Defense specialization and the main event.
The animation has reached seven episodes already—quickly, indeed.
We hope you are enjoying it.
As Maple and the others spend their days raising the levels of their respective partner monsters, the day of the main event finally arrives.
They confirm their strategy one last time together, waiting for the moment to transfer to the field.
Eight of them face the highest difficulty field, where survival until the end grants five medals.
"Seems you can also earn medals by defeating field monsters. Just surviving isn’t enough—better to gather more. Given the rules of the main event... it’s either stay together as eight, or split off somehow."
As Sally said, collecting additional medals strengthens the party’s power. Medals acquired on the main field are distributed to all eight members. If Maple obtains one medal, for example, each of the other seven receives one as well.
Splitting into groups to defeat powerful monsters individually could yield many medals. But it also increases the risk of losing more medals should someone die and survive.
"Timing is written here. We should gather at that moment, but spreading out is likely to yield more for us."
"Right. Surviving matters too. We want to earn big, don’t we?"
"Still, splitting doesn’t mean scattering randomly. Dividing the party in half, based on our compatibility, would be better."
All agreed with Kanade’s suggestion. The teams were divided: Maple, Sally, Yui, and Mai on one side, and Kanade, Izu, Crom, and Kasumi on the other.
Maple’s team was decided instantly. She would fare better with three others who would die in one hit if caught off guard by a sudden attack.
“Let’s do our best in the main event, big sister!”
“Yeah, you too, Yui.”
“Is it about time?... We’re starting to sound like we’re teleporting.”
“Alright! Then let’s all survive until the very end!”
Maple said this last, clenching her fist tight. The seven others responded. The members of [Maplewood] were enveloped in light and vanished.
The light faded. They stood now on the field from the preliminary round. The starting position for [Maplewood] was a barren stretch—no more than sand and stone, a wasteland with no cover.
“Good visibility. No other players around… that’s fortunate.”
Ah, but they arrive without delay!
The sand around them surges upward, and giant worms—each with maws large enough to swallow eight people at once—rise from beneath the surface. They sense Maple and her companions, and immediately open their wide mouths, lunging forward in unison.
Good! Love That Offers the Body!
Maple activates her skill to protect all of them. The sand billows into a cloud as she absorbs and nullifies every attack. Amid the dust, everyone summons their bonded monsters and launches their assault at once.
No time to set up... Fay, Item Enhancement!
Izu slams an enhanced attack-boosting item into the ground. Crimson light envelops the eight. As soon as the light settles, Yui and Mai leap onto their bonded monsters and launch forward.
“Power Share! Bright Star!”
The ball-shaped effect bursts from Tsukimi and Yukimi in response to Mai and Yui’s command, striking all approaching worms and dealing considerable damage.
Yet still a significant amount of HP remains. As expected of the highest difficulty.
“Not letting you escape, Kasumi! Sally!”
“Right! [Blood Blade]! Haku [Super Size][Paralysis Poison]!”
“Hinata! [Restraint Barrier]!”
Haku, at Kasumi’s side, rapidly expands in size, swiftly moving to clamp down on a retreating worm, paralyzing it and sealing its motion. Hinata similarly halts the movement of another.
“Necro [Flame of Death]!”
With the worms immobilized, flames erupt from Crom, wrapped in Necro’s presence, accelerating the damage.
And then, the worm that had been relentlessly beaten by Mai and Yui alongside Tsukimi Yukimi finally shattered from the strain. The remaining worms, sensing their disadvantage or some other signal, burrowed into the sand and fled.
Sand dust rose again. When it settled, silence filled the field.
"Wow! Amazing! All of you are so strong!"
"We didn't defeat them all... but Maple protected us, so it was much easier to fight."
"Even the monsters we didn’t attack were down. Everyone’s incredible!"
Yui said this, turning respectful eyes toward Mai. Sally, Kasumi, and Crom, who had been attacking, looked puzzled.
"Hmm? No, I didn’t feel much resistance myself."
"Yeah, me neither. Hak’s attack power is high, certainly..."
Fufufu... Sō! Over here, over here.
Kanade laughs, amused by the puzzled expressions around her, and calls out to Sō. From the shadow of the colossal Hak, a figure emerges—identical in appearance to Yui, with white hair streaked with pink, wearing a dress adorned with frills and ribbons.
"Eh!? M-me!?"
"That's right. Borrowed a little of your attack power. Quite the force, huh."
Sō had been acting in a form that reflected his skills, appearance, and stats. As his mimicry had taken the form of Yui, his attack power was substantial.
"Oho, Kanade’s tame monster’s strong too. Expands the range of strategy, expands it..."
"Still, seems like time’s up."
As Kanade speaks, the figure resembling Yui dissolves into light, reforming into a transparent slime.
"Can't last forever, cooldown's long too, but isn't it interesting? You can take the form of a party member you just memorized—or even a summoned monster."
That should resolve the attack power issue for Kanade and the others. They scan the area once more.
"Ah! Sally, could there be medals lying around?"
"Hmm, let me check."
Nothing resembling one is found. That was probably just a low-tier monster.
"Relax even a moment, and you'd die."
"Must be the highest difficulty. Alright, first, find a place to rest. Climb onto Hak's back."
All of them return their summoned monsters to rings, then clamber onto Hak's back, dragging themselves through the desert.