Defense Specialization and Meeting Up 2

  “Hmm…… I moved as planned…… I hope someone comes soon……”


  Maple was riding on Syrup’s back in the darkness . They would have just looked like shadows from far away . Every once in a while, she would repeat the act of launching herself into the air and exploding . After a while, she got bored of just exploding, and so she started to use shiny items that reacted to the explosions, so it would look like fireworks . However, Maple was so worried about the safety of the others, that she couldn’t settle down .

  “Alright, one more time! ‘Commence Attack’!”


  Maple shot off of Syrup’s back and flew high into the air . Then she closed her eyes and covered her ears as she waited for the bombs to go off .

  Because of this, Maple did not notice the devil monster that was flying near her, and she was captured while still in the air .

  “Ahhh!? Oh, you shouldn’t be so close……!”


  Just then, all of the bombs detonated, and the monster burst into countless pieces and disappeared .

  “Wo-wo-woooah……ah……Syrup!”


  Maple went flying diagonally, and though she tried to make Syrup move, she had launched herself into the air using such a reckless method, and there was no way that Syrup could move in time .

  She would fall straight to the ground like this . As she considered just falling or exploding once again so that she could try jumping onto Syrup, she was suddenly caught by something soft that was beneath her .

  “Huh? Uh? What?”


  “Are you alright……?”


  “Damn it, you never fail to surprise me . What are you doing, Maple?”


  Maple had landed on the back of an enlarged Ignis . Ignis’s master, Mi was there . And so was Mai, for some reason .

  “Mi! And……Mai? Why are you two together?”


  “Well, I don’t want to antagonize Maple Tree if I don’t have to . I just happened to find her on the way, so I brought her here . ”


  “I see! Thank you!”


  “You be careful too, Maple . It seems like the corners of the map are being swallowed up by darkness . And the closer you are to the darkness, the stronger the monsters . Apparently, my party is inside . ”


  “Uh, okay! I’ll be careful . Ummm . I’ll have to return the favor somehow . ”


  “.……In that case, there is one request I’d like to make . ”


  “What? What? It can be anything!”


  Maple said . And so Mi took out a tag from her inventory and showed it to them .

  “I want you to hold onto this . Don’t worry, it will disappear by the time this event ends . ”


  “That’s it? Uh…… ‘Mark Tag’.……?”


  There was no item description, and so they looked at it with puzzled expressions . But Mi did not explain further . She let Mai off of Ignis’s back, and then rose into the sky .

  “I’m sure we’ll meet again . I just hope it doesn’t involve a battle over medals . ”


  “Yes, see you again! Thank you!”


  “Th-thank you so much!”


  Mi waved at them and then flew away . As Maple had unexpectedly been able to reunite with Mai, now they just needed to wait for the other six .

  “Now I can protect you . Things are going well! I’m glad you got here quickly, since you and Yui have low HP!”


  “Yes . It’s quite a relief…… It seems like the Kingdom of the Flame Emperor members are able to contact each other . ”


  “Huh, I wish we could do that too…… And then I would be able to fly right towards them!”


  In any case, since the others weren’t there yet, Maple had to go back to being the marker .

  On the other hand, after leaving Mai with Maple, Mi went flying away with Ignis .

  “Phew . I’m glad I was able to get her there . They both seemed really happy . Now, I better hurry!”


  Mi took out a crystal from her inventory and crushed it . Marx had given it to her, and it worked with the ‘Mark Tag’ that his skill had made . It allowed you to see the position of the person with the tag .

  “Gah . Only three of my party members are left…… Dungeons will be very hard now…… Tsk . This forceful teleportation is taking so many of us out at once . ”


  The marker of her closest comerade was moving wildly on the map . The person was likely in the middle of a battle . And so Mi rode Ignis towards it as fast as she could .