On the sixth floor, our heroines found raw rock walls, bumpy ground, and pale blue
crystals studded everywhere. The color was awfully reminiscent of ice and reminded
them of the frozen realm they'd conquered earlier. Relieved it did not seem obviously
haunted, they began working their way through it.
The first enemy they faced was a golem made entirely of sparkly gemstone.
Maple took a step back. This was not her forte. But the path was too narrow for them
to push past.
"Looks like I'm up already! Maple, watch my back."
"Yup. Good luck, Sally!"
The golem appeared quite hard, so Sally started with Defense Break. Maple provided
some cover fire, but the rounds bounced right off. Not only did it have high defense, it
also had a lot of HP. Sally was forced to chisel it down.
When it finally fell, they gathered up the materials it had dropped and sighed.
"Urgh… what a sponge…"
"Sigh. So tanky, too…"
The jeweled golem was just a basic-ass enemy, but none of Maple's attacks had
worked, and even Sally had no choice but to abuse her piercing skill.
But thanks to Martyr's Devotion, it hadn't been able to get through their defense,
either.
"With you tanking for us, we'll always win eventually, but unless they look like they're
carrying a key item, we're better off just slipping past."
"Key what now…?"
"Like that Firn thing. I guess we can just go till we get stuck and then turn back to
look."
"True."
Fighting them would just take time. Even if their materials were good, it was too
inefficient to gather anything, and not much point beating them otherwise.
"What if the boss is like this? Ewww."
"Then I'll work my butt off. I did promise to make up for the last floor…"
"Well, I'll keep us safe, then."
They moved on, spying a fork up ahead.
And as if waiting for them, soldier-type monsters appeared, their bodies made of
glittering ore.
Three in a row, armed with shields and spears, blocking one of the paths.
"I guess we could push past, but… what do you think?"
"Let's go the other way. They're clearly all tanks."
Maple almost pushed Sally into the other passage.
"At your speed, you're not exactly outrunning anything—so they must be the type that
doesn't give chase."
"Well, good! That's always nice."
"Guess we'll just see where this path takes us. Avoiding combat as we do."
"Cool! The less monsters the better…"
But Maple's wish was not granted. This place was a maze, and there were forks
galore—and every time, monsters blocked one of the options.
"Is the path with monsters the right choice? Hmm. But there's no clear evidence of
that…"
"What do you think? Should we fight 'em once and see?"
"The branches are all getting marked properly, so we're good for now. It's a maze, but
we don't know which way is right, so we're at a loss either way. Best thing to do is go
till we hit a dead end and then start checking the other options."
"Makes sense."
Avoiding combat as much as they could, they headed farther and farther in, filling in
the floor map.
Eventually this route took them to a large room, the last blank bit on their maps.
"Doesn't… quite seem like a boss room…"
"I can see more paths leading out the other side, so no. But I bet something hits us here.
Brace yourself."
"Okay. Sally, you stay behind me."
Maple took a step into the room—and there was a clank behind them. A pale crystal
wall blocked their retreat.
Similar crystals emerged from the floor and walls—along with a dizzying number of
monsters.
"Augh, a monster house!"
A famous trap type that spawned a ton of monsters the moment you stepped in, testing
your ability to deal with overwhelming numbers.
"Huh? What?!"
"This is real bad! Gotta go one at a time, or…"
Since Maple's attacks didn't work, Sally would have to do all the heavy lifting—but
there were far too many foes to just throw herself at them without a plan. Several of
these monsters she'd never even seen before, and she was instantly worried about
piercing damage. When she saw Maple dithering, Sally grabbed her hand and pulled
her back to what remained of the way in. At least none of these enemies seemed to
have ranged attacks.
"Um, best if their attacks can't reach us, right?"
"Yeah, if that's doable. But…"
Wool sprouted from Maple's body, filling up the short passageway.
Sally was now between the crystal blocking the exit and this new wall of fluff. Maple's
face popped out.
"They're really pounding away behind me, but I'm fine!"
"Whew… cool. This oughtta help. I'm coming in, Maple. Can't exactly throw myself into
that mob. It's gonna take a while, but I'll just have to go one at a time."
"Come on in! Welcome to Cafe Wool!"
"Yeah, yeah. Lemme wriggle through."
Sally squirmed into the ball and popped her face out the other side. Maple used Taunt
to pull most of the enemies, and Sally stuck out her arms, using Iz's items to boost her
damage and slicing away, one enemy after another.
If they eliminated the threat of piercing attacks, there was nothing to fear.
"As long as the enemies don't have fire, this is really effective."
"The fluffy fortification!"
"That's… not even an oxymoron."
Bantering while fighting was definitely a luxury Maple brought to the table.
For a while, the sound of Sally's daggers striking gemstone echoed through the room,
but gradually their numbers thinned, and finally she downed the last of the monsters
she didn't recognize.
"Whew… the rest is just a battle of attrition."
"Oh, are we done?"
"There're still the monsters who don't do piercing attacks. It's a chore, but… the door
behind us is still closed. So!"
Sally popped out of the fluff ball and started swinging daggers around the muchroomier space. Each enemy moved so slowly that once she'd thinned their numbers,
they were not really a problem. No chance of stray hits. She had enough room within
range of Maple's cover to fight how she pleased.
"Keep it up, Sally! N-not that I can see you…"
Maple had ducked back into her wool, fumbling around. As long as Martyr's Devotion
was active, she was doing her bit.
While she was in there, she heard the shattering sound of monster after monster going
down.
Like Sally said, it was just a matter of attrition. Eventually—and with no danger—she
had all foes beat.
"Nice, Sally!"
"Good workout. And they left a ton of materials! The wall behind you vanished, too."
"What now, Sally? Keep going?"
"Yeah, let's hit the far end, at least. We might find something there."
Since Maple could spawn her wool only once daily, they decided to keep it.
No telling if there were more monster houses up ahead.
"…I could roll you?"
"Give me a push!"
Sally shoved her hands into Maple's wool and started rolling her down the corridor.
The rest of the passage had no more forks, and it led to a little dais with a small chest
on it.
"What do you reckon, Maple?"
"It's very suspicious, but leaving without opening it is worse."
"Agreed. Let's run a few tests."
Sally fired a spell at the chest, making sure it wasn't a monster in disguise, and then
carefully checked it for traps.
"Seems okay."
"Cool. Then let's open it up!"
They reached for the lid together.
No traps activated, and they breathed sighs of relief, peering in. There, they found two
scrolls—the type that gave you skills.
"Looks like they're both the same. One's yours!"
"Great! I wonder what skill it is?"
Crystallization
Halves AGI for one minute but blocks all status effects.
Three-minute cooldown.
Condition: VIT: 100+
Maple definitely fell prey to status effects sometimes, and this would solve that
problem. And she didn't need to worry about AGI drops at all, so it just got rid of a
weakness.
"I think I'll give mine to Chrome. I sure can't ever use it."
Sally had kept her VIT at a big ol' 0. And with no plans to ever raise it, 100 was entirely
unobtainable.
"I'm gonna learn it right now!"
Maple unrolled the scroll and acquired the Crystallization skill.
"No monsters around. Wanna give it a shot before we hit combat?"
"Good idea! Crystallization!"
Maple was wreathed in light, applying a coating to her exterior—just like the monsters
they'd been fighting.
"My whole skin changed! But I can still move. It feels weird."
"Definitely… and it applied to this, too."
Sally thumped the wool. It made a clanking sound—and it even felt like a mass of rock.
"If you pull your face in, will you get stuck?"
"Erp? Now I'm scared to try… Eek, my arm is stuck! I can't get back in!"
"Wow…"
Maple wriggled around a bit and discovered that the entire surface of the ball was now
hard, and it echoed when she knocked.
"Welp, the main point is protection against status effects, so… this usually wouldn't
happen."
Sally took another look at Maple's predicament, stuck piteously in a rock-hard ball of
wool, and shook her head.
"Urg… too many things to remember."
"But that's what makes it fun!"
Maple didn't seem too sure she'd ever get used to this. They waited until the effect
wore off.
They'd found a few skills and items in this tower and definitely needed to make time
to try them out. On the skill front, both Cataclysmic Eruption and Crystallization might
prove useful to Maple in the future.
"But beating this tower gets us medals, and we can trade those for skills, right? No
telling if it'll be the same selection as before."
"Oh! Right… Hngg. I'll have to think real hard and make a good choice."
"Or just pick whatever you like the look of. Go with your gut! I feel like you usually do
pretty well that way. But if you ask me which skills are good, I'm always happy to
explain."
There was no point thinking about it now, so Maple just nodded.
Eventually Crystallization wore off, and they started exploring again.
"Guess we'll have to take the paths past the spear guys."
"Ugh. I bet those do piercing damage…"
"Then best you stay wooled up. Do the shield sandwich."
"You're sure? It's got spooky hands."
"...…Go for it."
After her harrowing experience on the fifth floor, hands that didn't actively jump out
at her just didn't rate anymore. And part of her thought she'd better learn to handle
something that insignificant.
"Okay! Let me just change up my gear… and off we go!"
Once the wool ball was pinned between two shields, Sally climbed on top and looked
ahead. If there were no flame jets, they could fly around the dungeon like this.
But not long after…
Sally was lying in a heap on top of the wool, looking exhausted.
"I don't wanna find any more big rooms…"
"Yeah… they've got so many monsters…"
Every large room on this floor was a monster house.
Each time they found a new one, the entrance sealed itself off, and monsters poured
out of the woodwork.
Fortunately, they were all basic brute-force types that just charged in, so as long as the
girls avoided anything that did piercing damage, they could handle it—but since these
foes were pretty tanky and they didn't have much to fight that with, it took forever.
"But thanks to you, I'm not getting hit at all! That helps!"
"Heh-heh… Well, it was worth the effort."
Sally collected her wits and pulled her face out of the wool.
"I bet the boss is an even bigger chore."
"Ugh… let's cross our fingers and hope it's a wimp."
For all their griping, the floor wasn't throwing anything at them that they couldn't
handle. It took a while, but they did eventually reach the boss room.
"What do you think, Sally? We doing this now?" Maple asked, popping her head out of
the wool ball.
"Odds are high your attacks won't work, Maple. But we can't really be sure if we don't
take a look… so we might as well."
"Works for me!"
They came up with some new strategies that let Syrup and Oboro help, checked over
their item stocks, then were ready to hit the boss room. They'd decided to wait and
see what the boss did before activating Martyr's Devotion.
They pushed the boss room's doors open and found a vast space beyond. High ceilings,
and the crystals above weren't just pale blue—there were red and green, too. A chunk
of the floor was crystallized, with lumpy outcroppings a lot like Maple's Amethyst
Geode. And at the very back—a man with a huge staff, robes, and a hat like a wizard.
He was maybe five foot seven.
When he saw them enter, he thumped the base of his staff on the ground, summoning
soldiers—each wearing crystal armor. Some had spears, some had shields, and some
had swords—all three types charged toward them.
"Yikes, here we go, Sally!"
"Maple, stick to the plan! Take stock!"
"I remember! Syrup, Giganticize! Psychokinesis!"
Only Maple could retreat to the air above. Moments later, a giant wool ball—big
enough for two!—was near the top of the dome on the back of a turtle.
Both girls peered over the edge.
"Yikes, way more than I expected."
"Wow! This is really something…"
The floor was teeming with crystal-armor soldiers. Even as they watched, the wizard
boss was regularly summoning more.
"But with this many guards, the boss himself likely doesn't have much defense or HP."
"Then I'm good to go! Lemme make sure the poison doesn't splash back on us…
Hydra!"
Maple stretched her short-sword hand out as far as she could and unleashed a torrent
of poison. The boss threw up defensive walls in front of it. The poison passed through,
but it bought the boss enough time to scramble out of range. This boss might be smart
enough to handle attacks from above, but it didn't seem to have a way of fighting
back—no counter came their way.
She tried the same attack a few more times, but to no avail.
"Urgh, what next, Sally? I can't hit this guy."
"But we did learn something. It's not that mobile, and it's pretty slow. If you aim right,
I think it'll work."
Sally checked the soldiers again, just to be sure, but they were still milling around right
underneath. Seemed safe to ignore.
"Oh! Nice!"
"But we do need to stop it from summoning more. And then just go back and forth
between the sky and the ground, hoping we can score some solid damage…"
Sally trailed off, thinking—so Maple put her own mind to work.
And soon after, she shot Sally a crafty smile.
"…Another one of your brilliant schemes?"
"I think so!"
For no real reason, Maple leaned in, whispering her plan.
Sally's eyes went wide; then she nodded. This was well worth trying.
"Okay. I'll handle the exit route."
"Thanks, Sally! You're the best!"
"And I wanna see how practical this is."
"Cool. Let's do this!"
Maple moved Syrup right over the boss's head, and Sally released the webs that were
keeping them attached.
The wool ball plummeted down, and the boss tried to move aside—but Sally's webs
shot out, adjusting their trajectory and ensuring they landed close by. And the instant
they touched down, Maple's skill went off.
"Zone Freeze!"
With an audible snap, the ground around them froze solid—neither the boss nor its
nearby minions could move.
Sally shot her webs near the boss again, yanking the ball of wool toward their
immobilized foe.
"Sally, go for it!"
"Hokay!"
Together, they pushed the wool out of the way, and as the ball hit the boss, they
reached out, pulling its upper half into the ball.
"Crystallization!"
The wool ball's surface hardened—with the boss still stuck halfway inside. It was
trapped!
Soldiers were soon banging away on the outside, but their blows couldn't reach the
girls now.
"Eh-heh-heh! It worked! Welcome to your doom!"
"Hi there. Nothing you'll enjoy in here—and we got one whole minute."
Sally and Maple were waiting inside the wool, and they were already rooting through
their inventories.
And pulling out the powerful bombs Iz had made for them.
They filled the wool interior with items that might not have that much range but were
all the more deadly for it.
"Oh, Sally, this is gonna be loud. Better use these earplugs."
"Thanks! Time's almost up."
"Mm-hmm. Light 'em!"
With Sally safe in range of Martyr's Devotion, Maple set off the bombs. The boss area
was rocked by explosions. Pillars of fire and sprays of damage sparks filled the air.
As Crystallization wore off, fire and lasers rocketed out of the wool ball, followed by
bullets, ice, wind blades, and rock shards. The wool itself burned up in the process,
but the sheer concentration of attacks also turned the boss to ash.
And as it died, so did all its minions.
"Definitely not that tanky. It melted."
"Iz's items are so strong!"
"Yeah, well… if you use that many… I almost felt sorry for the boss."
"Survival of the fittest! This time, we were fitter."
Luckily for the game's bosses, she could use Wool Up only once a day, so the next boss
would be spared… well… what appeared to be them blowing themselves up on top of
it.
"Next?"
"You betcha! I still got loads of skills left."
They headed to the seventh floor, ready to make short work of the next boss, too.