Defense specialization and a touch of growth.

Maple called out to Shiroppu and spoke swiftly.

"【Wall】!"

Maple and Sally vanished into the rising wall.

Frederica and the others would not be able to climb over that wall, so high into the sky.

"Maple... how...?"

The distance was too great for Shiroppu to fly.

Sally had sent that message because she had not thought it possible to arrive in time.

"Talk later! I left Yui and Mai behind—have to get back fast! Hold onto me?"

"Y-yes."

Sally staggered to her feet and clung to Maple as if clinging to a lifeline.

Maple wrapped both arms around Sally and began preparations for escape.

"【Cannon Deployment】"

Weapons sprouted from every part of Maple’s body, filling the interior of the 【Wall】.

All their muzzles pointed downward.

"Let’s go!"

"W-what!? No, no, surely not!"

Ignored Sally’s protest, the geyser of flame and smoke erupted upward.

It was already self-destruction.

Yet Maple could endure it.

Maple discarded her finest armaments without hesitation, launching herself into the sky at high speed.

Without foot-mounted weapons, the recoil would have flung her away.

The recoil was beyond what any ordinary being could withstand.

Maple, however, overcame it—flying upward like a rocket, soaring into the distant sky.

As she ascended, Maple called out skill names in succession.

“【Full Armament Deployment】! 【Attack Initiated】! 【Poison Dragon (Hydra)】!”

Laser beams, glowing intensely, struck the ground one after another.

Over a hundred of them pierced the earth like a meteor shower, incinerating the player.

Following closely, the three-headed poison dragon submerged the ground into a sea of poison.

Few among Frederica’s group possessed the ability to resist poison. They had not expected to fight Maple, and thus carried no equipment designed for her.

Such gear could not stop the Poison Dragon—Hydra.

Those who had finally caught up to Sally were, by the time they returned to the guild, utterly confused.

Sally had felled thirty.

This time, far more fell.

Only a sustained aerial assault could have justified such a toll.

"Sally’s share!"

Maple detonated again, blown back toward the direction of the Maple Tree.

"Ugh... what was that...?"

Frederica, barely alive through full defense and poison resistance, collapsed into the sea of poison.

"But it won’t end here...!"

Though broken, Frederica still thought quickly.

If it succeeds, this great disaster will be erased.

Conversely, if it fails, no matter what Pain says, there will be no room for complaint.

"Please, Dread… please do something…"

Frederica could only pray to Dread, though he was not here.

Yui and Mai stood before the orb together.

"Maple-san, did she make it in time?"

"Looking on the map, she’s at the same position as Sally-san. She must’ve made it."

"How did she get there?"

"I don’t know… but she’ll come back soon."

Yet neither of them knew if she would truly return soon.

"Yui, I’ve prepared this just in case…"

"Yeah. But… maybe we should wake Kanade-san and Crom-san instead? That might be safer?"

They chose the safer option.

But that was not to be.

"! Yui, enemy!"

"Eh!?"

Both raised their great hammers.

A single player walks slowly from the entrance.

It was Dread.

The location of 【Maple's Tree】 was known.

【Gathering Holy Sword】 had not acted because Maple was deemed too dangerous.

With Maple absent and Dread nearby, an attack was certain.

“Hah… Frederica uses people harshly. But truly, no Maple? Then… possible.”

Dread mutters, arriving immediately after receiving a message from Frederica.

Maple would return in minutes.

But those minutes were too long for Yui and Mai.

“Mai! I’ll take him down!”

“Yeah!”

“Hah… that’s impossible.”

Dread sprints forward, closing the distance.

Yui swings her great hammer.

The gap remains, but it matters not.

“[Flight Strike]!”

From Yui’s glowing great hammer, a shockwave erupts.

It is a killing blow.

“Hah!”

But Dread avoids it.

Closing the gap as he dodges.

“[Double Stamp]!”

Avoiding Yui’s strike, Dread targets Mai with a slash.

“Mai!”

“Y-You’re fine!”

Mai’s evasion of Dread’s blow was pure chance.

Her body reacted before her mind could think—she had trained with Sally, and the motion was ingrained in muscle memory.

There will be no second chance.

Dread has learned the strength of Yui and Mai within this day.

He avoids overcommitting, stays out of range, and Mai survives.

“Mai! Keep distance!”

“Got it!”

Mai runs toward the wall.

But Dread is far faster.

He will be caught before long.

"Too slow."

"…! Ahh!!"

Dread's short sword presses toward Mai.

At that moment.

Mai hurls her weapon toward Dread, who is pursuing her.

"What?!"

Even Dread is caught off guard by the desperate tactic.

Mai smiles, certain of her strike.

"Think you'll hit me?"

Dread twists his body and avoids. He raises his short sword again, aiming to strike the unarmed Mai—then recoils in sudden shock.

A moment later, shockwave shatters the place where Dread stood.

"One more…? Huh?"

What Dread sees is two great hammers glowing with skill.

One is unmistakably the hammer Mai threw moments before.

"Damn it…!?!"

Dread takes the second shockwave full force, slammed into the wall.

Mai did not wield the great hammer.

She held only the great hammer Yui had equipped.

She had thrown it back to Yui.

When it returned to Yui, the second skill, beyond expectation, would activate.

This was the extraordinary hidden tactic, unique to the two of them.

“We’re still half-formed.”

“Together, we’re—”

“—a match for someone whole.”

Two who lacked experience and skill had, for the first time, peeled back their own limits.

A great, great step forward.

Yet still not enough.

“Damn it… These guys are always so brutal.”

“—What?!”

“First, one!”

Dread’s short sword sliced through Mai.

Mai could not have endured that strike.

Dread’s HP had only one point left.

It was not pure endurance. The skill had made it clear.

The difference in time poured in.

The gap between what had been built was too great.

"See you later...!"

"Maple-san... I'm sorry..."

Even Yui, who had overcome her greatest challenge, fell to Dread's blade.

Dread sheathed his short sword and drew a potion, restoring his HP.

"Hah... troublesome. Fighting this guild is tough."

As his HP fully recovered, Dread muttered, walking toward the orb.

"This time I win...!?"

Only the orb remained. Then the time ran out.

Maple arrived, rushing in with Sally, engulfed in flame.

"...I must apologize to Yui and Mai..."

"Frederica...! I'll never forgive you!"

Dread had won the match.

Yet he had lost the battle.

The priceless time Yui and Mai had bought.

Maple would not waste it.