“……………”
Dread breathed a quiet sigh of relief. He’d managed to pay back Thunder Storm.
He had no clue how Sally was reproducing the other skills, but Godspeed alone was the real deal.
The letter he’d sent on the brink of death—that was Frederica’s skill, Pigeon Post. A skill that let her send buffs to remote players and let them send skills back.
It was a powerful move, so only one person could take advantage of it.
That’s why they’d picked Dread—he had a lot of skills with powerful effects.
“I guess…it proved useful.”
“It certainly paid off. Notes did good.”
“Shush, Drag. Frederica’ll be lording it over us for weeks.”
“Ha-ha! Let her. She does better work when she’s cocky.”
“……True enough.”
They kept watching. Powerful players they’d had their eyes on might have been eliminated, but the event itself was far from done.
✦ ✦ ✦
Kasumi and Mai stayed where they were.
They were cheering the other Maple Tree members on, all the while hoping the next arrivals wouldn’t be from their guild.
“Sally’s so good. I bet she was even better than in warm-ups.”
“I watched her fight you! It was wild!”
“She’s the kind of girl who never fights better than when she can’t afford to lose. Even then…”
Kasumi and Mai had heard about her skills and what they could do, but even they were shocked to hear just how varied that was in practice.
Without the benefit of actually seeing the fights themselves, it was hard to really understand just how nasty these new skills were.
But they were definitely skills that hinged on Sally’s own technique; if either of them gained the same skills, they’d have no hope of pulling off the moves she did.
“Maple’s still in it. Let’s trust her to make it happen.”
“I…I know Yui will do my part, too!”
The Maple Tree members who remained in the battle were the best of the best. The event was in safe hands.
Hoping their camp would emerge victorious, they turned their gazes back to the screen.
✦ ✦ ✦
The moment Maple was free from Hinata’s purple dome, Sally rushed over to her. After making sure Velvet was long gone, she dropped the illusionary lightning and helped top up Maple’s HP.
“Good work, Maple.”
“Yup! So where’s Velvet?”
“Pretty sure she’s long gone.”
After that brutal battle, she likely didn’t have any way of turning herself invisible. Still, better to be safe than sorry.
Sally’s top priority was Maple’s safety.
“Nice fight, Sally! You were incredible!”
“Yeah? Thanks. Good work keeping the pressure on them.”
“Heh-heh-heh…I knew you could do it!”
“Glad I could live up to your expectations.”
It was hard to check the clock mid-fight. Only Sally could maintain an accurate countdown during action that intense.
Thunder Storm had the sheer power to go after Maple directly, but they’d both done what they could.
“Whew…Break Core was the right move to finish it. No one’s seen it, and it’s hard to avoid.”
Very few enemies were tough enough for Maple to resort to her self-destruct.
Only Maple Tree members knew the exact range of the explosion.
“Glad we researched the skill properly, or I wouldn’t have dared.”
“Yeah. We’d have passed on it otherwise.”
Maple had long held the wrong idea about Break Core. It wasn’t her defense that let her survive it—it was the Bomb Eater skill she’d found early on.
That meant even with Hinata’s defensive debuffs on, she’d still survive the explosion.
By correcting their misunderstanding, they’d been able to use it for the big finish.
“Glad it worked out! As for me, I’m pretty much tapped out.”
This was one reason they hadn’t chased Velvet. Sally had pushed herself to peak performance and was running on fumes. Her focus was wavering, her body felt sluggish, and she could tell her reactions were lagging. If they fought another round, she wouldn’t be nearly as effective.
Ray landed near them, carrying Pain and Chrome.
“Looks like you’re still with us. How’d it go?”
“Got Hinata. But who knows where Velvet’s run off to.”
“We lost Kasumi. Her debuff is on ’em, so I doubt they’ll hit our base again, but…sorry.”
“We needed you fending them off, so…shame we didn’t manage to get Velvet, too.”
Their plan had worked, but Maple was facing another day without Indomitable Guardian.
Eliminating Velvet would have been their best outcome, but…things weren’t that easy.
“Uh, Sally’s at her limit.”
“Makes sense. She’s been going all out all day.”
No one wanted to overwork her. With Hinata gone, Velvet’s defensive and mobility options would crater. They’d get another chance.
“Oh, a message…they lost Mai and a lot of Order members, but took out Marx and a mix of enemy guild players.”
“Considering they were outnumbered, that’s a solid outcome.”
The group facing Flame Empire had been stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Stopping their advance and returning real damage was a serious accomplishment.
“Velvet, Mii, Lily, and Wilbert are all alive. That’s certainly cause for concern. We’ll have to match the next monster assault.”
“Yeah, rinse and repeat.”
Last time, Hinata’s Niflheim had helped her side recover from the advance fueled by Dark Rebirth, but that was no longer an option.
Everyone knew that the next big fight could determine the winner of the event, which is why this nighttime skirmish had taken place.
“Let’s take a breather. I believe only Sally has any guarantee of preventing Wilbert from sniping Maple.”
“Hard to believe when you put it that way, but…you’ve got a point.”
Pain helped them board Ray, and they flew off back to the castle.
And thus, the nighttime fighting came to an end.