After exploring the 9th floor for a decent amount of time, Maple and the others had a good idea about which areas were better than others.

  As they had also gathered a lot of info, they gathered at the guild home for an interim report.

  To make it convenient and easier, they placed the 9th floor’s map on the center of a big table and surrounded it to fill in their info.

  “Ohh, it’s quite the spectacle now that we’ve gathered it like this.”


  The data Sally gathered on the monsters were very detailed — about their location, hiding spots, their characteristics and the effects they can produce were all listed intricately on the map.

  “I was in charge of materials and Sally was in charge of monsters.”


  “Please read it when you get time. It has more info than what’s available on the net and I’ve also tried to write down how we, the Maple Tree, should deal with it as well.”


  “That’s amazing. Knowing how to deal with it beforehand is huge.”


  “That’s true, I’ll take a look at it for now. I am good at memorizing and it’ll probably be better if there’s more people who can relay the information instantly except Sally.”


  Given Kanade’s memory, it would take him less than a day to memorize all of this. In fact, he would probably be done even before the meeting is done.

  While the information was listed in a manner easy to understand, they couldn’t really bring it out to check every time during battles. And thus it should be memorized if possible.

  “Well, it’s mostly just one line in battle scenarios with Mai and Yui.”


  “True.”


  Get close and punch. And that’s it. If that doesn’t work, change the attribute and punch.

  If it lands, they win. As that works even with a portion of the bosses, the two don’t really need to think much during battles. Most enemies don’t even get to change into their 2nd form or use a different moveset against them.

  “We need to take a look at it, huh?”


  “Right. While they’re weak monsters, it’s not like a punch will do the trick for us.”


  They generally tend to go for endurance battles unless a big move is used. They need to be extra careful against monsters which use troublesome abilities.

  While they were comparing and adjusting like that, all of them received a message at the same time.

  “Ah, more info about the next event!”


  “Let’s see… there’s more details now.”


  While the outline of the 10th event was announced, the details were yet to be disclosed. And that was finally done just now with this announcement.

  All of them opened up the message and read it.

  “Divided between countries and battles will take place between two camps. It seems the country is decided by the one you join the day before the event. It seems people who have yet to reach the 9th floor can also be chosen and the ones not chosen will be distributed among the teams.”


  “I see, I see.”


  “And it seems the terrain and monsters will stay as is. That’s to be expected. Oh, there’s something interesting here as well.”


  “The monsters in your camp won’t attack you, eh? Also, considering how it says the monsters will listen to certain commands depending on the items used on it, does this mean that they’ll be like tamed monsters?”


  They hadn’t expected this bit of info. If a camp has more defensive forces other than the players, it’ll be hard for others to attack just by taking the player count into account.

  The effect only lasts for 5 minutes but if one uses the monsters’ abilities well, it will result in a very effective offense and defense.

  And besides, even if the effect runs out, it isn’t like the monsters will come attacking them. They just won’t listen to detailed instructions and so they could still be relied upon.

  As long as one brings them out to the battlefield, the opponents can’t ignore them.

  “It seems you can’t just bring any monster you like, that’s a point to keep in mind.”


  There was more info regarding the monsters — for all players to safely participate, it seems a portion of the monsters’ abilities would be decreased. Moreover, it looks like there will be areas where players over a certain level will get a restriction on some abilities — looks to be dividing areas depending on player level.

  “Fighting in areas of your player level sounds good. I’ve leveled up quite a bit so I wonder if I’ll get those restrictions.”


  “If players like Kanade, Mai and Yui get restricted, then most players who come to the 9th floor would be restricted as well.”


  The three of them possessed combat abilities unbefitting of their level which allowed them to fight but as Sally said, most players in the 9th floor would have a much higher level.

  And so, if even they get restrictions on their abilities, only low level players would be able to lead in these areas.

  On top of all this, it seems the monsters will be making an all-out attack on the opponent camp at a fixed interval as well.

  The general strategy would be to take that opportunity to launch a full on attack.

  “It also says that the people of the city will participate in defense!”


  “Ohh. If that’s the case then defense will probably be pretty solid. The NPCs will use cannons or the like, right?”


  “That said, we don’t know how strong they’ll be as the numbers aren’t made public so we can’t really fully rely on them either.”


  “Ah, that’s true, I guess.”


  It’s as Sally said. The NPCs are only meant to be supporting and so one can assume that that alone won’t be enough for a perfect defense.

  “The time period is 3 days in terms of accelerated time. That, or until a player touches the opponent’s throne…”


  Maple nodded as she read that part. It would appear that an early conclusion was also possible. One could also aim for turning the tables with a single successful attack as well.

  Moreover, in the case of no players reaching the throne, the camp with the least casualties would win.

  It would probably be quite essential to strengthen the defense line to block out invasions. Strong enough to stop individually strong players like Maple, Payne, Mii or Velvet when they try to force their way through.

  However, the next line strictly suppressed them from pulling off such an act.

  “You’re out if you die even once, eh…? That’s quite strict.”


  “That’s how much a single person dropping out means, then. After all, it would mean that the enemy’s forces would surely decrease.”


  If you are to drop out from a single death, it would prove hard to charge in. It would be crucial to stay alive in the frontlines where it’s extremely easy to get hit.

  If you were to keep failing attacks, you would eventually be at a number disadvantage which would ultimately connect to a loss.

  Of course, despite that, the reversal of tides is surely possible through a sneak attack so one can’t really let their guard down at any time.

  “Ohh? There’s something amazing written as well, have a look, everyone.”


  Hearing Chrome say that, Maple started scrolling through the message again. Before she could figure out which part it was, Sally started reading it out loud.

  “Monsters within a certain range of players will be considered as party members. Is this it?”


  “That’s the one. This, with Maple’s…”


  “In the range of ’Self-offering Love’…”


  “That’s true.”


  Everyone present there realized how strong that could be. Normally, her ability only applies to the party, but as its range expands, the number of players who have the same defensive power as Maple will increase.

  And that would make holding a defensive line very easy. Moreover, the fact that Maple’s skill is easy to recognize will be a big plus here. Even without any explanation, many players know what will happen when Maple turns into an angel.

  “I’ll do my best to make the most of it!”


  “Yeah, you do that. Or that’s what I wanna say but… we’re talking about the event here but are we going to be in the same camp?”


  “Now that you mention it, we didn’t really decide that properly, huh?”


  “Right~. I just figured we’d be together.”


  “Ms. Maple, what would you like to do?”


  “I wanna… ask you guys too.”


  “Right… the strategies and everything else comes after that.”


  “I see, that’s true. Hmm… I would like to fight alongside you all.”


  Everyone nodded as if they knew Maple would say that. And with that, Maple Tree’s course of action had been decided.

  “Is that okay with you, Sally?”


  “Me? …Yeah. If it’s okay with Maple, it’s alright with me too.”


  “Then the Maple Tree will be in the same camp!”


  Now that that’s decided, they can start deciding more specifics about the event — such as the discussion of fighting together with The Aggregation of Holy Swords and which country they’ll pick.

  “Then let’s decide on the details as well. Mai and Yui will probably be targeted a lot since they’ll be easy to defeat but would prove a big threat as an enemy.”


  “I-is that so?”


  “Uuuu… will it okay?”


  “We’ll just have to strengthen our defense that much. Our allied players will also protect you guys, I think. After all, they did see you guys fighting equally with the raid boss during the previous event.

  The two were deemed to be ultimate fighting forces for both allies and enemies, that’s for sure.

  There wasn’t much time remaining till the event. And as always, Maple and the others focused on doing things they could as they prepared for the event.