Chapter 340

Defense Specialization and Leveling Up

Maple and Velvet moved to the seventh layer and then waited for her friends near the exit of the town. While they were walking through the town, Velvet had observed Maple’s walking speed and realized just how slow she really was.

“Now that I see it in person, there is quite a difference in speed.”

“Uhh. But I do have several ways of making up for it!”

“Hehe. That’s what I heard. Ah, Hinata! Over here!”

Apparently, one of her friends was here, and Velvet waved her arms in order to get her attention. Maple looked in that direction to see who it was. That’s when she saw a young girl running towards them. She had long purple hair that was so dark that it was almost black. It was gathered together into a braid, and she was carrying a slightly disturbing-looking doll in her arms. And while her clothes were quite similar to Mai and Yui’s, she was a little more modest, with fewer accessories.

“I-I’m sorry…that I’m late.”

“Hmm, not at all! You are just on time! Oh, um…I already messaged you about it, but this is Maple. She’s going to help us level up today.”

“Hello!”

“Thank you for helping us… I will also do my best.”

Both of her eyes were covered by her long bangs, so it was difficult to read her emotions. However, Hinata hugged the doll tightly as a show of her determination. Maple looked at the doll and asked her what it was.

“Is that a weapon?”

“Ah, uh…ye-yes. It is.”

“I see… There really are a lot of different kinds of weapons out there. Ah, what about your weapon, Velvet…”

“Well, what indeed?”

Maple was a little disappointed that she didn’t get an answer, but it was now time to go. Usually, Maple would have rode on Sally’s horse or flew on top of Syrup on the seventh layer.

And while she might use her self-detonation flight or Savagery for high speed transportation during combat, they had limited uses, and so were not fit for occasions such as these. As Maple wondered what her best course of action was, Hinata started to tap on her arm.

“Um, Maple…you don’t have a horse…do you?”

“Uhh…I don’t have enough DEX to ride one.”

“In-in that case…you can ride behind me. If you want.”

“Wow! Thank you so much!”

She had been about to use Savagery in order to keep up with them.

“Velvet’s riding is a little… Well, it’s quite rough…”

“I can hear you, Hinata.”

“Awawa…I’m sorry.”

Maple wouldn’t lose any HP if she fell off or crashed into anything. However, she would have thought that Velvet would be the better rider, since she looked so much like a lady.

“Ohh. That’s a little surprising.”

Yes…yes. Perhaps it is surprising.”

Regardless, Maple rode on the back of Hinata’s horse, and they followed after Velvet as they headed towards their destination.

The seventh floor had several unique areas. But because the main event was to tame monsters, there wasn’t as strong a theme as the fifth and sixth layers. And there was a lot of variety in the terrain. Maple and the others had now come into a vast wasteland with dead trees and boulders.

“I rarely went to this area.”

“Here we are. We will be leveling up in this place.”

“Leave the defenses to me!”

Maple got off of the horse and immediately activated Dedicated Affection. Damage effects bounced off of Maple, and at the same time, the ground started to glow in order to show its range.

“It will be fine even if you get attacked, as long as you stay within this area!”

“I see. Understood.”

“Alright, ‘Provoke’!”

When Maple activated the skill, a hawk came out from the sky, and a golem made of sand and rock came out from the boulders.

“‘Water Lance’!”

“‘Water Lance’!”

As the golem came closer to Maple, she heard the two shout from behind her, and two spear lances shot out. They hit the golem perfectly and inflicted damage.

“Me too. ‘Predator’!”

Wanting to deal damage as well, Maple called out the two monsters. Their giant mouths bit into the chest and shoulder of the golem. However, the golem would not go down so easily, and it flailed its arms wildly and punched Maple. That’s when Bizarre Eater activated and swallowed up the golem. However, it was then that the three were assaulted by an earthquake.

“Uhh…huh?”

“I saw footage of this. But it’s still hard to believe.”

The earthquake that should have hit all three of them was now concentrated on Maple due to Dedicated Affection. And her defense ability nullified it completely.

“Leave the defenses to me! I’ll be fine as long as it’s not a piercing attack! ‘Hydra’!”

She lured in the hawk that attacked from the sky until the last moment, and then met it with Hydra. And while the hawk had some resistance to poison, it still took a lot of damage, and was off balance as it tried to fly back up.

“To-, ‘Tornado.’”

However, as if to take advantage of this weakness, Hinata created a magic tornado and slammed the hawk with it before it could get away. And since Maple had lured it in with Provoke, it still moved close to them. Normally this would be rather dangerous, especially if they were in large numbers and you weren’t able to deal with them fast enough. But it wasn’t the case with Maple.

“Phew. Good! It will be fine.”

Monsters that attacked from the front with brute force were the perfect match for Maple.

As Maple predicted, the monsters in this area had no attacks that were effective against her, and the level grinding went smoothly until they stopped to rest.

“‘Machine God,’ ‘Predator,’ ‘Oozing Chaos,’ ‘Hydra,’ ‘Dedicated Affection,’ ‘Pandemonium’… Hmm. What a nice view.”

“Umm. Thank you for your help. It was quite amazing to see it in person…”

Hinata said hesitantly as she looked at Predator, which was still summoned.

As Dedicated Affection was still activated, they could rest anywhere that they wanted. And so the three of them were now sitting on a boulder.

“I had heard rumors, but…that was amazing.”

“Ehehe. Thank you very much.”

If Maple could only do something about her speed, leveling up with her would be very efficient. After all, they only had to think about attacking.

Now that the two had experienced Maple’s defense ability first-hand, they decided to go to an area where the monsters were a little stronger, so they could gain more experience.

The ground became sand, and they started to encounter hawks and golems that were stronger versions of the ones they fought earlier.

“They hit harder now, but it shouldn’t be a problem with you here, Maple.”

“Yes!”

There was no way that Maple wouldn’t be able to defend them. And just because the enemy were a little stronger now, it didn’t mean they would exceed Maple’s defense ability.

“Alright, I’ll do my best!”

Like earlier, Maple walked in the lead and used ‘Provoke’ to try and lure the monsters towards her.

“Ah… Ma-Maple. If you go over there…”

“Huh? Ah!?”

“It’s…too late.”

Maple felt a familiar sensation as her body began to sink into the ground. Before they knew it, all three of them had sunk completely into the sand.