Live Dungeon!

Chapter 27, A Friendly Meeting

When the three of them stopped searching for the 57th floor and returned, the sky had turned dark by the time they arrived at the guild. Afterwards, they returned to the inn, changed their clothes into casual wear, then gathered in Garm’s room for the meeting.

“I’m hungry. Tsutomu.”

“…Should we buy some food from the stalls?”

Tsutomu got up in response to Camille, who had just entered the room. The trio bought some skewered and boiled food that they all shared and chose what they liked. Tsutomu had several sticks of skewered food topped with sauce, which was a bit expensive. Garm treated himself to some sweet buns sprinkled with walnut. Camille bought a number of raw food, which was a jumble of things the two of them could not identify.

When they returned to Garm’s room, they laid the food on the floor as Tsutomu unfolded a large piece of paper on the table.

“Now then, let’s start the meeting with Camille’s problem. I remembered that the duration of your dragonification is fine for one hour from the previous meeting, but what happened today?”

“It was for an hour, was it not?”

“It became a big problem after that… Was that a side effect or something?”

Tsutomu began to write Camille’s issue and some points of improvement on a piece of paper. He listened to what Camille had to say as he pressed his hand on his forehead.

“Is that so… I wonder whether my body would be able to withstand it if I keep using my dragon form and eventually reach the limit?”

“Oi, you seriously left us confused back then, alright!”

“Wait, let me explain. At that time, I decided that it’d be alright for me to die again, so I used up all my strength. If I didn’t do that, there really wouldn’t be any side effect for one hour.”

“…I see. I mean, Garm probably thought that I would also collapse that time. Heeehー.”

Tsutomu turned his head to look at Camille and stared at her with cold eyes. She raised both of her hands into a pose, begging for forgiveness.

“Since we’re hunting for monsters in the valley, it’d most likely become a series of battles. Moreover, it was a group of Kanfagaroo against the orcs. Even the Wyverns intruded on that battle. I’d rather want to be praised for not giving up than anything else after going through all of that.”

The canyon has a better view than the valley, so the chance of encountering stronger monsters was high. Hence, a series of battles occurred. Would they be able to put up with these series of battles? Not to mention, this floor was the ‘wall’ that separated the middle clans from the big ones.

“Well, Camille certainly had only known about this strategy for three days, but I think she will pretty much be able to cope with it. Besides, her dragonification was amazing. She could cut the Wyverns in two with a single strike.”

“Right. I’ve done my best.”

“But still, your attacks… They were striking the monsters a bit too much and at random. I know that sometimes it can’t be helped when you are in your dragon form, but you’re not losing your consciousness, right? If so, the attack’s range has to be narrowed down. Avoid taking a hit as much as you can. Please focus on hitting these two parts of the monsters’ head. And like Amy-san, make sure you follow the instructions on when to stop attacking. Please cast aside the perception that it’s wrong to be on standby instead of attacking. Garm would attract the monsters when Camille didn’t attack, so if you were on the defensive for some time, some of the monsters will draw back.”

“Is that so. I understand.”

Looking at Tsutomu who kept on adding more words onto the paper, Camille replied quietly as she repented her faults. But then, Tsutomu raised his lips.

“But you should somewhat be more confident now, right? With this strategy we’re using.”

“…That’s right. It was generally a series of battles. Besides, with that group of Wyverns coming, even a party with five people would most likely be annihilated. But we were able to break through it with just three.”

“This strategy has the advantages of making steady progress in battles.”

After listening to Tsutomu’s words, Garm took his eyes off Camille who was digging into the skewered food, then had Tsutomu to list down his problems and points of improvements. After he finished writing lots of long sentences, Tsutomu turned around and looked at Garm.

Garm, who was currently chewing a sweet bun with walnut on his mouth, immediately gulped down the bun, then waited for Tsutomu to say the word.

“It seems that Garm doesn’t make any conspicuous mistakes. You often had to put up with that number of monsters by yourself, so there shouldn’t be any problem for you to earn Aggro. It seems that your Combat Cry has been under control lately, and the result is that it no longer attracts a swarm of monsters.”

Tsutomu felt tedious upon looking at the paper he had written down about Garm, so he began to tap his pen.

“You were being hit numerous times, but since you’ve been able to break through the monsters, that means you still have enough strength in reserve. And not receiving any of the Wyvern’s poison is certainly amazing. It gives us a sense of stability.”

“You’re so nice to Garm, huh?”

“Don’t sulk at me.”

Camille, who was drinking the mysterious raw food from the paper bowl in one gulp, turned away from Tsutomu. Tsutomu thought about how Camille’s stomach could dissolve that weird thing she just ate as he began to move his pen again.

“This is a bit trivial, but there are two problems about you. First is the use of tools. Garm, you’ve once been hesitant about drinking potions even after being shot, right?”

“…Yeah.”

As he watched the battle’s situation from the sky, Tsutomu noticed that Garm reached out to the potion after blowing the enemies off using his Shield Bash, but then he hesitated and pulled his hand back before receiving a High Kick from Kanfagaroo.

“Well, if I were to drink potions, my Aggro control might go out of control. But I can use it at my own discretion up to three bottles. Or rather, I’ll not use it because it cost so much.”

“Alright. Roger that.”

Tsutomu had a considerable amount of money in his purse because of the earnings in the dungeon so far and the bribe sent by Solitt Company. Because of that, he didn’t want Garm to feel reluctant using the tools and collapsed after.

“Next, I thought that Garm would have probably become unconscious after some more attacks, but it’s probably better to consider the Tank’s standing position.”

“…Standing position?”

“Ahー, right. I think it’d be better to explain it with a picture.”

Tsutomu drew two stickmen with ‘Ga’ and ‘Ca’ written on their heads along with a simplified version of the Wyvern. Then, he sketched the Wyvern’s splinter tail as if it was flying towards the stickmen.

“This is Garm. And this is Camille. So, the Wyvern’s splinter tail is flying towards Garm. Garm would obviously dodge the tail or counter the damage using his shield, right?”

“Yeah.”

“But if Camille is behind Garm, you have no choice but to counter, right?”

“…Hmm, that’s right.”

“In short, if we could position it so that Camille wouldn’t get hit, Garm would have more options to dodge the attack. Well, I’ve only observed about this once, and I’ve probably been a little aware about it since we have this party structure.”

Garm and Amy were cautious so as to avoid getting any of their allies attacked by Shell Crab’s water bullets. So Tsutomu thought that they probably wanted to avoid involving the attacker and healer in attacks aimed at the tank instinctively.

“Well then, please pay more attention to the positions next time. You might think that it is something ordinary, but you’ll feel that it’s actually different from what you thought once you practiced and understand it yourself.”

“Got it.”

Garm nodded as Tsutomu spoke while jotting down on the paper. When he finished writing about the two, Tsutomu moved the pen to the blank part left in the middle of the paper.

“As for me, I’ll try to improve the time I need to cast the supporting and recovery skills while using Fly. And then, applying supporting skills in Camille’s dragon form mustn’t be half-done. That method seems to be no good.”

Tsutomu listed his own problems as he scratched the pen on the paper. The style of providing support and recovery while observing the situation from above using Fly was obviously easier and more efficient than before. Since he could avoid monsters which could use skills to bring him down from the sky, Tsutomu could reduce the time he needed to apply Heal and Protect, making it easier for him to grasp the battle’s progress in the same way as in the game.

But because Tsutomu still wasn’t used to applying skill as he used Fly, there were times when he was uncertain about other’s movements. Moreover, there were occasions where his mana dropped drastically. He needed to be in form, in order to cast either Protect or Haste. Any drop would result in obscurity with the effective time of the skills and ends in confusion.

And then, regarding applying support and recovery skills on Camille’s dragon form. The method of maneuvering in the air and making it into an air shot was hard. Tsutomu had, so far, fired the recovery and supporting skills that could not catch up with Camille’s speed.

Therefore, Tsutomu needed to imagine that he was shooting a bullet instead of the usual ball image. Tsutomu realized this when he practiced casting the skills with that image. This way, he’d be able to cope with the speed that could be followed by Camille’s eyes.

However, a lot of problems arose if Tsutomu was to cast the recovery and supporting skills using that bullet shooting method. Firstly, there was the possibility of shooting the monsters by mistake. Unlike the usual firing skill, shooting skill couldn’t be recklessly shot, because even if the shot was just slightly off, it threatened to recover the monsters instead.

Besides, it was uncertain whether the bullet shot’s image was small or whether it would resemble a gunshot. Not to mention, the recovery effect of Heal was only about 20-30% up to now. Additionally, Protect, Haste, and some other skills’ effects would only last for a few seconds. Attackers were less likely to receive hits when they were under recovery, but it was still fatal if the supporting skills were interrupted in the process.

Protect was a support skill that hardened the skin of the person the spell was casted on, and it helped to reduce pain. So, there shouldn’t be any problem if this skill was interrupted, but Haste was a skill which would grant an increase in a person’s movement speed, making them more agile. So, if it was frequently interrupted, it would drag the Attacker down.

Furthermore, if Tsutomu casted Haste on Camille in her dragon form, her speed would increase, making it difficult for him to keep applying the skills even with the shooting method. Tsutomu had a hunch that it would perhaps be out of his league.

“That should be all from me. Does Garm and Camille have any requests for me?”

“Hmm…”

Garm pondered over Tsutomu’s question as he slurped the soup upon finishing the sweet bun. Then, Camille, who was holding the skewered food with both hands, started to talk.

“Like what Tsutomu said about using support skills while I’m in my dragon form. I wonder if it’s okay if I said I wanted you to stop using Haste on me, because it changed my movement’s speed? To begin with, I already got enough enhancement just by changing into dragon form. So there’s no need to cast more support skills on me, right?”

“I see. Hm, but I’d still like to cast Haste on you if possible. Ah, by the way, if Haste isn’t interrupted midway, would your movement speed be alright?”

“It would be useful if it isn’t, but if it’s interrupted then there’s nothing we can do. Moreover, my condition should be quite stable even without my dragonification. I think Tsutomu had done enough for us.”

After praising Tsutomu, Camille heartily bites the stiff tendon on the skewered food off. Garm agreed by responding with a grunt. But Tsutomu’s expression stayed the same.

“Oh. How about applying Haste as much as you can before I turn into my dragon form?”

“Even if I used up all my mana to cast Haste, the effectiveness would only last for around five more minutes. And that might mean I’ll accumulate the monsters’ Aggro all at once. I don’t think it’d be good if we do that.”

“Ungh. I see. Sorry. It’s amazing how Tsutomu could consider even the simplest thing.”

“Nah, I could use various people’s opinions as a reference, so please keep telling more. There are definitely things that I’ve overlooked or the ones I’ve never thought about.”

Camille knitted her eyebrows in response to Tsutomu’s words. And then Garm, who had been pondering for some while, began to voice his opinion.

“It’s about healing as you fly. If possible, I wanted you to focus the healing on my left hand, which is holding the big shield…probably.”

“Ho-oh. May I know the reason?”

“…The other hand had to parry many attacks, but the one with the big shield often had to stop the blow. So the left arm might particularly become numb and the tendons might be injured, too.”

“Ahー, I see. I understood. I’ll take note and improve on that part.”

In the game, there wasn’t any concept of recovering body parts, so Tsutomu took note of it while feeling convinced of the reason.

“Ah, well then, Garm. If you need recovery, just shout ‘Heal’ and I’ll fly to your place. There might be times when there were injuries which couldn’t be clearly seen and I might decide by myself that you’re fine when you’re actually not.”

“Alright, I understand.”

“Is there anything else?”

This time, Camille suddenly raised her hand.

“I want to eat Pot-au-feu again. The soup was also very delicious, but the flavor was too thick. I like it being lightly seasoned like the Pot-au-feu.”

“…”

“Got it. I’ll consider it.”

Garm silently stared at Camille, who leaned her body forward and proposed about the food. Tsutomu breathed a sigh and thought about how the soup from the stalls was no good, as he took note about the first thing he would do in the morning was to buy some ingredients.