Itai no wa iya 237
Defense Specialization and the Tower's 7th Floor 3
Dodge the charge, attack a little and then move away. They repeated this many times and chipped away at the boss's health.
As Maple could not use most of her powerful attack skills, and there were only two of them fighting, it was taking a long time.
However, this was not an enemy that could damage them as long as they were careful.
"Dodge…and attack!"
"Yes. It's below 50% now!"
The color of the HP bar changed. Now that they were finally here, they concentrated even harder.
It would all be for nothing if they lost here.
As the two watched, the hedgehog started to dig into the snow until they could no longer see it.
"Maple! Let's move away for now!"
"Got it!"
Sally activated 'Icicle,' and then shot a web towards it in order to move away from the ground quickly.
Right after that, thorns of ice shot out from the ground in random locations and tried to pierce them.
"Tha-that was close…"
"We'll have to be careful every time it goes under. Or does anything similar."
"I see. I see."
"It's coming out again. Let's go back down!"
"Okay!"
Once the ice thorns were gone, the boss returned to the surface.
The two waited for it to charge again, and then they tried to dodge it by moving to the side.
However, there was yet another change in the pattern. And the boss changed its course and advanced in the same direction that they were moving.
"What!? Co- 'Cover'!"
Sally quickly activated the skill just as the ice thorns bashed into Maple's great shield. And while the thorns shattered noisily, it did not kill the momentum and they went sliding across the ground.
"Uggghhh…my head…"
The damage effect appeared over Maple's head as she patted it and looked back in the direction she had come.
She could always heal as long as she was alive, but it was still painful.
"Thank you, Maple. Sorry. I'll let you escape it next time."
"Yes. Thank you!"
When the boss charged at them again, they jumped back in order to dodge it. And just like before, the boss followed them.
"'Leap'! Oomph!"
Sally used 'Leap' and then shot out a web towards Maple in order to pull her out of the boss's trajectory.
The boss did not turn again. And so they watched as it continued to go straight and then fall over.
"It would probably ve very bad if you got hit while using 'Cover Move.'"
She normally didn't even think about the doubled damage, but it could not be ignored when dealing with an enemy that used defense piercing attacks. It would be fatal to someone like Maple, who had low HP.
"Do you think it will turn again when its HP gets even lower?"
"Maybe. We'll have to be more careful."
For people who could escape to the air with their skills, the thorns from the ground were not much of a threat. And so they repeated the same process and continued to damage it.
They also used the fire buff items that Izu had given them. And so they were able to chip away at the boss's HP at a rate that made it hard to believe that their skills were being restricted.
"Let's jump on now!"
"Okay. It's attack time!"
Fire spread from their weapons and skills as they attacked the boss that was now on its back. Finally, its HP dropped below 20%.
However, right when it seemed like they almost had it, it sank back into the ground again.
"Alright, let's escape for now!"
"Yeah. Its movements might change again. Be careful."
Both of them stuck closely to the icicle as they waited to see what it would do next.
Just like before, it was shooting numerous ice thorns out of the ground. But not only that, the hedgehog rolled up into a ball in the center of the field and began to spin at an incredible speed while shooting out thorns from its back.
"Oh, no!"
"'Cover'!"
She could hear the sounds of ice smashing against her shield. They kept coming, and it was all she could do to block all of them.
"Woah…it's really strong!"
"Make sure you don't get scratched by any of them!"
They stayed there and endured the situation until the boss ran out of thorns. Then it tried to dive back into the snow. However, they would not allow it to do so.
"We're pretty good with ranged attacks too, you know!"
"It's so troublesome, so we won't allow you to go down any more!"
As there were no signs that the ground attacks would stop, Maple had Sally secure her to where she was as she began to attack with lasers and bullets. Sally used magic and items and supported Maple.
As they were able to use fire attacks, which were its weakness, its HP continued to drop.
And then, just before it tried to dive into the ground again, the HP went to 0.
"Yay!"
"Yes! Nice guarding. Thank you."
"No, it was all because of your 'Icicle,' Sally. I would have died from those thorns in the ground without them."
"Hehe. We both did our part. It was a lot easier because of you, Maple. In fact, we clearly skipped a lot of this dungeon…"
"Oh, right. That's how we got here."
"Of course, we should look down next time, if we want to avoid being skewered."
"Ahaha… I'll be careful."
With three floors left, they decided to return for the day. They had used a lot of items, and Maple could no longer use some of her skills, including 'Machine God.' And so they returned to the guild home in order to rest and regain their fighting ability, and also ask Chrome and the others about how much progress they had made.