On their way back to the base, Maple talked to Sally about a certain thing.
It was about how between now and the second day, she would reveal a certain skill.
She chose a skill that was easy to use and that depleted the least amount of energy.
Maple activated that skill as soon as she faced off against Dread.
“‘Predator’!”
Two hideous monsters appeared from the ground.
There was no way that Dread could have predicted this, as it had never been shown publicly before.
“What!? What is that!!”
“Syrup, ‘Mother Nature’!”
Along with Maple’s order, vines grew from the ground and surrounded Dread and Maple.
The vines made multiple layers of wall, making the space inside tighter and tighter.
Dread tried to cut at the vines and escape, but it was clear that he would not be able to do it in time.
He stopped attacking the vines and turned around to face Maple.
“…Okay. You got me this time. time, I’ll be ready for you…got it?”
Maple had ambushed him immediately after he had finished his fight with Yui and Mai. There was no way that he could get ready in time.
And so Maple was able to trap him.
It was only a coincidence that the situation had been an advantage to Maple, but that didn’t mean it would be the same next time.
Normally, he would have very likely escaped.
“I’ll fight you off as many times as you like!”
‘Predator’ approached Dread.
“I’ll be back. time, I’ll hunt you for real, Maple…!”
Those were his final words as he turned into light and disappeared.
He had the most ferocious of smiles before dying. As if he had a plan. Maple saw it clearly.
Maple had Syrup deactivate ‘Mother Nature’ and then returned to where Sally was.
Maple and Dread had been isolated by ‘Mother Nature.’
She walked up to Sally and pulled her cheeks hard.
“You’re pushing yourself too much.”
“…I’m sorry.”
“Well, we’ll have to apologize to Yui and Mai when they return.”
“Yeah…”
After a while, Yui and Mai respawned.
Maple and Sally quickly apologized, but neither Yui or Mai seemed to care all that much.
If anything, they were both overjoyed that they had helped in protecting the orb from a strong enemy until Maple returned.
“Let’s set all of the orbs out for now.”
10 orbs rolled out of Sally’s inventory.
“Sally, why did you work so hard? You know that you could have come back sooner?”
“Yeah…it’s because of…uh, could you call Kanade for now?”
“It’s almost time to trade places, so I’ll go and call him!”
Mai said as she ran to the back. She returned with Kanade.
“Kanade, could you learn all of this.”
Sally said as she showed him her map.
“That’s…amazing.”
What all of them saw was a map of the great field, and it was filled with all kinds of information.
This map that she had created through 12 hours of running had the positions and sizes of all of the guilds written on it.
“I…I am at my limit…Kanade, could you copy this onto Maple’s map?”
“Hmm, sure. I already memorized it.”
Unsurprisingly, Kanade was able to use his super memorization ability to clear even difficult problems.
“Thank you…Maple, let’s go with Plan B.”
Plan B was their plan of action if their advance guard was destroyed.
Being in the actual event proved that things often turned out different than what you expected, and so they decided to start this early.
Plan B.
Another name for it was the Maple Unleashed Plan.
She would be free from having to defend the base, and they would unleash her into the outside world.
They already knew the positions of almost all of the guilds, thanks to Sally.
And now, the real monster would be paying them a visit.
“Call me if things get dangerous back here. I’ll come flying back.”
“Is there a limit to how many times you can do it?”
Maple calculated the depletion rate.
“It depends on the distance… If it’s the same as when I rescued you, I guess I can make two round trips…?”
She had to destroy weapons in order to fly, so it was not as if she could keep doing it.
On top of that, if she used them all in order to move, then she wouldn’t be able to use them to attack.
She had to be careful.
“I’ll collect the farthest orbs first and come flying back.”
Thanks to Sally’s map, there was no need to search for the guilds. Maple could reach them by the quickest route possible.
It would save a lot of time.
“I’m…going to rest a little.”
“Yes, we’ll take care of it from here.”
From Sally to Maple.
Now, everything was ready here.
“Okay, I’ll set out tomorrow morning.”
“I’ll copy the map as quickly as possible.”
Kanade began to write the information onto Maple’s map.
The next morning.
The members of a certain medium-sized guild stretched as they greeted the morning.
“Hah…it’s finally morning.”
“It will be so much easier now without the night ambushes.”
“…Ambush! A single enemy!”
The report of an attack cut through the quiet morning air.
Everyone looked lazily in that direction when they heard it was just one person, but they quickly froze up with fear.
She didn’t even try to hide herself, this young girl in jet black armor.
This incarnation of the irrational.
This symbol of death.
This embodiment of madness.
Yes, this person who walked towards them without a thought towards defense, was Maple.
“Le-let’s do this! Protect!”
“Yes!!”
“Yes!!”
“Yes!!”
Just as they gave a spirited shout.
Maple went into battle mode.
“‘Predator.’”
It was her only method of attack that she had revealed.
But it was more than enough to break their spirits.
With every step that she took, the players were eaten and scattered.
It was pure violence that crushed them head-on.
They knew their enemy’s position, the method of attack and had a good idea of her stats.
Still, they could not stop her.
With every step that Maple took, unavoidable death followed.
There wasn’t even a shred of hope left for them.
For this targeted guild, death was certain.