While Maple Tree's grown-ups were making quick work of a scouting party…
Far, far away from any Maple Tree member—
Frederica and Drag were on guard duty in the Order of the Holy Sword's base. This
guild had been founded by Pain and Dread after they took the top two slots in the
first event, and the number of players—as well as those players' levels—was far
higher than Maple Tree's.
"Argh, I wanna go out and fight!" Frederica wailed.
"You know we can't. We're too slow."
Neither of them had put many points in AGI. Drag was six foot two and carried a
giant ax, which he kept waving around like he couldn't wait to knock someone's head
off with it.
Their guild's scout/attack units were all AGI focused, which ruled Frederica out, too.
She turned toward Drag, her blond side ponytail swinging outward.
"Like, I know it's better when defending's boring…"
"Is it?"
Frederica took a seat on a big rock, swinging her legs. She definitely looked bored
out of her mind.
The Order was a large guild, so their orb was placed in a hard-to-defend area.
Their base was situated in a rocky area surrounded by open fields. It was hard to see
enemies coming until they reached the rocks, and there were a ton of ways in.
The orb pedestal itself had no roof over it, so they had to watch for people who might
try leaping down from the rocky overhangs as well.
There were a number of nearby caves, too. While they couldn't hide the orb in them,
they were at least good for taking naps.
Just as their boredom peaked, word of an enemy attack came.
Both were on high alert immediately, crackling with tension.
"How many?"
"Around sixty! More than we have on defense."
"Nice, they're going all out. We'd better get moving. Pain wouldn't shut up about
minimizing casualties."
"Yeah… Let's go mop 'em up."
"Sounds good. Oh, right— Have everyone else back off. We'll handle this."
"B-by yourselves?"
"As if we'll need more?"
The messenger thought this was conceit talking—but there was no arguing with that
glare.
When Frederica and Drag reached the front line, they found a party of sixty headed
straight toward them.
"Our lookouts do good work."
"Mm."
Drag shouldered his ax, eying the enemy's advance. The moment they stepped in
range, he swung.
Naturally, his range reached far beyond any other ax wielder.
"Earth Splitter!"
Over twenty yards ahead of him, twenty-inch-deep gashes appeared in the ground,
halting the enemy in their tracks.
The land cracked open underfoot, knocking them off balance.
When Drag fought with Frederica, this type of incapacitation allowed her to
maximize her damage.
"Multi-Firebolt!"
Magic circles appeared all around her and shot out arcs of flame.
The still-struggling players were riddled with fiery missiles.
This was Frederica's Multi-Cast at work.
It was a powerful skill that allowed her to spend three times the MP to cast multiple
copies of each spell—far more copies than simply casting multiple times would
create. The Multi-Barrier she'd used against Sally provided a ridiculous amount of
defense.
"Heavy Charge!"
Before her barrage even finished, Drag rushed in.
When he swung that vicious ax, it slammed anyone it hit back into the gashes they'd
almost freed themselves from.
"Rahh! Burn Ax!"
Swinging a flaming ax around wildly, Drag wasn't even trying to defend himself,
which left him extremely vulnerable—but his DPS made up for that.
Killing everyone who got close meant there wasn't much incoming damage to worry
about.
Apparently offense is the greatest defense.
That being said, there were sixty attackers.
Drag was soon surrounded and being assailed from all sides.
Even then, he paid no heed to defending himself. His foes were free to nail him with
their best skills.
"Multi-Barrier! Multi-Barrier!"
But those skills all bounced off the defenses Frederica threw up—never really
affecting Drag's HP in any meaningful way.
He knew Frederica would keep him safe, so he didn't need to think about blocking.
"Ground Lance!"
Drag slammed his ax into the ground, and six rock lances shot up around him.
The players who were impaled from below tried to free themselves, but Frederica's
magic finished them off before they got the chance to escape.
"Is that all you got?! Ha!"
"Cover!"
A great shielder tried to soak Drag's ax damage, but his swing connected with full
effect, sending the shield bearer and the covered player to the ground.
This was Drag's other key skill:
Knockback Bestowal.
Anyone who tried to block his blows would be flung backward; but if they didn't
block, he'd make sure it hurt.
"Heavy Charge!"
His follow-up attack took a merciless chunk of HP.
Once he had a foe on the ground, Drag would keep up the pressure, each new blow
preventing them from ever rising back to their feet.
It would seem might always makes right.
But this fighting style was useless without the right support—
—which Frederica's constant barrage of support and attack spells provided perfectly.
"Multi-Photon Cannon!"
Four magic circles appeared around her, and a few seconds later—laser fire
blanketed the enemy positions.
They were trying to retaliate with their skills, but it was no use if they couldn't even
get near her.
And no one could risk turning their backs on Drag to go after her.
That road led straight to death.
DPS this high left no room for bewilderment—and no way to fight back.
"""Water Wall!"""
The enemy forces were losing their nerve and backing off, which made it that much
easier to whittle down their numbers. Once they were down to around ten, the
survivors finally saw an opening and turned to run.
Drag took a step after them but quickly realized they were faster than him and
turned back.
"Whew, that was a good workout."
"You're really running me ragged here! Did you see how much work that was?! So
reckless!"
"My bad. But it works, am I right?"
"I guess. And you never try anything too clever, which makes my job simple."
When they'd said the two of them could handle this together, pride had definitely
been a factor.
But pride came from strength.
And that strength opened the path to victory.
"I've been wondering… Frederica, why is it you never run outta MP?"
"Ha, a girl needs her secrets." She flashed a grin and headed back to the orb.
Drag followed.
"Speaking of reckless," she said. "You'd think they'd know better than to attack us."
"We were in a cave. They probably hadn't spotted us yet."
"Oh… fair point. Talk about bad luck! For them."
"Got that right. But, man, I wanna go attack someone already."
Clearly, Drag hadn't gotten his fill of fighting yet. Frederica agreed.
"I wanna go in on—what were they called again? Maple Tree? Those guys. I'm gonna
land a spell on her for sure this time."
Sally had managed to emerge from their duel unscathed, and it was still bugging
Frederica.
"She dodged your Multi-Firebolt? She as good as they say, then?"
"You'd be giving yourself a hand if you tried to dodge a little yourself, Drag."
"Not my style."
They reached their base and reported their successful defense. This news was met
with a blend of respect and envy, and everyone went back to chatting around the orb.
Frederica and Drag were guarding the Order of the Holy Sword's orbs because Dread
and Pain were out plundering other guilds for theirs. In the interest of efficiency,
each one was targeting different guilds.
Dread and a group of thirty had already nabbed two orbs. At the moment, he was
toying with one of his twin daggers while poring over a map.
He wasn't exactly built for large-scale battle, so he'd lost a few followers in the
process, but it was going pretty well, all things considered.
Dread had lightweight gear, which complemented his dodge-heavy fighting style.
That made him mostly autonomous as a fighter, and in an event like this, the other
guild members mostly wound up serving as his backup.
"Should we get one more lick in?… This is getting a bit boring."
He glanced in the direction of their next target, about to head that way.
That's when he spotted a solo player standing there.
Instinctively, he knew.
"...…Kids, change of plans. Take these orbs and go home. Now."
Nobody knew what to make of that, but they picked up on the urgency in his voice
and did as they were told.
When they were gone, the robed player moved in.
Dread drew his other dagger.
"You're good, huh?" he said.
"Am I?"
"...I trust my hunches. They've served me well so far…"
He let out a long breath, focusing his mind.
"That's why, even though I really don't wanna…," he muttered, "…I've gotta take you
out while I can."
"I'll admit, I wasn't expecting to see you here," Sally said, her blue daggers emerging
from her robe.
Dread's eyes narrowed at the sight of them.
"…Tch, you're clearly a much bigger threat than Frederica said."
He muttered those words under his breath, but Sally's ears still caught it.
And it helped her choose an approach.
Though these two titans only met by chance, their clash had already begun.
Neither Dread nor Sally opened with any attack skills.
Those ran through a predetermined set of motions, which left the user exposed. Any
dual dagger wielder needed to stay agile at all times.
Dread parried Sally's strike, and she easily evaded his.
He had the advantage of speed and was attacking more often, not giving her a chance
to hit back.
"Superspeed!"
And he was the first to go for broke.
With his speed buffed, he saw Sally dodge a moment too late and was about to press
the advantage—
"...?!"
But before he fully committed to the thrust, he changed his mind, leaping back.
"...…Another hunch of yours?"
"If I doubted a single one, I'd be dead."
Instinct alone had stopped him.
He'd sensed Sally had evasion techniques beyond his own.
He looked her over again, keeping his distance.
"I knew I was gonna have to take you out here… Godspeed!"
This skill doubled as Dread's nickname. It was what granted him his supernatural
speed.
Since human perceptions couldn't keep up with something moving so fast, it meant
he literally vanished for ten whole seconds.
"…Huh."
Sally had done her homework and knew about the skill.
Dread hadn't kept it secret for one simple reason: Knowing about it didn't help you
counter it.
Only a handful of players in the game stood a chance against him.
But… Sally was one of them.
"Waterflow!"
She tracked her invisible opponent by sound and the disturbance in the air caused
by his passing, intentionally leaving a fatal opening to lead his attack.
Then she yelled the name of a skill that didn't exist—the same one she'd shown
Frederica—and parried his attack with her dagger.
"Leap!"
She bounded away, buying herself time to gauge his next approach, but Dread never
showed.
"…He left? Well, at least I got to show off Waterflow again."
Confident he was in the same guild as Frederica, Sally decided selling them on the
fake information was benefit enough.
"...Dread's gonna be pretty hard to hit. Those hunches of his—if I did that, I guess
I'd go with fear? Like an instinctive danger sense."
Relying on instinct to detect threats was a perfectly legitimate technique, and Sally
wanted to try it out herself—so she headed to find another guild.
While he was catching up with his squad, Dread reviewed their clash.
"Waterflow, huh? She's plenty dodgy even without that. And it felt like…"
Dread had only encountered two other players that made him shudder.
One was Pain… and the other, Maple.
"If she's on their level… how did I get away in one piece?"
Sally still had hidden talents—he was sure she'd been holding back. She wouldn't
have been strong enough to make him shudder otherwise.
After that unsettling thought, he decided it was no use mulling it over.
"I'll talk to Pain when I get back. He's the smart one."
Giving up on trying to figure it out on his own, he scratched his head, narrowing his
eyes.
"Guess I'll suggest we take 'em out on our terms."
He had the face of a man who knew exactly who he needed to kill.
The unexpected clash had given both parties something to chew on.
Dread had come away with a sense that there was much more to Sally than
Frederica's report had indicated.
Sally had successfully shored up the idea that Waterflow actually existed, and… she
had discovered a lead on how to improve her evasion even more.
Wanting to build experience with this new approach, Sally crushed another
nameless small guild.
She'd also grabbed another orb between her attack on the cliffside guild and her
clash with Dread.
In other words—she was currently carrying three.
It was high time she swung by the Maple Tree base.
"The first orb we grabbed oughtta be scoring us some points soon."
The opening hours of this event had seen a lot of combat.
The big guilds were naturally dominating, but the midsize guilds were pulling every
trick in the book to stay competitive.
Small guilds were all struggling—with one notable exception.
Time in the compressed zone had started at what appeared to be noon. The sun
would be setting shortly.
With the reduced visibility, each guild would get even more aggressive.
And Sally would use the darkness to mount even bolder assaults.
"Better get on home."
While Sally was racing back, the rest of her guild were wiping out another group of
unfortunate souls.
There were only three opponents, so Mai and Yui had taken care of them with the
iron spheres.
""Maple! We got a new skill!""
"Oh, wow! That's awesome!"
Neither had any intention of keeping their skills a secret from Maple, so they quickly
told her the effect and acquisition conditions.
Farshot
Attack distant foes with a shock wave.
Conditions
Kill a set number of enemies with Throw.
The effect was just like the name implied. Swing a sword, and a slashing attack
would project outward; swing a hammer, and it'd produce a circular shock wave.
The damage these ranged attacks inflicted was significantly less than an ordinary
attack, but with Mai and Yui, even that reduced amount was enough to one-shot
most things.
"You two wanna try it in the next fight?"
"Let's not. Sally said we should keep our cards close to our chests. It'd be nice if we
could try it out a bit in back, though."
"Go right ahead!" Maple said.
Mai and Yui left the defensive line briefly to familiarize themselves with their new
skill. They were back before long.
The twins looked pumped—clearly pleased to have a new way to contribute.
"Heads up. Our friends are on the way home," Kanade announced, glancing at his
map.
He'd only burned the one grimoire—Shadow Stitch—and Maple had stuck to only
providing support (with Martyr's Devotion). They were still fully stocked for the
coming night's challenges.
That was all thanks to the twins' hard work.
Naturally, the two of them were getting quite tired.
They kept collapsing to the ground each time they fought off a new wave and clearly
wouldn't last much longer.
"Sally'll be back soon, and so will Chrome. You two can go rest awhile," Maple
suggested. "You must be exhausted."
The twins both nodded and headed down the back passage. They were motivated
but had reached their limits.
It was important to rest while they had the chance.
"Are you fine not taking a break, Kanade?"
"I haven't really moved much."
After Maple and Kanade chatted for a bit, Chrome appeared.
"Kasumi and Iz are mopping up a small guild," he said.
"Do they need help?"
"Nah, Iz is crafting bombs like crazy, and Kasumi is rolling them down the cave. It
shouldn't take 'em long."
This was an approach only Iz could possibly come up with. On the other hand, even if
anyone else was capable of it and tried that approach on Maple Tree's cave, Maple's
skill would've made them all immune to explosions. It would just be very loud.
"I figured I'd be more useful on defense."
"Mai and Yui were pretty worn out, so this is great timing!"
They now had the two best great shielders in the game holding down the fort.
Both of them gave new meaning to the phrase hard to kill.
With their defense all but unassailable, the rest of Maple Tree was free to focus
entirely on offense.
That was why Kasumi and Iz were taking it slow and steady.
"Keep 'em going."
"You got it."
Megabombs.
These could usually only be crafted in workshops—but Iz could make them
anywhere.
And since she could spend money to pull materials out of thin air, Iz had come
prepared with as much cash as she could muster, allowing her to make a ton of
Megabombs.
Kasumi took those bombs and kept hurling them into the cave entrance.
The passage was on a downslope, so the explosives were carried away by gravity,
and a short while later, they'd hear them explode.
At first, there were lots of screams, but these were fading.
"…Did we get them all?"
"I'll take point." Kasumi kept her katana high as they headed in.
The orb room was covered in scorch marks left by the bombardment. There was one
surviving player, swaying on their feet, sword in hand.
"First Blade: Heat Haze."
Kasumi activated a skill that propelled her forward, striking the player down before
there was even a chance for them to react.
"Whew… Works on everyone but Sally."
Sally had ducked under it, but in Kasumi's experience, nobody else had been able to
dodge it, much less immediately connect their evasive maneuver with a counter.
And being able to handle any type of foe was a big part of Kasumi's and Chrome's
fighting styles.
Kasumi was Maple Tree's most "normal" fighter; she had a stable style precisely
because it didn't depend on anything clever or convoluted. If she was stronger, she'd
win. Her approach to combat lacked any obvious weaknesses foes could exploit.
She was the least likely to give Iz or Chrome any heart attacks.
But to her foes, she was merciless and strong beyond reason.
"Let's grab the orb and bring it home. We don't want to be here when they're all done
reviving."
"Sounds like a plan."
Kasumi pocketed the orb, and they left the cave.
It wasn't flashy, but they were steadily netting wins for their team while eliminating
the chance of any unfortunate mishaps.
The current standings were dominated by the big guilds—and one small guild. The
two biggest guilds, the Order of the Holy Sword and Flame Empire, were one step
ahead of everyone else. Maple Tree was nipping right at their heels.
Flame Empire was guarding their orb in a grassy field, the open, flat terrain only
broken up by a few stray trees.
On duty were "Trapper" Marx, eighth place in the first event, and "Saint" Misery,
who'd come in tenth.
Misery specialized in AOE support, but she was also good at AOE attacks. She could
hurt or heal however she wished.
Marx had made extensive use of traps in the first event but managed to keep that fact
a secret—until some loose-lipped guild members accidentally leaked it to Frederica.
That was the downside of working in large groups: Loose lips sink ships.
As his moniker implied, Marx knew a lot of spells that could function like traps. They
could produce an array of effects, from bursts of smoke to pillars of fire. And they'd
activate if any non-ally—anyone not in his guild or party—stepped into range.
The downside was that he had to place them beforehand. Since this wasn't great for
offensive tasks, he'd been stuck on guard duty.
Their attack teams were led by the fourth place "Flame Empress" Mii and the
seventh place "Splinter Sword" Shin.
"Are we gonna be all right? They're not gonna get through my traps, are they?"
"It'll be fine. Even if they get through, we can count on our team."
Judging from the looks this comment drew, the "team" was actually counting on the
two of them to make sure everything was okay.
"I can't stop worrying… What if we lose our orb? Will everyone be mad at me?"
Marx kept pacing around the orb in question, but for all his concerns, the traps he'd
laid were brutally effective. They were nigh impossible to spot until they activated,
and once they did, almost nobody could walk away unscathed.
And since he'd placed a lot of them—and placed them well—Marx was eliminating a
lot of enemies.
As pillars of fire reared up and explosions roared, it was easy to tell what path the
enemy was taking.
"See? Another wave of invaders, torn to bits. Your traps work!"
"Huh… Well, that's a relief!"
The battered survivors were easily eliminated by the remaining guild members,
buffed by Misery's support magic.
Once that was done, several guards escorted Marx out to replace the traps that had
been activated.
"Uh… is this spot good? Hmm. And maybe over there?"
Watching him mutter away as he set more traps, his teammates wondered how these
were so effective.
It looked like he was just setting traps haphazardly… but players seemed to always
walk right into them.
Maybe it had to be chalked up to pure talent.
Just as Sally had a knack for evasion and Maple had a talent for discovering weird
interactions and Dread had a keen sense for things.
Most of the game's top players had some sort of quirk that set them apart.
And Marx's gift for trap placement was another example of this in action.
A natural sensitivity.
When he was finished placing traps, he retreated to the pedestal.
There were fewer players attacking now. Marx looked relieved.
"Something's coming!" Misery shouted.
Marx spun around, looking where she was pointing. A whole mess of fire and
explosions marked the spot.
While he panicked, she quickly yelled, "I'll go take a look!" and ran off, five guild
members in tow.
What they found was a single player, appearance hidden beneath a robe.
Misery couldn't believe her eyes.
The robed intruder was stepping on traps, then instantly leaping back, like it was
obvious something had been set there.
"Hmm… a fear radar… Gotta up the accuracy… Won't be easy."
And with that cryptic mutter, she turned and walked away.
"...… We're saved."
"Wh-what do you mean?"
"Come on! Who was that monster? Was that a skill? Or just… talent?!"
Counting her blessings, Misery headed back to Marx and escorted him as he
anxiously reset the traps.
"Here… no, they might get through again… ahhh…"
"Don't worry. That player was one of a kind."
"Are you sure…?"
Even as they spoke, flames roared on the other side of the passage. The unmistakable
sound of players dying helped Marx settle down and focus on his work.
As for the Flame Empress herself—
—Mii stood at the head of a party, approaching her foes. They all had swords raised.
"Step aside, and we shall spare your lives."
Mii's voice cut through air crackling with tension.
This, however, was not a proposal the orb's defenders could accept.
"Attack!" The front ranks launched themselves at her.
Mii's weapon was a staff.
Her red cloak was certainly eye-catching, but it was clearly something a back-liner
would wear, which meant it probably offered little in the way of protection.
"Flame Empress," she whispered.
Two fireballs appeared around her, each a yard in diameter. Manipulating their
movements with her hands, she used these fiery missiles to dominate her foes.
Despite her class, Mii was first into the fray because that allowed her to do the most
damage:
Literally incinerating her foes.
"Foolish. How foolish."
The confidence with which she tore through enemies was spellbinding.
"Eruption."
The ground exploded. Great gouts of fire spewed forth.
Mii could control fire at will, and this meant she had a lot of flashy moves.
Her might was fully on display, and the sheer spectacle of destruction made her foes
falter.
"Detonate."
Anyone who was unlucky enough to survive her firestorm was hit by a low-damage,
high-knockback blast.
This was overwhelming strength.
But it was hardly cost-efficient.
Big spells came with a steep price.
This was why the twenty players behind her had their inventories stuffed to the brim
with MP potions. Her personal resupply squad.
"Ha… So that was all you had. We're done here."
When the last foe crumbled to ash, her fireballs vanished.
"Your MP potion."
"Mm-hmm."
Mii accepted the offering, downed it, and let out a sigh.
"Secure the orb."
"Right away."
She closed her eyes, savoring the victory—a fatal error.
Sally was watching all this go down from her hiding spot. For all her talk about
heading home, she'd been unable to resist a detour to see Mii's squad in action.
"Gaaahhh?!"
Hearing that cry, Mii opened her eyes in time to see the player on orb duty vanish in
a puff of light while a mysterious robed figure raced off with their prize.
"! She's strong… I can tell. Take the orbs we've gathered and head back to base! Little
sense in risking all our lives!"
The power in her bark instilled the fear of death in her squad, and they turned and
ran, taking the rest of their haul back to safety. When she was sure they were
moving, Mii chased after the robed figure.
"Flare Impetus!"
Flames shot out of Mii's soles, and she rocketed after the robed figure— But not
much later, she lost sight of her entirely.
Sally had taken advantage of a convenient corner to activate Fleeting Shadow.
By the time Mii was frantically trying to figure out where her quarry had scurried off
to, Sally was long since gone.
Mii kept the search up for a while, then flopped down on the ground.
"Augh…! I blew it! It's all my faaaault…!"
This Mii was anything but the regal powerhouse she had been earlier.
Her dignified authority had vanished, and all that remained was a kid fretting over
her blunder.
"Why did I decide to role-play…?"
Yes, Mii had just been acting out a character of her own creation.
She'd stumbled on a number of powerful skills and, before she knew it, found herself
the center of attention. Too embarrassed to just be herself, she wound up creating a
fictional persona and had lived to regret it.
The victory she'd been savoring was actually… simply getting through the fight
without letting the facade slip.
"Ughh… this sucks. Dammit, now I'm gonna have to go crush another guild on my
way back."
She was lashing out in frustration.
But Mii had the strength to do that without fear of the consequences.
And while she was searching for Sally, she stumbled upon a midsize guild—the
perfect size for her.
"I've gotta at least bring back one orb. If I see that robe again, I'm gonna set it on
fire!"
Explosions going off all around her, Mii charged into the enemy guild base as towers
of flame erupted from the ground and fireballs wheeled through the air—she even
threw out a Custom Numbing Trap that Marx had given her. It wasn't long before the
midsize guild was no more.
Mii's immense firepower made this possible, but the current event format played to
her strengths. Not everyone who'd done well in the first event could solo a whole
guild.
It was likely only Mii, Pain, and Maple who could manage it reliably.
Mii pocketed the new orb and, with another outpouring of fire, set off for the Flame
Empire base.
"There you are, Mii!" Marx cried, relieved.
He'd been pacing anxiously around the orb pedestal again.
The rest of her squad had brought their haul back ahead of her return.
"One more for the pile," Mii announced. "Sadly, not the one that was snatched from
right under our noses."
They'd seen her crush guilds on her own already, but the news still caused a stir.
"We'll head out once more anon. Prepare yourselves!"
"""As you command!"""
This enthusiastic response made Mii really reluctant to go.
This time, Sally actually did head back to Maple Tree.
If the orbs she was holding were captured by anyone else, all the points would be
theirs. That was a risk she didn't want to take.
"I got real lucky on the last one, too."
She'd only managed to slip in because Mii had let her guard down.
"Gotta cover as much ground as possible on day one…"
Sally was gonna push herself to the limit to ensure she and Maple won.
All unaffiliated event participants were automatically placed into ad hoc guilds.
Predictably, many of these players had their fun and hit their five-death limits. They
were starting to filter into the crowds in the spectators' zone—
—and telling everyone how they'd been taken out.
"Come on, this is too soon!"
"Well, we knew from the start we weren't gonna do anything crazy in a makeshift
guild. I just wanted to see the best players with my own eyes!"
"Odd goal, but I guess that makes sense. So? You take out at least one?"
The defeated player meekly looked at the floor. "I… think that would be a lot to ask of
anyone normal."
The crowd sighed. They had been hoping for an upset.
"Didn't become a hero, then?" someone asked, feigning deep sadness. They gave the
man a pat on his shoulders.
"Yeah, I knew it was impossible! I knew that going in, but… Going up against those
guys is impossible. You take a swing at Pain, he parries it flawlessly. There're no
openings! It's like he has eyes on the back of his head."
He would have at least liked to land a single blow, but while he was still griping, the
conversation had already moved on.
"Speaking of eyes on the back of heads—what's up with that Sally? The girl from
Maple Tree? She took me down once."
"Oh, the roaming field boss?"
Several players present remembered the nightmare that occurred during the second
event.
"She's not roaming this time. I was walking through a forest, and she swung out of a
tree and cut my head off."
"…Is she descended from a ninja clan?"
"Seeing someone like her makes you wanna try out new moves. I was almost glad I
died!"
The man certainly seemed cheery as he reminisced.
Since someone mentioned a certain guild, a few people got curious about their
current standing in the event.
"Maple Tree is… doing all right. If nothing else, they're definitely the top small guild."
"Gonna be hard to hit the top ranks, though. Just not enough people."
The conversation drifted back to the eliminated players—who'd killed them and
what the big guild strategies might look like.
Sally had arrived at Maple Tree's cave.
"I'm back!"
Mai and Yui were out collecting the iron spheres they'd hurled at attackers.
Maple had come along to help but quickly realized she literally couldn't do anything.
The spheres were so heavy even Kasumi could barely lift them, so it was only natural
that when Maple tried, they didn't even budge.
"Oh! There you are, Sally!"
"I brought back… four orbs!"
"""Wow!!"""
The extreme build trio all looked impressed. If they could keep these safe, they'd get
a huge point bump.
Chrome and Kanade heard the cries and came out to join them.
And not long after, Kasumi and Iz came back from their scouting run.
They'd stolen eight orbs in all.
Three of them had reached the three-hour defense requirement and were already
back on the original guild's pedestal.
The first orb Sally, Kasumi, and Chrome had nabbed together, and the other two orbs
Sally had pilfered by setting two midsize guilds against each other.
Kasumi and Iz had brought back one orb, and Sally had brought back four.
From this point on, they had to guard these five and their own orb, meaning no one
could let their guards down anytime soon.
But the game's most powerful tank was on guard duty.
You could count the players that stood a chance against her on the fingers of one
hand.
"Oh, yeah— I should mention I just made off with these orbs, so most likely the
owners will come after them sooner than later. They were all from small guilds,
though."
"No matter how many times I hear it, I dunno how you manage it," Kanade said.
"Oh, speak of the devil!" Chrome drew his weapon and moved to the entrance. But
the stream of players coming down the hall clearly had more numbers than a single
small guild.
Knowing they were at a disadvantage, Sally's victims had decided to team up.
There was little advantage in betraying one another so early; their interests aligned
right up until they were sure they could get the orbs back.
As the players streamed in, they saw six orbs waiting.
And only eight players defending.
Their impromptu alliance wasn't exactly the epitome of coordination, but there were
fifty of them. Anyone could see they had a huge numbers advantage.
Seeing the pile of loot within eyeshot got them worked up, too. Quite a few schemers
were already thinking about how to turn on their allies the moment the defenders
were dealt with.
Luck was on their side.
Just take out eight players for a shot at a six-orb haul.
They might never get a deal this good again.
They all charged in, roaring at the tops of their lungs.
Spells flew, and dust clouds swirled.
But even as their bloodshot eyes drew near, the defenders seemed unperturbed.
"Is this the first time all eight of us have fought together?"
"I think so. At least, since Iz joined the front lines."
"Maple, do your thing," Chrome said.
His companions knew immediately what he meant. So far, this was all Maple had
been required to do in this event.
"Aye-aye! Martyr's Devotion!"
"One Heal, coming right up!"
This skill sacrificed a chunk of Maple's HP, but Kanade quickly topped it back up
without missing a beat.
As Maple moved forward, the other seven followed. The two forces clashed head-on.
Mai and Yui were taking blows from all directions, but nothing even remotely hurt
them.
""Double Stamp!""
There was a resounding thud, and then players went flying. A short distance away, a
cleaver and a katana were cutting and carving open a path.
"Hrah!"
"Hmph."
A few clever players dodged their attacks, focusing on reaching the orbs.
But those who stepped out of the glowing zone and ran toward the prize were met
with an explosive surprise.
"Aren't you naughty? Those orbs are ours."
With Maple at her side, Iz was no different from any other combatant.
She was a legitimate threat.
And anyone who made it through her barrage was introduced to Kanade's library.
"Paralyze Laser."
A low-powered beam with a high chance of causing an ailment swept horizontally
across the room.
The status effect was a powerful one, so even if the range was relatively narrow, no
one could discount it.
And even if Kanade didn't finish them off, someone else would—specifically the
same girl who'd stolen their orbs in the first place.
"Gah… gurgle!"
"D-dammit!"
Players caught by the laser tried to escape, but their movements became sluggish at
best.
"And you're outta here!"
Sally was busy sending all the players Kanade paralyzed back to their guilds.
And even as she did, Kasumi, Chrome, Mai, and Yui were all making short work of the
front-line attackers.
In the blink of an eye, the alliance had crumbled. The attackers were losing their
nerve, and many were turning to run.
Some, however, were still hoping to get some hits in.
"Leap!"
A player bounded through a gap between Chrome and Kasumi, clearly not planning
on making it back alive.
He swung his blade down, trying to land a hit on the girl in the back with the angel
wings.
"Defense Break!"
"Pierce Guard!"
This negated the armor-piercing skill completely.
Despite pouring every ounce of strength into that swing and battle cry, it had been
mercilessly rejected, and the blow bounced off the angel without any apparent effect.
Sensing two hurtling hammers coming closer with every second, the last thing the
attacking player saw was a glimpse of the face that had been hidden from view the
whole time beneath that hood.
"Maple? Well, that explains it."
There was resignation in that voice—then the hammers connected.
Not a single attacker would ever touch an orb.
It was a total rout.
But they were lucky. They were the first players to see Maple Tree fully assembled
and fighting as one. When the event was over, they would be able to dine out on that
story for a while, telling everyone how they'd fought the most terrifying party in the
entire game.
As the fighting wore on, the skies grew dark, bringing the hour of day that best
suited assassinations and stealth raids.