Defense specialization and Demon King 8.
The ice barrier fades. Watching the others dart past, evading the Demon King’s duplicate, Markus monitors the surroundings through the many cameras installed within the 【One-Night Castle】, and activates the traps.
“【Call to Action】【Barrier Activation】【Remote Placement — Cannon】”
Explosions erupt in sync with Markus’s skill activation. Walls unfold, sealing the Demon King’s duplicate inside, while cannonfire is launched from the generated side.
The projectiles do not destroy the duplicate, but they halt its progress, buying time incrementally.
“Putting on a show, huh… Gotta do it properly…”
“It’s fine. Let’s just do our usual best?”
“Yeah. That’s right.”
“Besides, everyone’s here this time.”
“Good… Maple and the others, help with the aerial threats. If they start flying, the number of effective traps drops too much….”
Uhn!
Maple, Iz, Kanade, and Hinata move into position, four of them checking the surroundings from atop the 【One Night Castle】.
Between Maple and Markus, Mizari stands holding both, waiting in place, keeping the 【One Night Castle】 within the overlapping ranges of multiple defensive effects. Minor wounds heal instantly. Damage is suppressed.
Markus’s traps mostly replicate by stripping flying abilities and forcing them to fall to the ground. The intent is clear: no replication will pass through unimpeded and reach the 【One Night Castle】.
Still, the number of replications is high. Some slip through.
Above, items set by Iz watch with fixed intent. Propellers spin. They hover in midair, scattering bullets. But slowly, the replications destroy them, reducing their number.
"Additional support needed!"
Iz draws out a cannon and arranges them in sequence, firing round after round. Automatic reloading and rapid fire—more machine gun than cannon.
“[Ancient Weapon]!”
Not willing to lose, Maple floats and reshapes her black cube into a Gatling gun, scattering blue light projectiles to deter the approaching replicas.
“Good—better to hinder than outgun... [Slow Field]!”
Flexibility in selecting powerful rare skills is Kanade’s strength. The magic tome, adaptable to the situation, blocks the replicas’ advance.
“Hinata-chan, take this first! Here!”
“Y-yes!”
Hinata takes the vials Iz hands her and drinks them all at once.
“…!”
The duration is brief, but the increase is staggering. The buff's effects—expanded skill range and reach, shortened cooldown, enhanced damage, and accelerated MP recovery—are all guaranteed to be useful.
Hinata understood clearly that this went far beyond the typical scope of what an item normally provided.
"This is my specialty potion! Please hold them here!"
"You're the best at hindering, Hinata!"
"That's right. It's also why you stayed behind."
"Yes, leave it to me. With Markus-san, no one will come near here!"
Gravity warps around Hinata. Cold bursts forth, frosting the air. The powerful debuff, amplified by Iz's potion, is unleashed without mercy.
【Cocytus】
The gust of cold freezes the duplicates in place. Just a target. No way to resist the command.
【Plague Spread】【Gravitational Creak】【Fragile Ice Statue】【Rusting Armor】【Death's Footsteps】
The descending debuffs strip away the duplicates' defense. The damage from Markus's trap and Iz's item manifests as undeniable pain, piercing the duplicates.
Even so, the duplicates break through the entangling traps, regenerating their bodies as they close in.
"Let's buy more time. Even with their defenses lowered, defeating them will be difficult."
"Right! We just need to endure until the Demon King's stamina fades...!"
Endurance is a tactic Maple excels at.
Yet this remains a siege that will inevitably break.
Maple and the others are merely stretching it to its limit. At the end of the battle, a favorable report from outside, and damage dealt to the Demon Lord, are essential.
Keep going, Sally! Everyone!
Maple called out to the front-line figures facing the demon lord.
Sally and the others rushed forward, leaving Maple behind, moving beyond the range of Love That Offers the Body to aim at the Demon Lord's true form.
Mai and Yui will take the offensive!
Minimal preparation required. Once within striking range, continuous lethal damage can be inflicted. Resistant to damage caps per strike.
Though hindered in defense and mobility, their firepower outweighs the drawbacks, offering ample advantage against an opponent with high durability and a solid defense.
Understood!
Ah, I see.
Dread, Drag, provide cover!
Then, what is needed is speed over firepower. Velvet!
That’s right! 【Elec Accelerate】!
【Flare Accelerate】!
With the two skills, lightning and flame burst beneath Mai and Yui, beneath Tsukimi and Yukimi, enhancing their movement speed.
Skills that affect movement speed directly, without referencing 【AGI】, can also improve Mai and Yui’s speed.
Placed in the center, the two are surrounded by 【Maple’s Tree】, guarded on its outer edge by other guild members.
The goal is to deliver Mai and Yui to the side of Crom, fully prepared, while keeping him at their side.
As distance closes, the four arms holding great swords floating around the Demon King react.
【Mind Eye】!
The threat of the Demon King hinges on these arms. Each sword is as vast as the Night Castle. Even a wild swing would make evasion difficult.
Kasumi activates 【Mind Eye】. She sees, with her own eyes, the true nature of the Demon King’s attack.
Red light spreads across the area where each great sword will strike, one after another, in sequence. Not only that—attack predictions extend from the swinging blades, piercing through Kasumi and her companions, the red glow continuing all the way to the rear, to the Night Castle.
"Shockwave incoming! Crom!"
"【Guardian】! 【Spirit Light】!"
The great sword swings. The slash effect erupts upward. A thunderclap. The ground splits. A crimson glow swallows everyone.
"Close in now!"
Crom takes the attack meant to engulf everyone, nullifying the damage with Spirit Light.
Though a single combo, it negates four greatswords and the flying slashes they unleash.
Glancing behind, he sees the wreckage of barricades and traps, yet the Night Castle stands intact.
"Can't lose now!"
Wrapping himself in Necro’s defensive form, he raises his defense with skills and items.
The initial assault is dispatched, but the cooldown on the ultimate move is long—no repeat.
From here, endurance is the only path.
"Disperse! Everyone, pull one arm each!"
Following Sally’s instruction, each person moves apart, dispersing their arm attacks. The sword’s size is immense—any horizontal sweep would catch everyone, but the situation improves slightly nonetheless.
Those who leap forward are, for the most part, agile. A single, sweeping strike from the greatsword can be avoided if targeted precisely.
With Mai and Yui present, the main force, the [Maple Tree], is the least mobile.
“[Multi-Cover]!”
Thus, Crom is needed there—to cut through an unavoidable attack head-on. He stands before the blade, its length exceeding his body, and blocks the sweeping strike. His health, diminished, restores automatically, and before the next attack comes, he pushes Mai and Yui forward.
“Crom, left!”
“Okay!”
A crimson wave of slashing energy, sweeping through all at once. Kasumi, with her 【Soul Eye】 active, perceives even sudden attacks with certainty.
““【Leap】!””
“【Multi-Cover】!”
Kasumi and Sally use their mobility to dodge the slashing attack, lightening Crom’s burden. Crom advances, striking a healing potion onto the ground at his feet to generate a recovery zone, maintaining his stamina.
“It won’t be easy—but not unbearable either! Keep going!”
““Yes!””
Crom withstands several attacks. He deflects area-wide assaults, using Lily’s 【Puppet Wall】 and the stone wall conjured by Drag’s tamed monster, Earth, as he closes the distance toward the Demon King’s core.
“【Path of Water】—【Ice Binding Field】!”
Sally seizes the opening after the greatsword’s strike, crafting ice beneath her feet to secure a path toward the crimson sphere shielding the Demon King.
Crom follows, and Mai and Yui race upward along the ice path, raising the great mallet high.
The defensive wall spread across the sphere’s surface flares crimson as it detects Mai and Yui’s attack.
The magic array is not merely a shield— it is designed to intercept.
Predicted, yet unwelcome. Crom guards against the red shockwave, evenly dispersed with no escape.
“【Multi-Cover】! ……Tch, 【Heavy Body】!”
A sensation of weightlessness. A feeling of having been wronged. Crom immediately activates knockback immunity, then checks his status swiftly.
“Defense down…! Mai, Yui! We’ll barely make it through the next cover! I’m counting on you!”
“Leave it to us!”
The tactic that had held so far collapses with defense lowered. Even with the survival bonuses from [Dead or Alive] and [Unyielding Guardian], the opportunity for attack cannot be repeated.
“[Final Battle Mode]! [Double Strike]!”
Mai and Yui wrap their aura around the great mallet and strike with one motion. The floating sphere, which would have been hard to grasp without [A Helping Hand], is caught without issue.
The iron mass strikes the demon’s defense. A high-pitched crack splits the air. The wall shatters. The sphere surrounding the demon bursts, scattering crimson liquid across the ground.
Yet the sphere truly functions as a defense mechanism, shielding the demon’s core even against attacks beyond the reach of Mai and Yui’s player limits.
The demon recognizes the two as its greatest threat. It seizes the single moment of survival granted to it.
Swinging four greatswords toward the two, it unleashes a blaze-like aura from its twin blades, emitting sharp crimson light along their edges.
"Sister!"
"Yeah...!"
"I've got the front!"
"【【Giant's Sin】】!"
Though Crom's HP is blown away, including the protection he provided, he avoids death through 【Dead or Alive】, and regains HP rapidly via automatic recovery. Crom's strength lies in endurance. He does not fall easily.
Mai and Yui stand back to back, facing the approaching greatswords. Each holds power enough to bury them without effort. Still, the two trust the strength of their great hammers, meet the demon's assault without fear, and strike in perfect timing with their hammers.
Skill [Giant's Burden] counters the attack. The destructive force contained within Mai and Yui’s great hammers surpasses even the Demon King’s great sword. The damage is nullified, and the attack is reflected, shattering the massive four arms wielding the sword.
With aid from those around them, they eliminate every obstacle. Mai and Yui deliver their final, decisive blow toward the Demon King.
““Weapon Throw!””
A ferocious iron mass streaks through the air, smashing the Demon King’s crimson twin blades—crossed in defense—into splinters. The Demon King is hurled backward, his HP drastically reduced.
“Hah… hah… good!”
“We did it!”
Watching the duplicates vanish, Mai and Yui confirm they have dealt sufficient damage. They exhale, relieved. The role they were meant to fulfill is complete.