Just as the dungeon began to resemble the eighth stratum…
“Oh!”
“Nice.”
“Yes! Quest clear!”
“A clean…? Yes, a clean victory.”
It must be a hellscape in the back, but they couldn’t exactly go see. The water and poison would time out and vanish eventually.
“Since that was easy, let’s move on to the next. This one seems made for you.”
“Oh, I know what you mean!”
“Yep, that quest.”
They’d taken several quests with an eye on making short work of them and getting to the demon lord all the faster. Since they’d slaughtered these monsters from the entrance, neither girl was worn out. They could tackle the next fight in peak condition.
“It’s a bit far, so let’s take another dragon flight.”
“Rad!”
Maple hopped on the dragon behind Sally, and they took off again.
“At this rate, we should have time for a third. Ideally.”
“Heh-heh-heh, I’ve got this!”
“I know you do.”
They flew for a while, then reached their destination. Flying so fast that they could avoid most monsters. Dragon power.
When they landed, they found the trees and flowers had withered away. It was a wasteland.
“We’re here!”
“All right, the quest name seemed very Maple, but…”
That’s why they’d picked it. The quest was called Eradicate the Source of the Poisons! It left little room for confusion.
Poison = Maple, Maple = poison. She’d gained many other options and a variety of techniques, but that was still an invaluable tool. She’d just wiped out an entire goblin nest with it! And she didn’t just sling poison—she was immune to it. Poison couldn’t do much if someone had countermeasures, and between Poison Nullification and Martyr’s Devotion, Maple neutralized the threat.
The ground before them had several cracks in it, from which purple gas rose.
“Very toxic looking!”
“Better put Martyr’s Devotion up first.”
“Good idea. Martyr’s Devotion!”
Wings spread from Maple’s back, and a defensive field spread out, transferring all party damage to her.
Even Sally could not dodge poison mist. If an enemy blanketed the area, she’d be forced to waste a valuable skill.
They weren’t sure if these enemies used AOEs, so it was best not to assume she could evade them. Sally might make it work anyway, but one way she’d avoided taking damage thus far was by not pushing her luck. Their best option was for her to rely on Maple’s skills.
“Let’s check these out.”
“Yeah.”
Maple moved over to the crack and waited for the next gush of purple mist. A moment later, she was right in the thick of it and checked the effects out. She turned back to Sally and called, “Should be fine!”
“Mm-hmm, then we just have to watch for monsters.”
“On it!”
Certain the terrain was no threat, they headed in.
The farther they went, the more cracks there were, until the mist nearly blinded them. Maple made it so that it was just a visual obstruction, but to players weak to poison, it would be hard to even move around.
“Wow…it’s like a purple fog!”
“I could definitely not dodge this. Glad we chose this approach.”
As they plodded onward, they finally found a monster.
Snakes with purple scales—matching the mist—slithered in from all directions. Nothing as big as Haku, but still a few yards long. They could wrap themselves around Maple and Sally with length to spare and were at least as thick as either girl’s torso.
Once a player was bound, escaping would be tricky. That was their first impression, so without a word, they put their backs to each other’s, ensuring they weren’t caught from behind.
An automatic choice, ingrained from many previous battles. As their weapons rose, the purple snakes shot forward.
Even if they hit, Maple would soak it. Sally knew that, but her eyes caught the snake’s attack with pinpoint accuracy.
“Ice Pillar!”
She wasn’t about to let herself put Maple in any danger.
The pillar launched one snake into the air, then she swapped her weapon to a hammer and smashed another snake’s head.
Since Sally had taken care of two, Maple merely needed to swing her shield—annihilating the snake in front of her.
Unlike Sally’s attacks, this was Devour. Still a no-holds-barred one-hit kill.
She didn’t need tricks or fancy maneuvers. One touch and it was over. The simplest thing.
But Maple couldn’t handle everything as smoothly as Sally. She swallowed up one snake, but the remaining one shot in from the side, biting her torso.
“……Hyah!”
But biting her meant getting close. And she had more Devour left. Which meant it was dead. She merely pressed her shield to it, and Devour ate the other snake. Didn’t even take a second.
“Whew!”
No damage. At close range, Maple was stronger.
“I’ll handle the rest. Save that for the boss.”
“Got it!”
Sally could handle two at once. Maple settled in for Machine God suppressing fire.