Itai no wa Iya nanode Bgyo-Ryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu 389

Defense Specialization and the 9th Layer

Time went by, and the day of the 9th Layers release finally arrived. The eight members of Maple Tree had made plans to gather together in order to capture the underwater tower.

One of the things weve gotten out of this 8th Layer is that weve increased our Swimming and Diving levels.

I hope we get a chance to make use of that in the 9th Layer as well.

Dont wanna say goodbye to the underwater experience so soon, huh? Though I wonder if well have to come back here to get materials for making water-attributed stuff

Aw, it wouldve been nice if we could have the Swimming skill as well, but

We dont have the stats required for that

But in exchange, you two get to play a really active part of todays plan. Im counting on you two to defeat anything that gets in our way.

Yeah!

Okay, full steam ahead then!

Come on out, Syrup!

Syrup was the best choice when it came to having everyone moving together while ignoring terrain.

After making Syrup go big, everyone got on his back and then Maple had him fly towards the tower.

Theres going to be a lot of movement on the surface.

Being able to fly like this sure is amazing, huh?

Since the dungeon and monsters were mainly underwater this time around, there would be no monsters in the sky, so they could fly without having to worry about a single thing.

Thus the eight of them were able to reach their destination without any trouble.

After stopping Syrup near the towers entrance and having everyone get down from him, he returned to his original size. After all, there was no way he could enter the tower while in his giant state.

Once they were all ready, they entered the tower while sticking around Maple, who had already activated her Dedicated Affection. The upper part of the tower was not submerged in water, so furniture and other items still remained relatively intact. They found themselves in a room about a dozen meters wide, with a wooden hatch on the floor leading to the floor below.

Was this made to try to block the rising water from getting to this floor?

There are no monsters around. It should be safe to go down here.

The fact that the furniture was still in place, it was easy to understand that this was the dungeons actual entrance.

Ill stand around here just in case!

Maple stood close to the hatch, directing the pillar-like range of her Dedicated Affection downwards.

Im opening it up.

When Chrome opened the door, he noticed the floor underneath was completely pitch black, partly because there were no windows on it. After casting a light downwards, he found that though it didnt seem to be submerged in water, something appeared to be moving around.

Theres something down there.

Maples defensive aura was wide enough that it reached the floor underneath, but since the only way to get there was through a completely vertical iron ladder, it would be difficult for all members to get there at the same time.

Should I go there with Mai and Yui, or with Kasumi?

I have another idea.

Iz had a mischievous smile on her face. Chrome somehow understood what she was talking about and, thinking it would be his safest bet, refrained from jumping to the floor underneath.

What happened next was quite intense. A large number of bombs were dropped onto the floor below from its only upper entrance one after another, and once there were enough bombs in it, a flaming crystal was tossed inside before closing the hatch.

Cover your ears!

Immediately after that, a thunderous roar and a violent rumbling came from the floor below. Since the wooden door was an unbreakable object that wouldnt open by itself, Maple and the others would be fine on the floor they were in, but anything that could have been on the floor below might have not survived such a blast.

Its scary how important it is to be at an advantageous position.

Yeah, thats right.

Lets just keep pressing on like this. Well worry about the underwater section once weve reached it.

Thus they kept going down several floors, indiscriminately obliterating any monsters that were there by filling them up with Izs bombs.

Whats scary is letting Iz get an advantageous position.

Amazing! With this, well reach the lower floors with as much as a scratch on us!

A good offense tends to be the best defense, so they wouldnt have to worry about taking damage if they simply kept blowing up everything below them as they went down.

Well, time for a change of plan. Its all water from this point on.

Oh, then I guess thats it for my bombs then.

At least its no longer so dark anymore. I can see some big fish swimming down below.

Time for our diving suits, right? We can just go wild on them thanks to Mai and Yui here.

Ill protect you the moment you get in!

Okay, lets give it a shot.

Just having Maple around would have been enough, but just in case, Chrome got in first, followed by Mai and Yui.

The moment they jumped into the water, the fish swimming inside reacted by showing their glaring sharp fangs and rushint to attack them.

Dont you worry about me, okay? Go, Mai, Yui!

Quick Change!

Just as the fish started to gather around Chrono, Mai and Yui, who were slightly behind him, wielded eight hammers each.

Each one of those hammers were as strong as putting all of Izs bombs together.

They were using basic attacks that consisted of simply swinging their hammers. However, that alone surpassed the destructive power of any special move anyone else on the team could have.

Anything that came into contact with those swinging hammers would literally explode into pieces and disappear. Their simple violence ran around the room in an instant, returning everything to nothing.

Phew I know that even if you were to hit me with those things, I wouldnt take any damage since Im your teammate But it still sends a shiver down my spine.

Even though Mai and Yui were actively trying not to hit Chrome, seeing such destruction being unleashed so closely to him was enough to make his body stiffen up reflexively.

Way to go~!

That did the trick!

Thanks for your defense too, Maple.

Ehehe, thanks to the both of you guys, it wasnt even necessary.

There was a certain sense of security to knowing that they would be okay even if they were to get attacked by some chance, which allowed them to go completely on the offensive without having to worry about a thing. Hearing their conversation, Chrome silently nodded, as if agreeing that that is precisely the main role of a Great Shield user.

Looks like its already over and without incident.

Yeah, Sally. These small fry are no match for those two when they wield all of their hammers. Also, its pretty amazing how my Dedicated Affection works vertically like this.

Yeah

The skill had a wide range, covering up the entire width of the tower, so any monster that wanted to attack them had to pierce through it first. Everyone knew that such a thing was virtually impossible to achieve for most monsters.

Okay, lets keep going! Im leaving the offensive to you guys!

Since the eight of them were there, Maple didnt have to force herself into attacking. It was important to have a potion on hand in case she suddenly got damaged. The teams front had no way of collapsing unless Maple was defeated.

They had switched from a strategy centered on Iz to one centered on four attackers, Mai, Yui, Kasumi, and Sally, to proceed further down. Kasumi and Sally were in charge of fast monsters, and Mai and Yui would blow away monsters that seemed to have high HP and defense.

By having Chrome lure the monsters to himself and use Necros skill to lower their AGI stat, they were able to defeat the monsters without any particular complications.

Look at them going. Makes me wonder if we should join in the fun.

Hehe, Im glad I can actually afford to sit back and chill. I get to save on spellbooks.

You keep racking those up. I wonder if youll ever run out of those?

Hmm, I suppose it could happen eventually?

Imagine Kanade using up all of his books.

Hahaha, yeah. But if it turns out I need to use them at some point, I will.

Maple and Iz couldnt imagine what kind of opponent would force Kanade to use all of his accumulated skills on them.

Then, as the three of them were still talking, Sally popped out from the lower floor.

All done. The next floor looks a little deeper, so well all need to be there.

Okay~!

It feels like were just going through a series of floors, right? Ill get my spellbooks ready just in case.

Yeah, please do. I cant tell for sure since I cant see this place from the outside, but Im sure weve been diving a lot, so it wouldnt be weird to be close to running into this places boss.

When everyone got together and proceeded to the next floor, they found that it was a huge room that had once been split into several floors, but the floors themselves had caved in, leaving only the outer wall behind all the way to the bottom. Rather than having been eroded by water and collapsing, the floors seemed to have been destroyed by something so huge that it had crushed them along the edges of the wall.

Its pretty deep, isnt it? Its going to take some effort to get all the way down there.

Though we could also say that we can just beeline to the bottom since there are no more floor divisions here.

Somethings shining? Guys!?

While they were discussing what to do next, Sally saw something shining far below, and called everyones attention. Then, the moment everyone looked down, three lumps of shining water flew towards them one after another.

Sally and Kasumi swiftly dodged them, and Chrome blocked one of them with his shield. Iz and Kanade also managed to avoid them, but Mai and Yui, who were slow and had no Swimming skills, had no means to evade them.

As the lumps hit them directly, bubbles and a damage visual effect were displayed on each of them. Since they were under the effects of Maples Dedicated Affection, everyone else looked back at Maple.

No damage! But, their air!

Maple confirmed that their remaining oxygen had decreased as a result of the direct hit and explained what happened to the rest of the team.

I see Right, that is one big weakness we all share here!

Oh, thats low. Attacking us by depleting our oxygen after a long underwater dungeon

However, from the different atmosphere and changes in the battle terrain, it was easy to think that that had probably been an attack by the boss.

Still, the boss itself couldnt be seen because it was too far down below. All that could be seen were its long-range attacks coming from the darkness of the towers bottom at high speed.

We can block these with our shields just fine! Lets make a beeline to the bottom while Maple and I at the front. If we waste our time idling here, its gonna get rough for Maple!

Right. Ill get some defensive magic ready.

Ill repel them with my sword as well. I also have my Minds Eye. Ill be able to see the range of its attacks.

Should I change my weapon into a Great Shield too?

Mai, Yui. You two have all of us protecting you. So go give that boss hell!

Yes!

Okay! Lets go, everyone!

Under Maples command, the eight of them advanced towards the bottom. With Mai and Yui at the back and Maple and Chrome marching in front, the formations defense was solid, and with support from Iz and Kanade, Kasumi and Sally were the first ones to deal with the boss frontal attacks.

Their win condition was to take Mai and Yui to whatever was there at the bottom. There was nothing that those two wouldnt be able to defeat, provided it was within their attacking range.

Theres four shots now!

Ill take care of this one!

Im blocking this one!

With a swift swing of Kasumis sword, the lump of water split into small bubbles and disappeared just before it could hit her. Sally takes safety precautions and turns her weapon into a large shield to catch it. Maple and Chrome each blocked the remaining two shots, so not even a single one of them managed to land a direct hit.

Thanks, guys!

Thats efficient role-sharing for you!

Yeah, we have the right people in the right places. Lets focus on destroying that boss.

Kasumi and Sally noticed a slight change in the water as they managed to get past the lumps of water that attacked them one after another.

The flow Kasumi!

Minds Eye!

Kasumi activated her skill in order to turn Sallys hunch into a certainty. What she saw was a scene that glowed bright red everywhere except near the walls due to the effect of her attack-predicting skill.

Get to the walls! Somethings coming!

There would be no mistake in Kasumis words whenever she was using her Minds Eye. Anything she could see with it was something that was inevitably going to happen in a few moments.

Immediately after everyone approached the edge, a huge water current burst upwards from the center of the room. Getting caught in that stream would not only have dealt damage to them, but also returned them to the starting point.

Its coming back!

Kasumi, can you do that again?

Yeah. Battlefield of Carnage Minds Eye.

A red aura rose from Kasumis body, instantly reducing her skills cooldown. This made it possible for her to use her Minds Eye once again in quick succession.

If this effect expires, I wont be able to use the skill, but if it helps those two move forward, then that shouldnt be a problem.

Even if the negative effects of Battlefield of Carnage happened to deprive Kasumi of the use of her skills, it would serve the purpose of protecting Mai and Yui until they reached the boss.

With her current ability, she was confident that she would still be able to dodge most attacks anyway.

She was still able to completely avoid even those attacks that had little indication by looking into a certain future. There was no room for mistakes or misreadings because she wouldnt be dodging simply as a result of her intuition or experience.

Right after they managed to completely dodge the water stream attack, the effect of Battlefield of Carnage expired, and Kasumis field of view was restored to normal.

Times up, huh The rest is up to you guys.

Weve been diving down for quite some time now, we should be coming across the boss anytime now.

Right after those words were said, they looked down at the bottom of the tower, and found that there were a large number of blinking lights there sparkling in the darkness, like a starry sky on a moonless night.

And not a single one of them would not know what that meant.

Ill put up a defensive barrier!

Wake up, Sou! Mimic! Guard Magic!

Kanade deployed a barrier while having Sou mimic it, and Iz put up an energy barrier that made a crackling noise by tossing one of her crystals ahead.

The shining dots at the bottom of the tower turned out to be a large amount of water bullets. It was an almost unavoidable barrage that headed towards all eight of them at once. However, they were all blocked by the many layers of defense, completely sparing them from being hit directly.

I saw it!

Sally, who was in the forefront, finally caught a glimpse of the boss. Its body was huge, covering almost the entirety of the towers girth, and it had many fins and beautifully shining pale blue scales. It was not a fish, but a water dragon.

When the water dragon noticed that the eight of them were approaching, it began to move, rising at a tremendous speed.

! Dont let it through! If we do, hell have the high ground!

If the water dragon were to dash past them, they would have to go back up while avoiding attacks again. Though that was something that was bound to happen sooner or later, with all eight of them in the battle, perhaps they could create a momentary chance to deal some damage.

Sou, Slow Field!

Necro, Dead Mans Weight!

Sou distorted the space around them, and Necros power caused a huge skull to float behind Chrome for a moment. Put together, both skills would massively slow the water dragon down.

Invitation to the Ocean Floor!

Maples fully stretched tentacle hit the water dragons body, causing several damage visual effects to appear. However, that had just been an aftereffect of her Evil Eater, and not what she was trying to do with her tentacle. The real goal was different.

A shocking sound echoed as the boss body was momentarily paralyzed. Because the water dragon was a boss, the paralysis would only last about one second. But for that second, the boss movements had stopped completely. And there were two girls who had been waiting for that chance all along.

Double Impact!

Sixteen sledgehammers relentlessly rushed the water dragons body with the full force of Mai and Yuis tremendous attack power. Other than bosses resistant to physical attacks or raid bosses, there was no withstanding this overwhelming force.

Sixteen shockwaves rapidly hit the boss body, and its HP brought to zero in an instant.

After defeating the boss and diving deeper down the silent tower, they found a magic circle at the bottom, which would allow them to advance towards the next Layer.

Great job, everyone~! Thanks to everyones effort, I didnt end up running out of oxygen!

Thats good to hear. You too did a nice job with that paralysis there, Maple.

I wasnt expecting that to happen when I threw my tentacle at it, though.

Maybe normal monsters get eaten up too quickly before getting a chance of being paralyzed by it.

Maybe, yeah

Since they had cleared the dungeon, they would soon be leaving this underwater world.

There was also the fact that they were running low on oxygen. Since they couldnt afford to talk too much in that place, the eight of them stepped on the magic circle that led to the 9th Layer.

I wonder what kind of place it is!

Im looking forward to exploring it fully!

Then the eight of them were wrapped in light and disappeared. After a while, when everything stopped being white and their field of vision returned to normal, they felt solid ground at their feet. They then took off their diving clothes and gazed upon the new world before their eyes.

From the top of the hill they found themselves at, they could clearly see two distinctive areas.

Water and ice could be seen on one side, and lightning that echoed with flames could be seen on the other side. There was a side where a rich forest could be seen, while the other one was all rocks and hot lava all over the place, each based on an underlying tone of white as if to symbolize light and darkness. There were many contrasting things just by looking at them from where they were.

Then, a big town was there, which could be seen from either side even when looking at it from a distance.

Hoho, I see. I may have understood a little about the upcoming PvP looking at this conflicting place.

Oh, this makes things easier to understand.

Is this going to be a guild-based PvP event? Or an individual one?

Which of these sides would you prefer to be on, sis?

Hmm, lets see Id feel much safer around lots of greenery

Each member of Maple Tree showed their first impressions of the new Layer.

What about you, Maple? I think youd do well at either side. Though this has a certain light versus darkness feel about it, huh?

If you look only at her skills, Maple would be more suited for the darkness side. However, she also had a light component to her, which had recently been bolstered in the 8th Layer.

Hmph, I cant tell unless I get a better look at things.

Youre probably right. And it might be decided for us when the event starts anyway.

Until then, they simply had to decide which side they would like to explore.

The green side seems to be very beautiful. However, the volcano area could feature something they had never seen before.

Such thoughts troubled Maple, but there were merits to both sides.

Okay~! Lets walk around everywhere!

Maple cheerfully proclaimed that as she looked upon the new Layer from atop the hill.

350 Name: Anonymous Spear user

A PvP event at last~

351 Name: Anonymous Bow user

Time to see how much stronger everyone has become

352 Name: Anonymous Greatsword user

I dont know about the details yet, but heres hoping I dont get eliminated early

353 Name: Anonymous Magic user

Ive gotten stronger too but that monster of a player is really scary

354 Name: Anonymous Great Shield user

Well, more than a 1 vs 1 thing, this looks like its going to be team vs team

355 Name: Anonymous Magic user

Yeah but this is one heck of a juggernaut

356 Name: Anonymous Great Shield user

Who?

357 Name: Anonymous Greatsword user

Oh? Did something happen while you were exploring on the 8th Layer?

358 Name: Anonymous Great Shield user

Lots of things, lots of things happened

359 Name: Anonymous Spear user

This time Im gonna get her, Im gonna get her

I swear Im gonna get herrrr

360 Name: Anonymous Bow user

Theres no way we such ridiculous things can happen, right?

Theres no way, right?

361 Name: Anonymous Magic user

The PvP event is going to begin soon, so why dont you see for yourself?

362 Name: Anonymous Greatsword user

At least dont use that Atrocity thing on me

363 Name: Anonymous Spear user

What would you do if that tentacle sprouting from her hand were to take over her entire body?

364 Name: Anonymous Bow user

Weve been underwater this entire time so I wouldnt be surprised if shes gotten even more tentacles

360 Name: Anonymous Great Shield user

What do you guys think about Maple?

366 Name: Anonymous Spear user

Shes this games final boss

367 Name: Anonymous Bow user

Shes a mixture between a monster and a girl, with a little bit of angel about her

~~and with tentacles~~

360 Name: Anonymous Greatsword user

And with a whole bunch of cannons

369 Name: Anonymous Magic user

Yeah shes bad news

370 Name: Anonymous Great Shield user

Yeah bad news for whoever gets eaten up by her skills

371 Name: Anonymous Spear user

This may sound obvious but please dont get eaten up

372 Name: Anonymous Bow user

But its possible that she hasnt gotten any stronger than before

373 Name: Anonymous Greatsword user

Thats some wishful thinking

She must have gotten some crazy new skill

374 Name: Anonymous Great Shield user

Why dont you see for yourself then?

370 Name: Anonymous Magic user

Arent you giving yourself away by saying that? Though I do want to see for myself

Players couldnt afford to tell how strong they had become until they were matched against each other. Maple included, of course.

Maple and her friends, and their rivals Congregation of the Holy Swords, Kingdom of the Flame Emperor, Thunder Storm, and Rapid Fire, spent their days exploring the 9th Layers, eagerly waiting for the day of the PvP event.