Defense Specialization and Eliminating the Squid 2
「That’s it! If this is how it’s going to be, let’s make the poison in the water even
stronger!」
「Then… I’ll use 【Eating Inedibles】 on the tentacles!」
「Go ahead!」
*Clang-clang* Maple’s shield’s 【Eating Inedibles】 skill ate up the tentacles.
Each time it did so, red crystals emerged on its surface.
This was her last MP charge.
Sally had completely regained her composure and began to get used to dealing with the fish,
and now she thought of them as just an infinite source of experience points.
Though the experience they gave was low, their low HP made them easy for Sally to hunt.
Furthermore, this would also reduce the number of fish that would bother Maple.
「I’ll just leave it to Maple to handle it as she sees fit.」
Sally was running around fighting the fish in her usual hit-and-run fashion.
Sally left all the decision-making to Maple.
As for Maple…
「Well… I hope it works…」
Maple approached the wall of water.
The tentacles had been obliterated just a moment ago, so peace was assured for a little while.
The fish were attacking Maple without a care in the world.
「Ooh… they’re so cute up close!」
When Maple reached out her hand to the fish, the fish repeatedly slammed their bodies into it.
Because of Maple’s smile, the scene of her being attacked by monsters turned into a
heartwarming scene of her playing with the fish.
「You’d better stay away a bit, you know?」
Maple stabbed New Moon into the wall of water.
「【Hydra】!」
A poison dragon, which was not aimed at anything, jumped out into the water.
Naturally, it dissolved and couldn’t directly damage the squid.
「A beautiful sea—into a sea of poison!」
The area of water was quite large and there was still a need to shoot into it.
However, the color of the water was steadily turning purple. It became a bit darker than it was
earlier.
「I’ll move away from the wall so the tentacles don’t throw me into it.」
Stepping across both the water that the fish were sprinkling and the poison produced by Maple
herself, she returned to the center.
Some time had to pass before 【Hydra】 could be used.
During that time, the tentacles would also recover.
Sally hadn’t attacked the squid at all since earlier, so naturally it came at Maple.
「Enough already… do whatever you want!」
Maple lay on the ground.
She thought it would be pointless to resist, since she couldn’t escape and would be played with
like a beanbag anyway.
「Huh—?」
As she lay down on the ground, the tentacles smacked her from above.
Unlike when she was standing upright, she didn’t get thrown upwards.
「Nice! Really nice!」
「Wow… she’s doing something crazy again…」
Sally was marathoning with fish behind her, so that could be said both ways.
「【Hydra】!」
After a while, Maple got up and shot into the water. Then she lay down again.
Since she had found that she could avoid being thrown upwards by the tentacles, the place she
lay down at was where New Moon could reach the wall of water with only her reaching out her
hand while lying down.
And so, Maple tried to wait until the next opportunity to attack, but…
She noticed a change.
It seemed that Sally did too.
「「Hm—?」」
It looked like the squid’s HP had begun to decrease just slightly.
The change was so slight that they thought they might have been seeing things, but it was
significant enough that they had been able to see the HP bar decrease just at the moment it did.
「It decreased a bit!」
「Yep, it looks like it. But…」
It was a long time between them seeing the first decrease and then the next one.
It took a whopping five minutes. Moreover, the HP was only decreasing by about 1 millimeter.
Waiting for its HP to decrease drop-by-drop like this would be a pain.
In other words, the poison was still too weak.
However, finding out that it worked was a big win.
「Keep at it!」
「Yep! I will!」
After that, the decrease in HP visibly accelerated as she shot a few 【Hydra】s.
After about an hour passed, they succeeded in cutting down 10% of its HP.
The squid’s HP bar was at 60%.
If this continued, it would take them six hours.
「【Poison Lance】!」
Having run out of ammunition for 【Hydra】, Maple unleashed another skill in hopes
of contributing a little more.
「Running for the next six hours is a little…」
「What do we do…」
No matter how much they thought about it, there was no way to instantly change the current
situation.
Meanwhile, another hour passed, and the squid’s HP dropped to less than 50%.
「What the—!?」
Maple knew right away as she was laying near the wall of water.
That the area of water was growing larger.
The walls and ceiling were getting closer.
By the time it stopped, the area where they were in now was half the size of what it had been.
In addition, the squid began to spit out squid ink.
This made its body invisible.
Had they been attacking in a straightforward way, it would have been a nasty attack.
Because they would have had their vision taken away from them in the water, where it was
already difficult to move.
However, it was of no concern to the two, whose attacks had been far from straightforward.
「Maple! How many uses of 【Eating Inedibles】 do you have left?」
「One!」
「…hold on to it!」
「Got it!」
Maple didn’t know what Sally’s intentions were, but she decided to hold on to it for now and
continued taking the attacks on.
With the water getting closer, the inflow of the fish also increased.
This meant that it would be harder for Sally to run away.
「【Provocation】!」
If it was getting harder for her to run away, then it was in Maple’s best interest to take them on.
If she died for the sake of experience points, then this would all be for naught.
「Thanks!」
「No problem!」
The squid ink didn’t seem to be constantly coming out, and just as Maple’s poison was
spreading thin, it was fading away.
It seemed that it wouldn’t spread the squid ink a second time, and so it was back to just
swimming gracefully again.
「There, huh… can barely reach it, maybe…? Alright! Maple!」
Sally called out to Maple.
Maple, of course, stood up and moved towards her.
「What are we going to do!?」
「Follow me! 【Leap】!」
She jumped towards the squid that had come near her, but was about 15 meters short of it.
「【Cover Move】!」
Maple did as she was told and followed.
「Let’s go! 【Shoulder Throw】!」
Sally grabbed Maple and threw her towards the surface of the water.
「Eeeeeeeehhhh!?」
「【Impact Fist】!」
With a thump, a bullet of air shot out of Sally’s fist and broke through the surface of the water
while pushing Maple away.
Maple, flying in a straight line to the squid, pulled her great shield out swinging.
Its HP bar decreased dramatically.
「This is the Maple Cannon!」
「H-hey, what about the landing!?」
「…I didn’t think about that.」
It would be a little while before Maple crashed down to the ground.