They spent a full hour walking across the grasslands.
At last, they spotted a forest ahead.
The change in scenery gave them a second wind, and they picked up the pace.
"W-we're finally here!"
"This is a big forest…"
They stepped into the trees.
It was a gloomy place. The branches above grew so thick that little light filtered through.
And with all these bushes, it was clearly designed for monster ambushes.
"I'll protect you!"
"No one could be more reliable."
If an attack could actually damage Maple, nobody else could survive it. There was no
use worrying about monsters that strong. Sally kept her eyes peeled, walking one step
behind Maple.
Thirty minutes later…
They'd yet to encounter a single ambush, and their search had proven entirely
uneventful.
"Where are they?"
"At this point, the lack of ambushes is downright unsettling."
"Ah-ha-ha… yeah…"
The forest was eerily quiet.
The farther they went, the quieter it got.
"C-c'mon! Let's keep talking!" Sally squeaked, trying to keep her fears at bay.
"Eep? S-sure… um…"
Maple racked her brain for a topic, but as she did…
They heard a foom like a fire igniting.
This was the first new sound they'd heard in ages, and they both wheeled around to
face it.
Behind them were several blue wisps floating in the air, wafting in their direction.
"It's just a game; it's just a game…! A game! Okay. I'm fine; I can do this…," Sally muttered.
"You don't sound fine!"
"Should we run? Let's run! I vote we run."
This proved Sally was not fine.
"Well, using Devour would be a waste, so…"
"Th-then take off your gear! I'll carry you… Aghhh, they're getting closer!"
With Maple's low AGI, Sally usually had to carry her if they wanted to move at anything
approaching the same speed.
Removing her equipment made her lighter, but just in case, she kept New Moon out.
Once she was ready, she climbed aboard the Sally Express.
Sally instantly sped off, like she couldn't stand staying another second.
Once the wisps appeared, other monsters started skulking about.
Floating skulls, multicolored wisps, zombies, suspiciously transparent people—all
manner of ghosts and haunts.
"Ahhh! This forest was a mistake!"
"Wow! Such pretty fire! That one's green!"
The two girls' reactions were as disparate as the desert and the tundra, but they fled
through the forest without fighting a single battle.
Eventually, they came upon a run-down house and temporarily took shelter within.
"This place is falling apart… Wanna look around?"
"Go right ahead."
"Hee-hee, you always were scared of ghosts."
"And I always will be. At least I'm fast enough in-game to get away from them… I didn't
reach peak freak-out."
Sally sat down heavily on a nearby chair. Maple started poking around, but there
wasn't much to poke.
There was pretty much nothing of note besides the remains of a table and the chair
Sally occupied.
A filthy carpet under the table.
And an old chest of drawers.
No signs of a bed anywhere—clearly, nobody lived here.
There was still glass in the windows, but it was cracked or missing pieces.
"Anything in this chest…? Nope."
Maple has been hoping to find a medal, but evidently, it wasn't that easy.
She opened her status menu and checked the time.
"What do you think?" she asked. "In-game time, it's just past six. Almost night."
"Yeah… Maybe that's why the ghosts showed up. Ugh, our timing couldn't have been
worse. We brought plenty of food with us, but I really don't wanna sleep here. On the
other hand…"
Sally glanced nervously at the window.
There were shadows flitting past. Clearly not players. Maple took a look and confirmed
those were definitely the zombies and ghosts they'd avoided on their way here.
If the monsters weren't breaking down the door, the ramshackle building must be a
safe location.
Plus, if they went outside now, Sally would be plunged into a living hell.
"Well, it's better than nothing… This place'll have to do."
Maple stopped investigating the interior and returned to Sally. Since there was only
one chair, she plopped down on the floor.
"Lemme put my gear back on, at least… I'll stick with White Snow for now. Should we
play cards or something?"
Maple had several items for killing time in-game, including a set of cards.
"Maybe that would get my mind off things, but… no matter what game we play, it'd
end pretty quickly with just two people."
"Oh! R-right, I didn't think of that…," Maple said sheepishly.
This finally made Sally crack a smile.
Feeling a little better, she took the cards from Maple's hand and started dealing.
The night had only just begun.
"Should be… this one!"
"Too bad! That's the joker."
"Hngg…," Maple groaned.
They'd gone from cards, to Othello, to chess, and back again.
The only break in between was to eat dinner.
Since they were inside a game, they didn't actually have to eat, but Sally insisted that
it threw her rhythms off if she didn't get three meals a day and had brought a ton of
provisions with her.
She'd given some to Maple, and they'd eaten together.
Maple, on the other hand, had mostly brought games.
"Hmm… this one? Ha! I win."
"Nooo!"
It was like they were on a school trip, except their lodging was a run-down shack deep
inside a dark forest.
"Wow, the time really flies… It's already ten," Maple said. She'd spotted the system
clock as she put the cards back in her inventory.
"They're still prowling out there, huh? I guess we'll have to sleep here."
"Probably for the best. I'm sure there's a medal or some gear out in these woods… but
we can look for them in the morning. Hopefully, the monsters all vanish."
"Sorry. We can't explore because of me…"
"Don't worry about it! We'll just have to make it up tomorrow."
"Roger, roger!"
They got out their sleeping bags and spread them on the floor.
After saying good night, Maple lay down.
There was still a chance the monsters would attack, so they were taking shifts,
sleeping two hours each.
And Sally had drawn first watch.
"It's awfully quiet…"
The only sound in the shack was Maple's breathing. Sally was sitting on the lone chair,
on guard.
But no monsters attacked. Maybe there was no need to worry so much.
When it was almost midnight, she got up to wake Maple.
That was when she heard a low, distorted voice coming from somewhere near the
table.
It was fading in and out, but definitely was not in her imagination.
"Aiiiiieeee!"
Sally had been about to wake up Maple, but instead she fell on her.
Maple's defense meant she slept right through the impact, but the triple combo of the
low voice, the clank of her amor bumping against the floor, and Sally's bloodcurdling
scream woke her right up.
"What's wrong?"
"A—a ghost! Table! Table!"
Fear and panic had robbed Sally of most of her words. Maple decided to leave her to it
and went to check on the table in question.
The voice was definitely coming from that vicinity.
Maple perked up her ears, trying to pin down the exact source.
"Is it… under the table?"
There was a ragged carpet on the floor.
Sally was curled up in a ball in the corner, so Maple was forced to move the table on
her own.
This took a lot out of her. Her Strength stat was still at zero, after all.
Once it was finally out of the way, Maple peeled back the carpet.
"Oh… a basement entrance?"
There was a groove in the floor, with a handle attached.
Maple immediately yanked it open.
"That was easy! Hmm… there's a set of stairs."
The low voice had become much louder. It was definitely coming from down there.
"Should I check it out?"
"I… I'm coming, too. Can't have you dying on me…"
Sally forced herself to stand up and then immediately plastered herself to Maple's
shadow.
"I'll guard your back!" she said.
"Thanks… All right! Let's do this."
Sally nodded emphatically, and they headed toward the source of the voice.
Down the basement stairs.
One stair at a time, on guard, down, down, down.
The voice grew steadily louder. Maple—taking the lead in case of surprise attacks—
spotted an ancient door at the base of the staircase.
She reached for the doorknob.
"…It's not locked. I'll open it on your call."
"Gotcha. I'm good. Go for it."
Maple pushed the door open and hefted her shield. As the door swung open, the voice
suddenly grew clear.
"It hurts… it huuuurts… aughhhh… ah…"
Maple peered around the edge of her great shield.
In the center of the floor was a half-melted candle.
That flickering light illuminated a blood-covered man, bound to a chair.
"He doesn't seem hostile… But that's definitely not a player."
Sally timidly peeked out from Maple's shadow and winced at the sight.
"What now?"
"Um… he says it hurts, so… we should heal him?"
"I know Heal. Should I try it?"
"Yeah… go for it!"
With that settled, Sally cast Heal.
The man was bathed in a gentle glow, and though he visibly recovered a bit, nearly all
his wounds remained.
"Here's some more! Heal!"
Keeping a close eye on the man's condition, Sally cast the spell again and again.
She went through two MP potions before the man was finally fully healed.
The girls grinned at each other.
"Thank… you…," the man said, smiling. Then his body slowly faded out, changing to
light and vanishing.
"Did he… pass on?"
"I guess? Didn't seem like he was alive to begin with. Hmm?"
Sally noticed something resting on the man's chair. It glimmered in the flickering
candlelight.
She scooped it up.
"A ring?"
"Oh! He left us a reward?"
Sally checked the black ring's description.
Life Ring
[HP +100]
"Hmm. Seems like a better version of your Toughness Ring. Not bad considering how
easy it was to obtain. Good for you anyway."
Sally passed the ring on.
"You can have it, Maple. Not much point in me boosting HP, and you're not planning on
spending any points there, are you? Putting in a single point in HP or MP would give
you twenty, which is pretty huge, but…"
Sally already knew what Maple's answer would be.
"I've made up my mind to spend all my points on VIT! But you're sure about the ring?
It might be event-only!"
That got a grin out of Sally.
"If you're not comfortable just taking it off me, then let's say you owe me one. If you
get any gear you don't need later in the event, you can pay me back with it."
"Makes sense! Let's go with that, then. I guess I'd better equip this baby right away."
Maple's total HP was doubled, clocking in at a big old 200.
This definitely gave her a much bigger safety buffer.
This also filled her last accessory slot, making it hard to raise her HP any further with
items.
"Guess we should go back to sleep…"
Sleeping in-game helped recover a player's ability to focus, and Sally's life depended
on that, so she needed to get some sleep. Though it was possible to keep playing even
without sleep, her performance would definitely suffer for it.
"Think this is all this forest has to offer?"
"Hmm… hard to say. I feel like there oughtta be at least one more thing, but… time of
day seems to be a factor. This one was only active 'cause it was midnight, right?"
If there was anything else around, it could very well be time-sensitive paranormal
activity, which meant they could spend days stuck here without any guarantee they'd
find anything.
"Then we should probably ditch this forest tomorrow."
"Yeah, I agree."
Sally was against spending time in a haunted forest to begin with.
The two girls went back up the stairs, moved the table to its previous place, and
returned to their original sleep schedule.
"Good night, Maple."
"Good night! I'll keep close watch. Never fear!"
"Heh-heh… thanks."
And thus, they whiled the night away.
The second day had arrived.
"Let's make it a good one!"
"Mm!"
As soon as they finished breakfast, it was time to set out.
To minimize the time spent in the forest, Sally was carrying Maple.
Every now and then, they stopped so Sally could climb a tree and check their heading.
It was still a good hour before they reached the other side.
"Woo! Freedom!"
"Hngg! It's been so long since we got any real sunlight… I can barely make out
anything."
Maple put her equipment back on and stretched.
Before them was a wasteland. Barely anything grew here besides a couple of patchy
scraps of grass and a few trees so dried out, they looked ready to crumble at the
slightest breeze. It seemed to stretch all the way to the mountains in the distance.
"Guess we keep heading that way? They don't seem to be getting much closer."
Maple didn't really have any other destinations in mind, so she readily agreed.
"You really don't get biome transitions this abrupt outside of games…"
"It's always exciting having no clue what's in the next zone, though!"
They forged ahead, chatting away. This wasteland left no room to hide, and it was easy
to spot monsters coming.
It also made it easy to spot the trio of players in the distance.
"People up front, Maple."
"How's their gear? Should I have Devour ready?"
"Might need it, yeah. If they're looking to fight… we can get you in range with Cover
Move. Also…"
Sally whispered a plan in Maple's ear.
"Roger that!"
On guard, the two moved closer. Maple had come in third in the last event, so most
players recognized her.
And some of them might want to steal her gold medal.
The other party saw them approaching and stopped, huddling up to confer.
Then they approached to meet Maple and Sally. Nobody drew their weapons.
All three players were male. A greatsword, a dagger, and a one-handed sword.
When they were within earshot, one called out, "First time seeing anyone, and we
draw a top player…"
"Yeah, this is wild. We're not looking for a fight! Mind letting us pass in peace…?"
"The three of us are just headed for those mountains. We'd rather not waste any skills
if we can help it."
"Gotcha," Maple said. "We're going the same way. Feels like those peaks have gotta be
hiding something, after all…"
They all nodded, then suggested they travel together.
"What do you think, Sally?"
"...…I guess it'll probably be fine."
And so the five of them set off together.
"Then I'll take the lead. Maple, stand in front of those three and guard 'em."
"Got it! No matter what monsters come, nothing can get past me!"
Maple raised her great shield.
"That's a confidence booster."
"Totally."
They walked on, ignoring the muttering from the rear.
A number of monsters attacked, but Maple's protection was never needed—Sally took
care of everything.
Finally, their destination drew near.
"Phew! Just a little farther!" Maple said, stretching.
Then…
"Now! Armor Crusher!"
"Defense Break!"
"Piercing Blade!"
The three men behind her all attacked at once.
Every skill they used ignored defense.
They'd been waiting the whole time for their chance to strike.
It was the perfect surprise attack.
"Cover Move!"
But their blades never touched Maple.
Sally's plan had involved letting these three come with them, and Maple had
deliberately given them an opening to test their real intentions.
Sally had agreed to the team-up well aware that they might be planning this attack.
As long as Sally was in range, Maple could easily speed away.
Her safety wasn't exactly guaranteed, but Maple had agreed to Sally's scheme anyway.
And paid close attention to the other party's movements.
They hadn't noticed she was watching them.
The three of them were too busy stalking their prey to realize she was already stalking
them.
"Wha—?!"
Shocked by the failure of their ambush, the attackers froze.
They'd been so certain.
"Hydra!"
And Maple's counterattack swallowed them up, melting their health bars.
"They really did attack…"
"Well, they've got good reason to be after you, Maple. Good thing we were cautious,
right?"
"Yeah, I was ready to activate Cover Move right away. Might have been cutting it a little
close otherwise…"
"Now… time to see if they had any medals. They might have dropped some."
Maple waded out into the lake of poison. She checked the ground where their
attackers had fallen but found nothing.
"Guess there's no easy path to riches."
"Yeah, seems like it."
Maple and Sally had scored a quick victory in their first PVP encounter of the event.
"Welp, let's change gears and scale this mountain!"
"Let's do it!"
They headed on up the slope.
The incline was getting steeper.
They were definitely in the mountains now. At first, the foothills didn't seem much
different from the wasteland, but now there was snow around them, and the ground
was getting slippery.
"There's snow everywhere, but it isn't cold at all. So strange."
"Yeah," Sally said. "But if it was cold, climbing a mountain would be totally impossible
in this gear, so I'm glad."
They pressed on.
"Let's assume other players set their sights on this mountain, too. It would be a drag
if we fell behind."
"Yeah, let's try to hurry."
They picked up the pace, continuing toward the highest peak. At the moment, there
were no other players in sight.
But there was a strong possibility someone was climbing up the other side. No telling
when they'd bump into other people.
"Maple! Monsters coming!"
"I see 'em!"
Maple switched her shield to White Snow.
There was likely a boss up here somewhere, so she wanted to keep Devour in reserve.
The forest may have been largely combat-free, but there were a lot of monsters on the
mountain itself, and they'd been fighting a lot.
"Nice, a level-up! Level nineteen! Let's spend… everything on Agility!"
There were big rocks scattered around, perfect for monster ambushes. They couldn't
let their guard down for a second.
They kept their eyes peeled, moving forward and fending off attacks whenever they
occurred.
When bird monsters swooped toward them, their only option was to rely on Sally's
magic—which meant she was burning through MP.
Their main enemies on the ground were very agile wolves.
"The footing's so poor, it makes these fights extra tough."
"The faster we get up this thing, the better!"
With all the combat, it took them two and a half hours to make any headway.
Now snow was piled high all around. Every step they took made a crunching sound.
"We've come pretty far."
"Yeah, but looks like we're still at least an hour from the peak," Sally commented,
peering up at it.
As she did, she spotted a monster.
A white-furred monkey, twenty yards uphill.
It charged toward them, snow flying in its wake.
"Incoming!"
"Yup!"
As they braced themselves, two bluish-white magic circles appeared beside it.
This was clearly not your average critter.
It was casting magic.
"Cover!" Maple jumped to guard Sally.
A string of blows bounced off her great shield.
It was like a machine gun had shot chunks of ice instead of bullets. But Maple stood
her ground.
The monkey kept closing in. The circles vanished, and it came swinging, a white glow
enveloping its fist.
Maple blocked with her shield. This impact was even stronger.
"Sally!"
"Double Slash!"
While Maple had the monkey occupied, Sally slipped past it, slashing its back.
The monster screamed but was not so easily defeated. It spun toward Sally, eyes filled
with fury, and swung a fist at her.
The snow made it hard to dart around, but Sally had no trouble evading this blow.
"Power Attack!"
She countered with two heavy strikes to the monkey's gut—but it was still standing.
The monkey's jaw yawned open, and a glittering white magic circle appeared within.
Sally didn't hesitate to pull out her trump card.
"Superspeed!"
She dodged, and an instant later, the space she'd vacated was pulverized by jagged
shards of ice.
"Slash!"
Her counterblow finally slayed the monkey.
Its body turned to light and vanished.
"Whew… That thing actually made me resort to Superspeed."
"Maybe I should be doing more?"
"No, we wanna keep you rested up for the boss fight. Superspeed'll be ready again by
then, so… I'll handle the fodder along the way!"
"Hmm… well, that sounds like a plan. But I'm gonna keep using Cover."
"Thanks! It definitely helps."
They pressed on through the snow. It was possible the monkey had been a mid-boss;
they didn't encounter anything else like it.
Instead, they were fighting packs of moles that sent up white clouds with their
serpentine movements and albino armadillos that came rolling along, plowing through
the snowfields.
"Gotta be careful around the moles, but as long as you dodge the armadillos, they just
roll away. No problem."
"But if they hit you, you'll probably die instantly. Well… not you, Maple."
They resumed their climb…
And at last they reached the peak.
At the top of the mountain was a circular clearing with a stone shrine at the center.
A white magic circle lay in front of the shrine, glittering invitingly.
Clearly, a transport spell.
They walked toward it.
At the same time, four players entered the clearing from the other side.
A party of two mages, a greatsworder, and a great shielder.
They saw the girls coming.
Sally braced for PVP—but that didn't happen.
"Oh, Chrome!"
"Mm? Maple! Didn't think I'd see you here. Uh, we'd rather not fight. I doubt we could
win…"
Chrome's party put their weapons away and held up their hands.
"We don't wanna fight, either. Right, Sally?"
"Yeah, sure. No use wasting resources if we don't have to. Let's stay ready for anything,
but… you think we can trust them, right?"
Who could really trust anybody completely under these circumstances? Sally kept her
guard up.
"So… What do we do about this shrine?" Sally said. "Only one party can claim the
reward."
This was a fair point. One of their parties would have to go in first, and if they cleared
the dungeon inside, there might not be any rewards left.
Maple thought about this for a while.
"Hmm… Sally, mind if we give Chrome's party first dibs?" she said, clasping her hands
together.
Sally was certainly surprised by this, but she soon grinned back.
"If you wanna play it that way, I'm cool with it," she said. "Just promise me you won't
regret it later."
"I won't!" Maple promised. "All right, Chrome! Go on in."
"Y-you're sure? These things are usually finders keepers…"
"I'm sure! Get on in there before I change my mind."
Chrome's party gave their thanks, stepped into the magic circle, and was gone. The
circle's glow vanished.
The two girls waited, alone on the mountaintop.
"That was for the best, right?"
"Yeah… if we fought here, we'd end up wasting skills, and then we'd probably run into
trouble in the dungeon. Plus, I don't wanna fight friends."
"Fair enough. Nothing to regret… Also, they oughtta be in combat by now, huh?" Sally
glanced at the faded circle.
"Probably."
"What now? Head back down? They might not win… and since we did save up our
skills, we could wait and see."
No sooner had the words left her mouth than the circle started gleaming.
Allowing entry once more.
""Huh?""
This surprised them both.
It had been less than a minute since Chrome's party went in.
That was way too fast.
"Wh-what do you think?" Maple said.
Sally thought it over. "I can think of two explanations," she said. "First, this is one of
those places that has nothing besides a chest with medals or gear, and all you have to
do is open it. Second…"
She paused, scowling. Clearly, she didn't like the second possibility.
"…the monster inside is so strong, they were wiped right away."
"Yikes."
"I'm thinking it's the latter, too. If the circle's glowing again, that means the challenge
is still open. So whatever's inside—wasn't just a chest. Probably."
Didn't look like any more players were on their way, so they took some time to check
their stats and strategize.
"Destructive Growth means my armor is now VIT +40, and my HP's higher, too. And I
haven't used my limited skills at all yet."
"Mine haven't changed much, either. Superspeed's recharged, and I haven't used
Mirage yet today."
Maple
Lv24 HP 40/40 +160 MP 12/12 +10
[STR 0] [VIT 170 +81 ]
[AGI 0] [DEX 0]
[INT 0]
Equipment
Head [None] Body [Black Rose Armor]
R. Hand [New Moon: Hydra] L. Hand [Night's Facsimile: Devour]
Legs [Black Rose Armor] Feet [Black Rose Armor]
Accessories [Forest Queen Bee Ring]
[Toughness Ring]
[Life Ring]
Skills
Shield Attack, Sidestep, Deflect, Meditation, Taunt
HP Boost (S), MP Boost (S)
Great Shield Mastery IV, Cover Move I, Cover
Absolute Defense, Moral Turpitude, Giant Killing, Hydra Eater, Bomb Eater
Sally
Lv19 HP 32/32 MP 25/25 +35
[STR 25 +20 ] [VIT 0]
[AGI 80 +68 ] [DEX 25 +20 ]
[INT 25 +20 ]
Equipment
Head [Surface Scarf: Mirage] Body [Oceanic Coat: Oceanic]
R. Hand [Deep Sea Dagger] L. Hand [Seabed Dagger]
Legs [Oceanic Clothes] Feet [Black Boots]
Accessories [None]
[None]
[None]
Skills
Slash, Double Slash, Gale Slash, Defense Break
Down Attack, Power Attack, Switch Attack
Fire Ball, Water Ball, Wind Cutter
Sand Cutter, Dark Ball
Water Wall, Wind Wall, Refresh, Heal
Affliction III
Strength Boost (S), Combo Boost (S), Martial Arts I
MP Boost (S), MP Cost Down (S), MP Recovery Speed Boost (S), Poison Resist (S)
Gathering Speed Boost (S)
Dagger Mastery II, Magic Mastery II
Fire Magic I, Water Magic II, Wind Magic II
Earth Magic I, Dark Magic I, Light Magic II
Presence Block II, Presence Detect II, Sneaky Steps I, Leap I
Fishing, Swimming X, Diving X, Cooking I, Jack of All Trades, Superspeed
"I guess I'll put my shield up the second we step in. You should take cover behind me."
"Got it. After that…"
They hashed out their plan for a good twenty minutes before finally stepping onto the
circle.
"Right! Here goes nothing!"
"Brace yourself!"
The circle activated, their bodies were wreathed in light—and they vanished.