The forest had proved much smaller than the earlier ones.
"Oh? We're already out!"
"Wow… a desert!"
A vast expanse of sand stretched before them.
The uniform terrain was broken up only by the occasional cactus.
No signs of any other players.
"Shall we?"
"Totally."
They stepped onto the sand.
"At least we don't get thirsty!"
"Yeah, that would make exploration impossible."
This game didn't simulate dehydration.
And the desert temperatures didn't affect them negatively at all.
The sand pulled at their feet, so exploring here was definitely hard work, but they were
making steady progress over the dunes.
"There's nothing here!"
"Not that I can see."
The dunes themselves were towering. They climbed on, hoping there would be
something across the next one.
"Just gotta keep moving forward."
"Yeah…"
They were keeping Oboro and Syrup in their rings.
Maple had tried taking Syrup out once, but the dunes had proven too steep.
The moment the sand shifted, it sent the small turtle rolling back downhill.
And after noticing how much sand got stuck in Oboro's fur, Sally quickly put it away.
She felt sorry for the poor fox.
They crossed dozens of dunes… and at last, they spied an oasis in the distance.
"Finally!"
"Let's make a run for it!"
Surrounded by sand, that patch of green positively sparkled.
They picked up their pace and headed toward it.
"Well? Any signs of a dungeon?"
"Let's split up and check every inch of the place. It's not that big, so it shouldn't take
long."
But their thorough investigation just proved there was nothing here at all.
"Hmm… This is a whole lotta nothing."
"That's disappointing."
"I guess we could rest a bit."
"Good idea. Today is definitely catching up with me," Sally said, stretching.
Both of them had already spent several hours in combat.
And that did take its toll.
Maple flopped down on the ground, looking around her.
"Hmm… uh. Sally! Someone's coming!"
She scrambled back to her feet, raising her shield.
Sally drew her daggers, eyes locked on the approaching player.
"Already occupied… and it's Maple. I have no luck."
The approaching player was a grown woman dressed in traditional Japanese clothing.
She wore a kimono the color of cherry blossoms and purple hakama.
And with a katana at her side, she was instantly recognizable.
"She came in sixth in the last event."
"What? Really?!"
"I looked into it. I know the top players."
"I hate to interrupt," the woman said. "But is peace an option?"
It seemed like she wasn't looking for a fight.
She said as much… but that might not be her actual intent.
"...…Do you mean that?" Sally said, watching her closely.
"I could certainly use more medals. If you'd rather fight… then I'll at least try to take
one of you down with me."
When she said "one of you," her eyes clearly turned toward Sally.
Maple's hackles went up a notch. She was ready to attack or defend, as needed.
"But in that case, the survivor would get all the medals. That gives us quite an advantage,"
Sally muttered.
Kimono Lady wasn't the only one looking for medals.
"...…True."
"Game on?"
"Up to you, Sally. I don't really… I mean, if we have to, I'll do my part."
Their eyes locked on the woman—
"Superspeed!"
—who immediately turned and ran.
Too fast for the eye to see.
"Superspeed!" Sally ran after her.
Also too fast for the eye to see.
Sally had decided this opportunity was too good to pass up.
"Wait for meeee!" Maple yelled, doing her best to follow.
But this was like a turtle chasing after a hare.
Who wouldn't want to chase someone who ran? Sally went with the flow, ready for
combat.
"Wh-why do you know Superspeed?!"
"Why wouldn't I?"
Both of them ran out into a valley between two dunes. There was no escape.
The woman turned and drew her katana.
She'd definitely assumed she could win as long as she didn't have to face Maple.
After all, she'd come in sixth.
"First Blade: Heat Haze."
The woman shimmered—then vanished from sight.
And reappeared right in front of Sally.
Her blade swung horizontally, cutting Sally in two.
"What…?!" she gasped.
Her target had vanished, melting into thin air.
"Everyone does that the first time."
Red sparks sprayed from the woman's body.
Sally didn't have high attack capabilities, so she didn't do a lot of damage, but she'd
slashed the woman's side in passing.
She quickly jumped back, keeping her distance.
"Think you can take me before Maple gets here?" Sally grinned.
"Hrngg… First Blade: Heat Haze!"
The woman closed the distance again…
The same horizontal slash.
"I've seen that one already."
What happened next was hard to believe.
Sally ducked under the katana's swing, charging forward.
And as her opponent's blade hit nothing but air, Sally slipped past on her left, scraping
the ground.
"Hngg!"
Red sparks flew from the woman's feet.
"I didn't imagine you would be this good. But I suppose that's why you're with Maple…"
"Thanks for the compliment."
They faced off once more.
Sally wasn't making the first move.
Her plan was to evade the woman's attacks and take advantage of the openings they
left behind.
If any of these attacks hit, Sally would be done.
But her opponent was unaware of that.
* * *
"…I can't die here," the kimono lady muttered.
A change swept over her.
Her beautiful black hair turned white as snow, and her eyes took on a scarlet glow.
An aura glimmered in the air around her, the same cherry-blossom pink as her kimono.
"...…"
Sally didn't say a word, heightening her concentration.
This was Sally's trump card.
An ability no one else could match.
"Final Blade: Misty Moon."
A flurry of strikes came at Sally.
So fast, the blade itself blurred and vanished from sight.
So fast, it was impossible for the naked eye to see.
"...…!"
The kimono lady gasped.
Her fastest combo… had failed to land a hit.
The cost of a combo skill was that your movements were limited until the combo ended.
All she could do was keep swinging, hoping it would strike home.
And Sally dodged it all.
The movements of her opponent's feet.
The direction of her gaze.
The shifting of her arms.
The bend of her shoulders.
The sound of the blade.
All these things told her where the next swing would be, and she dodged by a
hairbreadth.
Any opponent would find this unnerving. She was evading every swing with the
absolute minimum motion.
It was almost like…
The katana was avoiding Sally.
Each swing of the twelve-stroke combo should have been fatal.
When it ended, the woman smiled at Sally and fell over backward.
"I've lost. Make it quick," she said.
Her hair and eyes were back to normal.
The intense aura had vanished as well.
"That was pretty close for me, too," Sally said.
"I'll hit you next time."
Sally raised her daggers high, about to strike…
"Aghhhhhhhhhhhhh?! I can't stooooooop!"
They turned toward the scream and saw a black mass rolling down the dune toward
them, spraying sand in its wake.
"Wha—? Crap! Maple?! No, wait!"
Yes—this black mass was all Maple.
The only silver lining was that she'd unequipped her shield.
But she was clearly past "waiting" or "stopping."
Maple came barreling right toward them.
Plumes of sand rose into the air.
None of them reacted in time.
And none of them was prepared for the change happening below.
"Wha—?!"
"Argh, too late!"
"Huh? Huh?!"
These reactions were all they managed before the sand swallowed them up.
Two of them managed to right themselves in the air and land on their feet.
One slammed face-first into the ground with a thunderous clang.
Naturally, this was Maple.
Fortunately, it wasn't that long a drop, so nobody took damage.
"Wh-what happened?"
"A dungeon with a three-person trigger? It only reacted once Maple arrived…"
Sally scratched her head, trying to figure out their next step. And as she did…
Everyone noticed the black chains linking their arms.
"""Huh?"""
Sally's right arm was connected to the kimono lady.
Sally's left, to Maple.
Maple and the lady had their other hands free.
The chains were about a yard long—which definitely made most ordinary movements
inconvenient, if not outright impossible.
It took them all a minute to come to terms with this new development.
"Hngg… they're not coming off."
Sally was rattling the chains, but clearly brute force wasn't gonna be enough.
"There's a button on my wrist!"
"Same here."
"Yeah, mine too… Guess I was too flustered to notice."
After a brief consultation, Sally pressed the button on one of her wrists.
All it did was make a blue screen pop up, like one of their game menus.
Binding Chains
Cursed chains that link three explorers.
Those bound share their fates—the death of one means the death of all.
[Indestructible]
"Whoa, that's… rough."
The predicament affected Sally the most. She didn't have much HP to begin with, and
now she'd be unable to dodge effectively.
They tried the other buttons, but they all displayed the same screen.
"I'll defend you with my life!" Maple cried, raising her shield.
"That really is our only option," Sally said, nodding.
Their faith in each other was clear.
"I feel rather out of place now," said the odd woman out.
"…Truce?"
"Seems best. I certainly have no desire to fight."
The kimono lady paused, then introduced herself.
Her name was Kasumi.
Not to state the obvious, but she was a master of katana combat.
This dungeon was going to be rough, and they needed to focus on enemies, not one
another—so all tension among the three young women quickly vanished.
"So… should we head out?"
"Sounds good!"
"I agree. Standing around will get us nowhere. And clearing this dungeon may free us
from these chains."
Before them was a staircase carved from sandstone. They headed down it.
"Depending on the pattern, the boss could be an issue."
"Let's pray it doesn't have any AOEs."
Kasumi and Sally were both focused on the view below. Maple was happily looking
around.
"Humidity's higher here."
"Huh? Oh… you're right."
"Walls are looking cave-like, too. They've gone from smoothly carved to… naturally
formed bumps."
At the base of the stairs, the cave opened up.
Rocky stalactites hung from the ceiling. Echoes of dripping water filled the chamber.
The limestone had a sickening complexion to begin with, and the floor and walls were
oddly moist, so the view was not exactly pleasant.
The damp floor was slippery enough that exploring this place would be challenging
even without the chains.
"See any monsters?"
"Er, no. Maybe there aren't any?"
They listened closely, but all they could hear were the trickling droplets of water.
"Let's keep moving. I dunno where this place ends… It looks like a real maze, too."
There were several exits from this room alone.
All of them had very high ceilings. Like the central chamber, they were easily ten yards
high.
"Watch for attacks from above."
"I was just thinking that. Seems like that sort of dungeon."
"I'd better get ready to guard you, then!"
They picked a path and went that way. After a while, they reached another large
chamber.
"Still… nothing, huh?"
"Are they just trying to make us nervous? The encounter rate shouldn't be this low. I
mean, it's literally zero right now…"
"Maybe because it's a maze, there's only a boss in it? To make up for how much time
it'll take to find the boss room?"
Maple's idea sounded very plausible. The others nodded.
"There are a lot of side paths here. This'll take a while."
They kept moving.
The paths took them right, left, up, and down, but there was no sign of any boss room.
And they encountered no monsters at all.
"Ugh, another dead end…"
"Sigh. Guess we'll have to turn back…"
"... Hmm? Wait, hang on…!"
They stopped and looked at Maple.
She was pointing at a small puddle by the wall at the back of the dead end.
There were bubbles forming in it. Small enough to be easily overlooked, but given how
identical every passage in this cave was, the tiniest difference was likely significant.
It may have been pure luck that Maple noticed, but fortunately, she had.
They moved closer, peering into the puddle—and found a single medal at the bottom
of it.
When Maple picked it up, the bubbling stopped. They must have been there to draw
the eye.
"Wow, I completely missed that."
"As did I."
Kasumi insisted that it was finders keepers—making this medal Maple's. They agreed
to follow that rule from this point on.
Any items they came across would belong to the person who found them.
"This suggests the cave might not even have a boss."
"It certainly makes that more likely."
"How so?"
"If there was a boss, you'd get the medals for beating it. Like… everywhere else we've
been."
"Oh, right. Good point."
If there were medals hidden in puddles, then finding the hiding spots was likely the
point of this dungeon.
"Now we've gotta pay close attention to the ground and walls… Ugh, this is exhausting,"
Sally grumbled.
Kasumi echoed her thoughts. "I'll keep my eyes peeled. I'd like to get something out of
this."
Once again, they turned back, leaving the dead end behind.
The cave had a lot of dead ends, and they all looked the same, so it was easy to get
confused. It was hard to tell if they were making any progress.
"I think I prefer straightforward combat-focused dungeons…"
"I sure do!"
"I would rather fight, myself."
As they agreed, they reached another large chamber.
This place was like an ant farm, but they'd yet to find any ants.
"Oh! Something's glowing!"
"Treasure?"
"Maybe."
They headed toward the center of the room.
The ground there glittered like the Milky Way. Nothing like the limestone around it.
The sparkling ground seemed to split the chamber in two. Everyone knelt down for a
better look.
"It's… pretty, but not any kind of gem. More like gold dust?"
"It resembles that, but it doesn't look harvestable."
Kasumi scraped at it with her katana but got the same hollow clank that came back
any time a player struck an indestructible object.
A vein of ore this broad would have been well worth harvesting for crafting materials,
but…
No such luck.
"Is this like the bamboo thicket? Where you can harvest it only at specific times of
day?"
"It's certainly a possibility."
"Tell me more," Kasumi said.
Maple told her about the glowing bamboo tree.
"There are medals that only appear at night? And here I was, only exploring in
daylight."
"What time is it now?"
"Hang on… five thirty. If we find an exit, it'll be after dark."
"Then we'll have to spend the night here."
"Oof, that sounds rough."
But they'd yet to find any signs of an exit, so what choice did they have?
They left the glittering vein behind, exploring further.
All three were watching the floors and walls but had discovered little else since that
lone medal.
"Mm?"
"What's up, Sally?"
"Find something?"
"No, just… did you feel the ground shake?"
"I don't think so? Not that I noticed."
"Me neither. Are you sure?"
"Hmm… I might just be tired. I had to fight a fake Maple, after all…"
"A fake Maple? Good lord."
"Yeah, it was a doozy!"
Maple told Kasumi all about the fakes.
Kasumi clearly enjoyed the tale.
"That does sound like a challenging fight. Meanwhile, all I did was explore…"
"Well, tell us about your explorations!"
"Ha-ha-ha, I'd be glad to. Let me see, where should I begin…?"
Being chained together was certainly helping them bond.
Sally had already decided she liked Kasumi too much to take her out.
It was past six now.
The fifth day was almost upon them.