Defense specialization. Absolute maximum.

Maple steps onto the battlefield, summoned by the magic circle, following the demon.

"Shall we begin, human?"

The demon speaks from a distance. A sickle two meters long appears in its right hand.

"Please… do not hold back. [Full Armament Deployment]! [Predator]!"

Clattering sounds fill the air. A multitude of weapons unfold from Maple’s body.

She raises a shield in her left hand. Her right hand becomes a massive mechanical blade, shielding her form.

[Attack Initiated]!

Cannons and gunports around Maple fire lasers and bullets in unison.

The sheer volume of attacks is enough to strike the demon without aiming.

Yet the demon deflects every bullet with its sickle, knocking them aside.

Still, Maple’s assault does not cease. The demon remains on the defensive.

"Sally-like things... Shiroppu! Gigantification!"

Maple activates Gigantification on Shiroppu, lifting it into the air. She walks forward, accompanied by the two monsters, approaching the demon.

The demon sustains no damage, despite the shortened time between impact and attack.

"Shiroppu, Spirit Cannon!"

White light pours from above, struck by Shiroppu’s assault. The demon still evades it.

"Uu… Poison Dragon (Hydra)!"

Toxic energy erupts from Maple, rushing toward the demon.

The demon spins its halberd before its face, deflecting the entire torrent of poison.

Immediately afterward, Maple, blown apart by self-destruction, thrusts forward a shield that absorbs everything and a dull, gleaming sword, becoming the bullet herself.

Yet this also grants a moment to cease the attack.

"Blow away, human!"

The oni’s hyper-reactive sweep shattered Maple’s weapon and sent her flying, along with the creature that had lunged alongside her, skidding far across the ground.

Her great shield and sword scraped the body slightly, leaving only a glancing wound.

“Uwah! Tch, yah!”

Maple bounced and tumbled across the earth, clattering with each impact, before finally rising to her feet.

The shape of the oni charged into view.

“[Oozing Chaos]!”

The creature’s mouth lunged at the approaching oni, but it dodged.

Yet the follow-up strikes from the remaining two mouths, unleashed by [Predator], tore mercilessly into the oni’s arms.

Still, the oni’s counterattack, a sweeping blade strike, severed [Predator]’s forms without pause.

Maple charged forward again from behind the crimson damage effects erupting from both sides, driving her great shield through the oni’s right half and piercing through.

“Predator is down… but I don’t know if this counts as a through attack.”

Using Love That Offers the Body would cause HP loss. At the moment of damage, if a through attack struck twice—once for each Predator—Maple could be felled in an instant. She chose safety.

Maple had grown somewhat accustomed to it. Her fighting style had changed, differing between when she fought alone and when she fought alongside the guild members.

“Attack Initiated!”

Maple resumed firing, paused for breath.

“Expecting various attacks… but so far, no damage. If I keep this up, should be fine?”

Maple displayed a pressure that made it impossible to tell which one was the boss.

The bullets still deflect entirely, but the health bar visible from a distance has dwindled to barely above eighty percent after several attacks.

"One more time..."

Maple began to step forward again when the demon's movement changed.

A leap beyond the bullet barrage. Purple flames appeared around the demon, which had leapt five meters into the air.

"Wha—!?"

Maple flinched, adjusting her angle, but the demon's flames fired sooner.

"Shall I return all of it?"

A counter. The demon replicated every skill Maple had used, now as flames.

This action would have overwhelmed even a large shield, but instead it scorched the entire ground, blinding the view.

Heat rays shot out. Flame bombs detonated. A dragon of fire scorched the earth.

"Ugh!? W-what’s happening here!?"

Maple’s attack lacks penetration. No damage is dealt. Within flames rising higher than her own height, the demon remains invisible no matter how she tries.

“T-then, for now—!”

Maple points her weapon downward. Flames explode outward, scattering into the sky as she leaps upward.

Her target: Shiroppu, suspended in midair.

“Love That Offers the Body!”

From within the weapon, angelic wings extend. Maple’s hair turns gold.

“Shiroppu!”

A searing heat wave strikes her as she dives toward Shiroppu, nearly impaling herself.

Love That Offers the Body protects Shiroppu from harm. The burning ground vanishes. The demon’s form becomes visible at last.

“Counter…?”

Maple’s attacks never harm herself. None of them are effective against her own body.

Therefore, while the demon mimics Maple’s attacks, she is absolutely safe.

“Just stay here until this is over!”

Maple resettled on Shiroppu’s back within the heat ray.

Three days later.