When the blinding furnace abated, Maple deactivated ‘Dedicated Affection’ and jumped down to the ground.
“‘Commence Attack’!”
Maple began to fire her weapons again.
And now that the Oni could do nothing but avoid the attacks, she approached him one step at a time.
“Phew…!”
She held her sword and shield up and charged. When they collided, Maple’s weapons and armor were crushed, and the Oni’s body was torn.
However, the only thing that the Oni really destroyed was the shell that surrounded Maple.
Not only that, but her armor simply regenerated, and the crushed weapons were replaced by new ones.
“Alright, this is good!’
Maple said as she got up and looked to see the Oni.
What she then saw was the Oni, who was positioned to swing downward with his red, glowing naginata.
“Woah!?”
Maple thrust her shield out just in time as the naginata fell on her.
The naginata swept at an almost sideways angle, and Maple was blasted into the air as if punched.
“Uhhh..kk… ‘Commence Attack’!”
Maple kneeled in the place she had fallen and began to attack, so the Oni could not come closer.
A red damage effect was pouring from the side of her stomach.
“Uhh, piercing attack…potion, potion…”
Maple pulled out a potion from her inventory and used it.
Her HP was slightly below half, but it became full again after one bottle.
If a potion was good, then Maple only needed one to replenish her low HP.
“Hmmm…it seems like ranged attacks won’t hit him. What should I do?”
Maple didn’t have too many options for close-range attacks. The ones that looked promising were attacks with ‘Savagery,’ or charging with weapons while using ‘Bizarre Eater,’ or attacks with ‘Predator.’
“Hmm…yes! Okay!”
Maple decided to charge as she had a moment ago.
They hit each other as they crossed paths once again, and Maple took the same damage that she did before.
“Here, oomph!”
An explosive sound echoed as Maple was launched into the air.
The naginata swiped at her but was too late. Maple went up high into the air and landed on Syrup’s back.
“Phew…thank you, Syrup! You saved me!”
Maple patted Syrup and then jumped down to the ground once again.
Once Maple landed on the ground, she immediately started attacking again to prevent the Oni from doing anything else.
By repeating this, Maple was able to chip away at the Oni’s HP without getting hit.
The Oni’s actions were limited from the beginning. On top of that, Maple was able to move in all directions in the air much faster than any other player. So the Oni had no way of breaking through her defenses.
Maple chipped away. She just kept chipping and chipping his HP.
Ultimately, she was successful in getting his HP down to half.
“…!”
After numerous charges, Maple flew into the air and landed on Syrup’s back. From there, she noticed that something was changing with the Oni.
“Human…that was impressive!”
As he said this, a white light was creating a whirlwind around him.
The ground around him began to blow with strong winds, and even Maple could hear the roaring sound from above.
Maple held her shield up at this obvious difference, and she watched cautiously from Syrup’s back.
“Now…here I come!”
His voice rang, and at the same time, he launched himself into the air.
A trail of light followed him as he closed the gap between them.
“Are you kidding!?”
Maple saw the naginata that was gleaming red and detected danger.
“Syrup ‘Dormancy’!”
Maple shouted, and Syrup disappeared into her ring.
As Maple was on its back, she fell to the ground as gravity would dictate.
“‘Commence Attack’!”
Her weapons fired off as she shot towards the ground to escape the Oni.
The Oni followed her, but Maple could tell that it was still hovering above the ground.
“Uhh..kk…! That’s it!”
Maple flew back into the air to get away from the Oni.
As she had no need to change direction, she opened her inventory.
“This!”
Maple took out something that was shining and scattered it like rain.
These were potions that she had in her inventory.
“Over here…next!”
She changed directions and scattered some more.
So there were now fallen potions wherever you looked.
Now she would be able to pick them up wherever she was.
These were complete healing points that would remain there for only two hours.
“Here I go!”
With a renewed resolve, Maple charged towards the Oni.
“Hah!”
Her body twisted as she slammed her shield and sword into him. In exchange, his naginata hit her left shoulder, and then she was past him.
“Ouch…I need to end this quickly…!”
It had been a while since she had been hit.
Maple had wanted to avoid feeling pain at all cost, but it was at least immediately gone when she picked up a potion off of the ground.
If her opponent had piercing attacks, she would not want this fight to last for too long.
“Once more!”
Flames burst behind Maple as she rose into the air again.
The Oni followed her, a cover of light enveloped him.
The two lights in the air would occasionally meet, clash, and red sparks would fly.
When her weapons were crushed, Maple would roll down to the ground and pick up a potion.
“Once more…?”
Maple had a bad feeling.
“My weapons…won’t come out?”
She had been using them and disposing of them every time she went into the air.
But there was a limit.
Once the materials were gone, she could not make any more.
She had used them all by flying and containing his attacks.
“Eat this, human!”
She could contain him no longer. The Oni launched bullets of fire at her as he approached with his naginata.
“‘Savagery’!”
The monster flesh surrounded her body.
Damage effects flashed as the monster’s mouth swallowed the naginata whole.
“Go!”
Maple’s fangs crushed the Oni’s body.
Both were taking damage and both were dealing damage.
When the Oni’s HP was down to 30%, it let out a shockwave, which allowed it to escape Maple’s grip.
The Oni then backed away and gathered the white lights towards him.
“It’s not over, human…!”
The Oni became larger then and turned into a Great Oni with long white hair that blew in the wind.