Itai no wa Iya nanode Bōgyo-Ryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu Chapter 53

Defense Specialization and Event End

「Ggh—!」

「Bye-bye.」

The players turned into light and disappeared.

Sally put away her daggers and sat down in the room.

Though she had been attacked several times, no one managed to hurt her.

The sixth day was coming to an end.

「Thirty minutes to go, huh…」

It had been a while since the last attack, and the time was now 11:30 pm.

Once Maple’s abilities were restored, they would be able to act freely on the seventh day.

They could then stay in the dungeon as they were now, and they could go outside as well.

「Is this the last… opponent for today…?」

Sally stood up and drew her daggers.

She heard someone walking towards her.

「Hmm?」

「…hmm?」

The intruder and Sally exchanged looks.

The intruder was alone.

She was equipped with beautiful traditional Japanese clothing and a katana.

「We… meet again!」

「Huh… what are you doing in such a place, Kasumi?」

Yes, the intruder was Kasumi.

Kasumi didn’t even put her hand on the katana.

She must have had no intention of fighting.

Sally had no intention of fighting either.

If she were to come at her, she intended to fight, but her opponent was someone who had cooperated with her once to clear a dungeon.

She had absolutely no intention of attacking on her own initiative.

「I’m one of those with a gold medal, so… I was thinking of hiding.」

「It sounds just like us, yeah.」

「Maple must be here too, right? I don’t see her, though…」

「Maple’s staying in the back.」

「Is it okay to come see her?」

「You’ll be dead in an instant if you can’t walk on poison, you see?」

Sally said, and Kasumi seemed to have guessed what the situation was like in the back, so she didn’t try to go.

「Well, I’m sure she’ll come out eventually. I’ve given Maple the medals, so… now it feels like I’m taking down players who are coming for them.」

Hearing this, Kasumi made one suggestion.

「Then can I stay here too? When I’m walking around outside, it’s all battle after battle…」

Kasumi’s face was known to a lot of players, so if she was walking outside, she was more likely to get into battles.

「Alright. If anyone comes, cut them down.」

「I understand. I want to bring the gold medal back with me too.」

There were now two mid-bosses to beat.

However, with the addition of Kasumi, the number of players mistaking them for monsters would be greatly reduced.

Still, the possibility of battle wouldn’t change much as the temptation to get a gold medal would be in the mix instead.

As the two were talking and keeping an eye on the passage ahead, Maple came from the passage behind them.

「Sally! They leveled up! Look, loo-ok! …Huh?」

Syrup and Oboro followed beside Maple, who ran out from the back.

Maple locked eyes with Kasumi at this moment.

「Kasumi!? Why are you here!?」

「Hmm… well, that’s to protect my medals, but… what’s with those two critters?」

Kasumi was the first person other than the two to see Syrup and Oboro.

「These little ones are our partners!」

They hadn’t talked about the monster bird the last time they met, so they told her about it.

Kasumi was surprised at the unbelievable strength of the monster bird and the fact that the two had defeated it.

「The reward eggs, huh… for now, I guess, only you two have them. I’ve met quite a few players myself, but I’ve never seen those before.」

Kasumi’s prediction was correct.

Maple and Sally were the only ones with the mythical beasts.

It was not known how this would be attainable in future events, but even then, one would probably be required to clear a high-difficulty dungeon.

「So it seems; I’ll give Oboro back, alright?」

「Mhm, thank you.」

The two returned their equipment to how it had been originally.

「What should we do? Do we get out of this cave?」

Now that Maple was back in the game, they should be able to survive without staying shut-in.

However, Maple didn’t seem to be thinking about wanting to leave much.

Maple was thinking about wanting to protect the medals carefully.

She said that to Sally.

「Then… it would be great if you could go block the passage for now.」

「Mhm, understood!」

Maple walked to the entrance of the hall and readied New Moon.

For the first time in a while, a large purple magic circle unfolded.

「【Hydra】!」

The poison dragon charged toward the exit, making a pulpy mess of the narrow passage.

Maple had no idea that it consumed a bunch of parties along the way and also blew off the face of a player who happened to be standing at the exit.

Maple walked straight down the corridor, unfolding 【Venom Capsule】 at the place where she moved to after proceeding for a while, and returned.

「With this, our safety is secured, right!」

「Though I think neither I nor Kasumi will be able to leave.」

「Ah, I see. That’s correct… I trust you, okay?」

In this situation, there was no way for Kasumi to escape.

In other words, it was possible to rob her of the medals.

The two had no interest in doing such a thing, regardless of being asked.

「With this, I guess all we have left to do is spend one day.」

The time was already past twelve o’clock.

It would be wise to sleep here once.

There was no need to enter the seventh day exhausted.

Just in case, they took turns sleeping while one of them kept watch.

In the end, not a single intruder appeared, and they were able to welcome the morning.

At the entrance, some players would occasionally step in because they had poison resistance and die.

「Good morning.」

「Good morning!」

「Good morning. It’s the last day, yup.」

The long event was finally coming to an end.

The two of them were able to achieve their goal, and it was a fulfilling event for them.

「Ah, that’s right! We don’t know when the medals will be needed, so I’ll give Sally her share, okay?」

Maple took Sally’s share of the medals from her inventory and handed them to her.

「Thanks.」

Sally grabbed them and tucked them away.

Kasumi didn’t put all her energy into finding silver medals, and she was content with having the gold medal, so, unlike the two, she didn’t have a lot of them.

「But you know what? We’ve got a whole day to kill here, don’t we?」

「That’s true.」

「Then, how about playing with Maple’s toys? You have all kinds of them, don’t you?」

Maple took Sally’s suggestion and took out every single thing she had brought with her.

Among them was Othello.

「Kanade was so-o strong.」

Maple remembered playing with Kanade. They promised to play when they met again.

「Kanade? Who’s that?」

Kasumi didn’t know about the matter with Kanade, so Maple explained it to her.

In the course of the conversation, she also ended up telling Kasumi about the battle with the giant squid, which surprised her.

Players like the two, who fought strong opponents one after the other, must have been rare.

「Aren’t you just weak, Maple?」

「Mmmm… you’ve really just said that? Then why don’t you play with me?」

「Okay?」

Maple started the game with black and Sally with white.

The result.

Most of the board was covered in black.

「Eh… aren’t you strong, Maple?」

「I am pretty good at it, you know? I did lose to Kanade, though…」

「Well, now onto the other thing! Since it seems the three of us can do it together.」

Sally couldn’t stay defeated either, so they decided to play another game.

She realized that she had no chance of winning in Othello.

Thus, while the three were playing, no players showed up to interrupt them.

And eventually…

The time came for the event to end.

An announcement echoed throughout the field, and in five minutes from now, they would be transferred to the original field.

This was the time to say goodbye to Kasumi again.

「Well, when we return…」

「Yeah, let’s meet again.」

New encounters and new powers obtained.

The second event, very satisfying for the two, finally came to an end.