Itai no Wa 217

Defense Specialization and Tower's 3rd Floor 4

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The two moved along a bend into the ice ridden cave. Hidden behind her shields all the while, Maple looked around, confirming their surroundings.

"Isn't it about time you lowered that thing?"

"Won't my legs freeze up all of a sudden?

"They won't….. I believe"

With Sally adding that she didn't know for sure, Maple decided against lowering her shield in the end.

Moving forward as they were, their ears started to hear the sound of breaking ice.

"Maple, look up!"

"Roger!"

Ice on the ceiling shattered loose, and a snake of ice descended to the ground.

If compared with Maple and Sally, it was big enough to swallow them both in one gulp.

"For now, I'll draw its attention!"

Sally attacked the snake as it came down, running off behind it. Maple, who saw this, took a deep breath and moved to the snake's flank while it was distracted.

"Hey I'm coming through!"

While readying the black shield that consumes everything, she slid forward on the ice and drove it into the snake's body.

"And, just in case….. 'Hydra'!"

A mass of poison unleashed by Maple damaged the snake, and invaded its icy body.

"It worked! Alright!"

Maple raised her voice, delighted, as she passed through the poison.

However, after taking this much damage, the snake's focus was sure to have shifted from Sally to Maple.

"Yeah! Come at me! My defense is an iron wall!"

She was facedown wedged between two great shields, with her 'Bizarre Eater' shield covering the front opening between her other two shields

Though her defense was high under normal circumstances, by going so far as to confine herself in a complete shell, it truly was an iron wall.

However, it seemed the snake wasn't so simple as to attack head on. It faked her out and quickly slid off sideways before coming snapping back at Maple from the side.

"Ah! 'Bizarre Eater' won't reach that way….. Ooh, don't damage my great shield!"

Maple braced her arms as the snake bore down on her great shield.

"Uh oh! We better beat it soon, huh!"

With a leaping slash across the snake's skull delivered by Sally, the snake became a silhouette of light and then vanished.

"Thanks Sally!"

"Nah, that was almost all Maple. As expected, close range poison is sure powerful, huh."

With that, Sally viewed the scene of the spreading ocean of poison, and spotted something half sunken in the midst of it.

"Maple, um, it looks like there's something there"

"Hmm…..? Well, it's in the middle of the poison so I'll go take a look for now"

Taking a breath, Maple moved through the poison, until she came to the object, picking it up.

It was a softball sized ball of ice. The ice ball glittered as it took in light, shining a hue of aquamarine.

"Hmm, is it an item?"

'10000 year Ice'

It can be used to harden 'Lava'.

"Sally! There was something good!"

"Alright, bring it back"

"Okay!"

Maple picked up three '10000 year Ice', and cautiously went back to Sally's location.

Sally took the '10000 year Ice' from Maple, and nodded as if understanding something.

"If we use this, we can climb over that Lava area but…. Which will it be~"

"Which will what be?"

"Nah~, I was just wondering if the boss will be fire or ice. If this item exists, I was thinking we might find it in the fire area"

Sally said this while viewing the glittering '10000 year Ice', and a slightly troubled expression formed on Maple's face.

"It feels like a waste to use something this pretty…..It would've been nice if more had fallen"

Maple looked at the shining '10000 year Ice' in Sally's hand disappointedly.

If something this pretty ends up being used, it disappears.

"If that's the case, shall we try looking for another? The snake wasn't all that strong after all. If they're all like that, Maples' shooting should work on them too"

If another snake didn't appear, Sally suggested she'd try her best to get by using only two of the three.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. In exchange, protect me well?"

"Leave it to me! So long… So long as there's only a little bit of pain."

"Well, let's start by thinking of a way to dodge lava"

Along with finding a means of this, they planned to defeat any number of snakes that appeared while the two searched for spoils, but the only things that showed were two meter tall humanoid ice sculptures or bats that breathed ice.

That's when Sally suggested:

"Wanna call it for today? Maple used up a lot of her skills, and we've been going since the start of the 2nd floor."

"We got some good loot, so it's not a bad idea!"

They found an item necessary to complete the tower, and finished the exploration of the ice area.

Plus, the two came to recognize the high possibility of the boss using lava because the boss room wasn't anywhere in the frozen area.

"So, let's head over to the lava next time. With that said, good work!"

"Yeah, bye bye"

The two logged out together.

For them to move forward perfectly prepared, they'll need to predict the challenging aspects of the boss.

The back to reality Kaede put away the game, and stretched out on top of her bed.

"Phew…… We'll have to go and feel out the lava area. What'll I do for the boss….."

Kaede thought that 'Outrage' probably wouldn't work very well, and considered what to do instead.

"I'll have Risa do something about it…..If I can make Lava harden, I'm sure I can work out something."

While considering this and that, Kaede went downstairs.

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