Earlier on, a different party was tackling the sixth floor long before Maple and Sally
ever got there.
This party was always at the front lines of game conquest: Pain, Dread, Drag, and
Frederica.
The Order of the Holy Sword's leaders were all so powerful, they were chewing
through the bosses.
"Argh, Paaaain! Why is this all on meee?"
"Frederica, you agreed the four of us could handle it."
"Also, it was your idea?" Dread pointed out, eyes on their surroundings.
Frederica got real shifty. "Urgh… yeah, I guess…"
Since she made a regular habit of challenging Sally (and getting her ass handed to her),
she'd heard that the two girls were planning on running the tower together.
So when she found the others talking about how to break up the teams for the event
conquest, she'd jumped in, insisting that if Maple and Sally were clearing it with a
party of two, they had to run it with a small party, too.
"And we're committed now, so you've gotta buckle down and do the work."
"You were all into the idea, too!"
"Maple Tree is running it with their top two. Running a small party of our finest will
help us estimate their current abilities."
"Ha-ha, that does sound like your logic."
"And I'm just being competitive."
"Then we gotta do this thing! Oh, speak of the devil."
All four were instantly in combat mode, eyes on the approaching enemy.
Three crystal-clad soldiers, wielding spears and shields—and behind them stood an
archer in the same armor.
"In such close quarters… how's this?"
Drag jumped forward, swinging his ax sideways. It swept the shields and spears,
cracking the crystals. The knockback sent the soldiers flying and rolling across the
ground.
The archer behind them began its own attack—loosing three arrows at once, all
coming at Drag.
"Multi-Barrier!"
Frederica's defensive spell stopped all three arrows dead, and they fell harmlessly to
the ground.
"Oh, thanks."
"Careful on the offense! I've gotta defend and heal you, here!"
But as she grumbled, the spear soldiers got back up.
"Oh? No damage at all?"
"Gotta use pierce damage. Really tanky for trash mobs. Armor Piercer!" Dread yelled,
lunging forward and thrusting his daggers into a soldier's head—repeatedly. This skill
enhanced all his attacks with piercing damage for a short time, and it was backed by a
passive skill that boosted damage to heads, so he easily shattered one soldier and kept
going toward the archer beyond.
"Triple Slash!"
Three strikes were enough to shatter the armor, and the rearguard archer burst into
light.
The spear soldiers turned to follow him, but Drag's ax hit their exposed backs.
"Armor Crusher!"
This time he did use a piercing skill. The remaining two soldiers fell to the ground with
a crash—and their HP hit 0.
"Easier than I figured. Forcing us to use piercing skills does kinda suck, though."
"Dread, that skill's sweet! When'd you get that?"
"Recently. Dagger only. You can't use it."
"Awww. Shame."
"Let's keep moving. That'll ease the burden on Frederica."
"Agreed! It'd ease it even more if Drag knew the meaning of caution."
"Ha-ha-ha! Not in my dictionary!"
"It should be!"
Unlike Maple, they had plenty of piercing attacks and the ability to take a hit or two—
so these foes did not pose any real threat. Taking enemies out as they went, they
pressed on—until they reached a large open room.
"The boss already?"
"Nah, can't be. Too soon."
"Exercise caution. Frederica, better lay those buffs on us again."
"Coming right up…"
When they stepped inside, a crystal wall sprang up, sealing the exit.
And monsters started rising from the ground all over.
"Ugh, what a hassle."
"What do we do, Pain?"
"I'll handle it. Drag, buy me a little time."
"On it! Ground Splitter!"
Drag split the ground, delaying the monsters' advance, and Pain quickly applied a
bunch more buffs to himself. When he was ready, he drew his sword.
"Range Expansion! Holy Condemnation!"
Pain's skill turned his gleaming blade into a ray that split space itself, cleaving all
monsters before him.
"Holy Breach!"
He lunged at the survivors, taking out three more with his next blow.
In two swings, he'd turned the tide.
And with Drag's ground split immobilizing them, they could not dodge.
"Hmph!"
Finding himself surrounded, Pain parried with his shield, slicing through one after the
other.
Each time he took a swing, a monster vanished.
But all their attacks bounced off his shield, got parried by his blade, or caught nothing
but air.
Frederica just assumed Pain could handle it, and Drag and Dread were both working
support. There were a lot of enemies, but that didn't pose much challenge to their
leader.
He neither took evasive action like Sally nor soaked the damage like Maple.
But his strength was much more stable than either. Nothing rattled him. When he
swung his blade, nothing remained behind.
"Okay, all done."
"Nice work! You barely broke a sweat."
"Drag's delay allowed me to thin their numbers at the start. Made things far easier."
"I know you've got a shield, but you still fend off incoming blows pretty easily."
"Yeah, Drag, you oughtta take tips."
"I'm pure offense. Parries ain't my style."
"Urgh, he's just owning it…"
The four of them had polished off the monster house in a handful of seconds, then
pressed on through the sixth floor.
They found several more monster houses on the way, but not even one managed to
delay this party longer than a minute.
Like the floors before this one, their combat skills were put to good use, and they soon
filled in the map.
And naturally, they collected the items, materials, and skills they found along the way.
At the back of the sixth layer, they found the Crystallization skill Maple was already
using.
"Nah, doesn't work with my stats."
"Same. Ain't ever gonna have a VIT over a hundred."
"Ditto!"
"Fortunately, they're scrolls. We can pass them along to players who need them."
"Can't imagine anyone who isn't a Great Shielder would…"
Those players were the bulk of the game's tanks and would definitely make good use
of this skill.
All three of them immediately pictured Maple.
"Let's assume Maple is no longer vulnerable to status effects, then…"
"Next time we have to fight her, we'll need to plan around that possibility."
"Definitely… but if that's the worst she's got, it ain't a big deal."
"True. Frederica made it sound like she's got way weirder stuff."
"But we will prevail," Pain said. "Conquering this tower is one step toward that goal."
The others nodded. They'd mapped the whole floor and knew exactly where the boss
room was.
"Let's take out this boss, then."
"Yup. I've had enough monster houses."
"Let's go. Hopefully there's room to swing an ax."
"Bosses do demand proper support!"
They bulldozed a few monsters, making a beeline for the boss room.
As the doors opened, they saw a wizard in a big hat wielding a staff. He took one look
at them and started summoning soldiers.
"All foes we fought on the way… what a headache."
"What's the plan? Focus fire on the boss himself?"
"Yeah, seems wise."
"Got it!"
The basic monster-house strategy applied here, so Drag fired up his Ground Splitter,
and Frederica started blasting magic.
But the boss summoned a slew of barriers in the area, blocking all damage.
"Ugh, it's the same type as me!"
Seeing Frederica thwarted, Pain began to cut his way toward the boss.
But in response, the boss started summoning more soldiers to protect itself.
"More adds? Awfully fast…"
"Hey! If there are this many, I can't keep you safe!"
"I'd better take a run at it. Pain, keep that side busy."
"Got it!"
"Multi-Hasten! Multi-Strengthen! Fight Song! Incite!"
Frederica piled short-tern buffs on Pain and Dread.
And not just four or five—between skills and magic, they had so many buffs that they
blurred, their DPS skyrocketing, their weapons enveloped in red auras.
"Armor Piercer! Whirlwind Slicer!"
"Range Expansion! Holy Condemnation!"
A tremendous flurry of damage particles went up from both sides of the room.
Dread's pierce buff and high-speed combo had him carving through foes, while Pain's
single swing took out a huge swath of adds. And Drag used a skill to send himself
rocketing up the now-open center.
"Charge! Power Ax! See, I got this!"
Drag got behind the boss and swung his ax hard, sending it flying toward Pain and
Dread.
Off-balance, the boss tried to counter, throwing out another mass of magic circles that
fired crystal arrows.
""Superspeed!""
But both warriors lunged forward, ducking under the volley, up close and on the
attack.
"Quintuple Slash!"
"Holy Condemnation!"
Their blades pierced its torso, and the HP bar dropped like a stone.
But still, it did not fall. Shock waves from beneath their feet sent both men flying back.
"Multi-Heal!"
Drag had borne the brunt of those arrows, and the shock wave had hit Pain and Dread
hard—but Frederica had a restoration spell ready.
The boss slammed its staff on the ground, summoning three huge magic circles. From
each of them emerged a dragon made of crystal—chased with even more soldiers.
"Ha! This guy's going for broke!"
"Careful. We'll have to beat them, too."
"Frederica, fighting all of these is too much. Transfer my Armor Piercer to Pain and
let's finish this."
"Hmm? Pain, you mind?"
"…No, let's do it. I'll finish this before you get hurt."
"Cool. Everyone, up your attack."
The boss was peppering them with crystal arrows. The dragons were firing laser
beams and gouging swaths out of the ground with their claws. And they had to
continue fending off the mob soldiers, as well—but soon, their setup was complete.
"Multi-Transfer!"
Frederica's spell moved all buffs from Dread, Drag, and herself to Pain.
With all that stacked on him, Pain's aura grew even stronger. He raised his sword—
And the boss sent a volley of arrows at him. All three dragons fired their lasers, and a
wave of soldiers charged his way.
"Holy Havoc!"
But Pain released a mighty swing, pushing them back with a powerful light, a shock
wave tearing up the surface of the ground. Backed by all those buffs, the arrows, lasers,
and minions alike turned to light, swallowed up in the havoc.
With all their power focused on this one swing, no add could possibly survive it.
"Got him!"
Pain closed in, slicing the light itself. The minions' sacrifice had left the boss hanging
on by a thread, but his sword fell like a hammer—and sparks sprayed from the
wizard's shoulder.
The boss let out a death cry—and collapsed, shattering into shards of light.
"Whew… nicely done."
"Thanks, everyone."
Pain sheathed his blade and dusted himself off. They collected the drops and divvied
them up—and all that was left was the path to the seventh floor.
"That was some good damage, Pain."
"Let's hope we can handle the next like that."
"We're in the back half now. The bosses will be that much harder."
"But not for us!"
"True. Not with your buffs and defense."
"Only you actually need defending, Drag."
"Everyone's still raring to go? Then let's move."
"Indeed. We're all still at full strength, so no reason to stop now."
"Let's be the first to clear this thing!"
"Yeah! Nothing's gonna stop us!"
After overpowering the latest boss they encountered, the party of four headed to the
next floor.
Their goal—to score the fastest clear. Each had different reasons for tackling this with
a small party, but ultimately, they were just super competitive.