They’d planned for it, and they entered the fight with that plan in mind. Limit the boss’s actions and let Mai and Yui go to town—that plan had made the king withdraw, but she’d been in mid-boss mode. That was hardly her real power.
With that fight behind them, they now faced more dungeon exploration.
“Multi-Cover!”
“Tidal Wave!”
Chrome kept the twins safe, and Kanade’s spell swallowed up the monsters.
Once combat ended and the waters subsided, Maple came running over.
“Whew, thanks!”
“Sure. Even more monsters are teleporting us around. I’ll cover you when that happens.”
Martyr’s Devotion had its downsides. Anything that took advantage of its limitations left Chrome as their last line of defense. He was a top-class great shielder—anything that got past Maple would still have to deal with him.
Maple was such a force, it was easy to forget, but taking Chrome down was itself a tall order.
“Keep it up! I’ve got tons of buff items!”
““Great!”” the twins cried.
Take out Maple, slip past Chrome, clear Kanade’s barriers and Iz’s barricades, dodge Kasumi and Sally’s parries, make the twins use Titan’s Lot and then hit them once again—only then could anyone take out Maple Tree’s ultra-dangerous main attackers.
No matter how hard their enemies planned…
…that was a doomed prospect.
“Certainly no monsters can pull it off.”
“But we’ll have to be careful against her. We want to clear this with a full party.”
“Yeah, fair enough. Stay sharp.”
Sally had a point. The boss was that dragon king. She’d shown off some massive AOEs during the event, and she could fully transform into a black dragon.
An enemy that powerful—there was no telling what attacks she’d have.
Party battles often lost a few members on the way to victory.
But Maple Tree had come this far together, and it would be far better to win with everyone alive.
“She might even use the breath attacks from the event.”
“In which case, my barriers won’t be enough,” Kanade said.
He’d used all his really powerful defensive skills during the PvP event. He did have a couple of grimoires back in stock, but hardly enough.
“Then leave it to me!”
Maple was a hard counter for AOE attacks. Unless the enemy’s big moves did piercing or fixed damage, they’d be useless.
“We’ll be on healing duty. Just in case, let’s reduce fire damage, too.”
Even if someone did take damage, if they were properly buffed and ready to heal quickly, the fight could go on.
Maple’s damage nullification was downright bizarre—if they started taking damage, that just meant they’d have to play like other players.
Arguably, that was where the real fighting began. Maple did actually have powerful skills for damage reduction and healing over time—they just never really got a chance to shine.
Maple was more than just a high defense stat.
“I’d like to preempt any path to defeat. Chrome, let’s review how you play when Maple’s at a disadvantage.”
“Sure. Best to assume anything’s possible here. One really solid blow could crumple our party, after all.”
Sally, Mai, and Yui had no defense—and Iz’s and Kanade’s specs were designed for the back line. Kasumi was a front-line player, but since Maple was so tanky, she’d focused on raising AGI and STR instead.
That made Maple Tree’s lineup unusually brittle. If a decently heavy strike got through, everyone but Chrome would be in critical condition—or dead.
Maple negated that weakness, allowing everyone to raise their strengths even higher, which was what made Maple Tree so powerful.
“If the goal is to win with everyone, then we have to take risks to save each other. Let’s make sure we have a plan to pick ourselves up afterward.”
“A lot of that’s on you, Chrome.”
“Best if I don’t have to step in—but I’m ready to do my bit if it comes to it.”
Chrome rattled his shield, ready to demonstrate how good a party with two tanks was.
✦ ✦ ✦
With the eight of them working together, even the trickiest of dungeon monsters posed no obstacle.
Once they knew what a monster could do, they could handle it.
They made smooth progress through the castle interior and soon found themselves before a huge, lavishly decorated door. They’d cleared every side passage on the way, so this had to be the final boss.
“Guess this is it.”
“No monster spawns here.”
“Then time for the usual.”
“Yep, lemme just get us ready.”
If there was time before a boss fight, it was best to take advantage of it.
Everyone surrounded the twins, giving them potions, cracking crystals, sprinkling them with powders, and burning incense. All the buffs they could possibly lay on Mai and Yui, steadily turning them into beasts that could dust any boss in a single blow.
Maple Tree had the utmost faith in the overlapping auras surrounding the twins. They had a sterling record of one-shotting bosses up and down the game.
“Is that all?”
“It’s always so pretty! You’re ready for anything!”
Now they merely needed to get them in range.
Not wanting to waste a second of the buffs’ duration, Maple gave the signal.
Everyone raised their weapons, and Maple pushed the door open.
✦ ✦ ✦
Ahead of them lay a long throne room. At the very back sat the king herself, wreathed in black flames.
“You’ve arrived. I’m sure we can dispense with the formalities.”
Her black wings and tail spread out, and she snapped her fingers.
The sound echoed, and then the walls of the throne room collapsed. The space was suddenly far larger—the boundaries marked by walls of flame.
She’d reshaped the room with the same type of magic that had hidden the entrance to this zone.
And that gave the king all the space she needed.
“Try not to go down fast!”
✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦
The king took to the skies, and a black shock wave rolled toward them.
Naturally, Maple responded, firming up their defenses.
“Martyr’s Devotion!”
Her defensive field covered them all before the shock wave hit.
The skill nullified all damage and soaked the incoming attack—
✦ ✦ ✦
Then disappeared.