Defense specialization and Sally.

"Alright, let's do this!"

Maple faces the snowman squarely and fires her bullets.

The bullets pierce through the snowman's body one after another, but the HP bar above its head barely moves.

The snowman ignores the attacks entirely, closing in on Maple and striking her with a bag it holds.

"Wha!? You attack with that!?"

Maple is knocked sideways, her weapon shattering, struck from the side with no shield to protect her.

"Feels like a monster that only magic can harm... Let me try a bit more..."

Maple raises her large shield and angles the cannon downward, launching herself into a self-destructive dive toward the snowman.

Maple drives the shield into the snowman's body, tearing through it and emerging on the other side.

As usual, landing with careless precision, she breaks the weapon while glancing at the snowman. The HP bar barely shifts.

"More monster types keep appearing... [Poison Dragon (Hydra)]!"

The snowman, no faster than usual, cannot dodge the Poison Dragon. The poison detonates at its center.

"...Huh? It's not decreasing?"

No poison status. The HP bar dips only slightly.

It is certain she can defeat it by continuous damage, but the inefficiency is obvious.

"Still, letting it go would be wasteful... wasteful indeed."

Maple stands beneath the ice spikes raining down from the snowman's head, considering her options.

In the end, she decides to chip away at its HP alongside Shiroppu.

"Ready!"

Maple activates Gigantification on Shiroppu, lifting him into the air to strike from a safe distance with the Spirit Cannon.

Maple intends to first eliminate the Poison Dragon (Hydra) before switching to gunfire.

"Alright, Poison Dragon (Hydra)!"

The Poison Dragon erupts forth, devouring the snowman once more, and in the next instant, reducing its HP to zero.

"Huh?...Wait...?"

The snowman dissolves into particles of light, and something falls to the ground with a soft thud.

"Hmm? Hmm... Ah! Instant kill!"

It was the first time the effect had activated. It worked flawlessly.

Maple would never have the chance during the event to learn that a fire-element attack would have made this far easier.

Maple runs toward the item lying in the snow.

A box wrapped in red paper, tied with a green ribbon, standing out starkly against the white snow.

Maple lifts it, checks the item name.

“Present Box…… should open it on Christmas!”

An item usable only from Christmas onward, though not yet available, said to contain something within.

“What could be inside? Something Christmas-like?”

Satisfied that her original purpose has been met, Maple returns to Town.

In contrast, Sally dashes across the field, slaying monsters and earning points.

Having paused her hunt, Sally sheathes her weapon and rests for a moment.

“Phew…… can’t keep up.”

Sally mutters.

In her mind, she sees the face of a friend she invited.

It pleases her that Maple has played alongside her for so long, yet as a player, she does not wish to lose.

Yet she thought again only that she could not win against Maple in her imagination.

…To become that strong.

She searched for skills, gathered information, trying to catch up to Maple, but nothing clicked.

Cannot lose. Time to restart.

Sally pressed her feet hard into the ground and ran again.

With Sword Dance at maximum power, she struck down low-point monsters without pause, efficiency high.

Learn from Maple—boost your defense more!

Damage effects danced through the space she had passed.

Just as monsters without piercing attacks cannot defeat Maple, so too cannot monsters without area attacks defeat Sally.

If only Maple had higher defense, she might have managed.

Even while lost in thought, she could handle simple-moving monsters. Player skill had reached its limit. Nothing more could be expected.

Is there a skill lying around somewhere?

After slaying monsters for two or three hours, she spotted a large snowman walking ahead.

Oh—high point value. Lucky, lucky.

Sally approached the snowman, sidestepping its arms, and cast a spell.

[Fireball]!

Even a weak spell, if fire-aligned, could strip away health in large amounts.

The snowman fell apart as if melted by several [Fireball] spells—just like Maple’s earlier struggle had been forgotten.

Yeah, points are good.

Sally immediately dashed across the field again, wanting to collect dropped items before the event ended.

She searched with greater urgency than ever, driven by a sense akin to impatience—wanting to seize some new strength as soon as possible.

Closer than anyone else, Sally thought this way: she hated losing, and would not tolerate defeat.