Defense specialization and photography.
Watching the boss’s body of bone shatter into splinters and vanish, the skeletons given life also collapsed where they stood, ceasing all motion.
As planned. Well done, all four.
It went well, that is good...
Keep it up like this, big sister!
A victory by overwhelming force takes less time—there is still room to advance the strategy.
No slow attrition of HP occurs. A single opening grants near-instant death to even the boss. Focus on whether an attack affects Maple or not. If Maple cannot withstand it, Crom takes it instead.
The party cannot be broken unless one thinks as a player and strikes precisely at the weakness. Should Maple call out a name, Sally will fire off the prearranged skill, disrupting with water. Defense and countermeasures against attacks are thorough.
"Good. Next. At this pace, we should reach the Demon King’s Power without delay."
"I’ll do my best...!"
"Leave any enemy to me!"
Five of them cleared a dungeon with the speed of a time trial. They stepped onto the appearing magic circle and returned to the surface. They confirmed the location of the next dungeon and set their destination.
"Please climb aboard!"
Maple lay flat on the ground, her back bearing three others. She began moving toward their next target.
"Hm? Yui, what’s that?"
Yui shifts the crystal on Maple’s back, left, then right. The crystal in her hand holds recorded images.
“Maple said to keep this… maybe show it to Sally someday… as a memory?”
“…Maybe. Well, keeping it won’t hurt.”
The recording shows the scene around them. No matter how many times she looks, every direction is filled with ghosts and a wide variety of corpses. No place seems suitable for Sally to see.
“Where was it…?”
Even in a horror zone, dungeons differ in tone. Yui checks every detail of the gathered information, searching for a spot where Sally might not mind seeing.
“A zombie overlord…?”
“Sally? …No, not that one.”
“A ghost knight… like Necro?”
“…Too hard!”
A ghostly feel to all of them… the narrow dungeon’s a problem in itself, that’s for sure.
A plan to secure footage for Sally was always doomed. Best to shoot close-up, monsters with minimal horror tone.
Then let’s head to the zombies next. No need to worry—nothing strange like that last one. Should be quick.
“Hai!”
“Try hard…”
Maple dashed across the field as Crom instructed.
Arriving at the destination, she followed Crom’s directions and solved the puzzle. Maple’s body wasn’t suited for delicate work. That task fell to Mai, Yui, and Crom.
“Yui, move that bone to the left. Mai, shift yours to the right.”
“Yes!”
“Um, to the right…”
Following the instructions, they shifted this and that, and when the final piece was moved, the bones began to tremble, enveloped in a violet, flickering flame.
It spread instantly, pulling the five into another world.
Endless expanse of grave markers in a wasteland. Before Maple could react, zombie limbs grown from the ground seized Mai and Yui, then Crom’s feet.
““Ah!?””
“O-oh…”
Mai and Yui, startled, strained and pulled their feet free—zombie arms tore apart.
The zombie limb gripping Crom’s foot was torn away with a casual yank, like uprooting weeds, thrown aside by Yui as she approached.
“Two are out of range.”
Sally’s arms did not move. Maple, not in the form of a normal player, remained untouched.
Still, this was only intended to startle slightly, and restrain if possible.
The boss was here. A deep boom echoed. The ground split open. A monstrous form emerged. A mass of interlocking corpses, piled high, fused into one.
Four long arms. Two heads. The massive body dragged itself across the earth, moving slowly. Larger than Maple’s [Violence].
It dripped parts of itself onto the ground as it moved, spawning new zombies. Thick, black blood spilled with each step—each drop sizzling as it struck the soil.
Visually overwhelming. The fusion of countless corpses intensified its presence, its weight.
“Do not fear! Mai, Yui—frontal assault!”
“On it!”
“Maple, defend—!”
“Leave it to me!”
Maple's back. The two close the distance to the approaching mass of rotting flesh in a single motion. They confirm the boss has entered range for long-range attack via [Healing Hand]. They launch their preemptive strike.
““[Double Stamp]!””
Twelve iron masses swing. They shatter four arms attempting to defend, sending them flying. The iron strikes the torso with full force.
A dull crunch of flesh. The boss’s body explodes outward with force. It splatters into formless pulp, scattered across the ground. The boss’s HP remains unchanged.
“That’s it! Aim for the floating red heart!”
Crom points. The heart of the flesh mass bursts free, exposed, floating in midair, pulsing.
“…! Sister!”
“[Aerial Strike]!”
Eight shockwaves, unleashed instantly, strike the heart with violent force. Each one a fatal barrage, eight strikes in succession, halting only after cutting the boss’s HP in half. The heart’s pulse intensifies. Crimson light spreads outward. A counterheat wave erupts in all directions.
A sure defense, a powerful counter. Only if the damage lands, though.
“It’s fine! It’s fine! Don’t worry!”
As Crom said first, nothing requires caution. One who cannot break Maple’s guard holds no right to challenge. This remains unchanged, repeated countless times, an absolute rule.
The boss, meant to repel the enemy with heat waves, gathers scattered corpses. It rebuilds its body. Eight arms extend. The frame grows larger. A sea of scorched blood spreads across the ground.
Rebirth through strength. Yet the colossal form, now more forceful than before, shatters instantly into splinters, even more violently than moments prior.
It had already closed the distance, waiting for regeneration—now struck with devastating force by Mai and Yui.
"Big sister! I’m recording, so go ahead and finish it!"
"Uh-huh!"
Before Yui, who begins recording into the sky, Mai leaps upward, riding the power of her aircraft.
"【Double Strike】!"
The massive mallet swings through the air—striking the heart, scattering blood with a damage effect. A definitive sense of death. Mai confirms the HP has dropped to zero. A voice calls from below.
"Got it! Good shot!"
"Ha-ha… yeah…!"
The zombie does not appear in frame. This will be fine to show Sally, Yui signals to Mai from behind the boss’s fading, luminous effect, now dissolving into light.