Chapter 438

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

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 [Indomitable Guardian].

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.