Defense Build and Exorcism

A few days later, Maple was back in the misty mountains.

"Bring it on!"

She landed, made Syrup small, and started looking for red ghouls.

"There they are!"

She immediately used Taunt, and once they started converging on her, she summoned

her throne, sealing the ghosts' skills.

"This time I've got the good charms! Ker-splat!"

She stuck one of the exorcism charms to it, and the red writing glowed bright. A white

halo appeared around the ghoul.

The glowing monster's HP began to drop, and it let out a hideous wail.

"Oh, it's working! Have some salt, too!"

Maple sprinkled some Banishment Salts on it, and another chunk of HP vanished.

When the HP bar was drained, the ghost stayed wreathed in white light, gently rising

up toward the heavens.

"And it's exorcised! These materials… do a pretty bang-up job! Ugh, wait, did I not get

any XP?!"

Exorcising these ghosts sacrificed experience gains for an improved item drop rate—

plus it was much faster and easier than fighting them normally.

Maple debated which was better for a moment but could not resist how convenient it

was to just sit back throwing salt and charms.

"Let's just kill a bunch of them and see what happens. Seems like they do drop some

items anyway!"

She tossed a handful of salt at another ghoul, racking up the damage.

"I like it!"

Maple started exorcising every ghost that came in range.

It didn't take much to defeat these things, and she had plenty of stock in her inventory.

After a solid two hours of exorcism, Maple left the mountain behind.

"Sally likes to hit the same group of monsters multiple times to get the stuff she needs,

but I gotta say it's not much fun."

But she was doing this for Sally, so she wasn't giving up easy.

She kept doing exorcism runs for the next few days, until it started to seem like she

must have exorcised every ghost on this mountain. And at long last—a pair of shoes

dropped.

"Yesssss! Finally!"

Maple scooped them up the moment she saw them.

They had some dark red stains on them and felt oddly cold to the touch, but they were

shaped more or less like the boots Sally already wore.

"They're called… Charnel Boots? Wow, that sounds cursed. Are they safe to wear? It

says they're rare, so they must be."

Maple inspected them carefully, but they weren't oozing blood or anything, and she

couldn't find any bits of stray flesh left inside, either.

"Mm, I think I can safely give these to Sally. Let's check this skill, though…"

One Step in the Grave

When skill is active, makes a foothold in midair at the cost of a −5 penalty to all stats.

Penalty lasts twenty minutes.

Foothold vanishes in ten seconds.

"Hmm… that isn't quite what I'd heard. I guess I'll just have to see what Sally thinks."

She put the shoes in her inventory and saw a ghost coming her way. She decided this

would be her last battle.

"Salt and charm ready… Wait…"

Maple was braced to exorcise it, but this ghost wasn't like the others.

It was glowing blue, not red, and actually kept its distance from her.

Maple squinted as she followed it with her eyes and saw it stop not too far away.

Its light flickered, as if it was calling to her.

"Worth a shot. Just gotta put my throne away… All right, let's check it out."

She kept her shield up, just in case, and began following the blue light.

When she got close, the ghost moved again, as if leading her on.

"Up the mountain, huh? Welp, let's see where it takes me!"

The ghost led Maple higher and higher, all the way to the peak.

The fog was extra thick up here; Maple couldn't see more than a yard in any direction.

"I just keep going? Oh no…"

Her foot had bumped something. It turned out to be an old wooden cross stuck in the

ground.

Nearby she saw the remains of a weather-beaten bouquet.

"D-did I kick those? I'm so sorry!"

Maple closed her eyes, clapping her palms together.

Then a pale hand shot out of the ground and grabbed Maple's ankle.

"Hnyaah?! Hey! Let go!"

The hand pulled on her foot—and then she suddenly found herself floating in midair,

as if the ground beneath her feet had been an illusion all along.

She fell so long she wound up screwing her eyes closed.

When that feeling finally went away, she found herself in darkness.

"Um, where have I been sent this time?"

She looked around—and red lights appeared in the darkness.

A monster appeared, as if clawing its way through a crack in space. It looked like a

giant version of the red ghouls Maple had exorcised hundreds of.

Only the top half made it through the fissure, but those red arms were several times

as long as Maple was tall.

"Wh-wh-what now?"

One look at it was enough to convince Maple she wasn't exorcising this anytime soon.

But it didn't seem inclined to let her leave. It was already reaching out, trying to grab

her.

"Whoa… mm? It's… surprisingly slow?"

Maple ran and easily made it out of reach.

This was essentially the first time Maple had ever successfully run away from an

enemy. She was so shocked she stopped and looked it over once more.

The ghostly arm disappeared, and the crack in space closed up.

"Oh, that can't be good… Agh, I knew it!"

She'd spun around, and she found the crack opening right in front of her.

"How about some salt instead!"

Maple threw a handful of salt at the emerging upper body, ran quickly out of range,

and then checked the damage.

"Woo, it worked!"

The salt wasn't as effective as it had been on the ghouls outside, but it had definitely

taken a chunk of the ghost's HP.

Figuring this might work out, she took all the items out of her inventory and started

throwing them with wild abandon.

"Take that! Come on… hnggg?!"

Her eyes had locked on the rift.

Between the sides of the rift and the boss ghoul stood several smaller red ghosts.

And just like the ones outside, they had ominous-looking skulls hovering over them.

"Stay back! Heaven's Throne!"

She quickly sat down, canceling out the ghosts' skills.

But sitting down made it harder for her to avoid the boss's attacks.

"Still, it's better than trying to run and messing it up."

Maple decided to stay put and let the boss hit where it might. Its hands circled around

her.

"Can't use your skill? Then it's my turn!"

She began slapping charms all over the boss's palms, racking up the damage.

Maple was hoping this would exorcise it, but the boss had other plans.

"Uh-oh, it's grabbed me!"

The palms had closed in, picking Maple up.

"Whatever… ow?!"

A shock ran through Maple, and her HP took a hit.

And she could tell her HP was dropping faster than the throne could heal.

"Urgh, piercing attacks!"

It was clearly planning on squeezing her to death.

She struggled, trying to free herself, but to no avail.

And the ghost wasn't done yet.

"Er, wait… nooooo!"

It lifted her up, hoisting her high into the air.

The throne's effect only worked while she was sitting down. Up here, it did absolutely

nothing.

"Urgh… owww… l-let go…! Oh! Atrocity!"

If she'd been dragged off her throne, that meant she had access to all her skills again.

Monster Maple spawned inside the ghost's grasp, and she easily tore herself free,

backing well away from it.

"Ugh, haven't felt pain like that in a long time. I'm getting careless."

Maple hadn't dismissed it, so the throne was still sitting there, and if she sat down, it

would activate again.

"But maybe I'd better figure out what this boss can do while Atrocity is still up… Yeah,

that sounds like a plan."

Taking damage always made Maple cautious. She decided to watch her foe carefully.

With this monster skin on her, any damage she took wouldn't actually affect her HP.

And she felt no pain.

"Okay, okay… gotta remember my own skills… I can do this. Sally drilled the basic

theory into me."

She was talking out loud, trying to calm her nerves while keeping a healthy distance

from her foe.

It didn't take Maple long to realize nothing she could do in Atrocity form would

actually hurt this boss. She looked very annoyed.

"I can breathe fire and take out the little ones, but… argh, I don't wanna ditch this

body!"

She tried to focus on figuring out the ghost's moves but was dreading going back to

her regular form.

Several minutes later, Maple finally stopped running. It was less that she'd gleaned all

the information she could and more that she'd finally gritted her teeth and admitted

she had to drop Atrocity. The dark form's belly split open, and Maple fell out.

"Let's start with Full Deploy!"

Braced for an emergency evac, she then called out Syrup and made it giant.

"Syrup! Spirit Cannon! Then stay up in the air!"

Maple had not just been running around. She'd come up with a plan. But it only half

worked—when Syrup tried to fly up, darkness descended, forcing it back to the

ground.

But Syrup unleashed a beam of white light that pierced the darkness, swallowing up

the little ghosts in its path.

"Cool, it works on ghosts! Thanks, Syrup!"

With these piercing attacks threatening her, she couldn't risk using Martyr's Devotion.

She decided to play like a great shielder should, tanking for Syrup.

"Shield: Good! Salt: Good!"

Exorcism item in hand, she used her self-destruct flight to rocket herself into the space

Syrup had cleared.

Trailing flames behind her, Maple burst through the darkness, flung a handful of salt

on the boss, and came in for a landing.

"Urgh, it's hard to land in the dark…"

Then she flew back to her throne and tumbled onto it.

Syrup lined up alongside it—now they didn't need to worry about the smaller ghouls'

skills.

"Whew… right now, it seems like your attack is my best bet, Syrup, so I'll just have to

sit tight until you can fire again."

Anytime smaller ghouls got close, she threw items at them.

When the boss reached out to grab her, she exploded on her throne, rocketing herself

skyward—her idea of evasive maneuvers.

"Just gotta keep—Syrup!"

Maple had been busy taking out a small ghoul, but when she turned around, she found

the boss aiming a piercing attack at her pet.

"Er, uh… Martyr's Devotion!"

There were too many small spooks around for her to leave the chair. Desperate to

protect her pet, she acted on impulse.

"Urp… uh… M-Meditation!"

Unless the boss actually picked her up, Meditation and the throne's own healing were

enough to restore her health.

And that kept her from defeat, even if it came after Syrup.

Still—even if she could heal from it, Maple objected on principle to taking damage.

"Wagh, it stings!"

Waves of pain were coursing through her.

But all she could do was sit on her throne and wait for the attack to end.

Eventually the boss let up and went back to summoning the smaller minions.

"Syrup, you still there? Ugh. I dunno, though. I can't handle that again."

She theoretically had the stats to survive it, but Maple was vehemently against all

forms of pain and didn't appreciate having to endure this attack at all.

If it kept going after Syrup, she'd be in trouble—and that worry led to inspiration.

Though perhaps it didn't deserve such a grandiose term.

"Just put Syrup back in the ring, you doofus!"

With Syrup safely stowed away, all the pain vanished. She didn't need to keep her pet

out all the time!

"I should really make a habit of doing that when Syrup's in trouble. Lesson learned!"

Maple soon refocused on the battle in front of her.

The threat itself had hardly gone away.

As long as it had piercing attacks, she didn't have time to waste thinking about

anything else.

"I'm gonna back off and summon Syrup again. This'll be real rough without Spirit

Cannon."

She deployed her weapons and made them explode, launching herself as far from the

ghouls as possible.

"Hey, buddy, come on out."

She then kept the turtle safe while they waited for the cooldown.

"Syrup, Spirit Cannon!"

From that point on, she had Syrup attack whenever it could, and in between kept it

small and tucked under her arm, using Martyr's Devotion to keep it safe from her

explosive flights.

Maple kept playing keep-away, making this one of those rare boss fights in which she

actually tried to avoid attacks.

"I've done a lot of damage now…"

And that had clearly caused a phase shift.

It had always been dark in here, but she'd still been able to see herself and the boss—

so it was about as bright as a moonlit night.

But now giant Syrup was hovering right next to her, and she couldn't see it. Couldn't

see her throne, not even the light of Martyr's Devotion on the ground around her—

and of course, she could see no ghosts at all.

Maple was shrouded in darkness, like she had her eyes closed.

"Wh-where are you? Syrup!"

She hastily put her pet back in its ring, then hunched over behind her shield, eyes

darting in all directions. Frantically trying to glean any information from her

surroundings.

"If I can't see it coming… hngg…"

She narrowed her eyes, but she couldn't even see her own hands, so this was obviously

no help.

"Oh! I have a lantern."

She pulled the lantern out of her inventory, trying to light her immediate surroundings

a bit.

Unfortunately, even that light was swallowed by the darkness, vanishing like a candle

in the wind.

"What the…? H-how am I supposed to see?!"

She tried using the lantern again, but with the same results.

"Wh-where is…? Augh!"

A cold hand grabbed her from behind.

This attack robbed her of STR and AGI, but fortunately that did absolutely nothing to

Maple.

"Gah, I can't get away!"

On the other hand, since she had no STR, she also couldn't escape the ghost's grasp.

For nearly a minute, the hand gradually carried Maple higher.

"Is it doing damage…? Eek?!"

She'd screwed up her eyes, expecting pain—but none came.

Instead—Maple's HP suddenly dropped to zero. Indomitable Guardian kicked in, and

Maple was dropped to the floor.

The fall didn't hurt, but if she took damage again, she was done for.

"Uh, what in the…? Wh-wh-what do I do…?!"

She was at a loss, but she knew one thing for sure—she couldn't let it use that attack

a second time.

"M-my throne! Where did it go?!"

She started running, fully aware her throne was still out there somewhere.

If she put it away, there was a lengthy cooldown before she could use it again, so that

wasn't an option.

This was Maple, though—she hadn't actually thought that through. She was just

running away from the immediate threat.

"I can't find it anywhere!"

Sensing something coming up behind her, she started to serpentine.

She was gradually getting her wits back, remembering other options.

She considered rocketing away, but since she couldn't see where her opponent was,

that might lead to her just rocketing right into it. Maple decided the risk wasn't worth

it.

That left her with no option but sprinting senselessly and, every so often, feeling a

chilly draft at her back that left her very pale.

She was starting to run out of breath, too. She decided to go with her only other idea.

"How's Syrup doing…? Good, Spirit Cannon's primed. In which case… let's put the

throne away."

But just as she was certain she'd improved her predicament, something caught her

legs.

"Huh…?"

She looked down and saw white hands reaching out of the ground, wrapping

themselves around her.

"Augh! Let go! Oh no…!"

The cold grip had found her once more.

Since she had been caught by the white hands, the cold one couldn't lift her—but the

boss's piercing attack was clearly imminent. If Maple's HP hit zero again, Indomitable

Guardian wouldn't save her.

She immediately called Syrup back out, but her thoughts were too scattered to give it

any instructions.

"Um, um! Agh, wh-what now?!"

She was definitely panicking now. And in a race against the clock, all she could do was

throw out her default moves, acting on pure instinct and habit.

"Predators! Saturating Chaos! Pandemonium! Hydra! Spirit Cannon! Mother Nature!"

A parade of demons appeared behind her, and two ogres loomed in the darkness

above.

A limbless monster appeared on either side of her while another ran out in front,

followed closely by the Hydra.

Out in the darkness, thick vines were coiling out of the ground, and with a roar, the

Spirit Cannon fired in the direction the Hydra had gone.

The ogres breathed fire, banishing the dark. The air filled with the sound of monster

teeth gnashing, clubs pounding, and vines stretching.

"Hnggg!"

The grip holding Maple in place loosened, and she whipped out her collection of

charms, frantically slapping them on the hand around her.

Any second now it might end her—for the first time, Maple felt the fear of imminent

defeat.

But before her HP vanished—she heard something shatter.

And dazzling light pierced the darkness.

"Wha…?!"

The shroud around her shattered like glass and crumbled away, replaced with light.

When all the dark was gone, she was left in a featureless white room.

"Huh… eh-heh-heh. Thanks, everyone!"

Relieved, Maple flopped over on her back, staring up.

And smiled at the menagerie staring down at her.

"…Right, gotta chug a potion."

She sat up and grabbed a potion from her inventory.

Once her HP was restored, she slowly stood up.

"Whew… that was a close one. But what did the trick? Did instant death kick in, by any

chance?"

Maple stretched, looking around.

All that darkness had turned to pure white. Maple couldn't even tell how big the room

was.

"Let's see… Yup, over there! Oh, bye-bye, ogres!"

Maple waved, and their time ran out. Her demon army vanished.

Only Syrup and her Predators remained. With them in tow, she headed to her new

destination.

"I saw this for an instant on the peak…"

There was a weather-beaten cross stuck in the ground at the center of the white room,

with withered flowers all around.

Maple bent down to look, and a voice whispered in her ear.

"Thank you… and good night."

"Wh-who said that?!"

Maple peered up and saw light rising from the cross.

The light took shape, and a woman appeared in front of her.

She extended her hand in Maple's direction—then the light rose skyward, and she was

gone.

"…Was it that ghost I fought? Does that mean I exorcised it… or helped it pass on

somehow? Hmm?"

She felt something around her neck and touched it.

That was the moment she realized she was wearing a pendant.

"Oh, a locket? There's a picture inside… Could it be that woman? It's so faded I can't

really make it out."

From the few surviving details, she could just about see a woman standing in a field of

flowers.

Maple took the locket off, checking the description.

"Oh, it's not just any random item; it's an accessory. Helping Hands? Did I help her?

I'm not even sure how that fight ended."

Maple had been in such a panic, she had no idea what move had earned her the victory.

She gave up trying to figure it out and decided to read the rest of the accessory

description.

Helping Hands

Accessory.

Adds two equipment slots to the hands.

"Wow! That's perfect for Sally. I kinda want one… but I also don't wanna come here

again. I'm not even really sure how I got here in the first place."

Maple was already dead set on giving this accessory to Sally.

She quickly sent her a message, asking to meet up on the fifth stratum.

Sally answered soon after, so Maple made her way down a floor.

When Maple reached the fifth-stratum Guild Home, she found Sally waiting for her.

"Hey, Sally! Sorry for the sudden call."

"No prob. What's up?"

"Well, I finally found a way to pay you back for all your help, so… I got eager. Here!"

With that, she took the boots and locket out of her inventory.

Sally instantly realized these must be sixth-stratum gear, and she recoiled, closing her

eyes.

After a minute, she managed to open one eye just wide enough to look.

"Mm… hmm. N-not too bad. The shoes are a little creepy… There's nothing in them,

right?"

"Huh? Um, no, I don't think so."

Maple poked the toes, making sure.

Sally carefully took them from her and checked the descriptions.

"These aren't the shoes I was originally after, but… they're actually stronger. And the

locket is… wow. That's nuts!"

The ability to equip two extra pieces of gear was absolutely game warping, and Sally

gave Maple a look of disbelief. Her head spun with questions, but none of them quite

managed to become words.

"It'll be hard to get another one… and I don't really know how I got there. So take care

of it!"

"Um… yeah. I will. Thanks!"

Maple's smile was so bright Sally decided that was the only response she needed.

"I'll go try it out!"

"Have fun!"

Maple waved her out the door.

Then she flopped down on the sofa, wriggling with joy over how pleased Sally had

been.

Then the next day…

Sally gave the locket back.

"Er, you're sure? It's yours!"

Maple assumed Sally was just feeling guilty, but Sally shook her head.

"Sorry, Maple. I can't use that."

Her voice was a whisper, and question marks appeared over Maple's head.

"Maple… equip that in the field. While you do that, I'm going to stay right here."

With that, Sally fled into the back.

"Hmm…"

Maple decided to do as she was told. She headed out to the field and put the Helping

Hands on.

"Yikes?!"

Two transparent hands emerged from behind her, hovering in the air to either side.

"Ah. Okay, yeah… I thought you passed on, ghost!"

The locket's name was very literal.

The hands in front of her had nothing past the wrists, and there was no way Sally could

tolerate that.

"Also, you didn't help Sally at all! More like… argh."

Maple decided that in the future she'd better try things out herself before giving them

to Sally.

It might have been a terrible gift, but Maple didn't have a problem using this herself.

She put her gear back the way it had been and opened her stat menu, checked her

accessory slots, and thought things over.

Maple

Lv50 HP 40/40 <+160> MP 12/12 <+10>

[STR 0] [VIT 250 <+1755>]

[AGI 0] [DEX 0]

[INT 0]

Equipment

Head [None] Body [Black Rose Armor: Saturating Chaos]

R. Hand [New Moon: Hydra] L. Hand [Night's Facsimile: Devour]

Legs [Black Rose Armor] Feet [Black Rose Armor]

Accessories [Bonding Bridge]

[Toughness Ring]

[Life Ring]

Skills

Shield Attack, Sidestep, Deflect, Meditation, Taunt, Inspire

HP Boost (S), MP Boost (S)

Great Shield Mastery VII, Cover Move VI, Cover, Pierce Guard, Counter

Absolute Defense, Moral Turpitude, Giant Killing, Hydra Eater, Bomb Eater, Sheep

Eater, Indomitable Guardian

Psychokinesis

Fortress, Martyr's Devotion, Machine God, Quick Change, Bug Urn Curse, Zone Freeze

Pandemonium I, Green's Grace, Heaven's Throne, Nether Nexus

"Hmm, I'll have to take a ring off to equip Helping Hands, but I can't take Bonding

Bridge off."

If she did that, she would no longer be able to summon Syrup.

Syrup was her precious partner, so she would definitely have to remove one of the

other accessories.

"In that case, I think it'll have to be the Toughness Ring. I'll have thirty less HP, but… I

can just raise my defense more instead!"

Maple happily nodded to herself and tucked the Toughness Ring away in her inventory,

equipping the Helping Hands instead.

Pale hands appeared in the air, one on either side of her.

And two extra equipment slots appeared on her menu.

"I guess… White Snow and Amethyst Geode? Looks like I can't choose any equipment

I have set to Quick Change."

With the extra shields, Maple's VIT was boosted by another seventy points. And with

skills factored in, that number increased sixfold.

Maple looked back and saw each of the Helping Hands holding a shield.

"Oh, looks like I can move them around! It's… really hard…"

If Maple pictured the hands moving in her head, they obeyed.

It was sort of like having two extra arms.

"I found it easy enough to move Atrocity, but this is way… way harder."

She practiced moving the shields around for a while, but either both would move the

same way, or she'd focus too hard on one, leaving the other at a standstill. It seemed

like it would be a long time before she got the hang of them.

"Well, this is good enough for now!"

She pulled both shields in close and held her own shield up as well.

A veritable wall of shields was arrayed in front of her, and most things would bounce

right off.

"I think I'll just practice this for now."

She spent some time pulling the shields into a mini phalanx.

"I need to get better at using my great shield in the first place. Maybe I should ask

Chrome."

With that in mind, she headed back to the Guild Home.

Since her extra shields were an accessory, not a skill, they didn't go away even while

she was in town.

As a result, a lot of passing players did a double take, stopping dead in their tracks to

stare or take photos to report to their guilds.

Maple noticed none of this and cheerily swept into her Guild Home.

She found Chrome relaxing on a couch inside.

"Hey, Mapl— Oh."

Chrome caught up fast and did his best to greet her with a smile.

Maple looked delighted and ran up to him.

"Chrome! I could use some help getting better with shields."

"By that you mean… with these extra floating ones?"

"Exactly! I've got more hands now, but they're hard to use."

"Yeah, not every day you get more… hands…"

Figuring he'd just do what he could to help, he followed Maple back to the training

room.

She also showed off Heaven's Throne, which was enough to send Chrome over the

edge.

For the heck of it, they tried sparring, and Chrome swiftly came to the conclusion that

even if Maple never learned to control the hands with any precision, it wouldn't really

matter.

While she was perched upon her throne, the occasional piercing attack would pose no

real threat, and with extra shields, the odds of a piercing attack hitting her directly

were even lower.

And if she stood up, she could enter Atrocity mode; even sitting down, Indomitable

Guardian would save her in a pinch. While she was enthroned and immobile, her party

could more than make up for her lack of mobility—it let them focus on attacking, too.

"Yeah, I don't think I'd be able to beat her. Especially not while she's on that throne.

That said, it's definitely not all-powerful."

Chrome decided he'd just have to help her compensate for those deficiencies, and he

started teaching her what tricks he could think of.

641 Name: Anonymous Great Shielder

Sup

642 Name: Anonymous Spear Master

We already know

643 Name: Anonymous Archer

They've multiplied.

Maple, surrounded by shields.

And extra hands!

644 Name: Anonymous Mage

So much extra defense…

645 Name: Anonymous Great Shielder

I sparred with her a bit and came to report in, but… y'all are one step ahead.

I'll lay my take on you anyway.

646 Name: Anonymous Greatsworder

No need to say anything that might undermine her.

647 Name: Anonymous Great Shielder

Gotcha.

First, like you saw, she has extra hands.

All the shields stats and skills are still in effect.

So she's even more impregnable, but given Maple's existing stats, it's honestly a drop

in the bucket.

Frankly, the fact that there's even more stuff between you and her now boggles the

mind.

And she can move them.

How do you hit someone with three shields?

648 Name: Anonymous Archer

That's life and death for an archer.

Also, she can control them all?!

I'm screaming.

649 Name: Anonymous Great Shielder

She's not great at using shields yet, so there's still room to improve.

That's a pretty big yet.

650 Name: Anonymous Spear Master

The top great shielder ain't even using her shield… how can you not laugh?

It's like she's still got shackles on.

Part of me is screaming at her to never learn.

651 Name: Anonymous Great Shielder

Oh, and

I finally saw the throne firsthand.

It doesn't naturally grow from the turtle shell.

652 Name: Anonymous Mage

We figured.

653 Name: Anonymous Archer

Normally, you just drop it on the ground.

654 Name: Anonymous Great Shielder

And when she does, it still generates that white zone when she's sitting on it.

And the throne blocks some skills.

Several of mine were sealed.

Probably all the crazy skills…

Which probably affects Maple, too.

Dunno the deets.

Oh, and it heals her.

655 Name: Anonymous Greatsworder

That's way too hard a hit to save for a finisher.

If she's sitting there and has any friend with her, she's already won.

656 Name: Anonymous Mage

But if it blocks crazy skills… does she have anything left?

657 Name: Anonymous Spear Master

Does it seal Maple herself?

Because she's worse than all her minions.

658 Name: Anonymous Archer

She's nice while she's sitting down.

Probably a good idea to not make her stand.

659 Name: Anonymous Greatsworder

She was always a great shielder…

But her protection skills being what they are…

the more friends she has, the stronger she gets.

When she's rolling with the whole guild, ain't no one taking that castle down.

660 Name: Anonymous Spear Master

Her guards too stronk.

When they're in her zone…

Only option is to stealth in and sneak attack.

Maple's the queen now.

Royalty get assassinated all the time.

Might work.

661 Name: Anonymous Great Shielder

I dunno.

Not sure what resists she has besides poison, and can you take her before she's got it

all up and running?

662 Name: Anonymous Greatsworder

Maybe a raid boss.

No normal human could do it.

No superhuman could do it, either.

Masters would sense the threat and stay away.

Our only hope is a boss programmed to charge in guns blazin'!

663 Name: Anonymous Mage

But if it can beat Maple in a slugfest, ain't nobody else taking that thing.

664 Name: Anonymous Great Shielder

Anyway, that's all for Maple updates.

I'ma go teach her some more shield skills.

Later!

665 Name: Anonymous Greatsworder

He's gonna make her unstoppable!

666 Name: Anonymous Spear Master

She already is!

667 Name: Anonymous Greatsworder

True. True.

They then spent some time discussing what sort of country Maple would rule, but

that's another story.