Chapter 375

Itai no wa Iya nanode Bōgyo-Ryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu 375

Defense Specialization and the Underwater Temple – 2

The two went deeper into the temple while listening to the sound of flowing water. During battle, Maple was in charge of defense and Sally would fight in close quarters. Although her stats had been raised by her new unique set, there was no big change in the damage she was able to deal to monsters considering the skills she had obtained.

“Amazing, Sally! You really can handle lots of different weapons really well!”

“I wonder if this is all about stacking up abilities... Though I think each person has their own way of fighting. If there’s a playstyle you’re really good at, then you should stick to it, don’t you think?”

Sally knew what she was really good at, which is why she had picked a battle style that she knew would suit her, but Maple was a different story.

Fortunately, in this game, one could fight using their own real abilities and the strength of their skills. So Maple would rely on the latter when fighting.

“Your skills are stronger than mine, and you’re also very good at one-on-one battles, Maple. You also make the best of your abilities.”

“Well, yeah!”

“There are plenty of things only you can do, Maple. Though I think you already know that.”

“Ehehe~ I’m really proud of my defensive abilities!”

“Yeah. Make sure to keep polishing them, okay?”

Having made her Defense stat as high as possible really helped Maple’s own battle style. It influenced her attack, her defense, and how unharmed she would be by the backlash of an explosion.

Her battle style was something that could not be replicated by those with a “normal” distribution of stats.

“You too, Sally. Keep trying that set as much as you like! Those golems are no problem for us!”

“Their lasers won’t work against us, too...”

They went through the dungeon while talking. With Maple by her side, Sally could easily avoid being one shotted, so there was no need to be extra careful in the dungeon.

Then, as carried on while cutting down every golem that appeared before them, they eventually reached a spot where a wide water current blocked the way ahead. It was also quite deep, and it looked like it could easily drag them down the moment they set a foot in it.

“What should we do, Maple? We may be able to find something around here that will clear this off...”

“You think?”

“Yeah. It seems that the passage carries on over that way too, so it’s very likely there’s some kind of mechanism there.”

Looking around to see if there was anything like that nearby, Maple noticed that there were three protrusions on the wall and touched them lightly.

“...! Looks like these can be pushed, Sally!”

“Nice! But how should we go about it?”

Sally could feel that all three could be pushed in. However, she had no idea if there was any specific order to do so.

“M-Maybe there was a hint somewhere along the way?”

“I wonder if we haven’t already come across some kind of hint... This place is huge, and it seems we’re supposed to advance by choosing from several pathways, so if we were to look for something like that, we would need to check other paths we haven’t chosen yet.”

“You’re probably right.”

“Should we go take a look around?”

“Sure!”

“Okay, let’s retrace our steps for a bit.”

“There might be some treasure at the end of those other paths too!”

“That’s right. I haven’t checked those paths either... It would be nice to find something useful.”

Agreeing that there were times that called for a thorough search, they went back the way they came.

“Come to think of it, you used to go back and search other places in other games just like this.”

“Well, paths that don’t take you to the end often have treasure chests and other items in them, so when I find a path that seems to be the one to reach the goal, I often wonder if I should leave it for later...”

It was perfectly fine to forego searching for items for the sake of advancing through a dungeon, but the possibility of leaving something useful behind would still weigh on Sally’s mind.

“Of course, searching everywhere before advancing is also okay.”

“Maple, get ready to use ‘Atrocity’! I don’t know how much damage this water could cause!”

“O-Okay!”

Sally ran towards the exit, believing that Maple would somehow be able to plant herself to soak the worst of the damage using her ‘Indomitable Guardian’, but soon realized that she wouldn’t make out despite being tied to Sally by one of her threads.

“Maple!”

“‘Atrocity’! ‘Unbreakable Shield’!”

Realizing what Sally wanted her to do, Maple immediately activated ‘Atrocity’ along with a damage-reduction skill. Right after Sally jumped out of the hole, a tremendous amount of water blew Maple away, and the two were sent flying over passage.

Rather than a piercing attack, it was terrain damage, which was affected by her damage-reduction skill, meaning Maple only received a few scratches. Sally, who had been protected by her, also got only a few scratches after being sent flying by the surging water. The two then fell at the base of a waterfall.

After a violent splash, the two of them turned up at the surface of the water near the waterfall.

“Phew, that was close... But we did it somehow.”

“Aw... Sorry, Sally... I didn’t think things would end up like this...”

“These things are bound to happen at some point. But we got out of it in one piece.”

They figured they could just head back to the passage. They had been able to explore that much so far, so they wouldn’t let that little setback get in the way of their fun.

“Well, if there’s anywhere you’d like to go, let me know. I’ll go with you. And if things get rough, I’ll be counting on you to protect me.”

Seeing an unusual smile draw itself on Sally’s face, Maple softened her expression.

“Sure!”

Then, as she started to move, she noticed something was amiss.

“...?”

“What is it?”

“M-My shield! It’s gone! I must have let go of it when we fell!”

“Huh? So maybe it fell to the bottom of the waterfall lake?”

“A-Ah! Maybe!”

Maple hurriedly dipped her face into the water, and was about to dive all the way to the bottom of the waterfall lake to look for it, but Sally calmly offered a different solution.

“If it wasn’t unequipped by an event or anything like that, then you just probably dropped it. You should be able to retrieve it by managing your inventory.”

“Ah! I see! Good idea, Sally!”

Then, Maple did as suggested by Sally, and after managing her inventory, her jet-black shield safely returned to Maple’s hand.

“Looks like it worked.”

“Yeah, I’m glad it did... I figured I’d have to dive to the bottom since I thought I had seen it shining down there.”

“Shining...?”

A bit intrigued by Maple’s words, Sally dipped her face into the water just like Maple had a moment ago and looked towards the bottom of the waterfall lake. She thought to herself, “Would that jet-black shield really shine so much underwater?”

“Sally?”

“...Maple, it’s still shining.”

“...?”

“There’s still something down there... Maybe.”

“Huh!?”

“Looks like this was a blessing in disguise. So, what do you think? Should we go check it out?”

“Yeah, yeah! Let’s go!”

“Okay. Then let’s put on our diving suits.”

“Yeah~!”

With a renewed feeling of anticipation caused by their unexpected discovery, the two of them started diving to the bottom of the waterfall lake.