I hate being in pain, so I think I'll make a full defense build

Itai no wa Iya nanode Bōgyo-Ryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu 493

Defense Specialization and Division

“Take… this! …Thanks to Iz, we have so many options!”

Sally threw the ball far, far away. Of course, she wasn’t throwing aimlessly. She predicted the Boss’ location based on the angle of the flying poison mass, along with the direction of the firing noise. Afterwards, she threw the ball so that it’d fall behind the Boss.

Along with a booming sound, the purple mist that engulfed the area wavered slightly.

After confirming that, Sally stretched out several threads deep inside where she couldn’t see them. Then, the thread tightened. Convinced that she’d succeeded, she quickly tugged at the outstretched string.

She could hear something scraping against the ground. A multitude of large spheres emerged, cutting through the mist—

—And then there was the poisonous figure of the boss, who was dragged forcefully there.

“Okay, it worked!”

Iz’s special ball. It’d grow in size over time. Originally, it was supposed to be used for attacks, either by throwing it into the air or attaching it to spikes. At first, Sally wasn’t planning on using it. Nevertheless, she managed to put it to good use and dragged the Boss out.

“[Icicle]!”

She conjured a pillar of ice to prevent the Boss from escaping. Thus, the Boss was pinned in front of Maple, who also couldn’t move.

In no time at all, Maple got caked by the poisonous lumps spewed by the slime. Nevertheless, the attack itself didn’t do any damage, so it didn’t matter.

“I managed to deliver the Boss to you… But are you really going to proceed with it?”

“It looks soft, so it should be fine!”

“…I’m more concerned about the fact that it’s poisonous, but I don’t think it’ll affect you… All right, I’ll bring it to you.”

“Okay! I’ll do my best to aim my skills!”

Sally further shortened the distance between the Boss and Maple. When she sat down and brought the Boss within the reach of Maple’s mouth, the Boss also began to attack due to the close proximity.

“Can you breathe!?”

“I’m not underwater, so it seems okay!”

“Good. Then, I will fight it while sitting… Uh, can you eat it? Oh, you can…”

Sally’s question was answered through action. Maple suffered constant small damage effects from the poisonous blobs. HP bar decreased slightly. Nevertheless, she wouldn’t rest until she’d gobbled the entire thing.

“Take your time.”

“Okay!”

Although Maple was completely buried in the poisonous mass, Sally was relieved by the cheerful response she heard and prepared in case something happened.

Thus, the boss battle. Maple was using [Predator]. As expected, they were at the 10^th Floor, so it’d take a tremendous amount of time to defeat the Boss using only [Predator]. Regardless, with all the skills that Maple acquired all had a finishing blow that was [Predator], or more precisely, [Drain[, so there was no issue.

Sally also confirmed this when she obtained [Use Threads].

“[Double Slash]!”

To avoid reducing the Boss’ HP to the point where it changed its behavior pattern, Sally used moderate firepower and reduced the boss’ HP to shorten the time.

Then, as Maple continued to eat one bite after another, it happened.

The poisonous blob began to shake. While Sally was on guard, the Boss escaped from her restraints and vanished right in front of her.

If it was only that, then there was no problem, but…

Sally noted that the range of [Dedicated Affection] was rapidly changing, and took immediate action.

“[Super Acceleration]!”

Fortunately, the range of [Dedicated Affection] was wide. If Sally ran as fast as she could in the same direction, she could somehow stay inside. This time, the lighting effects that’d normally served as cosmetic helped her.

“Maple, are you okay!?”

“I-I’m fine… It jumped all of a sudden, and I was surprised.”

Once they both breathed a sigh of relief at their safety, the purple mist mysteriously diminished. Although the mist was still poisonous, it wasn’t thick enough to block their vision.

Then, in their somewhat clearing field of vision, they saw a bunch of poisonous blobs bouncing around.

“Huh!?”

“…It has divided!? If we can’t find the main body, we’d suffer from the poison. Even now, the poison is being spread at a rapid rate!”

The ground was so sticky that there was nowhere to step. Naturally, the poisonous attack itself should’ve done damage, and splitting up in the midst of what supposed to be a short, decisive battle was a tricky maneuver.

“Well, only one has Maple in it. Thanks to you, I was able to figure it out right away.”

“It was just a coincidence, but I’m glad.”

“Let’s defeat it as soon as possible. It’ll be difficult to return to the throne.”

As her recovery speed decreased, Sally decided to support Maple with potions and wait until Maple finished eating.

“By the way, is it yummy?”

“Not really…”

Although it looked like grape jelly, the contents were poisonous. There was no way it’d be delicious.

“I see. Do your best.”

Due to having accumulated a series of uncertain successful experiences, [Predator] had become one of Maple’s choices, and Sally was unsure whether it was a good or bad thing.

“I hope I can at least get the skill…”

“Me too.”

As Sally watched the HP bar gradually decrease, the Boss’ movement all but ceased as it was being eaten away. The battle was slowly but surely coming to an end.

The last bite completely depleted the Boss’ HP, and with a crackling sound, the poison mass that had wrapped Maple fell into nothingness.

“Thank you, Sally! I wouldn’t be able to defeat it without you!”

“Certainly, it might be tricky without a healer. I’m glad I was able to help. Oh, the poison mist is fading away…”

As soon as the Boss disappeared, the purple mist that had shrouded the area vanished. Maple’s <poisoned> ailment was also gone, so they no longer had to worry about getting poisoned.

“How’s it? Did you get any skill?”

“Ooh, right! I obtained a new skill! But I don’t think it has anything to do with lowering resistance…”

“As expected of a Boss! Well, there’s no one around, why don’t you test it out?”

“Shall we try it out? Ah… I don’t have enough MP… Should I put it on my armor?”

“Is it not enough? Well, there’s nothing you can’t do with your equipment.”

“It seems that I can adjust the MP consumption to 100, 200, or 300 when using it.”

“If that’s the case, why don’t you set it at the maximum value? Putting the skill in your equipment will also be a good idea.”

When it came to equipment that could provide 300 MP, a fairly powerful one was needed. If so, it was natural to rely on the best equipment to cover the lack of MP.

“Okay, I’ll use 300 and go all out!”

“Yeah, let me see it.”

“[Toxic Meiosis!”

Gradually, the purple venom that swallowed Maple seeped onto the ground, spreading around her.

Three pillars of poison rose from the toxin pool, making a gurgling sound. Eventually, they changed form, taking after the image of Maple, down to the exact colors.

“Wow, I can’t tell the difference. I wonder how far it can imitate you?”

“Although they can’t use any skills, their status is the same!”

“Despite the fact that [Absolute Defense] hasn’t been activated, do they inherit your equipment status?”

“Uh-huh!”

“I see.”

Even though the clones couldn’t use any skills, Maple had insurmountable defensive power. If the clones inherited the same equipment and basic status as her, no basic attacks would work against them.

“I can control them to a certain extent. Otherwise, they’ll inflict poison on the opponent.”

“Ah, the skill from earlier…”

“After that, they’ll explode if I re-cast the skill!”

“…?”

“[Toxic Meiosis]!”

When Maple casted the skill again, the three Maple clones exploded with a bang, scattering venom everywhere.

“…”

“Wow, amazing… They really exploded…”

The sight was quite surreal, but Sally accepted it for now. Then, she asked Maple about something she was curious about.

“Say, can you use [Curse of Poison]?”

“It says that I haven’t acquired the skill, though…”

“Because Maple can use poison skill, I was wondering about that…”

“Certainly…”

“If you can, won’t it be powerful? Even if your clones aren’t invincible, they have insanely high defense. You can also rig them to explode if the enemy gets close. Unlike my clone, yours are durable, so they can be used as a shield…”

“I see. Maybe it’s a pretty handy skill!”

“We can always learn more about it. Afterwards, you can incorporate them into your strategy.”

“Right.”

After completing the quest and getting solid results, the two escaped from the Boss’ domain, which was engulfed in poison.

Just as Maple and the others were progressing with their exploration, the other guilds had also decided on strategies and set out to conquer the 10^th Floor, splitting up their efforts and leaving each area to players who were suitable for them.

Of course, some guilds had more progress than the others, and the [Congregation of the Holy Swords] was one of them.

“As expected, Ray is faster. It’s a rare monster, after all.”

“Don’t fall. I won’t be able to do anything to help you.”

“Oh, Payne, it’s almost time.”

“Indeed. Ray, lower the altitude.”

After all, they had Ray, who could accommodate up to 4 people on his back with the help of [Enlarge]. His high-speed flight, which had come in handy many times in interpersonal events, proved to be a great help in the vast 10^th Floor.

The four of them alighted from Ray, landing on the ground.

“We can’t fly from here.”

“It seems that we can’t fly all the way through the sky.”

On the way, they’d encounter some places in the sky that rendered their flight impossible. Those places would either be blocked by a strong gust of wind or unbeatable monsters because of quest circumstances.

“I wish Shadow can become huge, too…”

“I don’t think it’ll be able to, since [Super Enlarge] is basically an early skill.”

Under these circumstances, it’d be easier if they could move around with Shadow, but that didn’t seem to be an option. Nevertheless, he had powerful movement skills that were useful during battle, so he was the right person for the right place.

“All right, let’s move forward and devise a strategy right away.”

“Let me increase your movement speed—hm?”

As Frederica tried to apply some buffs, a circular, glowing area effect crossing at high speed came into her view.

She looked up and saw one of the town’s rented dragons flying past. After a short distance, it slowly lowered its altitude and disappeared into the forest, out of sight.

“Is that… Maple?”

“I guess so. That light must’ve come from [Dedicated Affection].”

“Did something happen over there?”

“No. There’s currently no such information.”

“Let’s go check it out. Maybe we’ll find some rare events?”

“Well, the possibility is there.”

“Hmm. Then why don’t we head there?”

“Eh, for real?”

Frederica stared in shock, not expecting him to come along.

“Haha, didn’t Frederica suggest it first? [Maple Tree] is a guild that you want to keep an eye on. Considering how spacious the 10^th Floor is, it’d be best to check the current situation after we happened to come across each other.”

“In that case, let’s jump on Ray’s back! I’m glad we saw them before the [Super Enlarge] is canceled.”

“You’re right. Ray!”

Payne let the three of them ride Ray and flew towards the forest where the light that seemed to come from Maple was last seen.

When they got close, Ray began to land, and Frederica jumped off his back. She scanned the surrounding area.

“Around here, maybe…?”

“…!”

“……!”

“Oh, looks like we aren’t alone.”

Although they couldn’t hear what was going on, they could hear the sounds of battle and someone’s voice a little further ahead. Apparently, Maple and the others hadn’t entered the dungeon yet.

Led by Frederica, they went to see what was ahead. After hearing a familiar voice from behind the bushes in front of her, Frederica became convinced and stuck her head out of the bushes to see what was going on.

There were three Maples. They were hugging a grizzly bear tightly. The bear tried to thrash Maples, but there was no damage.

Then, the bear, who once had a lot of HP, suddenly disappeared as if it had evaporated.

“…?”

Frederica thought that Maple had used Sally’s ability to create a clone of herself, but that didn’t seem to be the case anymore.

As she stared at the three Maples, wondering if it was a new skill, they suddenly exploded, scattering debris all around.

“Uwah…!”

“Hm? Oh, Frederica!”

“Oh, hey… Hello, you guys…”

After what she’d seen, Frederica couldn’t suppress her scream. The two, who noticed her, approached right away.

A little later, Payne and the three others also showed up.

“Forgive Frederica. She saw you flying away, so she followed you thinking that we could talk for a bit.”

“Oh, I see!”

“I thought you might have found a rare event. This place is somewhat removed from the quest area. I see that you came here to test out a new skill.”

“Shall I test it out on Frederica at the upcoming event?”

“Spare me.”

“Hehe, after what you’ve witnessed, I won’t let you live?”

Despite that, in reality, as long as they didn’t know the details of the skill, it didn’t really matter much. Therefore, safe to say that Sally was joking.

—Besides, whether they learned the details behind that skill or not, it wouldn’t change the fact that the skill was troublesome.

“Well, Frederica ended up peeking at you. I can provide some information if the two of you wish, but what do you think?”

In response to the symbol of apology, the two received some information.

“As expected, isn’t the strategy for the [Congregation of the Holy Swords] pretty advanced?”

“So-so, I guess. We have a lot of guild members, but we still don’t have enough hands.”

“If you just proceed with the quest, it won’t be that hard. But if you do that, you’ll miss out on too many events.”

“We’re growing stronger, too. Let’s have another battle next time.”

“Okay, I’ll look forward to it.”

“At any rate, there are still many unexplored areas. We also need as many hands as possible. We even formed an alliance, once. It’d be helpful if we can work together.”

“Of course!”

“If you are in trouble, please call me. I’ll lend you a hand if you need.”

“Okay!”

“Then why don’t we lend you a hand, too? Originally, I was planning to go exploring for a bit.”

“If Maple is all right with it, then sure. What do you think?”

“It’s fine! Besides, I think we have the same quest.”

“It’s a series of battles, so it’d be reassuring if we have the cooperation of the [Congregation of Holy Swords].”

“Yay! Nfufu, now I don’t have to think about defense.”

“It’s a win-win!”

“If so, let’s hurry. Now that we can focus solely on the offensive, there’s a change of strategy.”

“Let’s not linger for too long. Shall we head out right away?”

Complete the quest with [Congregation of the Holy Swords]. Supported with Maple’s impeccable defense, they could focus on unleashing the most devastating attack.

They unleashed hell on earth. Monsters were blown away with flying skills. Even the Boss wasn’t spared.

The six were in high spirits. Of course, a boss that could withstand the attack of the six was nonexistent, even in the 10^th Floor. At the very least, not in the general quest line.

As for the completion of the quest, it was no longer a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when.’

Maple and the others were to be reckoned with.