Defense Specialization and One Night
Maple stood next to Mi as she put on her usual red clothes and personality. Then they stepped back out into the town.
Maple and Mi were forming a party for a day.
“I’m slow on my feet, so ‘Savagery’! …I can carry you to where you want to go!”
“…C-carry?”
Mi climbed up the frightening leg and onto Maple’s back.
Mi had not expected to ever ride Maple like this.
But now she looked towards Maple and told her where she wanted to go.
“Okay. Here we go!”
The monster that accelerated as it dashed through the field was more monstrous than any monster out there.
After running like this for some time, they arrived at their destination.
“Ahh…oomph. ‘Flame Empress’!”
Mi got off of Maple and stretched her limbs before activating her skill.
As if on cue, monsters started to appear around them.
“‘Dedicated Affection.’”
Maple’s skill would protect Mi completely.
This thing that made her enemies tremble, was so reliable that Maple’s allies could forget the concept of dodging and blocking.
In fact, there was no reason for Mi to defend herself at all.
Just by having Maple stand next to her, she could concentrate on carving away at the monster’s HP.
“…No wonder no one can beat you.”
After moving around and hunting for a long time, Mi finally grew tired.
She slumped down by a lake that was the last place they had moved to.
“Thank you, Maple. Sorry for dragging you along all over the place…”
Mi thanked Maple in her natural tone.
“Oh, it’s nothing! But we should stop for today…I’m getting sleepy.”
It was currently nighttime in the real world as well. Maple was considering logging out for the day.
“Thank you so much. I think I’ll log out as well. I got a little more excited than usual, and I’m tired.”
“I know! Why don’t you heal yourself one last time?”
So saying, Maple plopped out of the monster’s stomach.
Now that she was in human form again, she activated another skill and turned into a ball of wool.
Mi touched it hesitantly. It was soft and fluffy.
“Do you want to come inside?”
“Uh, yeah.”
Mi spread the wool open and climbed inside of it.
A comforting softness enveloped her body, and she could feel the stress leak away.
“Ahh…it’s nice…”
“I’m glad.”
Mi dove in on top of Maple, and the time passed.
As they both relaxed like that, they felt something pull at the ball of wool.
“Wh-what?”
“Hmm?”
Both of them poked their heads out at the same time.
The ball of wool had torn through the laws of gravity and was now floating above the lake.
“Maple, wh-what’s happening!?”
“I don’t know!”
The ball of wool moved to the center of the lake and then started to rise into the sky.
“Is this…an event?”
“I don’t know? But I can protect us if we fall…”
Once they were about 5 meters above the lake, the water came up like a pillar and surrounded them.
But that only lasted for a second, and they turned into light. In the next instant, they were in a completely different place.
“I, I guess I should get out now?”
Mi pulled herself out of the ball of wool and landed next to it.
Maple was not able to move like this, and so she had Mi burn all of the wool off so she could stand on the ground.
No, it was not ground to be precise.
“Where are we?”
“Maple…uh, on top of the clouds?”
What Maple was standing on now was not dirt.
It was a fluffy and soft cloud.
“Wow, look at the stars…”
After looking at her feet, Maple looked up into the sky.
The stars shone so brightly from here, it was a scene that took your breath away.
“Yes, it’s so pretty. I wonder if there will be a shooting star?”
They gazed up at the night sky for quite some time.
“…What should we do? Should we keep moving? I’m not really sure if we can make it back again…”
Mi agreed with Maple’s suggestion, and so the two of them climbed over a wall of clouds and continued forward.
And after a while, they came to a straight path.
The cloud path was barely wide enough for them to walk on side by side. And just as they stepped foot on it…
“Hm? Maple! Look up!”
“Up? … ‘Dedicated Affection’!”
Maple reactivated ‘Dedicated Affection’ to protect Mi.
In the next instant, shining objects began to rain from the sky.
They fell on Maple as she backed off and moved out of the way.
And then whatever it was, stopped just like rain.
The two of them had an idea of what it was that was raining.
“As you said, Mi, the stars are shooting down tonight…”
“But that’s not physically possible…”
“I don’t know how much power they have, but it looks like I can take it. So we can keep moving.”
Maple and Mi started to walk forward again.
The stars bounced off of Maple and fell away.
“I wonder if Sally would just dodge all of them?”
“No, I don’t think that is possible…?”
The stars fell down on them without pause.
It was not something that you could dodge and move forward.
As they continued onward, they finally reached the end of the path.
“Some really big ones are falling now…”
“No problem! We’ve arrived!”
At the end of the long path, was a wall of cloud. And in that wall was a hole.
There was no way they could come all of this way and not go inside, and so they carefully made their way in.
The tunnel was not too long, and they quickly came out the other side.
A glimmering light illuminated the area.
The quiet light stretched up like a thread.
It connected the sky to a bowl made of clouds.
“Woah…”
“This…”
They approached the vessel and touched the light inside of it.
There was no sensation of having touched anything, but both of them received an item.
“‘Dewdrop of Heaven’?”
“I don’t…know how to use it. But it’s probably good, right? Maybe it’s some kind of material.”
“Mi, do you think that this is the only thing we can get here?”
“I think so. There was only one path leading here, after all.”
Maple agreed, and so they decided to end their exploration here.
The unexpected adventure had ended, and both of them logged out.
The next day.
Maple was talking to Sally about the ‘Dewdrop from Heaven.’
“Hmm…I think it must be some key item. I think you should hold onto it, in case it’s important.”
“I will. Oh, I better increase the level on my permit soon.”
This layer had more things to do than any other layer before it. There was a new event every day.
“I need to max mine out soon as well. I’ll be waiting for you in the center.”
“Yes, I’ll catch up to you.”
First, it was Kasumi, and then one by one, the others passed the nineth gate.
And since one of them made the information public, the final goal of this town had been revealed at the beginning of November.
Yes, to collect the three items.
Mi and Maple had already collected one of those items, and so both guilds were able to skip the information gathering, and attempt to get the ‘Dewdrop of Heaven.’ However, ‘Ifrit’s Kingdom’ found it difficult to get past the power of the falling stars.
And so they eventually asked Mi to call Maple, and they were reminded of just how dangerous she was.
And Maple’s empty pockets were now filled with the reward they had given her in return.
As for Maple Tree, Maple took Chrome and Kasumi with her once. And Sally went alone, and then they were finished.
The other four had no intention of going to the final gate, and so their attempt was postponed.