Defense specialization and second stage.

Kasumi and Crom, though not as capable as Sally, could still evade and block attacks. They ended the battle with minimal strain on Maple.

As soon as the fight concluded, the three mounted Shiroppu and headed toward the next orb. After some time, they reached the sky above the target guild.

—Ah… no orb here.

Maple looked down. The pedestal held no orb.

No player was present either. The orb was either stolen or destroyed. That was certain.

—Yes. Onward.

They checked the guild’s sky three times, searching for the orb.

They saw nothing each time.

Shiroppu’s flight speed was not fast. The journey took a considerable amount of time.

Useless movement accumulated fatigue.

The notification sounded as Maple received a message during the monotonous movement.

— Hmm… message from Sally.

Maple read it. Sally’s group would return to the guild for now. If Maple’s group had failed to seize the orb, they were to return as well.

Maple relayed the message to Crom and Kasumi. They decided to return to the guild.

It was also convenient timing—only a few hours remained until evening.

As Maple’s group landed before the guild and began to enter, a familiar player was seen darting out in haste, glancing back.

His expression of escape turned to understanding as he saw the three figures standing in the dark. Then, in an instant, his body was severed by Crom and Kasumi’s blades at the same time and vanished.

— Attacked!

— Ah, hurry!

Kasumi leads the way down the path toward the orb.

When Kasumi raises her blade and steps into the room, five people are already there, including Sally.

The iron spheres still lie scattered on the ground—clearly, they had just been repelled.

"Are you all right...?"

Kasumi sheathes her blade and walks toward the five.

Crom and Maple follow closely behind. All gather, unharmed.

The two defenders sit heavily on the ground, their breath ragged.

"Ugh... so tired... might’ve been trouble if Iz had not been here."

"Used up quite a few bombs... I’ll make more now, quickly."

Iz can activate a workshop anywhere.

Once prepared, ammunition will not run out.

"Hmm... never been attacked much before... why now?"

As Maple had said, the 【Gathering Holy Sword】 was coming to be recognized as something not to be touched, making these recent consecutive attacks somewhat peculiar.

"Maple, were you able to gather orbs?"

"Uh… not really. Too many guilds without orbs… Sally?"

"We were roughed up too… ended up taking only two."

After placing the orbs they had retrieved, Maple asked about the message.

"The 【Gathering Holy Sword】 should come by somewhere at least once, so I thought it would be night. Also, the pace of events was faster than expected, and I thought the current approach would be too difficult… that’s why."

Sally opened the current ranking and scrolled through the entries.

A mark appeared next to the names of guilds that had been wiped out. The mark had begun to spread beyond small guilds and now reached mid-sized ones as well.

Several guilds pushed at full speed from the first day. Those that lost their orbs shifted to full offense. The pace accelerated.

Guilds that avoided deaths and succeeded in defense were rare. By the end of the second day, a significant number had already retired.

Only a few exceptions remained, mostly large guilds.

The chance to obtain an orb was diminishing.

The reason 【Maple】 had been attacked was because guilds far away—unaware they were 【Maple】—had advanced this far.

Yui, Mai, and Maple could not keep pace in this rule, which required them to walk the field and seize orbs.

No matter how strong the three were, without an orb, they could not take one.

“I thought we might last a little longer… but every guild is too eager… I planned to gain ground early, but ended up gaining less than expected.”

The environment had become overrun by large guilds far faster than Sally had anticipated. It was clear the field would grow even more chaotic from here.

"Still, earlier than planned—but I think we can move to the next stage now."

All agreed to proceed to the next stage. Each confirmed their role.

Maple, recalling her role, spoke to Sally.

"Then it’s just… "

"Uh-hun."

Sally understood what Maple was about to say. She continued.

"Waiting for the Gathering Holy Sword… maybe."

Upon hearing this, Maple began a careful check of the skills and weapons still available for use.