Itai no wa Iya nanode Bgyo-Ryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu 382

Defense Specialization and Heavenly Light 2

When they opened the door to the guild home, they found that the other team members were already there waiting for them.

Ah, everyones here!

We were curious. Youre quick to produce results, you two.

Im looking forward to seeing something interesting.

Lets go to the training center. Im assuming this is still a secret to other guilds, right?

Yeah. If we keep it a secret, Im sure those opponents who see it for the first time will be caught off guard. Besides, even without the skill, Maple wont be a hindrance in battle.

Makes sense. So its some really scary skill, isnt it?

What kind of skill is it?

Dont think so. Its Maple, after all.

If someone didnt know what she normally had, anything new wouldnt come as much of a surprise.

Haha, youll know when you see it!

The eight of them entered the training center and waited for Maple to activate her new skill.

Ah, wait a second~! Umm, before that, let me okay, Quick Change!

By switching to her white armor, Maple recovered her increased Max HP.

Okay, here I go! Afterglow of Salvation!

As Maple activated her skill, the ground around her started to shine, four wings sprouted from her back, and a shinier-than-ever angels halo appeared over her head.

Whoa! What a beautiful skill.

Ive been wondering what would happen when you activate it.

Look at that, and here I was thinking shed transform into some kind of huge fish or something.

The six of them were wondering what kind of absurd transformation Maple would undergo, since she had even started to grow tentacles a while ago, but they seemed relieved to see that Maples new skill gave her an amazingly beautiful new appearance.

If youre standing within this range, any damage you receive will be reduced, plus youll gradually recover HP. It also boosts resistance to abnormal conditions!

Since Maple is always using Dedicated Affection, this effect may not be very useful for her, though.

Kanade drew the same conclusion as Sally. With Dedicated Affection, those other than Maple would already be protected from damage and abnormal conditions, so there wasnt really much of a point having a wide-range version of the essentially the same thing.

But Maple seems happy to have earned some new wings, right?

Ah, thats right. Then theres some merit to it.

After explaining the skills effect, she asked everyone to gather around her.

Wait, theres more?

Thats not all you have to show us, right?

Look forward to whats coming next! Its perfectly safe!

Everyone did as Maple said, and after confirming that they were all within the range of Afterglow of Salvation, she activated her next skill.

Phew Ark!

The light that was shining from the ground became stronger, and after a few seconds, the bright light enveloped everyone, and they started to float in midair.

Ooh!?

Oh, interesting! You can make us float now. I wonder if its like when you make Syrup levitate?

After they were all floating in the air, a large amount of water came crashing down directly below them with tremendous force, filling the training center up. As the training centers dummies were swept away, the light surrounding the eight people became stronger and everything before them became pure white.

Immediately after that, just as they were starting to feel that they had been floating in midair for a while, the water was gone, and the eight of them returned to the ground. But instead of returning to the place where each of them were standing, they had moved next to the wall of the training center.

Alright, success!

Then, Maples wings and halo disappeared, and all other changes were reverted.

Looks like it worked.

Yeah, Im really looking forward to using it when were all fighting together!

Maple then explained the skills effect in detail. Ark could only be used while Afterglow of Salvation is active. After casting for 5 seconds, everyone affected by Afterglow of Salvation is lifted from the ground before attacking the area with a tidal wave of water. However, the attack itself was just a bonus, since what interested Maple the most was to use it to move. After the attack is over, the user and all affected allies will be moved to any place within the range of Afterglow of Salvation, which is approximately 20 meters.

Using Ark cancels the effect of Afterglow of Salvation afterwards, but that wasnt a problem for Maple.

I see With a casting speed of 5 seconds, I doubt anyone without Maples defense would be able to safely use that skill, though.

You can use it to jump from cover to make a surprise attack, you can also use the water as a distraction to get the jump on your enemy during a battle You can even use it to escape from a battle as well!

Sadly, this wouldnt help improve Maples ability to move because it had a slow casting time. Still, it was nice to have more options in combat.

Having a large amount of water drawing their attention while a party member uses that chance to make a surprise attack was a strategy that had a high chance of taking opponents off guard, provided they hadnt seen it before somewhere else.

Im sure well have plenty of chances to use this well if we keep it under wraps. Those who see it for the first time will surely be confused by it.

The water deals quite a bit of damage too!

Look at those poor training dummies

Maple saw the water attack as a bonus, since she was more interested in the moving effect, but the raging wave of water was by no means something that should be disregarded. It was powerful enough to damage the training dummies quite a bit, so it would be quite the threat to opponents with low defense.

I have another skill to show you, just a moment! Reversal Rebirth!

Maple changed one of her skills into another skill and asked everyone to move away.

Everyone could guess that the skill Maple would be changing with her Reversal Rebirth would be Afterglow of Salvation, so they all took a few steps back. Although the effect on Maple would be small, her change in appearance made it apparent that it corresponded to the skill that was going to be changed. If so, then the skill it was going to be turned into would be appropriate for that change as well.

Everyone, please get out of range~!

Out of range!? That far away?

Chromes surprise was understandable. The range of Afterglow of Salvation was about as wide as that of Dedicated Affection, and if something were to happen within that range that called for them to get out of that range, it would probably be something significantly dangerous.

Extermination Field!

Black wings appeared on Maples back, and a dark red colored halo appeared over her head. A black light changed even the color of her white armor to black. Dark red sparks crackled, and the ground under her feet turned black as a dark light started to shine from it. From the skills name and visual effect, it was evident that nothing good would come to those within its area of effect.

Maple! What does it do?

Umm, anyone who enters this field will take damage, become more susceptible to abnormal conditions, and suffer from reduced recovery effects!

According to Maple, Reversal Rebirth was a skill that changed a skill into another skill that had the exact opposite effect. But the thing that worried Maple the most was that it would affect

everyone

within range.

When you say anyone, do you mean teammates as well?

Yeah Thats what it looks like.

If Sally, Mai, or Yui were to enter the field, they would die instantly. Kanade and Izu would fall to it mere moments later.

But it would be nice to see how much damage it actually does. Were at the training center, after all Okay, I think Ill step inside the field.

Youre right. If we can see how much damage this does to Chrome, we can estimate how useful it will be in combat.

Chrome was a top class Great Shield user, so there was no way he would be killed instantly upon entering the field. Since they were already trying the skill out, it would be a good idea to try that as well.

Okay, Im going in!

The moment Chrome entered the field, he was engulfed by the dark light, and his HP decreased.

The damage it deals doesnt seem to be influenced by Maples attack power, but I can take it no problem

However, since the field dealt continuous damage and hindered passive recovery, Chromes HP was still decreasing as he spoke.

I cant stay here forever, though. It hurts quite a bit.

If it can hurt even Chrome, then we can use it in battles. Just activating the skill will make mages and such stay away.

Ah, Chrome, theres something else Id like to try!

Hmm? Oh, sure.

Okay, Dedicated Affection!

Two white wings grew among Maples existing four black wings, and a new field was deployed on the ground. The dark red sparks were now joined by a soothing light, and Maple once again asked Chrome to enter the field.

I wonder if this will work?

When Chrome reentered the field, the dark red light tried to engulf him once more, but it was intercepted by Maples Dedicated Affection.

Thanks to that, the damage that was supposed to be dealt to Chrome was redirected at Maple, and since her defense was way higher than Chromes, that damage was reduced to zero, effectively protecting her teammate from her own skill.

Using those two skills in conjunction, Maple could potentially damage everything around her while protecting her friends from harm.

Oh, now were talking! I bet any of us could enter the field now without being hurt.

Well need to incorporate this into our strategy. If we can put Maple in the middle of an enemy teams row of mages, this could do a lot of damage.

I bet getting all of your mages down in