"We're here!"
"All right! Let's get in there!"
The entrance to the ruins was made of stone.
If their information was correct, the dungeon here led to the second zone.
Maple took the lead. Holding Night's Facsimile as she walked, she was ready for
anything.
Not long after, they encountered a monster.
First up was a rather large boar. It had massive tusks, and both girls thought it must
have pretty high DPS.
"Wind Cutter!"
Sally started the fight with a spell. But it carved only 20 percent off the boar's life.
"Hngg… My damage really did take a nasty hit. I'll have to up my Affliction skill to
compensate."
But while she was muttering, the boar had righted itself and charged in. It was
moments away from slamming into Maple when…
…the shield swallowed it.
"Uh… mind if I leave the boar fights to you?"
"No prob!"
It was a narrow path, so every time a boar charged, it killed itself.
But the boars didn't know about Maple's shield, so they just kept charging.
Each time the path branched, they explored the side passages, slowly making their
way to the back.
"Oh! A new enemy!" Maple said.
A bear had appeared from around the bend.
Maple raised her shield in case it came charging in, but no such luck.
The bear waved one massive paw, and a white claw-shaped effect shot toward them.
It hit Maple's shield and was swallowed instantly, but it was more than enough to
surprise her.
"Th-that's new!" she said.
"Didn't think bears would be long-range attackers! It's keeping its distance but
blocking our progress."
This bear had much better AI than the boars, so it must be higher level.
Sally put a hand to her mouth, thinking.
"I'll handle this one," she said. "You just keep your shield held in front."
Sally whispered something under her breath. To Maple's eyes, it looked like the shield
fell from her hands.
The bear seemed to see the same thing and seized its chance, rushing forward.
If Maple hadn't clearly felt the shield still in her hands, she'd have ducked down to pick
it up.
The bear reached her invisible shield… and vanished.
The empty space warped, revealing her great shield again. The fake on the ground
disappeared.
"Guess my Mirage experiment worked!"
"Mirage?! I saw my shield fall and was so confused!"
"I wanted to try that out once, but there is a use limit, so I'll save the rest for the boss.
I'll leave most of the fighting to you."
"Okay! I can handle it!"
Maple and Sally headed farther in. It wasn't that long a dungeon, and they only fought
ten more monsters before reaching the boss room.
They opened the huge doors and went inside.
The room beyond had a high ceiling and was quite long. At the very back was an
enormous tree.
As they stepped in, the doors closed behind them.
And…
The tree started cracking, shifting, and transforming—into a giant deer.
The antlers on the deer's head were covered in green leaves, and bright red apples
hung from the branches.
The boss shook its wooden body, stamped the earth, and glared at the two girls.
"Here it comes!"
"Okay!"
Green magic circles appeared at the deer's feet.
This signaled the start of the battle.
The deer stomped the ground, and the circles flashed. One massive vine after another
broke from the ground, shooting toward the girls.
"Whoa!"
"Ha-ha! Too slow!"
The vines hit Maple's shield head-on and were immediately swallowed up. Sally,
meanwhile, used her patented evasive maneuvers to dodge the coiling onslaught.
Maple's New Moon was their main damage dealer.
She unleashed a dragon made of poison, as if to counter the vines.
It swallowed up those tendrils, melting them, and threatened the deer itself.
But before it struck home, a glittering green barrier blocked it, and the dragon
vanished.
"Huh??"
"It's those magic circles, I think! Our attacks won't reach! There's gotta be a gimmick
somewhere!"
The deer was sending more vines forth. This wasn't a problem for either of them,
fortunately.
They endured for a few minutes but weren't getting anywhere.
"I'm gonna go all out on a scouting run. Can you tank for a bit?"
"Sure! Taunt!"
All the vines turned toward Maple. Sally raced off to try a few things.
She threw out a bunch of spells, causing the barrier to manifest—and then noticed
something interesting.
"You can attack the antlers! And it looks like those apples might be maintaining the
barrier!"
She pointed up at the dangling fruit. The apples shone red each time the barrier
appeared—tiny magic circles spinning around them.
"Okay! Leave it to me! I'll blow them all away!"
"Cool, go for it."
Maple thrust New Moon out in front of her. Sally had said their attacks could hit the
antlers, so she knew right where to aim. No barrier appeared to block the poison
dragon—and it swallowed up the wooden antlers, melting them and annihilating the
apples.
"Wind Cutter!"
Sally went on the offensive immediately. This time the barrier did not interfere, and
her attack reached the deer. Sally had been right; the apples were part of its defenses.
Red visual damage effects sprouted all across the deer.
"Great! It worked!"
"Pulling out a big move!"
The crystals on Maple's shield started snapping, and a massive purple circle deployed
around New Moon. The light of it grew steadily, forming a three-headed poison
dragon—which lunged at the deer.
The deer's body melted, spraying red effects in all directions. This was clearly critical
damage.
But the green magic circles at the deer's feet glowed again, healing its wounds. Its HP
bar recovered to 20 percent, and the poison status effect was cleared. With that, the
circles' effect ended, and they faded away.
"Can you hit it again?"
"I can, but it'll take time!"
But the deer wasn't waiting for them to chat it out. It changed up its attack patterns,
launching wind blades and ever more massive vines their way.
And…
"!"
"Whoaaaaaaaaaaa!"
The ground beneath their feet suddenly rose up, attacking. Sally sensed it in time and
dodged, but Maple was flung into the air.
She didn't take any damage, but she was slammed into the ground—which gave her
the stun status effect and left her immobilized. Normally that would make survival
improbable, but seeing as how wind blades were hitting her and her HP bar wasn't
going down at all, she would clearly have no issues surviving until she woke up.
But this meant it would take that much longer for Maple's skill to activate.
"Well, fine. Didn't really wanna, but…"
Sally hefted a dagger in each hand and broke into a run.
Despite her grumbling, there was a grin on her face.
"Guess I'll just have to kill ya."
She saw every attack coming.
When Sally was this focused, it was like the attacks didn't even exist. She slipped
through the gaps between them, right to the deer's feet, and then used Leap I to propel
herself into the air before its very eyes.
The one spot on the battlefield safe from its wind blades.
"Did you notice you'd left a gap here? Double Slash!"
Her body spun, and the twin daggers in her hands flashed, landing four strikes in all.
Wielding two weapons doubled the number of attacks, and while each slash did less
overall damage, the quantity compensated for the difference.
Then Sally ran up the deer's face and onto its back.
"Power Attack!"
Two long gashes were opened from its brow to its tail.
Then a fire spell set its back ablaze.
As Sally flitted around it, wind blades flew at her…
But she dodged them easily.
"Mm? This wasn't a safe zone, then?"
She was slipping between wind blades as if she was threading a needle, attacking
every chance she got, slowly chipping away at the deer's HP bar.
"Hngg… O-oh! Right! We're in a fight!"
Maple finally got up and fixed her eyes on the deer…
Just in time to watch it explode in a shower of light particles.
"Whaaaaaat?!"
"Finished it off while you were napping," Sally said, landing near her.
For Maple, their dungeon conquest had ended on a rather unsatisfying note.
Be that as it may, the two of them had earned the right to advance to the second zone.