351 Part 1

Itai no wa Iya nanode Bōgyo-Ryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu 351

Defense Specialization and the Trial 6

After destroying the angels, the two waited to see if anything would change. While there had been multiple fights back to back, things had been going very well up until now, and they both had plenty of resources left. It had mainly been Sally who used her attack skills to defeat the boss, and so Maple had been able to save her skills that had limited uses.

“We should still be able to win!”

“Yes. I guess the next one will be the 6th…”

Sally trailed off as her face became pale. If the pattern proved to be true, Sally had an idea of what the next layer would be.

And then as if to show that she was right, what was likely the boss, came out of the passage. It was a skeleton who wore an old crown and clothes that must have once been very beautiful. And it was leading a horde of undead.

“Ah. Ahhh…um…”

“Let’s retreat for now! Besides, the throne is still there!”

Sally’s reliable aura was completely gone now, and she was led by the hand like a newborn fawn towards the passage with the magic teleportation circle.

“I- ‘Ice Pillar’!”

Sally created a row of ice pillars in order to temporarily block the passage. Then she stuck closely to Maple, who was sitting on the throne, and then became very limp.

“The passage is too narrow to have Syrup ‘Enlarge’… And I can’t use ‘Savagery.’ And undead are likely strong against poison…”

And so Maple decided that her only choice was to take advantage of the fact that they were in a narrow passage, and use ‘Machine God’ to attack them.

‘Ice Pillar’ was currently keeping the undead out, but after some time had passed, they would all flow in like an avalanche.

“Syrup, ‘Red Garden,’ ‘Sinking Earth’!”

Maple’s gunfire would not be enough to kill them instantly. In that case, she needed to buy time and slow them down before they reached them. Maple used Syrup’s skill to boost the damage that would be dealt, and then changed the ground so it would be difficult for the enemy to advance.

“Sally. You can unleash your skills randomly! This time you just need to aim straight and you’ll likely hit something!”

“Mm…”

Sally wrapped her scarf tightly around her face and leaned against Maple as she sat down. Then she turned to face the room while her eyes were still closed.

After a while, the ‘Ice Pillars’ disappeared, and loud groans could be heard as the undead flowed into the passage. The boss in the far back appeared to be casting buffs on the undead. In any case, they had to destroy this wall of death first.

“‘Commence Attack’!”

Fire blew from Maple’s weapons, and the undead in the front were blown away. Still, one attack was hardly enough, and the enemy simply walked over the fallen and stepped onto ‘Sinking Earth’ as they made their way forward.

“‘Cyclone Cutter,’ ‘Fireball’!”

Sally unleashed random magic. But these were some of the weakest you could get, and they were only slightly better than nothing.

“Hmm. They’re getting close to us.”

“Re-really!?”

“Syrup, ‘Mother Nature’!”

She used Syrup’s skill to create giant vines, and their pure mass was enough to blow away the undead. As there were so many undead this time, there were no annoying rules, like only being able to damage them with magic, and so she was able to take them down at a fast pace.

“‘Rapid Current’! ‘Iron Water Cannon’!”

Sally too summoned large amounts of water that, combined with Syrup’s vines, pushed away the undead. If they allowed them to get close enough to grab them, they would not be able to recover, even if they didn’t take any damage.

“Hmm. I don’t think we’re dealing enough damage.”

As Maple wondered what they should do, she suddenly remembered that there was still another way for Sally to fight.

“Ah, that’s right! I know a way that you can deal more damage!”

“Huh!? Wh-what is it?!”

Maple then told the plan to Sally, who looked like she would not be able to stand, no matter what. Usually it was the exact opposite, but in this situation, Sally’s ability to think had dropped completely, and she was unable to come up with plans.

“G-got it. Oboro, ‘Shadow Clone’!”

Sally activated the skill, and then her clones appeared. As Sally could not control them with her own will, she couldn’t keep them out the whole time, or the enemy would take advantage of ‘Dedicated Affection’s’ weakness. But what was important now was that they weren’t a reflection of Sally’s will.

The four clones only resembled Sally as they walked towards the undead on light feet and started to attack.

“Woah! Sally is fighting with monsters…”

Regardless of what the real person was doing, the clones continued to attack with a degree of her abilities. Normally the enemy could take advantage of their low durability, especially when they ran too far out to be protected. However, there was currently a great wall of undead that stopped them from leaving ‘Dedicated Affection’s’ range, which meant that as long as Maple was there, they were invincible.

“You can do it!”