Once the Absolute Helix party went through the Black Gate and reappeared in the Guild, they were welcomed with an endless wave of thunderous cheers. Tsutomu, specifically, had conquered both the sixtieth and seventieth layers on his very first attempt — an extraordinary achievement, regardless of the number of times he had seen other Clans attempt the layer bosses on the Monitors.
Even the Dragonewts guarding the Black Gate had a slight sparkle in their eyes as they looked at Tsutomu. And Tsutomu himself, having danced with death in battle for over four hours, let out a sigh of relief at having returned safely. The team proceeded to wade through the crowd filling the well-lit Guild building to the brim.
At the Guild Dining Hall, Amy and Camille greeted them with smiles and a round of applause, while Garm looked quite dissatisfied. Silver Beast seemed to have come to watch the broadcast in the Guild, too, as apparent from how Misil approached Tsutomu with a look of surprise on his face, his eyes almost popping out of their sockets.
“Dude! That was awesome! I mean, that was your first attempt ever, right!?”
“Ah, yes, of course. Thank you, thank you!” Tsutomu said and sported a smug grin.
“Daaamn! Acting all high and mighty already, huh!?” Misil blurted out, and some of the surrounding Explorers were visibly holding their laughter.
And as Lorena burst out laughing, Tsutomu turned to stare at her, prompting her rabbit ears to stand straight up. She proceeded to look the other way and whistle a random tune to ignore the attention.
“We all would like to leave early today,” Tsutomu continued. “So could you please let us through? I’ll drop by your Clan House a while later — we can have a long talk then.”
“Oh, sure thing… Well, don’t be too hard on him.” Misil looked behind Tsutomu — at Daryl, who was quite visibly gloomy. He then shouted to the crowd of Explorers, “Hey, guys! Make way, make way!”
Tsutomu turned to Garm, and saw that his indigo-furred dog ears were standing upright as if to express his anger.
“Garm, your face is… scaring us.”
“……”
Tsutomu cracked a bitter smile as he tried to keep Garm in check as the latter stared daggers at Daryl. Diniel and Amy laughed and exchanged a high five, while Amira was being showered with praises from Camille. Hannah looked back and forth between Daryl and Garm, keeping an eye on the situation.
“Come on, he did great in the first two phases, wouldn’t you say?”
“…All that went down the drain in the last phase, though.”
“Nah, if the results are good, then it’s all good.”
Under Garm’s scathing stare, Daryl looked like he was about to start crying again. Tsutomu dragged him away, and seeing that Diniel and Amira would be stuck celebrating for a while, he and Daryl left the Guild ahead of them.
Hannah, following them, tried to talk to Daryl to get him to cheer up, but nothing seemed to have any effect whatsoever. Once they were back at the Clan House, they were covered in an awkward silence before Ollie greeted them.
“Welcome back, everyone. And congratulations on your victory.”
“Thank you very much. You could tell that we won, Miss Ollie?”
“Yes — I could tell from all the cheering in the streets… and that look on Miss Hannah’s face.”
“Ehehe…”
Ollie smiled at Hannah, prompting the latter to crack a grin and scratch her own cheek to distract herself from the awkwardness. Then, upon seeing that Daryl’s expression was one she had never seen before, she looked at him with worry. Tsutomu proceeded to ask Ollie whether or not the bath had been heated already, then he tugged on Daryl’s shirt, prompting the latter to follow him to the bathroom on the second floor.
“First of all, you go in — take a bath and refresh yourself. Then we eat.”
“……”
“…Well, I’ll be waiting for you downstairs.”
Letting Daryl bathe before him this time, Tsutomu proceeded to walk out and close the door behind him. Exhausted, he then slumped his shoulders, took the Magic Bag off his back, and plunged himself down on the couch in the living room.
“Whew…”
Lying down to relax his aching body, Tsutomu agonized over what he should say to Daryl later. Eventually, Ollie wrapped up her preparations for the cooking and came to talk to him.
“Mister Tsutomu, did something happen to Mister Daryl?”
“Ah… He kinda messed up, and he’s still hung up about it.”
As soon as Hannah died, Daryl’s behavior had changed — so much that he barely even functioned. Having no other choice, Tsutomu had tried talking to him, but that did not seem to have any effect.
Still, Tsutomu knew that Daryl had been trying to think and act on his own. Before then, he definitely would have asked for instruction from Tsutomu — and subsequently do as he was told — but at that point, Daryl was not thinking straight, going ahead and trying to pull the Mount Golem’s aggro under unfavorable conditions.
As a result, he had been unable to fight effectively and ended up being caught by the Mount Golem — a blunder that Daryl never would have made under usual circumstances. And even though he did not get injured so badly, he never came back to fight on the front line. Inferring from Amira’s words and reactions, Daryl most likely had been too demoralized to keep fighting at that point.
[What should I even say to him?]
Up until now, Daryl would carry out his job as long as Tsutomu kept instructing him — and there was no particular harm in keeping things that way. After all, Tsutomu did believe that he would be able to manage everything while dividing some attention for directing Daryl specifically. However, he did also figure that by keeping things that way, Daryl would end up being just an inferior version of Garm — and so he had told Daryl to try and be more independent, so that his bad habits would be gotten rid of.
Tsutomu had chosen the layer seventy attempts as the time for Daryl to gain experience, as the party would almost never be at the risk of dying while fighting everywhere else. What he had miscalculated, however, was the weight of his words from Daryl’s perspective, who had always been avoiding pressure by hiding under someone else’s shadows. As such, when push had gone to shove during the Mount Golem’s final phase, Daryl had failed to carry out his missions, his expression seeming as if he had been drained of life force.
[Just telling him to be happy with the results won’t be enough, would it? If I were in his shoes, I’d be digging a hole to bury myself in by now…]
In an online game, this sort of setback would be cleared up with a chat message or two — but here, things were not as simple. Continuing to agonize over what to say, Tsutomu heaved a sigh and sipped from the cup of tea that Ollie had brought to him. After a while, Hannah walked into the living room in good spirits, having just finished bathing. Diniel and Amira returned to the Clan House at around the same time, too.
“Tsutomu, wanna go celebrate with me and Amy? She said she’d like me to bring you along, too.”
“Ah, I’ll pass, thanks. You should just go and have fun, Diniel. We’ll be doing the evaluation meeting tomorrow, since we can look at Solit Company’s articles at the same time and all.”
“Mm-hm. Got it.”
Diniel went to her room and left her battle equipment there, then changed into her casual clothes before leaving the Clan House again. Amira had already taken care of her gear, dropping them at Dorren Workshop for maintenance before coming back here.
Hannah threw herself down on one of the couches, while Amira sat down on the side opposite to her. The latter proceeded to pull out her ponytail holder, letting her hair flow free as she leaned back on her couch.
“Hey, where’d that guy go?”
“You looking for Daryl? He’s in the bath right now.”
“Ugh, great,” Amira twisted her mouth in annoyance upon hearing Tsutomu’s answer.
Alarmed by her blatant display of frustration, Tsutomu proceeded to ask her,
“Did he… do that badly?”
“What? It’s not about him doing bad or good, dammit. I’m just annoyed… that I used to think he was stronger than me.”
“…I see.”
“I mean, he just refused to get back up — and he didn’t even get hurt that badly! What a load of bullshit.”
Amira clicked her tongue and abruptly got up, then walked out of the living room in the direction of the bathroom, her footsteps echoing loudly all the while.
After some time, Amira got out of the bath, but Daryl seemed to still be upstairs. Worrying for the latter, Tsutomu went to the second floor’s bathroom to find it vacant. He went on to knock on Daryl’s room’s door and open it, and saw that the room was pitch dark — but Daryl was there, sitting on his bed, apparently quite mentally exhausted.
“Dinner’s almost ready.”
“Ah, okay,” Daryl answered, showing no energy whatsoever, and followed Tsutomu.
Downstairs, Ollie looked quite worried, too. She proceeded to finish up her cooking, and then carried one lavish dish after another to the dining table. Amira stared blankly at Daryl, apparently itching to punch him any second now, but the latter gave her no particular reaction to her.
Daryl sat down and looked at the appetizing, steaming steak on the sizzling iron plate in front of him. Tsutomu picked up his chopsticks and clasped his hands together to thank Ollie for the food; Daryl did the same before picking up his knife and fork.
“I managed to obtain some quality grass-fed beef today, so I thought I’d try making steak. I hope you enjoy it, everyone.”
Urged on by Ollie, Daryl dug into the grease-sputtering steak on the iron plate with his knife. Its cross section was still slightly red — just the right level of doneness that Daryl preferred. After staring at it for another moment, he picked up a small piece with his fork and brought it into his mouth.
Daryl had been expressionless all this time, but now he immediately raised his eyebrows. He chewed thoroughly, swallowed the meat down, and cut out another piece. Now at least his hands were getting active again.
“…This is so good…” Daryl blurted out.
“Thank you,” Ollie replied, cracking a slightly embarrassed smile.
Daryl nodded to her and then proceeded to tear off a piece of bread and dip it into the gravy.
Eventually, Daryl was partaking in the meal at his usual fast pace, consuming one portion after another of the mountain of food in front of him. Tsutomu watched in amazement as the former seemed to get more and more energized with each bite taken.
“Thank you for the meal, Miss Ollie.”
Daryl bowed to Ollie after he was done clearing his plates and wiping his mouth with a napkin. Then he put on a serious face and looked at the three others.
“Everyone, I’m sorry for what I did wrong today.”
“……”
Amira said nothing as she scowled at Daryl as if he was some suspicious intruder, but the latter stared back at her without hesitation. Tsutomu and Hannah were at a loss for words for a brief moment, feeling as if they were looking at a completely different person, before saying to him,
“No worries. It’s fine.”
“That’s right, that’s right! We did win in the end, so that’s no problem at all!”
“…Yes, I understand. You could’ve won even without me.” Daryl smiled sadly and turned away.
“Ah — no, that’s not what I meant! Really, don’t take it the wrong way!” Hannah hurried to try and explain herself.
Daryl turned back again, looking at Tsutomu.
“Will we be doing the evaluation meeting today?”
“No, that’s tomorrow. Gotta wait for Solit Company’s articles first.”
“All right. I’ll be heading outside and getting some extra training in.”
Daryl quickly took his dishes to the sink, then he headed upstairs, gearing himself up before leaving the building.
“…Tch.”
Amira turned grumpy as she looked at Daryl go, and then she proceeded to equip herself and walk out of the Clan House as well. Seeing both of them go outside, Tsutomu and Hannah then turned to look at each other.
“…Maybe we shouldn’t have tried to say anything.”
“Right,” Hannah replied, putting on a comically gentle face.
Tsutomu, in a similar comical manner, slumped his shoulders.
“As a Clan Leader, though, I DO want to talk things out with him…”
“Well, Teach, whenever you talk about serious stuff, you’d always come off as suspicious… like you’re shooting for some shady results.”
“……”
Seeing Tsutomu pull an iffy face, Hannah chuckled.
“Well, you know, it’s like… It wouldn’t hurt to wait until the meeting to talk with him normally, right?”
――▽▽――
Daryl, in a set of old disposable armor, walked quickly to the Guild, his black hair fluttering in the night breeze. After completing the usual procedures at the somewhat crowded reception counters, he was on his way to the Magic Circles when he was suddenly kicked in the back.
“…Amira?”
Behind Daryl was Amira, standing there with her hair tied into a ponytail, the look on her face quite sour. She pointed at the reception counters with her chin, telling Daryl to line up again — and so they formed a party of two.
“Uhh…? Do you need something?”
“C’mon, let’s go.”
“Huh?”
With Daryl half-forcibly taken by Amira to the Magic Circles, the pair quickly teleported down to the seventy-first layer.
The Snow Field, covered in heaps of white and not much else, spread out before Daryl’s eyes. The low temperature made him shiver, but Amira immediately ran off, prompting Daryl to follow right behind her after a brief moment of hesitation.
[…Ugh, I was no good back there.]
As he and Amira ran silently through the Snow Field, Daryl thought back to the battle against the Mount Golem. He had done well during the first two phases. His ability to cooperate with Amira had allowed the team’s tactics an increased sense of stability, and his skill rotation patterns had been on point.
After Hannah’s death, however, was when his performance took a nosedive. During his training days, Daryl had always followed Garm’s lead, carrying out the latter’s every instruction. That did not change even after joining up with Absolute Helix, in which he operated by following Tsutomu’s orders. Whenever something unexpected happened, Daryl would have to be told by others what action to take.
Before the team went down to layer seventy, Tsutomu had told him to think and act on his own. Daryl managed to do so for a decent part of the battle, but then, after seeing Hannah die, his mind turned completely blank, and he found himself charging ahead without a good plan. Panicking, Daryl’s performance was terrible, and he was easily grabbed by the Mount Golem and thrown at a wall.
Daryl had not known at the time why he did not get killed outright, but thinking about it now, he realized that it was probably because of Tsutomu pulling the aggro away from him. Still, after that happened, Daryl had been too scared to move. Even when Amira tried to get him up, he ended up screaming and crouching down in fear. And so, with no further contributions from Daryl during the last stretch of the battle, the team had eventually made it through layer seventy.
No further contributions — no further contributions whatsoever. With him watching on the sidelines, the team had won with four of their members — Daryl excluded — taking the Mount Golem down. Daryl gritted his teeth as he kept running through the snow.
“Hah, hah…”
He kept running after Amira as fast as he could, and eventually realized that they had covered quite a bit of distance. Finally, Amira came to a stop, and Daryl did as well, his breath condensing into mist as he breathed out. Amira proceeded to unsheathe the greatsword on her back.
“Enemies will be here any second now. Get ready.”
“Uh-huh…”
Daryl nodded without understanding what Amira had just said, but then his dog ears soon picked up the sounds of multiple sets of footsteps approaching from behind. They were of a pack of Snow Wolves that had been chasing Amira and Daryl this whole time, unbeknownst to the latter. Before long, the Snow Wolves in the lead revealed themselves.
“…<<Combat Cry>>.”
Daryl unleashed a red aura — of the usual high intensity — at the Snow Wolves to pull their aggro, and then Amira moved in to attack them. Daryl parried a Snow Wolf’s tackle attack with his current, disposable tower shield, and started to reposition himself and carry out his usual strategies.
He was able to move around freely and hear the monster’s movements clearly. The latter was thanks to Garm’s teaching him his preferred battle strategy. Not wearing a helmet meant forfeiting the much-needed extra defense for one’s head, one of the vital spots less affected by the Divine Protection of the VIT parameter, but in exchange, doing so would free up one’s fields of vision and auditory awareness.
[I wish I could have done this back then, too…]
Daryl bit his lower lip in frustration, still feeling pathetic now due to his performance earlier today. His mind had turned blank, and he had charged straight at the Mount Golem without any planning. His panic had narrowed his field of view and muffled his sense of hearing, resulting in him easily getting caught by the enemy. Following that, he had failed to get back into the action, which got him chewed out by Amira, and he could only stand around and watch as Hannah pulled the Mount Golem’s aggro by herself. Regardless of all that, though, he never thought he would let himself fall behind Hannah and Amira.
“…Gah!”
Daryl’s heart ached as he watched Tsutomu get hit and sent flying by the Mount Golem. A Tank’s job was to protect the other party members — fail to do that, and there would be no meaning in having a Tank.
A Snow Wolf pounced on him from behind; sensing that, he bashed it with his tower shield, knocking it back.
“Ugh…”
Garm, the man who had quite literally saved his life in the past, was also disappointed in him. His failure today was also a failure to properly return a favor, as it had resulted in Garm’s friend and respected Healer being hurt. Daryl’s tears fell onto the snow on the ground as he fought off the pack of Snow Wolves.
“I want to… be even stronger…!”
The difference between Daryl’s performance back on layer seventy and here was night and day; he was able to stand his ground despite fighting against the Snow Wolves for the first time ever. While he had the monsters’ attention on him, Amira killed them off one by one, and in the end, the whole pack turned into light particles and faded away.
Daryl cleared his nose and bent down to pick up the Magic Stones, and then he got kicked from behind — which felt more like a nudge. His face buried in a heap of snow, he looked up and saw Amira scowling at him, her greatsword sticking straight up in the ground.
“What the hell, you DO have the moves! Should’ve done that from the beginning, idiot!”
“Well, I…”
“You can’t just randomly fall down like that — you’re stronger than me, dammit! I wouldn’t win against Diniel even if I gave it my all, you know!? But look at you — getting all depressed just because you failed! JUST BECAUSE you didn’t give it your all!”
“……”
As Daryl looked up at her with surprise, Amira scratched her head, clicked her tongue, and then turned the other way.
“Hurry and get off your ass. We gotta learn about the monsters on this layer.”
“…Yeah.”
Daryl stood up on his own and followed Amira as the latter began to walk away.
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