Defense specialization and second floor of the tower.

Maple moves backward, Sally forward, through the dark passage.

"Nothing so far..."

"Sally!?"

"Maple?"

Maple suddenly calls out. Sally startles and turns.

Maple, who was behind, is immobilized—her foot and weapon caught by a black shadow shaped like a hand rising from the ground.

"Are you alright!?"

"Just can't move... waah!?"

"Sorry! Sorry!"

As Maple speaks, multiple books with teeth fly in and clamp onto her entire body.

Sally leaps forward, but Maple, restrained, is bitten all over.

"Sally! Get it off! Get it off! This gear will break!"

"Wait, I'm getting it off right away!"

Sally reaches Maple and cuts the books away one by one.

Despite their usual durability, they come off easily, torn free from Maple's body.

"Then the hand... gone? Wait...?"

"The equipment seems intact, but it’ll need fixing later."

Maple switches to her black gear, unharmed even if broken.

No damage reaches Maple herself.

Sally settles, then begins speaking about Maple’s change.

"Maple? Love That Offers the Body’s gone."

"Wait—why? Hmm... It’s unusable too. Only thirty minutes, it seems."

"Sealing magic? Maybe it’s targeting Maple alone—Love That Offers the Body, or the lantern?"

"But it can’t be removed... Ah! But if I’m still targeted, then the lantern, or anything that glows, will be clear!"

"Light alone? I have Sword Dance’s effect too. Something will show up, I suppose. But Maple’s defense is solid enough for now."

As long as Maple is the target, there is no real issue.

The target of no damage will not be achieved, but thanks to the [Unyielding Guardian], the attack can be endured once, so there will be no instant defeat.

"Fufu~! So it's truly an iron wall, then!"

"Right, that's about right. I'll intercept piercing attacks. Keep [Pierce Guard] in mind."

"Uh-huh, I've got it."

Maple makes a gesture, holding her shield with confidence.

"Speaking like that, the next one's already coming. Probably...?"

Sally murmurs, her tone slightly uncertain.

In the darkness Sally points to. There, quietly standing, is a humanoid silhouette.

The shadow keeps its single red eye fixed on the bookshelf, utterly still.

"What now, Sally?"

"I don't want to get close, but it's a single path... Hmm, go up? Still, better check what kind of enemy we're facing first..."

"Up... can we even get through?"

"Well, quieter than letting Maple blow herself up, I'd say. Shall we try?"

If the monster could be avoided, Maple accepted Sally’s proposal.

“Hmm, wait a moment.”

“Yeah, got it.”

Sally wrapped thread around Maple as if preparing, slipped two rings onto her fingers, and raised her 【STR】. An ice pillar appeared.

“Alright, let’s go.”

“Huh?”

Maple was pulled sharply through the air, still tied to Sally by thread. Sally adhered to the wall and then the ice pillar, climbing upward.

Maple dangled in midair, suspended by thread.

“Oooh….”

Maple swayed, unsteady, as Sally carried her through the air.

The two passed far above the monster. Once they had gained sufficient distance, they descended to the ground.

“Phew… turned out better than I expected.”

“S-so amazing! Like a ninja!”

“Well, might come in handy somewhere else. As long as Maple’s alright with it.”

"Maybe it'll be fun once in a while! Like a new sensation...!"

"Well, we can't do that in reality. But really, it doesn't move at all..."

Sally turned to look at the monster. It remained utterly still, unchanged.

She observed it closely, wondering if it even moved at all.

No change occurred.

"Approach it, or attack it? If we just go forward and it's in a spot where we can't avoid it, let's try."

"Yeah. If it were a bodyguard in the Boss Room, it'd be frightening. But since there's only one, no need to worry during the boss fight."

Unable to assess the danger, the two decided to bypass this area.

"Then, let's move on, Maple..."

"Sally... I'm caught again!"

Black hands once more restrained Maple's body as she had begun to move.

Sally strikes the book mid-air before it can bite Maple, noticing something in the motion.

"Maple! Just wait a moment!"

"Uh, uh? Got it!"

Maple answers, tugging at the book with both hands.

Sally runs toward the monster she had ignored earlier.

The monster glows blue. From the blackened ground, hands stretch upward, trembling.

"Got it! No problem! Double Slash!"

The moment Sally attacks, the monster melts into the floor, oozing away.

"Ah! Missed! Missed, Sally!"

The hands holding Maple dissolve into the same sludge and vanish.

Now, only peeling the book remains, familiar now.

Once that is done, Sally begins to speak.

—Hmm, that monster probably wasn’t defeated. It seems to have fled. It’ll likely appear again at regular intervals. It might be hiding somewhere.

—Can’t we do anything about it?

—Not sure. There are paths we haven’t taken. Something useful might be there.

Maple and the others hadn’t traversed every route this time. Whether they’d missed something was unknown.

—Could it be in the Boss Room?

—Possibly. If so, it’d be troublesome.

—We could rush in and defeat it at full strength right away!

—That’s a possibility. Even if every skill is sealed, we’d end it before it could activate.

The two spoke as if they held the strength to crush the boss. Whether someone else present would challenge that claim, however, remained uncertain.

They resumed walking.