Chapter 422

Defense Specialization and the Transport Service

After everyone else left, Maple climbed the outer wall, and once she reached the top, she joined Mai and Yui, who were checking the map.

“Hey, Maple!”

"I’m glad you came back safely.”

“Well, I had to use my ‘Stout Guardian’, so I’ll be defending the town today!”

"Ah, so that’s what happened…”

"Yeah, our opponents are all quite strong."

“I hope Sally and the others come back safely as well…”

“I’m sure Sally and the others are going to be fine!”

"Let’s believe in them… and wait for them here.”

"Yeah!"

Sally and the others were among this game’s top players. Maple, Mai, and Yui, who had stayed behind, had to believe in their power and wait for them to return safely.

"So, how’s this place been so far? Did anyone attack the town while I was gone?"

"No, nobody came here."

“It seems that the battles are still happening mostly at the borders of the factions!”

This town, which housed the royal castle, was the furthest point from the enemy camp. Since the number of players standing in the way was also nothing to sneeze at, it would be considerably difficult to slip through all of them even if they weren’t completely coordinated.

“There are several places in the field that could be used as bases, so it seems that some of the guilds are going to be constantly on the front lines near those places!”

"Hey, that's amazing! When did you look this up?"

"Some of the people that left for the field earlier came up with that strategy before leaving…”

"Looks like everyone is doing their best after all.”

"To move around looking for advantageous places… Everyone seemed to be thinking about that.”

"That kind of thing is actually difficult for us, huh?"

Mobility is important in such a huge field. Whether it's for a quick withdrawal or a follow-up, movement speed is greatly involved in changing battle positions.

While they were chatting, players were gathering around the gate leading out of the town, and it looked like they were going to be marching soon. Some of the players on top of the outer wall seemed to have received a message, since they put away the binoculars they had taken out to look into the distance and were getting ready to move.

"Let's go. It seems they need urgent help."

"Yeah, let's hurry!"

Some of these players rushed down the stairs, making it apparent that allied forces were in trouble somewhere.

Battles were taking place everywhere, and they were gradually getting bigger and bigger.

"I hope they can make it in time…"

“Will everything be okay?”

Seeing Mai and Yui looking a little worried, Maple clapped her hands as an idea suddenly came to her.

"…That's right! Mai, Yui! We can’t really help everyone if we just sit here and wait, so how about we do something? I have an idea…”

Maple then explained her idea to Mai and Yui.

"Eh!?"

"W-What should we do? I mean, we should be able to do that, but…”

"Then please! Let’s do it!"

“”G-Got it!””

Though Mai and Yui agreed to Maple’s plan, they still seemed somewhat uneasy about it. But since they had already decided to go with it, they quickly began their preparations.

Due to the sudden call for help, soon enough there were several players rushing to and gathering near the front gates.

"Okay, so it’s twenty people, right…?"

"Let’s make parties with the fastest out of all of us at the front of the march, and the rest of us will follow them as closely as we can.”

Making more balanced parties would have been more preferable, but since the most important thing was to reach their destination quickly, they simply couldn’t afford that luxury.

"……Hmm?"

"What is that?"

What those two players found was Mai and Yui, who were holding up a sign so big it would have been very hard to not notice.

"For those who are in a great hurry! We'll move you to the front line quickly! ***Only for those who really, really want to go to the front line!”

It was right there, written in big letters for everyone to see. The thing those two were wishing for was being offered by that sign. And although they felt a bit uneasy about the text itself and the fact that the two girls that were holding the sign were members of “Maple Tree”, they still made up their minds and resolved to call out to them.

"Um, excuse me…”

"If possible, I'd like you to move us to the front line, but…”

"Sure!"

“Um, let’s see, can you tell me where you want to go and how many people are going?”

"Twenty people. And the place is… here on the map."

After checking the map, Mai and Yui replied that they could send them to that no problem.

"We’ll be ready to go as soon as we’re all gathered up.”

"Please come to the top of the outer wall!"

After saying that, the two players quickly ran up the stairs that ran along the outer wall.

"That turtle… is going to be too slow to take us there, right?”

"What about those two bears? Is that some kind of skill?”

They didn’t know what these girls were planning to do, but they didn’t think they were lying or anything like that. After making sure that all their companions had gathered, they all followed Mai and Yui to the top of the outer wall.

""This way!"”

What was waiting for them there was a huge lump of wool with a cannon sticking out like a chimney from the top. After hearing Mai and Yui's voice, Maple's head popped out of the mass of wool and called out to the other players.

"Come on inside!"

""??????"”

Though it all looked quite weird, the truth was that they were in a hurry, so they all ended up nervously getting inside the huge ball of wool.

After everyone was tightly packed inside along with Maple, she activated her skills in order.

“‘Dedicated Affection’! ‘Crystallize’!”

Angel wings grow from the ball of wool, and its surface hardens as if it were covered in crystal. In other words, the twenty players inside were now trapped in a crystallized, winged ball of wool.

"W-Wait, what’s this!?”

"W-What?"

“”Here we go~!””

Hearing the voices from outside, one of the players pushed his way through the wool to see what was going on, and what he could see beyond the transparent shell created by “Crystallize” was Mai and Yui holding their sledgehammers aloft.

“"One, two…!””

And at “three”, the two sledgehammers hit the crystallized ball of wool that Maple had created around herself, and launched it into the air with tremendous force.

"Whoaaaa!"

"T-This is so messed up!”

The idea behind using “Dedicated Affection” was so that the ball of wool wouldn’t turn into an actual cannonball, hurting everyone upon impact with the ground due to the high speed at which it was traveling

This bizarre means of transportation had been brought about by joint effort of the otherworldly physical strength of the twins, the defensive power to withstand the ball of wool’s landing, and the courage of everyone involved to make it happen.

“Now, ‘Commence Attack’!”

Maple flew while checking the map, and when they were near their destination, she let out a burst from the gun barrel that was protruding from the ball of wool in such a way that it made it fall to the ground like a meteorite.

"Here we are~! Good luck out there, everyone!”

After dispelling her “Crystallize”, the players crawled out of the ball of wool. “Dedicated Affection” had successfully prevented all fall damage. Seeing that everyone was outside safely, Maple smirked as she prepared her gun barrel for another flight.

“A-Ah… T-Thanks. This was a great help.”

"Yeah, I hope we can count on you to help us with this again in the future… I guess.”

As the players seemed to be slightly confused as to how to react to what had just happened –despite the fact that this unusual means of transportation had indeed been a great help to them–, Maple let out another burst from her gun barrel and soared once again into the sky, making her way back to town.

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