339 Part 1

Itai no wa Iya nanode Bōgyo-Ryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu 339

Defense Specialization and the Snowy Mountain

As always, Maple rode on the back of Sally’s horse as they headed to their destination.

“Sally. Where are we going this time?”

“Hmm. A snowy mountain.”

“We haven’t been to one since the tower.”

During the event where they had to go through a tower, they went down a snow mountain and fought a boss. Of course, going down in this case meant Maple diving from the top and leaving the rest to her defense ability.

The 7th layer had a number of places that could be called mountains, such as the mountain with the colosseum at the top, or the volcanic mountain she had gone to with Mi. But the snowy mountain Sally was headed to was taller than the others. The peak was in the clouds, and so you could not even see it.

“I only found a hint, so I won’t know if it’s right until we get there. And it would be really time-consuming if we took the proper route.”

“I see.”

“And so we should have Syrup help us.”

“Okay! It’s been a while.”

“As there are a lot of people on the 7th layer who can fly, it’s no surprise that they tried to fly up instead. Thankfully, the only thing that happens is that powerful monsters attack you.”

Saying they ‘only attacked you’ might sound a little odd, but such monsters would be easy enough for Maple and Sally to handle.

“And so we can fly up to the midway point while defeating the monsters.”

“We’re not going to the top?”

“Apparently, it’s not possible. It’s more like strong players who can fly are offered a shortcut, that’s all.”

They continued to ride on the horse until the once faraway snowy mountain began to loom over them. It’s height suddenly became very tangible. It was steep, and practically a straight drop in some areas. But according to Sally, there were areas that you could go inside.

“I think I understand why they only let you go midway now…”

As Maple stood by the foot of the mountain and looked up, she saw the thick clouds. The weather above looked very bad indeed.

“I bet you would be fine if the only thing that hit us were strong winds that knocked us out of the air. And we can just strap ourselves onto Syrup. But you know…what if it’s like that time you stepped on lava?”

Lava was the first thing to inflict and damage to Maple in the tower. So you could say it was her most powerful nemesis.

“That wouldn’t be any good…yes, yes.”

“And so we can only go halfway. We just need to circle the mountain as the weather starts to worsen. Then we should be able to find a spot to enter from.”

“Okay! Then let’s go!”

Maple put Sally onto Syrup’s back, and they slowly began to rise in the air.

As Syrup used ‘Psychokinesis’ to float, they started to see snow falling around them, though they didn’t feel cold.

At the same time, the monsters that Sally spoke of started to come as well. They were birds made entirely of ice. Three of them appeared on each side and attacked the two as they screeched loudly.

“We know of a stronger ice bird! ‘Deploy all Weapons,’ ‘Commence Attack’!”

Maple spun around as she shot down the birds on both sides. Even though she wasn’t taking precise aim, the onslaught of bullets and lasers was too much for the monsters to dodge, and they shattered into pieces before they could even unleash their ice.

“Alright!”

“No, it’s not over yet!”

“What!?”

The shattered pieces of ice immediately regenerated in the air and flew towards them, even as the bullets hit them.

“You have to use fire against these kinds of monsters! Oboro, ‘Fire Child’!”

As Sally’s body became enveloped in fire, Maple put away her ineffective weapons and decided to let Sally handle this one.

“‘Dedicated Affection’ ‘Provoke’!”

Maple lured the monsters towards her in order to make it easier for Sally to attack them. And she also activated Dedicated Affection as a precaution.

Using ‘Provoke’ while also standing there without attacking was a good way to have the birds gather around you. And so Maple soon found every part of her body attacked by beaks and the bashing of their wings. They tried to inflict damage with their cold air and ice.

“Uh, are you alright…”

“I’m fine!”

Sally heard Maple’s voice amongst the dull ring of the attacks. And so she decided to cut them down one by one.

“Oboro, ‘Crossfire,’ ‘Demon Flame.’”

She made Oboro use even more fire as they defeated the ice birds. This strategy of just carving the monsters off of Maple was a familiar one to Sally.

“That’s the last one!”

“Phew…thanks.”

“But there are more flying towards us.”

“Ohhh. Uh, you can do it, Sally!”

“I got this! I just have to peel them off of you!”

Even as Maple had birds swarming all over her, Syrup continued to ascend at a leisurely pace. And like this, they flew towards the midway point, just like Sally had said they would.

The snows grew stronger, and they had now disposed of the ice birds several times. They were suddenly hit by especially strong winds, and they tensed up. It wasn’t their imagination, it was very clear that the weather had worsened considerably.

“I guess this is the limit…”

“Alright, let’s go around then.”

Maple maintained their current altitude as she made Syrup change directions so that they tightly hugged the walls of the mountain as they circled it. Of course, even now, the monsters were attacking her, so Sally prioritized peeling off the birds near Maple’s face, so that they didn’t crash.

“There! Oboro, ‘Crossfire’!”

After finding the entrance, Sally defeated the rest of the monsters all at once with Oboro’s help. Then Maple moved closer to the wall.

“Okay, hold on.”

“Got it!”

“‘Leap’!”

Sally held Maple as she jumped off of Syrup and landed on a foothold that was jutting out from the side of the mountain. There were paths on both sides that led down and up the mountain. Of course, they took the one that led upwards.

“Thank you, Syrup!”

“Let’s go then.”

As they went inside, they saw that the floor and walls were covered in pale, glowing ice. And though everything was frozen, the floor wasn’t slippery, so they could walk freely without worrying about where they stepped. When the environment was this simple, it was obvious what kind of monsters they should expect, and so Maple took out some fire tags so that she would be able to attack as well.

“I’m getting used to these frozen areas!”