Bofuri: I Don’t Want to Get Hurt, so I’ll Max Out My Defense. Volume. 3.
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‘Chapter 5: Defense Build and Recruiting.’
Inside their new Guild Home, they scoped out the interior.
Once they’d gotten a handle on the layout, they all gathered in the main room.
“Yo, Maple! I got a topic to discuss.”
“What is it, Chrome?”
“Just got a message from the admins. It’s a ways off yet, but they’re warning us to get ready for a guild versus guild combat event. And…”
“And what?”
“They’re compressing time again. On the off chance one of us can’t make it, we might wanna up our membership numbers…or at least consider the idea.”
Chrome raised a fair point. As is, there were only six members, and Iz was a noncombatant.
If anyone had to sit out, the event would undoubtedly become much harder.
“Hmm… Fair enough. I’m down for that.”
Maple gave her seal of approval.
The downsides of having so few members were clear and apparent, even to her.
“I know a few people I could ask, but…I think this one’s best left to the guild master.”
The “people” Chrome mentioned included the other members of the Maple watchers forum, but this wasn’t his guild, and he wasn’t about to insist on the idea.
“In that case,” Sally started saying as she clapped a hand on Maple’s shoulders, “wanna go scouting with me tomorrow?”
“Hmm…Okay! Let’s do that.”
The two of them set “find new members” as their daily goal.
And the next day found them roaming the streets, looking for potential recruits.
“But how do we find people?”
“Let’s check the board. That usually has all sorts of postings, including guild and party hopefuls.”
“Sounds good to me!”
Maple followed Sally’s lead, heading to the board in question.
Once they arrived, Maple skimmed the posts. The newer listings had lots of DPS BUILD and POISON RESIST REQUIRED.
“Offensive builds are popular, huh? They must be fun!”
“…You could say that, yeah.”
Sally looked the board over herself, but anyone capable of being instantly useful wouldn’t be looking for a party here in the first place.
“Hmm, no standouts, huh? Just low-level players still stuck on the first stratum.”
Sally turned away from the board, so Maple followed her lead.
“Should we head to the first stratum, then? Will that help?” Maple suggested.
Sally thought the odds of them finding anyone useful down there were low, but it was better than nothing.
“Sure, why not?” she said. “It’s better than standing here staring at posts, at least.”
They’d only just reached the third stratum but were already headed back to the first.
Neither had been down here in a while, and as they walked, Maple noticed something odd.
“There are a lot more…slow walkers around.”
Everywhere she looked, there were people plodding along.
“Probably people copying you, Maple. They must be doing extreme builds.”
“Huh? R-really?”
“And a lot of them will end up starting over with new accounts.”
Sally knew exactly how these trends went.
Maple didn’t, so this news came as a huge shock.
“Huh? Why?!”
“They can’t dodge, but their HP is low, and…there’re lots of downsides. The biggest issue is that they start to realize how many things an extreme build can’t do—like find guilds or parties. It kills half the fun!”
Maple was the only player who’d managed to make a truly extreme build work.
And nobody could copy what she’d done so easily, which naturally meant none of her copycats was going to get far.
“Now I’m feeling guilty…”
“No need! Everyone looks up to the best players. This just happens to be a case where it backfired on ’em.”
“Okay…I’ll try not to worry, then.”
“Oh…I guess we could at least post something saying we’ve got openings.”
“Good point. Let’s do that.”
Sally was more experienced at handling these things, so she sped off toward the noticeboard.
Left to her own devices, Maple settled down on an empty bench and waited for Sally to get back.
“Hmm… People copying me, huh?”
That idea was still bugging her.
So when two nearby players started talking about the problems it caused, she couldn’t help but listen in.
“Aw…another party said no. I guess extreme builds really aren’t good.”
“Cheer up! We haven’t played that long yet. Plus, we can always start over if it really doesn’t work out!”
“But then…”
The voices were on her right, so Maple turned to look.
She saw two girls talking and decided to approach.
“Hello!” she said. “Um…do you mind if I interrupt?”
Both heads swiveled.
They were not only the same height—their faces and weapons were identical, too. Anyone who saw them would instantly assume they were twins.
The sole difference was that the encouraging player had white hair, while the discouraged player had black hair.
The white-haired one was the first to respond. “Er… Wh-what is it?”
“Well, um…”
Maple wasn’t sure what to say. Or even why she’d called out to them, really. She just didn’t want to hear players lamenting their extreme builds.
“We’re kinda busy here…”
“Oh, um…r-right! My party—er, guild! Wanna join?”
“…Huh? I mean…thanks for the offer, but…you’re super high level, right? Your gear is obviously… Are you sure?”
These girls were almost entirely in starting gear and were clearly feeling inadequate.
“Totally! I’m the guild master, and we’ve got plenty of room for more!”
Technically, she was the authority when it came to adding new members.
Nobody in Maple Tree would object if she brought in these two.
“Maple, I’m ba— Oh, new faces?”
“Oh, there you are, Sally! I was just recruiting them!”
“Aha… Well, if you want ’em, I’m down. And nobody you pick would ever be normal, so…”
“Huh? R-really?”
“Yup. Let’s hit up the first-stratum Guild Home and talk there!”
“Good idea. Will you two follow us?”
““O-okay…””
Maple and Sally led the way as the two girls followed with some trepidation.
They’d been about to give up when a hand reached down from heaven.
And that hand belonged to the sole example of a successful extreme build.
The four of them were sitting around a table in the Guild Home, talking things over.
On the way, Sally had dashed back to the board to remove the recruitment post, so for now, they wouldn’t be adding anyone else.
Discussions like this were more Sally’s thing than Maple’s, so she was handling answering the bulk of the questions.
The girl with white hair was named Yui, and the one with black hair was named Mai.
They were both level 4. and had yet to learn any skills.
Both were wielding hammers—huge ones that were one and a half times their own heights.
“So you mentioned you’re both doing extreme builds?” Maple asked.
“Yes! We’ve both put all our points in Strength.”
The reason for this was that in real life, neither was known for her strength or endurance—so in-game, they wanted to pour everything into their characters’ strength.
“Huh…that’s a lot like you, Maple.”
“Ah-ha-ha…true.”
Like them, Maple hadn’t been too concerned about in-game advantages or disadvantages.
And since neither of them had recognized her, copying Maple clearly wasn’t one of their motivations.
“So…you’re also an extreme build?”
“Yep, I am! I put everything in Vitality!”
They both looked surprised.
Neither had come across any player who’d made this work before.
“Yeah, well…Maple’s not exactly a useful role model.”
Maple couldn’t argue with that.
“Well, Sally? Can we add them?”
“Sure, no prob. Pure Strength builds don’t have much downside with you around… If we can get them leveled in a month, it should all work out.”
With Sally on board, Yui and Mai were officially in.
Maple registered both of them as the newest members of the Maple Tree guild.
Next order of business was to get them to the third stratum, where Maple Tree was currently operating.
“Do you have time today?”
“Er, um, yes. We do. Right?”
“Yeah, I have time.”
“Then Maple and I will run you straight up to stratum three.”
““Y-you will?!””
They were still gaping even as they headed out of town.
Once they were outside of town, Sally turned around and said, “Maple, the usual, please.”
“Roger!”
Maple summoned Syrup as requested and had everyone hop aboard before taking flight. The two girls were understandably shocked from start to finish.
“Keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times, okay?”
With that playful warning from Maple, those shocked expressions simply became dumbfounded.
“Trust me—this is only the beginning… Better to start getting used to it now.”
Sally was already thinking about the future. Even after setting Maple aside, the Maple Tree guild was an assembly of mind-blowing talent and skill. If they could get used to Maple, they would be able to get used to anyone.
All future recruits would have to undergo the same conditioning if they wanted to last in Maple Tree.
Having made swift work of the dungeon, they stepped through the doors to the boss room—beyond this lay the second stratum.
“Aaah… Sorry in advance if we die,” Mai moaned. She seemed really worried about inconveniencing them.
“Oh…that won’t happen. Trust me.”
“Martyr’s Devotion!”
Maple’s hair changed color, and her angel wings unfurled.
The twins instantly froze.
This was beyond comprehension.
“I’ll handle this one. Have a seat right here!”
“Gotcha! Make it a good one!”
Maple moved the twins out of the way.
“………! A-are you sure? Sally’s on her own! Against a b-boss?!” Yui said, grabbing Maple’s hand.
“Yeah, she’s got this. I’ve never seen Sally take damage.”
““…………What?””
“Look, she’s starting.”
Maple pointed up ahead. Sally had summoned Oboro and was racing toward the deer.
Attacks she’d already seen were nothing to Sally; she was twisting and ducking and dodging everything, never breaking stride.
“Oboro! Shadow Clone!”
At her command, there were suddenly five Sallys, all taking different paths toward the boss deer.
This shocked even Maple.
“Since when can Oboro do that?”
“S-Sally’s incredible! H-how can she dodge like that? And she can clone herself?!” Yui was getting quite worked up.
“Apparently…? This one’s new to me, too…”
Meanwhile, the aura that buffed Sally’s attack was getting bigger.
Between her magic and dagger strikes and Oboro’s fire, the deer was downed in a little over ten minutes.
When the fight was done, Sally trotted back to them.
“Oboro’s getting so strong!”
“Yup. Let’s go take out the second-stratum boss!”
They quickly reached the second stratum and immediately dived right into the next dungeon.
“I ain’t fighting this one.”
“Mm, got it.”
Maple was gonna go solo against the second-stratum boss.
Yui and Mai gave Sally anxious looks.
After all, Maple was a great shielder, and all they knew was that she’d sunk all her points into Vitality.
Martyr’s Devotion had proven how strong her defense was, but they hadn’t seen Maple fight at all, so there was no reason to believe she was good at it.
Oblivious to their concern, Maple opened the door and stepped into the boss room.
“Are you sure you shouldn’t help her, Sally?”
“I—I really think you should!”
“Heh. That’s a new one…”
This may have been the first time Sally saw anyone worry about Maple.
Which spoke to just how universally recognized Maple was—as a threat.
“You thought I was impressive?”
““Er…y-yes, very.””
Inhuman reflexes. Powerful skills.
Her battle with the deer went well past “impressive.”
“You’re about to see a battle not of this world that defies all logic.”
She made sure they were paying attention, then turned to watch Maple head in herself.
The twins might not get it now, but in a few scant seconds, it would all fall into place.
“Sally said to strut my stuff, so… Syrup!”
She made Syrup size up and fly.
The boss was attacking her the whole time but did no damage.
“Hydra! Saturating Chaos! Syrup, Spirit Cannon!”
The boss was hit by a three-headed poison dragon, a spectral maw, and a blinding laser beam all at once.
While it was busy reeling from the attack, Maple moved closer, negating all its damage, and swung her great shield.
Devour left a deep gouge in the boss’s trunk. This flurry of powerful moves made the boss’s health plummet like a rock.
And Maple wasn’t done yet.
“Predators! Martyr’s Devotion!”
Monsters appeared on either side of her and immediately latched on to the boss with their jaws.
Maple unfurled her angel wings, protecting them.
The boss screamed, renewing its attacks on Maple and her minions with branches and magic, but to no avail.
“Atrocity!”
Black light poured out of her, coalescing into a giant monster form.
She breathed fire, gnashed her sharp jaws, and tore away chunks of the boss.
A one-sided butchering. It was no longer clear which of them was the actual boss.
“Whew…all done!”
“Maple, change back to your real form.”
“Oh, sorry, sorry.”
Maple fell out of the monster’s belly, and it vanished.
“Let’s hit the third stratum!”
“Sure.”
Maple turned and headed off.
Sally looked back at Yui and Mai.
“She’s the best we got. See? I’m normal.”
““……………””
They both stood rooted to the spot, jaws hanging open, their brains utterly unable to process what they’d just seen.
“But you two have a lot in common with her. You guys might just end up like that someday!”
Sally took their hands and pulled them toward the third stratum.
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Diamond. Diamond. Diamond.
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