Maple's tactic of raising only defense had left her far more OP than she ever expected
to be. She founded a small (but elite) guild named Maple Tree and, together with her
newfound friends, beat the odds to place third in the guild wars event. Their reward:
contact with top players in other guilds and access permits usable only on the fourth
stratum—which had yet to launch.
A month after the event, a day in early October…
This was the day NewWorld Online finally launched the fourth stratum.
Like everyone else, Maple had been looking forward to it. She would have logged in
right after the update maintenance was finished even if Sally hadn't suggested it first.
Maple arrived at their Guild Home and immediately started looking for Sally. She
found her on the couch in the back, waving.
"I'm here!" Maple said. "What now? Take a run at it?"
"Pretty sure you're all we need to take the third-stratum boss, so why not? You're
already dying to see it, aren't you?"
"Yesssss!"
It seemed like Sally hadn't invited any other guild members. It was just the two of
them.
Even if they went up a stratum now, they'd likely have to fight the boss again when the
rest of the guild was ready to push on. Maple Tree might have been one of the best
guilds on the server, but without their top two fighters, success invariably became a
lot less certain.
Maple and Sally knew that—but neither of them could resist the temptation to check
out the next map.
Sally didn't even bother confirming what the new boss was. She just had Maple enter
Atrocity mode and rode her across the field before proceeding directly into the
dungeon.
Maple was unquestionably famous by now, so players on their flying machines no
longer mistook her inhuman form for a monster. And of course, nobody was stupid
enough to attack her.
That didn't stop them from staring a lot, though.
Trampling the dungeon monsters underfoot, Maple brought them straight to the boss
room.
"Sally! We're here!"
"Cool! This shouldn't take long."
Maple used her monster limbs to pry open the door. Inside, they found giant steel
golems three times taller than the both of them put together.
If the golems had been sentient, they probably would have taken one look at the
hideous monsters peering through the crack in the doorway and gone white as a sheet.
Instead, they just got ready to attack.
Sally took one look at them and busted out a big move.
"Oboro! Phantom World!"
This spell had come in handy during the fourth event. For three full minutes, it created
three autonomous clones of the spell's target—with identical stats.
In other words, Sally had just told her pet monster, Oboro, to give them four Maples.
Each of the Maples threw themselves at a golem, practically coiling around their
victims.
The golems fought back, but Maple's defense was nearing five figures, and she took no
damage.
Sally relaxed and sat down to play with Oboro.
But a few minutes later, Maple let out a cry of alarm.
"Sally! What do I do?!"
"Maple?! What's wrong?!"
"I can't hurt them!"
"You can't?!"
Sally took another look. The golems were all at full HP.
The admins had been thinking.
At last, they had come up with a way to nerf Maple's Atrocity without simultaneously
ruining everyone else's day.
Instead of dropping an unreasonably strong boss like Silver Wings, they'd simply
made one with high defense and lots of HP.
Maple was thwarted not by a foe that could hurt her—but one with the same build.
After all, she didn't have any armor-piercing attacks.
Her primary damage dealer was poison, but if her opponent could resist that… she
didn't have many other options.
The golems couldn't hurt Maple, but she couldn't hurt them, either.
The admins had finally figured out a way to stop Maple from soloing everything.
"I guess this one's mine, then," Sally said, drawing her daggers.
She broke into a run.
Half an hour later…
Sally had maxed out the attack boost Sword Dance provided, and the battle finally
drew to a close.
"Hmm, maybe I need better ways to deal with tanks…"
"That… was pretty tough."
Their plan to overwhelm the boss and rush onto the fourth stratum had certainly not
gone as expected, but the task was done. It was time to collect their drops and head
on up.
"What do you think it's like?"
"Good question. Look, we're almost there."
Sally ran out ahead, and Maple did her best to follow.
The fourth stratum was home to a town of everlasting night.
Two full moons hung in the star-studded sky—one blue, one red.
This was clearly the biggest town they'd seen yet. All the buildings were made of wood,
giving it that ye-olde-Japan feel.
Canals ran through the town, and lanterns lit the paths.
Standing at the heart of everything was a tantalizingly tall tower, calling to them.
"Wanna explore? Like, right now?"
"Sure. But first, we should stop by our Guild Home," Sally suggested.
"Whoops, good point."
Guild Homes allowed access to the guild's communal storage on any stratum, and a
single visit on a new map allowed members to warp to that town as well as to their
Guild Home on that stratum.
Invariably, it was the first place everybody went on every new stratum.
Maple and Sally hurried toward it, resisting the siren call of adventure.