Chapter 458

Defense Specialization and Omission

“Gaah! Payne can’t reach that far!?”

“It can’t be helped, Payne shines when the enemy is in range. Still, well done.”

In the spectator area, the fierce battles that started almost at the same time would be settled in order, while the fallen players would be teleported there.

The frustrated voice belonged to Drag.

The torrent of light unleashed by Payne was barely enough to capture Lily and Wilbert.

Drag and Dred, along with Misery and Shin, were watching the battle. At that time, Mai and Kasumi, along with Marx and Hinata approached them.

“I’m sorry, you two. I had to protect Mii.”

“No, no, it’s fine! I didn’t even see it coming!”

“Right…”

“I think it’s amazing that you jumped to Mii’s defense.”

They were left with no choice but to entrust the rest to others. Surely, Marx protected Mii because he trusted her.

“Yui, I’m glad it went well…”

Seeing Marx there without Yui, Mai, who got teleported there, breathed in relief. After all, it proved that the strategy devised by the two went well.

Although they couldn’t achieve their prime goal—which was to take out Mii, they were still able to defeat Marx. As such, they were proud of their achievements.

“The two of you were splendid back then! You outsmarted them with such a bold move!”

“Well, I’m certain no one else can imitate that.”

“T-thank you very much!”

Only Mai and Yui could shoot players up into the sky and deflect attacks.

“In any case, that sure sounds like something Maple would do. Did they inherit her reckless courage? If it’s her, she’d probably be excited with the fireworks or something.”

“She’ll probably come up with something else.”

Dred agreed with Drag’s reasonable conclusion.

“If possible, I want to avoid that scenario…”

“Me, too…”

“Still, I didn’t expect that from Kanade.”

While the members of both camps were discussing, Hinata stared nervously at the monitor.

“Are you worried about Velvet?”

“Kasumi… Yes, that’s right.”

After the battle was over, the monitors displayed small-scale battles which happened here and there, and it was unclear what happened to the follow-up battles.

“I want to hope for the best, but looking at this situation…”

“I hope she’s safely regrouped with Mii…”

The fact that Velvet and Mii weren’t transferred there was very telling.

There was still a bit more time before Velvet’s status enhancement expired.

Hinata was sure that Sally would rush to help the trapped Maple. As such, she could only hope that Velvet took advantage of their difference in speed to retreat.

“If Maple and Sally won, that’s alright too. Payne will take my place.”

A mobile attacker. Each player had their own specialty, but there were many players who could act as a substitute due to matching roles.

Because of that, Kasumi still attacked despite knowing the danger.

After all, since Maple and Sally were able to defeat Hinata, one of the key players, her sacrifice wasn’t in vain.

The two waited for a while, but the next battle didn’t occur. Shin called out to them, wanting to hear their account of the second battle.

“Kasumi, did you purposefully hide that debuff?”

“It wasn’t like I was hiding it. I just didn’t get the chance to use it.”

“[Maple Tree] doesn’t seem to need debuffs.”

Shin glanced at Mai. Even without debuffs, they could still whack the enemy into space, after all.

“I’ve been outplayed by the two of you. Though, I feel sorry for Chrome.”

They never expected that Wilbert possessed a crowd control skill that was as strong as Hinata’s due to his tamed monster.

If not for that skill, Chrome would’ve been able to catch up with them.

“It should’ve been my responsibility. If only I had survived.”

If Dred and Shadow had been there, emergency evacuation and other movements could’ve been done more flexibly. Originally, Dred was supposed to maneuver at night. The early exit of such a central figure shifted the direction of the battle.

“Frederica will scold you later.”

“It can’t be helped.”

“Hinata and Velvet were also good…”

“I’m sorry. We did it to win.”

For Hinata and others, the enclosure was done with the purpose of taking out Maple, which in turn would seal the victory once and for all. After all, without Maple, Sally shouldn’t pose a threat. After taking care of her, they’d regroup with the Kingdom of the Flame Emperor. However, Sally’s performance surpassed Velvet and Hinata’s expectations.

“Oh, right! What’s with Sally?”

“That was a brilliant move.”

“Really? I missed the show…”

“Most of the time, I failed to anticipate her next move.”

Hinata, who faced her, and Shin, who’d been paying close attention to Sally’s battle ever since his defeat, began to discuss her.

“Dred, what do you think? I’m sure you’ve done one-on-one with her before.”

“Only for a bit, though. During the fourth event. Now, I don’t think I stand any chance.”

Dred answered Drag’s question while slightly shaking his head.

“Huh, really? I thought Dred would be able to hold his ground to an extent.”

“My agility can’t be compared to hers. Besides, Shadow is also not suited for one-on-one combat.”

Dred said that Payne would be a better match than himself.

“Come to think of it, Sally was also using [Godspeed].”

“Eh, no way… right?”

Hearing Misery’s words, Marx asked Dred, but the latter only shrugged as if he had no idea.

“If it wasn’t for that, I’d have the option to flee, but…”

Instead, Hinata had allowed her to speed up and disappear.

She assumed that Sally didn’t actually possess that skill, which in turn delayed her decision.

“If you don’t pay more attention, you’d be dead. Also, how did she transform her weapon? Her skills are too strange!”

“Eeh…?”

Marx showed a disgusted expression. It was the same reaction as when he saw Maple’s monstrous transformation.

Paying close attention to Sally’s attention, they tried to bring back even one piece of information to the Kingdom of the Flame Emperor. Thus, the three people, led by Shin, stared at the monitor.

Hinata also decided to watch over the activities of the guild members of [Thunder Storm], and sat down on the nearby chair.

“…”

In the midst of that, Dred let out a sigh, saying that he managed to return the favor to [Thunder Storm].

Dred didn’t know how to reproduce other skills, but [Godspeed] was genuine.

A letter Dred sent before he died. It had something to do with Frederica’s skill [Homing Pigeon]. That skill didn’t only deliver buffs, but also skills.

However, due to its strength, only one person’s skills could be transferred.

Therefore, it was decided that Dred, who had several highly effective skills, would send them.

“For the time being, it seems to be useful?”

“You did a good job. Oh, and Knots, too.”

“Frederica will get carried away again.”

“Haha, she definitely would! Although, she works better that way.”

“That’s true.”

The two continued to watch the game. Despite how the number of influential players had dropped, the event itself wasn’t over yet.

Kasumi and Mai decided to stay in their places.

From now on, they’d cheer while praying that the next players who got transferred there weren’t the members of [Maple Tree].

“As expected of Sally. She performed better than during the warm-up.”

“She was also amazing when she fought alongside Kasumi.”

“Sally is the type to perform better when she can’t afford to lose. But even so…”

Although Kasumi and Mai had heard about the effect of the skill and what it could do in advance, they were blown away when she put it into practice.

After all, it was difficult to gauge the strength of Sally’s new skills without actually seeing them in action.

However, they were still highly dependent on Sally’s ability in the first place. Even if the two had the same set of skills, they doubted they’d be able to use it like her.

“Maple is still there. I believe in her.”

“Me, too…! I believe that Yui will do her best for my sake!”

The remaining members of [Maple Tree] were also elite. The players with whom they could entrust the rest.

While hoping for a victory for the guild, the two of them also shifted their eyes to the monitor.

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