Chapter 306, Between Choices

Translator: Barnnn

Editor: Silavin

 

“……”

 

Diniel had no desire to join the others at the Monitors following the latest evaluation meeting. Instead, she retreated to her room and threw herself onto her bed, letting herself be swallowed by silence. Once again, she found her mind drawn back to a scene she had already replayed too many times to count.

 

[That… was a moment where anyone would have given up.]

 

Three party members had died simultaneously to an unknown attack from the boss monster of the ninetieth layer. The two Tanks had fallen — there was no salvaging the situation… or so she had judged. When Tsutomu had called out, still trying desperately to recover and regroup, Diniel had already made the decision. Continuing would serve no purpose but to prolong the inevitable.

 

Had she instead shown the will to fight, Tsutomu — clinging to life with that usual persistence of his — would have likely resisted until the very end. That was exactly why she chose to die early. If she did, Tsutomu would not waste effort trying to resurrect her. He would die cleanly, without unnecessary struggle. That way, the losses could be kept to a minimum. She had also feared the chance of being revived only to lose her equipment — especially her new bow, which she had just begun to grow truly comfortable with.

 

Of course, just as Tsutomu had suspected, there had been another reason — one that made up at least half of her decision. She simply had not wanted to deal with the hassle. During the battle against the Fallen Lich, she might’ve still found the will to press on. But this time, she knew with absolute clarity — it was hopeless. The attack that had felled three members in an instant was so senseless, so utterly incomprehensible, that it sapped her will. So she ignored Tsutomu’s pleas, retrieved her own equipment, and chose to die.

 

And yet, after she was gone, Tsutomu had made the unthinkable choice — to continue fighting.

 

During the meeting, Ollie had presented a report he had compiled on the battle. According to it, Tsutomu had first revived Daryl, then used layers of <<Barrier>> to withstand an assault from the Corrupted Shell. After that, he brought back Leleia as well. Under normal circumstances, Stephanie or Lorena would’ve drawn the monster’s aggro at that point, and been overwhelmed. But Tsutomu went further — he revived Hannah, and even Diniel herself.

 

Diniel had witnessed the rest of it with her own eyes. Tsutomu had pushed himself to the limit, doing everything he could to withstand the Corrupted Shell’s onslaught. He mimicked Stephanie’s precise skill execution, Lorena’s agile maneuvering, even incorporated Xeno’s airborne dashing technique — adapted to Hannah’s movements — and relied on the leg strength he had built each morning under Garm’s supervision.

 

Even in the end, when the Corrupted Shell caught him, Tsutomu endured. Using a petrification-curing Potion he had secretly obtained from the Forest Apothecary, he resisted the deadly effect. And when Daryl succeeded in pulling aggro off him, Tsutomu was able to restore the entire party — reviving four members without losing his own life in the process.

 

Yet… how had he known to prepare an anti-petrification Potion in advance? And how had he alone, with the lowest AGI in the party, managed to survive a new full-party attack in the final phase — an attack that left everyone but Hannah incapacitated?

 

Those questions lingered in Diniel’s mind. But they were not what occupied her most.

 

[I didn’t think… he’d go that far…]

 

When they had returned to the Clan House and she had instinctively snapped back at him, Tsutomu responded with the eagerness of someone who had been waiting for the moment. He launched into a biting, relentless critique, detailing exactly how she had failed. Perhaps she had only lashed out to cover her own misjudgment. But even so, his harsh tone stung — especially after he had claimed that a single round of a rubber band snap to the arm had been punishment enough.

 

Still, if she set aside the infuriating look of smug satisfaction he wore, he had not said anything that missed the mark. He had salvaged the party after four members went down. If she had not given up so quickly, they might have made it through the ninetieth layer without ever being backed into such a desperate corner. Tsutomu had proven his convictions with undeniable results.

 

[A second-rate Attacker, huh…?]

 

Of all his words, that one pierced her the deepest.

 

By the time she was seventy, Diniel had become an undefeated champion in the combat tournaments held within the Elves’ Forest. In her eighties, after traveling and gaining firsthand experience in duels against other races, not a single person dared to call her second-rate. When God’s Dungeon had first appeared and the Job of Archer was discovered, she stood alone at the top. The only one who could even begin to rival her was Christia, leader of the Labyrinth Conquerers and a Dark Elf with a similar lifespan. And even then, Christia was a White Mage — when it came to Explorer skill-based combat, Diniel had long since surpassed her.

 

She had always been good at most things, but her archery had been in a class of its own — even among Elves. Still, her current strength had not come easily. She had honed it by surpassing adults over three hundred years old, by surviving the monstrous beasts that appeared in the forest during the cyclical Stampedes, and by chasing after standards of powerhouses like Christia herself.

 

But in recent decades, there had been no one left to chase. No backs to follow. No shadows on the path ahead, no footsteps behind. Even if she stopped running, no one was catching up. And she had been fine with that. Sleeping when she pleased, reading books at her own pace — that was enough. Raiding Dungeons as a sort of sightseeing adventure was fine too, but she had not felt the need to throw herself into it. As long as she could fight battles she found satisfying, that was enough.

 

But now, someone she had never expected had branded her with that word — second-rate. Tsutomu. A White Mage. A Healer. A human who had stood against the Devourer Dragon. A man being chased by Amy, a woman of natural talent not unlike her own. It was him who had looked her in the eye and called her an underwhelming Attacker.

 

[…How aggravating.]

 

Elves lived far longer than humans, but up to a hundred years of age, their sense of time wasn’t so different. So the fact that Tsutomu — nearly eighty years her junior — had called her second-rate… it was infuriating. Her pride as someone who had lived a full century, and her subconscious disdain for the shorter-lived humanoid races, collided violently in that moment.

 

And yet — she had seen enough prideful Elves over the years who embarrassed themselves trying to cling to that superiority. She had defeated many of them. She refused to become one of them now.

 

[…I’ll ask Amy for her thoughts when she gets back.]

 

With that resolution, Diniel buried her face into her pillow, thrashing about like a fish stranded on dry land, frustration leaking out in restless movement.

 

▽▽

 

The second party of Absolute Helix was pressing on through the eighty-ninth layer, drawing ever closer to the Black Gate that led to the ninetieth. Among them walked Korinna, the party’s Healer — still shaken, as if reeling from a blow to the head that had struck her only yesterday.

 

[That… that’s impossible for someone like me!]

 

Tsutomu’s revival of four fallen comrades, shown through the Monitors — the moment had upended everything she thought she knew. It was such a dramatic sight that she had forgotten to breathe, overwhelmed by the sheer impossibility of it all. That revival — no, that recovery from utter collapse — had left a deep and lasting mark on her.

 

Yes, perhaps Tsutomu had faced hellish trials in Dungeons beyond this one, but God’s Dungeon carried its own unique torments. Nowhere was the contrast sharper than in the morale of its Explorer parties. In other Dungeons, death meant the end; surrender wasn’t an option. But here, even death could be undone. And that single truth fractured resolve. When a party began to crumble, it was not uncommon for members — like Diniel — to retrieve what gear they could and simply give up. Had Leleia been the sole survivor in that moment, even she might not have stayed. Yet Tsutomu had faced the Corrupted Shell alone in the end.

 

[Why? Why didn’t he give up? That situation was hopeless — anyone would have despaired. So why didn’t he?]

 

When Diniel gave in and let herself die, Tsutomu should have reached his limit too. Korinna knew that feeling all too well, having fought in countless matchmade groups. It was agonizing enough to watch three companions fall in the blink of an eye — let alone have someone like Diniel abandon hope. The despair that followed would have crushed anyone’s will to fight. Korinna understood that. She could practically feel it in her bones. She had even teared up then, imagining how Tsutomu must have felt.

 

She had lived through it before — being abandoned by her party, overwhelmed by fear of death. The first time it happened, she had broken down sobbing on the spot. Watching Tsutomu try so desperately to convince Diniel not to give up had brought those memories rushing back.

 

At the time, Korinna had seriously considered quitting for good. But her longing to one day stand upon the Monitors as a proper Healer kept her going. Even so, no matter how much healing she cast, her party members would fall just as quickly. They had no drive. No discipline. Sometimes it felt like reviving them was a waste of effort. Buffs — pointless. Recovery — futile. As a Healer for matchmade parties, Korinna had vented those thoughts to herself at least once a day. Thanks to surviving in such harsh conditions, she had developed a mental resilience strong enough to earn Tsutomu’s respect.

 

Still, even with all that, Korinna knew that if she had been the one in Tsutomu’s place — if Diniel had given up on her — her heart would have shattered. She would have salvaged what gear she could and chosen death. There would have been no other option.

 

But Tsutomu… even with everything stacked against him, even when the situation was beyond hopeless… he revived Daryl. No hesitation. No despair. No hint of surrender. That decision alone was something Korinna could never have made. It might have been different when the first three fell — but once Diniel had given up, the situation was beyond saving. And yet, Tsutomu had smiled — smiled! — and begun rallying his party.

 

[There’s something wrong with him… How can someone like me claim a spot on the first team past the ninety-first layer, when there’s someone like him as my BOSS? Besides, I don’t even know if we’ll survive the ninetieth…]

“–Hey?”

 

Korinna walked toward the Black Gate, trapped in her spiraling thoughts. After seeing a Healer like that, her own efforts felt laughably pathetic. Yes, she had improved — she couldn’t deny that. But compared to Tsutomu, she felt like little more than an insect crawling at his feet.

 

[Can I even support the team properly against that Corrupted Shell?]

“…Hey!”

[What if I get everyone petrified? What if I can’t avoid the wide-area attacks? What if I let the buffs lapse again? Oh God, I’m scared. This is terrifying…]

“Don’t ignore me, you dimwit!!”

“Gwah!?”

 

A swift kick to the rear jolted Korinna from her thoughts, sending her bouncing upright with a yelp. She spun around, clutching her stinging backside, to find Amira glaring at her.

 

“Wh-what was that for!?”

“Heh. Judging by that gloomy face of yours, I bet you were thinking about Tsutomu again, weren’t you?” Amira smirked, crossing her arms. “Probably telling yourself you’ll never measure up. Got that look all over your face.”

“Ugh…”

“Well, guess what? You can’t do what he did. Not now, anyway. Duh.”

 

Having said her piece, Amira looked away, scratching absentmindedly at the red scales on her neck with one finger.

 

“Korinna, you’ve been working your tail off, haven’t you? So you’re fine. Garm — ugh, even though I don’t like the guy, he and Xeno’s are solid Tanks. Everyone’s doing what they can. So we’ll be fine.”

“Huh!? What about me?” Amy’s voice chimed in, indignant.

“What? I’m way stronger than you, obviously.”

“Oooh…?” The glint in Amy’s feline eyes caught the starlight as she narrowed them dangerously.

 

Korinna, still rubbing her sore behind, looked between the two women in a panic as tension rose. Just then, the sound of armor clinking announced Garm and Xeno stepping forward from the rear.

 

“Korinna!” Xeno declared with his usual booming voice. “There’s no need to worry! Leave it all to me!”

“It’s true — working miracles like that may be beyond even you,” Garm added in his calm, measured tone. “But Tsutomu recognizes your ability as a Healer. That much hasn’t changed. Stand tall.”

“Y-yes!”

“And you two — enough already. We’re almost at the Black Gate, aren’t we?”

 

As Garm stepped between the feuding Amira and Amy, Korinna clutched the talisman that hung from her neck. Whispering a brief invocation, she cast <<Blessing of Recovery>> on herself, soothing her nerves. Then she winced and rubbed her bruised backside once more.

 

“You’re right,” she murmured.

“Glad to see you’ve snapped out of it,” Amira said, folding her arms.

“Thank you… though, you didn’t have to kick me! That still really hurts, you know!”

“I did you a favor. Be grateful.”

“Ughhh…”

 

Korinna sighed with a note of exasperation in her voice, casting her gaze downward. But a faint smile tugged at her lips. She lifted her head, as if to reset herself — and then she saw a shadowy shape looming faintly in the distance.

 

“Ah! There it is!”

 

And so, the second party of Absolute Helix laid eyes on the Black Gate leading into the ninetieth layer. As they stood before it, they began preparations for the coming battle against the Corrupted Shell.