later after looking through Miss Ollie’s report.”

And so, the returning team’s meeting for their ninetieth-layer run began at the Clan House. In truth, the main issue with their battle was painfully clear. Like many other Clans, they had started to falter visibly once the purple Mystic Eyes entered the fray during the mid-phase of the fight.

The sheer pressure of knowing one glance could mean instant death made it nearly impossible to act with a level head. This was especially brutal for the Tanks, who absolutely could not afford to break under pressure.

By contrast, in Team 1, Tsutomu — who was technically quite experienced in fighting Corrupted Shells — took command, and both Daryl and Hannah trusted in his leadership implicitly. That trust allowed them to push through the fear of the Mystic Eyes. Even though the pressure was still there, they could move without being consumed by it.

But all of the second team was facing the Corrupted Shell for the first time, and Korinna was still green when it came to command. Almost immediately after the fight entered its mid-phase, both Xeno and Amira accidentally caught the Mystic Eyes in their gaze and were petrified on the spot.

Thankfully, Korinna had been maintaining a buffer of [, and Xeno was quickly revived. But misfortune struck again — another projection of Mystic Eyes materialized right in front of him just as he came to. He died again, barely a moment after being brought back.

Sensing that the repeated resurrections were drawing aggro toward Korinna, Garm pushed himself to shield her. But his growing panic only led to a fatal mistake, and he sustained a critical wound. Then, while Korinna was busy healing him, the Corrupted Shell shifted its focus to her. Though she had decent physical capabilities — better than Tsutomu — and could dodge for a time, it wasn’t enough. Garm couldn’t redirect the monster’s attention in time, and Korinna was struck down.

After that, the fight devolved into a mere formality. Still, thanks to the evacuation experience of Garm and Amy, the team managed to leave the fight without losing any equipment.

”…So it’s the mid-phase that’s the problem,” Garm muttered.

”Definitely,” Korinna agreed. ”Things suddenly got way more difficult at that point.”

”Those purple eye projections are the worst,” Amy said, puffing her cheeks in frustration. ”It felt like everyone just stiffened up once they showed up.” Ř𝒶ƝȎΒЕṦ

”Right? And I only caught a glimpse of one from the corner of my eye, and that was enough to take me out. Seriously annoying,” Amira grumbled.

”From now on, it might be safer to keep your eyes shut for a moment after being revived,” Xeno suggested. ”The timing was awful in that fight, I swear…”

Everyone in Team 2 nodded among themselves; they had all clearly learned that lesson the hard way. The conversation shifted toward strategies to better handle the mid-phase, and Tsutomu mostly listened, occasionally offering insights from his own experiences. They were managing fine on their own, and he didn’t feel the need to interfere much.

As the meeting began to wind down, he offered a final comment.

”At this rate, I don’t think I’ll need to get too involved. Honestly, I had considered trying a two-Healer setup for the next run, but Ealdred Crow’s also going back to single-Healer, so… well, Korinna, I think it’ll be more beneficial in the long run if you go head-to-head with Stephanie and Lorena. That’s why I want Team 2 to continue as-is for the next attempt.”

Truthfully, Tsutomu wanted to push the second party forward more quickly so they could begin preparations for the hundredth layer. But he was keenly aware that their recent success on the ninetieth had been a bit… over the top. ‘Promoting’ Korinna to Team 1’s leader ahead of schedule risked breeding resentment even within the Clan. If she was to lead the charge on the hundredth layer, she would first need to prove she could stand alongside the likes of Lorena and Stephanie.

Fortunately or not, Ealdred Crow had abandoned the double-Healer formation, which would have been the optimal answer for defeating the Corrupted Shell had they kept using it — in which case, Tsutomu had planned to imitate it himself. But Stephanie, after watching how he handled the fight, had requested a change. Her intervention brought that idea to a halt, inadvertently giving Absolute Helix a bit of breathing room.

[Thinking about it… I went and basically showed them a complete walkthrough of the Corrupted Shell, didn’t I? Stephanie’s a little scary sometimes…]

When he had tackled the ninetieth layer, Tsutomu had been in no state to hold back. He had thrown everything he had into the strategy and execution. Showing that level of technique to White Mage veterans like Stephanie and Lorena might have been a misstep — even if it wasn’t the sort of performance someone could copy just by seeing it once.

He had caught glimpses of both Clans’ attempts at the fight on the Monitors earlier that day, and neither was polished yet. Still, there was one detail that had sent a chill down his spine: Stephanie. Out of everyone, she had made the most mistakes — but it was precisely because she had been trying to replicate Tsutomu’s maneuvers. And what was more disturbing… she was already correcting them. It was as if she’d been watching a guide video, rewinding and reviewing every move. That fierce momentum, combined with a rekindled obsession for mastery, made her frightening to watch. At this rate, it wouldn’t be strange if she transformed entirely in less than a week.

Korinna, it seemed, had noticed this shift in Stephanie. Tsutomu could see that she was beginning to reevaluate her own positioning and her decision-making. If Stephanie continued to climb, Korinna would be pulled along in her wake. And if Lorena grew alongside them as well… Tsutomu couldn’t help but envy Korinna’s current place.

”This is a rare opportunity to be competing with two other top-tier Clans,” he said to the others. ”So let’s make the most of it.”

”We know that,” Amira huffed. ”You just better have your neck washed and ready when it’s YOUR turn to get wrecked.”

”…You know, Amira, you might want to wash your neck too. Those scales of yours are starting to look kinda grimy.”

”Hah? No, they’re not! I’m just shedding, that’s all.”

”Oh, that so?”

Amira scratched at the patch of scales where the bright red had faded to a pale white. While watching her do so, Tsutomu — still lost in thought about Korinna — offhandedly turned to Leleia, the other Dragonewt in the party.

”Shedding season varies from person to person. I haven’t started yet,” she said calmly.

”Huh.”

”Sometimes parts flake off early, though. Would you like one next time?”

”Uh… no thanks.”

”But you always pick up Hannah’s feathers, don’t you? Are you collecting them?”

”…I mean, yeah, I do pick them up. But I toss them out in the end. I did think about turning them into a quill once, but figured people would think it was kinda gross.”

Hannah’s vivid blue feathers were beautiful and soft to the touch. Tsutomu often found himself picking them up when they fell. But thinking of it from her perspective, it was like someone collecting someone else’s shed hair — so in the end, he always tossed them into the trash like darts into a dartboard.

”Ow!”

Apparently having overheard, Hannah plucked a primary feather from her wing with a sharp tug and held it out to him with both hands.

”Then use this one to make your quill! I can’t give you tons every day or anything, but if it’s just for you, Teach, it’s no skin off my back! …Pun not intended!”

”Uh, thanks… but I don’t really need it…”

”What!? I went through all that pain for you and you just–! What kind of monster are you!?”

”Exactly because it hurts, I don’t want you going that far.”

”Ughhh! You’re so annoying!”

It had been quite a large feather, and the sound it made when it came loose was enough to make Tsutomu wince. In the end, he accepted it reluctantly, his expression caught somewhere between guilt and discomfort. Hannah flapped her wings in protest, but his mood remained cloudy.

The next day, he went so far as to commission a craftsman to turn the feather into a custom quill. But in the end, he never found the heart to use it. It was quietly stashed away in his desk drawer, untouched.