Itai no wa iya 225
Defense Specialization and the Tower's Fourth Floor 5
"So, how do we get on it? It's flying all over the place and shooting water at us…"
As soon as the battle began, the sea turtle started to fly around them on the water roads that it had made.
A blue magic circle shone around its giant body, and large masses of water were being launched from it. One of them hit the two, who were moving unsteadily on their shield.
"There's no damage, but…hmph. Let's go from the top!"
Maple called out Syrup. Once Syrup was floating in the air, she controlled the shield so that they landed on Syrup's shell.
Sally followed Maple onto the turtle as well. She seemed to calm down now that they had space to stand, and she stretched her limbs.
"Good! Now I'm ready!"
"I'm ready to go as well."
Maple raised Syrup's altitude, and they traveled over to where the sea turtle and the roads of water were.
"There's so much moving water…"
"Maybe we can swim in it? We'd never be able to reach the boss, otherwise."
"Hmm. Hmm. So, is that why it's flying around here?"
"Maybe. Well, let's get on its back first! Should I attach the web when we get closer?"
"Yes! If you can, do it when we are right underneath it!"
They talked in a carefree way as they waited for it to approach. The attacks were continuing, and they usually wouldn't have had time to be doing this. But as long as they weren't piercing attacks, they might as well have been nothing for Maple.
"Good. Now!"
Sally attached her web onto the shell of the turtle as it swam speedily through the sky. Then she held Maple and they moved from shell to shell.
When Sally contracted the web, they both landed on the turtle's shell with minimum impact.
"Success!"
"It's movement patterns are still simple, since we haven't dealt it any damage yet. So riding it is quite easy."
Sally connected Maple to the shell. Meanwhile, Maple returned Syrup, who was no longer within the boundary of 'Dedicated Affection,' to her ring.
Now they could fly around on the boss's back as much as they wanted to.
"Syrup doesn't exactly fly…so this is really nice."
"Well, flying like this isn't normal, okay? You just like to move around in unconventional ways, Maple."
"I wish I could fly with these wings…"
Maple said as she touched the angel wings that appeared on her back as an effect of 'Dedicated Affection.'
"Also…this is not as comfortable as I was expecting…"
"Yeah… It's like we're in the rain."
Just as before, large masses of water were raining down and splashing all over them. While there was no damage, it just wasn't a very cozy situation.
And while Maple had put on the snorkel before the boss fight started, they were not underwater, so it was completely pointless.
"Hmm. Do I have something… Ah! What about this?"
Maple rummaged through her inventory and took our a parasol and beach chairs.
"…You sure have some interesting things. Maybe that's why you always complain about not having any money…"
"They'll go flying off if I just put them down, so can you fix them to the shell?"
"Uh, okay."
And so they started to build their base on the boss's back.
As the large parasol protected them from the masses of falling water, they succeeded in stay decently dry after that.
Then they sat down in their chairs and watched the hazy horizon in the distance.
"The sea is so beautiful…"
"I doubt that there are sunsets here, but I wish I could see it."
"Yes! Let's go to the sea again in the next layer too!"
They sat there for a while as if to rest their tired bodies after going down the river. But then, the parasol snapped loudly over their heads, as if to signal the end of their time of relaxation.
As they were being attacked the whole time, the item could not withstand the damage, even if Maple herself could.
"Maple. Something is strange! It's going down to the sea!"
"Huh!? Bu-but we haven't even done anything yet!"
And like that, the sea turtle descended towards the water. While Sally may have been fine, Maple would not last long, even with the help of items.
As Sally was thinking about getting off and floating in the air, the boss rushed towards the water's surface.
But before the two could worry about holding their breath, the sea turtle stopped near the center where the roads were coming out of the water.
"Phew… Wh-what was that?"
"Maybe it automatically comes down from the sky after a certain amount of time…?"
As they wondered about this, a giant wave erupted around the boss, and from the water roads came currents of water that were completely ignoring the laws of gravity.
Though they were fixed to the shell by the webs, it did not feel very nice to be hit by waves of water.
"I guess it doesn't like that we're relaxing on its back…"
"Grrr… Well, since we're here…"
Maple said as she took out a surfboard from her inventory. She had never used this item before.
"What? You can use that?"
"It's making these nice big waves just for us!"
Maple thanked the turtle as she patted its shell.
"I'll attach a lifeline to you then."
As the web was a fixed length, she would not go out of the boundary of Dedicated Affection.
"Thank you!"
"Oh, Maple. We're still going to fight the boss after this, alright? So don't get too tired out there!"
"I-I'll be fine!"
"Okay then. I'm going to rest a little."
Sally lay down on the shell and rubbed its smooth surface.
"It's nice and cool…"
As she rested, she could hear the sound of the waves and Maple sinking beneath the sea.