Defense specialization and the seventh floor of the tower.

They sidestep the charge, strike briefly, then retreat—repeating the motion, inching closer to the boss’s HP.

Maple’s powerful attack skills remain largely unused. Their numbers are insufficient, and time passes slowly.

Yet, fought with care, even a damaging opponent proves manageable.

—Dodge… attack!

—Good, half gone!

The HP bar shifts color. They refocus, finally reaching this point.

To fail now would mean everything lost.

Before their eyes, the hedgehog scurries into the snow, vanishing from sight.

—Maple! Step back for a moment—let’s assess!

—Understood!

Sally activates [Ice Spikes], pulling herself up quickly from the ground.

Immediately after, jagged ice thorns erupt from the earth, aiming to pierce them both.

“Ah, that was close…”

“Better watch the ground when you’re hiding. That was one of those movements.”

“Ah, I see. I see.”

“It’s coming again. I’m dropping down!”

“Got it!”

As they speak, the ice spikes retract. The boss emerges from the earth.

They both wait for the charge, then shift sideways to dodge.

But the pattern shifts again. The boss alters its path mid-attack, lunging directly at the side they’ve moved toward.

“Wah!? C—Cover!”

Maple raises her large shield in front of Sally, activating the skill at once. The ice spike strikes the shield.

Crack—crack—shards scatter. The spike keeps moving, unbroken, rolling through.

“Ugh… head scraped…”

She touches her head where the damage effect rises, eyes fixed on the direction she rolled. Even if not a fatal blow, recovery is possible—but pain is pain.

"Thank you, Maple. Sorry, I’ll get you out of danger next time."

"Uh-huh, please do!"

Sally dodges the boss’s second charge the same way, stepping back and avoiding it. Naturally, the boss turns to follow.

"【Leap】! Yo—there!"

Sally uses 【Leap】 to retreat, attaching a thread to Maple and pulling her off the charge’s path.

The boss does not swerve again. The two watch it roll straight ahead.

"【Cover Move】—if we’d been hit, it’d be bad."

The doubled damage, usually ignored, cannot be dismissed against a penetration attack. For Maple, with low HP, it would be fatal.

"Should I reduce her HP more… would it turn again?"

Maybe. Better stay alert.

For the two who could retreat upward via skill, the thorns from the ground posed no real threat. They repeated the same actions, steadily chipping away at the boss’s health.

They used the fire-attuned item received from Iz, attacking with such ease it seemed the skill limit did not apply.

“Jumping on now!”

“Right, attack time!”

Flames scattered from their weapons and skills as they struck the boss, writhing and flipping on the ground, until its HP fell below twenty percent.

Just as they neared victory, the boss vanished once more into the earth.

“Evacuate, evacuate!”

“That’s right. It might change tactics. Stay alert.”

They pressed tightly against the icy pillar, watching the next move.

Ice thorns thrust from the ground in sequence. At the center of the area, the hedgehog curled into a ball, encased in ice spines, then spun at high speed, launching the spines from its back.

"Y-yaah!"

"Cover!"

The large shield met the impact. The massive ice shattered with a crack. They could barely keep up, absorbing one after another of the incoming projectiles.

"Ugh... incredible impact!"

"Watch it—don't let it graze!"

After enduring the unstable state for a time, the boss, having severed the spines, began to squirm back into the snow. But the two did not let it escape.

"We're good at long-range attacks too!"

"Too troublesome. No more hiding!"

The thorns in the ground showed no sign of retracting. Maple remained fixed in place by Sally, driving laser fire and bullets into the target. Sally used magic and items to support and amplify Maple’s attacks.

The enemy’s HP dropped rapidly, likely because of the fire-element weakness. It was reduced to zero just before it could burrow into the earth.

“We did it!”

“Yeah! Nice defense—saved us.”

“No, it was thanks to Sally’s Ice Spikes. I’d have been skewered by the ground thorns otherwise.”

“Hmph. Division of labor. I made short work of it too—thanks to Maple. And we probably skipped the middle part of the dungeon entirely…”

“Ah, right. That’s how we got here.”

“Next time, better to look down before leaping—don’t want to get skewered.”

“Heh… I’ll keep that in mind.”

Three floors remained when the two decided to return. They had used many items. Maple’s skills and the machinery of the Machine God were exhausted. They returned to the guild home, to rest and restore their combat readiness. They would also check how far Crom and the others had progressed.