Defense specialization and inheritance.
Maple’s great shield activated its power, absorbing the projectile temporarily, losing its [Bad Eater] ability, then sending Maple crashing into the wall.
“Uwah…! Knockback!?!”
The pale blue projectile possessed strong knockback force, pressing Maple into the pile of wreckage, too fast to evade.
Yet it did not pierce Maple’s armor—only pressed against it.
“Aah… can’t move…”
The bullet hitting her body had only been a pleasant sensation, but the knockback effect had rendered her motionless.
[Poison Dragon (Hydra)]!
Maple fired the Poison Dragon at the machine, but poison had no effect. Only the physical damage from the dragon’s body remained—no additional damage from poison.
“Ugh… what now…”
The ability known as [Poisonous Feast] has already been expended. The ability [Ruthless Might] was used during descent.
Shiroppu fell outside Maple’s skill range and remained unharmed, now contained within the ring.
To release it carelessly would make it a target for bullets.
The remaining offensive abilities are few: the weak [Poison Dragon (Hydra)], the crystallized [Poisonous Feast], [Predator], and [Seeping Chaos].
Maple possesses extremely high defense and strong burst damage, but has a clear, unchangeable weakness.
It is poor efficiency.
Maple’s skills are sustained by the equipment’s MP-free ability, which is finite.
Maple’s power cannot be maintained for long. Every use of a skill weakens her offensive capability further.
If she exhausts her skills, the monster cannot defeat Maple, and Maple cannot defeat the monster. A stalemate.
This opponent cannot be preyed upon, unlike the poison dragon battle.
Rusted machinery cannot be eaten.
That is obvious.
"Love That Offers the Body!"
Though uncertain of the piercing attack, Maple has no choice but to rely on the predator and Shiroppu’s assault.
The poison dragon’s effect is too weak. Maple changes her gear.
A tiara on her head. A pure white short blade in her hand. She drinks a potion to restore HP.
Maple’s HP is now 650.
Defense is reduced, yet bullets are no more than massage.
"Good... Predator!"
Maple summons two monsters, then Shiroppu. She takes a deep breath and focuses.
"Shiroppu! Great Nature!"
Shiroppu responds to Maple’s voice. Vines stretch from the ground. The earth rises.
The bullet cannot reach Maple, blocked by a sudden obstacle.
In that instant, Maple moves toward the machine god at maximum speed.
Shiroppu returns to its original size, having fulfilled its purpose.
But the bullet strikes Maple before she reaches her destination.
“Fuuu—!”
Maple’s reason for changing her equipment is not only that poison dragons are ineffective.
Skill within Love That Offers the Body.
A technique consuming 600 HP.
“[Aegis]!”
A dome of light envelops Maple and her companions. For ten seconds, all attacks are nullified without question.
The distance gained through Great Nature, the distance gained through this skill—added together, still not enough.
The closer she draws, the fiercer the attacks grow. She must stop that first.
The creatures scattered the weapons aimed at Maple, buying time.
Even if the weapons were replenished from the pile of wreckage as before, a delay still occurred.
"【Cobalmūbu】!"
Maple had kept Shiroppu restored to its original size while disrupting the weapons, and now only needed to catch up swiftly.
Maple returned the creatures to their source, pressing close to the mechanical god, plunging her hand into the chest where blue light gathered.
"This light is the evil!"
Maple clung to the mechanical god, driving her hand deep inside.
To restore it to clarity, without destroying its form.
"【Nijimi deru Konchō】!"
A creature burst from Maple’s hand, piercing through the chest and emerging.
The action was correct in one sense, mistaken in another.
Attacking that spot cannot restore clarity. Only by striking the vulnerable point can massive damage be inflicted. The machine god’s form shifts as a result.
“G…kha… I am… vanishing… but…”
Maple listens closely, not missing a single syllable of the machine god’s voice.
“…Nearly… regained… consciousness… now… entrusting… to… a brave… one…”
A blue light begins to gather within the machine god’s chest wound.
“…With… my… power… I… was… this… one… I… must… destroy…”
The machine god hurls an old gear toward Maple.
It is absorbed into Maple’s body and vanishes.
“…Let… me… sleep… now…”
The machine god’s form changes in response.
Her entire body enveloped in pale blue light, she ascends into the sky, wearing no visible parts—only the form of the Second Model—and attacks with a blue projectile.
Maple can do nothing but be thrown back toward the wall, as before.
“Trusting me… is futile…”
A voice, devoid of warmth, comes from above.
It must be the voice of the Second Model.
The body of the First Model is now forced into motion, hijacked and controlled by the Second.
“…Machine God…”
The power entrusted to Maple—her skill, the divine strength of old. It was simple. Unremarkable. Nothing strange about it.
Maple changes her equipment.
She removes the tiara and the bond bridge, just in case, and restores the short blade to its original form.
“Machine God!”
As Maple shouts, an image forms in her mind.
She selects the armor, the large shield, and the short blade.
While the Second Generation can create machinery from nowhere, the First Generation required materials.
That is.
The power to destroy equipment and forge weapons.
Naturally, the better the material, the stronger the resulting arms.
“Full Armament Deployment”
Maple murmured quietly. Her body wrapped in black armor that regenerated.
From it, black weaponry unfolded one after another, like pieces torn from the night sky.
From the arm holding the large shield, guns emerged with clattering sounds. From her back, cannon barrels as large as her body extended upward, like tree branches.
The arm holding the short blade extended similar black blades. Her legs, supporting the weapons, became armored and hardened like machinery.
Gears of various sizes rotated across her chest and abdomen. On the right half of her face and along her neck, gears and wiring overlapped in intricate layers.
"W-wa—!? W-what’s this!?"
Maple stared at the armor covering her entire body, startled. Then she remembered what she must do.
"Can’t let that one stand… [Provocation]!"
Maple reattached the bridge of bonds, called Shiroppu, and extended vines and stone from [Great Nature], wrapping the second form in the air multiple times, enclosing Maple herself.
While Maple accepted the attack, the second form, wrapped in vines above, closed the distance slowly, pressing against Maple as if crushed.
"...This time… no escape."
Maple, who had inherited the power of the first, was now the [Third].
The newly born mechanical deity whispered quietly to the second form, turning all her weapons toward it.
[Attack Initiated]
A roar of sound as all weapons burst into flame.
These weapons appear as gear, but are not gear.
A skill whose power is determined by cost.
Thus, Maple’s [STR] value contributes nothing to them.
Yet each strike is not particularly strong, favoring rapid succession.
Yes, this time.
As the vine cage shattered, the blue light surrounding the first form vanished.
The first form was cradled by Maple’s machine and finally fell into sleep.
Maple leapt to the ground and gently leaned him against his machine.
…………Good.
Maple confirmed the blue light had disappeared, glanced back at the first form several times, then turned and walked away.
As Maple moved quietly upward.
In a room of a certain guild, four players spoke.
One was Pain, the Holy Sword.
One was Dread, the Divine Speed.
One was Frederica.
One was fifth place in the first event.
One was Drag, the Land Divider.
They spoke.
Of those who could not be drawn in, the ones outside the top ten.
Of a certain guild that troubled them, the Maplewood.
A body sprouting weapons from every part, golden hair, blue eyes, wings of an angel, a ring around the head, monsters at the sides, a turtle floating in the sky, mouths of a poison dragon and a monster released, finally becoming a monster oneself.