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

Defense Specialization and the Tower’s Fourth Floor 6

Quite some time passed after that, and the boss’s movement patterns changed again. This time, it started flying around in the air.

However, this wasn’t due to time passing. It was because it had less HP now.

"Oh, the neck is weaker than the shell."

"’Oozing Chaos’..."

As Sally was attacking it with her short sword, Maple lay tiredly on its back as she launched her own attacks.

Sally could hear the endless gunshots and splashing poison coming from behind her.

"Oh, I told you to reserve your energy."

"Uh...sorry. I couldn’t help it."

She had played and romped as she moved her body, perhaps more than she had ever done before. And Maple enjoyed every minute of it. Of course, she was exhausted by the time Sally pulled her back.

Maple had a satisfied look on her face when she was pulled up. And that was when she finally remembered the boss fight.

"I’m not going to wait for you to recover, okay?"

"Yeah. But it’s so cool on this shell. I feel relaxed already..."

"...This really doesn’t feel like a boss fight."

"Ehehe. But I know all about turtle shells!"

"Well, it hasn’t used any piercing attacks yet, so I think we should be fine as long as we have a place to stand and breathe."

"’Hydra’!"

Every time Maple added a powerful attack, the monster’s HP plummetted and a red damage effect sprayed from the area.

The attacks that came towards them were blocked by Sally’s webs, and as long as Maple was sitting down, the other attacks were meaningless.

"Ah, Maple. The sea is starting to grow more violent."

"It is! It would have been very bad if we weren’t riding on the turtle!"

They occasionally checked the scene down below as they attacked and braved the masses of water that assaulted them.

"Sally. Now the boss is shooting out some kind of beam!"

"Syrup does it too. Maybe it’s standard?"

"I guess they all have beams then...hmm? Ah, Sally! It doesn’t work anymore!"

Things had been going smoothly up until now as they chipped away at its health, but now the turtle’s shell and skin had hardened. And their attacks were useless.

Perhaps it had changed again? And so they searched for a different spot to attack.

"The sea is going crazy too. A boat would sink down there."

"Woah... It definitely wouldn’t have been possible to fight in that. It’s a good thing we came up here."

Water was rising up from the sea like spears now. Everything down there would get stabbed.

"Well, it’s certainly not a front attack...oomph!"

"What should we do, Sally?"

"If the top is no good, then maybe it’s the bottom!"

Sally waited for the next mass of water to pass them by, then she cut the web that held Maple. They both jumped off the shell together, but this time she shot a web towards the turtle’s stomach.

"There. We’re held in place now!"

"Oh! We’re like live sharksuckers!"

"Hmm. That’s true."

The two were now stuck on the stomach-side, which hadn’t hardened yet. They watched the raging waves and the sky and flew in the air with the turtle.

"I never saw what the view was like from Syrup’s stomach..."

"We should have moved down here while it was still pretty."

As Maple’s gunshots echoed, pillars of water shot out around the sea turtle and stretched up high into the air.

Neither of them stopped their attacks. They stuck to the turtle as it flew higher. And just as they were so high they could see how far the sea went...

The water below them returned to its calm and beautiful blue color.

"Wow! Hey, Sally! It’s back to normal...?"

At the same time. There was a snap and the sea turtle started to turn into light.

In other words, there was nothing supporting them anymore.

"Sally, hold on!"

"Yes. Thank you!"

After a second of weightlessness, both of them plunged upsidedown towards the surface of the sea.

Maple held onto Sally so she would stay within the protection of ’Dedicated Affection.’ And then she positioned herself like she always did after jumping off of Syrup as she landed in the water.

After a huge splash, the two resurfaced and held onto the floating great shield as the waves pushed them about.

"Phew... It’s finished?"

"It looks like it. It was easy because it couldn’t hurt me. The entrance to the next place is open, so let’s keep going."

"What about resting..."

"Didn’t you have plenty?"

"Hehe. Yeah! I did!"

They hadn’t been nervous at all during the boss fight, and the battle was easily won. And so in a way, they were refreshed in both body and mind.

"Alright, onto the fifth floor! I wonder what it’s like?"

"I can’t wait!"

They continued on to the island that had just appeared. And then they got on top of the magic circle on the ground.

After a moment, their vision was filled with light and then the world of the fifth floor lay before them.

As for this place that they had teleported to, it was covered in gray shadows and had old tombstones that emitted a pale glow. That’s all there was in this vast wasteland.

"Ma-Maple...let’s get some rest, okay?"

"...Uh, yeah. You’re right."

All their enthusiasm was drained from their bodies. Sally looked around uncomfortably. Maple decided that they should leave the tower for now.