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

# Chapter 404 – Defense Specialization and Blue Light 2.

The remaining members of Maple Tree, who were in the country on the opposite side of Maple, had finished gathering basic information about the country of Water and Nature and were in discussion to send a portion of their members to the other side.

“Sally is investigating the monsters so I guess we’ll support investigating the land.”

“Yeah. Maple messaged saying that the quest’s feel isn’t too different so it’d probably be a good choice to explore the land.”

“It would be best if we could find an area only we know of. That would work really well for both surprise attacks and retreat.”

“That would surely help a lot.”

“Then let’s get to exploring!”

“To find a hidden area… l-let’s do our best.”

“Considering how it has been till now, hidden areas are not only hidden—they also have higher level monsters. We gotta be careful when exploring.”

“For now, let’s split up and continue searching and if we feel like we can’t handle it on our own, we call for help. Does that work?”

“I think that’s good. For starters, we’d be able to conquer almost any area if we proceed with 8 of us. We have to find the area first, though.”

Hidden areas wouldn’t really be *hidden* if they were easy to find. To find such an area, one not only insight and perception, but also a significant amount of luck.

“If you find any unusual material, I would appreciate it if you could bring back as many as you can.”

“…You’ve been indulging in installing stuff in the workshop so much after reaching the 9th floor that it’s rare to see you not working… What exactly are you building?”

“It’s a secret for now. I’ll probably reveal it when the event is closing in.”

“…What could it be?”

“It’s probably something amazing, sis!”

As Izu was making an item that a normal player couldn’t acquire, even top players like Chrome or Kasumi had no idea about it.

However, as her work is almost always useful, they could keep their hopes up and look forward to it.

“Let’s progress with the quest in our spare time and help out Sally with her information gathering!”

As Chrome revalidated their current objective, everyone there nodded in unison and Maple Tree went forth preparing for the event in their own way.

623 Name: Nameless Longsword User

Alliances are slowly forming, huh?

624 Name: Nameless Spear User

Some are declaring it and some are hiding it but what happens if one side has more players?

624 Name: Nameless Magician

Maybe there’s a limit or the side with less will get compensation?

624 Name: Nameless Archer

I mean, we’re making alliances on our own so I feel like there’ll be a limit to the number of players you can have

624 Name: Nameless Shielder

It probably won’t be random but maybe there’ll be a lottery of sorts one side has more

624 Name: Nameless Longsword User

Either way, we gotta prepare seriously and make sure we can deal with it

I think there might be a time-accelerating factor considering the scale and feel of the event but it also feels like there may be a limit to how many times you can respawn

624 Name: Nameless Spear User

That does seem probable

If they can use a zombie tactic where they revive no matter how many times you kill them then there won’t be an end to defense or offense

624 Name: Nameless Archer

Did you guys progress in the quest?

624 Name: Nameless Shielder

Somewhat

624 Name: Nameless Magician

You can do the quest anytime you want but the time till the event is limited so…

Figuring out the map first takes priority I guess

624 Name: Nameless Longsword User

There are a few dangerous looking areas, after all~

I feel like it was made that way to be vital during offense or defense

624 Name: Nameless Magician

Terrain has been the strongest weapon since ancient times…

624 Name: Nameless Spear User

There was this forest where lasers were flying by, after all…

624 Name: Nameless Longsword User

What’s with that weird sounding forest?

624 Name: Nameless Spear User

The leaves there are pure black and there’s almost no light inside

Blue lasers came gushing out from the inside

624 Name: Nameless Archer

It wasn’t like that when I went there for a quest, though…?

624 Name: Nameless Longsword User

Don’t they say that there are strong monsters deep inside the forest?

624 Name: Nameless Shielder

I guess there’s something…

624 Name: Nameless Magician

The monsters there weren’t as strong and I thought it’d be the perfect area for surprise attacks but if there’s unknown beam using beings in there then I might have to reconsider

624 Name: Nameless Longsword User

It’ll be hard to utilize that area until we figure out what it is

We’d know how strong the beams are if they hit the spear user…

624 Name: Nameless Spear User

No, thank you

624 Name: Nameless Shielder

I’m pretty tough so maybe I’ll go look for it

Surely it won’t one shot me

624 Name: Nameless Archer

If it’s one shotting people then only someone like Maple would be able to deal with it

624 Name: Nameless Longsword User

If it does no damage to Maple but one shots general tankers then it’ll be over if the Maple Tree confines themselves in there…

624 Name: Nameless Shielder

That’s true

The chatters here had no means to know that the one using the laser and stopping it was the same person.