"Alright, here I go!"
Maple faced the snowman and showered it with bullets.
The bullets pierced its body one after another, but the HP bar above its head barely moved.
The snowman showed no signs of being bothered by Maple's attacks and continued to approach her. Then it swung its bag at her.
"Woah!? You're going to attack with that!?"
The attack came from the side that wasn't shielded, and Maple's weapons were crushed as she went flying into the air.
"Maybe only magic works on you? Let me test..."
Maple held her shield up and aimed her canons down at an angle before shooting. The explosion launched her towards the snowman.
Maple gouged out a chunk of its body with the great shield as she shot through it.
She landed in a random spot and destroyed her weapons before turning around to look at the snowman. Its HP bar had still barely even changed.
"There really are a lot of different kinds of monsters now... 'Hydra'!"
The snowman was not particularly fast, and so it could not avoid the Hydra. The poison caught it in the chest and splattered.
"Huh...? It-it's still not going down?"
Not only was it not poisoned, but it's HP bar had only dropped a little.
There was no mistake that she would be able to beat it if she continued to chip away at its health like this, but that was terribly inefficient.
"But it would be a waste to let it go...such a waste."
Maple wondered what she should do as the snowman showered her head with icicles.
Ultimately, she decided to use Syrup and slowly chip away at its HP.
"Preparations complete!"
Maple enlarged Syrup in the air where it was safe, and have it attack with 'Soul Canon.'
Maple herself planned to use up 'Hydra' and switch to attacking with her guns.
"Alright, 'Hydra'!"
The Hydra spat out its poison once again, and in the next instant, the Snowman's HP went to 0.
"Huh? ...What?"
The Snowman turned into specks of light and vanished. And something fell to the ground where it had been.
"Hm? Mmm... Ah! Instant death!"
It had activated for the first time, and its effect was more than what she could have hoped for.
And so Maple would not find out during this event, that flame type attacks would have made this fight very easy.
Maple ran towards the item that had dropped onto the snow.
It was a box in red wrapping paper and a green ribbon.
Maple picked it up and checked the item name.
"Present Box...I'm supposed to open it during Christmas!"
It was something that couldn't be used now but would be usable for a few days following Christmas, whatever was in this box.
"I wonder what it is? Is it something to do with Christmas?"
Since Maple had achieved her original goal, she felt very satisfied as she returned to the town.
As a strong contrast to Maple, Sally was now zipping through the fields and gaining points by killing monsters.
Once she finished hunting, Sally put away her weapons and decided to rest.
"Phew...I can't catch up."
Sally mumbled.
She was thinking about the friend who had invited her.
She was happy that for the first time, Maple was playing a game with her for an extended period, but as a player, she also didn't want to lose to her.
However, in her head, she could not stop thinking of Maple as being unbeatable in combat.
"How did she come so strong..."
She had searched for skills and gathered information in order to catch up with Maple, but nothing was really working.
"I can't stay losing... I better continue."
Sally sent power to her legs and began to run again.
Due to the power of 'Sword Dance,' which had been maxed out, Sally was able to kill the monsters that gave fewer points without stopping, which was very efficient.
"I should learn from Maple and raise my defense ability!"
Damage effects danced in the places Sally dashed through.
Just like how monsters without piercing attacks were unable to defeat Maple, monsters who couldn't attack Sally head-on were unable to defeat her.
"It wouldn't have been so hard if she only had high defenses."
She could fight monsters with simple move sets as she pondered. She was at the top in terms of player skill, she could not ask for anything more.
"If only there was a good skill lying around somewhere..."
She continued to kill monsters like this for 2 to 3 hours until she saw a giant snowman walking ahead.
"Oh, that's a lot of points. Lucky, lucky."
Sally approached the snowman and activated her magic as she avoided its arm.
"'Fireball'!"
Even if the magic was weak, fire magic would take away a big chunk of its HP.
Maple's hard fight looked like a joke in comparison. The Snowman died as if melting with just a few hits with 'Fireball.'
"Yes, delicious points!"
Sally wanted to gather enough dropped items before the end of the event, and so she immediately dashed through the field again.
One reason she was putting so much effort into finding the items, was that she was feeling something like impatience. She wanted to attain some kind of new power.
It was because they were close that she did not want to lose. That was what Sally thought with determination.