Defense specialization and first floor of the tower.

The two advanced, left, right, up, up the corridor, feeling the strength of monsters considered the highest difficulty through repeated battles.

"Troublesome."

"Yeah. All of them are strong..."

Monsters with unique traits—those that nullify physical attacks, those that nullify magic, those that can only be defeated under specific conditions—were arrayed before them.

Sally's Sword Dance had reached its limit when fighting a monster that darted swiftly around walls.

Since strong players like Maple were expected, it was natural that enemies of comparable strength would appear.

Another monster emerged before the two. It resembled a cloud shaped like a human.

"Sally! Something else is coming!"

"A monster I've never seen before. Be careful!"

Maple walks ahead of Sally, holding the shield aloft while maintaining the state of Love That Offers the Body.

Sally waits behind, timing her leap.

The cloud monster, as if noticing them, shifts into combat stance.

A moment of silence. Then the monster’s body flares green. A storm of wind blades floods the passage.

“Maple!”

“Yeah!”

Maple lowers her shield to conserve the remaining seven uses of Evil Feast, accumulated through previous battles.

The fastest wind blade strikes Maple’s body.

No damage penetrates. Yet Maple’s body jerks violently backward.

“Wha—!?”

“Water Wall!”

Sally sees it and instantly raises a wall of water, buying time. She sprints toward Maple, who has been knocked back.

If Maple is knocked back, she will fall outside the range of Love That Offers the Body.

Even Sally cannot avoid an attack with no escape.

"Maple, Heavy Body!"

"Ah! Right! Heavy Body!"

At Sally’s voice, Maple activates the skill as if remembering.

And in place of being unable to move, she no longer takes knockback. Sally rushes toward her, splashing through the air.

"Uh… that won’t let me get close."

"Being trapped on a single path is bad luck. We must decide how to handle the knockback now."

"Then… Heavenly Throne!"

A white throne appears.

As the knockback immunity ends, Maple is blown back and settles with a soft thud onto the throne.

"With this, I’ll be fine even if I’m pushed!"

Maple laughs, absorbing the knockback from the wind blades Sally endures.

"Then we must deal with the source. Maple, try one shot?"

"Uh, got it! — [Cannon Deployment]!"

From Maple’s shoulders extend supports. Two large cannon muzzles aim at the cloud monster.

They fire beams of white light, slicing through several wind blades, advancing toward the monster. The beams strike the wind barrier the creature has raised and vanish.

"Uh, okay. Barrier only on the front."

"But we can't get through?"

"I’ll draw its attention. Hit it then."

Sally stows her two daggers. She stretches threads to the wall and begins preparations.

"Can you avoid attacks, Sally?"

"Of course. Now that I know the wind blades can be shot down."

Maple and Sally settle into their respective motions.

And when that ended, Sally extended her thread and climbed the wall swiftly.

【Ice Spire】! 【Fireball】! Oblivion 【Flame Column】

【Attack Initiated】!

Midway, she created footholds, shot down the wind blades, and slipped through with smooth motion toward the monster.

Maple fired her laser, dispersing the wind blades and assisting Sally.

At first, both were startled, but once they settled into their rhythm, the enemy proved no match.

Sally descended the wall behind the monster, her blue aura flaring as she lunged forward with a slash.

Her attack met the wind barrier, but she pressed on without pause.

【Ice Spire】! 【Right Hand: Thread】【Step into the Underworld】!

At that instant, the monster turned toward Sally, and a wind blade shot forth.

Sally extended a thread to the ice spire, using the boot skill Maple had given her, and created a foothold in midair, pulling herself away.

"Aaah. I really shouldn’t have come this way..."

Immediately after Sally spoke, a blast echoed through the passage, flames swirling.

Through the smoke, Maple was thrown forward and closed on the monster in an instant.

The vast array of wind blades and powerful barriers that had held her back were absent from the monster’s exposed back.

"【Attack Initiated】! How’s that!?"

The laser launched at zero distance, and the shield swung wide, devouring everything—within an instant, the monster’s HP vanished.

"Final blow!"

She pulled the shield back and brought it down again. The monster dissolved into light.

"Good work, Maple! Nice attack!"

"Uh-huh! Thanks, Sally! Wait a sec..."

Maple returned the throne to its place and stowed her weapon. She tapped the soot from her armor with quick, sharp motions.

—Hmm. HP isn’t high, but it felt like a boss. A boss just sitting in a hallway? That’s definitely a high difficulty level.

—...I think everyone’s thinking the same thing, probably.

Sally narrowed her eyes slightly and spoke.

—...? Anyway. Let’s go. If that thing comes back, it’ll be bad.

—Yeah. Let’s push through quickly.

Sally continued the search, avoiding traps and silently redirecting around monsters she could not fight. The two pressed on.