They closed their skill menus and headed for the stairs.
"Staying in Atrocity form, Maple?"
"Seems like a waste to cancel."
Sally was in the lead, with Monster Maple lumbering along behind her.
They started climbing the stairs to the next floor, chatting.
"I guess you can get skills in the tower, too."
"Yeah, that… Cataclysmic Eruption thing? The MP and start-up lock are bad for me."
Sally hadn't really raised her MP that much, and she couldn't use skills that relied on
it very often. And as an evasion tank, the last thing she wanted was something that
forced her to stay still.
"But you don't even need to move, Maple. Make smart use of the damage field and
you'll be able to handle bosses with high defense."
"Mm! But I'll have to be careful not to step on it myself."
"Ha-ha! Especially when you're blasting yourself around."
As soon as she finished saying that, a thought struck Sally, and she turned to face
Maple.
"Maybe it's best if you don't slot it until we've cleared the tower, though."
"Yeah?"
"We'll earn medals at the end, and you might wanna look at all the choices first."
Completing the tower would give them ten silver medals. Like the second event, they
could exchange those for skills. And those might be even stronger.
Putting a skill on an equipment slot was irreversible, so better safe than sorry.
"Besides, you're pretty much set for offense already."
"Attack and defense!"
"All the more reason to leave it for now. Look, we can see light at the top of the stairs!"
They stared up, eyes adjusting to the light. They heard water falling and saw a forest
beyond.
The fourth-floor entrance opened at the back of a waterfall, a wide river stretching out
before them.
Peering around the edges of the fall, they saw the sky above and an ocean in the
distance—even though this was inside a tower.
"Wow, it's huge!"
"Yeah… guess we'd better get down?"
There were some stepping-stones leading from this cave to the river below.
Definitely meant for humans. In her current form, Maple couldn't really use them.
"You could probably just jump down."
"Yeah, I can handle that height, no prob."
While Sally hopped down the stones, Maple just burst through the waterfall itself,
landing in the basin with a tremendous splash.
Not long after, the monster's head surfaced, looking none the worse for wear.
"It's pretty deep! We might have to swim from here."
"Hmm. No obvious way to enter that forest. Looks like we're supposed to head
downstream. Wanna ride Syrup?"
"I'd have to turn off Atrocity first. Whaddaya think?"
"Good point. In that case, never mind. We'll just make the best of it."
Sally figured the extra offense would be more valuable.
And the third floor had gone out of its way to provide anti-air icicles, so she didn't
think the fourth floor would just let them fly over it, either.
"Okay! Um, Sally, wanna ride on me? I think there's monsters in the water."
"Yeah?"
"They keep biting me!"
Maple lifted one of her six limbs out of the water, and there were several fish attached
to it, tails flapping.
"That might be the way to go, then. It is hard to watch your blind spots underwater."
"Ha-ha-ha. Then let's head downstream!"
With Sally on her back, Maple started thrashing all six limbs, moving faster than the
current.
They coasted along the river for a while without any attacks from the forested banks.
Martyr's Devotion was keeping them safe, so Sally didn't need to watch out for much—
mostly just piercing attacks from the land. That made it almost relaxing.
"How's it going underwater, Maple?"
"There's fish and stuff? I'm accidentally shredding them sometimes."
Poor monsters had no luck. Each time Maple's XP went up, she put two of her limbs
together by way of apology.
"Well, swimming sounds dangerous. Maybe I'll try fishing? They might drop rare
materials."
"Oooo, fishing… If only I was any good at it."
Maple's stats were extremely… unbalanced, and this locked her out of a lot of skills.
She could fish for an hour and catch maybe three.
"Well, you've got the swimming part covered. We've all got our strengths… Hokay."
Sally dropped a line in the water and kicked back. Not long after, she hauled in a fish
she'd never seen, but after checking the description, she decided it didn't seem to have
any unusual properties. It was just tasty.
"Wonder if everyone else swims through this floor?"
"Good question. I mean, there's a lot of monsters in this water. I bet not many people
take the Maple route here. They sell boats and stuff back in town."
"Boats, huh? That seems nice. We should go sailing together later."
"Sure. Oh, another bite… Hngg?"
"What's wrong, Sally?"
"Is it me or…? It isn't. The current's getting faster!"
And as it picked up, they started seeing large boulders in the river. A boat would likely
have smashed against those.
"Sally, hold on tight! I can probably survive bumping those…"
"Avoid 'em if you can, but… Argh, too late!"
Sally used webs to tie herself to Maple, keeping herself in range of Martyr's Devotion.
The current was now so strong that Maple didn't even need to swim.
"Cool! I soaked it. See, Sally?"
The monster's size was a factor here. She wasn't having much luck dodging the
oncoming boulders, but even if she smashed into one, Maple took no damage. She was
very much at the mercy of the current, but that didn't stop her from happily crowing.
"Urp… As thrill rides go, it's certainly… Maple! Eyes front!"
"Huh? Uh-oh! Aughhh!"
Maple pinballed through a bunch of boulders in a row, losing her balance and going
under.
Sally cut the webs and snagged one of the boulders, saving herself.
"That was close… Maple? Where are you?"
Sally started using midair footholds and webs to move boulder to boulder, looking for
Maple.
But that hideous black creature was nowhere to be found.
Sally pressed on across the air… and water arrows shot out of the river in response.
"Don't you dare!"
Her body twisted out of the arrows' path, and she let herself fall to the boulder below.
"Okay, no more arrows, but the river itself is full of monsters, so I can't exactly dive
in… Hmm?"
Her eyes were darting every which way, and she'd caught a glimpse of something
black. It hit a rock and was thrown upward.
Sally took one more dash across the sky, dodging water arrows and dropping her webs
into the water.
"Gotcha… C'mon out!"
Feeling a tug on her line, she attached herself to the boulder below and put her back
into it, pulling hard.
Maple breached the river's surface in human form.
"Hokay…! You still with us, Maple?"
"Ugh… I swallowed so much water… Thanks, Sally."
"And the drowning killed your Atrocity form? Well, glad I caught you in time."
"My eyes are spinning… I didn't know which way was up…"
Maple collapsed in a heap on the boulder.
"We should catch our breath. You had a rough go of it, and we've gotta figure out a plan
to get down this river."
Riding Maple was no longer an option, but the aerial route would leave them full of
arrows.
"Y-yeah… rest here… Wish we could just turn the current off…"
"It's not exactly a faucet—but it would make things easier."
They rested on the rock until Maple got her wits together.
They killed some time fishing together. It seemed the actual monsters weren't biting,
so they caught no dangerous fish, and Sally steadily gathered a pile of materials to give
Iz later.
Meanwhile, Maple was still not catching much of anything.
"Hmm, I'm just not good at this."
"Your stats haven't changed at all. How're you feeling? I feel like a Syrup ride's our only
option here."
"Yeah, we don't exactly have a boat."
It was Maple's monster form that had allowed them to bulldoze through the river
mobs so far, and they'd never owned a boat in the first place.
If they wanted to attempt the orthodox approach, they'd have to leave the tower
entirely.
"Urgh, are those water arrows gonna do piercing damage?"
"Very likely. I mean… they're arrows."
Sally experimented and found that if she hit them hard enough, the arrows would turn
to mist. And they were definitely piercing. But since she could destroy them, bruteforcing their way past was an option.
"I don't want to use Martyr's Devotion again, but if I don't, I can't keep Syrup safe…"
"We could ride the shields? If we don't defend right, we'll take a lot of hits, but…"
"Let's do that! And try not to get hit. At all."
"Yeah, I'm still gunning for no damage. Good use of footholds oughtta make it doable,
barely. Maple, you'll need to be on the offensive, too."
"You got it! Bullets versus arrows!"
Maple changed up her gear, deployed her weapons, and had the Helping Hands float a
shield in the air.
"Gotta use Night's Facsimile for this. Don't want to risk the others breaking."
Maple's unique series shield was highly durable, and even if it did break, it had
Destructive Growth and would restore itself. She had it float horizontally, and they
both stepped on board.
"Then the second shield right behind Sally…"
And Maple got down on her knees, holding the third shield up in front of her.
She extended her artillery around the sides of the bottom shield, all barrels pointed
down.
"Ho-ho, you brought out the big guns."
"If I can shoot 'em all down, we don't need to worry!"
"If anything gets through, I'll handle 'em."
"Cool! Up, up, and away we go!"
Maple eased the shields away from the boulder.
As she did, the river churned, and water arrows shot at them. Maple immediately
began firing back.
"Got 'em! Onward!"
"We've got the advantage on suppressing fire."
Shooting arrows and the river monsters, they moved steadily forward.
Without Sally needing to lift a finger.
"This many arrows I can handle!"
"Might not have been so easy on Syrup. Just— Whoops! They're picking up a bit!"
Sally struck down an errant arrow.
"They might be! There's certainly lots of splashing against this shield."
"Yeah… uh, Maple! Look out ahead!"
"Okay! Lemme take those out!"
Her guns turned to a school of fish, each fish a solid twenty inches long. They were
jumping into the air and falling back into the river below.
"Some kinda flying fish?"
"Except in a river. They're… probably enemies?"
They were nimbly dodging Maple's barrage and getting closer.
"I could shoot more if I wasn't busy with these arrows…"
But even as Maple spoke, monsters were leaping up at them from directly below, fins
gleaming like blades.
Most bounced harmlessly off the shield and fell back into the river, but a few got
through, damaging her guns and cannons.
"Aughhhh! My artillery!"
"Maple, arrows!"
The broken weapons reduced the amount of suppressing fire enough that several
water arrows got through.
Figuring this was up to her, Sally snagged Maple with her webs, used One Step in the
Grave to make footholds in the air, and ran up an invisible staircase.
Countless arrows followed after them, more and more by the second.
"Maple! Redeploy! And—"
"I know! Hydra!"
Maple's poison dragon swallowed up all the incoming arrows, leaving the shield and
the water below purple with poison.
"Okay! Commence Assault!"
Seeing Maple opening fire once more, Sally quit making new steps and dropped them
back toward the shield.
Maple saw more arrows coming and returned fire, landing on her back with Sally on
top of her.
"The shield's soaked in poison, too…"
"Maybe time for another boulder rest. All this poison is nerve-racking."
And the cost of making those air steps was lowered stats—Sally wanted to get those
back to normal.
"This river is rough."
"But we're pretty far in. I mean, look how far the waterfall is."
"Oh! Then the goal can't be much farther?"
"Let's hope. Although that means a boss fight…"
"Urp. Our work is never done."
Maple slid her shield over to a boulder nearby.
Taking regular rests like that and weathering several more arrow storms, they made
it down the river without taking damage. As the current slowed, so did the projectiles.
"Sally, I'm not seeing any more arrows."
"Whew… finally, a respite. The water itself is still teeming with monsters, so we can't
exactly get off the shield…"
"Good point. Oh, you can see their shadows!"
Fish were swimming just below the surface.
But many of those were likely monsters.
Maple kept her shield moving downstream.
"I'm glad we got through. But I gotta wonder if the conventional approach would have
been easier."
"Heh-heh. Wanna go back and try?"
"Nope! That's a big ol' nope from me!"
Maple shook her head vigorously.
She did not enjoy getting hurt and would much prefer to avoid any areas with pointy
attacks.
Especially since they were trying to clear the tower without taking damage.
"Well, the next boss might use piercing attacks, but we'll cross that bridge when we
come to it."
"Right, the boss… Ugh, let's hope it doesn't."
"We're almost at the ocean we saw from the waterfall."
"I haven't been to the beach in a while! The last few floors didn't have any."
"True. What kind of bosses do you find in water? We'd better plan ahead now."
The monsters in the river couldn't hurt Maple, so Sally was able to keep her mind
focused on other things as they hovered along.
The river itself never forked. Before long, the forests on the banks petered out, and the
view before them opened up.
Nothing but ocean as far as the eye could see, sunlight glittering on the gently lapping
waves.
"Sally, think we'll find the boss here?"
"I dunno. There's not exactly anywhere to stand. Uh… I really don't wanna fight here."
Maple agreed.
But the less they liked a thing, the more this tower was inclined to throw it at them.
Even as they watched, the ocean's surface heaved, and a boss monster crested the
waves.
It was a sea turtle some five yards long.
"Oh! A turtle!"
"So… we are fighting here."
"Which is bigger, this boss or Syrup?"
Maple's tone was less "boss fight imminent" and more "excited child." Her eyes locked
on the sea turtle.
"…Don't get too attached."
"I—I won't!"
As they spoke, the turtle started moving.
It dove below the surface once; then a path made of water shot toward the sky, letting
the turtle swim freely through the air.
It went back and forth between the water and the sky, making streaming water paths
as it went.
For a minute, they gaped at this spectacle. A network of water roads arced across the
air—truly a sight for the ages.
"Wow! Just… wow!"
"It ain't attacking. This must be laying the groundwork. And it sure is pretty…"
"Sally! Sally! Can we get on its back?"
"Uh… technically, maybe? No, wait—it's a boss, Maple!"
"Just for a minute! I wanna try. It's gonna be so much fun! A whole different thing from
riding Syrup!" Her eyes gleamed. She kept moving closer.
Sally took another glance at the sea turtle, then figured… why not?
"Okay, just for a minute."
"Yes! Martyr's Devotion!"
Once she was ready to keep Sally safe, she had another idea and got something out of
her inventory.
"A snorkel?"
"This'll let me breathe a little underwater. I forgot I even had one!"
"You sure do buy a bit of everything. I'll use my webs to tie us to its back."
"Thanks! Let's make this happen!"
And thus, the fourth-floor boss battle began.
"So how do we get on? It's flying around like crazy and throwing, like, water orbs at
us…"
The moment it entered its combat phase, the turtle started leaping among the
different water paths.
Blue magic circles gleamed around it, and these were spitting projectiles their way.
They were flying slowly toward it on a shield, and the orbs kept hitting them.
"They don't do damage, at least… Hngg, let's try coming in from above!"
Maple summoned Syrup, made it giant, had it float next to them, and then moved the
shield so they could drop down on its shell.
Sally followed her aboard and stretched, feeling much more secure with all this extra
legroom.
"Ready to go."
"On your mark."
Maple had Syrup fly higher, into the sea turtle's domain, flitting among the water
paths.
"That water's really gushing along, huh?"
"I bet we can swim in it. How else would we reach the boss?"
"Hmm… is that why it's flying all around like this?"
"Prolly. But first, we're climbing on board! Should I web it when we get close?"
"Yeah! Preferably when it's right below us."
Relaxing and chatting, they waited for the boss to get in position. It was actively
attacking them, so ordinarily there should've been no opportunity to kick back like
this, but with Maple around, unless an attack did piercing damage, it might as well not
exist.
"Okay, now!"
Sally stuck her webs to the sea turtle's back, put an arm around Maple, and leaped
from shell to shell.
Her webs contracted, and they landed on the boss's back with only a minor impact.
"Success!"
"It's not doing damage and doesn't have that many attack types, so getting aboard was
easy enough."
Sally used her webs to make sure they were both firmly attached to the boss's shell,
and since Syrup was now outside the range of Martyr's Devotion, Maple put it back in
her ring.
Now they could ride the boss as much as they liked.
"I always just make Syrup float. It can't actually fly. It's fun to swoop around like this!"
"Nobody else can fly like you do, remember? Your thing is basically breaking game
mechanics."
"I wish these wings let me fly."
Maple pointed to the angel wings Martyr's Devotion gave her. They were mostly a
visual effect.
"Also… this isn't as smooth a ride as I expected."
"Urgh… It's like getting caught in a rainstorm."
They were still getting regularly splashed with water orbs. These did no damage, of
course, but the experience still wasn't exactly pleasant.
Maple was wearing the snorkel she'd prepared, but since the turtle wasn't diving
underwater, it had done her little good.
"Hmm, do I have anything for this? Oh! Maybe this'll do the trick."
She pulled out a beach umbrella and a pair of beach chairs.
"You really do have everything in there. Is this why you never have any money?"
"If I just put them down, they'll go flying. Can you stick 'em in place?"
"Sure."
Now they had a little base set up on the boss's back.
The umbrella was large enough to block all the orbs, so they were finally safe from the
spray.
They sat back in their chairs. In the distance, the horizon shimmered.
"The water's so pretty."
"I wonder if the sun'll set. I'd like to see that."
"Sounds nice. We'll have to hit a beach on one of the lower stratums instead."
They rested for a while, letting the fatigue of their river voyage wash away. But all
breaks must come to an end, and theirs came when the umbrella snapped in half.
It had been soaking attacks. Maple might not take damage from them, but items
certainly did.
"Maple, watch out. It's heading straight for the water!"
"Ha? W-we haven't even done anything yet!"
But the sea turtle kept plunging, diving deep. Sally had a skill for this, but even with
her snorkel, Maple wouldn't last long.
Sally was considering cutting them loose and surfacing, but the boss started heading
up again.
And before they ran out of breath, it was back into the arcing water paths above.
"Whew… Wh-what was that for?"
"Maybe it has to submerge after a set period of flight?"
But as they pondered, a wave kicked up from the paths around the boss, ignoring
gravity, and tried to wash them away.
The webs kept them safely in place, but it was hardly enjoyable.
"Guess it wants us off…"
"Hngg. Well, while we're still here…"
Maple rooted around her inventory one more time and pulled out a surfboard.
"Er… you know how?"
"Well, it's making waves for us!"
Then she thanked the boss, giving its shell one last pat.
"I'll put a lifeline on you."
Sally set the webs to a length that would keep her in range of Martyr's Devotion.
"Thanks!"
"Uh, Maple… we still have to actually fight this boss, remember? Don't have too much
fun."
"I—I remember!"
"Then go on. I'm gonna rest a bit longer."
Sally lay down on the shell and gave it a few pets herself.
"You're so nice and cool…," she said.
Behind her, she heard a yelp as a wave caught Maple and dragged her under.
A while after that, the boss changed up its pattern again, soaring through the air.
This change was based not on time passed but on HP lost. The girls had finally decided
to actually fight it.
"Oh, the head takes more damage than the shell."
"Saturating Chaos…"
While Sally was busily slicing away, Maple was lying back on the shell, webbed in place,
wearily throwing out attacks.
Sally could hear constant gunfire and the sound of poison splashing off the turtle's feet
(its weak points).
"I told you not to have too much fun!"
"Urgh… sorry… I couldn't help myself…"
Making the most of this unique opportunity to play, Maple had gone all out—and by
the time Sally reeled her in, she was dog tired.
She'd looked thoroughly pleased with herself—right until she remembered they still
had a boss to fight.
"I ain't waiting for you to get back up!"
"I know. But the shell is nice and cool. Very soothing…"
"…Really doesn't sound like we're in a boss fight."
"Eh-heh-heh. Well, I know all about riding turtleback!"
"So far, no piercing attacks, so as long as our foothold's secure and we don't drown…"
"Hydra!"
Maple's powerful attack took another huge chunk out of the boss's HP and made red
sparks fly everywhere.
The boss's wave attacks were no match for Sally's webs, and as long as Maple was
sitting down, none of its other attacks did anything.
"Hey, Maple! Sea's churning."
"Oh man, you're right! I bet that would have made things real rough if we weren't on
its back."
They were keeping one eye on the view below and soaking regular water orbs but
paying them no real heed.
"Sally, the boss just fired some sort of beam!"
"Syrup's got one, too. Is that, like, standard turtle issue in this game?"
"Everyone's gotta have at least one beam. Mm? Uh-oh, Sally! My guns stopped working!"
They'd been making steady progress, but the sea turtle's shell and skin suddenly got
harder, and their attacks no longer worked.
Figuring this was another phase shift, they started looking for a place to hit.
"The sea's even wilder. I bet that would sink most boats."
"Yikes. I—I definitely can't fight in that. We were right to tie ourselves up here!"
The waves below were like spears of water. They looked like they could easily run you
through.
"I'm sure that's how you're supposed to fight it, but… yikes."
"What next, Sally?"
"If the top's no good, try underneath."
She waited for a gap in the orb onslaught and released the webs binding her and
Maple. They both jumped off, and Sally soon had them stuck to the belly.
"And we're locked in!"
"We're like suckerfish!"
"True!"
Like Sally had predicted, the underbelly was still soft. They started attacking, keeping
one eye on the stormy skies and sea as the turtle flew around.
"I've never seen the view from Syrup's belly!"
"Maybe we should have tried this while the ocean was still pretty."
As Maple's guns boomed, pillars of water sprang up around the turtle, shooting high
into the air above.
Neither girl's onslaught faltered. Clinging to the turtle's belly, they were dragged high
into the air, offering a bird's-eye view of the ocean below.
And then the ocean went still, turning a beautiful blue.
"Whoa! Uh, Sally, why is the ocean suddenly so calm?"
But even as the words left her mouth, the turtle shattered, turning to light.
Which meant there was nothing keeping them up there.
"Sally! Grab on!"
"Yup! This is all you!"
It took a moment for inertia to wear off—but then they plummeted headfirst toward
the waters below.
Maple pulled Sally into her arms, keeping her within range of Martyr's Devotion. Like
she always did when jumping off Syrup, she righted herself—and hit the water.
There was a huge splash, and by the time that died down, they were clinging to a
floating shield, rocked by the waves.
"Whew… is it over?"
"I think so. It was a good match for me, which made things easy. And the entrance to
the next area opened. We've got loads of skills left, so let's keep going!!"
"What about breaks?"
"You just had one."
"Eh-heh-heh, I guess I did!"
The boss fight had lacked any semblance of tension. It had been a real pushover. They
both felt energized and ready for more.
"Then come on, floor five! What'll be next?"
"I can't wait!"
A new island had appeared. They headed toward it and stepped on the magic circle.
A moment later, they were bathed in light—which gave way to the sights of the fifth
floor.
They found themselves in darkness, the paths lined with gravestones—all of which
gave off an eerie blue light.
"M-Maple… a-about that break…"
"…Yeah, okay."
Their enthusiasm sure drained quick. Maple saw how nervous Sally was and decided
it was better for them to call it a day.