Defense specialization and practice.

Apologies for the delay.

We will resume shortly.

The posting pace may become every other day around late October.

The gift for Sally was a failure, but it poses no issue for Maple herself.

Maple removes the equipment temporarily, opens her status screen, and begins to consider the slots for her accessories.

Maple

Lv50

HP 40/40〈＋160〉

MP 12/12 〈＋10〉

【STR 0】

【VIT 250〈＋1755〉】

【AGI 0】

【DEX 0】

【INT 0】

Equipment

Head 【Empty】

Body 【Black Rose Armor: Oozing Chaos】

Right Hand 【Crescent: Poison Dragon (Hydra)】

Left Hand 【Night Shadow: Evil Feast】

Feet 【Black Rose Armor】

Boots 【Black Rose Armor】

Accessories 【Bond Bridge】

【Toughness Ring】

【Ring of Life】

Skills

[Absolute Defense] [Devour Giant (Giant Killer)] [Poison Dragon Devour (Poison Eater)] [Bomb Devour (Bomb Eater)] [Meditation] [Provocation] [Cruel and Unjust] [Mastery of Large Shield VII] [Body Maneuvering] [Attack Deflection] [Shield Attack]

[HP Boost Small] [MP Boost Small]

[Cover Move VI] [Cover]

[Unyielding Guardian]

[Psycho-Kinesis]

[Fortress] [Encouragement] [Sheep Devour (Sheep Eater)] [Love That Offers the Body] [Machine God] [Quick Change] [Pierce Guard] [Counter] [Poisonous Curse] [Frozen Earth] [Hundred Ghosts Night Parade I] [Throne of the Heavenly King] [Edge of the Underworld]

— Hmm... To equip [Rescue Hand], I’ll have to remove one of the rings... But [Bond Bridge] is out of the question, right?

Removing [Bond Bridge] would prevent me from calling Shiroppu.

Maple does not intend to do such a thing. If removal is necessary, it must be either the Toughness Ring or the Ring of Life.

"Then... the Toughness Ring, perhaps. HP drops by thirty, but I can compensate by increasing defense."

Maple nods, then removes the Toughness Ring and places it in her inventory. She equips the Healing Hand instead.

White wrists appear on either side of Maple, floating in midair.

She confirms the equipment slots have expanded by two.

"For now... Snow White and Amethyst Shard? Quick Change seems ineffective on previous equipment."

Maple's VIT increases by another seventy. With skills, this is sixfold.

She sees both floating hands before her, each holding a shield.

"Ah! I can move them. But... difficult."

Maple imagines moving both hands in her mind. The hands move as she imagines.

It feels as though two more hands have grown.

"【Brutality】 can be moved. But... this is different somehow."

Maple practices moving the shields for a while. Both shields move in unison. One draws too much attention, the other stops entirely. It will take time to master.

"Just need to get this motion right for now!"

Maple pulls both shields close to her face, positioning the one she holds.

Three shields form a wall before Maple. Any attack will be deflected.

"Practice like this. Yes."

Maple continues practicing drawing the side shields inward, in place.

"Should learn more about using the large shield... maybe ask Crom about it."

Maple turned the thought over and returned to the guild home for a moment.

The shield added to Maple was not a skill, but a decorative item, so it remained as it was within the Town.

As a result, passersby all glanced twice at Maple, some stopping in surprise, others taking photos to report to the guild.

Maple entered the guild home without noticing any of it.

There, Crom happened to be.

"Ah, Maple... right."

Crom approached with a forced bright smile, as if he had just realized something.

Maple ran to him, just as pleased.

"Can you teach me how to use the shield better, Crom?"

"That... well, how to handle that floating thing?"

"Yes! I can use more hands, but I can't manage it well."

"Well, it's not something you can just add more of..."

Crom did what he could, leading Maple to the innermost training arena.

There, the display of the Heavenly King's Throne caused Crom's capacity to burst.

He attempted a mock battle once more, but his conclusion was that, even without a shield, the situation was nearly manageable.

Sitting on the throne, he endured piercing attacks only occasionally—no issue at all. The increased number of shields actually worsened the passage of such attacks.

Standing from the throne brought forth the wrath of violence; even without that, the unyielding guardian remained.

"Impossible for me? With a throne, it's impossible. Well, not everything is perfect."

Deciding then to support Maple only where she lacked, Crom resumed her training.