Defense Specialization and Re-entry 3.
Having finished their rest, the two return once more into the rain, walking under an umbrella for thirty minutes.
“Ah!”
“Oh, it’s gone.”
They push aside the clouds, and ahead lies a wide space where the rain has stopped. Puddles dot the ground, reflecting light and shimmering.
“Maple.”
“Yeah. Boss, right?”
“Probably. We don’t know where it’s coming from. Stay alert.”
No monster is visible in this unnaturally wide space. Maple, now well-versed in such places, senses the presence of a boss.
The item, Love That Offers the Body, is present. With caution, the two step into the wide chamber.
The ground trembles with unmistakable certainty just moments later.
Water erupts forcefully from the cloud forming the floor. Rainwater soaked into the stone surges backward, splashing with a sharp, rhythmic sound, rising into the air and taking shape.
"Croak!"
"A croak, yes."
A transparent frog, five meters long, entirely made of water. At the moment its HP bar appears above its head, its mouth snaps open with a sudden lurch, and a translucent tongue shoots out with terrifying speed.
Sally avoids the strike with calm precision, closing the distance to the frog.
Maple steadies her large shield directly in the path, planting her feet firmly to absorb the impact.
"Ah—!?"
The tongue strikes the shield with a sharp crack, then wraps around Maple in an instant, lifting her upward and contracting tightly.
This was not merely a water attack. It was a tongue—fully, undeniably a tongue.
Maple passed Sally ahead and was swallowed whole, floating loosely in the transparent interior.
"Maple! Can you attack from inside?"
"……!"
Maple moved her mouth rapidly, then shook her head side to side.
"Can't use skills. Inventory's useless! Is that right?"
Sally deduced the situation from Maple’s expression and called out. Maple nodded firmly, as if to confirm.
"Wait—hold on! I’ll try things quickly!"
She bounced off the wall, evading the boss’s lashing tongue with swift motion, and swam forward through the path of water, closing the distance.
"……!"
The boss trembled violently. Sharply pointed spines of water erupted from the ground, advancing toward the swimming Sally.
Sally activated the aerial machine instantly, leaping clear of the path of water. She darted through the air, evading attacks, closing in on the boss.
“—Frost Domain!”
Intense cold poured from Sally. It froze not only the oncoming water but the boss’s body as well, in an instant.
“If it’s made of water, this should work!—Quintuple Slash!”
Sally’s rapid strikes pierced the frozen boss.
Crack. Crack. A large fissure split the body. Then—piercingly sharp, the boss shattered. Maple burst forth from within.
Sally swiftly pulled Maple in with a thread. She increased the aerial machine’s output, creating distance in an instant.
“Are you alright?”
“Thank you, Sally! Thanks to you, the digestion timer… it advanced.”
“Wow. That was frightening.”
“But we defeated it, didn’t we?”
No... wait!
Sally noticed the boss’s HP gauge had not decreased.
The shattered body of the boss was being absorbed into the clouds beneath their feet. In its place, small frogs made of water sprouted up from all around, hopping and bobbing.
“Maple! Area attack, please!”
“Y-yes! [Barrel Deployment] [Attack Initiated]! [Ancient Weapon]! [Oozing Chaos]!”
Maple’s attack swept across the entire room without precise aim. The thunderous roar was followed by a clear, wet croak.
“Ah!”
“Hit! HP dropped!”
Sally now had certainty about how to defeat this boss. First, strike the massive form to shatter it, then target the individual that could be called the core. Watching the body re-form by summoning water before her eyes, Sally conveyed her understanding to Maple in brief gestures.
“Maple, ride me. I’ll dodge everything.”
“Leave it to me!”
“Count on it!”
She stowed her shield temporarily, unfastened her deployed weapon, and leapt onto Sally’s back.
Sally accelerated instantly, weaving past the boss’s flailing tongue with precise movements. Maple’s role was to attack and split the boss, but the Machine God could destabilize Sally’s balance, and the skill that produced poison was out of the question. Summoning abilities risked drawing the tongue’s binding effect toward Maple unless the Love That Offers the Body was first released.
A transforming airborne weapon would be optimal, but that required either attacking or defending to accumulate the necessary activation energy—until now.
No. That was a problem.
“Fufufu!”
“Anything can be made…”
“Yisaaan!”
Maple produced a drill with a belt. She looped it around her body like a sash and secured it.
Yes. Of course, the drill was inside.
“Switch on!”
The spinning drill grated against Maple herself, not the enemy, as it tried to bore a hole through her flesh.
No need to force bombs into place and detonate them to build up energy. Now it required only a single button.
Stable ground was unnecessary. Simple activation, even on unsteady footing.
What a revolutionary invention.
“[Ancient Weapon]!”
The cube clanged as it transformed into a series of slender tubes, spinning rapidly above Maple’s head. It was a Gatling gun. Blue light projectiles fired in sequence, piercing the boss’s body until it could no longer hold its form and collapsed.
“[Reversal Rebirth][Annihilation Zone]!”
The wings on her back turned black. The newborn, wobbling water frogs were instantly incinerated by crimson sparks.
An efficiency of attack far surpassing that of [Mechanical God] or [Ancient Weapon], the area effect ended the fragmentation phase in an instant and rebuilt the boss’s body.
“Energy charging!”
“Good, fire!”
“[Ancient Weapon]!”
The merciless use of peak-tier skills. Even a boss, no matter how formidable, could not withstand such violence—no mere boss, not even one wielding the Demon King’s power.
Having slain the rain frog down to the letter, the two advanced a short distance and arrived at the second town nestled within the clouds.
"One step closer."
"Yeah. The journey was easy. We rested. We managed with room to spare."
They had just begun to move forward into the next section of the labyrinth when voices from other players reached their ears.
"Wait—was that frog tiny?"
"Oh, about my height—maybe a meter seventy? Still huge."
"Maybe it got bigger the longer we wandered... it was like the size of my house."
"No, way too big. Scary..."
"Likely rain-related, and they don’t seem to care about that kind of thing..."
A voice from another player, apparently from the same guild, reaches them. The two understand the conversation now refers to the boss they just defeated.
"That’s what it was...?"
"Wasn’t it at maximum size? We wandered long, talked a lot, took our time..."
"Y-yeah, maybe. Should we move faster next time?"
"But even so, we handled it with ease. Maybe it’s better to keep our own pace. I did startle when I was swallowed, though..."
"Is that really true?"
"Exactly. Maple’s strong enough to stay steady. You don’t need to rush. If you panic, the next trap might exploit that."
"Mmm, psychological warfare, that’s it."
"Say slow is bad, and everyone will want to speed up."
"Tricky... but yeah! If you rush, you won’t enjoy the exploration at all."
“That’s right. If it’s just a little stronger, I’ll manage it myself.”
“Count on me!”
“That’s why I’ve been refining my skills. Keep relying on me.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
“Then, let’s head back to the equipment shop.”
“Yeah! I wonder if there are any interesting items?”
“Hmph, I hope so.”
With hearts swelling with anticipation, the two walked through the town, wondering if yet another item exclusive to this place might now be on display.