Defense specialization and the darkness of night.

In a certain deep forest at night, a large guild lit fires and labored in defense.

The guilds are collapsing at an alarming pace...

Ah, the large-scale battles between guilds will soon intensify. They could strike at any moment.

A scraping sound came from the darkness as the two spoke.

...here we go.

Ah, let us confirm.

They advance toward the thickets making sound, blades drawn.

And when the thicket was illuminated, a monstrous head with a wide-open mouth rose into view.

"…?"

They were caught in the moment of shock and stillness, frozen as prey.

It does not end there. The creature presses forward toward the center.

The player who noticed the anomaly is run over, bitten to death, burned to ash, and left in ruin.

The number of fallen players, though significant by guild size, was not overwhelming. Yet the mental toll from the panic made coordinated action impossible.

They had expected waves of players. They had not expected a single monstrosity.

From its back, seven players descended in silence. Amidst the chaos and cries, they struck down the others.

The seven moved unnoticed. The creature’s presence was too great. It continued feeding, destroying.

By the time the guild realized the strength of the seven, it was already half-destroyed.

"Okay! Next!"

The voice reached the creature. It halted its feeding. It lifted the seven upon its back. It tore through the players blocking the path. It left the guild behind.

Uh-huh, orb’s secured. Feels good. Feels right.

Which next?

Hmm… leftward guild.

Sally speaks from atop Maple’s monstrous form.

Before the final, greatest anomaly of Maple becomes known, she intends to ransack the large guilds—before they can prepare, before they can respond.

To the large guilds, it will be like a collision—unavoidable.

They lose orb and half their members, without understanding why. The target departs.

Maple, having sacrificed humanity for speed, leaves most large guilds in ruin by dawn.

The strength of Maple’s monstrous form lies in her predictability—her established pattern of action, requiring time to manifest.

Sally waits to judge whether Maple will act. Then gives the order to retreat.

Thus, the damage continued to spread.

Some guilds, based on the plain, extinguished their lights and passed the night in silence, seeking to remain unseen.

Large guilds often had outposts exposed to the open, and among these, the plain was the least defensible terrain.

"The moonlight is faint... It's completely dark."

"Same as during the second event. Nighttime makes movement difficult. It's hard."

A quiet moment passes.

Only the sound of insects, the rustle of wind, and faint voices from guild members break the stillness. It was nearly silent.

Therefore, the sound of something approaching stood out sharply.

"Light! Light! Illuminate it!"

Magic light flared, brightening the direction from which the sound came.

There, standing where no one had seen in two days, was a figure of immense size.

Players, bathed in the glow of the sudden firelight, were enveloped in confusion and unease.

For every player here, this moment will surely be the most profound disturbance of their lives.

She was at a loss for how to react to the monster before her—so close it bordered on disbelief.

I'll take the orb.

The creature dashed straight through the guild's center and seized the orb.

I'll give you a bomb instead.

Seven hurl their bombs at one another.

Explosives fall continuously from the back of the running creature. Among them, iron spheres occasionally mix in.

Bullets and shockwaves fly. Magic comes too.

Those struck by the few iron spheres and the shockwave would have been unfortunate.

No large-scale battle began. Dozens were devoured. About twenty died beneath a storm of falling debris and fire. The rest were run down.

Within this night… within this night, she must strike down as many as possible before their first sight.

Yes, that’s right.

The strategy aimed at overwhelming numbers, but more so at hastening the complete collapse of the large guilds.

That was the intent. To accelerate the already rapid unfolding, pushing it further until the final day arrived, leading to total collapse.

Even if that end did not come, Sally judged, based on the current success, that she could significantly accelerate events by the night's end.

"Maple, just a little longer, okay?"

"Yeah! I can still go!"

Maple continued without slowing, racing toward the next guild.