Defense specialization and brutality.
Shortly after the third layer was added, Maple and her party arrived at the dungeon extending from the third layer.
Six members, including Iz.
The party could hold up to eight, so all current members could fit into a single party.
With this lineup, any dungeon in the current state could be ravaged.
Indeed, during the journey, Kanade supporting Sally, Crom, and Kasumi was more than sufficient.
Maple took no part in combat at all, focusing solely on protecting Iz.
"Alright, Boss Room."
"Let's clear it quickly."
"Right, let's do it."
Kasumi opened the door. All entered.
At the far end of the room, the boss appeared.
The boss took the form of a tree, its trunk serving as a face.
Maple and the others broke through the layer. They checked if the boss, like a tree, bore fruit, but found nothing resembling it.
"Then I'll go. Provocation!"
Maple advanced toward the boss.
The boss attacked with extended roots and branches, but they passed through Maple without effect.
As she moved, Maple drew near to the base of the boss.
Predator. Poison Dragon (Hydra). Oozing Chaos!
Monsters emerged from around Maple. The poison dragon defiled the trunk, marring it. Finally, a monster's mouth burst forth and devoured the trunk.
The HP bar dipped sharply.
The attacks from the two monsters did not cease.
The tree boss revealed fury, launching an attack against the two monsters.
Love That Offers the Body!
Maple's HP decreases. Angelic wings manifest. Maple takes the damage meant for the two. She is rendered powerless.
Maple swiftly draws a potion. Her HP recovers.
The five watch from the corner of the room.
"What is that? No matter how you explain it, it's more monster than human... I think that's how it is."
"Is that so... feels like that, huh..."
"Why does it keep gaining附属 items every time I see it?"
"Normal operation. I'm relieved."
"Anyway, as long as it's on our side... as long as it's on our side..."
They accept Maple's evolution this time.
Yet Maple still has one skill left.
She intends to try it now. She cannot leave it unused.
"Alright... [Ruthless]"
A black glow wraps around Maple's body.
A thick column of pitch-black light rises toward the ceiling. On either side of Maple, forms resembling monsters emerge.
The difference lies in the number of limbs sprouting from their bodies.
The monsters on Maple’s sides vanish.
The monster charges at the tree boss, latches onto it, and vomits flames from its mouth.
The flames prove effective against the tree. Roots, branches, even magic are summoned to attack.
Yet the tree boss fails to even injure the monster, let alone defeat it.
The monster claws at the trunk, kicks it into collapse, and bites with only its head.
The two fight for a time. In the end, the tree boss collapses from exhaustion.
The monster approaches Sally and the others, advancing with slow, deliberate steps.
It brings its mouth close to the five, who stand on guard.
"No—this is hard to control!"
The sight of the creature halted all thought.
"Me… Maple?"
"Yeah, that’s me."
The voice, distorted with static, came from Maple.
While the others remained bewildered, Sally asked if Maple could return to her original form.
"Hmm… just wait a moment."
After a few seconds, the abdomen split open. Maple fell out.
As Maple emerged from the creature, the form collapsed and vanished.
The five approached.
"An explanation, if you can manage it…"
Sally, too, seemed to have reached her limit this time.
"Well… it’s like this. The equipment’s effects vanish entirely, but STR and AGI increase by fifty, HP rises to a thousand, and even if HP drops to zero, it reverts to the original state…"
The drawbacks were limited to losing equipment stat bonuses, being unable to use equipment skills, and being usable only once per day.
With this skill, Maple could now evade death in critical moments.
"Ah… So I’ve truly become something other than human now."
"Ah… I’ve become it. There’s no doubt about that."
Maple was not merely metaphorically becoming a monster. She had become one.
"Controlling it is difficult… It’s like being inside a giant costume, somehow?"
Maple could not perform precise movements in that state.
"Well… it was already strange enough before."
Sally had already sensed this was going to be bad, from the moment two monsters sprouted.
"I know even I can tell this isn’t normal…"
"Um… faster than riding Shiroppu…"
"I think it’d be better if I stopped moving like this."
It was no longer a picture of a girl leading monsters. It was an ugly monster suddenly dashing across the field.
"Practicing in the mountains, ready for battle when needed."
"Someone’s bound to misunderstand what they see..."
There was no undoing what had already been taken.
Following Maple as she began to walk toward the third layer, the others followed.
The third-layer town was a place of machinery and tools, shrouded beneath a cloudy sky.
The group of 【Maple】 arrived at the third-layer town and noticed something.
It was an obvious difference. Something anyone could see.
"Everyone’s flying in the air."
As Maple said, most players were airborne, carried by various machines.
"Some kind of item?"
"Hmm... isn’t that it?"
Sally pointed toward a row of machines available for purchase with gold. As they watched, a player bought one—a device glowing with blue light—and ascended into the sky, lifting off with ease.
Another strange tier seems to be forming.
Indeed. We shall fly through the skies and explore.
Having known the ordinary of the third-tier town, the members of 【Maple Tree】 headed toward the guild home, present in each tier, naturally also in the third.