..........
You will not be quietly following me, you elf.


　After Smith had moved away for fear of the feather broom, no conversation had occurred and he just looked at the gods table. In an awkward situation where only the sound of the television was playing in the tea room, Tsutomu was silent for the time being, but if he continued like this, he was going to have to spend the whole day in this.


'I thought you wanted to ask me about the ninety levels?'


　It wasn't a bad idea to think of Diniel as an ornament and enjoy a pseudo-alone holiday, but that wasn't going to happen before Corina and Xeno's troubles. When I took my gaze off Lorena, who was forming a large heeled hand in the first table, and asked her that, Diniel stopped leaning back in his chair and looked at me.


''I want to know why Amy and the others haven't made it past the ninety levels yet.
'Hmm. By the way, what do you think of Diniel?
..........


　I had already thought about the second army PT, but I returned it to Diniel to give myself time to put it together in my mind. Then she too thought for a bit before slowly opening her eyes.


'For now, Xeno's in the hole. But with Corina and Amy's help, we can plug it. And all of us are getting better at dealing with the end of the line, so if we can get the PT to work together properly, we should be able to get to the end of the game.
Yeah. Well, that's pretty much it.


　Lately, Xeno has stopped looking good to PT members, so he's been asking for more recovery than before. And Korina is both capable of that recovery. If he can recover properly for Zeno, he'll be able to move better than before. If that happens, the PT will be able to run better.

　If that happens, though, Corina will have more of a burden than before, and not all of the responses will be switched out immediately. We're in the midst of a trial and error process, with Amy at the helm to reduce that burden.

　Perhaps if we continue at this rate, we will be able to get past the middle game as Diniel said. And although the prospect of breaking through the ninety levels is in sight, it's difficult to say if they can do it faster than the other clans.


''Heel.''


　Aldrete Crowe, who had already been through a couple of mid-round battles and experienced the endgame, was still notable for Stephanie's unusual stretch. She burned all of Tsutomu's standings into her brain and corrected her own standings accordingly, a rough job. But it has made her grow at an unusual rate, and Tsutomu is amazed at her progress as she pushes up from underneath.

　And the PT is doing well, due in part to the fact that the attacker she was forced to devote her consciousness to in order to hit the haste has been replaced by Sova, and her distribution of consciousness has been made easier by the fact that her tank, Bittman, has been dealing with the end of her life.


(The right amount of effort and awareness is too different from the others. It's going to be tough for Corina and Lorena to win that one).


　Healers in the War of the End of the World will be greatly tested for their ability to understand the battle situation and their skills in assisted recovery. Stephanie watched Tsutomu's moves over and over again hundreds of times and used them as a reference, and her own skills are also quite good.

　Stephanie has to go through an endless process of trial and error to revamp her fighting style, as she may lose sight of her own skills if she is not good enough. However, her strong will made it possible for her to achieve this, and her moves in the middle of the fight were comparable to those of Tsutomu.

　When compared to her, Lorena and Korina are inevitably inferior to her. But those two, who are up close and personal, can receive the influence of Stephanie, who is growing fast. Even if they can't cross over for now, they won't have to carry unnecessary pressure by getting behind them, and they'll be able to learn a lot of things.

　That's something I'd love for Corina to do if I wanted her to take on a hundred levels. So she kept her advice to a minimum to help her grow as a person herself, and tried to earn the trust of her PT members.


'So what is it that you really want to ask?'
..........


　But I could at least tell that what Diniel really wanted to hear wasn't about the second army PT. When I said that and put away my subjective notes on the skill application that formed Lorena's giant hands, her sleepy eyes turned serious.


'I'm sure Tutom's strength is many things, but I think his obsession with life is one of the biggest. She doesn't want to die, so she never fails to prepare, and she doesn't give up even in desperate situations. And yet, he's definitely the best healer. That's why I was able to rebuild on my own even at the ninety levels. ........With that in mind, it was understandable that you would call me second-rate. Although it pisses me off.


　Even though he's only just becoming an adult among elves, the age difference between him and Tsutomu is nearly eighty. And he is so impotent that even the female Korina can't beat him, and his masterful attitude can be annoying at times.

　When Tsutomu treated me as second-rate, I even wanted to make him retract it by force, but I had a feeling that he wouldn't retract that statement, even if I twisted him to the ground and performed a joint technique. That's why Diniel consulted with Amy once to sort things out and came to the conclusion he had just reached.

　And in order to get Tsutomu to retract his statement that he was second-rate, he had to restructure his standings to consider the attacker's reputation from the healer's point of view. After finding that goal, Diniel enjoyed diving into God's dungeon a little more than he had before.


''I'm currently honing my abilities to get Tsutomu to retract his second-rate statement. But there's one thing that's bothering me. Amy told me that she's never seen Tsutomu dead before. How many times has Tsutomu died before?
Let me see. One time.
That's what I'm worried about.


　Diniel's eyebrows sank when he heard the word "once".


''Tsutomu's unwillingness to die is indeed an advantage. That's why I was able to break through the ninety levels. But it can be considered a disadvantage. Many people can't continue to be explorers of the Divine Dungeon simply because they can't get used to death. In the future, Tsutomu might die. I'm worried about what will happen to Tsutomu at that time.
Well, the truth is, I don't want to die again. And if I die again, my heart will break and I could retire as an explorer--


　Tsutomu rambled on about such things in a light-hearted tone, but when he saw the horrible look in Diniel's eyes, he closed his mouth tightly in mid-sentence.


''That is absolutely unacceptable. As long as you don't at least retract the fact that you treated me like a second-rate person, I will take Tsutomu to God's dungeon, no matter what, by any means necessary.
I'm scared.
I don't know who's to blame for all this. You will be held accountable.
I don't know about that, but I'm just going to do what I want to do.
Okay.


　Diniel turned away sulkily as she said that and looked at the Silver Beast's PT reflected in the divine table. At the sight of her, Tsutomu chuckled and took out a new notepad.


(What would happen if I died? I've never imagined it, it's more like I've sealed myself off from thinking about it.)


　The only person that Tsutomu had ever been killed by, the Hundred Level Lord, the Blazing Old Dragon. The memory of his tragic death is still creepily burned into his mind. He doesn't want to experience that kind of death, but he's trying his best to do so in large part because he doesn't want to.


''I'm not going to die.


　Thinking of the words that he didn't know how many times he had already chanted in his mind, Tsutomu worked to become mindless, just writing down the information he could get from Shentai.


　oo


The Power Arrow.
"What...!　I can see the killing intent!


　Perhaps it was worth destroying his carefully prepared holiday, but Diniel's arrows were gaining momentum by the day. The proof of this was that Hannah's reactions to his arrows were also becoming more and more exaggerated.

　Two weeks had passed since that holiday, and in that time, the Infinite Circle's single army PT had updated its hierarchy in good shape and had currently advanced to the ninety-fifth level.

　After the monsters of the forest hierarchy appeared at the 92nd level, it was expected that the countermeasures against the hierarchy up to now would be put to use, and Doren Workshop prepared countermeasure equipment at full capacity. And Tsutomu's 'Live Dungeon!' The knowledge about the game, coupled with an aggressive formation with an avoidance tank, had me advancing through the hierarchy at a furious pace.


(But it's about time.)


　As far as the tier update is concerned, things are going well, but from the looks of it, there are signs that Aldrete Crow will break through the ninety levels soon. It's just as planned since the margin of five tiers has been obtained, but Tsutomu sighed as he looked at the newspaper while looking at Stephanie, who was following his prediction, which was rather strict.


It's a good thing that you're not going to be able to get away with it. I don't know how you stay in shape. I've been told I've been sleeping for three hours?
'I think it was someone's apprentice, but who was it?
'No, you're the master of that, so you must be a great healer... oh, that was me!
..........


　In the living room of the Clan House, with a cup of tea brewed by Oli in one hand, Leleia is staring at the extremely excited Tsutomu with snake-like eyes.

　The fact that Stephanie is following along as planned is in itself a detriment in terms of the fastest attack on the hundredth level. However, the fact that she is following even the strict predictions that she had made is a delightful thing from a healer's perspective. Therefore, Tsutomu made a joke with increased tension, but Leleia did not chuckle.


''Master, Master. There's a man named Hanna who can use that magic fist and is now called the strongest avoidance tank, but I heard he also has a master.
'What?　Who the hell are you....
I'm not sure... what was it, Ts...?　Leleia, don't you know?
...Is that a Tsutomu?
Oh, it was me!
'Hahahaha!
..........


　Hanna looks at Tsutomu, who is holding his head in his hands, looking like he's shitting himself, and is receiving ridiculous looks. It's a good idea to be able to have a good time with your friends. The same is true of Salamander, who is latching onto the fire magic stone on the desk.


''Since we're aiming for the ninety-sixth level today, shouldn't you be a little nervous?
I'll get serious when I get into God's dungeon.
''It's kind of a shame that a PT in such good shape has reached the highest attainment level. The second army PT is so tense like that.
It's about time to break through, so I guess there's some extra effort involved.


　They were no longer in the clan house as the second army PT's headed to the guild early in the morning with motivated faces. But Tsutomu knew that they would fail this morning because they couldn't get rid of the extra strength. It would be a difficult thing to do, but it would be best if they could do the real thing like a practice session.


Well, I think that PT will be able to break through soon, so there's no need to worry about it. The only thing you need to worry about is the fact that you'll have to do your best here before then. Well then, let's go now.
Well there's a guy who's been teaching the orphans how to tank lately.
No, it's too late for that.


　Tsutomu sullenly returned to Daryl, who had been thinking about it for a long time after listening to their lighthearted conversation and finally squeezed it out.