Chapter 105

Itai no wa Iya nanode Bōgyo-Ryoku ni Kyokufuri s . h . i . tai to Omoimasu 105

Defense Specialization and A Little Growth

Maple called for Syrup and quickly ordered:

“‘Rampart’!”

Maple and Sally were now hidden by the walls that shot out of the ground .

It was unlikely that Frederica and the others would be able to get past the walls that stretched high into the sky .

“Maple…how did you…?”

It was too far a distance for her to have flown here with Syrup .

Sally had sent that message because there was no way they would make it in time .

“We’ll talk later! I have to return quickly . Only Yui and Mai are left at the base! Hold onto me, okay?”

“Uh, okay . ”

Sally stood up on shaky legs and grabbed onto Maple as if hugging her .

Maple held onto Sally with both hands as she began to prepare for their escape .

“‘Deploy Barrels . ‘”

Weapons began to grow out from Maple’s entire body and fill the remaining s . p . a . ce within ‘Rampart . ’

And all of the barrels were pointed downward .

“Let’s go!”

“Huh? Are-are, you kidding!”

As if ignoring Sally’s protest, smoke and flames erupted around them .

It was practically self-destruction .

However, Maple could endure it .

Maple used all of her advanced weaponry without restraint as it shot her into the sky at an incredible speed .

If she didn’t have weapons on her feet, she just needed to use the kickback to launch herself into the air .

Normally, this kickback was not something that anyone could survive .

But it was not a problem for Maple, and so she was able to fly high into the sky like a rocket .

Maple called out the names of her other skills before they reached the highest point .

“‘Deploy All Weapons’! ‘Commence Attack’! ‘Hydra’!”

Bright lasers fired off into the ground, one after another .

More than one hundred shots were fired, and they hit the ground like shooting stars, burning the players .

As if chasing them, the three-headed Hydra came down and covered the ground in a sea of poison .

Hardly anyone in Frederica’s team had Poison Immunity . They had not intended on fighting against Maple, and so their equipment was not something that would help them deal with her .

Their current equipment would not allow them to stop the Hydra .

The players that had finally arrived after chasing Sally, ended up returning to their guild, without fully understanding what was happening .

Sally had killed nearly 30 players .

But the number that was killed in this fight far exceeded even that .

And this was only possible due to the wide-range attacks from the sky .

“That’s for Sally!”

Maple’s cannons fired off once again, this time blowing herself back in the direction of Maple Tree .

“Ughhh…what was that…”

Frederica collapsed in the sea of poison . Using all of her defensive capabilities and having Poison Immunity had somehow allowed her to survive .

“But don’t you think that this is the end of it…!”

Frederica was left in tatters, but she was feeling optimistic already .

If it worked, even this disaster could easily be written off .

On the other hand, if it didn’t, she would not be able to retaliate no matter what Pain said to her .

“Please, Dread . Do it…”

Yui and Mai were standing in front of the orb together .

“Do you think Maple got there in time?”

“According to the map, she is in the same location as Sally . She must have made it . ”

“But how did she get there?”

“I don’t know… But I think she’ll be back soon . ”

However, neither of them knew if she really would be back soon .

“Yui, I prepared just in case…”

“Yes . But… Do you think we should go and wake up Kanade and Chrome…? That would be safer, right?”

They decided to be safe .

However, luck was not on their side .

“! Yui, enemies!”

“What!?”

They both picked up their great hammers .

A single player was walking slowly through the entrance .

It was Dread .

Maple Tree’s location had been identified .

The only reason that the a . s . sembly of Swords had not touched them, was because they had determined that Maple was too dangerous .

But now that she was gone, and Dread was close, there was no question about whether or not he would make a move .

“Hahh…Frederica handles people so roughly . But, Maple really isn’t there? In that case…I can do this . ”

Dread grumbled as he read the message from Frederica . And then he had immediately come here .

He would have a few minutes before Maple returned .

But those minutes would be too long for Yui and Mai .

“Mai! Let’s do this!”

“Yes!”

“Hah…I don’t think so . ”

Dread dashed forward and started to close the gap between them .

Seeing this, Mai swung her great hammer downward .

It didn’t matter that they were still not close enough .

“‘Flying Attack’!”

The skill caused Yui’s great hammer to glow, and a shock wave exploded out from around it .

It was a deadly attack .

“Hah!!”

But Dread was able to dodge it .

He dodged the attack and continued to run closer .

“‘Double Stamp’!”

He dodged Yui’s attack, then targeted Mai with a slash of his blade .

“Mai!”

“I-I’m fine!”

It was only by coincidence that Mai had been able to escape Dread’s attack .

As he used short swords like Sally, her body had learned those movements the most, and so she had moved away before she even had time to think .

However, it was unlikely that she would be able to dodge it again .

Dread had learned some things about Yui and Mai’s attack ability today .

And so he was careful to not let any of their attacks land, which resulted in Mai being able to survive for now .

“Mai! Move away!”

“Yes!”

Mai dashed over to the wall .

However, Dread was much faster .

He would quickly catch up to her .

“How slow . ”

“Ah…! Ahhh!!”

Dread’s short swords were about to cut her .

In that instant .

Mai threw the weapon that she was holding in Dread’s direction .

“Wha!?”

It was a desperate move that even Dread had not been expecting .

Mai smiled when she saw how shocked he was .

“As if that would hit me!”

Still, Dread was able to twist his body and dodge it . And just as he swung his short swords to attack the now defenseless Mai, he felt an eerie sensation and jumped back .

Immediately after, a shock wave hit the area he was in and destroyed it .

“The other one…! Huh?”

What Dread saw was two great hammers that shone through a skill .

One of them was the hammer that had been thrown at him a moment ago .

“Could it…gah?!”

A second shock wave came, and Dread was thrown into the wall .

Mai had not been equipped with a great hammer .

She had only been carrying the great hammer that Yui was equipped with .

She had only thrown it in order to return it to Yui .

Throwing it back to Yui caused it to activate a second skill that exceeded anything that he could have predicted .

This was a trump card that only these two could use .

“We’re still half-fledged . ”

“But together . ”

“We can beat you . ”

“We can beat you . ”

Both of them were still lacking in experience and skill, but for the first time, they were able to mature while completely on their own . It was a big, big step for them .

However, it was still not enough .

“Really, you are all so gross and annoying . ”

“How!?”

“How!?”

“You first!”

Dread’s short sword slashed into Mai .

There was no way that she could withstand the attack .

Dread only had 1 HP left .

It was clear that he had not been able to withstand it, but that there was a skill involved .

It was a difference of time spent in the game .

There was too large a gap of what he had built up .

“Bye, bye…!”

“Maple…I’m sorry…”

And Yui too was defeated by Dread’s blades .

Dread put away his short swords and took out a potion to recover his HP .

“Hah…how annoying . This guild is really something . ”

Now that his HP was recovered, Dread muttered to himself as he walked towards the orb .

“It looks like I’m the winner of this one…!?”

All he had to do was to take the orb, however, his time was up .

With an explosion of flames, Maple shot into the room with Sally .

“…I have to apologize to Yui and Mai . ”

“Frederica…! I hate you!”

Dread had won the round .

However, he had lost the fight .

Yui and Mai had fought to give her this invaluable time .

And Maple was not about to let it go to waste .