Defense Specialization and the Depths of the Abyss, Part 2

With the Kraken’s defeat, the entrance to the ruins finally revealed itself before Maple and her party. The door was a jet-black panel resembling Maple’s “Ancient Weapon.”

Kanade took out the emblem they had retrieved earlier and pressed it against the door. The door split in two, inviting the three of them inside.

“Whoa!? …Whoa, the water…,” Maple exclaimed as they entered.

“It looks like there’s air inside the ruins. That’s a relief—moving around in these diving suits is a bit cumbersome,” Sally noted with some relief.

“The enemies are going to feel different from here on out, Maple, so stay alert,” Kanade warned.

“Got it!” Maple responded enthusiastically.

The water outside the ruins was held back by an invisible force, even with the door wide open. It was clearly the work of some mysterious power.

The three of them took off their diving suits and ventured deeper into the ruins. Before long, they came upon a wall with encrypted text and a path that branched left and right.

“It’s split into two parts. Maple, can you read the left side?” Sally suggested.

“Okay!” Maple agreed, deciphering the text with Sally. They quickly realized that the writing described the contents of the rooms on either side.

“The room on the right has large guardian soldiers that we need to destroy,” Sally reported.

“And the left one… it says there’s an archer squad that shoots down everything in its path!” Maple read out loud.

This meant they had to choose which opponent to face first—whichever one they were best suited to handle.

“Hmm, which one do you two prefer?” Kanade asked.

“It’s best to choose the opponent Maple can handle well, so I think the guardian soldiers are the better option. The archers would be harder to guard against,” Sally suggested.

“The guardians seem like they’re more focused on close combat. Yeah, I’d prefer that too,” Kanade agreed.

“Then it’s decided—let’s go to the right! I’ll handle the defense!” Maple said confidently.

She kept her large shield equipped with white gear, holding off on using “Devour” for now. While this slightly reduced her close combat capabilities, she could still fulfill her role as a tank, providing defense for the party as expected.

While her attacks were a bonus, they were indeed a significant one.

As they moved to the right, they encountered another door. As they approached, it opened automatically, revealing a circular room beyond it, resembling a coliseum.

Once the three of them entered the room, the door behind them closed, and a red lock icon appeared, indicating it was sealed.

“It seems we can’t leave until we defeat the enemies,” Kanade noted.

“We didn’t plan to leave anyway,” Sally replied.

“Oh, is that it?” Maple pointed ahead. In the center of the room floated a black cube, identical to Maple’s “Ancient Weapon.” As it emitted blue sparks, it rapidly expanded and transformed, taking the shape of a humanoid figure wielding a large sword. Despite its humanoid form, its sharp, angular design gave it a more robotic, android-like appearance.

The large sword and the multiple boosters attached to its body suggested a combination of power and speed.

As Maple and her companions readied their weapons, the enemy swordsman did the same. Both sides waited for the other to make a move. The moment Maple took a cautious step forward, the swordsman’s boosters ignited with blue flames, propelling it forward at high speed.

“‘Large-Scale Magic Barrier’!” Kanade quickly cast a barrier in response to the sudden acceleration, but the swordsman shattered it with a single swing.

“‘Poison Dragon’!”

“‘Water Dragon’!”

Maple and Sally launched their respective dragon attacks at the swordsman. Although the attacks hit, they did little to slow its charge. The swordsman closed the distance, swinging its massive sword.

“Ugh…!” Sally managed to dodge, but Kanade was unable to avoid the attack, and Maple, who took the brunt of the strike with her shield, was knocked back by the force, slamming into the rear wall. However, thanks to her incredible defense, she sustained no damage.

“I’m okay! It looks like there’s no piercing effect!” Maple reassured them.

“Looks like we made the right choice by picking this one! Maple, take your time getting up,” Kanade advised.

“We’ll hold it off for now,” Sally added.

“‘Kasumi’! ‘Flame Bullet’!”

“‘Dull Rain’”

Kanade summoned a rain that lowered the swordsman’s agility. With its movements slowed, Sally launched flaming bullets while closing in for a dagger strike.

“…!” Sally noticed blue lines running across the swordsman’s black body and quickly sensed danger. She instinctively backstepped, using her flying machine to create distance.

Moments later, an energy barrier expanded from the swordsman’s body in a dome shape.

“Wow, that’s a nice skill you’ve got there!” Sally remarked.

“‘Flame Lance’!”

“‘Ancient Weapon’!”

Now on her feet, Maple rejoined the fight, attacking the swordsman as soon as the barrier dissipated. The swordsman swung its massive sword again, but with her flying machine enhancing her mobility, Sally easily evaded the attack.

“‘Double Slash’! ‘Wind Cutter’!”

Sally’s precise attacks further chipped away at the swordsman’s HP. As she passed by it, she transformed one of her daggers into a bow.

Despite looking identical to her usual daggers, one of Sally’s weapons was a new unique series item that could change shape at will. Sally continued to attack from a distance, drawing the swordsman’s attention and making it more vulnerable to Maple and Kanade’s attacks.

“‘Oozing Chaos’ ‘Barrel Deployment’ ‘Commence Attack’!”

“‘Cursed Flame’ ‘Great Freeze’”

Maple’s assault landed, causing the swordsman to falter. At the same time, red and blue magic circles formed at its feet, flames engulfed its body, and ice began to crackle as it froze.

“That should create enough of an opening,” Kanade observed.

With the swordsman frozen in place, Sally summoned Oboro, who wreathed her daggers in fire and water as she closed the distance once more.

Just as Kanade had said, the trio now had enough time to unleash a decisive attack.

“‘Sextuple Slash’!”

Sally’s daggers cut through the frozen swordsman, each strike producing damage effects. The final slash left a deep gash in its chest, causing cracks to spread across its black body until it shattered and disintegrated.

“Whew… Glad it was a straightforward opponent,” Sally sighed in relief.

“And Maple didn’t take any damage either. I’m also glad I pulled a good skill from the grimoire,” Kanade said.

“Alright, let’s keep pushing forward!” Maple cheered.

“Let’s make sure we reach the ‘Demon King’s Power’ this time,” Sally said determinedly.

“Yeah, I think we can do it at this pace,” Kanade agreed.

With one ancient guardian destroyed, the trio pressed onward toward the deepest part of the ruins.

—

As expected of the final dungeon of the Eighth Layer, the interior of the ruins was filled with branching paths and numerous puzzles that required deciphering encrypted text, all while facing frequent battles.

Even so, with Sally, an efficient attacker, Maple’s “Self-Offering Love” providing near invincibility, and Kanade’s “Mimicry” allowing him to create a second Maple, the group had a robust defense line. Although the challenges weren’t easy, the battles were progressing smoothly.

“‘Sextuple Slash’! …Phew,” Sally exhaled after dispatching another enemy, this time wielding a jet-black beam rifle.

Kanade had used today’s skill from the “Akashic Record,” “Great Freeze,” to stop the enemies in their tracks, allowing Sally and Maple to attack without worrying about incoming fire.

“If they were using physical bullets, I could just deflect them,” Maple mused.

“Haha… That’s already pretty wild. But you were deflecting arrows from those archers earlier,” Kanade pointed out.

“They were slow compared to Wilbert’s,” Maple added.

“Yeah, his arrows were something else,” Sally agreed.

“They were faster than that rifle shot too. But you still deflected them, Sally,” Maple said admiringly.

As long as the projectiles had physical form, Sally could deflect them—just as Maple’s defense couldn’t be breached by anything without a piercing effect. The trio naturally integrated these abilities into their strategy.

After collecting the materials dropped by the enemies, the trio left the room and walked down the hallway. While walking, Maple wrapped multiple drills around her body to charge the energy for “Ancient Weapon.” Usually, one drill was enough, but with her constantly firing a Gatling gun ahead of them, a single drill’s energy was depleting too quickly.

No matter what came their way, it was shredded by the barrage of energy bullets. This aggressive approach to clearing paths allowed the trio to handle the smaller skirmishes with ease.

Eventually, they reached a junction where the path split into three directions, with encrypted text inscribed at each entrance.

“There are three paths, so let’s each read one!” Maple suggested.

“Okay,” Sally agreed.

“I’ll read the one on the left,” Kanade offered.

The three of them deciphered the texts, only to find that none of the options seemed particularly favorable.

“Hmm… I’ve decoded it, but…” Maple began.

“Mine doesn’t have anything good written on it,” Sally noted.

“Same here,” Kanade added.

“Wait, really? You both found bad news?” Maple asked, surprised.

“My path says that from here on, one of our stats will randomly drop to zero,” Sally explained.

“Mine says the enemies will charge up, increasing their attack power and movement speed by 1.5 times,” Kanade shared.

“Mine says our maximum HP will be halved…” Maple read aloud, concerned.

“So, it’s a no-win situation, huh? Kanade, do you see anything suspicious—like a hidden path or a way to avoid these altogether?” Sally inquired.

“Hmm… I don’t think there’s anything like that. Of course, I could be missing something, but nothing stands out to me,” Kanade replied.

“Okay, thanks,” Sally acknowledged.

“So, we have to go through one of these, then?” Maple asked.

“That seems to be the case. These effects will persist until the boss fight, so we need to choose carefully,” Kanade advised.

“Having a stat drop to zero is too risky. If our attack power or mobility drops, it’ll be a disaster. And more importantly…” Sally trailed off.

“Yeah. If Maple’s defense drops to zero, we’re in big trouble,” Kanade agreed.

If Maple lost her defense, it would be like turning her into a defenseless monster—essentially lowering her to a level below even a Level 1 player. Her entire strategy revolved around taking hits, and without her defense, even her strongest skills would struggle to keep her safe.

“Having our HP halved is also a bad idea, especially considering Maple might need to take hits for us. That one doesn’t affect me or Sally much, though,” Kanade noted.

“Then should we go with the remaining option?” Sally suggested.

“I think that’s the best choice,” Kanade concurred.

“If the enemies’ attack power increases, we’ll only need to worry about whether their attacks can pierce through defenses. And as long as we’re waiting in ambush, the speed boost shouldn’t affect us much,” Sally reasoned.

“Alright, let’s go with this one!” Maple decided.

The trio chose the path where the enemies’ attack power and movement speed would be enhanced and continued forward.

As they advanced, they soon encountered another split, this time with two options and more encrypted text. The trio quickly realized that the dungeon was presenting them with increasingly difficult challenges.

“It looks like we’re going to face more negative effects as we progress,” Maple observed.

“There doesn’t seem to be a way to avoid them. We’ll just have to choose the ones that impact us the least,” Kanade suggested.

“Let’s choose carefully…!” Sally urged.

Once a negative effect took hold, there was no way to remove it. The trio made sure to consult each other and reach a unanimous decision on which path to take, ensuring they made the best possible choice.