Itai no Wa 218
Defense Specialization and Tower's 3rd Floor 5
On a new day, Maple and Sally had made their way back to the third floor once again. Their skill usage counter and such were reset as well and so they were fully prepared.
"Alright, we'll get the boss today~!"
"Yeah, let's do that. Although we don't know if it's ahead… and the enemies on the third floor are annoying too."
The two didn't go looking for the 'Ten thousand year ice' again and had come straight to the area with gushing lava once again.
Same as last time, the scenery in front of them was teeming with lava.
"Well then, let's try using it. It's probably an item for this area as well."
As Sally used 'Ten thousand year ice', a blizzard blew beneath her feet and hardened lava to black ice.
And with that, the scenery in front of them had completely changed into a land of ice.
"Eh…… um, It hardened more than I had expected but… let's hurry, Maple! It would be a pain if they were to melt."
"Ah, yeah! Right!"
As if it was just normal for her to do so at this point, Maple moved while being in between two floating shields.
However, Maple's speed when doing so wasn't much different than her walking speed so about half a minute of progressing later, the ice floor started breaking-exposing the gushing lava underneath.
"Maple, let's go! Get down, get down!"
"Ah, yeah! Got it!"
Maple slipped out from between the shields and connected to Sally with the thread and zoomed past the lava zone.
However, as they were doing that, the pillar of fire which reached close to the ceiling was back.
"Uuu… B-'Body lifting affection'!"
Maple hesitated a bit there but quickly activated 'body lifting affection' and protected Sally.
And so she closed her eyes, preparing herself for the damage but what came instead was a feeling of suspension.
"With this, we can make it past before it comes gushing out!"
"……? O-ohhh!"
'One Step towards The Underworld', the skill bestowed on the shoes which Maple had found on the sixth layer and gave it to Sally.
With that, Sally created numerous foothold in mid-air, making it possible for them to literally leap in to the safe zone.
"Thanks to you, there's no fall damage either so it's all good."
"Thank you, Sally! Thanks to you, we didn't get burnt…"
Maple let out a sigh of relief, looking back at the lava behind her.
The two progressed further and found the door to the boss without any hindrance.
"Oh, it really is here."
"Just as expected, huh?"
"There are still routes we haven't gone through but we used up the ice so…"
"Yea, let's go! I am fully prepared for this!"
Saying that, Maple swung her arm in a circle. "Alright, then-" Sally said, opening the door.
A wide area filled with lava awaited them inside the room, leaving them no choice but to be limited to stepping stones.
"Ugugu… I'm flying, right…?"
Maple said, floating in between two shields.
The field was hard to work with even for Sally.
"It's hard for me too but… the boss… is coming!"
As they were on alert, the ground started shaking and the lava at the end of the room began splashing up, creating a form.
And the form was of a dazzlingly burning lava giant.
"Sally, Sally! It looks really strong, what do we do?!"
"We probably should have saved some of that ice! But we got no other choice but to fight now! Maple, use it when the boss uses a big lava move!"
"Leave it to me! I will be watching from above!"
And like that, Maple kept raising the altitude while still being in between the two shields.
As the probability of lava type enemies doing fixed damage to Maple is high, it was difficult for her to use 'body lifting affection' as well.
"'Icicle'… no good, eh? Okay."
As Sally confirmed that she couldn't use 'icicle', she skillfully made her way through the safe zone, creating a distance between her and the boss.
"'Ancient Sea'!"
And like that, with the skill she acquired during the 2nd event, blue glowing fish appeared around her, swimming in the air.
"'Waterball'!"
As she did with the small fries along the way, Sally tried using water type attacks first.
The giant's movements were slow and because her water attack also reduces the 'agility' of the enemy, the attack hit the boss easily.
"My foothold, every time it starts moving… tto, kugh!"
Every time the giant crawls on the surface, her foothold disappears into the lava.
A new foothold appears after a while but the maintaining that timing was severe.
And while she was doing that, the lava giant raised its arm from the lava and tried to smack Sally to the ground.
"…….!"
Sally created a foothold mid-air and forcibly dodged it.
However, when the giant's hand made contact with the lava on the ground, a fire pillar gushed up, closing in on Sally.
"I was looking properly, just so you know!"
Just when the pillar was about to make contact with Sally, Maple came down making sure that doesn't happen.
Maple, who had come in between Sally and the fire pillar, was on top of her two large shields braced her large jet black shield above diagonally and blocked the fire pillar.
"Sally, emergency evacuation! Emergency evacuation!"
"Y-yea, thanks."
As Sally jumped on to Maple's large shield, Maple started ascending like an elevator.
"Wah, it's going wild down there."
Maple saw that the lava giant was moving about on the lava surface, smacking on it and creating fire pillars here and there.
"It seems the fire pillars won't reach us here so let's have a strategy discussion."
"Well then, our foothold is a bit unstable too so I will Syrup, alright?"
Maple summoned Syrup and enlarged it before carefully moving over.
"It's easier to make a strategy after confirming that the enemy can't do much against flying opponents…"
"Now, now, come over."
"Nn, then, don't mind if I do."
And like that, the two leisurely began the strategy discussion above the burning field.