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

Defense Specialization and the Tower’s Fourth Floor 3

And so the two of them fished on top of the crag and rested for a while. Perhaps it was made so that you couldn’t catch monsters, because they didn’t catch any dangerous fish. But Sally was still able to acquire a lot of materials to hand over to Izu.

As always, Maple was unable to catch anything.

"Hmph. It’s no good."

"Well, your status hasn’t changed. So? Do you feel better now? I still think we’ll have to ride on Syrup."

"If only we had a boat."

As they had been able to get passed the underwater monsters by having Sally ride on Maple’s back, they did not have a boat.

And so they would have to leave the tower once in order to test the frontal attack.

"Uhhh...do you think that the water arrows are a piercing attack..."

"It seems pretty likely, as you’re obviously going to fly. And they’re in the shape of an arrow."

It was hard to believe that there wouldn’t be piercing attacks or anti-flying measures. However, from what Sally had tested, they would crumble and disappear after attacking them with enough power.

So it was possible to advance through by brute force.

"I don’t want to use ’Dedicated Affection,’ but I won’t be able to protect Syrup if I don’t..."

"What about riding the shield? But you might get hit if you can’t defend properly. Oh, and they might not be piercing attacks."

"Let’s do that! And if possible, without getting hit even once..."

"I’ll forcefully make a place to stand then. Ah, but Maple. You have to attack too, okay?"

"Leave it to me! Hehe. It’s bullets against arrows!"

Maple changed her equipment. Her weapons came out, and the two white hands that floated in the air now carried shields.

"As for footing, maybe Mirror of the Dark Night. That way, we won’t have to worry about it breaking."

Maple set up ’Mirror of the Dark Night’ on the water’s surface. It had high durability and returned to normal even after being broken. And she stood on top of it next to Sally.

"And one more...behind Sally!"

Maple sat down on top of the great shield and then held the other great shield in front of her.

On either side of the great shield, there were gun barrels and cannons pointing towards the water.

"Oh...you’re completely geared up."

"They can’t bother us if I shoot them all down!"

"Don’t worry about the ones you miss, I’ll do something."

"Okay! Then, let’s go!"

Maple had the shield slide slowly and move away from the rocks.

At the same time, there were the sounds of splashing, and water arrows began to shoot from the surface. As if to return the favor, Maple’s bullets were unleashed.

"Go! Go-go-go!"

"In terms of power, we’re above them!"

She shot at the monsters in the water as they advanced.

Sally didn’t have to do anything as they went downstream.

"This amount of arrows isn’t really a problem!"

"It would have been different if we were riding Syrup. But, woah! Is it getting a little worse now?"

Sally answered as she hit down the arrows that started to get past Maple.

"Maybe? I can hear a lot of splashing near the shield at my feet."

"Yes... Hmm. Maple! There’s something up ahead!"

"Alright! I’m going to shoot that too!"

In the direction that Maple pointed her guns, there were fish that were about 50 cm that were jumping in and out of the water as they approached.

"...Flying fish?"

"But this is a river. Are they...enemies?"

The fish were adeptly dodging Maple’s bullets and getting closer.

"I would be able to shoot more if there were no arrows!"

As Maple said this, a monster jumped out from beneath her. Its blade-like fins shone in the light as it attacked her.

While most of the attacks were blocked by the shield, some of them managed to go through and cut off Maple’s guns and cannons.

"Ahhhh! M-my weapons!"

"Maple. Arrows!"

Just as Maple’s weapons broke, water arrows started to shoot at them again.

Sally had to do something quickly. And so she attached a web to Maple and then rushed up the sky as if walking up invisible stairs.

After that, countless new arrows shot upwards as if to follow her.

"Maple! Do it again! And..."

"I know! ’Hydra’!"

The clump of poison that Maple unleashed swallowed up all of the small water arrows. Everything from the great shield at her feet to the water around them was covered in poison.

"Okay. ’Commence Attack’!"

Just as Sally had nowhere else to stand, the two of them fell towards the great shield.

Maple destroyed the next volley of water arrows that came with her newly created weapons. Then she picked up Sally and landed on her back on top of the great shield.

"It’s covered in poison too..."

"I want to rest on a nearby rock again. I’m scared of the poison that is everywhere."

Sally wanted to recover the stats that she lost by making a place to stand up in the air.

"Going down river sure is tough..."

"But we’ve gone quite a distance. Look, the waterfall is far away now."

"Oh. So are we close to our goal then?"

"Maybe. Of course, that will mean a boss fight."

"Ugh. I guess there’s still a lot of work to do."

Maple smoothly moved the shield towards a nearby boulder that stood there like a checkpoint.