After the training session, Amira received various tips from Nix, her old Clan’s second-in-command, and in the days that followed, she went around apologizing to her old Clan’s members. They were surprised by Amira’s apology, but most of them accepted it.
Still, some were dissatisfied with Amira’s belated apology, making an immediate resolution difficult. Additionally, Leleia, a fellow member of her current Clan, did not accept the apology.
Afterward, the anti-personnel combat training sessions among the major Clans continued in pursuit of progressing through the eightieth layer. Garm, the main Tank of the first team, and Xeno as well, were predictably at the forefront of this collaborative project. Inspired by this, the second team’s members, Daryl and Hannah, also engaged in practice battles with a decent sense of tension.
At some point, Tsutomu also started feeling more willing to train, as he was seen asking Lorena for some sparring matches during his Clan’s session with Silver Beast. Korinna also attempted to take part, but Tsutomu politely declined upon seeing the morning star she had with her.
The declination was unsuccessful, however, as he was forced into a match anyway… in which he was overpowered by Korinna despite the latter entering the fight barehanded. Even Garm was exasperated to see that happen.
“Why do you hold back so much? All you had to do was fight like you would do against the usual monsters — then you wouldn’t have lost THIS easily.”
“Well, I specialize in support and healing, so…”
“But you just lost so easily to an UNARMED opponent — that’s unacceptable.”
“U-uh, sorry about that, Tsutomu…”
“Come on, Garm, you didn’t need to be that blunt,” Tsutomu said, slightly narrowing his eyes at Garm upon seeing Korinna bow apologetically.
Garm seemed indifferent, however, as he proceeded to cross his arms as if to say he did not care.
“Listen, Tsutomu, you have always been too soft.”
“Uh…”
“You might not need it now, but no one knows when things will take a turn for the worse. You’d be better off being able to hold your own in a fight.”
“Nah, he doesn’t need to!” Amy interrupted as Garm’s stern gaze intensified, “Whatever happens, I can keep him safe just fine! Right, Tsutomu?”
Hearing that, Tsutomu let out a dry chuckle and proceeded to tap her on her shoulder.
“I appreciate that, but I know I should be able to defend myself as well.”
“Aww, c’mon! I won’t let anyone or anything touch you!”
“Eh, might as well try to do it myself. I have some free time on my hands anyway.”
Tsutomu already had all of his essentials down in terms of support and recovery, and while he had plans to learn flight control from Xeno, that would come later because the latter was currently too busy. As such, Tsutomu found himself with nothing much to do in the immediate moment, so he decided to focus on training for anti-personnel combat until he reached a certain level of proficiency.
“I’m practically a complete novice when it comes to anti-personnel combat, so I guess everyone will be like a mentor to me this time around.”
“So I’m Teach’s mentor… You’re my mentor, but I’m also your mentor…? Hmm…”
Hannah, having trouble parsing Tsutomu’s statement, tilted her head in confusion, her blue-feathered wings flapping. Tsutomu proceeded to reach into his Magic Bag.
“That means you have the lowest position, Hannah. How about you go buy me some juice from the food stalls?”
“Teach!?”
“Here’s the money.”
“Wait, you’re serious!?”
Given some gold coins of various shapes, Hannah looked as if she were a lost baby bird.
“Ah, get some for me as well, Hannie!”
“Yeah, me too.”
“Ahh!! I’ll be right back!!”
Ordered by Amy and Amira, Hannah dashed away from the training area at an incredible speed before Tsutomu could stop her, leaving behind a trail of fluttering blue feathers.
“I should have asked for something as well,” Diniel said with a straight face.
“Maybe you should have stopped her…” Tsutomu quickly retorted as he looked in the direction Hannah had gone.
A few minutes later, Hannah returned… and was asked by Diniel to get juice for her as well. On the verge of tears, she went off to fulfill that order.
While that went on, the joint training session continued. Just for today, Melchor, who had managed to break through the eightieth layer solo, joined in. Still, news of mock battles between Melchor and the members of the Absolute Helix Clan had become the talk of the town, resulting in the public training area being filled with spectators.
The matches with Melchor, a professional martial artist with decades of combat experience, turned out to be quite a motivating experience. By the end of it, Xeno had a look of enlightenment, and Hannah, a fellow Boxer, seemed intrigued by Melchor’s Magic Fist style.
“Hohoho! Now that was quite thrilling.”
“I was so close, too…”
Among the various matches, the one that garnered the most attention was Diniel’s. The result ended in Melchor’s victory, but Diniel had fought competently enough to score a few solid hits on him.
Tsutomu and Hannah could not help but wear satisfied expressions as they witnessed Diniel getting a much-needed humbling loss. Diniel, approaching those two, playfully clasped Hannah’s head between her fists and rubbed it.
“WHY ONLY ME!?”
“I’m just venting.”
“Aren’t you venting too hard!?”
Still, Tsutomu was quite surprised to see Diniel go all out like this — it was to the extent that she was breaking a sweat.
And so, a month passed since the joint training among the major Clans began. Eventually, the first team of Ealdred Crow finally managed to break through the eightieth layer.
―▽▽―
“Ooohhh~~! You’re as good as ever!”
On a day off, in the living room of the Clan House, Amy rested her head upon Diniel’s lap. Diniel held a relatively large cotton swab in her hand, using it to delicately clean Amy’s cat ears.
Diniel was adept at ear cleaning, a skill she had acquired so that she may get to touch her beastly friends’ ears. In an attempt to clean Garm’s dog ears with the swab, she had been declined with a wave of Garm’s hand, who stated that he had it taken care of at a specialized establishment. Daryl, on the other hand, had clung to his drooping ears with both hands and fled from the offer.
“Mmm~~ There, right there~~”
“Stay still.”
Apparently, her ear cleaning technique was so exceptional that Amy occasionally wriggled in pleasure. And as she touched Amy’s delicate cat ears, Diniel’s face exuded a sense of contentment — this was a mutually beneficial bond.
“HAH!”
Near them, Hannah pinched a piece of Magic Stone Scrap between her fingers and clenched her fist, crushing it. All she managed to do was lightly graze her hand with a small cut, which she proceeded to heal with a cheap, unpleasant-tasting potion.
Following her sparring match with Melchor, Hannah had grown quite interested in the latter’s Magic Fist style. Currently, she appeared to be engaged in a casual attempt at training for the technique. It was worth noting that not too long ago, within God’s Dungeon, she had tried shattering a Small Magic Stone — which resulted in a spectacular explosion that had blown her whole right hand off. Since then, she had been under Melchor’s tutelage, practicing with Magic Stones so small that they looked more like grains of sand.
However, the Magic Fist was a fighting style that so many adept practitioners had failed to master, and it seemed that even Melchor was finding it quite challenging to deal with Hannah’s bird-brained nature. At one point early on, while they were in God’s Dungeon, she had confidently attempted to shatter a Medium Magic Stone only to have it blow her into pieces — that incident left even the composed Melchor pressing a hand against his forehead in exasperation.
Meanwhile, Garm, Daryl, and Xeno dedicated their days off to rigorous morning training sessions, while Amira had returned home to engage in sparring with Camille. As for Korinna, it seemed she had been dragged along by the latter to provide support.
Tsutomu was immersed in reviewing documents, meticulously adjusting and confirming details for his team, prompted by the news of Aldred Crow successfully progressing past the eightieth layer. Absolute Helix was also preparing to challenge the same layer boss soon, making this confirmation work a matter of utmost importance.
Sitting next to Tsutomu was a ‘girl’ wearing earth-colored clothes. It was none other than the Gnome, the Earth-elemental Spirit with whom Tsutomu had not made a <<Contract>> for almost a whole month.
When it realized that sitting next to him would not get a response, the Gnome moved over to sit in front of him instead. As it rested its chin on an edge of the desk and looked intently at Tsutomu’s work, a blue-colored gelatinous creature leaped onto the Gnome’s face.
It was Undine, the Water-elemental Spirit. Following close behind it were the Sylph, a tiny fairy-like entity, and the Salamander, a lizard rhythmically swaying its head around. Chasing after the four Great Spirits was Leleia, her demeanor flustered.
“I’m so sorry… When I called out Gnome, the other Spirits somehow followed.”
“Oh, I don’t mind at all.”
Leleia had been feeding Magic Stones to the Spirits earlier this morning. However, it seemed that the Gnome’s escape due to its lack of recent summons had triggered a chain reaction, causing the other Spirits to emerge simultaneously.
The Sylph playfully flew around Tsutomu’s head, while the Salamander bobbed its head like an enthusiastic DJ. The Slime-like Undine engulfed the Gnome’s artificial body, dissolving it in the process. Observing the Undine’s transformation into a mud-infused slime, Tsutomu raised an eyebrow and asked Leleia with a hint of concern,
“Uh, is that.. safe?”
“Yes. The Spirits that manifested through the <<Contract>> here seem to have provisional forms — their main bodies are separate from these entities. I believe they will be fine.”
“Really…” Tsutomu responded, his expression somewhat skeptical of Leleia’s explanation.
Leleia proceeds to cast another <<Contract>> with the Gnome, and its artificial body reconstructed in the form of a girl, with its hands raised in the air.
Then, as the Gnome started clinging to Tsutomu, he gently pushed its head away
“Is this its default form now or something?”
“Apparently so… But in doing so, it seems that its affinity with you has improved even further,” Leleia answered, closing her eyes and maintaining a composed demeanor
“That’s good to know.”
The Salamander kept its mouth agape as it sat on Tsutomu’s head, while the Sylph continued to happily fly around. Once the Undine returned to its clean watery form, it settled into Tsutomu’s right pocket.
“…I see you and Amira are still not getting along.”
“……”
“I’m not saying you should forgive her just because she apologized, but let’s try to avoid any further problems, all right?”
“Yes, I understand.”
Hearing Leleia’s resolute answer, Tsutomu picked the Salamander off of his head. Despite Daryl, the leader of Team 2, having never informed him of this situation in particular, it was indeed true that there was lingering tension between Leleia and Amira.
All things considered, this was no longer a matter that could be resolved through mere words. This aside, though, Team 2 was coming along quite well thanks to Daryl’s leadership. Tsutomu hoped for a smooth resolution, as he believed that if Korinna performed effectively, Team 2 would be more than capable of handling the eightieth layer. With Amira, whose combat strength had been improving lately, and Leleia, a formidable anti-personnel combatant, the team’s raw strength would likely be more than sufficient.
Particularly noteworthy was the fact that Amira possessed the unique skill <<Dragon Form>>, which made her highly compatible with the Spirits. Therefore, with effective coordination between Amira and Leleia, Team 2 had the potential to become quite formidable.
As the Sylph started tugging at his hair like a control lever, Tsutomu gently caught it and returned it to Leleia, who maintained her stern expression as she walked up the stairs to the second floor with the Spirits in tow.
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