Defense specialization and retrieval.

“Fufufu, that’s it.”

As Maple raised her stance, swords and spears flew from the twin.

Maple tried to float gently aside, but the speed difference was too great. She could not avoid them.

Swords and spears pierced the slime one after another. The slime did not lose HP. It dissolved, oozing.

“Ooh! The slime is amazing! Then….”

Maple reshaped the slime into a malleable mass. She halted its floating, instead covering her body with it and forming large, slime-made arms.

“Hmm, easy to control. Nice. Then…”

Maple extended the slime’s hands and reached for the twin in green, who floated above.

“Aah. It slipped through… I thought the slime could manage it…”

The slime’s body was strictly set to resist physical attacks. The attack passed through.

The girl in red, as if in retaliation, summoned flames that struck the slime directly.

“Aah! The fire—it’s not supposed to work!?”

Maple watched the slime’s HP decrease. She retracted the arms made of slime.

Then she wrapped them around her body again. She paused. Calmly, she scanned the room.

Maple examined the room anew. She realized it resembled a child’s room.

The space itself was large. Furniture—desk, closet—was present. Stuffed animals, toys scattered across the floor. The room gave her the impression of a child’s room, not a Boss Room.

“Just… a lot of presents lying around. If there’s something useful here…”

Maple watches the slime still dissolving in midair.

"Leave the fire attacks to me!"

Maple leaps from the slime and swings her arm, brushing the flames away.

The flames strike a nearby present box and ignite.

"Whoa! No, no!"

Maple extinguishes the fire with her bare hands, unharmed. She exhales.

Something untouched by the flames inside the present box strikes her hand.

"Ah—my dagger!"

The object that hits her hand is the equipment she had lost.

The twins, having confirmed Maple has found her dagger, speak.

"Aaah, what now?"

"Doesn’t need it. Fine like that."

Thus, the twins return Maple’s dagger, saying they do not need it.

"Then… [Poison Dragon (Hydra)]!"

Maple immediately equips the dagger she has just received and fires at the Poison Dragon (Hydra).

It activates as intended. Three-headed poison dragon advances toward the twins.

The twins vanish with a breath. They reappear swiftly elsewhere, cleanly avoiding the poison mass.

"Ahaha, so weak."

"Mu... then, Full Armament Deployment!"

Maple fires a round. The twins' projectile cancels it out. Nothing changes.

"You've seen that already, right?"

"Yeah."

They glance at each other and chuckle quietly.

Maple frowns slightly, then shifts her focus.

"Ugh. The rest of the gear seems to be inside one of those gifts somewhere. I'll find it first. For now, slime, stay out of sight—over there."

Maple moved the slime to the far corner of the room, then opened each gift box one by one, taking sword and spear strikes to her back.

In a room where swords lay scattered on the floor and axes and spears were embedded in the walls, Maple finally found all her gear.

“Fii… tired… but now it’s finally easier to fight.”

With the gear accounted for, there was only one thing left: a stern punishment for the mischievous twins.

While searching, Maple had thought of a plan.

“When facing someone who’s good at running away… just take away their escape.”

She said this, then stepped toward the center of the room, a wicked smile on her face.

“Love That Offers the Body, Venom Capsule!”

The angel appeared at the room’s center, immediately sinking her glowing wings into a mass of poison.

A purple sphere sits unnaturally still at the center of the room.

“[Predator]”

And as Maple speaks with smug satisfaction inside the venom capsule, two monsters appear.

“Come over here, Slime-san.”

The slime, bound to follow Maple, floats over with a soft wobble. The three of them descend together, dropping the object they carry.

Maple intends to use this protection while the [Venom Capsule] remains small.

“Even Sally’s fake couldn’t escape—don’t think you two can.”

Maple’s aim is to drown the entire room in poison.

No matter how freely one may teleport, the whole space becomes a death trap.

“Take our time? Hehe. I’m good at wearing down opponents.”

Maple murmurs, guiding the slime this way and that.