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

Itai no Wa 215

Defense Specialization and the Tower's Third Floor 2

After easily dealing with the small fries, the two start looking around once again.

Lava continues to pour out of the walls like waterfalls, and its brilliant gleam illuminates the walls and the ceiling.

"This is amazing… If it were real life, this would be so hot that we wouldn't be able to stay here for too long."

Maple leans down, looking towards the depths of a sea of lava.

Though Maple isn't going to touch the lava, she's very interested in the sight of such hot lava and its boiling sound.

"That's right… Ah, I see! Would it be a total waste to just focus on going through this tower?"

And so, while staying on the lookout, Sally imitates Maple and begins to look around, enjoying the kind of scenery she cannot normally see in the real world.

"What do you think the fourth floor is like?"

"Who knows? I haven't seen any info about it… But I hope it's not full of corridors like it's been so far. Maybe we can ride on Syrup there, too."

"Ah, that would be nice! I wouldn't have to worry about the ground!"

As opposed to the wide room they were in when they first entered this floor, the corridors are too narrow for the gigantic Syrup to pass through.

Then, after a short break, more burning birds begin to emerge from the lava waterfalls, reminding Maple and Sally that this is a battlefield.

Maple realizes this, and looking upwards and away from the lava, points at the newly spawned birds.

"Ah, Sally! Here they come again!"

"Let's ignore them, Maple!"

"Eh? Huh!?"

As she turns towards Sally, Maple sees a monster that looks like a fish, whose burning scales seemed as if molten into liquid lava. The monster opens its mouth and seems to be about to shoot out a lump of lava.

Maple quickly swings her shield forwards and activates 'Bizarre Eater', swallowing the lump of lava and nullifying the attack.

Then, the fish-like monster jumps out of the sea of lava, throwing its own over-three-feet-tall body at Maple, and gets swallowed into the shield.

"Ah! That was close!"

"I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention… That was dangerous…"

"It's okay. Let's hurry! Before more of them come!"

Maple stands up without taking her eyes off the edge of the lava sea, and stepping back, she turns towards the next corridor.

"I see… That shield is really strong, huh?"

Nowadays, Maple has more means to attack, so she's not as reliant on 'Bizarre Eater' as before, but it still remains a good skill that Maple has a great affinity with.

Sally reaffirms the skill's strength as she catches up with Maple.

The two take a deep breath as they jump into a corridor without being noticed by nearby monsters.

"I knew it, I can't settle down… I don't know from which side the monsters are going to come from!"

Maple says that while looking over her shoulder. Compared to the entrance, there is no place where monsters can hide within these narrow corridors, so it's relatively safe.

"As we go higher up this tower, the monsters and the terrain are going to get more and more troublesome, so you need to be on the lookout for piercing attacks and fixed damage. Ah, some monsters may seal off recovery spells, too…"

Sally informs Maple that there are many things that hinder support players, too.

"But if we should be fine as long as we just attack over and over, right? I want to be able to win from a support role, too."

"Yours is a bit different, Maple…"

"Is that so?"

The two chat as they continue walking, and carefully check the area when they reach the next room.

There are certain parts in the room where lava erupts out at relatively short intervals.

The bright red flames sometimes even reach as high as the ceiling. The two look at each other when they see that happen.

"Um, Sally? What… what should we do?"

"Huh? I think there's no other way around it… we have to be prepared to take some damage. Looks like we're going to go for a frontal assault!"

Sally thinks that if Maple uses 'Dedicated Affection', and they go forward under its protection, they should be able to get to the other side while recovering damage as they go.

"Maybe there's another way… 'Water Ball'!"

Sally uses water magic on the ground, but the lava won't stop gushing out.

The moment Sally tried using her water magic, Maple had thought that it would do the trick, but seemed disappointed that it didn't work in the end.

"Hmm, that didn't work. Well then, is there any other way through?"

"Let's retrace our steps for now. There are many other paths around, so how about we take a closer look elsewhere?"

"That's right! Ah, but we'll have to go back to that other room…"

Maple seems to be in low spirits since now they have to go back even though they went through great troubles to get past unnoticed.

"This is definitely the worst place I've ever been to."

"Tsk, tsk… then I'll get some items ready!"

Maple takes out some spheres that deal water damage from her inventory and holds them firmly in her hands.

"You do have quite a lot of items, don't you…?"

"Hehe, and they do come handy!"

And so, the two make up their mind and retrace their steps for the time being.