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 187

Defense Specialization and Inside the Darkness

The feeling of ceaselessly falling stopped after a while and Maple landed within a completely dark place.

“Wha-what happened…?”

As Maple looked around her, she saw that there was a red light flashing within the darkness.

What showed itself as if tearing through the darkness, was a monster that looked like a giant version of all the red ghosts that Maple had killed up until now.

Only the top half was visible as it jumped out of the crack in space. Its long arms were several times longer than Maple.

“Wh-wha-what should I do?”

With one look, Maple knew that she would not be able to dispell it.

However, it did not look like it would leave her alone, and its long arms stretched out to her and tried to grab her.

“Ohh, huh? It’s slow.”

Maple ran away from it and was able to move out of its reach.

As Maple had rarely been to outrun anything, she couldn’t help but stop and look back in surprise.

Once the arms had stretched to their limits, they faded away and the tear in space returned to normal.

“I have a bad feeling about this… I knew it!”

Maple turned around just as a new tear appeared behind her.

“Have some salt instead!”

Maple said as she flung salt at the ghost’s body. Then she backed away and checked to see if it did any damage.

“Yes. It worked!”

It wasn’t as effective as it was with the red ghosts on the mountain, but the HP was decreasing.

Maple believed she had a chance now, and so she pulled out more items from her inventory and prepared for it to reappear.

“Alright, come at me. Hmm?”

The space in front of her began to open as she stood ready.

This time, not only the boss ghost but the red ghosts from the mountain began to slither out.

And just like with the ghosts from the mountain, these ghosts had dangerous looking skulls floating behind them as they approached her.

“You guys can stay away. ‘Throne of the Heavenly King’!”

Maple sat on the throne as soon as it appeared, and immediately, the approaching ghosts began to vanish.

However, this also meant that it was harder for her to avoid the attacks of the boss ghost.

“I guess this is better than just running away.”

Maple decided that she would not run. Just then, the boss’s hands stretched out and wrapped around Maple.

“I guess it can’t use any skills? This is my chance!”

The hands were only wrapping around and doing nothing else, so Maple started to deal damage to it by sticking on the tags.

Maple continued to work at the ghost expertly, but things did not go as well as she expected.

“Oh…oh. It got me.”

The hands that were wrapped around Maple began to squeeze harder.

“Uh…welll…Ahh?!”

A shock ran through her body and then her HP began to decrease.

Maple could see that she was losing HP faster than the speed that the throne was recovering it.

The ghost continued to slowly squeeze her body. Maple struggled in its grasp and tried to escape, but it was no use.

And the ghost’s actions didn’t stop there.

“Hey…wait…wahhh!”

It picked Maple up and took her up into the air.

The effects of the throne only lasted while she was on it, and there was nothing she could do now that she was lifted.

“Ohhh…ah… Le-let go of me…! I know, ‘Savagery’!”

While it had torn Maple from her throne, this also meant that it tore her from the restrictions that bound her.

Maple transformed into a monster within the ghost’s grip, and she was easily able to free herself and move away from it.

“Ohhh… I haven’t been this scared in a long time…I really let my guard down.”

As Maple had not deactivated it, the throne was still on the ground.

It would continue to be effective once she sat on it.

“I should check the enemy’s skill while things are still good…yes.”

Maple hadn’t received damage like this in a long time, and so she decided to observe the monster carefully.

As long as the outer layer existed, she would not take any direct damage, and would not feel any pain.

“Alright, alright. I organized the skills I can use…yes, yes. Sally taught me how to deal with these kinds of situations.”

Maple told herself in order to calm her nerves, all the while, she backed away from the monster.

After fighting for a while, Maple realized that none of her attacks while activating ‘Savagery’ were dealing any damage, and she scowled.

“I can beat the small ones by blowing fire on them… Ughhh…I don’t want to deactivate it.”

Maple continued to gather information as she thought darkly about the moment when she would be forced to deactivate Savagery.