Itai no wa Iya nanode Bōgyo-Ryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu

The march of destruction that continued throughout the night came to an end at 6 o’clock in the morning.

They put all of the orbs they had collected in place along with their own orb, and then their current operation was complete.

“Hahh… I’m tired! I’ve never run so much before in my life…”

Maple mumbled. She was still in her beast form.

She had hardly taken any damage thanks to Sally’s danger management, but fatigue was another matter.

Especially since she had never moved so much before. It could not be helped.

“Can I go and sleep for a while? You can wake me up if anything happens…”

“Yeah, it should be fine.”

And so Maple disappeared in the back, without returning to her normal form.

Obviously, it was too much of a waste to deactivate it before it was destroyed.

“If a large guild comes, we’ll fight just enough so that no one dies, as planned. Is that alright?”

“Yes, that’s fine. Let’s take our orb and go to where Maple is.”

As Maple Tree was categorized as a small guild, there was a high chance that large guilds would come to take back their orbs in order avoid a large deduction of points.

Currently, Maple Tree had 10 orbs.

And 7 of those were from large guilds.

If those guilds were to come, there was also a good chance that they would fight each other before entering the base.

Even if they did decide to unite as one, it would only be temporary. It just meant that they would be fighting a different opponent for the orb.

And if they didn’t come to retrieve their orb, that meant they were out attacking a different guild.

No matter how those 10 orbs moved, many players would die somewhere in some fashion.

And as Maple Tree was trying to speed things up, they wanted a situation where guilds were crushing each other even more than they wanted orbs.

And so it was not that big of a deal whether their defenses held or not.

“We can probably be in the top 10 at this rate…because we had a good start.”

“So, we’ll aim to hold onto that spot… Now, will they come?”

They all looked cautiously at the entrance as they tried to rid themselves of the exhaustion that had built up over the night.

When the time was pa.s.sed 7, a group of over 70 players whose tight defenses were fronted by players with great shields, marched inside.

“…Did they just finish fighting another guild out there?”

“Ah, maybe. I expected more people as well.”

It didn’t change the fact that there were many of them, but it did seem a little small for a large guild that was attacking.

As for Maple Tree, Sally, Chrome, and Kasumi stood ready in the front, but left a clear gap for Yui and Mai, who were behind them.

Izu was between Yui and Mai, and Kanade was in the far back.

The reason that there was a gap for Yui and Mai, was of course, so they can throw the iron b.a.l.l.s.

“Oomph!”

“Oomph!”

The enemy’s shields had been through a tough battle already, and they would not last if too many b.a.l.l.s struck them.

“Here’s more!”

But if they were waiting for Yui and Mai to run out of ammo, they were out of luck. Izu was developing more and more metal b.a.l.l.s right between them.

Still, with their mighty shields and superior numbers, they pushed forward.

Yui and Mai’s iron b.a.l.l.s may have caused instant death, but they could not hit everyone at once, and so they were unable to stop the charge.

And of course, the three that were attacking in the front became the target of magic attacks.

“‘Cover Move’!”

Chrome moved in front of the others and blocked the attacks with his shield and body.

He took tremendous damage from it, but he was able to bear it with his shield and recovery effect skill.

Chrome would not only heal by just standing there, but there were several other factors that made him hard to kill.

He did not stick out so much next to Maple, but he was still incredibly dangerous.

“‘Land of Ice and Snow.\'”

The light blue Magic Record that Kanade used caused the advancing players to be fixed to the ground as ice formed around their legs.

They would not be able to move for 5 seconds.

However, those seconds would feel like forever when Yui and Mai had made you their target.

One by one, the front guard was crushed. Even if you didn’t die, having your equipment damaged would make this event a lot more difficult for you.

Their losses increased.

“Oboro, ‘Shadow Clone.\'”

Sally attacked randomly with ‘Shadow Clone.’

She was not a good match for defensive battles against a horde, and so her strategy here was to offer support while using skills that would confuse the enemy and inflict psychological damage.

Kasumi, on the other hand, was good for hit and run tactics, where she would strike the shield-bearers after teleporting, and then ‘Leap’ away.

All seven of them had their own strengths, and when they were able to demonstrate them, you would need players of equal ability to go against them. The number of enemies were meaningless.

You had to exceed a certain threshold in strength to be able to fight them.

And with all of the noise that the iron b.a.l.l.s were creating, it was only a matter of time before the slumbering boss would awake.

Slowly, from the back pa.s.sage, lumbered the monster. It glared at the intruders as if angry that they had disturbed its sleep.

“Can you all be quiet! Your dead now! Hmph!”

Those that had crossed that threshold of power were now being supported by a monster that was made through going off of the beaten path. It was of course, quite impossible for the enemy who had not even crossed that threshold, to defeat it.