Defense Specialization and Dedicated Affection.

　　Five days had now pa.s.sed since Maple asked Izu to make a full set of gear for her.

　　Just as Maple finished logging in and appeared in the guild home, Izu came walking out of her workshop.

　　“Maple, your gear…it’s ready.”

　　“Really!”

　　“Yes. Here, I’ll show it you.”

　　So saying, Izu pulled out a full set of white armor, a large s.h.i.+eld, a short sword and a platinum tiara.

　　Each piece of gear was set with precious blue stones in different places.

　　Overall, it had the look of a holy knight, minus the tiara.

　　“Have I become a knight now?”

　　Maple put on all of the new gear and then checked her stats.

　　(Arcangel Tiara X)

　　HP + 250

　　(Archangel White s.h.i.+eld IX)

　　HP + 300

　　(Archangel Holy Sword VIII)

　　HP + 200

　　(Archangel Holy Armor IX)

　　HP + 350

　　“What are these numbers like X and IX…?”

　　Maple asked.

　　“Those are numbers you get from the ‘reinforcement‘ which can only be used with gear made with the ‘forging’ skill. Gear made with ‘forging’ cannot use skills like other gear used in other events, so it’s a merit that makes up for it.”

　　“Oh, I see…”

　　“The success rate of ‘reinforcement’ changes depending on the ‘forging’ skill… It takes a lot of luck to reach the biggest number that is X.”

　　Izu had somehow made a top-cla.s.s set of armor without compromising.

　　After that, she spilled that it was two levels stronger than the set she had made for Chrome, but Maple was too busy checking her gear to notice her say this.

　　As Maple continued with her inspection, the rest of the remaining four guild members arrived at the guild home.

　　“Hm? …Oh! So that’s the gear Izu has been making. It really suits you. It makes me want some new gear too…”

　　“It makes me scared just thinking of what caused Maple to want new gear…”

　　“Ah, that’s it…”

　　“Maple, you look really good in white!”

　　Chrome, Sally, Kasumi, and Kaede all said.

　　“So… Do you all want to go and fight? I’ll explain just why I had a new set of gear made on the way.”

　　Everyone agreed, as long as they could see the reason behind all of this.

　　Even Izu said she would go, as she wanted to see the gear do ‘it.’

　　“Is this a good spot?”

　　Maple put everyone on board the Syrup and flew towards an area that was known to have monsters in large packs.

　　“Well…here I go! ‘Dedicated Affection’!”

　　A red damage effect burst from Maple’s body.

　　As soon as it cleared, a circular area around Maple that was ten meters in diameter began to glow.

　　And that wasn’t the only thing that happened.

　　Two wings that were pure white grew from Maple’s back and a white, glowing ring appeared above her head.

　　Her hair had turned into a brilliant gold, her eyes were now a deep blue.

　　“WHA…?”

　　“I was surprised too, at first.”

　　“Ahaha… My appearance changes… Ah, here come some monsters.”

　　For a moment the other four were too stunned to move, but then they realized that anything could happen when it came to Maple, and so they changed their mode of thinking.

　　They had gotten quite used to her by now.

　　131 Name: Anonymous Magic User

　　Please

　　132 Name: Anonymous Great s.h.i.+eld User

　　Okay

　　First, about Sally

　　Sally is a PS non-human

　　From what I saw, she doesn’t seem to be using any skills

　　She fought with quite a lot of monsters, but I didn’t see her taking any damage

　　Also, there was some kind aura added

　　133 Name: Anonymous Bow User

　　I guess that thing for the event will be Sally after all

　　134 Name: Anonymous Great Sword User

　　She’s even evolved

　　An aura he says

　　135 Name: Anonymous Spear User

　　Hmph

　　Sally does seem like she’d have some unknown skills

　　But not as much as Maple

　　136 Name: Anonymous Great s.h.i.+eld User

　　Next, about Maple

　　For the past few days, Maple has been off somewhere all alone

　　And when she got back

　　137 Name: Anonymous Great Sword User

　　Hurry up

　　138 Name: Anonymous Spear User

　　Hurry

　　139 Name: Anonymous Magic User

　　What happened?

　　140 Name: Anonymous Great s.h.i.+eld User

　　She was an angel

　　141 Name: Anonymous Bow User

　　We already know that Maple is an angel

　　142 Name: Anonymous Magic User

　　You’re late with that one

　　143 Name: Anonymous Great Sword User

　　Maple is always angelic, right?

　　144 Name: Anonymous Spear User

　　Of course, she is

　　145 Name: Anonymous Great s.h.i.+eld User

　　Ah, well, alright

　　I will rephrase that

　　Maple returned with a skill that gave her an angel’s halo, wings and blonde hair and blue eyes.

　　146 Name: Anonymous Spear User

　　Wha

　　147 Name: Anonymous Magic User

　　This is what happens when you leave her alone

　　148 Name: Anonymous Great Sword User

　　Why? Where did she get such a skill?

　　149 Name: Anonymous Great s.h.i.+eld User

　　I don’t know

　　The skill name is ‘Dedicated Affection’

　　It apparently has a skill that uses your HP to constantly ‘cover’ your party members

　　When Maple uses this

　　All the party members within the circle will become invincible unless she is defeated

　　150 Name: Anonymous Great Sword User

　　So she finally got her second form

　　She should become the last boss, don’t you think?

　　151 Name: Anonymous Spear User

　　A scene of h.e.l.l will seem lukewarm

　　If you leave her alone

　　Eventually, it will happen

　　She will return with a third form

　　Definitely

　　152 Name: Anonymous Great s.h.i.+eld User

　　On top of that, I found out that Maple still has over 1,000 VIT when she removes all of her gear

　　153 Name: Anonymous Bow User

　　I don’t even understand anymore

　　154 Name: Anonymous Spear User

　　1,000 without gear is crazy

　　Is her body made of steel?

　　Is she an orichalc.u.m?

　　155 Name: Anonymous Great Sword User

　　But, it hasn’t even been that long since Maple first started

　　We weren’t even at the second level when rumors about Maple started to surface

　　There must be something on the first level

　　156 Name: Anonymous Great s.h.i.+eld User

　　I thought so too

　　But if that were the case, then there would have been a second and third Maple by now

　　157 Name: Anonymous Magic User

　　That’s just it

　　I don’t know why Maple is the only one who can do it

　　After that, everyone thought long and hard about it. But they could not discover the reason that Maple was able to gain those skills.

　　“Everyone! You will be able to block any attack now!”

　　“I’ll do it… The others won’t know how, yet…”

　　Izu said as she started to walk towards the monsters herself. A blow struck her body.

　　However, her HP did not move an inch.

　　“Huh? What does this mean?”

　　“It’s Maple’s skill… Apparently, everyone who is in this circle will constantly have ‘cover’ activated for them…”

　　“Though it will cost you a little HP at first.”

　　Izu had made the set of gear to offset the HP cost.

　　Just like ‘Hidora’, ‘Dedicated Affection’ was a skill that came with several other skills. This meant that even now, there were other skills that Maple hadn’t shown yet.

　　And she had to pay the cost of each of those with HP.

　　Maple’s previous set of gear did not have enough HP to offset the cost of all of them.

　　Furthermore, the new gear was completely forward compatible with ‘Philanthropy Knight’.

　　The extra quests were not just for show.

　　“…So in other words, everyone had the same defensive capabilities as Maple… Woah..”

　　As long as they were in the area, no one could hurt the other members unless they defeated Maple first.

　　But it would be incredibly difficult to defeat Maple.

　　It won’t even be a fair fight unless you could do piercing attacks repeatedly on everyone.

　　And you would have to actually be hitting all of your targets.

　　There was no way you could hit Sally, and Chrome would block the attack with his great s.h.i.+eld, and Kasumi was great at evading.

　　Kaede was the only fighter who could possibly be hit.

　　“But Maple, you changed your gear, right? Are you sure that you have enough defensive power to nullify attacks towards us…?”

　　“Don’t worry! Even if I wasn’t wearing anything, my vitality is over 1,000!”

　　“Haha…1,000?”

　　Kasumi and Chrome thought that this was so crazy that they could only laugh.

　　The two of them decided that they would just stop trying to think about it.

　　As they rode Syrup on their way back, Chrome began to talk.

　　“I, I’ve been talking about Maple and Sally on the message boards, do you think that I should stop?”

　　“Hmmm… I don’t really mind. Everything that I’ve told you can be told to anyone else.”

　　“I agree with Sally, after all…”

　　“It won’t change what we do just because someone knows about it.”

　　Even if Chrome shared what he knew on the message boards, Sally’s ability to evade wouldn’t be affected, neither would Maple’s defenses.

　　Chrome didn’t know how to acquire the skills, so he couldn’t write anything too important.

　　It was not a big issue for either of them.

　　126 Name: Anonymous s.h.i.+eld User

　　Hey

　　127 Name: Anonymous Spear User

　　Yo

　　So you joined Maple’s guild…

　　I hate you! I’m so jealous!

　　128 Name: Anonymous Great Sword User

　　That’s so nice

　　I asked Sally to help me get close, but I don’t think it’s going to happen

　　129 Name: Anonymous Bow User

　　Give us information

　　You must have something

　　But I won’t ask for anything that you aren’t supposed to say

　　130 Name: Anonymous Spear User

　　It’s probably harder to give information now that they work together

　　Just tell us what you can