“Huh?!”
Not just Martyr’s Devotion. Sally’s Sword Dance aura, all the buffs on Mai and Yui—all of it was gone.
That attack had canceled out everything. By the time they caught on, the king was already hurling a massive fireball in their direction.
“Necro, Polterguard! Guardian!”
Chrome was first to act. Maple was not the only player with an area defense skill—he’d spent his medals wisely. Reducing damage, defending those around him. His own healing skills—plus Sally and Kanade’s spells—let him weather the flames.
“Maple, follow my lead! Cover Move and Cover! I’ll tell you what to defend!”
“Okay!”
Martyr’s Devotion was on a cooldown. Machine God, Hydra, and Predators would not help them here. What they needed was her great shield—she’d have to play like a traditional tank.
So the rest of the party could do damage.
But that also meant that only Chrome and Maple could afford to soak an attack.
“Kasumi, let’s step up!”
“Yeah, we’ll have to ease the burden on them.”
Sally and Kasumi darted toward the king. If they were all in range of an AOE, then their tanks couldn’t cover everyone. Sally had Spirited Away and Shed Skin; Kasumi had her teleport move and Mind’s Eye. Each could keep herself safe.
With Martyr’s Devotion gone, grouping up would be a bigger risk.
Wreathed in fire, the king was flying fast. She threw fireballs at the two approaching girls, but they were agile enough to dodge.
Those flames on her body were clearly not just for show. Neither of them could afford to get too close. They’d need a plan.
“Blood Blade!”
“Let’s show her what we practiced! Waterway!”
Kasumi liquified her sword, wielding it like a whip, and Sally swam through it like water, transforming her daggers into a bow.
“Ice Pillar!”
She used her webs to take to the air, bow in hand, bounding about the sky as freely as the king herself, firing arrow after arrow.
Turning upside down, letting herself fall, climbing again—never missing a shot. Anyone would think she was primarily an archer.
She and Kasumi got the boss to use those same defensive walls she’d used as a mid-boss, laying the groundwork for Mai and Yui to land an attack.
But the king wasn’t just letting them hit her. She was fending off Sally and Kasumi while generating a lot of flaming spears and firing those at the others.
“We’ll handle those, you cover them!”
“Maple, take Mai!”
“Got it!”
““Cover!””
Maple and Chrome guarded the twins. Aware that this could get much worse, Chrome avoided using Multi-Cover, protecting them with his iron-clad defenses.
“Water Wall! Spell Barrier!”
Kanade and Iz laid out walls to protect themselves, but without grimoires, these weren’t quite strong enough. Several spears made it through.
“Iz, please!”
“Right! Fey, Item Boost.”
Her pet’s ability strengthened the barricades. Hefty walls from her inventory dropped right in front of them, shattering—but stopping the spears.
“Necro, Dead Weight!”
“Syrup, Awaken! Mother Nature!”
A skull appeared behind Chrome—a debuff that reduced the king’s mobility. Maple took advantage of that, borrowing her turtle’s skill to block the boss’s path with massive vines.
“Flash Spout! Subzero Domain!”
Sally generated a deluge and instantly froze it, crafting an ice bridge right to the king.
“Leap! First Blade: Heat Haze!”
In came Kasumi. She jumped, then warped to a spot right before the king’s eyes. She soaked damage from the flames but landed a strike, once more shattering the boss’s barriers.
At this range, the king was forced to focus all her attacks on Kasumi. Jagged claws, wreathed in flames, backed by the lethal might of a dragon’s arm, swiftly bore down to run Kasumi through.
But then—
“Third Blade: Blue Moon!”
A skill-based evacuation. Sally and Kasumi each had unique ways of maneuvering, and this allowed her to bound away.
And while Kasumi had blocked the king’s line of sight, Kanade and Iz had buffed their mightiest members’ speed. They advanced under the tanks’ protection.
Mai and Yui were running across the ice bridge, hammers high.
“Here goes!”
“Yeah!”
““Farshot!””
Sixteen shock waves. With the barriers just downed, mid-attack—no time to dodge—all shots hit home, slamming the boss into the far wall.