Itai no wa Iya nanode Bōgyo-Ryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu Chapter 20

Defense Specialization and Maintenance

「Ugh…」

Kaede and Risa got going in the new second layer town, and Kaede was groaning with a gloomy look on her face.

「Umm… I didn’t expect the maintenance to come two weeks before the event either. And even then…」

So, the two of them logged in as soon as the maintenance was over, but… were shocked when they saw what the maintenance did.

Mainly Kaede.

The maintenance consisted of weakening some skills and strengthening the AI of field monsters.

The names of the affected skills were not revealed by design, so only those who had them could know what they were.

And there was also one more thing that changed.

That being…

The implementation of defense piercing attack skills, with pain being reduced accordingly.

There were three to five skills for each weapon.

They were fairly powerful.

The issue was with skills.

「Ughh…」

「Well… I guess that’s what happens when you stand out too much.」

Risa tapped her shoulder, wanting her not to worry.

There were two main tweaks related to Kaede.

However, Risa said that if you also factored in the indirect ones, it would be all three.

First among the skill fixes was 【Eating Inedibles】.

【Eating Inedibles】 after the fix had a use limit of ten times a day, and the MP it absorbed was doubled.

Because the ability was still always active, after she took ten attacks with her great shield, Replica of the Dark Night would become a normal great shield. It could be used as a magic tank to some extent since the MP it absorbed was doubled, but it was definitely a nerf.

Secondly, the AI improvements meant that monsters would now run around you before attacking, or in some cases, run away.

Risa told Kaede that this would prevent another occurrence of Kaede. Kaede didn’t seem to understand what it meant, so Risa explained in detail.

「Because… with the improved AI, you won’t be able to use the White Rabbit loophole to get 【Absolute Defense】, Maple’s core skill, right? The White Rabbit with the improved AI won’t rush at you for an hour… surely the devs didn’t expect the way you got it?」

This maintenance prevented the occurrence of the anomaly called Kaede, but according to Risa, it would not be possible to do the kind of targeted maintenance that would completely kill Kaede’s current performance.

「For example… removing 【Absolute Defense】. I don’t think something like that would happen.

But maybe… some of the more powerful skills that the top players have were weakened. One of them was Maple’s 【Eating Inedibles】.」

「Uh… well, I guess it can’t be helped. It was really strong. But… that fix, um…」

Risa understood what Kaede was trying to say and continued.

「With this, Maple will now take damage as well… That tweak was probably done to counter Maple.」

「Ugghhhh…」

Maple’s sturdiness was clearly off the rails, so the developers had no choice but to implement this last-ditch fix.

「Well, piercing attacks are pretty standard skills, and I guess there were too few of them up until now.」

When Risa said that, Kaede clasped her hands together and spoke out apologetically.

「Uh… sorry! I’m not invincible anymore… and we can’t be an invincible party like this… even though you went to the trouble of becoming an evasion tank.」

Kaede apologized to Risa saying so. The two of them had an ideal for their party: no damage for them both. With this, it wouldn’t be possible.

「It can’t be helped. And while you can take damage now… it only means you don’t take absolutely no damage anymore… Damage effects coming out, you get chipped away at again and again, but you just won’t die! That makes you feel even more invincible. You smile fearlessly just like that. That’ll be so cool!」

Kaede imagined an opponent frantically attacking her, the only hope being that she was taking damage; she’s laughing and taking the attacks, and then, when the opponent is exhausted, she takes them down.

「Ooh… that sure would be nice…」

「You’ve got an evil smile on your face, you know?」

「Uwaah! Y-you did not see that! You did not!」

She said while flailing her arms around. Risa continued to talk with a hint of a smile on her face.

「Hmmm… in that case you’ll need to raise your HP as well. Getting whittled down by piercing damage would be bad for you… Can you handle the pain?」

「Well… it’s not impossible, is it? It doesn’t hurt any more than it does in real life… and they seem to have lessened the pain.」

「You’ll need to polish your player skill to block as much as possible, as well as… get some HP and MP recovery skills and equipment.」

Risa said that as long as she had that, she would be practically invincible after all.

「I’ll help you gather equipment and stuff! And then I’ll try to find some good skills for you.」

「Y-you sure?」

「I’m the one who invited Maple to this game, so I’m willing to do that just to have fun with her, see? I mean, do you want to go now?」

「Thank you!」

「Well, I’ll need your help at times, too…」

「Yes! I’ll do my best then!」

Kaede answered with a wide smile.

「Well then… let’s go get you some skills to increase your HP first. That seems to be most important. I know a few, and then we’ll go from there. The event is coming up, so let’s hurry!」

「Yes!」

The two ran out into the field.

To get new skills and cover for Kaede’s shortcomings and do well in the second event.

They were going to do what they could now.