✦ ✦ ✦
With everyone hustling to get ready, time flew by. Before long, the surviving players began steadily assembling by the town walls.
Naturally, the six remaining Maple Tree members were among them, waiting for the go-ahead signal.
“Maple, sit behind me!”
“Thanks, Yui!”
There would be no orbital-weapon Maple this time—not with Wilbert still alive, at least. They’d be watching for it and had figured out ways to handle it quickly.
Up above, she had nowhere to go, and no one could reach her to help. The risk wasn’t worth the return.
She was instead riding Yukimi to make up for her lack of mobility, making it easy to cover them both.
“Okay…you do have Ark, but we don’t want you to have to use that.”
“Without Marx, they’ve got no One Night Fort. I’d like to keep them at bay.”
“I’m thoroughly prepped,” Iz said. “Expect good things.”
Their opponent’s defenses were definitely thin. On a field with no barricades, Mii would have a far harder time focusing on the Daybreak chant.
Maple and the other smaller but strong guilds were expected to move around the field, pinning down threats. Velvet and Mii were at the top of that list.
However, numbers were everything. The main flow of combat would come down to the Order and the other large guilds. They were simply the right guilds for the job.
As they finalized their preparations, the monsters on the field stirred and began charging toward the enemy camp.
“Go, Maple!”
“Yeah!”
With that, Maple Tree set out, merging with the flow of the army.
Even as they marched, each guild had a rotation of members using enemy-detection skills to ensure no one got the drop on them. Parties scouting ahead sent word that there were no traps, and the march proceeded smoothly. At last, they saw a dust cloud of enemy monsters mingled with players.
Everyone drew their weapons, and the air grew tense with anticipation.
The roars of the monsters echoed. The enemy struck first.
“Funeral Pyre!”
“Thunderclap!”
“Don’t panic!” Pain called.
Their scouts had assured them Daybreak was not in use. Staying calm and laying down barriers minimized the damage from both lightning and fire.
Still, those attacks were the starting gun. At their use, both camps began flinging spells.
As both sides laid out their defenses and protected the front lines, the two armies clashed.
“Frederica!”
“On it!”
“Ray, Total Mana Release! Light Flux!”
“Multi-Transfer!”
Thin the numbers, break through the lines, and do it as soon as possible. With his holy sword glowing, Pain found Sally at his side.
“Borrowing that.”
“……!”
Catching her drift, Pain swung the sword, a slew of buffs concentrated on it.
“Palidragon’s Lightsword!”
He unleashed a torrent of light toward the enemy formation. One hit from that would seal their fate—which is why they used every skill they had to survive it.
Damage negation. It was the simplest and best means of defense, and why Daybreak—a hard counter to exactly that effect—was so feared.
But even without invalidating those skills, they had a downside, which Sally knew well.
“Palidragon’s Lightsword!”
Sally’s weapon took on the same light as Pain’s, and a moment after his, sent a second light torrent toward the enemy.
Damage negation. While powerful, it was never effective for very long.
“Reality Twister.”
Everyone who’d negated Pain’s single hit was now hit with the same effect a second time. This mingled with the fading glow of Pain’s light but naturally counted as a second attack, doing damage.
Sally had only reproduced Pain’s skill. She didn’t have those buffs. Unaware of that tidbit, many a player was lost.
A huge hole was punched in the enemy lines, giving Maple Tree’s allies a chance to charge in.
They’d known they couldn’t soak the blow and would have to null it. For that reason, they’d skipped barriers or defense boosts.
And that had given her an opening.
“Sally, what about the four leaders?”
“All here.”
“Then let’s go take them down.”
With that one blow, Pain’s job there was done.
If he could take out players capable of felling Maple, Dark Rebirth would win this for them.
“And Maple is…?”
“Inside a box Iz crafted, handing out buffs.”
“……? Okay. As long as I needn’t worry.”
Pain called out Ray, had it use Giganticize, and he and Sally climbed aboard, flying high.
The space their combo had blown open was swiftly filled with Lily’s summons, so they knew where Rapid Fire’s leaders were. After all, the glow of their skill effects drew the eye, and their equipment stood out in any crowd.
“Ray, Palidragon’s Breath!”
A beam of light bore down onto the battlefield, aimed directly at the source of the skill effect. Not wanting to get swallowed up in the blast, Lily and Wilbert stepped back, out of its range.
From above, the standings were very clear.
Mii and Velvet were certainly doing damage, but Pain and Sally’s formations were maintaining the advantage.
“……”
If they kept their distance, the enemy back lines would not be able to trap them.
Still, the possibility existed that this was another attempt to bait them into overextending, like they had done with Kasumi. Pain was unsure if he should pursue.
“Let’s go. Two-on-two, we can win. And it’ll get them away from the main fight.”
“Fair enough. No use sitting on the fence. Ray, Shooting Star.”
Wreathed in light, Ray descended and shot toward the back of the enemy camp where Lily and Wilbert stood.