Defense specialization and the underwater temple.

After gliding across the surface for a while, Sally stops the jet ski at a point with nothing visible, consulting the map.

"Is this it?"

"Yeah. There’s a magic circle a short distance underwater. It transfers us, and beyond that point, it’s no longer underwater. That’s why this spot works well."

Maple, Mai, and Yui cannot learn swimming or diving due to their extreme constitution. Even if they swim through the eighth layer, their abilities underwater do not improve beyond the assistance provided by their diving suits.

Thus, tackling dungeons that take too long becomes difficult. It is fortunate, then, that the next area is not underwater.

"It’s not in the water. Strange."

"Like the room Kanade mentioned? Sealed off from the outside, so water can’t get in. But we’ll be in the water until we reach it."

"Should be fine if we hurry."

"Right, then let’s go."

"Okay!"

The two don their diving suits and plunge straight into the water.

"Have you been here before, Sally?"

"Somewhat. But it's vast. Plenty of areas remain unexplored. Wait—Maple, coming at you! No through-attacks!"

A school of small fish surged toward them from the direction Sally pointed. Sally delivered the essential information plainly. Maple understood instantly. When there are no through-attacks and many enemies, Maple is better than Sally.

"Love That Offers the Body!"

Light flooded the water. White wings extended from her back. The fish swarm charged into the thin, glowing cylindrical field. The two were enveloped, yet neither Maple nor Sally suffered damage.

"Thank you, Maple. Not all are monsters. But still—quite a number."

"Good… wow, it looks like this from inside…"

The scene appears unchanged despite the violent assault upon them—two figures swimming together within a school of fish, as if untouched by the storm.

The fish swarm surrounds them, their scales glinting under sunlight, reflecting light like scattered stars. The dense mass extends downward, forming a column that stretches to the ocean floor.

"Only Maple could enter this. If there's no damage, maybe we should leave it be. It's beautiful, after all."

"Uh-huh! Can't we catch one… just one?"

"Maple’s stats… I don’t know. Probably irrelevant."

Maple extends a hand toward the circling fish, but they only shatter against her fingers, scattering like glass, and she sinks toward the seabed without success.

"Mmm… not working."

"Already quite deep. Soon…"

Sally spoke, and almost at once, the fish scattered, fleeing beyond her reach, drifting toward the surface.

“Ah! Right, they’re going back up.”

“Had I been alone, I wouldn’t have seen this.”

“Huh huh, glad we did?”

“Yeah, just luck. Anyway, the real prize…”

“The underwater temple!”

Sally pulls Maple along, keeping pace as they swim toward the ruins on the seabed. Through the shattered remains of the old town, they move forward. A temple site appears—collapsed pillars piled in ruin. Once a town, now home to fish and shellfish. Through the gaps in the fallen pillars, a faint glow seeps out, the light of a magic circle.

“Is that it?”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

“Hard to spot from above.”

When exploring from now on, try using unusual terrain as a guide. If searching without hints, diving down a bit might help.

In this case, even if the magic circle isn’t found, the submerged town is easier to spot from afar. The surface lies above the previous layers of air, so as Sally said, diving down is essential.

—Wait, talking like this won’t help much. Let’s go in right away. Through the gap, like this.

Is that really how we enter!?

The two slip through the gap between fallen pillars and head toward the magic circle visible ahead. Fortunately, the water makes vertical movement easier, and Maple encounters no difficulty crossing obstacles.

Then, let’s go in—ready?

Go ahead. Whenever you’re ready.

Alright—ready!

At the moment their feet touch the circle, they are enveloped in light as usual, and transferred into the interior of the temple.

The light fades. Maple scans the surroundings, eyes moving left and right.

The space is wide, centered on pale blue stone. Passageways, openings in the walls, lead to other chambers. Staircases and water channels crisscross the area. Finding the correct route will be difficult.

They remove their diving suits. Then, they begin discussing their next move.

"Which way should we go? Sally, do you remember which path you took?"

"Not exactly. I know some parts, but not all."

"Then we’ll explore one by one!"

"Agreed. Which way now?"

Passageways extend in every direction. Many routes are possible. For the two of them, even that is irrelevant—airborne travel is available. The choices are infinite.

Yet the two decided against using Shiroppu or Sally’s thread for aerial travel this time. The dungeon’s layout appeared unclear at first glance. Taking shortcuts might cause them to overlook puzzles that needed solving. That would force a return later. They would proceed as intended from the start.

Having decided on their course, they walked straight ahead along the path.

“Are the monsters here strong?”

“High base stats, no openings—” “—just as I said, they showed up immediately.”

At the end of the passage they approached, a blue magic circle unfolded across the floor. A pillar of water erupted from it. Parting the water, two golems emerged— crafted from inert stone fragments, joined by water.

“Guardians of the temple, perhaps.”

“Ah—so they’re protecting it.”

Then let's try it. Quick Change.

Sally activates the skill she has learned. The familiar blue gear shifts into a new unique series, gray-based with yellow polygons appearing at scattered points.

Leave the defense to me! Try whatever you like, it's safe!

Maple raises her shield and activates Love That Offers the Body, assuming a protective stance.

Alright, let's go.

Leave the rear attacks to me! Full Armament Deployment!

Sally lunges forward after confirming Maple has deployed her weapons. The golems respond, closing the distance. Then, exploiting their water-connected parts, they extend both arms like whips, lashing out with sudden force.

Whoa! They stretch!?

It's alright!

The reach surpasses Sally by far—two attacks coming at once—but Sally does not halt. She ducks, deflects the first arm with her short sword, reshapes the weapon into a spear, drives it into the ground as a pivot, and leaps upward, swiftly reverting it to a short sword to evade the second arm.

“Ooh—!”

Maple cheers from behind as Sally lands, then deals with the second golem’s arm, which lunges at her with delayed timing.

“Fuu…!”

Maple’s defense holds. Sally tests her limits. She shifts her weapon to a greatsword, swings it down hard, cleaving through the golem’s arm, then uses the next arm as a shield, returns the weapon to its original form, and steps forward.

“Hah—!”

Dodging through the arms, receiving Maple’s covering fire, she drives her blade into the gap between them.

Even attacks that could not be blocked with a short sword could be safely countered with a large sword or shield.

Sally slips behind the golem without pause, spins her body, and drives the broad blade in a sweeping horizontal strike, then steps back to regain distance.

The reach, vastly longer than that of a short sword, enables an attack on two foes at once—something impossible before.

Trapped between Maple and Sally, the two golems hesitate. One turns toward Maple. The other toward Sally.

The core of the golem glows blue. Water erupts like a laser.

“W-whoa!? I’m fine! It won’t work!”

Maple watches Sally’s movement. Cannot react. Receives the strike with her torso. No damage. Instead, Maple’s laser, released as if in return, burns through the golem. Sally, on the opposite side, avoids the attack without relying on Maple’s Love That Offers the Body. She closes the distance once more.

“Maple! Left hand deployment, please!”

“Got it! Deployment—Left Hand!”

Sally, still moving from dodging the water stream, leaps into the air with a jump. She positions herself above the golem. Turns her left hand downward.

“Deployment—Left Hand.”

The choker around her neck glows. A massive black barrel, identical to Maple’s, manifests on Sally’s left hand.

“Attack Start. Reality Inversion!”

The crimson laser, charged in sync with Sally’s emergence, consumes the two golems directly below, incinerating them utterly.

It becomes real. With a power Sally knows well, it severs the remaining HP that Maple had chipped away with her barrage. The damage calculation was flawless—she had watched the skill unfold countless times before.

Sally lands on the corridor where the golems have vanished without a trace. The left-hand weapon, its duty done, dissolves into yellow polygons.

She exhales, relieved. Maple runs to her.

“Sally! That was amazing!”

“Yeah. Though this is actually the first time I’ve fought properly, you know.”

“Mm! You’re switching weapons so fast, and you’re using each one perfectly.”

“I’ve used different weapons in other games too. And here, I trained with Mai and Yui.”

Sally spoke lightly, but it was not something easily done. In truth, Maple still struggled with handling the large shield. Mastering even one weapon well required time—this was inevitable.

"I plan to keep the weapon's transformation hidden until combat against others begins. They'd be startled if its reach suddenly extended."

"Uh, yeah, I think so."

"Still, practice is necessary. Large weapons tend to be slow and leave wider openings."

The weapon is fundamentally a short sword, so it lacks specialized skills to compensate for these drawbacks. Without proper use, the disadvantages would remain, and the skill set that leverages the short sword's quick strikes and agility would go to waste.

"The final skill, [False-True Reversal], has a long cooldown. It will take time before I can try it again. But as you saw, it turns the skill used at that moment into a real one—just for that instant."

Uh-huh. But was it really necessary to use only your left hand? You could’ve used both, right?

I’m fragile. Going all-out makes it hard to move when I’m hit. Twisting to dodge becomes difficult.

I see. That makes sense.

Standing still and holding a barrage is only possible because of Maple’s defense. For Sally, even one retaliatory spell would mean death.

Then I’ll try using just part of it from now on.

That’d be easier to work with. Only skills someone else has used can be replicated by the hologram.

Got it! Let’s keep moving forward then!

They had only just entered the temple. The two resumed their journey toward the inner depths.