209: Chapter 210

Chapter 210

Defense Specialization and the Tower’s Second Floor 3

The two continue walking through the corridor, with Saki at the lead and Maple covering the rear.

“There’s nothing here…”

“Ah! Sally!?”

“Maple?”

Maple’s sudden call makes Sally jump and turn on the spot.

Maple, who was behind Sally, seems to be unable to move because a black hand-like shadow extending from the ground holds her by her legs and weapons.

“Are you all right?”

“Ah, I can’t move!?”

“Ah! Sorry!”

At that moment, a book with a great number of fangs appears out of nowhere and attacks them.

Sally was able to dodge the attack, but since Maple’s movements were restricted, she gets bitten all over her body.

“Sally! Get it off me! Get it off meeee! My equipment is going to break apart!”

“Wait! I’ll be getting it off now!”

Sally approaches Maple and slashes at the book.

It doesn’t seem to be as durable as the other books, and she’s able to easily get the book to let go of Maple.

“Now for that black shadow… Huh? It’s gone…”

“My equipment seems to be fine, but I’d better have it fixed later.”

Maple then changes back into her black armor, since it doesn’t matter how broken and chipped it gets.

Of course, Maple has taken no damage herself.

Sally then begins to talk about Maple’s change.

“Hey, Maple? ‘Dedicated Affection’ is gone…”

“Huh? What? Why? Hmm… and it seems I can’t use it anymore. At least for the next thirty minutes or so.”

“Has it been sealed off? So that book… was only either targeting your ‘Dedicated Affection’ or your lantern…”

“But I can turn it off… Ah, I should leave it on anyway, that way we’ll know if it targets me for my lantern or anything that emits light!”

“Well, if they’re going after light, I have only the effect of ‘Sword Dance’. They may be attracted to it, but I feel safe thanks to your defense, Maple. ”

Everything should be okay as long as it’s Maple who they’re targeting.

Even though the ‘No Damage’ objective can no longer be achieved, they cannot receive damage right away since they can withstand any attack with Maple’s ‘Unyielding Guardian’.

“Hehe! That’s an iron wall for you!”

“That’s right. I’ll watch for piercing attacks, but still, get your ‘Pierce Guard’ ready just in case.”

“Sure, okay!”

Maple seems to be very confident when it comes to carrying a shield.

“Oh, and it looks like our next enemies are here. Maybe…?”

Sally mutters that last part without much confidence.

Sally points at the darkness of the other end of the corridor. There’s a human-like shadow standing there.

A single red eye can be seen from the shadow, facing one of the bookshelves. The shadow is completely motionless.

“What do we do, Sally?”

“I don’t want to get too close to it, but this is a straight corridor, so maybe we should take a higher path? But at least I’d like to know just what kind of enemy it is.”

“A… higher path?”

“Well, I think that’s a better option than having you go all kamikaze on it. Shall we give it a try?”

Maple takes Sally’s suggestion. If it works, they can avoid the enemy completely.

“Okay, now just wait a moment.”

“Got it.”

Sally begins her preparations by tying a thread around Maple’s waist. Then, she puts on two rings, one to raise her [STR], and the other causes ice pillars to appear.

“All right, let’s go!”

“Huh?”

Maple is tied to Sally through the thread, so when Sally jumps, Maple is pulled towards her. Sally clings to the ceiling, supporting herself between a wall and the ice pillars.

The result of that is that Maple is hanging in midair by the thread.

“Oh… oh!”

Maple is being carried by Sally while swinging in the air.

Then, while being high off the ground, they go past the monster, and as soon as they get far enough from it, they return to the ground.

“Well, that turned out better than expected!”

“Amazing! You’re like a ninja!”

“I wonder if we can do that again somewhere else. If you’re okay with that, of course.”

“That’d be fun! It really feels like something new!”

“Well, it’s not as if we could get the chance to do something like this in real life. …That thing really isn’t moving at all, huh?”

Sally looks back towards the monster they had just avoided, and just as she said, it still stands motionless in the same spot.

She takes a closer look to see if there are any signs of movement…

… but there’s no visible change.

“Should we try to get closer? Or even attack it? If we get to a point where we can no longer avoid it by going forward, let’s give that a shot.”

“I see. I’m worried that we might be close to the boss room, but if there’s only one of them I don’t think we should worry too much about boss battles for now.”1

Since they don’t know how dangerous it would be to face the monster, they decide to leave it be and continue through the corridor.

“Well then, let’s continue, Ma…ple?”

“Sally… it’s caught me again!”

The black hand-like shadow is once again restraining Maple.

This time, Sally tries to strike down a book that comes flying towards Maple before it has a chance to attack her, but it is too late.

“Wait a moment, Maple!”

“Huh? O… okay!”

Maple replies while trying to take the book off herself with both hands.

Sally runs towards the motionless monster they just passed through.

That monster is irradiating a blue light, and its hands extend from the blackened floor.

“Now that I know what to do, we’ll be okay! ‘Double Slash’!”

As soon as Sally attacks, the monster melts into the floor.

“Ah! I’m free! Sally, I’m free!”

The black hand holding Maple turns into mud and disappears as well.

After that, they take the book off Maple like they’re used to by now.

When they’re done doing that, Sally starts talking.

“No, I don’t think I defeated that monster. It seems to have escaped. It probably comes back out every now and then. It’s possible that it’s just hiding somewhere.”

“Can we do something about it?”

“Hmm… there might be some dead-ends at certain corridors where we might be able to trap it.”

This doesn’t mean that Maple and Sally are going to check every corridor. Some of them might get overlooked.

“Maybe it’s inside a boss room?”

“Maybe. If that’s the case, we could be in trouble?”

“We’ll defeat it with all of our might as soon as we enter!”

“That would be best. Even if it can seal our skills, it won’t matter if we defeat it before it gets the chance to do so.”

Even though they say they have the power to defeat the boss, no one can really say there’s even anything awaiting them there.

And so, the two start walking again.

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