Chapter 284

Defense Specialization and the Trio

Everyone promised that they would unveil their monsters during the coming event, and for now, would focus on leveling up . And so that was what Maple and Syrup were currently doing .

“Hmm! I thought it would be inconvenient to lose ‘Bizarre Eater,’ but it’s actually not bad . ”

Maple said as she swung around the tentacles on her left arm . If you got hit by them, it would cause a state of paralysis . That meant it could be useful by just waving it around .

As Syrup’s attack power was low, Maple thought of a new leveling up strategy that involved her poisoning a monster after paralyzing it . And when its health became very low, she would stack them up in front of Syrup . Just like a parent bird feeding its children .

“Syrup! ‘Spirit Cannon’!”

The HP of the monsters that Maple prepared went down to 0, and Syrup’s experience went up .

“It’s so much trouble chasing after them… Maybe I should just get caught by the tentacles again! They come after you by themselves in that cave . ”

It was just as she was considering returning to the octopus’s lair, that Syrup’s level went up and it learned a new skill .

“Wow! You evolved and learned another skill! Uh…”

Maple checked to see what it was .

There was a skill that seemed very fitting for Syrup, who used the power of nature .

“‘Red Garden’? It sounds pretty good!”

[Red Garden]

Everything that is within its range will receive an additional 5% damage .

“Yes! That’s easy to use! Good for you, Syrup!”

Maple showered Syrup with praise while petting it on the head . Usually, having a skill that damaged both friend and foe would be a double-edged sword . But that wasn’t a problem for Maple .

And as long as she was protecting her friends with ‘Dedicated Affection,’ this skill was just a buff skill that made them all do 5% more damage . With Maple Tree, Maple often fought in the center of the group, so it would be easier for this buff to be applied to everyone .

The reason Maple was able to use something like ‘Cover Move’ so recklessly in spite of the great demerit of taking double the amount of damage, was because of the overwhelming defense ability that prevented her from taking any damage in the first place .

“Syrup, ‘Red Garden’!”

Maple gave the order . And then numerous roses started to grow from the ground . And the area was soon covered in throns . It was no wonder that the skill’s effect was extra damage .

Furthermore, the garden moved when Syrup did . It was just like Dedicated Affection, only with Sryup in the center instead of Maple .

“You can make flowers bloom now! Do you want to be able to make other kinds of gardens too?”

Maybe there were other ones that could be used for support . The demerits of this one could be ignored with Dedicated Affection .

Syrup wasn’t really an attacker, but was good at causing status effects and activating defense skills . Basically, you could tell Syrup was raised by Maple because they were very similar . The only difference was that Syrup never took on monstrous appearances .

“Alright! Now let’s continue on to our next destination!”

Maple continued to search for monsters and use ‘Paralyze Shout’ to bind their movements before offering them to Syrup .

However, doing something like that was bound to draw attention, even if they were in the forest .

“I thought I heard a lot of noise coming from here . So it’s you, Maple . ”

“Woah… You really do have tentacles… But why?”

“I might have attacked you if Mi hadn’t warned me about this . Even a fallen angel doesn’t have tentacles . ”

The trio that had emerged rustling from the bushes, was Misery, Marx, and Shin .

As Maple was acquainted with them, she waved her tentacle arm .

“Ah! Ifrit’s Kingdom… Is Mi not with you today?”

“She had other business to attend to . Today, we’re focusing on leveling up our monsters . ”

“I see . . ”

Maple nodded . Syrup was at her feet, creating a wide field of roses . As Marx was used to being surprised by Maple, he noticed it immediately .

“Did something happen…to Syrup?”

“Hehe . You can tell? Well, it’s a secret! …At least, I think it is . ”

Maple tried to be like Sally, and not easily give away information . However, it seemed a little late for that, given that she was showing her tentacles and the rose garden .

“Well, that’s fine . You’re raising its level for the next event, right? I wouldn’t want to meet you in the preliminaries . Maybe I’ll see your new abilities when we cooperate some other time . ”

“Mi said that those tentacles are dangerous . ”

“It’s impossible for them to be anything but dangerous…given how they look . ”

He hid behind Misery and Shin while staring at the wriggling tentacles .

“Well, I guess we can at least show them to you . Since you’re a friend to Mi . ”

“Yes, why not?”

“If you two are…okay…deactivate . ”

And so the three of them showed Maple their monsters . As Marx gave the order, the air began to distort with color, and then a chameleon that kept changing color appeared on Marx’s head . Shin had an eagle on his shoulder, and Misery had a fluffy white cat with a long tail by her feet .

“Huh? Huh!? Wow! Where did they come from!?”

It didn’t look like they had come out of any rings . Maple was surprised and confused . Shin was pleased by this reaction and laughed .

“I’m just showing them to you for now . And I’m glad I did after seeing your reaction . ”

“Hehe . You’ll have to show us the monsters of Maple Tree next time . ”

“Bye-bye… I hope that we don’t meet during the next event . ”

“Let’s all do our best during the event!”

As the trio had plans of their own, they waved at the surprised Maple and then left .

Maple was impressed by the variety of monsters out there . And with that, she continued to feed Syrup .