Sally continued her training, and Maple concentrated on finishing quests to raise her permit rank.
There were many things to do on the 4th layer, and many players were running across the field.
The members of Maple Tree were no exception. The players who moved at the top were especially busy in trying to achieve their goals.
The time had come within days after Sally had confirmed the information.
It had been decided that all of the members of Maple Tree would go and kill a dragon.
Since Maple was going, there was almost no risk of them being bombarded as a group. With the information that Sally had, they would use their skills in order to kill the boss that would drop the ‘Dragon’s Scale.’
“According to the information…it spits out electric balls from the air. We should attack with magic and arrows when it flies low. As magic attacks inflict reduced damage, prioritize arrows. Once its HP has fallen under a certain amount, it will start flying just barely above the ground and attack with its claws and breath…the claws are its only piercing attack. And then it will return to the sky after a while. Also, it’s not in a dungeon. That’s about it.”
“We’re totally going to win this.”
As the enemies winning percentage was directly linked to the number of hits it could land on Maple, what Chrome was saying was right.
“I have the ‘Dragon Slayer’ skill, so I’ll attack from the ground.”
Kasumi’s skill was one that increased your damage to dragons.
“Yui and I will attack the dragon when it comes down.”
Yui and Mai would join the ground attack members. Creating a lineup that would ensure that the dragon would not survive after coming down.
It would have to pass Chrome and Maple and kill Yui and Mai in order to avoid its own death.
“So Maple and I should attack the dragon while it’s in the air? Neither of us is that good at long-range attacks.”
“Yes, but…there is no other way.”
Even if magic attacks did reduced damage, Kanade’s magic was an important source of damage.
“It might take a long time…but I don’t think we will lose.”
Their general direction was decided, and Sally organized it so that they were ready to leave. But then Maple opened her mouth.
“Hmm…I just thought of a plan myself. Is that fine?”
“What is it?”
Maple started to talk about this plan that she had just thought of.
The members of Maple Tree were climbing up a mountain in order to reach the magic circle on the top that would take them to the dragon.
The monsters that attacked them on the way were blocked by Maple’s protection, and the remaining 7 scattered them with their attacks.
“We’ve arrived!”
“Yes, there is the magic circle.”
It glimmered brightly in front of them.
They would be teleported to the battlefield immediately if they stepped on it.
“So, let’s do this according to Maple’s plan.”
Sally said, and then they stepped on the circle and were enveloped by light before disappearing.
They reappeared in a wilderness that looked much like the place that Maple had once fought a demon.
The sky was dark and endless. And they could see a dragon with white scales flying above them.
Even magic attacks wouldn’t reach it at this distance. The dragon that flew way up high was dropping white balls that crackled with electricity.
The balls fell straight towards Maple and the others.
“Yes, it’s fine!”
“Okay. Now, Maple. Let’s move according to plan.”
“Yes! So, Kasumi?”
“Yeah, I know.”
They ignored the raining attacks and prepared to take down the dragon.
Maple deployed her weapons, and Kasumi held onto Maple’s back. Then she used the doping seed she had received from Izu in order to raise her STR.
Maple looked up to confirm the dragon’s position, then she pointed her canons to the ground.
“Well, here we go!”
Explosive flames and smoke rushed through the ground, and Maple and Kasumi shot up into the sky.
They pierced through the falling balls at full speed until they reached the dragon’s mouth.
Kasumi jumped onto the dragons head, while Maple flew alongside it and activated a skill.
“‘Oozing Chaos’! ‘Hydra.’”
“‘Last of the Blades. Oborozuki,’ ‘Purple Phantom Blade’…!”
Maple’s attacks shot at the flying dragon from the side, Kasumi attacked its back as she ran towards its tail.
The proper way to fight it would have been to use magic to slowly carve away at its health, but they were able to do it much faster.
Maple arrived near the tail first, and then she called out Syrup and had it float in the air, then she used another explosion to drop down onto Syrup’s back.
“Maple! … ‘Leap’!”
With purple smoke trailing her, Kasumi practically rolled into her as Maple caught her.
Apparently, she had not been able to bring her sword, and it fell down to the ground along with the dragon.
“Hah… Maybe I didn’t even need to use ‘Purple Phantom Blade.’”
She had already shown the other guild members what happened when she used it, and so they were not surprised.
“I’m leaving the rest to all of you!”
Chrome had been blocking the attacks with his shield while Maple was away, but he now lowered it when he saw that the dragon was falling.
“Here it comes!”
“It’s fine, we’re prepared!”
Yui and Mai held their great hammers and stood on opposite sides so they could sandwich the dragon when it landed.
They had used Doping Seeds, and Kanade had supported them with as much STR buffs that he could manage, and Sally had even used the rarely used ‘Encourage’ skill to increase their damage limit.
The dragon charged towards them with a roar.
Its actions were predetermined, and it had no choice but to charge to its death.
“‘Flying Attack’!”
“‘Flying Attack’!”
The four shockwaves from the great hammers caught the dragon in the face and the 80% of its HP that remained vanished.
“Maple is insane, but those two are also incredible…”
“Yeah…”
“Did I stack too much support magic…? Oh, Maple came down too.”
They killed the boss in less than a minute. And the participants were able to get their Dragon Scales.
Kasumi fixed her clothes on top of Syrup, then jumped to the ground to pick up her sword. When that was done, they returned to the magic circle to be teleported back to the mountain. And the dragon slaying was finished.
Kasumi was still not used to her shrunken body, and so they all rode on Syrup to go down the mountain.
“How can you run like that, Maple…?”
Kasumi was talking about the non-human form that Maple had.
“I just can!”
“…I see.”
Kasumi mumbled with realization.
“It takes 10 minutes for you to return to normal right? Why don’t we continue on and go kill the Oni as well?”
As they had finished the fight much sooner than they had planned, Chrome suggested that they use the time to kill the next boss. And everyone agreed.
“The Oni is on the ground, so we can just have Yui and Mai hammer it to death before it’s movement patterns change… Can you two do it?”
“Of course!”
“Of course!”
“I’ll use ‘Dedicated Affection’ just in case.”
And so they went off to kill the Oni.
The Oni was able to show its ferocious face for about 10 seconds before turning into light and disappearing.