Live Dungeon!

A swirl of black blood congealed in the air, then was wrapped in a green glow as a vivid, crimson liver took shape.

To the untrained eye, it might’ve looked like Tsutomu was helping the enemy recover, but it was nothing but a part of his plan. Having watched the footage of Korinna’s party’s earlier attempts, he knew the enemy’s regeneration patterns and how to exploit them.

It was possible to attack while an organ was reforming, but doing so caused the black blood to scatter, initiating regeneration elsewhere. Unless done deliberately, such an approach only resulted in wasted time and energy. Worse, if they left the liver, the Corroded Elder Dragon’s de facto Healer, intact for too long, they risked never destroying it at all.

Tsutomu’s goal was to permanently destroy multiple organs before the Corroded Elder Dragon could fully regenerate. That was why he intentionally hastened the liver’s recovery so that they could destroy it early and decisively.

”Can’t say I like watching a monster being healed in front of me,” Amira muttered, scowling at the glistening organ.

Despite the strangeness of the tactic, the rest of the party had been briefed in advance and did not lose focus. Once the liver had finished reforming, Tsutomu gave the signal, and both Amira and Amy activated their respective skills. [, Amira’s natural transformation, and Amy’s via [, before launching into their offensive.

[The Attackers are putting out enough damage. The liver shouldn’t last much longer… The real challenge is what comes after.]

Tsutomu watched bile spill from the organ as Amira’s greatsword carved into it, then shifted his gaze to the lungs, which had begun to regenerate next. He already knew the lungs enhanced the Dragon’s corrosive breath. What only he knew was that they also increased blood potency and boosted physical performance through oxygen intake.

[Ideally, we’d destroy the lungs too… but that might leave us no time for the intestines. If we could take out the stomach instead, we might just create the opening we need… but the resulting acid spray could wipe the party. Risky either way…]

To play it safe, or gamble and buy breathing room? He could always throw it to a vote. All he had to do was say, ”Let’s all decide together! That way, no one’s at fault if we get wiped!” But that would be shirking his duty. He was the party’s leader, and not only that, the only one who knew the full extent of the mechanics. The decision had to be his.

[If I don’t make room to maneuver now, we’ll be boxed in later. We’re already flying blind in too many areas; there’s no margin left for surprises.]

The Corroded Elder Dragon was dangerous even in its current form, and it would only become more so. It manipulated vast volumes of blood as weapons, and with each regenerated organ, its offensive capabilities grew. Once the lungs were restored, its corrosive breath would be stronger than ever. Once the stomach reformed, it would vomit acid with lethal force, enough to melt Daryl’s defenses. At that point, the Tanks would be forced into an even more grueling battle.

And the Attackers would be no safer. Anyone assigned to destroy the stomach would be working under constant threat. If one of them died, their damage output would drop, and they might not be able to keep up with the organ cycles.

But sticking with the safe route might be even worse. If the Corroded Elder Dragon launched an unfamiliar, lethal attack, a ‘first-time killer’, as online gaming slang put it, they wouldn’t be able to respond in time. Once the brain regenerated, it would gain full sentience, making it capable of targeting the Healer directly regardless of aggro. At that point, they were finished.

They had managed to survive such surprise mechanics on the ninetieth layer, thanks to extensive pre-battle simulations. But here, on the hundredth layer, they only had minimal prep time. One wrong choice could spell their end.

[I knew the risks going in. It’s my job as a Healer to minimize them. If we go safe and still get hit with something new, we’ll lose and come away with no useful data…]

They had taken the risk of attempting this fight early because of Stephanie; particularly, her team’s ever-growing chances of catching up or even overtaking them to the kill. If they refused to keep pushing through now, then what was the point of all the gambles they had made so far?

[Destroy the liver, the lungs, and the stomach. That gives us counterplay against the breath attacks, delays the brain’s recovery, and opens up a buffer. I can pull it off if I give this everything I’ve got. I just have to be ready to die for it.]

He arrived at his decision by combining his experience from Live Dungeon, where every update brought new unfamiliar Bosses, and with the caution born from the surprises they had encountered on the ninetieth layer. Watching the liver collapse under Amy and Amira’s joint assault, he turned his attention to Daryl, who was busy fending off blood spears with his tower shield.

Tsutomu sent him a round of healing and buff refreshes.

”You’re doing better than expected,” he said. ”I guess all those mock battles when we were preparing for the Winter General paid off.”

”At worst, I’ve still got the VIT to brute-force it,” Daryl replied, breathing hard. ”I should be able to hold the line for now.”

Garm, who had just finished deflecting a barrage of blood weapons, nodded approvingly at Daryl’s performance while downing a Blue Potion to replenish his mental stamina. Tsutomu answered with a small smile, then swapped out his own Potion flask, watching carefully as the lungs finished regenerating and the liver was destroyed.

He grabbed the megaphone magic tool and issued new orders.

”Amira, pull back! Ease your aggro for a bit. Amy, sorry to ask, but I need you to focus on taking out the lungs!”

”Nyoooooo!! Got it!” Amy shouted, her voice raw and booming with [ resonance.

”Really sorry,” Tsutomu said, though he couldn’t help but chuckle at her frustrated reply.

Amira, already in midair, offered a parting jab as she flew past Amy, then returned to Tsutomu with a few firm beats of her crimson wings.

”That went down easier than I thought.”

”The liver’s top priority, so I don’t mind you going hard on it. Just don’t burn out too fast,” Tsutomu warned. ”And don’t forget: Amy’s precision work is what made that possible. Give credit where it’s due.”

Amy had studied organ schematics from Korinna in detail. Even though it was crash-course knowledge, she had memorized key weak points and targeted them with her dual blades, carving delicate incisions to make Amira’s follow-up blows more effective. It was subtle work, but it made all the difference.

”One more thing… how’s the Dragon fear?”

”Eh, not an issue anymore.” Amira said casually.

”Anymore?”

She shrugged, looking rather proud of herself. ”Hard to stay scared when the great White Mage who led the charge against the Devourer Dragon is right behind me, eh? If you’re calm, I sure as hell can’t be trembling.”

”Haaah… In that case, would it kill you to give me a little consideration once in a while? Try taking a cue from Amy, will you?”

”You’re already making up for me, just like you are now, aren’t you? That’s why it’s fine.”

Amira stuck her tongue out in exaggerated exasperation, glancing sidelong at Tsutomu as he continued launching support skills mid-conversation, sending healing shots to both Daryl and Amy without so much as pausing his stride.

”Yeah, yeah. I’ll do my very best to make sure our precious unique skill-wielding Attacker gets to move as she pleases. But once you’ve caught your breath, you’re going right back in to take care of the lungs — so disengage [ and stay put until then.”

”Yeah, yeah,” she replied, bored and unenthusiastic.

Amira dismissed her transformation and took the Blue Potion Tsutomu handed her, then drove her greatsword into the ground and leaned against it with a sigh. While Amy diligently sliced at the branching tendrils spreading from the Dragon’s lungs, something began to shift; the newly oxygenated blood started producing weapons that gleamed a deeper red and came to points far sharper than before.

”Ngh…!”

A crimson blade slipped through Daryl’s tower shield faster than expected. He flinched, startled, but caught it on his left arm. His A+ VIT made it so that the blow left no wound, but still, the sudden spike in speed had him rattled. Before the next attack could follow through, however, twin projectiles — [ and [ — struck his body, calming his breath and allowing him to re-center behind his shield.

”Amira, Garm. Time to swap in!”

”Got it. Tsutomu, I’m counting on you to watch my back, yeah?”

”…Same. I’ll trust you with mine.”

”Oho? How rare. Since you’re both being so cooperative, maybe I’ll fetch the God Eye and ask you to say it again.”

”Break a leg.”

”…”

Now that they’ve had their short break, Tsutomu sent Amira and Garm back into the fray to replace the two on the front line. As Daryl stepped back, he explained the changes in the blood weapons since the lungs had reformed. Meanwhile, Amy, still with lizard-like, slitted eyes from her [, returned, the intensity in her gaze undiminished.

”Looking good so far. It seems like those incisions Korinna told you about are doing their job,” Tsutomu said.

”Sure are,” she replied, sounding grumpy.

She was, without a doubt, quite salty about Amira getting her break first, but knowing full well the difference in their damage output, she didn’t complain. Tsutomu swapped out her empty Blue Potion vials and cast [ on her one more time as a gesture of appreciation.

”At this rate, we should be able to destroy the lungs quickly.”

”But they’ll just regenerate, right?”

”Probably. But the liver is what’s most likely responsible for the Dragon’s healing. If we leave it intact, we don’t stand a chance. We have to assume it won’t regenerate and keep pushing.”

”I guess so… but still, don’t you think it’s kind of weird that a Dragon that looks like that is called the Corroded Elder Dragon? Doesn’t look very corroded to me.”

Thanks to her Appraisal Skill, Amy had already learned the monster’s formal name: Corroded Elder Dragon. But the beast that had annihilated Korinna’s party had undergone a transformation, shedding its initial grotesque form and evolving into something that bordered on the divine.

Judging by appearance alone, the name seemed ill-fitting. Its body, a horrific mass of organs and veins, might inspire revulsion. But the term ‘corroded’ didn’t quite capture it. Even Tsutomu felt a nagging dissonance between this radiant figure and the rotting undead Elder Dragon from Live Dungeon that had previously carried that name.

”[!!”

Before he could reflect further, Amira’s shout cut through the air. Using the incisions Amy had carved, she drove her blade through the tubes at the lung’s root and severed them in one clean sweep. Both organs dropped heavily to the ground.

Amy, watching from the sidelines, ground her teeth in frustration, but Tsutomu only gave a little glance before turning his attention back to the Corroded Elder Dragon.

Just as the lungs were destroyed, a portion of the black blood responsible for regeneration spilled violently from the Dragon’s body and splattered against the arena floor. The blood weapons that had been aiming for Garm suddenly stopped mid-flight… then turned sharply and surged toward the fallen mass.

The blood shaping the weapons reverted to liquid, merging with the black ichor on the ground. The fused mass began to swell, then rise as if pushed up from beneath the pavement, slowly molding itself into the form of a humanoid figure, much like how the Gnome constructed its secondary body.

The resulting figure was one clad in deep red armor and carrying a massive tower shield. It was taller than Tsutomu, its ears drooping like those of the Cynokin race. And its silhouette was… awfully familiar.

It was a blood-forged replica of Daryl.

It was now clear this was no ordinary construct; it was an antibody, created by the Corroded Elder Dragon to destroy the foreign pathogens. Which, in this case, were the Explorers trying to destroy parts of its body. With its shield raised, the blood clone leaped skyward and launched itself straight toward the one who had felled the lungs: Amira.