Defense specialization and the inside of the mouth.

As the preliminary round neared its end, Maple had grown weary of summoning monsters through red blossoms. Having already exhausted various abilities—Poison Dragon, Oozing Chaos, Hundred Demon Night Procession, and Call from the Depths—the pace of monster elimination had slowed. Now she merely waited, her entire body gnawed upon, as the predator in turn bit her apart.

“Ah, come to think of it… this field hasn’t been explored at all.”

The preliminary field was vast. Constructing something of this scale only to discard it later was unlikely. When they would explore it again remained uncertain.

“I’ll take one last look around! I’ve defeated plenty of monsters—should be safe enough!”

That settled, the next concern was movement. The event’s time was nearly spent. Rapid transit was essential.

“Hmm… what should I do? Hmm!?”

Her hand pressed to her jaw, eyes closed in thought. But now—she was in the midst of being attacked by a monster. Maple startled awake, her body buoyant in the air. There, a crocodile—ten meters tall, perhaps—lifted her with its jaws.

Maple was swallowed whole. She would have been crushed. But her defense was, of course, stronger than the crocodile’s bite. No damage would penetrate. Interrupted in her thoughts, Maple glanced around the inside of the mouth.

“Ah… not into the stomach. I see.”

She tapped the interior with her fingers. Given its size, perhaps this creature could move faster than the [Ruthless] ability.

“Could you just… move however I want?”

Maple advances forward, her face pressing through the gaps between teeth. The crocodile nearby shifts, its jaws clacking open and shut, then lurches toward the face outside the body.

"Got it! So if I reverse it? Oh! It moves this way!"

Next, she must stabilize her body to prevent unnatural movement from chewing. From her inventory, Maple retrieves Izu’s special adhesive and applies it with a burst of 【Fur Growth】, coating the crocodile’s mouth and the wool.

This will prevent motion, yet allow free movement.

"Disable 【Predator】 so it doesn’t attack… prepare laser for player defense… ready!"

Maple selects the crocodile as a temporary means of transport. She suspends her body by hanging from it as bait, adjusting direction while dashing across the field. As she begins to run, she realizes the fatal flaw.

“Ah! No! Can’t see the view like this!”

One problem solved, another appears. Maple runs while trying to halt the crocodile, unable to stop it. She thinks as she moves. From her inventory, she retrieves a crystalline recording device she once purchased.

“Just a moment… uhggh, stretch it… got it!”

Maple sticks several crystals to the crocodile’s snout. She decides to record the view while running. Nodding to herself inside the crocodile’s mouth, she approves the idea.

“Mii’s on the map! Alright, let’s go!”

At that moment, many players react with surprise to Maple’s sudden movement, veering off course. But she knows nothing of it.

“Ah, but can’t stop… fast, and can run anywhere, that’s good…”

She is not meant to be used as a means of transport. To criticize it for that would be unfair.

Maple, moving as she was, accidentally ran over a player who had fallen behind the path—her attack power, high enough to crush a human, striking down the straggler with no intent to harm. Still, she circled the field in a steady loop.

“But is it really over now…”

Maple waited, thinking she had moved quickly enough, for the transfer back to the original field. A sensation of something forgotten pressed at her mind. She could not recall. Then, as her body began to glow, her expression snapped into sudden awareness.

“Just ran with the crocodile at the end… Ah! The recording! Wait—wait—!”

Too late. She remembered, but not in time. The field transferred her before she could retrieve the crystal she had pressed to her nose.