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

Itai no wa Iya nanode Bōgyo-Ryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu 159

Defense Specialization and the Jungle

Just as the queen bee descended to the midway point between the beehive and Maple, the hive that was right above the queen started to crumble and fall.

The queen bee quickly dodged it, and the remains of the hive fell straight towards Maple and Pain.

“‘Cover Move,’ ‘Cover’!”

Maple used the few moves that had been instilled into her body to protect Pain.

The fallen hive splattered all over them, spilling the honey that was inside all over the place.

“Hmm…? I, I can’t move.”

The sticky honey completely prevented Maple from moving. In fact, if Maple had enough STR, she would have been able to escape, but since it was 0, even having Savagery was not enough to get her out.

The queen bee then stuck on to Maple and tried to bite her and sting her.

As its HP was full, its movements were still simple. And the only other thing it did was occasional wind magic.

However, none of this did any damage to Maple, and it was all meaningless effort on the queen bee’s part.

“I’ll do it then.”

Pain moved out from under Maple’s huge body and walked on top of the honey as if it were nothing.

Then he moved away a little and pulled out his sword.

“‘Leap’!”

Pain jumped onto Maple’s back and charged towards the back of the queen bee. Now that he was close, the bee changed her target to Pain and started to thrust her poisonous stinger at him.

However, Pain easily blocked this with his shield, and then he slashed at the queen bee after she had lost her balance.

“‘Holy Blade of Conviction.’”

The shining blade swung to the side and cut through the bee’s body.

Pain’s attack was just as powerful as the one he had unleashed on Maple in the previous event.

And of course, the bee was unable to survive it, and its body split into two in one hit before disappearing into specks of light.

At the same time, the honey that had trapped Maple also turned into light and disappeared.

After the queen bee was gone, a few jars of honey appeared on the ground, along with two crowns.

Pain checked the effect of the crowns and jars.

“The honey jars…we could sell them to people with cooking skills. The crowns raise your maximum MP by a percentage.”

They split the items and continued to move.

Maple knew that this crown would not be too useful to her now, but she was satisfied with just looking at the pretty thing.

“Why don’t we try going over there?”

Maple said as she moved her arm up and pointed.

“Ah, right. This jungle is so big…we will probably find something.”

“Then let’s go.”

Maple carried Pain as she kept moving through the trees.

Maple was there. Pain was there.

But they were not the only ones there.

To be exact, Sally was also in the jungle. She was in a place that was far away from Maple, but Sally had no way to find out where Maple was.

It would be hard to even plan a meeting, as there were no landmarks in this field, and it was not something that they cared too much about on this occasion.

And so Sally was running casually through the jungle.

“I wonder if there is anything here.”

She lightly jumped over a fallen tree, but then she thought she saw something unfamiliar in the corner of her vision and stopped.

“Hmm? Is that…”

Sally squinted and looked.

She could see something white passed the brilliant greens, but it was too far away for her to be able to tell what it was.

“Alright, I guess I’ll go.”

Sally pulled out her daggers and moved noisily through the bushes towards it.

When she got closer, she could see clearly what it was.

“Ughhh…a spider’s nest. I hate fighting against spiders who spin webs.”

Sally scowled, but she did not stop walking. That was how starved she was for new skills.

“I’ll run away if it seems too dangerous…so, where is it?”

Sally got close to the nest and looked around.

There were webs connecting several trees, and it continued down to the ground. But the spider itself was nowhere in sight.

Sally also saw cocoons on the ground.

“It seems like a trap…but I guess I could hurry up and just make sure?”

Sally decided on how to act, and mumbled, ‘alright.’

“‘Super Acceleration’!”

She jumped out from the shadows of the trees and touched the cocoon on the ground.

“Items, skills…no! Kk…”

As expected, it was a trap. And Sally had known the possibility.

But what was unexpected for her was that the webs that spread out from the ground would cover such a wide area that she would not be able to escape, even with Super Acceleration.

And so, Sally was strung upside-down in the air by her legs.

“I think I messed up like this once before…! That’s why I hate them…damn it.”

A huge spider now appeared in Sally’s upside-down vision.