Live Dungeon!

[I had no idea she was this strong!]

Amira could not help but scream inwardly as she watched Amy close the distance to the Corrupted Shell in a single bound. Her white-and-black dual blades stabbed into its bones, then sliced upward as she flipped and twisted, scaling the creature in a brutal, fluid motion.

Amira had fully agreed with the plan to save the ace Attacker, herself, for the final phase of the battle. Ending the grueling late-game swiftly and decisively was a sound strategy. And to be seen by her fellow Clan members as someone worth preserving for such a critical moment filled her with pride. She was determined to live up to that trust.

But even as she embraced the plan, one concern had lingered: Could the party really manage the early and middle phases without her damage output? If the battle dragged on too long before reaching the climax, the entire strategy would collapse. For it to work, someone else had to pick up the slack. Namely, their other attacker, Amy.

Yet Amira had not been sure if Amy could carry that weight. Sure, Amy had her strengths: her idol-like popularity, her rare Appraisal skill, and a breadth of monster knowledge Amira could not match. But as a pure Attacker, Amira had always considered herself a few leagues above her. Could Amy really wear down the Corrupted Shell on her own before the endgame?

That uncertainty had pushed Amira to enter the ninetieth layer today with the resolve to contribute as much as she could, even while holding back her weaponry and refraining from invoking the [.

But Amy’s performance in this very moment was beyond anything Amira had seen before.

The wild battle instinct Amy had always possessed now moved in tandem with a finely honed rhythm. Her rotation of skills reflected the min-maxer’s precision Tsutomu had drilled into her. Add to that the power boost from Amira’s [, and the result was something near inhuman.

Amy was not a specialist like Hannah or Amira; she was the adaptable type, able to do most things well. But as Diniel had once pointed out, her versatility had often scattered her focus too thinly, blunting her effectiveness in any one role.

Not this time, however, tasked with being the main Attacker while Amira conserved her strength, Amy had been freed from her usual supporting roles. She no longer issued auxiliary commands or concerned herself with Garm’s positioning. And judging by her indifference to whether Garm lived or died so long as they won, she was now laser-focused on one thing alone: outputting damage.

[She’s fast… and her reflexes are insane! Does she have eyes in the back of her head or something!?]

It was not just Amira who was stunned; every member of the party watched in awe. Even Xeno, for once caught flat-footed, fumbled to issue an order.

”Amy! Ease up just a bit! You’re drawing too much aggro! At this rate, you’ll be targeted!”

”……”

Amy responded with the barest tilt of her head toward Garm, her face unreadable but clearly unimpressed, as if to say, ”Is that all you’ve got?”

”[!!”

Garm roared his skill into the air, chugged a Blue Potion, and met Amy’s glare with one of his own. The Corrupted Shell’s strikes intensified, battering against his tower shield. His indigo-furred tail bristled like a drawn blade.

”Ha… hahaha! I-I did say I’ll be right behind you, but that doesn’t mean you should push yourself too hard out there, Garm!”

Xeno forced a laugh through a wavering voice. Destined to switch with Garm as the main Tank later, he was already picturing the nightmare of trying to steal back aggro from these two.

Korinna, with a mixture of sympathy and resignation, shot Xeno a look and cast [ on Garm to slow the creeping petrification.

”[!”

”[!”

”[!”

”[!”

The race between Garm and Amy grew heated, the two of them intensifying their slashes and blocks like rival gladiators. A fierce, unspoken rivalry had taken root between them.

Watching them, Amira could not help but grin. She gripped her greatsword tighter and shouted at Xeno.

”Hey, Xeno! Don’t you start chickening out now! Get that [ up already!”

”I’m not scared! Not at all! [!!”

With her blade infused with light, Amira charged back into the fray. Not to be outdone, Xeno too raised his silver sword and began pressing the attack, refusing to be overshadowed by the rest.

They had tried and failed on this floor dozens of times, but it had paid off. The party no longer stumbled in the early or middle phases. The Corrupted Shell’s violet Mystic Eyes, which they had once struggled against, no longer felt like an instant death sentence.

”Heads up! It’s doing an area attack! Pattern 3!”

They could practically dodge with their eyes closed now. As long as Xeno’s commands came through, they trusted him implicitly. There were still occasional minor mistakes, but nothing fatal.

And today, even those small mistakes were nearly nonexistent.

Korinna had made it through the middle phase without once drawing unwanted aggro, thanks to perfectly balanced healing. She didn’t have to overextend; the new party formation was working.

”Oh come on! It won’t even look at me!”

”Hang in there!”

If anything could be considered a problem, it was that Xeno had a hard time drawing aggro when it came time to switch with Garm. But that did not matter; Garm still could push his physical limits to buy some extra time.

”Shhh…”

Still, Amy and Garm had both pushed themselves dangerously hard. Even with Korinna layering on extra healing, she couldn’t keep up with the damage they were taking.

And just as the party began to approach the end of the middle phase, Amy’s movements began to falter. Her red eyes had dulled, reverting to their usual golden hue as the [ ran its duration. Her breathing was ragged, her chest rising and falling in sharp, shallow gasps. Her foot slipped from the Corrupted Shell’s thick arm, which she had been using as a perch, and her balance crumbled.

Just before she could fall, Amira transformed and flew in, Dragon wings beating on her back, grabbing her. As she cradled Amy in her arms, Amira’s expression was unusually gentle.

”Well done. Leave the rest to me. You get some rest.”

”Nyaaah… Would’ve been nicer if it wasn’t you catching me, though…”

”Quit mumbling nonsense and take a break, dumbass. I’ll run wild for a while, then you can jump back in when you’ve cooled off.”

As if mirroring her rising fury, the crimson aura around Amira blazed brighter. After lowering Amy into Korinna’s care, she gripped her main greatsword, the well-worn, pitch-black blade that fit her hand like a natural extension.

The Corrupted Shell awaited her. From its claws came a twitching, unhinged clatter.

”I’ll rip you to pieces!!”

Though the monster’s aggro should have still been locked on Xeno, it momentarily turned toward her, cowed by the sheer pressure radiating from her roar.

▽▽

”She’s as terrifying as ever,” Tsutomu muttered in the crowd.

”Uhuhu… You’ve seen nothing yet,” Leleia purred, eyes half-lidded with fond delirium. ”The real Amira is far, far wilder than that…”

Tsutomu pretended not to hear her and focused on Monitor #2, where Amira now dominates the screen. Her strength was undeniable. Even a monster the size of a small house, empowered with the same divine blessings as an Explorer, hesitated before the force of her blows. She tore through the Corrupted Shell’s defenses like she was throwing Magic Fists with no cooldowns, no risk, no restraint. She was, in every sense, an ace Attacker.

The crowd gathered around her Monitor was made of largely devoted fans: regulars who had followed this party’s nearly month-long struggle against the ninetieth layer, hoping today would be the day they finally scored the win.

Live broadcasts were the only way to view the action. There were no replays, no recorded archives. Workers, students, Guild staff, they all had to arrange their schedules, steal moments between tasks, and gather around Monitors to catch battles live.

”Come on, you’ve got this…!”

”Amira’s insane! This might really be it!”

”Amy’s amazing too!”

Even to the untrained eye, today’s party was clearly different. Something had shifted, and not just in raw firepower.

Tsutomu’s gaze drifted from Amira’s rampage to the edge of the screen, where Korinna could be seen.

[It’s amazing how much her performance improves just from removing the responsibility of giving orders…]

He had known Korinna was naturally reserved, but even he had not predicted this degree of change. It helped, of course, that the team’s understanding of the Corrupted Shell’s patterns had matured, resulting in fewer hits taken. But Korinna’s support and healing stood out as exceptional.

Just after the Corrupted Shell transitioned into its deadly gimmick phase, where any petrified target would be executed instantly, Korinna had cleansed every status effect in the party without hesitation. She even dispelled Dark Silence as soon as they came, ensuring no one was caught off-guard. Not a single member had died getting to this point.

And even more impressive was her aggro management. The amount she had drawn was shockingly low, even below what Tsutomu would have achieved in the same situation.

[Even if they suffer a few slip-ups in the final phase, they’ll manage. The entire strategy was built around defeating the Corrupted Shell specifically… They really thought of everything.]

Korinna’s odd ability to see a target’s moment of death had helped shape this approach. But it was not just intuition; she had constructed the strategy with her own hands, learned its rhythm, and carried it this far.

For a Healer who could do that, it would be hard for anyone to argue she did not deserve to be the first to enter the hundredth layer. The days of thinking of her as Tsutomu’s pet Channeler were over, at least among the Clan.

[Now then, I guess I should start thinking about who to bring to the hundredth layer…]

Even as Amira unleashed a storm of carnage against the Corrupted Shell, Tsutomu’s mind had already leapt ahead, weighing his choices.