Defense specialization and event.

The Bone King dissolved into light, leaving only a coffin behind.

Six of them peered into the coffin. Inside, arranged as if placed during a past burial, were six scrolls and six silver medals they recognized.

Other items—rusty swords, scattered—lay about, but only these two types could be claimed as loot.

Each received their reward. Then they examined the skills written within the scrolls.

[Corpse Slime]

After use, adds damage taken as one-quarter HP loss for thirty seconds.

Can be reused after one minute.

This was the skill derived from the black liquid that had drained the six of them in the dungeon.

Each considered the skill, thinking of its possible uses.

Some stared at the skill with interest. Others nodded, satisfied. They left the dungeon.

The six remained. They would explore the jungle until their remaining HP was spent.

Several days after the six reached the ruin deep within the jungle.

Maple lay face-down on the desk set in the guildhouse.

“Ah… uuh…”

She had returned from the jungle, her HP depleted. But she could not secure the items needed to enter again.

As time passed, her interest in the jungle faded. While all others ventured forth, she stayed behind, groaning alone in the guildhouse.

“No. The jungle is done. I’ve pushed myself enough.”

Maple rose. A fresh resolve. She left the guildhouse.

It was not because she had set out to retrieve items for the jungle.

"Somewhere I haven’t been… ah, that’s it!"

Maple paused, then walked slowly, as if relaxed, through the field of clouds.

"Whoa… incredible."

Before Maple stretched a sky of clouds, struck endlessly by lightning.

This was the place Crom had shown her not long ago. Now she had come here, having lost interest in her previous goal.

"Alright… let’s go!"

Maple stepped forward with cheer, walking across the sea of clouds.

Thunder rumbled. She could not survive such a place. A single bolt struck directly where she stood.

"Uwaa!… Hey! All good! Nothing happened!"

Her HP had not dropped a single point, even after being struck by lightning.

And paralysis, of course, had no effect on her body.

"Then, let's set off again!"

Maple walks forward. Dozens of lightning strikes hit her body, yet each one shatters and vanishes without effect.

"Can't I dodge like Sally...? Ugh! No, impossible. Impossible."

She jumps sideways, trying to avoid the thunderbolt—then stiffens in shock as it pierces her. The truth settles: she cannot dodge.

"It's fine. Really. Just... here we go!"

Maple tries to leap back with stubborn resolve. The lightning strikes again, forcing her to accept the reality.

"Let's walk. Let's walk. There we go."

Maple's mood shifts, but her defense remains unchanged. She strides forward, repelling the lightning with each step. Ahead, the storm clouds give way to a vast, white, and serene sea of clouds.

"Have we broken through...? Hope there's something ahead."

Maple moves forward, her eyes scanning left and right.

After walking for a time, she sees something standing atop the white clouds.

She squints, focusing intently on it—taller than herself by fivefold.

“Hmm... a chair?”

Upon the white clouds, a thing of the same white hue, yet brighter, which Maple calls a chair.

It is a great throne.