The girls emerged from the transport circle.
She was out of Devour, but Maple still had her shield braced for surprise attacks.
"I think we're good?"
They checked their surroundings.
The teleportation had brought them to the center of a ruined town. The remains of
fallen buildings were everywhere.
Based on the location of the mountain peak, this was in the opposite direction from
their original starting location.
"I guess we picked a good one?"
"But someone else might have already cleaned out this place."
"It's only day two. I bet there's still plenty of hidden stuff around. That said, this town's
probably empty by now. I mean, the circle brought us here."
It seemed highly unlikely that the admins would just dump players on top of more
medals right away.
Deciding to start exploring while keeping an eye out for a safe zone, they began
investigating the ruins.
"Three players up ahead. What do you think?"
"I'd rather not fight. No Devour and… a loss would hurt."
"I agree. Let's go this way."
They discreetly slipped out of the ruins, entering a nearby forest.
There they found lots of spiders and owls.
After that bird boss, every other monster seemed like a joke.
So slow! So little damage! Such low HP!
"Easy peasy."
They pressed on. Looking for a safe place to spend the second night. Scaling the
mountain had taken so long, the sun was already starting to set.
Stopping only to fight monsters, they moved deeper into the woods.
"Hmm… We still haven't found anything…"
Like Maple said, there was nothing here but trees. No buildings, no caves, nothing
remarkable at all.
"Let's find a tall tree and climb it. That'll be better than the ground, at least."
Sally looked around for a tree with a good view and used her Leap skill to reach the top.
"Cover Move!"
Maple followed her up.
This tree had few low-hanging branches, so not many players would even consider
climbing it.
They leaned against the trunk, taking a breather.
The fatigue of the bird fight had caught up with them.
"Sally… my Devour restocks at midnight. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
Maple was suggesting they should rest until their skills refreshed and then do some
exploring at night.
The last romp in the forest had proved there were time-sensitive events out there.
Their goal was twenty medals.
That wasn't happening without some creativity and exploring as much as they could.
Plus, this was a race against the other players, to boot.
Dawdling now and panicking in the latter half would do them no good.
"If you're up for it, Maple."
"Mm, okay. Then let's kick things off at midnight!"
They'd both leveled up, so it was time to spend some skill points.
"I guess… AGI and STR?"
"All VIT!"
Maple
Lv26 HP 40/40 +160 MP 12/12 +10
[STR 0] [VIT 175 +141 ]
[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, Indomitable
Guardian
Sally
Lv21 HP 32/32 MP 25/25 +35
[STR 30 +20 ] [VIT 0]
[AGI 85 +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
Maple had put five more points in Vitality, but Destructive Growth had added a full
sixty.
And she had a new skill, Indomitable Guardian.
Sally put five points in Agility and five in Strength.
She handed Maple some food, and they both ate.
They had to rest as much as they could before midnight.
By the time they left the tree, it was so late that even most monsters had stopped
prowling.
Her stock of Devour was back, and Maple was ready for anything.
This meant she'd swapped her shield back to White Snow. That was the easiest way to
avoid wasting any uses.
"This forest? Or back to those ruins?"
"Uh… let's stick with the forest. There were other players in those ruins, so they've
probably cleaned the place out already."
"Fair. Forest it is!"
They plunged deeper into the woods.
Every now and then, an owl swooped silently toward them, but Sally's reflexes were
so good that she dodged them easily. They couldn't damage Maple at all, so she just
ignored them.
They went on like this for an hour and a half.
"Uh, Sally… do you see something shining up ahead?" Maple said, pointing.
Sally squinted in the direction indicated. There was a faint glow.
"Might be a player… Approach with caution."
"Got it."
They crept silently closer.
"It's, uh…"
"…Bamboo?"
It was definitely a bamboo thicket.
But part of one trunk was glowing faintly.
"Wh-what do you think? Should we split it open?"
"I just hope there isn't a person inside," Sally joked.
Glowing bamboo meant only one thing to anyone familiar with Japanese folktales. The
legend of Princess Kaguya.
"But… it might be a medal. There are supposed to be some medals you can find just
exploring, right?"
They talked it over a few minutes longer but ultimately decided it was worth splitting
open the bamboo.
Sally swung her dagger.
There was a satisfying shunk, and the glow got brighter.
Their fears proved groundless—inside was a single silver medal.
"Nice! No obnoxious side quests, just a medal."
"Now we only need twelve more!"
This conclusion might have been a bit premature.
There was a rustling in the brush around them, and a bunch of horned rabbits popped
out.
"Moon rabbits?"
"Maybe… and those horns might be piercing. Careful."
"Roger that!"
They braced for combat.
Maple was acting a lot more like a typical player than she had when she first started
out.
Other than her stats, obviously.
These bunnies were definitely cuter than the bird boss.
But they came charging in, so the two girls fought back.
When the dust settled, the bamboo thicket was a lake of poison, and the bulk of the
trees had been felled.
Each rabbit on its own had posed little threat, but there had been a lot of them.
"T-too many…"
"Well over a hundred… maybe even two… I'm so tired…"
The bunnies had swarmed the thicket like they owned the place, and it had been a
serious workout.
"Wanna climb another tree and rest up?"
"Yeah… that sounds good."
This one medal had taken an awful lot out of them.
But the third day was only just getting started.
Up the tree, they took turns sleeping, climbing down only once the sun had risen.
They were quite deep in the woods by this point, so they were both fretting about
finding anything else worth exploring.
"Where to, Maple?"
"I say… straight ahead! Let's carve our way out of this forest!"
"Cool. Works for me!"
They kept the ruins behind them once more, aiming for the far side of the woods.
After another half-hour walk, Sally lowered her voice.
"Maple," she said, "there's a group of players waiting for us in the brush to the right."
Sally wasn't relying solely on Presence Detect. She was also using the sounds of the
brush moving and the telltale clinking of armor. This gave her advance warning of
monster and player alike.
Acting natural, they walked on, conversing under their breath.
"Likely not that strong—they're hoping to catch us with our guards down."
"Should we capture them?"
"Can you?"
"Yup."
Maple slid New Moon an inch out of its sheath.
"Paralyze Shout."
She slammed the blade back into the scabbard, and the scraping sound echoed
through the woods.
Groans went up from the brush behind them.
"See?"
"Flawless. You're so good!"
They parted the brush and found two players on the ground, helplessly immobilized.
"Try again some other time. Just be prepared to always have the tables turned on you!"
Sally quickly finished them off.
No medals.
"Only a fool would try and take you on, Maple. I sure wouldn't risk it…"
Since the event started, they'd crossed paths with other players four times.
Two of those encounters had led to combat, but neither opponent had posed much of
a threat. Chrome's party had been the only major foe, but they'd handled that one
diplomatically. So far, PVP had not proven to be much of a challenge.
"Five more days, including today. Odds are high we'll bump into stronger players
eventually."
If the current rate of two encounters a day held steady, they were in for an estimated
ten more.
And at least one of those seemed likely to include a player who had hit the upper ranks
in the previous event.
They had to be prepared for an attack at any time.
There were players out there in their league.
After another hour of forest trekking, more sunlight started filtering through the trees.
At long last, they could see the land beyond.
"Oh…"
"Wow."
A deep canyon spread out before them.
They were on top of the highest cliff for miles around.
Plenty of shrubs clung to the cliff walls, and they could hear birds singing.
The floor of the valley was shrouded in mist, offering no clue what might lay beneath
it.
If they wanted to explore this place, the first order of business was to get to the bottom.
"Think anyone's been through it?"
"No way to know for sure, but given the size of it, I bet there's still more to find."
Like Maple said, the canyon was huge.
The drop from the cliff they stood on was over a hundred yards.
And the canyon wasn't exactly narrow.
It was as wide as the cliff was tall.
"I agree. Let me see if I can find a way down."
Sally examined the cliff face for a minute, searching for footholds. Then she began
slowly working her way down.
"Hmm… doesn't seem like there's anywhere you could land, Maple."
Cover Move had a limited range. And with Maple's Strength, dangling from the rocky
handholds was essentially impossible for her. Nor did she have Sally's Agility, so swiftly
clambering down was out of the question. Maple's extreme build left her unable to get
down the cliff on her own, so Sally was looking for larger outcrops—without success.
Sally privately suspected that Maple might be able to soak up the fall damage, but there
was no guarantee of that. She decided to not suggest jumping.
"Uh, well, if you find anywhere I could land, lemme know. If you don't, just keep
climbing all the way to the bottom."
Maple had a blue screen up in front of her. Maybe checking the time.
"Yeah? All righty, then."
Sally started scrambling downward. There was definitely nowhere Maple could land.
It took Sally a good two hours to make her way to the bottom.
"Well, I made it, at least… Guess I'd better let Maple know."
She'd been sending Maple the occasional progress update via the in-game messaging
system.
And this time, she reported the successful end to her climb.
Maple's reply arrived less than a minute later. All it said was:
"Stand clear!"
"Wh-what's she planning…?"
Sally sent a confirmation and backed well away, then climbed a nearby tree for a better
view.
"Yikes… even for her, that's…"
Sally was looking up at a giant purple ball. A good ten yards in diameter.
As Sally watched…
…it rolled over the edge, bouncing down the side of the cliff.
Every time it came in contact with the ground, anything it touched dissolved—and the
ball itself shrank accordingly.
When it finally reached the bottom, the impact sent sticky goo in all directions.
"S-so dizzy…," Maple moaned, staggering out of the remains of the purple sphere.
Sally hopped out of the tree and went over to her…
Well, not too close, since she couldn't risk touching any of that poisonous goo.
"So? What is this stuff?"
"Um, it's called Venom Capsule. A skill that traps a target in a ball of poison. They can't
get out easily, so…"
So it was pretty durable.
Maple was still too dizzy to finish the thought, but Sally got the gist. This was clearly
not the intended use of the skill.
"If you don't have Poison Nullification, it'll drain your HP. Be careful if you ever use it,
Sally."
"I never will."
Maple finally recovered enough to walk straight, so they headed off down the canyon
floor.
The slope was still pretty steep. Every now and then, there were fairly major drops.
With the thick mist, they couldn't see that far ahead, making the precarious ledges
harder to spot as well.
"I can't see at all…"
"But that means there might be medals that got overlooked. Maple, be on the lookout
for ambushes. And sudden drops."
"Got it! Eyes peeled!"
Of course, it would take a serious drop to do any damage to Maple.
Less of a drop than a cliff, really.
But since they could see only a few yards ahead, they had to carefully pick their way
forward.
"Mm? Is that water I hear?"
"Oh? You're right! There must be water nearby."
They headed toward the sound.
Some bat monsters attacked them along the way, but… they were kind of a joke.
The monsters around here weren't very high-level.
"Found it!"
There was a small river in front of them.
A short drop created a mini waterfall, and the sounds they'd heard came from the clear
water flowing over the edge.
"Look at that!"
Maple pointed at the rock face opposite. There was a crack in the stone, and they could
just make out a cave within.
Thinking it might be a dungeon, they moved closer, but it wasn't very deep, and there
were no signs of any monsters. It was just a big fissure.
"Let's make this our base. Exploring this canyon could take a while…"
It was nothing but a gap in the rock face, but it was more than enough to make it their
base camp. Certainly safer than up a tree somewhere.
"No complaints! Also, we should check on our eggs."
"Oh, right. We've gotta warm them somehow?"
They settled down in their fissure base, taking a break.
And pulled up their status menus to examine the eggs.