Chapter 239

Itai no wa Iya nanode Bōgyo-Ryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu 239

Defense Specialization and the Tower’s 8th Floor

The next day, the two of them prepared, just as they said they would . It was time to finally step foot into the 8th floor .

“I wonder what it’ll be like?”

“I guess we’ll find out . ”

They stood side by side and took a step forward . Then the 7th floor’s magic circle teleported them to the 8th floor .

As the light surrounding them started to fade, the saw that they were surrounded by a thick forest .

It reminded them of the jungles of a previous event . There were no clear roads here . In front of them and behind them, it was the same forest that spread out .

“Uhh…which way should we go?”

“The direction we were facing when we teleported…maybe?”

Neither of them was very confident . But there was no point in standing around . And so they started to walk forward .

Then it happened .

“!?”

“Sally!?”

She could see the effect of ‘Empty Shell’ being activated from Sally . That was proof that Sally had been hit with an attack that would put her HP below 0 .

Sally spun around . Her two daggers were unsheathed and she looked sharply towards the trees .

“De-, ‘Dedicated Affection’!”

While a little late, Maple created the protective field around Sally .

For a while, the two of them stood back to back and watched their surroundings . But there was no follow-up attack .

Sally put away her daggers and sighed .

“Hahh… Thank you, Maple . ”

“Never mind that . Are you okay?”

“I think so… Ahh . I couldn’t even sense anything . ”

“Was it a trap?”

“I don’t know . It’s too early to say . But I don’t think I could have dodged that attack…”

“Yes, leave it to me! I’ll protect you!”

As long as Dedicated Affection was activated, Sally would be fine, even if the attack came again .

She barely thought about it as most attacks could be easily dodged, but Sally would actually die if she was hit by an attack twice .

“Still, I don’t like how one-sided this is . Let’s find out who is doing this . ”

“I’ll be on the lookout too!”

Maple said as she developed her weapons so that she could attack at a moment’s notice . As they advanced like this, monkey monsters started to throw explosive fruits at them, and roots popped out of the ground . However, they were all powerless against Maple .

“It would be a lot easier to explore without these monsters here…”

As Sally was much more cautious than usual, they were unable to relax . And since the monsters were all attacking from far away, they could not hit them back .

“The monsters keep running away . ”

“Yeah…that’s true . And I don’t get any experience . Hmm . It’s annoying that I can’t go and cut them . ”

They didn’t know what the boss was yet, and had no reason to attack for now . So they ignored the enemies and searched for the boss room .

And then, the two of them discovered an old stone monument that was covered in vines .

“Ah, Sally! There’s something here . ”

“There’s no magic circle, so it’s probably not for a boss room . But I guess we should take a look . ”

As they got closer to it, they saw that there were words written on it .

“A path shall appear before the person who defeats the cunning lord of the forest . ”

“Is that the boss?”

“Probably . ”

“Then we better defeat it…!?”

As they were talking, Maple suddenly shot forward and her face smashed into the stone monument .

Someone had attacked her from behind .

Sally quickly looked behind her and saw that there was a giant chameleon stuck to a tree . Its tongue now retracted into its mouth and then it turned invisible .

“That thing…!”

“Agh . What? Did you see something?”

“Yes . A chameleon . It’s probably the thing that first attacked me . Also, this is just a guess, but I think we’re already in the boss room . Or maybe the entire field is the boss room?”

“So, does that mean we have to chase after it?”

“Probably . But! It turned invisible . This is going to be very hard… That attack seemed like it was only an introduction . ”

With so many trees around them, the effectiveness of Maple’s ranged weapons were halved . Sally was also unable to sense the chameleon’s presence, which meant she couldn’t dodge its attacks . So she could not use her speed to scout the area as usual .

“Now, let’s go chase after it . ”

“We’ll have to test different things! …Zzz . ”

Maple said excitedly, and then immediately closed her eyes and leaned against the stone monument as she fell asleep .

“…Maple? …Ah, ‘Sleep’!”

It was a powerful status effect that was deactivated when you took damage, but made you immobile for 20 seconds .

It was probably an effect of the previous attack that they hadn’t been able to see .

And then, as if they had been waiting for this to happen, the monster monkeys started to throw the explosive fruits down on their heads .

“Cunning…huh . It’s a good thing we have Dedicated Affection…”

However, Maple wouldn’t take any damage like this . That meant ‘Sleep’ would not be deactivated .

“I guess I’ll just wait . ”

Sally watched Maple sleep comfortably and tried to think of a way to catch the chameleon .