“Amy, you’re paying way too much attention to Tsutomu. It’s slowing you down.”
“Reeeally…?”
Amy tilted her head slightly, prompting Diniel to sling her bow over her shoulder and said bluntly,
“Tsutomu is always gonna change up his style to help you anyway, so why not just fight however you want?”
“C’mon, he’s human, y’know — can’t expect him to do everything.”
“Is he really human, though?”
“THAT’s what you’re doubting? Really? I mean, what else would he be?”
Diniel, talking casually with Amy, turned to look at Tsutomu with her usual sleepy eyes, her ponytail swaying in the wind.
[What the hell is wrong with that Elf?] Tsutomu, while looking back at her, thought to himself — not because of what she had just said, but rather her performance in combat.
It had been almost a week since Amy and Garm’s addition to the Clan, and during this time, Tsutomu had received reports from other Clan members that Diniel had been exploring the Dungeon with Amy whenever they had free time. As such, this was the first time he had actually seen the two of them in combat together, so he noticed only now how clearly different Diniel’s performance was from the usual.
[She couldn’t have done that earlier?]
Tsutomu was, if he were to be honest, quite annoyed by how Diniel’s performance would improve only toward the end of each fight, especially against layer bosses. Her overall performance had always been fantastic, of course, but it could have been much better if she were to make a serious effort right from the beginning. Moreover, it was evident from today’s observation that Diniel’s lazy self would make way for her sharp and precise mode whenever she teamed up with Amy.
Tsutomu heaved a sigh, wishing that she would always exert serious effort regardless of who she was with.
“Sigh too much, and good luck will go away, you know. At least that’s what Amy told me.”
“And who do you think is making me sigh right now?”
“Him?” Diniel asked back, pointing at Xeno in the distance as the latter struck poses for the God Eye.
“YOU” Tsutomu grumbled and pointed at Diniel, who opened her eyes wide, seemingly blindsided by that statement.
“Me? You got a problem with how I did today?”
“More like how you did every other day. You clearly work hard only when you’re with Amy. I wish you’d do that all the time.”
“Nah. It’s tiring.”
“……”
Tsutomu was so stunned by Diniel’s bluntness that he could not say anything back. Then again, she was still one of the best Archers around even when she was slacking off — which was frankly quite unfair for her competitors.
“Just remember that I’ll move you to another team if you slack off too much.”
“Don’t worry. I’m good at telling when I can or can’t take it easy.”
“That’s not exactly something you should be proud of.”
“Oh yeah?”
Diniel closed her eyes and stopped moving, seemingly having lost interest in the conversation. Whenever she took this stance, she would completely ignore anything that was said to her.
Despite this, though, her adaptability made her a must-have in crucial battles, as shown during the times she fought the bosses such as the Fire Dragon and Mount Golem. And now that the Clan had Xeno, whose <<Ember Aura>> negated environmental effects, Diniel was able to fight with ease despite her weakness against the cold.
As such, in terms of raw power, it was unthinkable not to include Diniel as a member of the team that would attempt layer eighty. With that in mind, Tsutomu could not help but heave another sigh — though at least he did not dislike her, and so far, her tendency to slack off had not caused negative results, as far as layer boss battles went.
Amira and Garm were also top contenders for the ones he wanted to include, due to how motivated they were — especially Amira, who had been improving her abilities remarkably quickly as of late, not to mention her combat style’s effectiveness against the Winter General. Still, since there were only two ways to exit a layer boss battle — either win or die — Tsutomu felt also compelled to simply go with the best team members.
[…I’ve only died once, but that’s more than enough for me…]
The memory of his death to the Corroded Elder Dragon was still fresh in his mind despite it being more than half a year since then — and of course, he did not want to go through that again. Knowing that he would be brought back to life after being killed did give him a layer of reassurance, but Tsutomu did not feel brave enough to face death head-on just yet.
He was not sure whether or not he would be able to get through later layers — especially the ninetieth and hundredth — without dying, however. Perhaps it would be better to get used to being killed now, since the Winter General was infamous for killing its challengers swiftly anyway. But then he would have to actually put that idea into practice, which felt impossible for him right now.
[Wonder what I should do…]
Tsutomu looked on at Diniel, in a carefully calculated move, shooting an arrow right past Xeno’s face to kill a monster. Perhaps she had done that because Xeno had cast a toned-down <<Ember Aura>> on her just now, quite possibly inciting her anger.
Even Daryl, the one with the highest VIT out of the whole Clan, would not want to be hit by Diniel’s powerful shots. Xeno, however, did not shed even a single drop of sweat as the arrow flew past his face. In fact, he even proceeded to whistle.
And after the enemy Snow Hares and Snow Wolves were wiped out, Xeno cracked a grin, seeming quite amused.
“Well, well, well! A fine shot as always, Diniel!”
“You really want me to shoot you that much?”
“My wife and Hannah have spoken enough of your skill… and I myself have seen how good you are. Go ahead and shoot however you want! Oh, and I won’t blame you if you accidentally hit me, by the way! Fortunately, I am quite used to taking hits from my allies!”
Xeno, after saying all that, proceeded to flash his white teeth.
“……”
Diniel, seeming to have had enough talking with him, walked away and started collecting her arrows that had fallen nearby.
“What’s this~~? You’re really losing an argument, Dini?”
“Ooh, what’s wrong, Dini? Feeling sick today?”
“Hannah, you don’t get to call me that.”
“Wha–!? Why only me!? That’s not fair! GYAH–!!”
Despite both Amy and Hannah teasing her, Diniel caught only Hannah and threw her into the air.
“AHAHAHA!!” Amy proceeded to laugh hysterically at the scene.
Tsutomu, also about to tease Diniel, stopped in his tracks upon witnessing everything go down, and instead tapped on Xeno’s shoulder to compliment his performance. Xeno, in return, gave Tsutomu a reassuring nod.
―▽▽―
At noon, the team took a break, after which they resumed exploring and monster hunting on layer seventy-nine, focusing on checking their coordination and leveling up. At one point, when Diniel scouted the area with her arrows, she detected a group of five heading their way.
“Golden’s here.”
“Eh, leave them alone,” Tsutomu said, his voice deadpan.
In addition to Golden Tune, Absolute Helix had crossed paths with some Guild teams before during this layer’s exploration. Not once had they seen Ealdred Crow yet, though, despite being in the same layer at around the same time, which made even Tsutomu wonder how that could be.
Golden Tune, seeming to have known that Absolute Helix was here, was coming straight to them. Tsutomu, despite having said to leave them alone, saw no particular reason to avoid them, so he just pretended to not see them coming and resumed hunting monsters.
Then, in the middle of the battle, Golden Tune joined in to provide their assistance. Two Clans working together like this, when seen on the Monitors, was sure to become a topic of conversation among the audience, so people like Amy and Xeno were quite welcoming of it — especially since interacting with a famous major Clan like this could result in an entertaining show.
With Amy and Xeno using eye contact to signal each other when to take over directing the God Eye, Golden Tune’s addition to the battle was shown on the Monitor. The members of Golden Tune, seeming to have caught on to that consideration, entrusted the whole God Eye direction to those two.
[They might even be good enough to write some guide books for Explorers’ directing of God Eyes,] Tsutomu thought to himself while looking at Xeno and Amy, with the former casting a golden <<Ember Aura>> on Leon, and the latter cleverly directing around the God Eye during battle.
Then, a voice full of confidence called out to him,
“Hello there.”
Turning around, Tsutomu saw Eunice, looking smug as she put together a portable <<Haste>> sphere. As always, she was high and mighty despite being the shorter one.
“Can you tell what I’m doing?” She proceeded to ask as she showed off the process of wrapping a <<Haste>> sphere with a <<Barrier>>.
For a moment, Tsutomu ignored her and checked everyone’s buff’s durations before sticking his White Staff into the snowy ground and spreading out his hands.
Then he narrowed his eyes and focused, gathering energy in between his hands to cast <<Haste>> and wrapping it in a <<Barrier>>. Upon seeing that, Eunice’s hands, holding her own <<Barrier>>, immediately froze up.
“Making a dumpling <<Haste>>, right?”
Once Tsutomu had completely sealed the <<Haste>> sphere within the <<Barrier>>, he held it with both hands and dropped it in front of Eunice. When Eunice saw the sphere fall onto the snow — and heard it being called a dumpling — her face turned into that of a child who had just had their toy taken away.
“What the… dumpling!? This is a new type of skill I created myself, you know! You can’t just give it a random name like that!”
“Hey, that’s what it said in the newspaper.”
“What!? Which newspaper!?” Eunice raised a fuss, swinging her tail and raising up her ears in disapproval.
Tsutomu, after telling her the name of the newspaper publisher, disengaged the <<Barrier>> and let the <<Haste>> sphere dissipate. Then he looked away from Eunice, seemingly having lost interest, and checked if any of the combatants needed support and healing.
At one point, he heard the sound of Eunice crouching down behind him.
“…H-hmph. So you can do it easily?”
“<<Protect>>, <<Haste>>.”
“It’s not fair how talented you are. You’re a Healer, but you can be an evasion-based Tank and an Attacker, too. How do you do that? I’m trying so hard… but it took me forever to make that ‘dumpling’ <<Haste>> work.”
Eunice, sitting on the ground, clutched her <<Haste>> sphere in frustration. She had indeed spent a lot of time making this type of skill — even working up the concept of it took a great deal of effort, and so did the learning of the proper application of the <<Barrier>>.
Every single day, other Healers also pondered about what practice methods would be good, and observed Tsutomu’s techniques on the Monitors to learn them for themselves. While Eunice held an extremely negative opinion of Tsutomu’s personality, she had to admit that he was the best Healer she knew. And like studying an exam guide, she had also been extensively observing Tsutomu’s performance.
From studying Tsutomu’s methods, she had tried skill placements, quickshots, and a wide range of other things. On top of the countless failed attempts made in the process, she had managed to make the portable sphere — the ‘dumpling’ <<Haste>> work. With this, she could support Leon without having to use the impossibly difficult placement-type <<Haste>> as Tsutomu did.
She had repeatedly changed the way she cast her skills — forming them, breaking them down, and reforming them as if kneading a mud dumpling, changing up the amount of water and mud, as well as the techniques and tools used. After much trial and error, Eunice had succeeded at inventing a new type of skill — a precious, one-of-a-kind treasure to her.
“But you… you just…”
Despite that, Tsutomu just made — seemingly without effort — the same thing she had spent a long time struggling to create. It felt as if a near-perfect imitation of her invention had suddenly appeared — and he even called it a ‘dumpling’ as if to devalue it.
Eunice squeezed her sphere so hard that the <<Barrier>> started to crack. Hearing that sound, Tsutomu wondered what it was, but he did not turn around as he said to her,
“Just so you know, I had a hard time making it work, too. In fact, that’s why I haven’t been getting enough sleep lately.”
“…And how much time and effort do you think I put into making this?”
“How would I know? Besides, the Pedestals showed you using it — anyone could have copied you if they knew what you were doing. It’s the same for me and my skills — everyone’s already using stuff like placement and quickshot-type skills, you know?”
While saying all that, Tsutomu looked at the other Healer of Golden Tune’s party.
“……”
Eunice cast her eyes down, albeit without turning her face away. Then, after a moment of thinking, Tsutomu proceeded to say,
“I don’t know what you call this skill, but it’s off to a good start, I’d say.”
“…Huh?”
“The dumpling <<Haste>>. It’s quite inefficient energy-wise, but the idea of it is good. A very interesting application of skills.”
Eunice was taken aback by Tsutomu’s remark. Up until just now, Tsutomu had not shown any appreciation toward what he had called the ‘dumpling,’ making this current remark of his quite confusing for Eunice to parse.
Still, right now, Eunice felt like she could genuinely acknowledge Tsutomu’s capabilities as a Healer. She still hated him as a person — and receiving praise from him did not make her feel happy in the slightest. But as a Healer, Tsutomu was one worthy of respect, so upon hearing his praise, she felt a sense of pride and accomplishment building up within herself.
“Well, there ARE still a lot of areas for improvement, though. Like figuring out how to make the energy last longer, and fixing how easy it is for you to confuse how strong you need the <<Barrier>> to be.”
“…Ngh…”
Looking at the sphere in her hand, Eunice sniffed and wiped her nose with her sleeve, surprising Tsutomu and causing him to turn around.
“Uh, wait… are you crying?”
“N-no, I’m not! I just got some dust in my eyes.”
“No way. Just a little dust won’t make you cry like that.”
“…Shut up.”
“Come on, stop it — we are not even fighting. You’re making it look like I made you cry, you know?”
“…You are so, SO annoying.”
Eunice scoffed at Tsutomu’s self-preserving attitude as she turned the other way and wiped away her tears with the hems of her robe.
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