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

Defense Specialization and the Floating Castle 2

When the light faded and they opened their eyes, they saw trees covered in deep green leaves that had not existed anywhere else on the fifth layer.
While it wasn’t a particularly odd sight, it felt refreshing to them now.

“Ohh! Photo! Photo!”

“I haven’t seen any information about anything past this area.
So we’ll just have to find out as we go… Hey, Maple!”

When Sally turned towards Maple, she saw that Maple was walking backwards in order to adjust the angle as she took a photo.
But as they were on a floating castle, there was nothing but sky behind her.

“Huh? Ahhhh!”

“Ooph! You need to be more careful.
I think it will be worse than just taking some damage if you fall down.

Sally pulled her back in the nick of time, and Maple was saved from falling over the edge.
Even though Maple had really high defense, it made little difference if this place was set to cause instant death.

“You saved me… I didn’t realize I was on the edge.”

“Yes.
Seems like it’s not just the castle, but the whole area is a dungeon.”

They looked around again and saw that behind the cliffs, stretched an unending sea of clouds.
And in front of them, there was a forest and a mountain, which had a castle built on the side of it.

“They used the mountain to build the castle, and it’s surrounded by a forest, huh… It might be kind of difficult to reach.
Should we just fly on Syrup?”

If they flew over it with Syrup, there was a possibility that they could skip any gimmicks along the way.
However, Maple thought about this suggestion for a moment before shaking her head.

“Hmm… Not this time!”

“Really?”

“Yes! There’s a bigger sense of accomplishment by facing it head on!”

“I see.”

“Besides, we promised to go a long time ago.
I don’t want it to end too quickly!”

“Okay.
Then let’s just go straight and slow until we reach the end of the floating castle!”

“Aye!”

And like that, they started their journey towards the castle that was near the top of the mountain.

As soon as they stepped foot into the forest, a roar echoed from the castle in the distance.

“!”

“‘Predator’!”

Sally took out her weapons and Maple called out the monsters as they prepared to fight.

Immediately after, lizards with small wings shot out from the shadows of the trees and covered the two in fiery breath.

“I’m fine!”

Maple was still using Dedicated Affection, so there was no need for Sally to even dodge the attacks.
Apparently, these were the first monsters in the area.
But the fire had no effect on Maple.
Relieved by this, Sally went on the attack and cut one lizard after another.

“Woah! They’re pretty fast!”

The lizards were moving so quickly that they escaped the mouths of Predator.
This was not an effective way to fight them.

“Sally, I’ll leave them to you!”

“Yes! You’re doing enough with Dedicated Affection!”

When Maple was there, she pretty much canceled out any advantage the enemy had due to large numbers.
The lizards had no attacks that exceeded their fire.
And so they could do nothing but be killed one by one.

“Good work, Sally!”

“Well, it was more of a warmup, I guess.”

Sally said as she stared at the castle from between the trees.

“That roar earlier…it wasn’t from the lizards…”

“Do you think that it was the boss?”

“Maybe.
We might have to fight a dragon.”

Maple and Sally had fought quite a few monsters that could be called dragons up until now.
And that powerful roar made them think of one.

“It must be pretty strong then…”

“Well, it’s a boss, after all.
But that’s what’s great about them!”

“Ehehe.
I think I understand how you feel, Sally! It’s when your fingers are itching for a good fight!”

“Exactly.”

That being said, the road to the castle was still long.
They would have to hurry if they wanted to reach it before the sun went down.

“Alright.
We need to get through the forest first!”

“You’re used to walking in the forest now, aren’t you?”

“Yes!”

As Dedicated Affection meant they didn’t need to worry about ambushes, they were able to look around and enjoy themselves.
On closer inspection, there were small animals that weren’t monsters running around.
And there were colorful mushrooms at the bases of trees.
Maple’s eyes shone as she took all of this in.

“You always look at things with such excitement.
I’m jealous.”

Sally said to Maple with a smile, while also looking around for monsters.

“Really?”

“Yes.
My head is always filled with combat and skills.”

“It’s because I’m still a beginner!”

“What? I think you’ve been playing for a long time now.”

“Not compared to you, Sally.”

If she was comparing herself to Sally, then Maple wasn’t entirely wrong.

“Well, I better work hard as an advanced player then.”

“I’m counting on you!”

“Alright, let’s get to business then!”

Just as Sally said this, a great snake that was taller than them came slithering out of the bushes.

Sally had detected its presence immediately and dodged its quick attack before unleashing her blades on its head and body.

“Alright.
‘Provoke’!”

The snake reacted to the skill and headed towards Maple instead.
Maple also had an idea of what kind of attacks a great snake would use.
Poison and paralysis attacks would not be a problem.
And strangulation or biting could be dealt with by using her great shields.

“‘Bizzare Eater.’ Take that!”

She used her great shield to block the head that shot towards her.
The snake’s body was then sucked into the shield and disappeared in a flash.

“Okay! That went well!”

“Nice! Yes, you’ve really gotten used to their movements.”

“Hehe.
I’ve fought with a lot of different types now.”

“I guess you can graduate from being a beginner then?”

“Ahaha! Not so fast!”

They continued their friendly banter while scattering monster corpses around them.
And then finally, while completely unharmed, they reached the top of the mountain where the castle was located.