Defense Specialization and the Main Battle

  As Maple and the others spent their days busily raising their monsters’s levels, the day of the main battle finally arrived .

  They discussed their direction one last time and then waited to be teleported to the field .

  The eight of them would be taking on the field with the highest difficulty, and if you survived until the end, you would receive 5 medals .

  “It seems like you can also get other medals by killing monsters on the field . So it would be great if we can collect more than the ones for surviving . Considering how the battle is set up……I think we’re supposed to decide if we are going to stick together the entire time or not . ”


  Like Sally said, the more of the optional medals you collected, the stronger you would become .

  And these medals you got on the field would go to every party member . In other words, if Maple acquired 1 medal, then each of the other members would also get 1 medal .

  If they all split up and defeated strong monsters, they would be able to acquire a lot of medals . However, there was also a possibility that they could die, and the number of medals they received for surviving would drop .

  “It says that there is a specific time when strong monsters come out . I think we could gain the most by gathering together when that happens, while generally spreading out . ”


  “Yeah . Surviving is important . But I want to get as many medals as possible!”


  “Well, even if we split up, I think it would best if it was just in half, while considering who works best with who . ”


  Kanade suggested, and the others agreed . It was then decided that Maple, Sally, Yui, and Mai would make one team, while Kanade, Izu, Chrome, and Kasumi would make the other team .

  As it was clear that Maple should be teamed up with the three that could be one-shotted if they were ambushed, they came to this decision in an instant .

  “Let’s do our best during the main fight too!”


  “Yes, Yui . ”


  “Is it almost time? ……Oh, here it comes . ”


  “Alright! Let’s all survive until the end!”


  Those were Maple’s final words as she raised her fish into the air . The others followed . And like that, the members of Maple Tree were enveloped in light as they were teleported away .

  When the light faded around them, they saw that they were in the same field once again . As for their starting point, it was like a wasteland or desert, where only sand and rocks could be seen .

  “It’s a good thing that we have a clear view . There doesn’t seem to be any players around……”


  “Yeah . However, it seems that we have a visitor already!”


  Great waves appeared in the sand, and then gigantic worms that could have swallowed the entire party began to appear before them . Once they detected Maple and the others, they opened their mouths and attacked .

  “Alright! ‘Dedicated Affection’!”


  Maple activated the skill in order to protect everyone . As the clouds of dust rose into the air, all of the attacks were neutralized . At the same time, each of them called out their tamed monster and then went out on the attack .

  “There’s no time to put them in place…… Fay, ‘Item Buff’!”


  Izu threw the attack strengthening item onto the ground, and a red light enveloped all of them . Once that was over, Yui and Mai got onto their tamed monsters and jumped out .

  “‘Power Share’! ‘Bright Star’!”


  “‘Power Share’! ‘Bright Star’!”


  Mai and Yui gave the order and a spherical effect bounced off of Tsukimi and Yuki . This caused great damage to all of the worms that were close to them .

  However, they still had a lot of HP remaining . But this was no surprise, given that it was the highest difficulty .

  “I won’t let you get away! Kasumi! Sally!”


  “Yeah! ‘Blood Blade’! Haku, ‘Super Enlarge,’ ‘Paralysis Poison’!”


  “Oboro! ‘Binding Barrier’!”


  Haku suddenly grew very large next to Kasumi . It quickly wrapped around and strangled the worm while paralyzing it so that it couldn’t move . At the same time, Oboro stopped a different worm from moving .

  “Necro, ‘Fire of Death’!”


  Once they were unable to move, Chrome, who was equipping Necro, began to shoot out flames, accelerating the damage .

  It was here that Mai and Yui, along with Tsukimi and Yukimi, began to pommel the worms . This was too much, and the worms were unable to withstand it, and they exploded . The other words seemed to understand that they were at a disadvantage, and they dove back into the sand and escaped .

  Dust filled the air once again . And when it settled, the field was as quiet as it was before .

  “Oohh! Amazing! All of your monsters are so strong!”


  “But we weren’t able to kill all of them…… Still, it was easy to fight since you were protecting us, Maple . ”


  “Monsters other than the ones we were attacking also died . All of the tamed monsters were so strong!”


  Yui and Mai said as they looked at the others with awe and respect . Sally, Kasumi and Chrome looked puzzled .

  “Eh? No, I didn’t think it was that impressive . ”


  “Yeah, me too . Though, Haku’s attack power was a little high……”


  “Hehehe…… Sou! Over here . ”


  Kanade laughed with amusement when he saw how confused they looked . Then he called Sou . What then appeared from the huge shadow of Haku, was Sou, who now had white hair, and had clothes made of a pink mesh with frills and ribbons . In other words, Sou looked exactly like Yui .

  “What!? Me-me!?”


  “Yes . I borrowed your attack power for a little while . It really was impressive . ”


  Sou had been acting in a state where the appearance and status were reflected by the skill . So if it was mimicking Yui, then it stood to reason that its attack power would be tremendous .

  “Ohh . Kanade’s tamed monster is strong too . That really increases the possibilities in terms of strategy……”


  “That being said, looks like its time is up . ”


  Kanade said . Just then, Sou’s body was enveloped in light, and then it returned to being a transparent slime .

  “It’s over pretty quickly, but the cool down time is long . Still, it’s interesting, isn’t it? It can turn into party members that it memorized in advance . ”


  Like this, Kanade’s team had plenty of attack ability . And then the four of them started to look around .

  “Ah! Sally . Are there any medals on the ground?”


  “Hmm . Let me see . ”


  There was nothing around that looked like a medal . Perhaps it meant that those worms were just stock monsters .

  “We’ll die if we let our guard down . ”


  “I suppose this is what the hardest difficulty is going to be like . Alright, let’s look for a place where we can get our bearings . You can all ride on Haku . ”


  And so the rest of them returned their tamed monsters to their rings, and then got on top of Haku’s back . And like that, the snake slithered through the desert .