Chapter 438
Defense Specialization and Relief
After hearing the strategy from Sally, Maple Tree split into three groups, and each rushed to the pillar of light. Chrome went with Kasumi, Iz with Kanade, and Mai with Yui. While each had its own risks, they’d discussed it beforehand.
“I’m worried that we’ll fail, but it’s not like we have any other choice…!”
“Yeah, let’s be optimistic and hurry!”
It’d be best if everyone could team up together, but Lily and co. had taken measures to prevent exactly that.
After all, not all situations were geared to their convenience. Thus, they went around the battlefield, helping those in need.
“Haku, keep going!”
Rushing into the battlefield, they flanked the enemy players, using Haku’s size to damage the enemy minions.
“—Whoa! W-what is that!?”
“It’s Kasumi’s snake! Be careful!”
Riding Haku across the battlefield, Kasumi was ready to charge at any time. Afterwards, both of them descended to the ground with Chrome.
“Alright, let’s join them and take care of the enemy one by one. I’ll take care of the summons. Kasumi, I leave the player to you—!”
“[Arm of the Warrior]! [Blood Blade]!”
“[Ghost Armor: Solid]”
Otherwise, the number of enemies wouldn’t go down. Chrome was confident that he could fight against those summons even if he hadn’t received detailed information about them.
Wearing Necro in a defensive form, Chrome fought alongside another large shield user to tank the damage. Kasumi made Haku—who’d reinforced his defense with [Hardening]—charge in, and swung a liquefied sword above Haku’s head.
“[Mind’s Eye], [Shura’s Battlefield]!”
Along with the alteration of her field of vision, Kasumi could perceive the incoming attack. By charging like that, she’d be drawing attention to herself. However, Kasumi—who knew the direction of the attack—cunningly told Haku where to avoid.
“[Tornado]!”
“[Expand Range] [Flame Spear]!”
“[First of the Swords: Heat Haze]!”
Sensing the attack in advance, Kasumi avoided it by teleporting in front of the enemy, before amplifying her next attack with Arm of the Warrior. By applying buffs with items while moving, her next slash could one-hit kill the enemy.
“—D-damn…”
“[First of the Swords: Heat Haze]!”
With so many players, it was impossible to tell who’d been targeted. Furthermore, Kasumi suddenly appeared in front of them and used Shura’s Battlefield right after the cooldown was finished.
“Hey, don’t let your guard down!”
“We have to solidify our defenses! Before that, we’ll have to endure!”
“[Kenzan (Sword Mountain)]!”
After slashing someone, Kasumi plunged her sword into the ground.
Right after that, a red liquid similar to Blood Blade spread on the ground in a circle, and a multitude of purple swords rose, piercing the surrounding players.
The demon sword skill came at a cost. In this case, her status was temporarily reduced.
“Who’d expect this to happen…!”
“The snake is coming! Let’s regroup!”
While being tossed about by special mobility that wasn’t only fast, the summons burst into flames.
“[Burst Flame] [Provoke]! These guys can’t kill me! So don’t mind me and just focus on the players!”
“Understood—!”
“What a relief—!”
With the help of Chrome, the vanguard—who no longer had their hands full—tried to regroup while defending the magician.
“[Revitalize]! [Damage Reflection]!”
“[Multi Heal]!”
“Oh, that’s a great help—!”
While properly blocking with a shield, Chrome would maintain his HP with multiple healing skills. Seeing that Chrome was taking charge of the enemy soldiers, a healing spell began to rain on him.
Indeed, this time, it wasn’t a battle that only involved the Maple Tree. Therefore, their weakness in this battlefield could be covered by one of their many allies.
“I hope the others are doing well… Not like I have time to mind other things!”
Believing that the rest of the Maple Tree were doing well, Chrome focused on the enemy in front of him.
***
On the other side, Izu and Kanade had arrived at the battlefield.
“Thank you, Sou. Without you, we wouldn’t have arrived this early.”
Sou—who’d assumed Haku’s form—removed the [Mimic] skill and returned to his original form, which was a slime. Despite that, he’d provided Iz and Kanade the mobility they lacked.
Unlike Kasumi and Chrome, it’d be difficult for the two to rampage on the front lines.
“Let’s raise a defensive wall here first.”
“Yes, we have to counter Marx’s trap.”
Considering that the enemy had a shield, along with an inexhaustible supply of soldiers, the magical damage output would definitely be different. Before anything else, they had to do something about that first.
“Then, I’ll provide some barricades.”
“Okay, let’s install a lot of them.”
Kanade and Iz split up and reorganized the battlefield to their advantage. After seeing that, some people came to help them, saying that it was a priority.
“I’m confident in its durability. Install it where you see fit.”
“Okay, I’ll help!”
After all, if the place to take shelter was readily available, they could save their defensive skills.
“Fay—[Item Enhancement]!”
Iz took out some potions and made Fay enhance them. Of course, it resulted in a powerful buff.
“[Wide Area Spray]!”
After expanding the area of effect, Iz applied multiple buffs to the entire area. They ranged from stat boosts to damage cuts and continuous healing, and were almost on par with buffs from magic and skills.
“I’ll help with the defense! [Large Magic Barrier]! [Damage Reduction]!”
Kanade also participated in the defense, giving multiple buffs—such as barrier, damage reduction, and continuous regen—improving everyone’s overall physical condition.
Once the buff was done, the next step was the debuff, and Iz reloaded the available canon.
However, instead of exploding, the cannonball would spread black fog on impact and apply a debuff that not only increased the damage taken, but also reduced the amount of healing.
“Kanade, can you stop their movements?”
“Leave it to me—[Gravity Control]!”
Due to the same skill as Hinata, Kanade gently soared and flew up to the front line.
“[Earth Bind]! [Slow Field]!”
“—Whoaa!? W-what is happening—!?”
“—Aah, my legs!”
Voices filled with astonishment and confusion rose from here and there.
Since Kanade and Iz had quietly joined the rear, the enemy must haven’t been aware that they were there.
The surprise attack distorted the space, while the earth caught their ankles, stopping the enemy on their tracks.
A skill that should’ve been used long ago. The fact that it was only used now caused immense confusion in the enemy camp. After all, Kanade had only arrived a while ago.
Seeing Kanade’s skill effect in the sky, Iz immediately activated the row of cannons.
“Let’s go—!”
With a bang, several cannonballs hit the enemy camp, and screams erupted. While they’d buffed themselves, the enemy was being debuffed severely. By the time they realized it, there was a big difference in ability. Despite the enemy having infinite resources, Kanade and the others were gaining advantage—that was what it meant to buff everyone.
In only five minutes, they had shifted the tide.
While the other four were contributing, Mai and Yui had also arrived at a certain battlefield.
It was located in an area filled with destructible rocks that could be used as shields. Despite respawning at regular intervals, the place would usually be empty if there was a fierce battle. However, it was a different story if the battle was one-sided. If their side were to lose their shield, it’d be difficult to continue the battle.
Thus, the two called out to the players who were pushed in by the enemy’s soldiers. As if having their shields destroyed by magic weren’t enough, they also had to suffer through the flurry of magic, and continued to fight bitterly.
“—Everyone!”
“Is there anything we can do!?”
“…Hey!”
“We won’t last like this!”
Multiple guild master-like figures who saw the two quickly unified their intentions, stunning the enemy with their skills so that all the survivors could rush to the two while raising many barriers.
“May and Yui, can you fight!?”
““Yes!””
“At this rate, there’ll be a one-sided massacre. I’ll do my best to support you. Do your best!”
““Understood!””
The two rode Tsukimi and Yukimi, before readying four giant hammers in the air, and one in each hand. Support with iron balls like what they did so far was unlikely to work considering the terrain. Instead, what they needed to overcome this situation was a more direct, massive, and deadly destructive force.
““[Decisive Battle: Destroy Mode]””
A red aura enveloped the pair of weapons. Then, a battered large shield user charged in front of them.
The attack power of the duo—who could instant K.O a raid boss—was like a beacon of hope for everyone. Yes, by that point, everyone had deemed them as worthy, and would readily sacrifice their lives for them.
“Destroy! Crush it! Don’t let it come near you!”
“[Crimson Wave]!”
“[Tidal Wave]!”
The same went for the enemies. If the sledgehammer were to reach them, all of their efforts would be in vain.
If it was just the iron balls, then it was alright. However, upon seeing the “weapon” swung, along with its actual size, the enemy was seized with dread and soon doubted their chance at victory.
““[Cover]!””
The incoming water and flame shots were intercepted—but the large shield users who were unable to maintain the defense crumbled down before vanishing in order.
“Charge! Don’t falter!”
“We can’t keep it up for long!”
The two decided to make a bet—either they managed to overrun the enemies, or they’ll suffer too many casualties on their side.
“[Inviolable Barrier]!”
The magic that descended from above was deflected by a barrier as Mai and Yui confronted the army of undead.
““Hyaaa—!””
The moment the sledgehammer held by Helping Hand was swung. As it left a red trail, all beings in its trajectory were decimated as if to shake off even the accumulated dust. Even after reducing the soldiers in front of them into light, it still didn’t stop.
“Are you a monster…!?”
“We have to stop it! [Rain of Arrows]!”
“[Continuous Magic]!”
Once again, everyone was reminded of the reason why they weren’t supposed to come into contact, let alone confront the duo. During the operation stage, they’d been sternly warned of the two.
“[Multi Cover]!”
““[Protection]””
At the same time, it was also the reason why Mai and Yui came in pair. If they were together, someone’d definitely protect them even if Chrome wasn’t there. After all, everyone was aware that keeping them safe would be the equivalent of securing their victory.
“Thank you!”
“Yui, let’s go!”
After breaking through the line of soldiers, the two finally reached the vanguard. In order to score a clean hit, the two descended from Tsukimi and Yukimi’s backs.
““[Quick Change]!””
When they were in range, they recalled Tsukimi and Yukimi to the ring, adding two more hammers. With that, their weapons became eight.
““[Double Impact]””
““[Light of the Spirit]””
““[Protective Beam]””
It didn’t matter if the enemy was using a skill or holding a shield. Once the shield was shattered, they’d respond with damage nullification skills, and those who couldn’t will respond with survival skills such as [IndomitableGuardian].
Those who didn’t would vanish in the blink of an eye, and the sledgehammer would still resume its course, going for the players who activated their skills.
“—Uogh, gooh!?”
“—Wha!?”
What awaited them after nullifying the damage was the same thing that happened when Maple was shot into the sky.
In other words, they ended up being shot towards the sky. Of course, landing wasn’t guaranteed.
“H-huh…!?”
Upon witnessing that power, the enemy doubted their eyes at the unbelievable phenomenon, fear seizing their hearts. Mai and Yui swung their sledgehammers around—after all, normal attacks had no cooldown, shouldn’t that be obvious?
What didn’t make sense was the fact that they had to literally become invincible to survive a normal attack.
“—Shoot them! Cut them down! We only need to score a single hit!”
“—Defend! The enemy is intensifying their attack!”
Magic flew, only to be blocked by the protective wall and tanks. Meanwhile, the two girls, who didn’t lack any defensive resources, spun their sledgehammers as if they were dancing.
Every time they swung it, people would explode. Every time they tried to intercept; they’d be blown away into the distance. Akin to a merciless storm, it demolished everything on its path.
—Charge! Charge!
With those words, Mai and Yui dedicated their efforts to annihilation.
At the end of the countless slaying of both enemies and allies, only a few players and a steady stream of soldiers remained.
Some may have escaped along the way, but no players remained—at least not those who were moving.
“I’m sorry, this is because you protected us—!”
“If only we could defeat them sooner…”
“No, I think this is quite a swift conclusion…”
“Haha, we almost got wiped out, though…”
“Hey, let’s converge somewhere else. I don’t think there’ll be an end to these soldiers. Are you still with us?”
““Of course!””
Since it’d be anticlimactic if they fell due to the summons after coming this far, Mai and Yui moved to another place while being protected by the surviving players. In the meantime, the summons kept spawning.