Defense specialization and the distant seabed, part two.

With the kraken's disappearance, the entrance to the ruin appears before Maple and the others.

It was a door made of pitch-black plates, resembling Maple's ancient weapon.

Kanade presses the emblem she has drawn against the door. It splits open, inviting the three inside.

"Whoa!?...Wait, water...?"

"The ruin seems to have air. The diving suits are still a bit cumbersome, so this is helpful."

"From here on, the atmosphere changes. Be careful, Maple."

"Okay!"

Beyond the ruin's door, the water is held back as if by something unseen. Even with the door open, no water enters. An unseen force is at work.

They remove their diving suits and proceed deeper into the ruin. After a while, encrypted characters appear on the wall ahead. The path splits left and right.

Split into two. Maple, read the left.

Okay!

After deciphering the characters written by Maple and Sally, the meaning becomes clear.

The room on the right contains a large guardian soldier to be defeated.

The left room holds an archer squad to be shot through entirely.

This means they must choose which to face first. Selecting the better match makes sense.

Hmm, which one suits the two of us better?

The guardian soldier would suit Maple best. I think the guardian is preferable. The archers will be harder to guard against.

The guardian appears to be a close-combat type. Yes, I prefer that.

Then the right one it is. Defense is mine.

The large shield remains white-equipped; [Bad Eater] is reserved. Maple’s close-combat offense is diminished, yet she fulfills her role as shieldbearer, maintaining her expected actions within the party.

Attack is merely an added advantage. Though one might say that advantage is excessive.

As Maple’s group moves right, a door appears. When the three stand before it, it opens automatically.

Inside is a circular chamber. Described as a colosseum would be.

Upon the trio’s entry, the door behind them shuts on its own. A red lock symbol floats into view, indicating it is now sealed.

“We can’t leave until we defeat the enemy.”

“That was never in question.”

“Ah… is that it?”

At Maple’s pointing finger, a black cube floats in the center of the room—identical to Maple’s 【Ancient Weapon】. It emits blue sparks, swells rapidly, and with a grinding shriek, reshapes itself into a humanoid form wielding a greatsword. Where it retains the angular edges of its cubic origin, it resembles a machine more than a human—closer to a robot, an android than a man.

A greatsword, clearly built for power. Yet its frame bears multiple thrusters, suggesting speed as well.

As Maple and the others ready their weapons, the enemy swordsman does the same.

They measure each other’s stance. At the instant Maple takes a single step forward, the swordsman’s feet and back thrusters erupt in blue flame, propelling his body forward with sudden speed.

“【Massive Magical Barrier】!”

Kanade deploys a barrier in response to the acceleration, but the swordsman shatters it in a single strike.

【Poison Dragon】!

【Water Dragon】!

The two dragons launched by Maple and Sally strike the swordsman directly, but he advances without slowing, closing in despite taking damage, and swings his greatsword.

Ugh...!

Sally dodges, but Kanade cannot. Maple, blocked from guard and struck down, takes double knockback—forced cover from 【Love That Offers the Body】 included—and is slammed face-first into the wall behind her, but suffers no injury thanks to her natural defense.

I'm fine! No penetration effect!

Good choice! You picked right, Maple. Take your time getting up!

We'll hold him.

【Water Wrap】! 【Flame Bullet】!

【Dulling Rain】

Kanade's rain fell—【AGI】 reduction. Sally fired flame bullets at the sluggish swordsman while closing in with dagger strikes.

……!

Sally saw blue lines racing across the swordsman's black body and sensed danger. She stepped back instantly, using her flying machine to create distance.

A dome-shaped energy barrier bloomed from the swordsman’s frame just after.

Hmm, nice skill you’ve got.

【Flame Lance】!

【Ancient Weapon】!

Maple, now standing, joined the assault. As the barrier vanished, Sally lunged again. The swordsman swung his greatsword with force. But Sally, enhanced by her flying machine’s mobility, dodged the attack with ease.

【Double Slash】! 【Wind Cutter】!

The attack, minimized to the smallest possible opening, further reduced the swordsman’s HP. Sally shifted positions, passing him by, then transformed one of her daggers into a bow.

Though it appeared identical, one of Sally’s daggers lately was a new unique series, capable of changing form at will.

Sally maintained distance, firing arrows in rapid succession to increase damage. She drew the swordsman’s attention, then his guard weakened toward the two of them.

“【Seeping Chaos】【Barrel Deployment】【Attack Initiated】!”

“【Cursed Flame】【Great Freeze】”

Maple’s attack struck. Beneath the swordsman’s feet, two large magic circles unfolded—red and blue. Flames scorched his body. Immediately afterward, he froze, cracking with sharp sounds.

“Wouldn’t this much opening be enough?”

Beyond the frozen, motionless boss, Sally emerged—flames and water coiling around her, daggers held in both hands, closing the distance.

As Kanade said, she had secured the space needed for a true technique, not mere feint.

“【Sextuplus Slash】!”

Each cut of Sally’s dagger through the frozen body burst with damage effect.

When the final strike carved deep into the chest, cracks spread across the knight’s obsidian form and shattered instantly into nothing.

“Phew… good thing it was a simple opponent.”

“Maple took no damage either. And I happened to have a skill just right for this.”

“Alright, let’s press forward.”

“We’ll reach the ‘Demon King’s Power’ this time.”

“Yeah, yeah. If we keep this pace, we can do it.”

First, they shattered the guardian crafted by ancient technology. Then, they pressed toward the deepest chamber.

The final dungeon of the eighth layer, the ruins bristled with branching paths requiring decryption, and combat came frequently.

Still, with Sally as a cost-effective attacker, and Maple whose defense remained unbroken through Love That Offers the Body, and Kanade using Sou’s Mimicry to birth a second Maple, they maintained the only defense line in this place equipped with multiple invincibility skills.

The battle did not proceed easily, but it advanced smoothly.

“Sextapulse Slash! …phew.”

“Nice one, Sally!”

Another enemy, wielding a black beam rifle, fell to Sally’s blade.

Kanade’s one-day-only skill, [Great Freeze], drawn from the [Divine Archive]. With it, movement halted. Sally and Maple advanced without concern for enemy attacks.

“Could deflect real bullets…”

“Haha… that’s odd, but true. When archers appeared, we just deflected normally.”

“Slower than Wilbert’s, much slower.”

“Wow, that was intense.”

“Faster than the rifle just now. Sally deflected that too.”

So long as a thing has substance, Sally deflects it. As certain as Maple’s defense cannot be pierced by piercing attacks. Thus, all three treat it as a given in their strategy.

They pick up the fallen materials. The three exit the room and walk down the corridor. As they walk, Maple wraps multiple drills around her body to charge the energy of the [Ancient Weapon]. Normally one is enough, but since they must continuously fire Gatling bursts ahead, one drill depletes energy too quickly.

They begin from a point where anything approaching will be riddled by the Gatling of light bullets. With active extermination-based targeting, they advance through minor battles along the way with ease.

They arrive at a corridor split into three directions. Inscribed on each path ahead are coded characters.

“Three of them—each read one!”

“Got it.”

“I’ll take the left one.”

Each reads what is written. It seems, however, that this time there are no hints for selecting the correct path.

—Hmm... I could read it, but...

—There was something unfavorable written on my side.

—Mine too.

—Wait, both of you!?

—On my side, it says here that one stat inside the dungeon will randomly drop to zero from this point forward.

—Mine says enemy energy refill, attack power, and movement speed will all increase by one and a half times.

—Mine says my maximum HP will halve...

—So this is designed to be a zero chance of success, then? Kanade, anything suspicious? Any hidden paths? Any way to avoid stepping on all of them?

—Hmm... I don’t think there’s anything like that. Of course, I might have missed something. Not certain, but not impossible.

—Okay. Thank you.

—So we’ll have to enter one of them, then?

—That’s right. The effects will last until the boss battle. We’ll have to choose carefully.

Status zero is dangerous. If my attack and mobility drop, along with Sally’s, it will be bad. More than anything…

Yes. When Maple loses defense, we’ll be helpless.

Taking defense from Maple would create a creature with all stats zero.

A being with the capabilities of a level-one player or lower, built to absorb attacks. Even with strong skills, this would be unbearable.

Considering that Maple might take half the HP, it’s not ideal. But it doesn’t matter much for me and Sally.

Then let’s assign it to the remaining one?

I think that’s best.

Attack power only matters if it’s piercing. Movement speed matters little if we’re waiting.

Then we’ll go with this!

The three choose to enhance the enemy’s attack and movement speed, then proceed inward.

Moving forward, they reach a fork with cipher symbols. The three begin to grasp the trials awaiting them within this dungeon.

"This feels like the adverse effects are increasing."

"Seems unavoidable. We’ll have to choose the path least affected by them."

"Let’s decide carefully...!"

Once an effect takes hold, it cannot be undone. The moment to choose is now—before the path is taken. Maple and the others consult, ensuring no regret. They make their decision by unanimous agreement.