Defense specialization and the blade.

I regret to inform you that the update pace will slow.

Going forward, I will post every Saturday.

I will increase the text volume slightly, so the story progression per week will not slow significantly. Please understand.

Ten days after Maple was sealed in the jar, Kasumi stared at the blue panel displaying her status and personal information in her private room within the guild.

No—she stared at a single point within it.

"Damn..."

Kasumi had spent nearly all her remaining funds, money she had accumulated without ever using, on items of no value in terms of ability stats.

Approximately equivalent to five units of 【Maple Tree】.

The Town of the Fourth Layer narrows in area the closer one approaches the center, each passage beneath a torii gate bringing one nearer to it.

Still, the area remains vast.

Yet Kasumi had surveyed every antique shop scattered along the path.

The time spent examining goods was bliss for her.

Her enthusiasm did not stop at loosening the purse strings—it severed them entirely.

“Good… this should be affordable.”

Kasumi left the guild with funds gathered from hunting additional monsters, passed beneath a torii marked with lacquer, and entered a single shop.

“Good, good. It’s better this way—no one else will buy it before I do.”

The sight of an item once displayed in her own room now resting on a shop’s shelf was a peculiarity unique to games.

She picked up the one remaining item she had yet to bring home. Her coin pouch now held no more than enough for a single potion.

“Always treated kindly… thank you.”

“Hm? Ah… ah.”

Kasumi hesitated at the voice of the shopkeeper—someone she had never spoken to before.

“One… yes, I’ll give you this.”

The shopkeeper handed a worn sheet of paper to Kasumi.

“This is a map of the place where my tools were stored… I can no longer go there myself… use it as you wish. The tools deserve to wake from their sleep.”

Kasumi bowed in thanks. She left the shop, map in hand.

“The edge of the Field… perhaps? Shall we go see?”

At this stage, she had bought all she could afford in the Town.

Her coin purse was nearly empty. She feared death no longer.

There was no choice but to go.

She ran toward the edge of the dark Field, checking the map at intervals.

At last, she arrived at a flat stretch of ground, unremarkable at first glance.

“Around here… no, a little further… yes, here!”

A handle protruding slightly from the earth struck her foot.

Without the map, she would never have found it in the dark.

Kasumi brushed the soil from around her and strained to lift it.

The lid cracked open with a gust of dust, revealing a stairway descending into deeper darkness.

……Go on.

She withdrew one of the lanterns she had purchased since arriving in the Town and descended the stairs.

Only the echo of her footsteps rang in the space illuminated by the bright red flame.

At the bottom of the stairs stood a steel door.

……Good!

Kasumi opened the door, half hope, half dread, and stepped inside, raising the lantern to scan the surroundings.

Nothing…?

The vast space held nothing at all. It was not fit to be a storage chamber.

Was there some condition? …Don’t know.

At that moment, Kasumi’s ear caught a sound of destruction—unwilling to give up.

Something? Is someone there?

Kasumi draws her blade, alert, and moves toward the far end of the room.

She sweeps the light of the lantern across areas previously hidden in shadow.

There, scattered about, lie remnants of tools.

A broken sword. A shattered jar. A cracked crystal orb.

At the center, floating lightly in midair, is a blade faintly tinged with purple.

Each time the blade touches an object, a sound of destruction echoes. It seems as though the blade consumes the things it strikes.

...Coming?!

The blade turns toward Kasumi as if aware of her presence. Kasumi raises her own blade in response.

The blade, recognizing Kasumi as an enemy, shivers with a flicker of violet light, like smoke.

For an instant, the blade trembles. Purple flames erupt across the floor and ceiling. The space becomes clearly visible, even without the lantern.

Kasumi retreats quickly, tucking the lantern away. The blade makes no further attack.

Not coming?...No, can't afford to be careless.

Kasumi felt an unpleasant presence from the blade.

And it was correct.

The next moment, the blade shot toward Kasumi at high speed.

Huff—!

Kasumi exhaled sharply, meeting the floating blade with her own. Yet the blade, without a wielder, moved with unpredictable fluidity. Its trajectory was impossible to read.

Slight advantage—might have come from facing Shin... Huff!

The floating blade snapped apart with a sharp ting.

Kasumi stepped back, regaining distance, watching for the next move.

But the blade vanished in an instant, even as she kept it in sight.

What...!?

Then, in Kasumi’s vision, a purple blade emerged from the center of her chest.

Not just one.

Blades pierced her legs, her abdomen, her arms—everywhere.

A familiar attack. Not just familiar—she had used a similar skill herself.

When she opened her eyes next, Kasumi was in the Town of the Fourth Layer.

……fuh. Fufufufu. Interesting…… I’ll do it before someone else takes it! I won’t lose to a blade!

Half frustration, half resolve, Kasumi began to devise a countermeasure.