The two opposing monsters came close and traded blows.
Until now it had been about skill, but now it was sheer physical power.
There was no dodging here. Both sides merely returned one attack for another.
“I won’t lose!”
Maple spat out a torrent of flame at the Oni.
The Oni’s red glowing fist slammed into Maple’s body.
And just as the Oni’s HP bar went below 20%.
“Uh…!”
The outer layer that covered Maple crumbled, and she fell to the ground.
While Maple’s attack power had gone up, it was still no match for the Oni.
And so it was no surprise that her shell was the first to break after she had received so many piercing attacks.
“‘Hydra’! Syrup ‘Awakening,’ ‘Enlarge’!”
Maple called out Syrup once again and contained the Oni with poison as he tried to approach.
The Oni had stopped trying to dodge now, so while he continued to take damage, he was also hitting with his fists.
“‘Oozing Chaos’! …tsk, Syrup! ‘Mother Nature’!”
She continued to hold him back with a barrage of skills. Then she jumped onto Syrup’s back and flew into the air.
“I better hurry! Woah!?”
Syrup’s body lurched to the side.
The Oni’s hand burst through the barricade of vines that Syrup had made, and wind shot out like a bullet at them.
“Syrup!”
One hit was all that was necessary to take Syrup down, and Maple plunged back to the ground.
The Oni’s fist thrust into the air under Maple as she fell.
Her great shield just happened to be positioned so as to block the blow, but she could not stay put when she was in the air.
Maple was thrown back with a force that was more than a mere knockback. And while she didn’t take any damage, she was never that good with guarding in the first place.
She might not be able to block the next one.
As she lay on the ground, she could see the Oni running towards her.
If he caught up, she would not be able to escape this time.
Right then, Maple found something on the ground and had an idea.
“‘Quick Change’!”
A blue light surrounded Maple and in a flash, her equipment turned into something that was pure white.
“This…!”
Maple picked up one of the potions that she had scattered on the ground without using and quickly healed all of her HP.
By then, the Oni’s fist was nearly upon her.
“‘Aegis’!”
A glimmering red damage effect covered the white light. Maple became covered in a white dome.
For 10 seconds, she would be completely invincible.
Every attack against Maple would be nullified.
“‘Quick Change,’ ‘Acid Rain’!”
She used all the skills that she could muster to their limits in order to deal as much damage as she could.
The Oni’s HP was now down to 10%, but Maple was frantic as she looked at the drops of poison on her shortsword.
Maple didn’t have any defense or offense skills she could use once ‘Aegis’ was over.
And the Oni’s counterattack would be too fast to allow her enough time to use ‘Hydra’ once again.
Maple was starting to think that she wouldn’t survive this. But just then, a skill she had forgotten suddenly appeared in the corner of her mind.
“That’s it…that!”
Just as she remembered, ‘Aegis’s’ time was up, and the Oni’s attacks started again.
“‘Frozen Earth’!”
A life extension. Invaluable three seconds.
The forgotten skill poured from Maple’s mouth.
“… ‘Break Core.'”
A hole opened up where Maple’s heart was, and a small sphere that glowed red shot out of it.
Once it was nearly 2-meters away from Maple, it stopped.
5 seconds until completion.
She used ‘Indomitable Guardian’ to endure the last powerful piercing attack, and then she used one of the potions that were on the ground and chuckled sadly.
Immediately after, Maple and the Oni rose up into the air around the sphere as if being freed from gravity. And then they began to rotate around the sphere.
“Mr. Oni…I think this is a draw. But! I will come back so I can go to the 5th layer!”
The skill inside of the ‘Machine God.’
The only skill that didn’t cost you your equipment.
Yes, what Maple had forgotten was that this skill was a self-destruct skill in the truest sense.
It had been written in the description. It nullified all attacks within a set range and then self-destructed. Everyone would be dealt with immense damage. The word ‘self-destruct’ in the description had been enough to make Maple forget about this skill.
“Goodbye!”
Maple closed her eyes and waited for the moment to arrive. After a brief moment, an explosion that pierced the sky shot up and incinerated both Maple and the Oni completely.
“Ahh… Hmph, I was so close.”
Maple mumbled with closed eyes.
She was so mentally exhausted that she wanted to fall asleep right there. She had not expected to feel this depressed over losing.
“Fine…I’ll log out for today.”
Maple put her hands on the ground and pulled herself up and opened her eyes.
“Huh? Why?”
She was still in the wilderness that she had fought the Oni in.
And the thing that lay at her feet, was the Oni himself.
“Hmmm? Hmm? Why?”
Maple was sure that she had self-destructed. But then she saw that she still had half of her HP bar and wondered.
“Is it because of my defense ability…? Yes…yes! Hehe! Defense really is the most important after all!”
Maple was overjoyed that her overwhelming defense ability had saved her. And then she looked at the fallen Oni.
“Are…you okay?”
She knelt down and poked the Oni until he got up and opened his mouth.