Itai no Wa 222
Defense Specialization and the Tower's Fourth Floor 2
They kept going downstream for a while without fearing anything coming out of the forest to attack them.
Since Maple was using her 'Dedicated Affection,' Sally was just chilling while lying down on Maple's back.
"Hey Maple, how are things underwater?"
"Full of fish and other living creatures, I think? I keep scratching into some of those things every now and then…"
Maple tried to join the tips of her two forelegs to apologize every time she gained a little bit of experience for trampling over those little creatures.
"There might be dangerous creatures underwater, so maybe I could try fishing them out? They might drop rare materials…"
"Fishing? Aw, I'd like to be able to fish for a little bit too…"
"A little bit" may have been a little too optimistic for Maple, who usually cannot catch anything even after fishing for hours.
"It might be difficult for you to dive underwater with that body. Well, looks like I'm the one for the job… Here goes!"
Sally cast her fishing line and quietly started to fish. After a short while, she managed to catch a fish unlike any other they had ever seen, but the only special thing about it was that it was a really delicious fish.
"Hey, Sally… Do you think everyone else in this fourth floor is also swimming now?"
"Who knows? The water here must be filled with monsters. Other adventurers might not be able to get underwater like you. Though the town shop might be selling boats, so there's that."
"A boat, huh? That'd be nice… Hey, Sally! Let's get on one of those boats!"
"That sounds nice! Oh…? I got something… huh?"
"What's wrong, Sally?"
"It must have been my imagination… No. The current is getting faster!"
On top of the current getting faster, we started to see big rocks along the stream. If a boat or something like that were to hit one of those…
"Hold tight, Sally! We should be fine even if I were to hit those rocks!"
"I thought we would be able to avoid them… but oh, well. Here they come!"
Sally was tied to Maple's body by a thread so that even if she were to fall, she would not get outside of Dedicated Affection's area of effect. Both of them are dragged by the current, unable to swim out of it.
"Okay! I'm okay! How about you, Sally?"
Thanks to her huge body, Maple could not avoid hitting every rock that got in their way as they went downstream, but fortunately, she was unharmed. She asks Sally how she is as they are both helplessly dragged by the raging stream.
"Uhh… I think I'm going to get sick… Maple! Look out!"
"Huh? Ahh! Waaahhh!?"
Maple ended up hitting several rocks in succession, which made her lose her balance and sink underwater.
Sally was barely able to untie herself and jump to a nearby rock to avoid sinking along with Maple.
"That was too close… Maple! Where are you?"
Using her threads as scaffoldings, Sally jumped from one rock to another looking for Maple.
However, she was not able to find her, despite her huge body.
Moreover, as Sally continued to travel through the air from rock to rock, arrows of water were fired at her, as if trying to scare her away.
"Outta my way!"
Every time, Sally would twist her body around, avoiding the arrows and safely landing onto the next rock.
"Those arrows have stopped for now, but I can't go past here! It seems to be full of monsters… huh?"
The hurried Sally barely noticed a huge black lump hitting one of the rocks in the corner of her eye.
So once again, Sally ran through the air, avoiding the water arrows, and shot one of her threads into the water.
"Got you… Okay!"
Of course, she felt a lot of resistance, but Sally fixed her body on the rock she was standing and pulled with all her strength.
Shortly after, she was able to pull Maple, who was now back into her human form, out of the water.
"Oof! Are you okay, Maple?"
"Uhhh… I almost drowned… Thanks, Sally!"
"So 'Outrage' wears off the moment you start to suffocate, huh? Oh well, I'm glad you're okay!"
"I was rolling and rolling around… I didn't know where I was going… So scary!"
Still feeling dizzy, Maple clumsily sits on the rock.
"Let's take a little break first. That could have ended up badly, we have to think about how are we going to go downstream safely."
Not only Maple was in no condition to transform again so that Sally could ride her, but there were those water arrows that were shot whenever someone tried to jump on the rocks.
"Th… That's right… I could use some rest… It would be nice if we could stop the water current."
"Like closing a faucet, huh? That would definitely help…"
And so, the two decided to take a rest for a while until Maple had recovered.