Back on the field after the boss fight, the first thing they saw was a black object slowly descending.
When it was right in front of them, it stopped, hovering in place.
“Wanna grab it?”
“Yeah.”
At Sally’s prompting, Maple reached out. The moment her hand touched it, the lump burst, and the quest-clear alert sounded.
Maple and Sally checked, and both their inventories had Demon Lord’s Mana I listed. The description said that by gathering all the pieces of the Demon Lord’s Mana, then using them, they’d open the path to the demon lord.
“Looks like you don’t need to have one for every party member, just have them in a party with the player who uses the item.”
“Then if everyone goes after these, it won’t take that long!”
“If we just wanna get there, then best to work together as a guild, yeah. But if you want to go on your own terms and farm drops, then you’ll have to clear all these questlines yourself.”
Their current goal was to defeat the demon lord before Maple and Sally got too busy to play. Maple wasn’t exactly after the drops. So the fact that they could progress in all directions at once was a huge help.
“I guess that’s enough questing in this town.”
“Pretty much. Like we said before, if we focus on looking for secrets and Easter eggs, we’ll never finish. Let’s leave those for some other day.”
It was hard to effectively search for things they weren’t even sure were there. And they really didn’t have much time. They had to hope their usual luck would get them something and concentrate on what was necessary to take a run at the demon lord.
“Mai, Yui, you were such a big help! Thanks for coming!”
“We’re glad we could assist!”
“If we’re available, we’re happy to pitch-in anytime!”
The twins had great synergy with Maple. She and Sally would love to have them along for any boss fight.
“Maple, where to next?”
“Good question. We talked about the third stratum. They’ve got flying boots, right?”
““They do!””
“I’d like to get my hands on those. What I’ve got on can only give me so much air time.”
One Step in the Grave let Sally make platforms in the air. She mixed that up with Water Wielding, Ice Pillar, and Web Spinner, which gave her way more vertical movement than any ordinary player, but nothing like what she’d gotten from the machines she’d used on the third stratum. It could give her a lot more options in future fights, so getting those was a priority.
“We’ve been clearing that area with Iz and Kanade!”
“They can probably give you some good advice.”
“Ooh, that sounds helpful!”
““Great!””
With their next destination in mind, they thanked the twins…and went their separate ways.
✦ ✦ ✦
On another day…
Risa was struggling with her studies more than anticipated and couldn’t log in as planned, so Kaede dove into NewWorld Online on her own.
Still, she’d agreed to work on the third stratum with Sally, so she was back in the Guild Home in the first-stratum area, which they’d already cleared.
Her plan was to grind some levels and hopefully stumble on a secret, but before she could head out, the door slammed open.
“Hello! Sally, time for our…huh?”
“Frederica! Sorry, something came up and Sally can’t be here.”
“Oh…well, these things happen.”
Frederica had arranged this duel, but Sally hadn’t had time to call it off. Now she was left with time on her hands.
“Uh…oh, so wanna try fighting me? I’ve never actually dueled you before!”
“Huh? Me?”
“Yup, yup. I know you got that new skill! And I’m supposed to be gathering intel on the both of you.”
“I don’t know if I’ll be any good, but if you’re asking, then sure!”
“Cool! Let’s go for it!”
It wasn’t a pairing one saw often, but they headed for the Training Room.
✦ ✦ ✦
A few minutes later…
“Insane! Madness! Unhinged!”
Frederica was wailing, a ton of barriers filling the air in front of her, protecting her from a ton of monsters.
Glow of Deliverance gave Maple a water-based skill (Ark), and that allowed her to finally make use of Ancient Ocean—a skill she’d obtained back in the second event.
This skill generated fish that sprayed AGI-debuffing water. And if Maple used it, they then fed right into Dark Rebirth.
Since the fish had no attacks, just a debuff, Ancient Ocean generated a lot of them. And they then became far too many monsters.
“Hydra! Saturating Chaos!”
“Oh crap! Augh!”
✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦
The wall of monster flesh left Frederica no time to attack Maple herself. The moment a barrier gave way, the monsters came flooding in.
“Aiiiiieeee!”
She was crushed beneath a tsunami of monsters, her HP bar gone, and the duel was over.
“Y-you all right?”
“Yeah, ain’t no way I’m beating that.”
“Oh…is that so?”
“Absolutely!”
Frederica had fought both Maple and Sally and lost to each. But there was a big difference in how she’d lost.
With Sally, the main difference was one of technique. Whichever of them made the tougher, more accurate choices had the advantage. For that reason, one error on either side could flip the battle.
But with Maple, it was simply overwhelming. The engine their builds ran on was not something technique could overcome; her skills were just brutally powerful.
Frederica had no way to beat Maple. There were too many obstacles before she could even begin to corner her.
“Guess I’m gonna have to leave you to Pain!”
When it came to off-the-charts power, the Order’s guild master delivered. Moving Maple firmly to her “do not fight” list, Frederica nodded.
“Stands to reason you’re Maple Tree’s mightiest.”
“I am?”
“I mean, it’s kinda obvious.”
“I’m pretty sure Sally’s stronger.”
“Is she?”
“Yeah! She’s really something else.”
“If you’re that sure, then have you fought her?”
“Huh? No, but…hmm. Still…”
Maple put a hand to her mouth, thinking it over. Her versus Sally…who would win? No matter how hard she thought, she couldn’t begin to imagine it. She felt sure Sally would move like she always did and somehow find a way to win…but nothing more detailed came to mind.
“Well, if you ever do fight, lemme know. It’ll help us plan our strats!”
“Hnggg, then maybe I’d better not tell you.”
“Ah-ha-ha, exactly.”
“Oh, but if you’re always arranging duels with her, you should know…”
“…?”
Maple told Frederica how she and Sally might not be able to log in for a while.
“Urk?! If I don’t beat Sally soon, she’s gonna run away with the victory?!”
“You’ve fought her more than anyone. She’s really good, right?”
“Too damn good. Honestly, lately she’s been getting even better!”
“All those new skills.”
“Yeah, that’s part of it, but there’s…an intensity to her now? She reacts too fast when it seems like I’ve almost hit her.”
“Mm-hmm.”
Maple didn’t really know how their duels went down. Duels were fought in private, so no one else could see.
Maple was well versed in the finer points of the game’s combat. Sally largely handled the guild’s planning.
For that reason, Maple didn’t make a habit of coming up with strategies designed to take down specific foes.
Hearing how Frederica and Sally fought was a novel experience.
“……?”
That reminded her of something from a while back. Just like Frederica, Sally put a lot of focus on planning her way to victory.
Sally—or rather, Risa—had often said as much.
But it had been a long time since she’d said anything like that at all.
“Maple?”
“Oh, sorry, sorry.”
“Something on your mind?”
“Mm-hmm, a bit.”
“……Well, I lost, and I clearly ain’t gonna win. But if it’s guild against guild, I’m pretty sure we’ll come out on top.”
“I’m just as sure! Wait, guild against guild?”
“There probably won’t be another before you stop playing…but I figure you can make time for time-accelerated events, at least.”
“That might be true.”
“Mwa-ha-ha, we’ll have you outleveled!”
“Guess I’d better get my defense as high as I can!”
“……I’m not sure you need any more, but suit yourself.”
They talked awhile longer about Sally and Frederica’s previous duels, enjoying the afternoon.