After a while, Amy shyly moved away from Tsutomu; the latter, feeling that things were getting awkward, excused himself as if trying to escape the situation. In distracting himself, he took a walk through the town, heading to the plaza where the live broadcasts were taking place.
The area around the single-digit Monitors was at its busiest from six oâclock in the afternoon, after which the day laborers got off their work shifts; it was practically a festive riot here now. At a nearby stall, a stern man raised his voice to compete with the audio of Monitor #1 at pulling in customers, while his hands were busy cooking diced meat on a griddle.
Tsutomu, as if drawn by the smoke of grilled meat, approached the stall and bought some of the diced meat. Eight pieces of the cube steaks and crudely shredded vegetables glistened with grease in the paper bag; he used a wooden skewer to pick them up.
While chewing on his food, Tsutomu walked through the crowd to the lower platform; in the distance, he saw Monitor #1 showing the Scarlet Devil Squad exploring the sixty-second layer.
Monitors #1, 2, and 3 were dominated by the usual Scarlet Devil Squad, Golden Tune, and Ealdred Crow respectively; on the Monitors after them were parties of major Clans exploring the Canyons. Tsutomu observed all of them while he ate, and at one point, the party on Monitor #5 caught his eye.
It was the second party belonging to Ealdred Crow, facing a group of Orcs. Tsutomu folded up his paper bag and put it away in his Magic Bag, then waded through the crowd to get closer to Monitor #5. Once there, he looked up at the Monitor, the height of which almost matched his.
Ealdred Crowâs parties up until now had been mostly specialized in making a profit by defeating monsters quickly with simultaneous attacks, and in turn, minimizing the use of Potions. Their composition had included four Attackers and one Healer.
But the Ealdred Crow party shown fighting on Monitor #5 now had a Warrior as their sole Attacker. The four others included a Knight, a Paladin, a White Mage, and a Minstrel â a stark difference from their partiesâ usual structure.
By having their lower-tier members test out other Clansâ tactics, they could then re-strategize their higher-ranking teams if those approaches proved to be useful. The Ealdred Crow had a great number of members, and they came in a wide variety of races and Jobs, so one could say that they had the advantage of access to talent than any other Clan.
As such, their rates of progression and combat adaptability were higher than those of the other Clans and parties. Their lower-tier parties, which had started learning Tsutomuâs tactics with the knowledge gained from their informants, have been overtaking the higher-tier ones. By using Tsutomuâs approach of assigning the roles of Attacker, Tank, and Healer, those of the Healer and Tank Jobs among the Clanâs weaker members were now getting their time to shine.
Their White Mages and Enchanters have effectively soaked up Tsutomuâs tactics and use of skill shots. Their Knights, Heavy Knights, and Paladins have accepted that they were inferior in terms of attack power, and in turn, have understood their roles as Tank classes. As such, they have stopped thinking about pure firepower, and started using skills for managing aggro instead.
Up until now, their spotlight had been hogged away by the Attackers; now they were absorbing knowledge and practicing their roles like there was no tomorrow, and at this point, they have already managed to get to a practical skill level. But the Attackers were still essential, and Ealdred Crow still hasnât managed to get most of them to cooperate with the new mindset.
Attackers maximizing their firepower had been the norm for many years, which meant that many were still too prideful to change now. That approach had been prevalent especially since Attackers were the main factor in cutting through the forty-first layer onward.
As a result, many of those with Attacker Jobs had looked down on Explorers of other Jobs. It would take a long time for these Attackers to adjust to working with Jobs that had never been in the limelight before, partly because of their lack of awareness of rolesâ importance. The Clanâs informant, probably having anticipated that, had tried changing their partyâs composition for the time being.
Running two Attackers, two Tanks, and one Healer would make them end up with excessive firepower. As such, they had the idea to cut down on the Attackers, and had instead gone for one Attacker, two Tanks, and two Healers. That party setup has been showing some good results.
Although their progression through the layers had not been all that efficient so far, their rates of death and Potion consumption have greatly reduced compared to those of other parties, in turn increasing their profits. This also allowed them to more effectively utilize the talented personnel among their ranks. As a result of their approach, their makeshift party of high-leveled Explorers managed to fight their way through the Canyons.
âOoh!â
Tsutomu, seeing that the one-Attacker party was about to fight some Orcs, shouted out excitedly as he watched on.
Facing four Orcs, the Knight and Paladin in the front used Combat Cry to keep the Orcsâ eyes on them. One man in the back, the Minstrel, held up the ukulele-like instrument in his hands.
â<<hymn of="" protection="">>.â</hymn>
Along with the chant, he began to strum his instrument, producing a morale-inducing timbre. Upon hearing it, the VIT of all other party members increased by one tier. The Knight deflected the Orcâs sword swing with his shield and landed a counter attack.
The Minstrel Job was characterized by their ability to strengthen all members of the party and weaken multiple monsters using the sounds of their singing voices and musical instruments. And unlike Tsutomuâs <
Using his blinding skill, Tsutomu managed to escape from the conference room⊠at least⊠for a few steps⊠before the two caught him and dragged him back inside; they proceeded to give him a long string of lectures and arguments. As for Garm and the Deputy Guild Master, they had already slipped out of the room.