“I’m back.”
“Oh, welcome back! Is everything alright?”
“Yeah, it went well, and she’s gone now. Maybe I’ll do some fishing too.”
The four of them lined up with their fishing lines in the water.
It couldn’t be helped that Sally’s fishing pole was the only one that caught fish at an alarming rate.
“Now that I think of it, you haven’t seen Yui and Mai fight, now that they are stronger, have you Maple? Oh…I caught another one!”
“That’s right. Are you prepared for the tournament then?”
Yui and Mai replied by saying that they just needed to be able to dual-wield a little bit better, and then they would be perfect.
Currently, the two of them were like a diluted combination of Maple and Sally’s abilities combined, and in certain situations, they would be able to beat and crush everything.
“Do you want to watch them fight? We can go somewhere that is out of sight.”
“We want to show you too!” “We want to show you too!”
“Well, let’s go to a secluded forest then. I think there may be fewer people if we go in the direction that is opposite of the dungeon?”
“Yeah, let’s do that.”
The four of them got on top of Syrup and floated off to go deep into the forest, where no one else was.
“We have arrived!”
Maple and the others landed in a small clearing in the middle of the forest.
It was wide enough for the two to be able to swing around their great hammers.
“Now then, we’ll step back a little and watch you two.”
“Okay.”
And then, little by little, monsters started to appear from the surrounding bushes.
Yui and Mai didn’t use any skills, they just swung the weapons in their hands.
The four great hammers would cause instant death to any approaching monsters.
Some monsters were quick enough to avoid Yui’s first attack, but Mai’s blow caught them in the chest, and they exploded.
Whenever Mai was open, Yui would cover her. The great hammers had a far reach. Sally had taught them well, and since they were already well synchronized from the beginning, they were even more vastly improved now.
And now there were no monsters who would attack them after taking damage.
It was very good for your mentality to be able to kill enemies with one shot.
It was about killing before you are killed.
“That is insane attack power…”
“That’s how other people see your defense power, Maple.”
“Oh…I see.”
As they talked like this, monsters were flying through the air.
And after they had had their fill of watching the two fight, they went back on top of Syrup and flew back into the air.
As soon as they were all in the sky again, they all received messages at the same time.
It was a message from management and was about the event.
All four of them looked through it.
“Time acceleration… It’s just like before, there’s no participating midway or discontinuing.”
“A period of 5 days huh… It’s gotten a little shorter then.”
And here was where things got important.
The next thing that was written was the contents of the event.
You were to protect your guilds orb that you have been assigned. And steal other guilds’ orbs.
You will gain 1 point for every 6 hours that you keep your own orb.
Smaller guilds would receive 2 points.
You would receive 2 points for stealing another guild’s orb and keeping it for 3 hours. The guild who lost their orb would also lose 1 point.
If a guild has their orb stolen by a smaller guild, then they would lose 3 points.
If a guild has their orb stolen by a medium sized guild, they would lose 2 points.
Other guilds’ orbs will return to their original place, as soon as the points have been processed.
If the orb is retrieved within 3 hours, no points will be given or deducted.
It is possible for guild members to see the position of their orb and other members on the map inside of their panel.
Stolen orbs will appear in the items section.
Smaller guilds are easier to protect.
Players that are not part of a guild can apply to participate, and they will be separated into temporary guilds.
On the number of deaths:
1 time. Status -5%
2 times. An additional Status -10%
3 times. An additional Status -15%
4 times. An additional Status -20%
5 times. Retire.
Your status would be -50% on the fourth death.
No orbs would appear in guilds that have been wiped out.
You can only steal an orb from the same guild once a day.
Those were the general rules.
“I see…so it’s over in 5 deaths. Well, things would get pretty bad after around 3 deaths, I think?”
Given that Maple Tree had few members, they couldn’t sacrifice anyone.
The larger guilds, on the other hand, would have a sort of violence that didn’t fear death.
“In that case, we would want to put people in charge of defense…but that won’t be easy…Hmmm, but if we could go on the offense and…”
“What’s the hardest part?”
“First, we just don’t have enough people to send out to attack. It’s the same with the defenses…also, well, this might be the biggest problem, but it’s bound to take a toll on us. People will constantly be attacking, including ambushes at night. The problem about having fewer numbers is that you barely get to rest.”
The effect on their fighting force every time that Maple slept, would be devastating.
As long as Maple was there, they would easily be able to protect any orb that they brought back.
“I see…unlike the last time with the time acceleration, people will be attacking us. So it will be nonstop fighting.”
They wouldn’t be able to rest if they had to keep fighting, which would affect their ability to make decisions. And for Sally, it would directly affect her ability to dodge attacks.
Furthermore, there were problems for Maple as well.
“The weakening of Maple’s ‘Bizzare Eater’ will surely get out within 5 days…and others will find out that she has used all of her skills, and that most of her skills have limited use.”
If Maple had to fight the entire day, she would without a doubt, be unable to use her major skills.
In other words, the end of the day would be the most dangerous time.
“That’s true…”
“It all depends on how far we can hide Maple’s abilities…I think.”
There were several decisive factors to Maple’s skills, and no one knew about them yet.
If they could hide them for as long as they could, then the other guilds won’t be able to deal with them in time. That would be their aim.
“So Maple, Yui, and Mai will be in charge of defenses. It’s decided. Since he’s not good at moving around…maybe Kanade could be added as well.”
“Well, maybe we can go back and discuss the details?”
Yui and Mai agreed.
This was their first time acceleration event. Maple and Sally gave them an overview as they headed back to Maple Tree.