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

Defense Specialization and the Tower’s 10th Floor 2

Sally faced the boss again and thrust her daggers out just as it charged at her. If she didn’t try to dodge it, the boss wouldn’t guard, and so her attacks would reach it.

Sally had decided to give up evading and just deal as much damage as possible.

"Uuuuh...uhh! ’Meditation’!"

Maple was taking the damage for her, and while Throne of the Heavenly King cut down on some of it, a whole third of Maple’s HP was taken away.

And so Maple had to maintain her HP by using recovery skills and potions.

"For all the damage you do, I’m going to bring down your HP!"

Sally took a step forward as the enemy took one back, and she attacked. As Maple wasn’t being hit directly, she was able to heal in time.

This was not an enemy you could usually face head-on and slash at, but at least this way, they could deal damage.

"’Triple Slash’!"

The boss’s attacks tore into Sally, while her own repeated hits caused damage effects to appear all over the boss.

"In spite of all we’re doing, we’ve only brought it down by 20%!?"

"I’m fine! I still have lots of potions from Izu!"

"Tsk...but its movements are so simple!"

Simple attacks in succession, fast counterattacks, and circling. There were no gimmicks. It just pushed Sally with brute force.

Sally didn’t even have time to think about how it’s movement patterns would eventually change.

"And my firepower is at its highest today!"

Her daggers were enveloped in the blue aura of ’Sword Dance’ as they clashed against the long sword, causing sparks to fly. Sally also used magic, but the boss always dodged it.

"...Maple’s Hydra probably won’t work either."

Sally thought about how she could do as much damage as possible before the boss changed its movement pattern. Most of Maple’s attacks were single-shot, which meant they wouldn’t be able to do much damage once the boss dodged them.

Furthermore, if the boss started dealing more damage, their current strategy would no longer work.

"Phew... Oboro ’Shadow Clone’!"

Sally’s clones all attacked the boss at once, however, as if reacting to this, the boss’s sword flashed. After a whirlslash, all of Sally’s clones were cut down.

While Sally herself managed to move out of the way, her expression was severe.

Inside her head, she separated the skills that would be effective and the ones that wouldn’t be, and she combined them with Maple’s and tried to think of a strategy.

"Alright. Maple! I thought of a way to damage it, so listen! When I’m done, we’re going to chip away at its health until the pattern changes!"

"Got it!"

As Sally fought the boss, she told Maple her plan. Maple listened and memorized the timing for using the skills.

"Okay! I’m fine!"

"In that case, ’Triple Slash’!"

Sally’s daggers carved away its HP. When it was down to 70%, the movement pattern changed.

It swung its sword in a great arch and then moved away from Sally before putting a hand over the blade. Then flames burst out from the sword and burned brightly.

"Maple, I’m going to observe it for a while, so be prepared to heal me if I need it!"

"Yes, I’ll do that!"

The boss swung its sword and then pointed it at Sally. And like that, it charged towards her.

Sally dodge the flames that shot at her and then blocked the sword with her daggers. It was then that the flames fell over Maple’s armor and reduced her HP.

"Aghh...!"

"It burns too...!"

Sally stopped blocking the attacks, and instead, dodged them and moved so Maple wouldn’t take any damage.

As all of its attacks dealt fire damage, dodging them at the last second meant you would be burned by the flames. So unless you kept a distance, it was impossible to fight without taking damage.

"There are even fewer openings now..."

If she stayed away, then fire blades would fly towards her. It was because of this that Maple couldn’t call out Syrup.

Still, Sally saw that its actual movement hadn’t changed too much, and so she gave the order to Maple.

"Alright, Maple! I’m going to attack!"

"Got it!"

While Sally attacked and attracted the boss’s attention, Maple detonated her weapons and moved in all at once.

"Frozen Earth’!"

The ground froze loudly around Maple. It spread to where the boss was standing and stopped its movement for three seconds.

"’Power Attack’!"

"’Hydra’! ’Oozing Chaos’! ’Predator’!"

In those three seconds, they blasted it with as many heavy and easily dodged attacks as they could.

Predator meant that the boss’s status was lowered even further. Still, three seconds was not a long time, and the boss started moving again.

Just as the two of them tried to move away, the boss thrust its sword into the ground.

At the same time, a red magic circle appeared around the boss.

"This is bad...!"

"’Savagery’!"

Just as Maple shouted, a massive pillar of fire shot out of the ground.