After a while, they got back up.
This time, the magic circle took them to the cliff top.
The ruins lay behind them.
Meanwhile, the pit in the sea below was gone.
"So we're done here, then?"
"Yup. But it wasn't enough medals…"
"Oh. Riiight. We still need two more."
They'd slept in a bit. It was now nine in the morning on the sixth day.
"If there are any dungeons that still haven't been cleared… they'll be pretty tough or
extremely hard to find."
"Yeah… either way, we'd better get moving."
Maple turned to walk away, but Sally stopped her.
"Maple—you're out of Devour, right?"
"Erp… did the date change while we were busy fighting the squid?"
If she didn't have her Devour stock back, Maple wouldn't be much use in a serious
fight.
Sally pondered this a moment and then offered a suggestion.
"This leaves us no choice. We have to target other players."
"Hngg… All right, fine."
Sally was definitely way more enthusiastic about PKing than Maple, but if the choice
came down to hunt or be hunted, she could make her peace with it.
A lot of the players they'd met so far had tried to take them down.
And that fact helped convince Maple this was their best option.
"Then… into the woods we go. Maple? See that mountain?"
"Huh? Yeah, but…"
"Let's head that way. I figure a landmark like that'll lure in other players."
This was not the same mountain they'd climbed their second day.
It definitely seemed like the kind of mountain that would have a dungeon inside, but
since it really drew the eye, odds were the dungeon had already been cleared.
"Works for me."
With that decided, they set out.
Three hours later.
They were in a cave at the base of the mountain.
They'd seen other players on their way here, but they'd all run for it.
And with Maple's combat potential at rock bottom, Sally didn't want to risk leaving
her to give chase.
"Does that make sense? You mind hiding here, Maple?"
"No prob! Also… sorry?"
"No need for that! You did well in the squid fight."
Sally pulled up her menu and then handed her ring to Maple.
This was the ring that connected her to Oboro.
"It'll cost you some HP, but… Oboro can help guard you."
Maple removed her Toughness Ring and put Sally's on. Then she summoned both pet
monsters.
"Cool… then I'll go do what I can!"
"Good luck out there!"
Sally dashed out of the cave.
They hadn't trained Syrup and Oboro much, but the monsters could handle lowerlevel players. Maybe even the middle of the mid-tier.
And that made them decent enough bodyguards.
If Maple died, they'd lose all the medals they'd gathered.
"And that's a grave responsibility… Oh, I know!"
There might be no boss room left, but this cave had been a dungeon once, so it was
fairly big.
One of those ant-farm-like sprawls.
And Maple was at the very bottom of it.
"Venom Capsule!"
Wary of friendly fire, she'd put Syrup and Oboro away first. Then she hid herself inside
a poison capsule, gradually increasing the size.
This was a skill Maple could use even without Devour.
"I've gotta survive till Sally comes back!"
As much as her MP recovery allowed, she expanded the capsule, gradually filling the
cave passage.
The dungeon quickly changed into a poison swamp.
It was like Maple had transformed herself into the new dungeon boss.
"Keep your distance! None may enter here!"
Maple expanded her capsule yet again.
While Maple was gushing poison, Sally was outside the cave.
"On my own… there should be a lot of players I can take out."
Far too many players recognized Maple on sight.
This was why those players earlier had bolted—one look at Maple, and they'd been in
the wind.
Everyone knew just how dangerous she could be.
But not Sally.
She was entirely unknown.
Sally was every bit as broken as Maple and far more aggressive.
But only a few players were aware of this.
And Sally had nothing to lose.
Maple was holding all their medals.
"Been a while… but I'm in the mood for a proper rampage."
Sally enjoyed teaming up with Maple, but solo fights brought their own thrills.
She raced off down the mountain.
It was just past noon. Visibility was high.
"Aha! Got some."
Sally found two women walking in the woods, one with a spear and one with a sword.
They were paying attention and spotted Sally right away.
"Incoming!"
"I see her!"
The sword wielder had a shield equipped and started edging closer, guard up.
"Gale Thrust!"
The spear wielder drove her weapon in Sally's direction, but Sally saw it coming and
was already one step ahead.
Her opponent had seen her daggers, assumed she'd dodge the thrust, and planned to
strike while Sally was off-balance.
This was a solid plan.
Your average player would step back or dodge to one side.
The spear wielder had bet on the former and followed the thrust with a dash forward,
closing the gap.
This was the best choice—even if Sally had dodged sideways, she could still easily
handle that.
But Sally was not an average player.
"Huh?!"
Sally didn't dodge like ordinary people.
She twisted her body just enough to avoid the blow and kept moving forward. The
spear wielder was left wide open, and Sally's daggers closed in.
"Double Slash!"
Red sparks flew, but the spear wielder still lived.
And she was already swinging her spear sideways.
"You're kidding?!"
Sally dodged this by limboing under it. It was hard to believe any human could react
that fast—and the shock made the spear wielder's mind go blank.
"And you're done."
Sally's daggers brought the spear wielder's HP to zero.
"Power Blade!"
A swift vertical strike from Sally's rear.
The sword wielder was sure she'd gotten her.
"...…!"
But Sally turned like she had eyes in the back of her head.
A small pivot let the blow sail harmlessly past, as if the blade were avoiding Sally.
"Slash!"
Sally sped past the sword wielder, striking her in the flank.
The sword wielder found this all very unsettling.
It was like the more she attacked, the worse things got for her.
"Argh…"
"Wind Cutter!"
And while she scowled at Sally, trying to figure out how to land a blow—well, she
hadn't expected her to use magic, too.
Perhaps this was a sign she was starting to panic.
"Ah!"
She leaped to one side, avoiding the spell.
But this was exactly the position they'd tried to put Sally in. She realized as much, but
too late to recover her balance.
"Good-bye."
Face-to-face, typical players stood little chance against anyone genuinely skilled.
And no miracles arrived to save them.
"Right, no medals, then."
Sally set out in search of her next prey.
As luck would have it, the sixth day had brought many players to this area.
Afterward, those players all gave the same testimony.
"She vanished like an illusion."
"My blade avoided her."
"Was she ever there at all?"
* * *
This was how the slaughter began—and in time, this carnage would come to be known
as the Sixth Day Nightmare.
"Hokay… time to head back," Sally said, face lit by the red sparks of a dying player.
If this game had blood instead of particle effects, her beautiful blue equipment would
have been stained crimson long ago.
In days to come, some victims would speculate that she'd actually been a powerful
field boss that spawned out of nowhere, but for now, her reign of terror drew to a close.
Because her kills had earned her two medals.
"Not many people have any, huh? Were we just lucky, or…?"
The sun was already setting.
She could see the mountain where Maple waited, silhouetted against the sunset.
It was a good six miles away.
Sally had quit counting after she killed her hundredth victim.
Yet she had only two medals to show for it.
Sally's suspicions were correct—they had been very fortunate.
But what had really made a difference was that the girls had been strong enough to
clear the dungeons they found.
"Just gotta get these back safely."
Sally broke into a run.
She came upon several players on her way and turned them to light—but that was just
their lot in life.
"Phew, made it!"
Sally stepped into the cave.
She knew the way, so she'd started quickly weaving through the maze toward Maple's
location… only to stop in her tracks halfway.
"Yikes…"
The passage before her was blocked by a wall of poison.
Attacking that would just leave the floor covered in poison, so Sally wasn't going any
farther.
"That's definitely Maple… Guess I'd better message her."
She sent one off and waited a bit. Eventually, Maple emerged from the poison.
"I found two medals!" Sally said.
"Wow! That's great."
Sally tossed them over to Maple.
They finally had twenty.
All they had to do now was keep it that way.
"What's the plan? We've got our medals, so we can kick back and train these two the
rest of the event."
"Oh! That reminds me! I had an idea that might help with that."
"What?"
"Come with me!"
"Uh… I literally can't…"
Sally pointed to the poison-drenched floor.
"Oh… uh, want a shield ride?"
Maple canceled her capsule, and the poison wall vanished. Then she put her great
shield down on the floor.
"Okay, but how does this work?"
Sally sat down on the shield like it was a sled.
"I'm gonna push it."
"Um."
"I'm gonna push it!"
"I don't think that'll work."
"Trust me—it'll work!"
Maple gave it a push.
It moved maybe twenty inches before coming to a complete halt.
"…It didn't work."
"That's what I was afraid of. Anyway, what's your idea? Let's start with that."
"Well, um… so there's a dead end—not the one you left me in—and there were ant
monsters in it that were only, like, eight inches tall. And they were really weak! I
thought they'd be perfect for Syrup and Oboro."
They hadn't checked the cave out very thoroughly before, so this was news to Sally.
Maple had gotten bored, so once she was safe behind the poison, she'd gone out
exploring and found the ants.
"They spawn continuously?" Sally asked.
If they did, then that would be a good place to train them.
"Three every ten minutes!"
"Then… you wanna take care of it, Maple? I'm clearly not getting there anytime soon."
"Okay! Leave it to me!"
Sally got off the shield, and Maple reequipped it. Then she headed back into the cave's
depths.
"Hmm… but now I've got nothing else to do," Sally said.
She walked back to the cave entrance.
It wasn't like the whole place was contaminated with poison. Just a third of it.
Sally settled down in an open chamber not too far from the entrance.
It was a square room, maybe twenty yards on each side, with decorations lining the
walls.
Sally assumed it had once been home to a mid-boss.
"Guess I'll just guard Maple."
This wasn't a dungeon you had to take a magic circle to reach.
And because it had long since been cleared, the monster spawn rate was pretty low.
Just a few routine spawns like the one Maple had found.
And Sally didn't know where those were.
So what was she protecting Maple from?
Certainly not monsters. No, she was guarding against other players.
There were so few dungeons left that players would come looking for medals in
anything that looked even remotely dungeon-like.
"And if one of them has Poison Nullification, she's sunk."
Without Devour, Maple had no way to beat a player with that skill and decent defense.
Since Sally had nothing better to do, she'd decided to guard against that possibility.
"That makes this… kinda like a dungeon…"
Maple was the boss, and Sally was the mid-boss—and twenty medals were up for
grabs if any players could clear it.
And almost no monsters.
A special dungeon.
"Just gotta keep her safe until the sixth day ends…"
Once the seventh day started, Maple would return to full strength.
If they could last that long, Maple would be reviiiiived!
"That makes Maple sound like a dark god…"
Given how many players had been clustered near this mountain, Sally wondered if
there was anything left to explore in regions beyond.
"Did they come here because all the other areas have been picked clean?"
As Sally mused, she heard voices coming down the passage.
"Something up ahead!"
A party of four entered, weapons at the ready.
Sally quickly noted each.
A spear, a great shield, a wand, and a greatsword.
Looked like they played together regularly. Solid party balance.
"Who goes there?" she growled.
"Are you… a player? Or…"
She was lurking in the mid-boss room, covered head to toe in top-notch gear—
unsurprisingly, it was a little hard to be sure.
They could see her health bar, but that was also true for monsters.
If Sally claimed to be a monster, they might actually buy it.
"Looking for a fight?"
If they knew she was a player, they'd want her medals and would probably attack. Even
if Sally told the truth—she didn't have any—they had no reason to believe that.
And they were clearly here to explore, so if she let them pass, they'd find the poison
halls Maple had left behind.
And that would convince them this dungeon had not yet been cleared.
And if they were capable of getting through those—Maple was in trouble.
Taking them out was the safest bet.
Plus, it might be fun to act like she was a monster.
So Sally had decided to speak in cliche s.
"Mid-boss! Score!"
Convinced by her act, the party members were certain they'd found an uncleared
dungeon.
"Try to entertain me!" Sally said, spawning blue aura fish around her.
The real reason she was role-playing a monster…
…was because her recent reign of terror had left her high on adrenaline.
She wasn't ready to quit fighting just yet.
And if they thought she was a monster—they would definitely throw everything they
had at her.
She figured she had to take 'em out either way, so she might as well enjoy it.
Enjoying herself was what gaming was all about.
"Heh-heh-heh… what a treat!"
"Careful! Incoming!"
"""Ah!"""
Games had pleasures the real world could never offer.
And that was true for both Sally and the party she was up against.
Meanwhile, Maple was lying on the floor in a room at the back, cheering on Syrup and
Oboro.
"Snap! Get 'em! Keep trying! Fox Fire!"
The ants died, and Maple smiled approvingly.
"Good, good! Keep this up and you'll be stronger in no time!"
She sat up, petting both monsters.
If she wasn't wearing full armor, she'd have just looked like a normal kid playing with
her pet animals.
Something seen all the time out in the real world.
Maple had no idea Sally was locked in mortal combat at that very moment.
Then again, perhaps Maple was the real exception here.
She played with Syrup and Oboro for a while.
Frolicking and cuddling didn't exactly help boost their levels, but Maple had fun.
"All right, enough running around… You always catch me—because this room is very
small. Mm-hmm, that's definitely the only reason."
Maple sat down heavily, intently watching Syrup as it walked around.
A few minutes later, the monsters respawned.
"Oh, they're back! Taunt! Syrup, use Snap. Oboro, Fox Fire!"
Maple stayed seated but used her Taunt skill to pull the enemy toward her.
And while the monsters gnawed on her ineffectively, the two pets attacked from
behind.
"Go on! Keep it up! Once more! Snap! Fox Fire!"
Under Maple's watchful eye, Syrup and Oboro successfully defeated the ant monsters.
"And that's a level-up! Woo! Heh-heh. You're so good! Oh, you both learned new skills!"
Maple showered them with praise and pets.
She knew this didn't affect their stats, but she wanted to be affectionate.
"Out in the real world, it's a lot harder to play with cute animals like you, Syrup. Ehheh-heh! You're both adorable."
Training their pets might have been Maple's job, but that didn't mean she couldn't
enjoy herself for all she was worth.
"Gah!"
"Good-bye."
The last of the players turned to light.
Sally sheathed her daggers and sat down.
Several parties had come in, but none of them had even scratched her.
The sixth day was drawing to a close.
"Only thirty minutes left…"
It had been a while since the last attack. The time was eleven thirty PM.
Once Maple had her skills back, they could spend the seventh day doing whatever they
wanted.
They could stay holed up in this dungeon or venture back into the wilds outside.
"Bet this is the last fight of the day!" Sally said, standing up and drawing her daggers.
She could hear footsteps approaching.
"Mm?"
"…Oh."
The intruder and Sally stood face-to-face.
It was a solo player.
In a kimono. With a katana.
"We meet again!"
"Sigh… what are you doing here, Kasumi?"
The newcomer turned out to be a familiar face.
Kasumi's hand went nowhere near her hilt.
Clearly not looking for a fight.
Sally was equally disinclined.
She would've fought back if Kasumi attacked, but… they had cleared a dungeon together.
It wasn't like Sally was interested in starting anything.
"I've got a gold medal already," Kasumi explained. "I figured it was time I started hiding."
"That's why we're here!"
"So Maple's farther in? I wondered."
"She's holed up at the back."
"Mind if I say hello?"
"Unless you can wade through poison, you'll die instantly."
This told Kasumi everything she needed to know. She elected not to proceed further.
"She'll come out soon enough," Sally said. "She's holding all our medals, so… I'm in here
clearing any players who come in searching for some."
Kasumi nodded. "Mind if I join you?" she asked. "I was getting targeted a lot out
there…"
Most players knew Kasumi by sight, so her encounters had largely led to immediate
combat.
"Sure. Anyone comes your way, cut 'em down!"
"Certainly. I don't wish to lose my gold medal, either."
Now there were two mid-bosses.
With Kasumi here, far less players would mistake them for monsters.
But it added the lure of a gold medal… so the odds of them fighting remained just as
high.
They chatted awhile, one eye on the passage leading in—and then Maple emerged
from behind.
"Sally! They leveled up! Looky, looky! Syrup got a new skill… Oh?"
She came running out of the back, Syrup and Oboro on her heels.
And then her eyes met Kasumi's.
"Kasumi?! Why are you here?!"
"Uh… well, just trying to protect my medal… What are those?"
Kasumi was the first player to see either of their pets.
"Our new partners!"
They hadn't actually told Kasumi the bird boss story last time, so they filled her in.
"Eggs as a reward? I assume you're the only two who have those. I've met a lot of
players and have never seen anything like them."
Kasumi was right.
Only Maple and Sally had pet monsters.
Perhaps there would be more after future events, but it would almost certainly require
clearing extremely difficult dungeons.
"Oh, right, here's Oboro back."
"Mm, thanks."
They put their rings back the way they were.
"Well? Ready to ditch this cave?"
It was already after midnight.
Maple was back in action, so they didn't need to hole up to survive anymore.
But Maple wasn't really feeling the need.
She was more inclined to be cautious and protect their medals.
And she told Sally as much.
"Then… go on and block that passage for us."
"Sure thing!"
Maple moved to the door and drew New Moon.
It felt like ages since she'd seen that big ole purple circle.
"Hydra!"
The poison dragon raced off toward the entrance, splattering the walls and floor in its
wake.
It also swallowed an approaching party and tore the face off a player peering in the
entrance—but Maple never noticed.
She just walked halfway down the passage, deployed Venom Capsule, and then came
back.
"Now we're totally safe!"
"And Kasumi and I are trapped in here!"
"Oh, good point. Well… I trust you both."
Kasumi had no escape.
So they could steal her medal.
The girls glanced at each other. Maple shook her head. The meaning of that wasn't lost
on Sally. They were dead set on not fighting.
"Just one more day to burn!"
Probably best to get some sleep.
No need to spend the last day exhausted.
Just in case, they still slept in shifts, one of them keeping watch while the other two
crashed.
But morning came without any intruders.
Every now and then, someone with Poison Resist did risk a step into the cave
entrance—and promptly died.
"Mornin'."
"Morning!"
"Good morning. Just one more day."
The long event was drawing to a close.
Maple and Sally had achieved their goal and were thoroughly satisfied.
"Oh, right! You never know when we might need these medals. Sally, you want yours?"
Maple took Sally's share from her inventory and handed them over.
"Thanks."
Sally accepted them and stowed them safely away.
Kasumi had been more invested in protecting her gold medal than finding silver ones,
so she didn't have nearly as many.
"But spending the whole day here could get a little boring."
"True."
"Maple, you brought a bunch of games, right? Those could help."
Maple nodded and took them all out.
Including Othello.
"Kanade was so good…," she said, remembering her losses.
They'd promised to play again sometime.
"Kanade?" Kasumi asked.
Maple told her the story. That segued naturally to the giant squid fight, which
astonished Kasumi all the more.
Not many players had gone up against as many fearsome foes as these two.
"Are you sure you aren't just bad at Othello?" Sally asked. "Wanna play me?"
"Hnggg… Okay, I've gotta prove myself now!"
"You're on!"
Maple picked black and Sally, white.
The results…
…nearly every piece wound up black.
"Uh… Maple, how are you so good?"
"See? I know my 'thello. Kanade's just better!"
"Yeah, yeah. Let's go with something all three of us can play next."
Sally wasn't about to take this loss lying down but had zero problems switching to a
different game.
It was clear she stood no chance at Othello.
No other players interrupted their games.
And in time…
The event approached its end.
The announcement echoed across the entire map. A five-minute warning that they
were about to be transported back to the main game.
That meant no more Kasumi.
"See you post-event."
"Yeah, we should meet up again."
New friends and new powers.
As the curtains fell, both girls deemed the event a complete success.