349 Part 2

“‘Iron Water Cannon’!”

In reply, Sally sent out torrents of water from the ground, but the beast dodged them with quick movements and then roared loudly. Just then, the ground underneath the two of them started to shine red.

“It’s fine! ‘Unbreakable Shield’!”

Maple shouted, and then a pillar of fire rose up and enveloped them. Maple knew from experience that fire tended to deal a kind of continuous damage, rather than piercing attacks, and so she activated a damage reduction skill as a precaution. However, in the end, neither of them took any damage. Even ‘Bizarre Eater’ did not activate, and so there was nothing to worry about.

“What a relief!”

“Yes. If that’s all it is, then we can just ignore it.”

After the two talked for a while in the fire, they took a step forward. At the same time, a sword shot through the fire, which had been obscuring their vision.

Sally reacted reflexively to the sudden attack by hitting the blade from the side, pushing its trajectory a little. However, it still cut through Maple’s shoulder and a damage effect burst out. ‘Unbreakable Shield’ was currently activated and adding a powerful damage reduction effect, and yet nearly 60% of Maple’s HP just vanished. Sally immediately made the decision to retreat.

“‘Rapid Current’!”

Sally picked up Maple and tore through the wall of fire. She tried to ride the current and move away on the water. However, the ogre seemed like it had no intention of letting them get away. Both it and the fire dog chased after them.

“Maple! Dive down!”

“‘Earth’s Cradle’!”

In order to get their bearings, Maple used her skill to dive into the ground with Sally.

“Phew… ‘Heal.’”

“Thanks. Uhh…it really is strong.”

“Hmm. I think it’s just a little too hard to have to dodge its fire attacks the whole time. So I’ll need you to protect me with ‘Dedicated Affection.”

“Yes, yes.”

“And then I will guard against all of the piercing attacks in the front. I’ll be your shield, Maple.”

By nullifying the attacks that the other found difficult to deal with, they would be able to gain the advantage. While Sally focused on defense, Maple would have to be relied on to attack.

“But it blocks my guns with its sword…”

“Don’t worry. There will be openings. Besides, it won’t be able to guard at point blank, will it?”

If shooting from far away allowed it to block with its sword, you just needed to push the barrels into its body when firing. Sally knew all too well that were attacks that were physically impossible to dodge.

“Don’t worry and just attack. I won’t let it hit you.”

“Okay! I can leave it to you then?”

“Yes!”

Both of them were a sword and both were a shield. Now that they had confirmed their direction once again, their time ran out and they were returned to the surface. When they came up, a sword slashed at them as if it had been waiting all along. Sally guarded against it and then unleashed a chain of attacks from the side. However, they were all blocked with precision.

“It won’t let me get in a single hit.”

“It’s time for a counterattack!”

As Sally and the ogre pressed each other with their blades, Maple turned her arm into a cannon and pushed it into the ogre’s stomach. And like that, the point blank firing began. She could feel that it was doing something as damage effects burst in the air. She succeeded in dealing a painful blow. The ogre jumped back, but instead of launching a followup attack, it had its dog create another pillar of fire to swallow them up.

“That won’t work this time.”

It didn’t matter if it covered the moment of the attack. And it was with total confidence that Sally held up her daggers. And then just like before, a sword came shooting through the flames. Sally swung upwards, hitting the blade from below and changing its trajectory. Immediately after, her eyes shifted. What she saw was the ogre as it jumped towards them, and its other hand that was wielding a second sword.

“Still…!”

Sally blocked the heavy blow and forced herself to recover her posture. Then she crossed her daggers above her head to block the sword that swung down. However, blocking a sword with two daggers put her at a disadvantage.

“‘Oozing Chaos’!”

When one side is struggling, the other breaks through. Maple purposely unleashed a long range attack and forced the ogre to guard. In the meantime, Sally regained her footing and rushed past the ogre, hitting it while making her way around to its back. As they had been fighting for a while, the ogre’s HP was not very high. A few more heavy blows would be enough to take it down.

“Maple!”

Sally turned around as she moved and her eyes met Maple’s. Maple knew in an instant what Sally wanted, and she acted immediately.

“‘Cover Move’!”

Maple moved towards Sally at a high speed. What was different from ‘Change of Position,’ was that it wasn’t teleportation between two points. It was just high speed movement.

In other words, you had a brief moment to act while it was happening.

“Haaah!”

And just as Maple zoomed by the side of the ogre, she held her shield and smashed it into its body. Of course, this activated ‘Bizarre Eater,’ and an overwhelming amount of damage effects exploded in the air. It would one-shot weaker monsters and deal mortal wounds towards boss monsters. And yet, this ogre was still standing. In fact, now that Maple had lost her balance from shield-bashing it, it held its swords and was about to swing towards her.

“If we can’t beat you with strength, then we’ll beat you with speed.”

The moment it turned. The moment that the ogre could not do anything else. As if toying with it, Sally slipped passed it again and came out near its back.

“‘Change of Position’!”

In an instant, Maple and Sally switched places, and an unprotected back was in front of Maple, and the two swords came down on Sally.

“One more time!”

This time her shield swallowed up its body, just as Sally blocked the heavy blows. She felt the weight disappear just as quickly.

“It looks like we had better teamwork.”

Sally muttered with satisfaction as the fire disappeared around them.