Defense specialization and desert exploration.
Safe safe.
The forest was smaller than any they had encountered before.
"O-oh, we're through!"
"Oooh... the desert."
Before them stretched an immense desert.
Only scattered cacti broke the endless expanse of sand.
No player figures were visible.
"Shall we go?"
"Yes."
The two stepped into the desert.
"Good that we don’t get thirsty."
"True. We couldn’t explore if we did."
Dehydration did not exist in this game.
No heat damage from the desert’s temperature.
Though sand slowed their steps, exploration remained unimpeded. They advanced steadily over dunes.
"Nothing at all."
"Looks that way."
The dunes were too many. Beyond one, something might lie.
"Let us move forward, for now."
"Yes."
Neither Hina nor Shiroppu had drawn their weapons.
Shiroppu had attempted once, but could not climb the dune properly.
She had been swept away by collapsing sand mid-ascent.
Hina noticed her fur coated in sand and brought her back.
Sally said she felt regretful about it.
After crossing dozens of dunes, the two finally saw an oasis in the distance.
"Found it at last!"
"Let us go now."
The green stood out sharply in the endless sea of sand.
They walked lightly toward the oasis.
"Does it seem connected to a dungeon?"
"Let us split up and search every corner. It is not large. We shall finish soon."
They searched every corner, but found nothing in the oasis.
—Mm… There’s nothing here.
—Seems so, unfortunately.
—Shall we rest a moment before continuing?
—Perhaps. I feel quite weary as well.
Sally stretched, her body unfolding slowly.
Both Sally and Maple had already fought for long hours that day.
Tiredness was no surprise.
Maple lay on her back, motionless, gazing listlessly at the sky.
—Mm… Huh? Sally! Someone’s coming!
Maple rose abruptly, raising her great shield.
Sally turned at the sound, dagger in hand, eyes fixed on the approaching player.
—Oh… A prior visitor. And one who knows Maple… My luck is poor indeed.
The newcomer wore a kimono.
Her upper body was wrapped in a pale pink robe.
A purple hakama completed the ensemble.
The most noticeable feature was the single sword she carried.
"That one’s the sixth-place finisher from the previous event."
"Wait! Really?"
"I’ve looked into it. I know things like that."
"Ah, I’m sorry to interrupt your conversation… but I’d rather you overlook me, if you could."
The woman shows no intention of fighting.
Whether her true feelings are different is unknown.
"…What if I say no?"
"Then… we’ll have no choice. One of us will take you down with us."
She spoke of one, but her gaze was fixed on Sally.
Maple remained ready to strike or defend at any moment.
"Then we’re better off—since the remaining one can claim all the medals."
Sally murmured.
"…Ah."
"Shall we?"
"Let’s do it."
Both turned to look at the woman.
"【Hyper Acceleration】!"
She fled at full speed.
Her movement was too fast to see.
"【Hyper Acceleration】!"
Sally pursued at full speed.
The motion was too swift to register with the eye.
"Wait—!"
Maple rushed after the two at full speed.
The motion was too slow, like that of a tortoise.
"Why do you have 【Hyper Acceleration】...!"
"Did you think I was beneath you?"
The Hyper Acceleration of the two ended. They stood in a valley surrounded by massive sand dunes. No place to flee.
The woman sighed, drawing her blade.
In truth, she had believed she could win—if not against Maple.
After all, she was sixth-ranked.
【One-Sword: Mirage】
The woman’s form wavered and vanished.
In the next instant, she stood before them.
The blade swung horizontally, cleaving Sally’s torso deep.
"Hah...!?"
The woman startled.
Sally dissolved into the air before her eyes.
"Everyone reacts that way at first."
Red effects scatter from the woman’s body.
Sally inflicts no significant damage, but slices through her abdomen as they pass each other.
Sally steps back again.
“If I can’t defeat her before Maple arrives, that will be a problem.”
Sally speaks to the woman.
“Ku… [First Cut · Mirage]!”
The woman closes in on Sally once more.
She swings her blade in the same manner.
“I’ve already seen that.”
An unnatural scene.
The blade, swung at point-blank range, cuts through empty air as Sally ducks and lunges forward.
Sally passes low beside the woman’s left side.
“Guh….”
Red effects scatter from the woman’s foot.
“I didn’t think she’d be this strong…”
“That’s quite the assessment.”
The two turn to face each other.
Sally makes no move of her own.
To strike when the opponent’s stance falters, after dodging their attack.
One blow, and it would be over.
Though the opponent does not know this.
“…There’s no choice but to give it everything.”
The woman’s presence shifts.
Even her appearance changes.
Her fine black hair turns white as snow. Her dark eyes grow crimson.
A pink aura, like her kimono, glows around her.
“………”
Sally stops speaking. Her focus reaches its peak.
This is Sally’s ultimate ace.
An absolute power no one else can imitate.
“[Final Blade — Hazy Moon]”
A barrage of strikes, their paths invisible, assaults Sally.
The speed is so great the blade trembles—appearing to vanish.
To see the path of the blade with the eye is impossible.
“…!”
The whisper came from the woman in the kimono.
The unseen barrage could not strike Sally.
Activating the flurry skill meant one could only perform set motions until the skill ended.
Swinging the blade, praying, *hit, hit, hit*.
Sally evaded the flurry.
The movement of her feet.
The direction of her gaze.
The motion of her arm.
The shift of her shoulder.
The sound of the blade cutting air.
All these details used to predict the blade’s path—avoiding it by a hair’s breadth.
To the opponent, it must seem unnatural. Her attack, minimal in motion, was evaded directly before their eyes.
Yes, it seemed as if—
the blade was avoiding Sally.
The twelve strikes, each with lethal force, ended.
The woman looked at Sally and smiled faintly, then fell backward.
“My loss. Finish it in one stroke.”
Her hair and eyes had returned to their original color.
The aura had vanished.
"Same here. It was pretty bad."
"I'll hit you next."
As Sally prepared to swing her dagger downward.
"Aaaaah!? N-no, can't stop!!"
The cry made both of them reflexively turn toward the sound. There, rolling down the dune’s slope, kicking up sand, was a black mass.
"Huh? Wait! Maple!? M-maybe stop!?"
Yes, that mass was Maple.
The only thing worth praising was that she had removed her great shield.
And even if told to stop, she was already past the point of stopping.
Maple tumbled toward them.
Crashing down, sending sand flying.
Even they three took a moment to react to the situation.
And they failed to respond to the shift beneath their feet, which came just as the brief silence ended.
“Huh!?”
“Gah… can’t run!”
“Eh? Eh?”
Three different reactions. Three people swallowed by the sand at terrifying speed.
Two land on the ground, having balanced in midair.
One crashes into the ground with a clatter.
Of course, it is Maple.
Fortunately, the fall was not high. Damage is zero.
“W-what…?”
“Maybe a dungeon that reacts by number… Maple fell, and suddenly it reacted.”
Sally scratches her head, unsure what to do. Everyone notices.
Three arms are bound together by black chains.
“““Huh?!”””
Sally’s right hand is tied to a woman in a kimono.
Sally’s left hand is tied to Maple.
Only the woman’s right hand and Maple’s left hand remain free.
The chain is one meter and a little longer. Normal movement is impossible.
It will take a little more time for all three to understand the situation.
She thought of it after writing.
If she fell from the flowing sand, it felt like something from a game about dungeons.
What was it again? Can't recall.