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Translator: TipToe
Translator (November 6, 2024 Version): Barnnn
Tsutomu’s newly-formed party now found themselves standing before the Shell Crab, the boss monster of the Beach biome. What had started as a simple expedition to observe Camille’s fighting style had spiraled out of control. Despite Tsutomu’s reluctance, Camille had thrown caution to the wind, opening the Black Gate on the forty-ninth layer and pulling them all into the battle.
[Aww man, here we go again…] Tsutomu thought with mild exasperation, staring down the creature for the third time. [That’s two women in a row eager to throw herself at the giant enemy crab! Is everyone here that battle-hungry?]
As always, Garm took his place as the Tank, with Tsutomu as the Healer. Camille, standing in for Amy, filled the role of Attacker.
“All right then, let’s see what you’ve got!” Camille called out, her voice brimming with excitement.
Tsutomu raised an eyebrow, replying dryly, “Actually, that should be my line… So, Camille, once Garm uses <<War Cry>> — I mean, <<Combat Cry>>, try attacking its back.”
“Hahaha! Right, sorry for getting ahead of myself. But don’t worry, I got this!”
Camille’s greatsword — absurdly large, especially for a woman — balanced effortlessly on her shoulder. She cast a glance at Garm, glowing with a fierce red aura as he was locked in battle with the Shell Crab.
With a switch to a two-handed grip, Camille swiftly circled behind the creature. Her sword came crashing down with a metallic ring as it connected with the Crab’s armored shell, only to be deflected. She staggered back slightly, blinking in surprise.
“This thing’s tougher than I remember,” she murmured.
The Shell Crab’s massive pincer swung toward her in retaliation, but Camille spun nimbly away, her body flowing like water. She redirected the greatsword mid-motion, slamming it against the pincer with a force that sent a gust of air rippling through the beach. This time, she stood her ground as the Shell Crab reeled from the impact.
Seizing the opening, Garm surged forward, his longsword hacking at the creature’s spindly legs. Having faced the Shell Crab twice before, he had grown accustomed to its movements, striking with precision as his <<Haste>>-boosted speed made every cut deliberate and efficient.
Seizing the opening, Garm swiftly moved in front of Camille, his longsword carving into the brittle armor covering the creature’s spindly legs. This being his third encounter with the Shell Crab, he had come to know its rhythm, dismantling its defenses with ease. Tsutomu, having cast <<Haste>> on him, lent an invisible edge to his movements, heightening his speed and making the task all the more efficient.
“So that’s the thing I’ve been hearing about, huh?” Camille remarked, noticing how the wisp of energy of Tsutomu’s spell flew toward Garm.
With a grin, she rejoined the assault, her powerful swings making dents in the Shell Crab’s defense. But soon, Tsutomu called for her to retreat, and she complied, resting her greatsword on her shoulder once more.
“<<Combat Cry>>!” Garm roared, releasing a surge of red energy meant to draw the monster’s aggro. Yet, despite his efforts, the Shell Crab remained fixated on Camille.
Unlike Amy, whose agility and consistent strikes — as well as the team’s familiarity with her — allowed Tsutomu to manage aggro effortlessly, Camille’s style was a wild card to him. Her aggression complicated the careful balance Tsutomu relied on.
Gritting his teeth, Tsutomu quickly recalibrated. “Sorry, that’s my miscalculation. Camille, ease up on your attacks a little. Garm, I’m cutting off <<Haste>>, so adjust accordingly.”
“Got it!”
“Understood.”
Tsutomu cast <<Protect>> over both of his teammates, slightly staggering the spell’s effect for easier timing. After a quick swig of Blue Potion to replenish his mental energy, he resumed his vigilant watch, eyes darting between his comrades and the Shell Crab’s every move.
Garm kept his focus on the creature’s legs, while Camille aimed for its pincers, her strikes thundering against the powerful limbs. With Amy, their strategy was different — swift attacks to the Crab’s back, exploiting weaknesses with agility. But Camille, armed with the overwhelming force of a Greatsword Fighter, lacked the skillset to strike with precision. Her swings, though brutal, couldn’t exploit the creature’s more vulnerable points.
Even in lightweight armor, Camille’s massive blade left little room for agility. She attempted a bold strike toward the creature’s back, but the Crab met her advance, its pincer blocking the blow with a bone-rattling clang.
Yet despite the creature’s resilience, Camille’s power was undeniable. The Crab’s limbs, steadily wearing down under the sheer weight of her strikes, began to falter.
Recognizing her as the greater threat, the Shell Crab shifted its full attention toward Camille.
[This is her idea of holding back? Maybe I shouldn’t have said “a little,”] Tsutomu thought, suppressing the urge to click his tongue.
If the battle continued this way, Garm wouldn’t be able to maintain control, and Camille would take the brunt of the damage.
Tsutomu’s mind raced. Their strategies with Amy had become finely tuned through weeks of familiarizing. Amy had learned to balance her offense with restraint, ensuring she never drew more attention than Garm could handle. By their second battle with the Shell Crab, they had emerged victorious with ease.
But Camille was still an unfamiliar piece in their well-tested formation. She had only received a brief explanation of their tactics, and the synergy they had shared with Amy had yet to take hold. Tsutomu, despite knowing better, found himself hoping Camille would step seamlessly into Amy’s shoes, though he understood deep down that such harmony could never be achieved on their first day together.
Tsutomu’s frustration deepened, his grip tightening around the White Staff in his hand. He mentally berated himself for his lack of consideration, watching the battle unfold as his team verged on exhaustion.
Camille, now visibly weary, struggled to maintain her offensive and defensive maneuvers. Her breathing had grown labored, and beads of sweat trickled down her face, disappearing into the sand at her feet.
Garm, meanwhile, had become almost invisible to the Shell Crab. His attempts to draw its attention — whether through <<Combat Cry>> or the desperate clanging of his sword against his armor in a <<Warrior Howl>> — fell flat. The creature was fixated on Camille, determined to crush her under its monstrous weight.
The Shell Crab lunged forward, its body crashing toward Camille like a meteor. Running on fumes, she dodged the attack at the last possible second, barely escaping the creature’s bulk. But the Crab anticipated her movement, its massive pincer slicing through the air, aiming for her retreat.
Camille raised her greatsword in defense, the steel catching the pincer’s forceful strike. The impact sent her flying, her body ragdolling through the air. She gritted her teeth as the shock reverberated through her arm, the blow nearly shattering her grip. In mid-flight, she felt the aura of Tsutomu’s <<Protect>> spell envelop her, but before she could fully recover, she crashed into the sand, a sharp cry escaping her lungs.
“<<High Heal>>. <<High Heal>>. <<High Heal>>. <<Haste>>.”
Healing energy surged from Tsutomu’s White Staff, enveloping Camille in its soothing light. The numbness in her arm dissipated almost instantly, followed by the pain from her harsh landing. Surrounded by the glowing aura, Camille staggered to her feet, breathing heavily but with a gleam of exhilaration in her eyes.
Tsutomu hadn’t merely healed her wounds; a single <<High Heal>> would have sufficed for that. Instead, he had cast it repeatedly as a deliberate choice to provoke the Shell Crab. The final <<Haste>> on himself enhanced his odds of survival. The tactic worked — the creature, sensing the excessive aggro building around him, shifted its gaze and locked onto him with lethal intent.
“<<Air Blade>>,” Tsutomu chanted, a burst of wind slicing toward the Shell Crab as he continued barking orders. “Camille, fall back and rest for a bit! Garm, keep drawing aggro! Drink the Blue Potion if you have to!”
The Shell Crab barreled toward him, kicking up clouds of sand in its wake. Tsutomu, his heart hammering in his chest, slapped his leg with his palm, trying to steady the trembling that had taken hold of him.
[Okay, those two have pushed themselves too hard — that’s on them. But this… I didn’t think this through at all, did I? I’ll have to hold on for a few minutes and trust them to somehow salvage this mess…]
By now, Tsutomu had faced this world’s Shell Crab three times; he was familiar enough with its attack patterns to anticipate its moves. Yet even with that knowledge, his low VIT meant each blow could still be fatal, with or without <<Protect>>. The strategy he’d gambled on was reckless — one he’d never attempt under normal circumstances.
He cursed his past reliance on Amy. His heart shrank in fear as one of the Crab’s massive claws crashed into the ground, the gust of wind it stirred chilling him like the breath of death. Up close, the creature towered over him, its clicking mandibles and twitching antennae an abomination to behold.
Another pincer sliced through the air like an iron scythe, and the mere thought of being caught between it almost made Tsutomu lose control of his bladder. Each step brought him face to face with raw terror. His breath came in shallow, panicked bursts, dread flooding his veins as he regretted ever volunteering to act as bait.
Then there was the added threat of the Crab’s sudden water needle attacks, which it would fire from its back whenever it turned. Tsutomu barely had time to register them, let alone dodge effectively. Each sidestep he made felt like a monumental effort.
In less than a minute, his breathing grew frantic, verging on hyperventilation. Fortunately, at that moment, Garm had successfully drawn the Crab’s aggro with his relentless use of skills. The Crab pivoted toward Garm, who had struck at it from behind with fierce determination.
Tsutomu exhaled in relief, immediately casting <<Protect>> on Garm before allowing himself a brief moment to catch his breath.
As the team found their rhythm once more, Tsutomu concentrated on fortifying their formation. He guided Camille to temper her assaults, convincing her to scale back gradually so as not to divert the Shell Crab’s attention from Garm. As long as Garm, bolstered by his high VIT and the boost of <<Protect>>, remained outside the reach of the Crab’s formidable pincers, he stood a good chance of evading any fatal blows.
Garm’s anchor on the fight created frequent openings for Camille to unleash her attacks. Whenever the creature shifted its focus toward her, she boldly engaged, allowing Garm a moment to regain his stamina. And just before Camille could succumb to fatigue, Garm would re-enter the fray, employing his skills to redirect the Crab’s attention back to himself. Meanwhile, Tsutomu maintained a steady flow of support skills, and healed his teammates whenever they suffered damage.
As the battle steadied into this stable pattern, Tsutomu gave a quick nod to Camille, seizing the brief moment to call out across the battlefield.
“We’re doing well! Now’s your chance — go into <<Dragon Form>> while Garm holds the aggro!”
“On it. I’ll finish this in no time!”
A grin spread across Camille’s face as the incantation for <<Dragon Form>> escaped her lips, and with it, the transformation began. Scarlet scales shimmered to life on her arms and legs. Her crimson eyes blazed, their intensity deepening, while her long red hair darkened further, unfurling behind her in fiery waves.
As her power swelled, the very air around her seemed to distort, shimmering with heat. Her hair whipped about like living flames, and from her back, wings began to unfurl — newly born, translucent at first, but quickly filling with a fiery red glow. Pulsing with energy, the pair of blazing wings beat once, scattering sand as she raised her greatsword.
The Shell Crab’s pincers, weakened under Garm’s steady onslaught, stood no chance. Camille’s first strike cleaved through one with a deafening crack, the blow so powerful it sent shards of its shell flying. The creature scuttled back in panic, its legs flailing uselessly, but Camille showed it no mercy.
“<<Power Slash>>!”
With her feet planted firmly, she swung her greatsword with both hands. The force behind her blow shattered the pincer entirely, fragments of shell flying in all directions as the creature let out a keening wail and recoiled, wounded and desperate.
From that moment, the fight belonged to Camille. The Shell Crab’s defenses crumbled beneath her relentless assault. Its broken pincer flailed uselessly, while Camille danced around its panicked movements, her strikes too fast, too fierce for even Tsutomu to track. His <<Protect>> and <<Haste>> shots dissipated into the air, never reaching their intended target as she moved without pattern.
The Shell Crab’s shrieks grew louder as it spat out purple bubbles in its retreat, desperate to burrow into the sand and escape. But with one pincer shattered, its escape slowed. Water needles shot from its carapace in a last-ditch effort, but Camille soared effortlessly above, her wings lifting her high into the sky. She angled her greatsword downward, eyes locked on the creature below.
“<<Helm Splitter>>!”
With a powerful kick off the air itself, she descended like a comet, her greatsword crashing into the Shell Crab’s back. The blade pierced straight through its armored body, pinning it to the sand below.
“<<Enchant Flame>>!” she cried, her voice ringing through the battlefield.
Flames erupted from her sword, and the creature convulsed, its body shuddering violently as the fire consumed it from within. Moments later, the Shell Crab’s entire being began to disintegrate, its hulking form slowly reduced to nothing but scattered particles of light.
And so the Shell Crab of the fortieth layer had been vanquished without succeeding a single one of its attempts to flee. Camille, their relentless Attacker, stood victorious, the Crab’s blue blood staining her. She spat a mouthful of the foul liquid onto the sand without care.
“That was incredible!” Garm exclaimed, his eyes wide with admiration, his cheeks flushed with excitement.
Tsutomu, too, stood momentarily speechless, struck by the sheer force of her abilities.
[That’s some crazy power…] Tsutomu marveled silently. [With her, the Fire Dragon should be no problem… But I can’t even keep up with her speed — my support skills can’t reach her. She’s faster than my eyes can follow.]
Camille’s movements, enhanced by her <<Dragon Form>>, bordered on superhuman. No matter how quickly Tsutomu tried to cast, his healing and support shots evaporated into the empty air, unable to catch up with her frenetic pace. Maintaining a constant <<Haste>> on her, as he had so easily done for Amy, became an insurmountable challenge.
He weighed his options — Could he afford to ask her to stop briefly when <<Haste>> wore off or when she took damage? But then he remembered her earlier words: in <<Dragon Form>>, her mind focused solely on the enemy, locked in a state akin to a berserker’s frenzy. What if he invested more of his mental energy into enhancing her speed with <<Haste>> from the very outset? Such a move would inevitably generate excessive aggro, thrusting him into the very danger he sought to evade.
What, then, was the solution? As Tsutomu brooded over the dilemma, the thud of a Large Colorless Magic Stone landing before him snapped him from his thoughts.
“That was quite a show of coordination,” he heard, as Camille strode over, her transformation ebbing away. The red wings that had carried her turned to ash and crumbled. Her long hair, now settling around her shoulders, swayed gently in the breeze.
While Tsutomu carefully stowed the Large Magic Stone into his Magic Bag, Camille drove her greatsword into the sand and leaned against it.
“Now I get how much more effectively you were using Garm’s impressive VIT — he was a perfect shield with your support, Tsutomu. I’ve seen other parties try tactics similar to yours before, but they didn’t have your kind of healing to keep them going — seriously, your long-ranged skills were something else. I’m no expert on a White Mage’s toolkit, but I KNOW that was something special. Thanks to you, Garm could focus entirely on the fight; he didn’t even need to bother with Potions.”
“Exactly, Camille! Tsutomu is incredible!” Garm agreed enthusiastically, his tail wagging behind him.
Camille glanced at him, her eyes softening into a smile as they met his. “And you’ve come a long way too, Garm. You fought well today. I noticed you even kept track of the timing of Tsutomu’s skill shots. That ‘Mad Dog’ nickname of yours hardly fits you anymore.”
“Thank you!” Garm’s voice rang with pride as he dipped his head, earning a warm, hearty laugh from Camille.
But before the moment could linger, a sharp, cracking sound pierced the air. Two Black Gates blinked into existence nearby. Tsutomu glanced at them briefly, then turned to his companions.
“All right, let’s head back,” he said, gesturing toward the gate that led to the Guild.
Camille’s brow furrowed. “Wait, you’re calling it here? Already?”
“Well, yes… I just wanted to check out how you moved in battle while in <<Dragon Form>>, you see. The Shell Crab wasn’t even part of the original plan.” He gave her a pointed look, his brow raised slightly in reproach.
Camille grinned sheepishly, clasping her hands together as if in apology. “Sorry about that… I just heard your team had taken down the Shell Crab before thanks to you, and I wanted to see it with my own eyes.”
Tsutomu sighed, his voice laced with exasperation. “Just… promise me you won’t charge into the Black Gate alone again, all right? …Now, we’ll be taking two days off after this. But before then, I’d like us to meet up for a strategy session, to review our skills and plan for the next set of layers. Will that work for you?”
“Actually, the Deputy Guild Master is probably losing his mind looking for me by now… How about we meet in the evening instead?”
“That works for me,” Tsutomu nodded. “Let’s meet by the Guild’s Pedestals, then.”
Camille’s face brightened with a smile as she agreed. And with that, Tsutomu stepped through the Black Gate.
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Yashh Thanks for the chapter
Thanks for the chapter.