Defense Specialization and the 4th Layer
One day in October, a little over a month since the event.
It was the day that the 4th layer was to be added.
Risa had invited her to go and check it out, but she would have logged in either way.
Her vision was filled with light, and when it disappeared, the 3rd layer’s town spread out before her.
She looked around to see that Sally was waving at her, and so Maple walked up to her.
“I came. What should we do? Should we go right away?”
“I bet you could take care of the boss on the 3rd layer by yourself…yeah, let’s go. You’re curious too, aren’t you?”
“I am!”
They didn’t try to match their login times, and so the two of them were the only ones who were there from Maple Tree.
Even if they went now, they would have to go again with everyone else later and fight the boss all over again.
But still, their curiosity about the new layer was too strong.
Without even knowing what the boss was, Maple used ‘Savagery’ to transform, so she could carry Sally on her back as she ran through the field and towards the dungeon.
At this point, everyone knew that this monster was Maple, and so none of the players who flew in the sky tried to attack her.
However, she still drew a lot of attention.
They ran over monsters as they made their way through the dungeon. Then they arrived in front of the room and Maple opened the doors to go inside.
“Sally? We’re here!”
“Okay! Let’s get this thing over with.”
The thing that was inside was a steel golem that was three times their height.
If golems had a will of their own, this one would have been stunned to see the door open and a monster’s head peeking inside.
“‘Phantom World’!”
Even with only Sally, Maple could multiple into 4.
The four 4 Maples started to attack the golem as if surrounding it.
As for the golem, it too tried to attack Maple, but of course, she didn’t take any damage.
Sally saw this with relief and then sat down to pet Oboro on the head.
However, as Sally was doing this, she heard Maple’s frantic voice.
“Sally!? What should I do!?”
“Huh!? What!?”
“I can’t deal any damage to it!?”
“What!?”
Sally looked at the golem and saw that its HP hadn’t changed at all.
Management had been thinking.
A natural way to stop Maple in Savagery form.
And what they came up with, was not to place a boss with ridiculous attack power there, but a boss with high defense power and HP.
Maple’s ultimate enemy was not someone with extreme firepower, but someone with the same traits as her.
Maple didn’t have any piercing attack skills.
And as the golem couldn’t deal any damage, this fight couldn’t end.
It was a way to contain Maple in a one on one fight.
“I guess I’m going to have to do something about this.”
Realizing what this meant, Sally pulled out her daggers and ran towards the golem.
And they fought for 30 minutes.
Partly due to Sally maxing out ‘Dance of Swords,’ the battle was able to finally come to an end.
“Hah…that was a mistake.”
“Yeah…that was harsh.”
This put a damper on their plan to quickly pass this area and go see the 4th layer, but they decided to switch gears and head for it anyway.
“I wonder what it’s like?”
“Who knows? Look, you can see it now.”
Sally started to run, and Maple chased after her.
The 4th layer was a town of shadows.
Stars glimmered in the night sky, and there were two full moons, one red and one blue.
This town was the biggest of the towns so far, and all of the buildings were wooden and looked traditionally Japanese.
There were waterways running throughout the town, and lanterns quietly illuminated the streets.
There was an especially tall building in the center of the town, and their hearts were filled with curiosity.
“Should we explore? Should we?”
“Yes. But let’s go to the guild home first.”
“Oh, right.”
They suppressed their excitement and headed for the guild home.