Defense specialization and downstream exploration.
Ultimately, the two spent the third day watching the eggs hatch and playing with the two hatchlings.
The hour was ten o’clock at night. It was an unappealing time to venture out again.
“Ah… what should we do… go exploring…?”
“Today’s enough….”
“I feel the same…”
They stroked their respective partners while discussing plans for tomorrow.
“Tomorrow, we’ll explore downstream and then return upstream, opposite the way we came.”
“Yeah… wait, upstream!?!”
“Just as we descended… ah…”
Maple had not considered what came after.
Yes, Maple had no way out of this valley.
“W-what should I do!?!”
“…What should we do?”
Maple looked to Sally for an answer. Sally found no solution either.
“Then tomorrow, we’ll head downstream while searching for a way back upstream. There must be something, surely.”
The search downstream took longer than expected, due to an unforeseen issue that arose.
Without a way to ascend, progress would be futile. There was nothing to be done.
"Then we must set out earlier."
"We need to reach the upper levels by the fourth day."
They agreed on an early departure at four in the morning and decided to take turns sleeping.
"Good morning."
"Good morning."
They exchanged greetings and set out on their search.
The fourth day had begun. The second half of the event had started.
Players were likely acquiring medals now.
Battles over possession were unfolding across the area.
This was not a matter unrelated to them.
They must always be ready for combat.
"Something wrong?"
"No. Nothing yet."
They scanned the surroundings carefully. No dungeon-like structure appeared. No magic circle was in sight.
Two and a half hours downstream.
Several battles occurred along the way. Shiroppu and Hinata each gained a level. They learned intriguing new skills.
The skill is named 【Sleep】 and 【Awakening】.
【Sleep】 allows both to rest within the ring, safe and recovering stamina, at their command.
【Awakening】 allows both to emerge from the ring, at their command.
Currently, both lie asleep within the ring.
The fog thickened. Visibility dropped. They feared losing each other.
Another thirty minutes of walking.
At last, they reached the river’s end.
They had sensed it vaguely before. Now, certainty settled.
“This is the source of the fog.”
“Yes. No mistake.”
The fog grew denser. Maple could barely see Sally, standing just to her side.
Maple and Sally approached the river.
Then.
A gust of wind blew. The fog dispersed. The path ahead cleared.
There, as upstream, stood a spring. At its center, a single urn.
White mist poured from the urn without pause. It seemed to draw water from the spring and expel it as fog.
“Shall we examine that urn…?”
“………There is no other choice.”
At the moment both stepped into the spring.
The wind ceased, as if timed. The thick fog enveloped everything in an instant.
“Sally! Are you there!?”
Maple’s voice received no reply.
Maple’s alertness sharpened.
“Uwah!? Ugh! Ahh!”
Sally’s voice came through.
The sound of metal clashing echoed. Sally’s voice was strained. It stirred Maple’s unease.
Before Maple, moving toward the sound, appeared a pitch-black hole.
Peering in reveals nothing within.
Yet Sally’s voice comes clearly from inside.
“Alright! Let’s go!”
Maple closes her eyes tightly and leaps into the hole.
When she opens them, there is Sally, her body radiating red effects.
And.
A knight clad in silver full plate, holding a greatsword that glows white.
“Sally!”
Maple cries out in shock.
No wonder. Maple has never seen Sally injured before.
Sally notices her, steps back quickly, and leans heavily against Maple.
“Y-you’re okay!?“
“Yeah… barely…”
A healing light envelops Sally’s body.
The painful red effects vanish.
“Stay behind me! I’ll stop whatever comes!”
Maple speaks with force, drawing the crescent blade.
A purple sigil unfolds from the blade’s edge.
The knight holds the sword loosely.
“[Poison Dragon (Hydra)]!”
The three-headed poison dragon charges toward the knight.
The knight swings the blade down.
It sinks deep into the dragon, cleaving it in two.
Yet only one of the three is severed.
The other two strike the knight directly.
The knight groans, knees buckling.
Still, the knight tries to rise, supporting the sword.
It fails.
White light begins to spill from the knight’s battered armor.
The knight releases the sword, as if surrendering.
With that, a torrent of light, equal in brilliance to the silver armor, surges upward into the sky.
“Weak—weak compared to the monstrous bird!”
Indeed, the power to cleave the poison dragon was extraordinary—but the creature lacked endurance and defense.
In that regard, the strange bird was anomalous.
Got them down!
Fufufu—let me check if any medals have fallen.
As usual, the target location lies submerged beneath the poisoned sea.
Maple has no choice but to go and see.
Perhaps there’s one or two around?
Maple begins to walk toward the extermination site.
[Defense Break]
A voice, sudden and unannounced.
Pain running along the back.
Maple looked back to see a deep blue dagger, slicing through her again and again.
"Ah? Ah?"
Ahah. Ahaha, ahahahaha!
It was Sally laughing like a madwoman.
“What… why!?”
Maple notices her HP bar dwindling away, line by line.
Her own safety is at risk if this continues.
"Paralyzing Shout!"
A potent status affliction causing paralysis.
Maple noticed it.
Something in the shape of Sally, before their eyes.
It was not, under any circumstances, Sally.
It could not inflict direct damage upon party members.
"Aha, ahaha..."
"It's not working!?"
An impossibly high paralysis resistance.
Confirmed: it was not Sally.
Yet its speed matched Sally's—no, surpassed it.
"Enhanced!?"
With a mad laugh, the figure vanished. A crimson effect burst from Maple's body.
"Ugh... uncatchable!"
Her signature poison dragon, her great shield—useless if they did not land.
Fortunate, its attack power was not high.
A race between coming up with a solution or being worn down.
Maple fought the impostor.
And Sally fought the same.
"Damn... same absurd defense as Maple!"
Sally slashed past, yet the HP bar did not budge.
An unbearable defense. Frustrating.
The one I’d rather not fight, by far the worst of them all…
Ha ha ha! — [Poison Dragon (Hydra)]!
From the form of Maple, the Poison Dragon is fired. Sally dodges.
Avoiding a creature not particularly fast is easy.
But defeating it is not easy.
This… is tough.
Maple to Sally. Sally to Maple. Trust between them.
And that trust becomes unbearable when turned against.
A duel with a knight was merely a prelude.
Now, the true battle begins—against an opponent who bears the form and power of a trusted partner.