Live Dungeon!
chapter-17

The 3-man party led by Tsutomu had since bested the beach’s boss, the Shell Crab. Today Tsutomu was heading into the dungeon to see how Camille fought, so he didn’t intend to go to the higher floors, but he was forced by Camille to go anyway.

He wondered how there could be a girl that wanted to defeat some of the top floors as he stood before the Shell Crab again. As usual, Garm was the tank and Tsutomu the healer, with Camille as the attacker in place of Amy.

“Now, let’s have a look.”

“All right, I want Camille to go behind for a sneak attack after Garm casts Combat Cry.”

“Ok, ok! I got it!”

Camille, who was holding a gigantic iron sword that looked too big for her, began laughing courageously as she looked at Garm who was currently taking on the Shell Crab head-on.

Camille, who was holding the iron sword comfortably, approached the Shell Crab from behind. As she was standing right behind it, she struck it with her sword, adjusting her stance as she absorbed the shock from the rebound.

“That felt really stiff.”

The Shell Crab turned towards Camille, attacking her with its gigantic pincers. She avoided it by rolling to the side, using her remaining momentum to strike the Shell Crab’s side with her sword. A strong wind coming from the attack shook the battlefield. This time, Camille did not stagger as the Shell Crab fell backward.

Camille returned in front of the Shell Crab, taking Garm’s place as its primary target, and began chipping away at its leg armor. Since this wasn’t their first time taking on the Shell Crab, Garm had already learned the most efficient methods of attacking its armor. This time, Garm had permanent haste on him, so it went by quicker.

Camille stopped for a while and noticed a blue aura transferring from Tsutomu to Garm. After some time, she was given the signal to attack, so she reconvened with Garm.

“Combat Cry!”

The Shell Crab, who was receiving Garm’s attacks, continued towards Camille without taking her view off of her even once. The Shell Crab, who could recognize the party, went for the source of the greatest damage and most advanced skills, which it thought was Camille since she was the closest match for Amy.

“I’m sorry, there’s a mistake in its target percentage. Garm is taking less aggro now.”

“OK!”

“Understood.”

Tsutomu switched the bulk of protection towards Camille, encapsulating her in the blue aura.

Garm began attacking the Shell Crab’s legs, while Camille focused on both its legs and its pincers. A light double swordsman like Amy could quickly run behind it and attack it from there, but Camille is a heavy swordsman. In exchange for dealing heavy hits, she couldn’t move as quickly as Amy.

Her equipment was a standard leather armor, but the difference was her sword as big as her back. Whenever her attacks were spotted by the Shell Crab, it was easy for it to parry the attack with its pincers.

However, it is undeniable that her attacks caused plenty of damage. The thin legs and armor on its pincers were easily worn down by her strikes.

The Shell Crab recognized her true potential and began focusing even more on her.

[Maybe she should weaken her attacks a bit. It’s not good like this.]

Camille was still committed, however, and continued to attack it. Under these circumstances, Garm wouldn’t be able to gain any aggro from the Shell Crab, and it focused on Camille instead. It was obvious that she was about to get hurt.

Amy started using this tactic since the 20th floor, where she understood that she shouldn’t attack monsters much so as to prevent herself from being attacked.

However, judging from Camille’s tactics, she had little practical experience on her way to the 49th floor.

Although Tsutomu was irritated that he was still comparing her to Amy, he always focused on the battle in case anybody needed emergency healing.

Continuously attacking the Shell Crab has since made her exhausted. Her breath rate gradually increased as more and more drops of sweat fell from her forehead and onto the sandy beach.

Garm, who was still being completely ignored, tried to draw the attention of the Shell Crab through spells like Combat Cry, Warrior Howl, etc., but the Shell Crab was set on destroying Camille as it launched another attack with its pincers.

The huge mass of the Shell Crab began lunging towards Camille, who avoided it by stepping to the side as to conserve physical energy. From outside her view, another of its pincers approached her.

Turning around quickly, she tried blocking it with her sword because of her lack of a shield, but was instead thrown away by its sheer force.

Camille, who was caught mid-air with Tsutomu’s protection spell, slowly got up from the sand and got ready to attack again when she heard Tsutomu screaming.

“High Healing, High Healing, High Healing! Haste!”

An aura came out of his white cane and enveloped Camille. Her numbed hand quickly regained its feeling, and the pain from when she hit the ground disappeared immediately. Camille got up slowly while feeling soothed by the green aura from Tsutomu’s healing.

For a full recovery, High Healing was only needed once. However, in order to earn the Shell Crab’s aggro, he applied it 3 times to both Camille and Garm alongside haste. The Shell Crab was now focusing on Tsutomu.

“Air Blade! Camile, stop attacking, and let Garm take aggro. You can use a blue potion!”

Tsutomu released an air blade towards the Shell Crab as he yelled the instructions.

[They’re both tired. This is my mistake. I should have anticipated this.]

Since this is their third time, the Shell Crab’s attacks were familiar. However, trying to protect yourself with Tsutomu’s vitality stats is pretty difficult. This was a risky move that he likely wouldn’t have done under normal conditions.

But he was embarrassed that he was playing as though he was still with Amy. A pincer landed on the ground right next to him. The wind that came from its attack made his heart sink as he felt as though it was beckoning him closer towards death. The Shel Club was gross enough from afar, but close up it was absolutely disgusting with its slow-moving mouth and antennas.

Its pincers seemingly sandwiched the sky above Tsutomu’s head. The sight alone was enough to make him feel a little sick, since just by looking at its pincers, the fear of death is already established deep within you.

Tsutomu continued avoiding its attacks while also keeping track of the water bullets it was firing. He felt as though every attack he managed to dodge brought his heart closer towards exploding.

Tsutomu, too, soon began to run out of energy as his breaths doubled in speed and he began to break into a sweat. Thankfully, by this time, Garm had already accumulated enough of the Shell Crab’s aggro that it eventually switched targets and turned towards Garm.

Although he was extremely thankful that it had stopped focusing on him, Tsutomu prioritized putting another protection spell on Garm before he would celebrate by regaining his stamina and taking deeper breaths.

After resting for a bit, Tsutomu tried to control Camille’s haphazard attacks, before turning around and placing an additional haste spell on Garm.

Garm was currently attracting all of the Shell Crab’s focus, so Camille was able to enter the fight from its flank as it switched targets towards her again, allowing Garm to regain mana. Before Camille becomes exhausted again, Garm activates his skills again and gains the Shell Crab’s aggro, allowing Camille to rest.

They continued this attack cycle religiously, allowing Tsutomu to drop in to speak to Camille.

“This is good. Let’s use the Dragon spell while its attacking Garm.”

“Oh, leave it to me! I’ll finish this right now.”

Camille stepped forward and opened her mouth confidently, screaming the word dragon. As she had finished, glowing red scales began enveloping her entire body as her eyes reddened and her hair grew even longer.

Her newly growing red wings also began glowing with a reddish aura, appearing as though it was burning. After her wings had fully formed, she held her sword and struck the back of the Shell Crab.

The armor on its pincers had already cracked due to Garm’s attacks, so when it was struck, it broke immediately. As the dust settled, Camille spotted the Shell Crab trying to retreat.

“Power Slash!”

Camille took a sturdy stance as she struck the Shell Crab again. The sword hit more of its armor, which cracked immediately, causing it to scream in agony.

Camille continued her attacks for a while after that. The Shell Crab could no longer keep up with her as it swung its broken pincers around in the air. Camille ended it with a heavy strike towards its back.

Camille was now going so fast that even Tsutomu couldn’t keep up with her. He couldn’t even apply protection or haste since the auras couldn’t reach her in the first place.

After another painful scream, the Shell Crab began tunneling into the ground in a desperate attempt to retreat.

However, since its pincers were broken, it would take it longer than usual. It continued firing water bullets from its back, buying him some time. However, this would be useless as Camille flew high into the sky before allowing herself to fall down again whilst thrusting her sword through the empty air.

As she landed, the sword pierced the Shell Crab’s back and impaled it towards the ground. The scene was reminiscent of a guillotine execution as the sword slid deeper and deeper into its back.

“Enchanted Flame.”

As she spoke, flames began to envelop her whole sword. The Shell Crab began turning into a flurry of particles as it burned from the inside.

They had now become a clan that could defeat the Shell Crab in one try.

“Great.”

Garm’s cheeks were red, as though he was excited to see her battle. Tsutomu, in fact, was also quite impressed at her speed and firepower.

Camille’s movement speed and agility while in dragon form was as fast as it could ever be. Even Tsutomu’s support and healing spells can’t reach her, so it would be more difficult for him than with Amy.

When she was in dragon form, she was so immersed that she couldn’t focus on anything else other than the enemy in front of her. Tsutomu couldn’t help but view this as a sort of madness.

Should he apply haste to Camille by using all his mana? But then the spell will be too powerful, and he’ll gain all its aggro. It’s no different from the strategy he dismissed earlier. But then what should he do? Tsutomu snapped out of his deep thought as he began collecting the gems from the defeated Shell Crab.

Camille’s red wings, scales, and long hair began to burn away as soon as the spell was lifted.

As Tsutomu was collecting the gems, Camille stabbed her sword into the ground and rested on its side.

“Garm’s high vitality served as a sort of shield. I’ve seen some other parties using that strategy before. Tsutomu’s healing, however… this is the first time I’ve seen anything like it.”

“Yeah, Camille, Tsutomu’s quite amazing!

Camille stared at the swinging black tail as she smiled.

“But you’ve grown, Garm. You seem to be strategically fighting with Tsutomu’s healing. Looks like you’re no longer a mad dog, huh.”

“Thank you!”

Garm performed an over-exaggerated bow as Camille burst out laughing. When they noticed the Black Door appearing, Tsutomu urged them to return to the guild for now.

“So, what else are you going to do today?”

“Nothing much, really. I just wanted to see how well you fight, so I guess we’re done here.”

“Sorry for dragging you all the way here. I’ve heard that parties could break through the Shell Crab with your leadership. I wanted to try it out for myself.”

“Oh yeah, could we have a meeting sometime later and check our skills somewhere?”

“Okay, but the guild’s probably looking for me. Is it okay if we have the meeting sometime this evening?”

“Yeah, sure.”

The trio, who seemed jubilant at the success of their new party exited through the Black Door as they went their separate ways.