Defense specialization and assault.

A minor adjustment.

Maple walks straight forward, stepping through the traps Markus had set one after another.

Yet none of them take effect.

They activate—but are nullified entirely by her overwhelming defense.

"Still... doesn't work..."

Markus no longer knows how many traps he’s wasted on her.

Yet Markus had prepared a trap specifically for when Maple arrived.

"Caught...!"

As Maple steps on it, plants begin to grow rapidly.

They wrap around her arms and legs, restraining her pace.

Traps like these are effective against Maple, whose mobility is low.

Breaking them requires a damage output proportionate to their strength, but Markus had expected some limitation on Maple’s abilities, derived from his own skills.

Maple could not possibly use such a large-scale skill repeatedly, Markus thought. If she had, it would have made the fight easier for him.

Markus had already accepted, in his mind, that he might die here. He did not mind, if it came to that. He would accept whatever Maple chose to do.

“Huh...?”

He had not expected Yui and Mai to shatter what should have been a sturdy plant in a single blow.

“Huh...? Serious?”

Traps activated one after another. Damage came from Maple. Constraints were borne by Yui and Mai. They advanced without injury, step by step.

“Mizari!”

“Yes!”

Under Mizari’s command, piercing magic struck the sluggish forms of Maple and her allies.

Long-range magical attacks could not easily deliver fatal wounds.

Still, they could force evasion. And that was enough to gain time.

Maple and her allies made no progress as they had hoped.

Each evasion revealed another trap. The cost of penetrating attacks, especially when Maple was bound, was considerable.

If Maple could free herself, the invasion would be simple.

"Sally's advice... yes."

Maple inhaled slowly, speaking the skill name loud enough for Markus and the others to hear. Then, quieter, she continued, barely audible.

"【Weapon Growth】!………"

The arm holding the dagger became encased in metal, reshaping into a sword as tall as Maple herself.

Sally's advice.

It was to disguise the 【Machine God】 as a plausible alternative when absolutely necessary, concealing the true nature of the primary gunfire.

With the single sword swung by the skill's augmentation, she severed the binding plants.

Any countermeasure she devised would be overcome—truly a nuisance.

"Let's go!"

" Yes!"

With every step, traps activated in succession—walls rose, the ground sank, magic rained from above.

Yet the three advanced without pause.

Thanks to Yui and Mai’s power, obstacles were shattered in a single blow, rendering the types of traps Maple had deemed most effective useless.

"Can't help it… everyone, return to base."

Marx sent all players back, leaving only Mizari.

"Ready to die, then."

"Yeah…"

Even after the traps were breached, the final defense remained.

Them.

The last stronghold capable of adapting to the situation.

Both Marx and Mizari relied primarily on magical attacks.

They avoided entering the range of Maple’s angelic wing defense field, instead launching piercing attacks from outside its reach.

The ground, faintly glowing from Maple’s skill, became the zone of movement for Yui and Mai—entering it was perilous.

Even Yui and Mai could not leave the area, for it was filled with traps beyond Maple’s influence.

Maple, having delegated attack duties to the two, began [Meditation] to restore her wounds.

““[Sky Pierce]!””

Yui and Mai possessed long-range attacks.

Each carried lethal force.

Yet, the distance remained too great for them to strike.

If left unchecked, they would trade long-range strikes with no effect.

But this moment of僵硬 would last only until Maple’s decision was made.

And that moment had just ended.

“[Poison Dragon (Hydra)]!”

The poison dragon, suddenly unleashed, erased Markus’s path of escape in an instant.

A force that strips all away with a single blow.

Maple, not Markus, had shown her strength.

With Markus’s specialty—traps—now breached, Maple’s victory was inevitable.

“—! [Resurrect]!”

A white light, released from Mizari, enveloped the fading Markus.

This was why Mizari was known as the [Saint].

The skill required activation just after death, but it allowed resurrection with perfect timing, a true after-the-fact revival.

“[Remote Placement: Stone Wall]! [Remote Placement: Wind Blade]!”

Reborn, Markus swiftly scattered traps to hinder Maple and her allies.

Yet this time, Mizari became the target. The trap set in anticipation of pursuit had turned against him.

“Kuk…!”

【Resurrect】— it cannot be used on herself.

To sustain Mizari’s life requires too great a cost.

Perhaps death would have been better.

Healing magic does not suit the peculiar nature of Yui and Mai—both instantly slain with a single strike.

Still, she breaks through the barrier of the spell, bracing against the shockwave that surges toward her.

“Shall I return from death first…?”

Thus, giving up, Mizari awaits Yui and Mai as they close in.

Closer still, to ensure their strike lands.

“What are you giving up on?”

But someone interrupts.

A figure wreathed in scattered flames, blazing with fire—yes, it was Mii.