Chapter 72

Defense Specialization and Derailment

Maple was enjoying her aerial stroll when she suddenly heard the sound of her message alert ringing .

“Hmm…? Who could it be?”

She checked to see who the sender was and saw that three messages in total had arrived .

They were from Chrome, Kasumi, and Izu respectively .

The contents were all similar as if this had been planned .

All of them were basically about how they would do their best in the event .

“I’m killing every cow that I find…but I guess I don’t have enough speed . ”

Maple replied to each one, saying she would do her best as well, and then continued to fly in the air .

“They’re supposed to be around areas other than the plains as well, maybe I’ll check out those mountains over there . ”

Maple started in the direction of some far away mountains .

The reason that the three had sent messages to Maple, was because they had realized something .

It was that they had left Maple to her own devices .

And so they had warned her not to stick her head into anything strange, and to do her best for this current event .

They knew that something would happen the moment they took their eyes off her .

And not necessarily something good .

And so the three had wanted to restrain her in this roundabout way .

After flying for a while, Maple finally reached the mountains .

“Seems like no one is around here . ”

It was a steep mountain covered with trees, with only a few cows .

Like management had said, while the cows would spawn, they were still limited to certain spaces .

As it were, it would not be very efficient even if no other players showed up .

However, Maple had already been topped by competing players and had the worst efficiency to begin with, so this was a step up .

“Fighting alone in this area might just be the perfect thing for me . ”

She returned Syrup to her ring and started to climb the mountain alone, all the while killing any cows she spotted .

Maple was also wearing her sheep’s wool gear, so she was in a much better condition than other players who didn’t have that gear .

“I wonder if Kasumi and Sally will be in the top players?”

Those two had the highest mobility among the members of Maple Tree .

Both of them even had the sheep’s wool gear, so they should easily be able to hunt two or three times faster than Maple .

“I’ll just take my time . I’m sure it’ll be in time for the skill anyway!”

As she said this, the rock under Maple’s foot moved .

“Ah!?”

Maple completely lost her balance and only barely grabbed onto a tree .

“Ah… Oh, no…”

However, that only lasted for a few seconds .

In that instant, Maple tried to think of something she could do but was not quick enough as she rolled down the steep slope .

Maple’s body hit into something and she stopped .

“It’s a good thing I put so much into ‘VIT’… I need to be more careful…”

Had she not put so much into VIT, then she would probably have been forcefully sent back to town right about now .

However, she had lost ‘Bizzare Eater’ when she was rolling .

“Ah… Oh, well . I think I’ll hunt just a little more and then go home…hm?”

Maple stood up and looked at her surrounding, she then realized that she crashed into a huge tree .

“Woah… It’s big… . ah . ”

Maple realized something as she inspected the large tree .

At the base of the tree was a huge hole that was in the shape of her great shield .

It was clear that it had become a victim of the last ‘Bizzare Eater . ’

“I-I’m so sorry!”

Maple looked inside of the hole and saw that there was a smaller hole separate from the one that she had made inside . It was just large enough for her to fit her head through, and inside of it Maple found one rusted cogwheel .

She looked upwards inside of the hole and saw a faint light .

There was a long, narrow hole going through the inside of the tree . The gear must have come through it and fallen down here .

Maple picked up the gear .

“Item name… ‘Forgotten Dream’?”

It had no skills and was not equippable .

There was no effect or description either .

Maple could not think of any use for it aside from a decoration for the guild home .

“I’ll just take it back with me for now . Also…maybe I can heal this tree?”

Maple switched to her white gear and drank a potion to restore her HP .

“Good! “Light of Affection’!”

An intense damage effect danced around Maple .

In the same instant, light poured out from Maple’s hands and enveloped the huge tree .

“…It’s no use . And this was my best method of healing . ”

There were several healing skills among the skills contained in ‘Dedicated Affection . ’

But none of those skills had the ability to heal yourself .

“Truly…I am so sorry!”

Maple lowered her head again before leaving the scene .

And so, ultimately, the messages from Chrome and the others had ended up with little to no meaning .

“First, I need to get out of this forest and ride Syrup back home . ”

Mapple returned her gear back to normal and started to walk .

After that, she encountered several cows, which she quickly dispatched with her short sword as she exited the forest .

During this time, Chrome was also walking around and killing cows, when he suddenly stopped in his tracks .

“…I had a bad feeling just now . ”

Chrome’s sixth sense had detected something .

He was on the alert, his great shield and Japanese hatchet were held ready, but nothing attacked him .

“…Was it just me?”

It wasn’t just him, but Chrome did not realize that he had sensed something that had happened in a far-off location .