novelnext Chapter 263: Abnormally Good Aggro Management
Chapter 263: Abnormally Good Aggro Management
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Upon reaching the eighty-third layer, Tsutomu ignited a flare. The team swiftly dealt with the gathering monsters before catching sight of two figures in the distance — Rara and Riri, two Birdkins, their red and blue plumage striking against the sky. With their arm-wings spread wide, they glided through the air with effortless grace. They each carried a person, clutched tightly in their talons. Below them, a Conykin raced ahead, leaving a cloud of dust in her wake.
“Ah, Tsutomu! And your comrades too, I see — good day to you all!” Lorena greeted them with a beaming smile, her breath not the least bit labored despite the distance she had covered.
“Hi. Looking forward to working with you,” Tsutomu replied.
“Mm-hmm! Likewise!” she chirped back, her energy infectious.
Tsutomu’s eyes shifted to the two who had descended from the Birdkins’ talons — Misil and a Sorcerer shrouded in shadowy robes.Nôv(el)B\\jnn
“...lo...”
“That was a ‘hello,'” Misil interjected with a grin. “This is Madeleine. Not much of a talker.”
“Oh, yes, I see,” Tsutomu responded, nodding.
Madeleine, draped in black robes that seemed to swallow the light, gave a silent bow, her hood concealing her face. Misil covered for her silence, while Tsutomu responded with a mild nod of acknowledgment.
The odds of encountering another party while exploring the same layer hovered around fifty-fifty, so Absolute Helix had split into two teams for the eighty-third. Meanwhile, only a single one of Silver Beast’s parties had made it past the eightieth layer. As such, it had been agreed that whichever Absolute Helix group they met, they would join forces for the exploration ahead just like that.
Silver Beast’s party was an unusual sight: two Birdkin, Rara and Riri, acted as evasion-based Tanks. Their two Attackers were Misil the Adventurer and Madeleine the Sorcerer. Lorena, the Conykin White Mage, rounded out the team as the Mobile Healer.
[Quite the odd crew,] Tsutomu mused.
From his perspective, their setup was anything but ordinary. Having two evasion-based Tanks was uncommon enough, but adding a front-line Healer seemed downright risky. Madeleine, too, defied convention, sometimes abandoning her spells to engage in close combat. Her quiet demeanor only added to the mystery — Tsutomu rarely heard a word from her unless she was casting her skills.
Yet, despite the apparent chaos, Misil held the group together with a steady hand. His scouting was sharp, rivaling Diniel’s expertise, and he deftly supported the inexperienced evasion-based Tanks whenever they faltered. He managed the party’s unpredictability with practiced ease, using items with precision when needed. And as an Attacker, Misil could output decent damage himself.
Still, Tsutomu wondered if Misil’s talents would shine as brightly in a more conventional group. It was within this peculiar dynamic that he thrived, acting as the anchor for Silver Beast. This was how Tsutomu saw them — a party unlike any other, held together by Misil’s quiet competence.
“Let’s start after we gather the Magic Stones. We’ll handle the scouting from here,” Tsutomu offered.
“Ugh...” Diniel sighed dramatically, rolling her shoulders as if the mere thought of work exhausted her.
“Come on, it’s nothing new,” Tsutomu coaxed.
Misil, with a warm half-smile, raised a hand. “Actually, your team took care of the last fight. We’ll handle scouting this time, and the next battle.”
“See? Misil’s got it,” Diniel said, pointing lazily at him, her gaze droopy and unfocused.
“Don’t point like that... Sorry about her, Misil. Please, go ahead,” Tsutomu apologized, gently lowering Diniel’s hand with his staff.
“You got it.”
Rara and Riri shot into the air, quick as arrows. Hannah, another Birdkin but of a different species, watched them with thinly veiled envy before reminding herself that she could fly too. Tsutomu had already cast <
“Hey, Teach! Mind if I join them?”
“...As long as you stick to their lead — it’s for scouting, not fun.”
“You got it!”
[Would be nice if we could at least get one chest drop per day...] Tsutomu thought, shifting his focus away from his wandering musings and back toward the exploration ahead. Absent-mindedly, he began practicing his skill control, though his gaze occasionally flickered toward Daryl, still engrossed in his examination of the Magic Stones.
“You’re not trying to impress those two, are you?” he asked, eyes flicking toward the Birdkin duo in the distance.
“...W-what? No, of course not!”
“Really? Because it sure looks like you’re itching to show off what an amazing Evasion-based Tank you are...”
Though Hannah scratched the back of her head in a gesture of feigned innocence, her excitement dimmed slightly under Tsutomu’s watchful eye.
“...All right, fine, go ahead.” Tsutomu gestured toward the looming Eyenes. “But if you act recklessly and take a hit, you’re paying a fine.”
“A fine!? You’re gonna charge me!?” Hannah’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“Look, just don’t do anything stupid. We’re not here on a picnic, so take it seriously. Now get going.”
“Unbelievable...” Hannah muttered under her breath, but she wasted no time, springing forward to join the frontlines, albeit with a sour glance thrown over her shoulder.
Tsutomu, noticing the Gnome emerge from the ground, sent its secondary body over to engage the Eyene and proceeded to join in on the offense.
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One of the White Mage’s attacking skills, <
As the Gnome’s relentless strikes, an unexpected contrast to its secondary body’s dainty appearance, wore down the creature’s light-elemental mass, the <
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Though the battle demanded relentless aggression, there was an art to maintaining balance — managing aggro, healing, and support. Overextending the attack would inevitably draw the monsters’ attention, a dangerous misstep. But Tsutomu, with his wealth of experience as a Healer here and knowledge from Live Dungeon, had mastered the intricate dance of aggro management, almost replicating the precision he had in his gaming days. Where others might falter, pulling back out of fear, Tsutomu pushed forward with calculated certainty, making the optimal move most of the time.
Lorena, too, had grown adept at maintaining her presence on the frontlines without drawing undue attention from enemies. Yet, as her instincts guided her through the ebb and flow of battle, she marveled at Tsutomu’s cold precision, a methodical mastery that never ceased to amaze her.
“Diniel, use elemental arrows,” Tsutomu instructed.
“Mm-hmm.”
“Looks like Daryl’s struggling. Hannah! Pick up the pace!”
Hannah, already breathless, glanced back incredulously. “Didn’t you just say not to get hit, Teach!?”
Between healing, support, and issuing commands, Tsutomu’s attention never wavered. Even in the eighty-third layer, with its mounting dangers, he handled his role as Healer with the same precise execution. From an outsider’s perspective, it might appear effortless, but those who understood the intricacies of the role, especially the Healers who had learned under him, knew the extraordinary depth of skill involved.
After the battle, as the dust settled, Lorena couldn’t hold back her curiosity any longer.
“...I’ve always wondered,” she began, “How do you manage to attack so much without drawing the monsters’ attention?”
“Huh?” Tsutomu looked mildly confused. “Because I generate less aggro than the Tanks, of course.”
Lorena stared at him, her lips pressing into a thin line. “That’s not what I meant...”
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