Defense specialization and the conquest of the subterranean lake.
Slightly longer than usual.
Added description for the second event.
532 Name: Nameless Great Shield User
Has everyone already gone to the second layer? I made it safely into the second layer.
533 Name: Nameless Spear User
Ah.
Just won and entered the second layer.
534 Name: Nameless Great Sword User
I also won safely.
535 Name: Nameless Mage
Me too.
Won.
Great.
536 Name: Nameless Archer
I’ve reached the second layer too.
537 Name: Nameless Spear User
Huh? We’re actually pretty strong, aren’t we?
538 Name: Nameless Great Sword User
If you’d been leveling up to keep up with Maple-chan entering the second layer so easily…
You’d be among the front-line companions.
539 Name: Nameless Archer
Same here.
539 Name: Nameless Great Shield User
Even so, Maple-chan
Still hasn’t reached the second layer yet.
The party listing shows up in my friend roster.
540 Name: Nameless Archer
I saw that. Probably.
541 Name: Nameless Magus
Tell me more about that.
542 Name: Nameless Archer
Name unknown. Initial equipment. Seemed close. Likely a real friend.
543 Name: Nameless Greatsword User
Weapon?
544 Name: Nameless Archer
A short sword, I think.
545 Name: Nameless Magus
Unexpected.
I expected a magus or archer.
546 Name: Nameless Spear User
Me too.
547 Name: Nameless Great Shield User
Two people fighting together—this setup is poor.
But… they’re Maple-chan’s friends.
Is she truly a novice?
Could be a novice of Maple-chan’s kind.
548 Name: Nameless Magus
Indeed possible.
548 Name: Nameless Archer
Maple-chan: “Maxing out stats makes you strong!”
Friend: "Really!? Then let's do it!"
This—
549 Name: Nameless Greatsword User
A party with two Maple-chans...
That’s beyond help.
550 Name: Nameless Spear User
Hey, calm down.
You’re a short sword user.
550 Name: Nameless Mage
Ah, right.
I was unconsciously imagining a great shield.
551 Name: Nameless Great Shield User
Short sword—AGI specialization, then?
552 Name: Nameless Archer
But that seems rather weak.
553 Name: Nameless Greatsword User
No defense. One hit, and it’s over.
And zero damage output.
554 Name: Nameless Spear User
Well, probably they’ll rise to prominence on their own.
When’s the next event again?
555 Name: Nameless Great Shield User
About a month from now. Time acceleration is set to make the in-game time and real time diverge.
And the event lasts two hours. Midway entry or exit isn’t possible due to the time acceleration.
The administrators seem to have shortened the event interval due to the previous turnout.
556 Name: Nameless Mage
Admins are solid.
557 Name: Nameless Spearman
With a month, they’d probably train enough.
We’d get to see their playstyle too.
Then we could judge.
558 Name: Nameless Greatsword User
Ugh, just hurry up and bring the next event.
Can’t stop thinking about that girl’s strength.
Unaware of such talk.
Maple and Sally spent another day fishing and swimming in the underground lake. Though Maple occasionally left the water, lay on the surface, and provoked monsters into attacking her—this peculiar behavior remained unexplained.
She intends to find a new skill before acquiring a damage-reduction skill that grants a shield.
Incidentally, Sally has now been playing for two weeks since her first login.
They do not log in simultaneously every day.
Sally has set aside separate time to acquire a broad but shallow range of skills beyond 【Swimming I】 and 【Diving I】.
Both continue preparing for the event, yet they spend their days exploring what appears to be an underground lake.
“Puh…! Ha… ha… How long have I been down?”
Sally rises to the surface and asks Maple for the time.
“S, stunning! Forty minutes!”
“Having reached 【Swimming X】 and 【Diving X】 means… this is my current limit… If I don’t make it to the far end within twenty minutes, I’ll drown…”
“After twenty minutes, I’ll send you a message through the friend function. The sound will echo in your head—should be noticeable.”
“Great idea, Maple! Then… may I ask a favor?”
“Leave it to me! Go ahead and dive deep!”
“Here I go!”
Sally plunges into the water at incredible speed, vanishing into the side passage.
As expected, the passage stretched deep, deeper still, and Sally swam through it at a speed near that of a mermaid.
At a fork in the path, her movement halts. She had assumed the route led straight to the farthest point.
She moves right, then left, mapping the way in her mind, certain it will break her bones.
After some time, a notification arrives from Maple in her mind.
No monsters appeared along the way. No irregularities. She reached Maple’s location unharmed.
“Hah… hah…”
“How was it?”
“Split into multiple branches… I’ll stop after one more attempt today. I don’t know how deep it goes.”
“Then I’ll notify you again.”
Sally heads once more toward the lakebed. Having already solved the maze up to the previous point, she moves at top speed to that known location.
Again, one possibility after another is eliminated. Deeper, deeper she goes.
And just as she receives another notification from Maple.
Sally finds a large, white door at the end of the corridor.
Good, she makes a small victory gesture, then turns back the way she came. She must be in peak condition to not miss the Unique Series.
"Boss Room! Found it..."
She says, floating upward, then high-fives Maple. Now, it is only a matter of whether she will win safely.
"I'm taking a short break, then I'll charge into the Boss Room! I've found it already. What about you, Maple?"
"I think I'll log out soon today."
"Ah... sorry for dragging you along."
"Not a problem! Go win, okay?"
"Yeah!"
With that, Maple is enveloped in light and logs out, vanishing.
Silence sharpens Sally's focus.
"What about my status...?"
Sally
Lv12
HP 32/32
MP 25/25〈＋10〉
【STR 10〈＋11〉】
【VIT 0】
【AGI 55〈＋5〉】
【DEX 25】
【INT 10】
Equipment
Head 【Empty】
Body 【Empty】
Right Hand 【Beginner’s Short Sword】
Left Hand 【Empty】
Feet 【Empty】
Boots 【Beginner’s Magic Boots】
Accessories 【Empty】
【Empty】
【Empty】
Skills
【Status Effect Attack II】【Slash】【Double Slash】【Gale Slash】【Strength Enhancement Minor】
【Multi-Strike Enhancement Minor】【Down Attack】【Power Attack】【Switch Attack】【Combat Skill I】
【Short Sword Proficiency II】
【Fire Magic I】【Water Magic I】【Wind Magic I】
【Earth Magic I】【Dark Magic I】【Light Magic I】
【Fireball】【Waterball】
【Wind Cutter】【Sand Cutter】
【Dark Ball】【Refresh】
【MP Enhancement Minor】【MP Cut Minor】
【MP Recovery Speed Enhancement Minor】【Magic Proficiency II】
【Fishing】【Swimming X】【Diving X】【Cooking I】
【Gathering Speed Boost Minor】【Stealth II】
【Stealth Detection II】【Silent Step I】【Leap I】
【Poison Resistance Minor】
"Thirty-five stat points remain unassigned... I'll win by dodging."
The extensive skill set, absurdly numerous, was gathered by Sally with every moment she could spare, even at the cost of sleep.
Regarding MP: 7% MP reduction.
Recovery speed increased by 5%. MP +10.
Regarding STR:
STR increased by 5%.
When attacking in rapid succession, damage increases by up to 10% STR.
"Right! Let's go!"
Sally returned to the large white door after formulating her strategy.
She opened it slowly. The interior was half-filled with water, shaped like a massive sphere.
Sally’s fortunate surprise was the presence of oxygen. She no longer needed to force a quick, desperate battle.
"Puha... now... come on!"
Sally’s eyes turned serious. In response, a single point of light coalesced, forming a massive white fish.
The great fish charged forward with its entire body.
Sally read the motion completely, twisted her body, and narrowly avoided the strike, slicing open scales and flesh with her crimson blade as she passed.
“Slash!”
The blade, stained a vivid purple beneath the red light, inflicted a [Status Effect Attack II].
It poisoned the great fish’s body.
A small amount of damage, but the fish’s HP bar diminished steadily, surely.
The fish swung around and charged again.
Sally deflected it with the same precision, peeling away more of its flesh.
“Wind Cutter!”
Several red damage effects flared in the water. Sally’s strongest spell had force enough to scratch the scales lightly.
The repeated charge fails to wound Sally.
The giant fish’s HP bar drops below eighty percent.
Sally sharpens her focus, watching the giant fish’s movements.
To an ordinary player, the charge would appear identical to the previous one. To Sally, it is entirely different. Clearly, slow.
The giant fish halts its charge mid-motion and unleashes a sweeping attack with its tail fin forward.
Even this misses Sally.
She predicted the shift in the enemy’s behavior from the rate at which its HP bar decreased.
She judged the attack range precisely from the fish’s length. Stepping back a single pace, she lets the tail fin pass directly in front of her. She slices it open with a skill.
“Double Slash!”
Sally’s consecutive attacks, uninterrupted by counterattacks from the giant fish, have already reached their maximum damage multiplier.
The red effect sinks slightly deeper this time, biting twice into the giant fish’s tail fin.
At the same moment. Infusing paralysis poison through 【Status Effect Attack II】, slowing the enemy’s movements.
“【Power Attack】!”
The short sword plunges to the hilt into the giant fish’s sluggish body. Sally pulls it free swiftly, then retreats. The giant fish’s HP drops below half.
A shift in its behavior pattern.
White magic circles rise on either side of the giant fish’s body, from which bubbles spill forth.
“【Water Ball】!”
Sally strikes the bubbles with magic. They explode with a violent sound. Touching those bubbles is impossible.
Sally evades the giant fish, detonating the bubbles with water magic to clear a path.
Sally notices the giant fish’s movement pattern tracking her path—following her like a set course.
Then.
She reverses mid-flight, detonating bubbles with water magic. She twists her body through the brief opening.
“【Power Attack】!”
A red effect lingers on the giant fish’s back—a single line of crimson.
The fish’s HP bar shatters, losing nearly twenty percent. She spins, slicing the tail fin repeatedly with her blade.
In that moment, the fish turns to follow—too slow to keep pace with the bubble barrage. The density thins.
Sally does not miss it.
“【Wind Cutter】!”
A blade of wind cuts through the bubbles, carving deep into the giant fish’s forehead. The fish’s HP bar finally drops below twenty percent, turning red.
At the same moment. The magic circles on either side of the giant fish vanish. The room fills with water.
Magic circles appear on the upper, lower, and side walls, erupting with bubbles.
The giant fish opens its massive mouth wide. Within the mouth, a magic circle glows brighter than the bubble circles.
Sally’s sensor, honed through gameplay, reacts instinctively.
An instant later, a single, pale blue beam of water shoots straight toward the spot where Sally had just been, moving with blinding speed.
Sally hesitates. Dodging that next time would require more than skill—luck would be needed.
The bubbles press closer.
Sally’s movements grow sluggish.
Panic halts thought.
In moments like this, composure is key.
Sally speaks to herself. Calming the frantic mind. Focusing.
As if time had stopped.
The bubbles. The laser. The giant fish’s motion. All frozen.
Late. Getting later.
Dangerous spots. Safe spots. All clear to the touch.
The subtle shift of the enemy’s body. The direction of its gaze.
Sally predicted the laser’s position from these.
From the current placement of the bubbles, she predicted where the bubble barrage would spread next. She created an escape route in advance. Compared with past experience. Forged paths with higher chance of survival, one after another.
This was no longer foresight.
A near-cheat level of overwhelming PS.
“Wind Cutter.”
The quietly cast spell sliced cleanly through the bubble curtain, cleaving the giant fish.
And finally.
The giant fish’s HP bar emptied.
Extended training period for the skill.