I hate being in pain, so I think I'll make a full defense build

Itai no wa Iya nanode Bōgyo-Ryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu 359

Defense Specialization and Collecting Miniatures

As management waited for the appearance of the last raid boss with anticipation, Maple spent her days in relaxation. Up until now, she had generally just rested and did nothing, but now that there were clear objectives with the raid bosses and miniature monsters, she enjoyed doing those as well, and using her time effectively. She was currently at the guild home and showing off the miniature monsters she had acquired.

“This is the first jellyfish that I got. And here is my sea anemone and clownfish. And there’s also a manta ray, shark, and crab!”

Maple said as she lined them up on a desk in the guild home. They looked like incredibly detailed, moving figures, and the top of the desk was now like an aquarium.

“Woah. You gathered quite a lot. You have more than me.”

Sally also took out the ones that she had. Sally was like Velvet, and had acquired them because she liked the idea of fighting boss monsters that were exclusive to this event. And so she didn’t have as many as Maple, who was actively going around for the purpose of collecting them.

“They make quite a sight when there are this many.”

“Yeah. Players who like aquariums must be really happy right now.”

“While it would be possible for me to make such figures, it’s so different when they move around like this.”

“Just don’t start forging actual lifeforms…”

“Yes, I can’t do that yet.”

“The fact that you think you’ll be able to one day is insane.”

A figure that had an animation gimmick was quite different from a miniature-size living creature. And even Izu did not have the ability to produce monsters, which made these things quite special.

“Well, there are too many to place inside my room, so I think I’ll leave a few over here.”

“It really adds to the healing atmosphere. Hmm. Maybe I’ll go and search for some as well.”

“But I don’t know if there are really enough to fill up this shared space. I went around the dungeons myself, and they’re not something that just pop up out of nowhere.”

“Yes, I heard that they are quite rare!”

“They are occasionally dropped by raid bosses as well…that’s how I got mine.”

Every time a raid boss was killed, the involved players would receive random materials and items. And sometimes, they would get the miniature monsters. As Mai and Yui were welcomed as the ultimate weapon against the raid bosses, they often visited the other layers as well. And so they had more drop items than any of the other members of Maple Tree. Because of this, the odds were in their favor in terms of acquiring them.

“It seems like the raid bosses are being hunted down smoothly. And we’ll get the reward for the second half of the event, that will be five medals. I wonder if we’ll be able to trade them in for skills for the next event?”

“Yes, yes. Alright, let’s do our best to defeat the last ones!”

The long 9th event was finally heading towards the final phase. And so Maple and the others were excited to succeed in defeating the remaining raid bosses.

That day, Maple intended on going out into the field again in order to go dungeon crawling.

“Which one should I go to…”

As she did this, she came to the realization that different special bosses could appear in the same dungeon. However, she also felt that there were varying likelihoods for each one. This was why even though she had enough types to cover her desk, the dungeon she had gone to with Velvet had yielded jellyfish two times in a row.

“I want to collect every type, but I’m not sure if that is possible…”

As Maple prefered to find different ones instead of collecting the same thing, she decided to head over to a different dungeon today. And since there would be a need to reach the boss multiple times, it would be best to choose a dungeon that was not too difficult.

“Hmmm… I know! I’ll go to that one!”

Maple decided on her destination, and then used Syrup to fly straight towards it from the town.

The place she went to was the colosseum where you had to repeatedly fight the stone statues. She had already come here a few times with Sally, and knew how strong the enemies were. And since they would be weaker than they were when with Sally, she felt that she would have no trouble winning. The path was just a straight line forward, and since all the weak monsters here were from the event, it was the perfect place to go if she was going to fight over and over again.

“I didn’t expect to come back here so many times…”

Maple had Syrup descend near the entrance, and then she jumped off and went inside.

“‘Dedicated Affection,’ ‘Predator’!”

Now that she thought of it, ‘Predator’ was a skill she had acquired a long time ago. And since it did not level up, its attack ability had started to become unsatisfying. But thanks to ‘Monster Peak,’ it was able to grow into something stronger and deal great damage once again.

“You can do it!”

Maple took ‘Predator’ with her as she entered the first room and faced the stone statue. As she didn’t know how powerful the special boss would be, she wanted to save skills that could be saved. Out of all of Maple’s damage skills, the one she could use multiple times without issue was ‘Predator.’ As long as she wasn’t defeated, she could continue to fight with it no matter how many times it attacked. With ‘Dedicated Affection’ and Maple’s defense ability, it was able to do so much more than was originally intended.

The two monsters bit into the stone statue with the club. And while the stone statue tried to swing its club and hit them, the attacks were all nullified by Maple’s ‘Dedicated Affection.’

“Alright! Now I just have to wait!”

Once she saw that she couldn’t take any damage, Maple used Syrup’s ‘Red Garden’ in order to boost the damage. After that, she just needed to wait for ‘Predator’ to kill the stone statue.

As it had no way to get through to Maple, it didn’t matter how much time it had. It would eventually be eaten to death. Ultimately, as the first stone statue swung its club desperately at ‘Predator,’ its HP was carved away completely, and it exploded.

“Yes! We got it! You did get stronger! It really is different when your status goes up.”

Maple said as she petted the two monsters. And then she quickly made her way to the next stone statue.

It was two monsters against one statue. She had the advantage in numbers. And she had no disadvantages. And so the second stone statue was also bitten until it crumbled into nothing.

However, Maple’s shoulders dropped in disappointment when she reached the boss and realized that it was a miss. Unlike the other times, the walls and ground were not covered in water. It was the same as it was originally. There was no guarantee that the special boss would appear. She just had to try it repeatedly and hope that she got lucky.

“Okay, let’s get this over with!”

Maple entered the giant colosseum that was the boss room in order to see what the stone statue would be like if she came alone. What she saw was a basic statue with a long sword and shield. Maple sighed with relief.

“Alright, let’s do this! Syrup, ‘Red Garden,’ ‘White Garden’!”

Maple used Syrup to create an area that would be advantageous to her. Then she prepared to fight the boss that was running towards her with its sword raised. The giant stone sword came swinging down with all the force necessary to crush Maple. And while it targeted her head with precision, right when the two collided, the blade stopped and was not able to cut any deeper. And if the giant weapon was unable to get past her defenses, then it was no better than decoration.

“And now, ‘Deploy all Weapons,’ ‘Commence Attack’!”

As the weapons would not have been able to survive the sword, she had waited until this moment to create her guns and canons. And then she began firing as a way of supporting ‘Predator’ and its attacks.

If the boss blocked her gunfire with its shield, it would be unable to stop ‘Predator.’ And if it stopped ‘Predator,’ it would be pierced by her bullets. This was where the true difference between Maple and the boss appeared. One needed to block with a shield and the other did not.

However, due to how this dungeon was designed, the boss was made for one on one fights. And so it was capable of handling a wide range of situations. And so it blocked the bullets with its shield as it charged towards Maple. If it was charging, it was unlikely to use piercing attacks, and so she continued to fire while having ‘Predator’ bite into it. And like that, as Maple waited to see how it would swing its sword, a shield was thrust towards her instead.

“Huh?! …ggg!”

In other words, it was a shield bash. And while Maple did not take any damage, her entire body was hit by the shield. Her weapons crumbled, and a powerful knockback effect sent her flying into the air.

“Ah!”

The knockback effect caused ‘Predator’ to leave the range of ‘Dedicated Affection.’ And so Maple had to run frantically and call ‘Predator’ back.

As for the boss, it had unleashed a spin attack with its long sword, which was covered in a red effect. It moved as if trying to cut everything in the area.

“I made it! ‘Pierce Guard,’ ‘Heavy Body’!”

Maple barely managed to cover ‘Predator’ with ‘Dedicated Affection’ once again as she swiftly activated piercing and knockback nullifying skills, which saved them in the end. It seemed like it had been a very powerful attack, but now that she was using a ‘Pierce Guard,’ she had nothing to fear.

“Alright! I won’t let my guard down anymore! Let’s finish this!”

Maple developed her weapons once again and sent ‘Predator’ to attack the boss. And just as she promised, she continued to push the boss. In the end, it did not get another chance to launch a counter attack.