BXBX NOVEL Chapter 328.1
Recently, Maple and Sally had been running around from layer to layer every day, but on this day, they had an appointment with someone. And so they were waiting in a town on the seventh layer.
“I think they should be here soon?”
“Hm. It looks like it. Isn’t that them?”
Maple looked to where Sally was pointing and saw that Velvet and Hinata were walking towards them. As they looked just like how Maple had described them, Sally recognized them at once.
“I’m glad we were able to meet again so soon!”
“Uh, this must be Miss Sally…?”
“Yes. Nice to meet you.”
“We’ll save time if we talk while we move!”
“Okay. Are you fine with that, Sally?”
“Sure.”
And like that, the four went out into the field. Their purpose today was to get to know each other. But that was just on the surface. What they really wanted, was to see each other’s skills and combat abilities. That being said, Sally and Velvet seemed to have different ways of approaching this.
The four of them continued to talk about inconsequential things for a while as they made their way to an area with the perfect monsters. As Maple was able to ride with Sally today, she didn’t have to worry about transportation. It was as they moved that Velvet suddenly turned to Sally.
“Oh! I would really like to fight you later on!”
“Me? You sure sound like Frederica… Well, I kind of thought you would ask, based on what Maple told me.”
Velvet’s eyes shone as she waited for an answer. Sally thought about it for a moment.
“…If we do fight, it will have to be after we finish everything we planned to do today.”
“I see! So you want to warm up first by killing a boss!”
“Still, I thought you’d want to fight Maple. Or did you see so much that you’re already satisfied?”
“Hmm, to be honest… I just really want to fight you, Sally.”
Being able to learn about her skills were just a bonus. Just like Maple had said, Velvet had a pure desire to fight strong enemies. As for the reason that she chose Sally instead of Maple, it was because she felt that Sally was more similar to her.
“You really are just like how Maple described. Well, I do fight human enemies more often than Maple. I’ll beat you if I can. I don’t fight battles that I can’t win. And so I might decline after seeing you in action.”
Sally said and then she chuckled as if she were joking. Velvet replied by saying that you had to be straightforward with everything you do.
“But I really don’t fight battles that I can’t win. I can’t allow myself to lose.”
“Sally hasn’t taken damage even once!”
“Huh!? Is that true!? Hmm, that makes me want to fight her even more!”
“The-there might be a skill…that has a requirement that you don’t die during a PvP duel.”
“It’s possible! I feel like pretty much any kind of skill can exist!”
“I don’t know. In any case, that’s why I won’t promise that I’ll do it.”
“Okay… But I’m still looking forward to it!”
And so the four of them went off to kill monsters on the seventh layer.
The place that they stopped their horses at was the food of a rocky mountain. In order to reach their destination, they would have to reach the top.
“There are checkpoints along the way. And you have to get past all of them! And then there’s a boss!”
“So in other words, the event won’t trigger if we use Syrup or some other flying monster.”
“…So you know.”
“I did a lot of research as part of a promise with Maple. Though, I doubt we would have come here.”
Maple was the only one who realized that this meant Sally didn’t think it was much of a tourist spot. Regardless, the four of them started to climb up the rocky mountain. The path sometimes led inside of the mountain, but was made so that you would ultimately reach the top. Apparently, the checkpoints were inside.
“Alright, let’s go!”
“Yes!”
Maple and Velvet took the lead, while Sally and Hinata followed after them. Inside, there were caves much like the ones they had explored in the past. However, no monsters appeared. And so they arrived at the first checkpoint without any trouble.
Here, there was a decorated, closed gate that looked much like the entrance to a boss room. You could tell at a glance that this was a checkpoint.
“We arrived!”
“It’s so big… Uh, what are we supposed to do?”
“You’re supposed to choose people from your party and you will be able to go through if you beat the monster inside. Also, the monster’s strength changes depending on how many people there are.”
“I see.”
“I think that I should go!”
“…It sounds like it’s less about being a good fit, and more about you itching for a fight.”
“Obviously!”
As they had avoided any unnecessary fights with monsters along the way, Velvet had too much energy left. And so she set the number of challengers to ‘1’ and then opened the gate.
“We are allowed to enter as well… Bu-but we won’t be able to fight.”
“Oh, so we can cheer her on!”
“That’s right.”
And so Maple and the others followed Velvet through the gate. Up ahead, there was a vast, circular area, and in the center there was a humanoid statue that was about two-meters tall.
Just as Velvet equipped her gauntlets and clenched her fists while entering a battle stance, there was a low murmur as the stone statue began to move.
This statue was not holding any weapon, but it was holding its fists up. Its stone body was much tougher than Velvet, and judging by appearances, it did not seem possible for her to win.
“Now, let’s go! ‘Second Coming of the Thunder God’!”
With these words, a shocking amount of electricity bounced off of Velvet, momentarily stunning the stone statute that had rushed forward and was about to strike her.
“‘Electromagnetic Jump,’ ‘Heart Stop’!”
Just as it stopped moving, she leapt forward at a speed that outstripped even Sally. And then she slammed her fists into the statue. At the same time, electricity exploded and stunned the statue just as it was about to move again.