The two got off near a large lake. While it was surrounded by a forest, it was unmissable if you were looking down from the sky.

  The trees around the lake had been brutally fractured at the trunk, and lay scattered on the ground. And so even the enlarged Ignis was able to land directly.

  “Thanks, Ignis.”


  “Ko-ko-kaa!”


  “This one isn’t a good fit for me, so I thought I should get it out of the way while I’m still with you. Also, I wanted to beat it before I forget the trick to tackling it.”


  A short while later, a monster appeared that explained what Mi meant when she said there was a trick to it. Large ripples spread in the water, and then gravity-defying spheres of water, like the ones seen all over the ninth layer, connected with several pillars in the lake, creating numerous roads that stretched out.

  And inside swam fish that were about 50 centimeters long.

  She had fought many monsters like this during the last, last event, as well as on the eighth layer.

  And so she wanted to clear this quest while their speed, and the ways of dealing with them, were still fresh in her mind.

  “Dedicated Affection!”


  “Heavy Fire!”


  As Maple took care of defense, Mi unleashed a powerful burst of flames from the safety zone. It continued to burn after piercing through the pillars of water, causing great damage to the fish within.

  “Woah!”


  “If they are fast, then you just have to defeat them with wide area attacks so they can’t escape, right? Though, the damage is reduced because they’re inside of the water…”


  While they had been hit with such a heavy attack, this was still the ninth layer. And so the fish still had some HP left, and they launched a coordinated counterattack by unleashing swirls of water.

  “Heavy Body!”


  It had the appearance of an attack that would blow them into the air, and so Maple immediately nullified any knockback as she blocked the great swirls of water.

  And while the attacks were very intimidating, they did not have a piercing effect, and so Maple was left unharmed.

  She was not able to use skills like this instantly, which suggested she had become quite used to playing games.

  “It really is nice when you don’t have to dodge… Blue Fire!”


  The water was being unleashed like ultra high-power fixed artillery, and Mi responded with fire. As they fought like this, Maple thought about how different this was from the usual battles.

  Sally would have jumped out and racked up some damage, but now, she could use skills that she normally wouldn’t be able to.

  “All right, Hydra!”


  Maple declared loudly, and then a stream of poison was unleashed towards the lake. It bathed the pillars and paths of water in purple, causing damage to the fish within. In order to swim inside, it was necessary to keep the water uncontaminated.

  “Woah…”


  In terms of the results of what they were doing, Mi also was just trying to defeat the monsters. But when it came to using poison in your attacks, there was something extra terrible about it in terms of visuals.

  Their HP dwindled, and when there was only a little left, Mi unleashed a single attack that finished the fish off.

  Once it was inside of the water, it didn’t matter how fast the fish could swim. If their movement was limited to the water, then they could not escape.

  Seen from afar, it would look like a heavy duel where fire, poison, and water flew in all directions, but in reality, it was one-sided devastation.

  As the quest was cleared, the pillars of water that stretched out from the lake all disappeared, and the lake was silent once again.

  “Phew… Thank you, Maple! Because of you, I only had to attack, which made things a lot easier.”


  “I would have also had to wait a long time if I was alone!”


  If Maple was alone, she would have likely have had to wait for the poison to run its course and for the fish to die one by one.

  As for Mi, it was difficult to move when the ground was covered in fallen trees. But thanks to Maple, she didn’t have to think about dodging attacks, and so they had reached the end of the battle very easily.

  “It’s quite different when I’m in a party with you, Mi.”


  “Is that so? Hmm, Kanade…uses magic, but that’s a little different, and Sally doesn’t mainly use it… I think you might be right.”


  With only eight people in the guild, there were, of course, roles that didn’t exist. There was no magic user in Maple Tree who was able to hit enemies with sheer high firepower.

  Because Mai and Yui were there, Kanade had no reason to pursue special magic attacks.

  Of course, Maple’s presence also likely spurred him in that direction. Instead of aiming to defeat enemies with high power and nothing else, Maple was there to render all attacks meaningless, so there was no need to finish battles quickly. The priority of attack ability was lower than in other guilds.

  “That finished more quickly than I expected.”


  “Did you accept a lot of quests, Mi?”


  “This is the last of the first ones that came out. Though, I’m sure there will be more. And the next ones will likely be harder, so I might not be able to clear them at the same pace.”


  The quests that you were currently allowed to accept were the easiest ones in the ninth layer. But even at this stage, there were already monsters, like that dragon, which had powerful movement-binding attacks, on top of being able to attack from the sky, which was a great advantage. It was clear that the base monsters here were a lot stronger. And if the difficulty level was going to increase, that meant the enemies would also become stronger.

  “So you haven’t finished them all, Maple?”


  “I still have a lot left! But everyone in my guild shares information about what kind of quests there are.”


  “I see. And I suppose that unless you happen to be very incompatible, members of Maple Tree will have no trouble clearing this difficulty level even when solo.”


  “They said we’re gathering information so that we don’t lose to big guilds like Kingdom of the Flame Emperor.”


  “I see. Gathering information is important, and Marx is good at doing that kind of thing…”


  “He does look like he would be!”


  “And he does especially well during events like this one, where there is a base. Though, he doesn’t seem too confident.”


  Still, the results of the previous events were proof of his ability. And that was why Mi trusted him.

  “I tend to form a party with Misery, Marx and Shin the most, and I think the four of us will probably be in the same camp during the event. But if we’re not, and they happen to be on your side, then you shouldn’t hesitate to rely on them.”


  “Okay! I’ll do that!”


  She hadn’t teamed up or fought against them that many times, but Maple was well aware of how strong they were. And if they had polished their skills since then, then they would be even more reliable.

  “While it’s taken some time to reach this point, it really is the final preparation period. I’m sure that you…have something hidden up your sleeve, Maple?”


  “Uh, I’m not supposed to tell you, right!”


  “Hehe. Correct. While I’m scared…I’ll look forward to it and think of ways of dealing with you.”


  “I’ll do my best to prepare as well!”


  As Maple had always been quick to quit any games that she played, she hadn’t been able to make rivals and friends. And Mi was one player she now had that relationship with. Though, Maple wasn’t used to this. And so she just copied Sally and smiled as if she felt confident.