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

Defense Specialization and the Tower’s 10th Floor 4

Now that the boss had finished changing its form, it prepared to attack. The five swords at its back started to fly towards Maple and Sally at an incredible speed.

Sally not only dodged them easily, but she pulled Maple out of the way with her web as well.

"’Cover Move’ is no use. Double damage now would be bad!"

"Yes, thank you!"

After they moved out of the way, the swords stopped in the air and then turned towards them again.

That was when they both realized that five new swords had appeared at the back of the boss, and their eyes widened.

"There’s more!?"

"Maple! Let’s finish this quickly!"

"Y-yes!"

They knew the situation was only going to get worse, and so they moved in on the boss.

"’Provoke’! ...I’ll stop it somehow! You attack it, Sally!"

"Okay. I’m counting on you!"

While the 10 swords flew towards Maple, Sally faced the boss alone.

"Syrup, ’Rampart’!"

Several walls came up and surrounded Maple. While they were destroyed on impact, they managed to stop some of the swords.

She also guarded with the great shield in spite of the depletion from Bizzare Eater, but three of the swords still stabbed into Maple’s body. After being hit directly, Syrup’s HP was reduced to 0, and half of Maple’s HP was taken away.

"Agghh... Sally, you can do it!"

"Oboro, ’Shadow Clone’! ’Wind Cutter’!"

She used magic to force the boss to guard and then used her Shadow Clones to provoke it into attacking.

"As long as I know your movements...!"

Sally used her clones, which died with one hit, as bait, and closed in on the boss. There was a flash, and the sharpened blade cut her into half. Immediately after, her body disappeared and a damage effect appeared on the boss.

Sally had used Mirage as a second decoy, and she now cut at the boss from behind.

There were no other decoys to protect her now, and the boss’s flaming sword swung towards her.

"’Super Acceleration’! I made it!"

Sally accelerated and moved away from the sword while rolling on the ground.

"’Oozing Chaos’!"

Maple used a powerful move in order to stop the counterattack towards Sally. And then she started to fire her guns.

While she managed to hit the boss and its HP dropped, it was not enough to take it down.

At the same time, five new blades appeared in the air.

"So tough!"

"Arrgh, we’re so close!"

They were close, yet so far. And since Maple was taking damage, the situation was bad.

"Th-this..."

Fiery swords and the boss itself came flying towards Sally. Sally took in the situation calmly.

No matter how she tried to dodge, two of the swords would hit her.

"Minimize the damage...!"

As Sally was thinking, something shot out in front of her with the sound of an explosion.

The swords must have hit it because damage effects burst in the air. She then saw Maple standing there with three great shields.

"Sally! Heal me!"

"’Heal’!"

While she blocked the attacks with her three great shields, the flames still burned Maple. However, thanks to Sally’s healing, she had just a little HP left.

"’Frozen Earth’!"

The boss froze just before it could attack Maple.

Maple checked its remaining HP and saw that it was down to 20% before she activated her skill.

"’Break Core’!"

A red sphere shot out of Maple and sparks flew.

It was a super powerful exploding attack. And it would activate in 5 seconds.

Upon seeing this, Sally used Icicle and Sand Wall to prevent the boss from escaping.

Attacks that it usually would have been able to dodge would hit it now.

"Now I can...hit you!"

Before the boss could move out of the way, Maple’s skill activated, and a pillar of light shot up to the ceiling with a roar.

The boss’s HP dropped dramatically. Maple had 1 HP left thanks to the effect of ’Indomitable Guardian.’

When the white light faded.

The boss remained, with just a little HP left.

"!?"

As Maple watched in shock, a magic circle that was larger then previous ones appeared on the ground.

"Wh-why...what?!"

Maple was no longer able to think. Sally had risen into the air and used her web to pull Maple up.

Sally quickly threw Maple up into the air and then used ’Impact Fist’ to send her even higher up.

Immediately after, the flames of hell shot up from underneath them.

Sally made a platform in the air and kicked off it and plunged towards the fire.

"...!"

’Empty Shell’ activated and nullified all damage as Sally accelerated even more.

Before the flames could reach Maple, Sally shot through it and then used her two daggers to cut open the boss’s throat.

The flames stopped at the same instant. And as they died down, the boss fell to the ground.

"Thanks to your protection...I made it."

Sally put away her daggers and caught the falling Maple with both arms.

"...Phew."

"...Ehehe."

"We won!!"

"We won!!"

The two of them practically fell as they sat down, exhausted. Then they looked at each other and smiled as they high fived.