Defense Specialization and Grinding
Once they reached the third layer, Maple introduced Yui and Mai to the rest of the guild.
After they had greeted each other, Izu went back to her workshop to create equipment for Yui and Mai.
Then Yui and Mai decided that they would log out for the day.
“Both of your levels have gone up a little, but you two still have a ways to go… Hmm… Maple, when will be the next time you three can log in at the same time?”
The three of them talked about this so they could match their schedules.
“Maple. Lend me your ear for a second.”
“Hmm, what is it?”
Sally began to talk close to Maple’s ear.
“…Okay!”
“Great, I’ll make preparations then.”
“Alright, got it.”
The two looked a little puzzled by this exchange as they called it a day.
The three of them gathered together on a later date as they had planned.
Sally then gave Yui and Mai an item each.
“Here, this is for you.”
What Sally handed over to Yui and Mai were large helmets that covered their entire face.
“Follow Maple’s orders when you use it.”
They nodded in unison.
“Okay then, will you follow me?”
“Ye-yes!”
“Ye-yes!”
Maple and the two sisters left the guild home. Sally was left behind, but she too had much to do and couldn’t immediately log out.
“Are you going too, Chrome?”
It was likely for a different reason than Maple, but Chrome was leaving the guild at the same time, so Sally called after him.
“Yeah. Kasumi’s already left.”
The current season was summer. During this period, all monster’s dropped the item ‘Watermelon’ at a very low rate.
If you collected these, you could raise the guild’s support functions.
In other words, a status up.
“As I’ve sent Maple off to help those two gain some levels, we should concentrate on strengthening the guild.”
“I wonder how they will be when they return… It’s not like they are going to pick up a ‘Unique Series,’ right?”
“Well, they are just leveling up for now. I told them to go to the first layer where they won’t be seen by others…”
There was a reason that Sally did not want them to be seen.
When she told it to Chrome, he chuckled and agreed with her.
Maple arrived in an area in the first layer that hardly had any other players in it.
It was right in front of the dungeon where Maple had once fought the Hydra.
“Are we going to invade this dungeon?”
“Yes, we are. Can you two put those helmets on now?”
The two sisters put them on as she asked.
Now their faces were covered, making them unidentifiable.
“‘Dedicated Affection’!”
Angel wings sprouted from Maple’s body and the color of her hair changed as she emitted a godly glow.
As they had seen this transformation before, they were less surprised and now able to appreciate the beauty.
“‘Savagery'”
But that awe lasted only a second.
Now Maple had turned into a hideous beast. The only thing that remained was the effect of ‘Dedicated Affection.’ Even the wings were gone.
“Ride on top of me! Oh, and hit the boss at least once.”
Unlike Maple, these two had a lot of strength. They got onto her back and held tight.
“Oh, also, I will act like a monster if somebody sees us. So keep that in mind.”
The reason that their identity was being hidden was so that no one would know which guild they were from, which meant no one would know it was Maple. Everything would be recognized as just this monster, and would not be connected to her.
They needed to hide this trump card until the guild tournament.
“What?”
“What?”
“Guga, gegega!”
Said Maple as she jumped into the cave.
That degree of acting was not really needed, but she still felt like doing it.
They killed all the monsters they met along the way, then opened the doors to the boss room and walked straight towards the Hydra.
The pitiful Hydra met the same fate as it did last time, as it was torn to shreds.
As Yui and Mai had both hit it at least once before it died, they both gained experience from it.
What happened after this was the most important.
Unlike before, Maple could now see two different magical circles in her vision.
One led to the town, the other took you back to the entrance of the dungeon.
Sally had told her that during the second invasion, a magical circle would be added to take you to the dungeon’s entrance.
Maple chose to go back to the entrance.
The boss would regenerate as soon as you left.
Yes, their objective today was to grind the Hydra.
The Hydra’s dungeon was almost ridiculously difficult compared to the first layer.
Also, since it was quite far from the town and because there were more players who specialized in one stat, it was a very unpopular location.
On top of that, the Hydra dungeon was quite short.
All of this made it very convenient for Maple.
They could rampage through the dungeon and tear into and rip the Hydra to shreds.
Yui and Mai’s level increased rapidly.
Maple could not get lost as she had memorized the route, and there was nothing in the dungeon that was the same level as her that could stop her.
Maple was able to run through the dungeon at just a little over three minutes each time.
As she continued to repeat these rounds, she looked at the time and a certain emotion grew within her.
Yes.
She wanted to make it under three minutes.
There was no real reason for it. It was just the fact that if she could scrape off a few seconds, she could get it into the two minutes range.
As she repeated the same thing over and over again, she had found a new way to enjoy it.
Move tighter through corners, kill monsters in advance with fire so she didn’t touch them and lose speed.
Open the boss doors as quickly as possible and kill the monster with everything she had.
As she concentrated on these things and made several more rounds, Maple was finally able to bring the time down to the two minutes range.
But even then, she felt like she could do it even faster.
Particularly the killing of the Hydra.
She had decided that she could shorten the time if she allowed Yui and Mai to go all out in the attack.
And after executing this several times.
When Yui and Mai had increased their attack power through leveling up, Maple was able to get it down to two minutes and thirty seconds.
“Awesome!!”
Maple said in a voice that was distorted with noise.
There was no reward for this, but she felt a great sense of fulfillment regardless.
“Maple! Maple!”
“Maple! Maple!”
“Hm? What?”
“This…”
“This…”
The two sisters were showing their statuses, so Maple took a look.
There were no holes where their eyes were, but apparently, they could still see through.
“Let’s see… ‘King of Destruction’? And ‘Invader’?”
“Uhh… ‘Invader’ is given when you kill a certain number of bosses within a time limit. You need a lot of ‘STR’ to accomplish this. ‘King of Destruction’ is for the clear time. You need a lot of ‘STR’ for this as well.”
While Maple was using ‘Savagery’ to raise her status, it was not her real status, so there was zero possibility of her acquiring it.
After that, Yui and Mai gave her a more in-depth explanation which allowed Maple to realize one thing.
‘Invader’ was essentially the STR version of ‘Complete Defense.’
“Hmm… I doubt Kasumi would need it, neither would Chrome. Sally wouldn’t like the demerits as well.”
The other members may have been on the offensive, but they still cared about their other stats. It was unlikely that they would want a skill that would limit their growth.
“‘King of Destruction’ sounds…interesting.”
It was a skill that allowed you to dual wield a weapon that you would normally only be able to carry one of.
In other words, they could dual wield two hammers as if they were twin blades.
“Let’s grind a little more before going back.”
“Yes!”
“Yes!”
The two returned from Maple’s training, now several times stronger than they used to be. But the other guild members just nodded as if this was the most obvious thing.