Itai no wa iya 236
Defense Specialization and the Tower's 7th Floor 2
They untied the rope that held them together and continued on. There was only a short distance left for them on the proper route.
As they had skipped the area where it looked like something would happen, it was a relatively easy climb downward.
In front of them, they could see the spikes that they had almost been pierced by. The spikes were taller than they were and spread out like a forest.
"…Is it that way? Can we go there?"
The snow had died down as well, and Sally could see clearly enough to make a narrow road between the thorns of ice.
"We won't get stabbed from the side. So that's good."
And so they made their way through the forest of spikes. As they walked, the forest suddenly opened up into a round clearing that was covered in snow.
"A boss?"
"It doesn't seem like it's here… Oh, is it coming now?"
They could hear the loud cracking of ice. And then a giant ball that was covered in thorns rolled out towards them.
And then it opened up.
The boss that had appeared was a white hedgehog that looked like it was made of snow. Its needles were made of ice.
"It's so cute! But…but, it's so cute!"
"It will be bad if it rolls towards us like that…"
But they had just seen it roll at such a speed that was shocking, considering its size and the fact it had sharp spikes on its back.
It was making it pretty obvious that it could pierce through their defenses. And so they could not allow themselves to be hit by it.
As they thought this, the boss rolled up into a ball and then charged towards them.
"Maple, the shield!"
"Got it!"
Maple moved in front of Sally and tried to use her shield to block the attack. However, it was moving so fast that they were pushed back and blown off of their feet.
"Ahh…ouch…"
Maple stood up and brushed the snow off. A red damage effect was bursting from her shoulder.
Sally immediately healed Maple and started to think of a new plan.
"'Heal'!"
"Wh-what should we do?"
"…Hmm? Maple, look!"
Sally was pointing at the boss's back. Two of the ice thons had broken off.
Without those spikes, Maple wouldn't have to be scared of any piercing attacks.
"Let's try it out. If we can break them while attacking and still defending, we should be able to defeat it."
"Yes, I'll try! 'Deploy all Weapons'!"
The weapons expanded and Maple fired at the boss, which started to roll towards them again.
And while it did no damage to the boss's body, it was able to break some of the ice thorns.
"It's coming!"
"'Cover Move'!"
Maple continued firing until the last possible second. Then she chased after the retreating Sally at a highspeed and dodged the attack.
"Ehehe. It's been a while since I dodged something like that."
"If you get hit now, the damage will be doubled. So be careful, okay?"
"Ah! That's right. I can't get hit…"
"…It seems like there is no point in attacking while it's rolling."
"You're right! They didn't break."
"In any case, let's keep trying until we can damage it. It does seem like there's been a change."
"Yes! It's not scary if you can dodge the attack!"
"Since things are stable, I'll leave the attacking to you."
"That's fine! Then you can distract it!"
Maple would attack, then Sally would distract it so that Maple could escape from the charge. They repeated this until all of the needles on its back were gone.
And then, just as they were ready for it to come at them again, the boss hedgehog slipped on the snow and fell on its back.
It flailed its legs wildly in the air.
"That's our chance!"
"Tsk. But it's kind of far away!"
"Sally! Hold on!"
"Huh? Ah, okay!"
Maple directed her weapons to the ground and fired. The explosion launched her straight towards the boss.
She landed on its open stomach and then laughed happily.
"'Fireball,' 'Triple Slash'! Yes, it's getting damaged!"
"Uhh…an attack skill that I can use… Ah, 'Pandemonium'!"
Two giant onis appeared on both sides of the struggling hedgehog, and they began to bash it with their giant clubs. It was taking damage.
"Thi-this looks weird…"
"It's not doing as much damage as I thought… Huh!?"
"Maybe it has strong resistance. Let's move back!"
The boss finally regained its posture and threw Maple off. Sally caught her and moved away from the boss.
As there was a damage reduction to all attacks with the exception of fire attacks, they had not delt that much damage overall.
"Hmm…ah! You two don't need to attack anymore!"
The onis were chasing the boss as it started to dig in the snow, but they weren't doing any damage. After a short while, the boss reappeared with a new layer of spikes on its back. And so the onis started to bash it again with their clubs.
However, before they were able to break all of the thorns, the boss charged straight into them, and they both disappeared.
"Ah!"
"Maybe its attack power went up! Maple, you better avoid being hit!"
"Uh, yes! I definitely don't want to that…"
This would still take a lot of time. The key to winning here would be how long they could keep up their concentration.