Defense Specialization and the Demon King’s Army 2

With the aid of the Congregation of the Holy Swords, the Kingdom of the Flame Emperor, thunder storm, and Rapid Fire, Maple and the others set out to defeat the Demon King with the best team they could possibly assemble.

From the very day it was decided that everyone gathered here now could join the raid, Maple had been absorbing every bit of knowledge the top guilds, led by Payne, had gained while clearing ahead of them.

The Demon King’s methods of attack were varied, and its patterns changed with each invasion. When they lined up all the attack patterns seen by the four top guilds, the fact that each guild found patterns the others had never encountered proved one thing clearly: the Demon King was no simple opponent.

Maple and the others committed every known pattern to memory.

That was the minimum requirement if they wanted to achieve the difficult goal of clearing it in one try. If they could not even handle the known patterns, then there was no point worrying about how they would respond to unknown attacks.

Even while moving toward the Demon King, the members of Maple Tree were reviewing which skill should answer which attack.

“Maple, you really need to remember this properly, especially.”

“Yep! I’m good!”

Maple was the core of their defense. If she timed 【Self-Offering Love】 well against the enemy’s attacks, then even strikes that would normally require true invincibility to survive could be turned into an opportunity instead.

The things they especially had to watch out for were fixed damage, defense-piercing attacks, and skills that canceled skills already in effect. By firmly memorizing which known attacks fell into those categories, Maple’s defensive power could show its true worth.

Their review was perfect. Maple had already carved multiple action patterns firmly into her mind.

“Of course, there’ll still be plenty of moments where we’ll have to improvise, so stay focused. We haven’t had enough time to fully polish ad-lib coordination with the other guilds.”

“I’ll do my best! We can’t lose, after all!”

They had fought each other many times before, both as allies and as enemies, but the kind of seamless teamwork they shared within Maple Tree would be difficult to reproduce.

Even so, they had not neglected their preparations. They had carefully coordinated a large number of set plays beforehand, combining each player’s skills so they could reduce the number of situations that would require improvisation in the first place.

“We’ve already done everything we can. Now it’s just a matter of throwing it all at him.”

“Yes. We want to deliver victory to the two of you as well.”

“Leave the attacking to us!”

“Leave the backup to me. This time we have plenty of dependable allies. I can’t wait to get to work!”

“Today the draw from 【Divine Library】 is excellent too. Even my bookshelf seems eager to take down the Demon King.”

The defeat of the Demon King.

As the moment of the final battle drew near, Maple and the others’ morale rose together with their concentration.

At last, the place they reached was the only area on the Tenth Layer map they had not been able to enter until now. Towering mountains stood in rows, and the path deeper inside had been sealed by multiple gates that could not be unlocked without possessing the Demon King’s Power.

But Maple and the others had already gathered all of the Demon King’s Power. They had earned the right to go farther.

Beyond the mountains stretched a cave.

At its entrance stood the first great door, built just like the ones in the boss rooms. Seeing that massive gate made it feel real all over again: the battle with the Demon King was close. Very close.

“Ooh! It opened!”

The Demon King’s Power I held by Maple responded, and with a heavy rumble, the gate slowly opened.

To open each gate in turn and reach the Demon King, all of the Demon King’s Power was required.

“Monsters will appear too, but Maple Tree should mostly hold back. Until the boss battle, we’ll focus on magical bombardment and ranged attacks.”

“Yes!”

This time it was not a raid carried by Maple Tree alone, so just as Payne said, they had more than enough players who excelled at magic.

Frederica, Hinata, Misery, and Mii were all here. Since they had gone to the trouble of calling in support, they should rely on them while they could.

Skills like Maple’s 【Machine God】 consumed resources and had long cooldowns, so the plan was to conserve them and advance through the dungeon with magic instead, spending only MP that could be restored endlessly with potions while unleashing high-powered, wide-area attacks.

Every important skill would be preserved.

And the one target those skills were being saved for was the Demon King.

“【Scorching Heat】!”

“Hmm, 【Multiple Wind Blades】!”

“【Divine Punishment】!”

“【Gravity Axe】!”

Inside the not-so-wide cave, magic raged wildly, each spell powerful enough that no one would ever want to take a direct hit from it.

Some enemies looked like demons.

Others were beasts that growled as they charged.

Others still were knights carrying beautifully polished swords.

Even though they were only ordinary monsters, each one had been given abilities worthy of being the creatures of the Tenth Layer’s final dungeon.

And yet, Maple and the others, the human-side Demon King army, were equally worthy of challenging the Demon King. No matter that this was the last dungeon, no group of lesser monsters could stop their advance.

“As expected, the firepower from people who really specialize in magic is on another level. Unless something seriously unexpected happens, it doesn’t look like we’ll get much to do on the way.”

“Looks like we just need to stay ready for 【Cover】!”

“Yeah. I think so too.”

And it was not only magic. Wilbert’s arrows were there, and Shin’s 【Broken Sword】 as well. They also had close-range experts standing ready with weapons drawn in case something went wrong.

Even if anything somehow survived this storm of magic, waiting beyond it were players who could each face the monsters here alone.

There was no chance of losing here.

That was not carelessness, nor overconfidence. It was certainty.

“Hmm, this cave is pretty long. I kind of want an auto-attack spell too.”

While accurately erasing every approaching monster, Frederica muttered that under her breath.

“The summoning skills I possess may be close to automatic attacks.”

“Some of my traps too…”

Lily, Marx, Maple of course, and even Kanade through his grimoires all possessed skills that summoned subordinates.

With simple instructions, those summons would move toward enemies on their own. Calling them automatic attacks would not be far off.

They were not so common as to be ordinary, but they were common enough that players did sometimes have them. That was roughly where they stood.

For magic users in particular, they paired well with their builds, since they could be used to quickly place a frontliner in front of them or increase the number of targets for buffs.

“But since skills can’t be multiplied, I’m looking for a magic version that works better.”

Even while chatting, Frederica casually cooperated with Mii and the others to blow away monsters on the side.

“I see. If you could multiply it with layered magic, then it might even rival my summons.”

The number of subordinates Lily could summon was considerable, but if someone piled Notes’ 【Chorus】 on top of that and then used 【Ocean of Mana】 for 【Super Multi-Casting】, then matching her numbers was not all that unrealistic.

Considering that Frederica belonged to the Congregation of the Holy Swords, she could probably defeat most monsters simply by focusing on buffs rather than aiming for that kind of output. But Frederica had a very clear reason for aiming higher.

“There are times when overwhelming numbers are useful, right?”

Frederica glanced toward Sally.

What Sally excelled at most was one-on-one combat.

She was not especially strong at wide-area attacks, and her ability to stay alive in battle came from evasion. Against Sally, simply crushing her with numbers was not a bad tactic.

Frederica had no intention of letting Sally walk away with a winning record. She was already looking ahead to their next player-versus-player match in an event.

“If I’d finished it in time for the Demon King fight, I could’ve shown off even more.”

“What a shame. I’ll look forward to another chance.”

Sally brushed Frederica off like that and turned her gaze toward the destruction ahead.

Their march through the cave was progressing smoothly, with nothing worth complaining about. Before long, they would emerge from it, and after that they would likely reach the Demon King without any serious struggle.

The force they had prepared was beyond criticism.

Perhaps because things were going so smoothly that there was no need for her to step in at all, Sally’s thoughts drifted from the present to what lay a little farther ahead.

Before long, the final event for Maple and Sally would begin.

Would it be PvE or PvP?

Who would they join?

How would they participate?

In the end, they still had not decided.

“………”

“Sally?”

Noticing how distracted she seemed, Maple called out to her, and Sally came back to herself.

“Hm? …Ah, I was just thinking that with everyone this strong, there’s really nothing to worry about until we reach the Demon King.”

“That just means we can focus even more on the Demon King!”

“Yeah. We can.”

She could not afford to be looking far ahead and stumble over what stood right in front of her. The first thing she needed to face was the Demon King.

And so Sally turned her focus back to the enemy before her.

Depending on how one chose to put it, she had postponed that decision just a little longer.

Their march continued, calm and relentless, leaving corpses piled in its wake.

There was nothing that could stop them now.