The four of them entered the first layer guild home and sat down facing each other so they could talk .
Sally had run back to erase her posting on the message board before coming to the guild home, so they would not be taking in anyone else .
These kinds of talks were usually handled by Sally . She would ask them questions and receive information about them .
The white-haired player’s name was Yui and the black-haired player’s name was Mai .
They were both level 4 and neither had a single skill .
Their weapons were giant sledgehammers that were at least 1 . 5 x their height .
“So… you two put all your points into one place?”
Maple asked them .
“Yes . Both I and my sister put them into ‘STR . ‘”
The reason that these two put everything into ‘STR’ was that they were physically weak and lacked muscles in reality . And so they wanted to move around as much as they could inside of the game .
“Hmm… That’s kind of similar to you, isn’t it Maple?”
“Ahaha…I guess . ”
Just like these two, Maple was not fixated on what would be advantageous within the game .
That was why they did not recognize Maple, they had not put all their points into one place because they wanted to be like her .
“So Maple… You are also like us?”
“Yes, I am . I put everything into ‘VIT’!”
The two were very surprised by this .
Because they had never seen anyone who had done this successfully .
“Well…I’m not sure that Maple is…the best example…”
Perhaps Maple secretly agreed, because she did not deny it .
“What do you think? Sally? Can I bring them in?”
“Yes . I think so… There won’t be any demerits to their ‘STR’ build as long as you are there… There shouldn’t a problem once they can bring their level up within the month, anyway . ”
With Sally’s approval, it was decided that Yui and Mai would join as members .
Maple registered both of them and so they were now a part of Maple Tree .
Now that this was done, they wanted to broaden the two girls’ range of movement to include the third layer, which is where Maple Tree was now active .
“Are you free today?”
“Uh, um, yes . I am . You’re free too, aren’t you, sister?”
“Yes, I am free as well . ”
“Then come with me and Maple and we can head to the third layer together . ”
“WHAAA!?”
“WHAAA!?”
The two reacted with surprise, but Maple and Sally were already on their way out of the town .
Once they were outside of the town, Sally turned around and looked towards Maple .
“Maple . The usual . ”
Following her request, Maple called out Syrup, much to the surprise of the two girls . Then they got on its back and flew up into the sky .
“Don’t fall off . ”
Maple warned them, but the two were so shocked that they were unable to react to anything she said .
“They are still very early in the game… It will take a while for them to get used to this . ”
Getting used to Maple that is . It was the first thing that every new member of Maple Tree needed to do .
The four quickly moved on to the boss room in the second layer and opened the doors to go inside .
“Uhhh… If we die, please forgive us . ”
Mai groaned . It was clear that she did not want to be a burden to the others .
“Ah…that won’t happen . ”
“‘Dedicated Affection’!”
Maple shouted . Her hair then changed color and angel wings sprouted from her back .
The two girls froze, their thought process had completed halted .
They were no longer able to comprehend what was happening .
“I’ll deal with this . You sit down and watch . ”
“Understood! Do your best!”
Maple said and then took the two girls to a corner of the room .
“…! Are you sure!? Sally is going to fight by herself! But, that’s a boss, right?”
Yui asked as she got closer to Maple .
“It’s fine, it’s fine . After all, I’ve never once seen Sally take any damage . ”
“… . What?”
“… . What?”
“It’s starting now . ”
Sally had called out Oboro in the direction that Maple was pointing . She was now running directly towards the deer .
There was no chance that the same attacks would be effective on Sally . She twisted her body and lowered her head as she dodged the deer’s attacks and bridged the gap between them .
“Oboro! ‘Shadow Clone’!”
As Sally shouted this, she split into five versions of herself . Each Sally ran separately from each other and charged at the deer .
Even Maple was surprised by this .
“I didn’t know that Oboro was capable of doing that now…”
“Sa-Sally is so amazing! How, how is she even dodging that!? And now she’s cloned herself!”
Yui was very excited as she talked to Maple .
“Who knows…? Even I have no idea…”
Even as they talked like this, the attack boost aura that surrounded Sally was getting bigger and bigger .
She was attacking with magic and daggers, in addition to the flames of Oboro . It only took a little longer than ten minutes for the deer to fall .
Now that the fight was over, the three of them ran up to Sally .
“Oboro’s advanced quite a lot, huh . ”
“Yeah . Let’s hurry up and take care of the second layer boss . ”
The four of them quickly entered the second layer and went straight to the dungeon .
“I won’t be fighting this time . ”
“Mm . Okay . ”
It was decided that Maple would fight the second layer’s boss by herself .
Yui and Mai looked worried when Sally declared this .
It was not surprising . Maple’s equipment was a large shield, and they had heard from her that she had put everything into ‘VIT . ’
They understood the defense capabilities of ‘Dedicated Affection,’ but they still had not seen anything that would suggest Maple was strong in terms of combat .
Oblivious to their feelings on the matter, Maple opened the doors to the boss room and casually walked inside .
“Sally, don’t you think that you should go and help her…”
“I, I agree . ”
“Hmm . What a refreshing reaction . ”
This might just have been the first time Sally saw another player be worried about Maple .
That was how famous Maple was . Mainly as a threat .
“Did you think my fighting was amazing?”
“Uh…y-yes . ”
“Uh…y-yes . ”
Inhuman ability to evade . Powerful skills .
The battle with the deer was so amazing, that if it was viewed by 100 people, all of them would agree .
“In just a moment you two are going to see a fight that will seem ridiculous and should not be possible in this world . ”
Sally told them to concentrate hard on what they were about to see . Then she herself looked towards the walking Maple .
These two did now know it yet, but they would in just a few dozen seconds .
“Sally did tell me to show them everything… Syrup!”
Maple called Syrup out and blew it up to a gigantic size before making it float in the air .
All the while, she was being attacked by the boss but received zero damage .
“‘Hydra’, ‘Oozing Chaos,’ Syrup ‘Soul Canon’!”
The three-headed hydra, the monster’s mouth, and the shining beam all smashed into the Tree Boss .
While the boss was recoiling, Maple had now reached it . She pulled out her great shield, even as she continued to nullify all damage .
‘Bizarre Eater’ gouged at its trunk . The bosses HP was falling rapidly by the onrush of special attacks .
But even then, Maple’s attacks would not stop .
“‘Predator’! ‘Dedicated Affection’!”
Two monsters appeared beside Maple and immediately bit into the boss .
Angel wings sprouted from Maple’s back, protecting the monsters .
The boss let out a great cry and thrashed with its branches and fired magic attacks at Maple and the monsters, but all of it was meaningless .
“‘Savagery’!”
A black pillar of light rose from Maple before materializing into a giant monster .
It spat fire, it ground with its teeth, it tore with its claws, until the boss was in tatters .
It was a one-sided assault . It was no longer easy to tell just which of them was the boss .
“Hahh… It’s done, it’s done . ”
“Maple . You can return to your original form now . ”
“Ahh . Sorry, sorry . ”
Maple popped out of the monster’s stomach and then it disappeared .
“Okay, let’s go to the third layer now!”
“Yes, lets . ”
Maple began to walk on ahead as soon as Sally replied .
Sally looked towards Yui and Mai and said:
“She’s the strongest in our party . See? I bet I look pretty normal now, right?”
“…”
“…”
Both of them were unable to process what they had just witnessed and could only stand there with vacant expressions .
“But you two and Maple have something in common . So may you two will one day…become just like her . ”
Sally suggested as she took Yui and Mai’s hands and led them towards the third layer .
Please understand that Yui and Mai are twins in the real world, so their names can be confusing . Yes .