Glad to see this is happily received! Now comes a Question for you all, I plan to give her a monster soon as a pet. Do you want her to have 1. A Turtle, 2. A Dragon, or 3. A Mother Fucking Hydra. I will be counting reviews since Fanfiction broke the Polls just recently.

Besides that, I thank you all for enjoying this. I feel I nailed Maple's character now, but I do wish for a Beta at some point in my damn writing career. Just to cover some problems that might occur while writing.

The two guards who stood guard at the gate enjoyed their job a good bit. Since most didn't really like gate duty besides these two, the captain had put forward a movement to give increase pay during the days someone worked the front. While at first some would take over the front gate, the nights had become cold thanks to the nearing winter months.

And so in a twist of fate quite unseen in the realm of Melromarc, let alone the entire world, they two had finally resumed their jobs without issue. Given higher pay they went ahead and bought some heated gauntlets, shoes, and helmet. Higher pay, a stable position, and a rather relaxed atmosphere made the job perfect.

"Hey Evan, did you hear the rumor? Apparently they managed to summon the heroes!" The one on the right announced.

"When did you hear this?" The left side one asked with a raised brow.

"I heard it's the reason Captain Jasper had to leave earlier."

"Weren't they supposed to be summoned in Faubley though? We snatched it from those stuck-up bastards?"

"Even better." The one on the right laughed, "We were fifth in line! No bastards probably never expected Melromarc to pull it off!"

"Is that so…" The left side one pondered, "Doesn't that mean Faubley might be sending spies in soon? You know, to coarse the Heroes into joining them."

"... Fuck. What are we supposed to do about them bastards?"

"Easy, Johnny, we do our job." Evan replied with a smile, "We are both pretty high level anyways, so I find it hard to believe they can get past us."

"What are you two talking about!?" The two men quickly fell to attention and turned to face the speaker.

"Captain Hardacc! We were talking about the latest Gossip!" Evan quickly replied, "Uh, who is that in your hands?"

"Hello~" The little girl said while waving her hand towards the two soldiers, "My name is Maple."

"What she said." Their Captain quickly barked, "She requested to go out adventuring, so his Majesty has given her the chance."

With those words he tossed the little girl past the gate onto the ground. She did not have any time to recover, so she took a face full of dirt.

"Okay you two, I have another task for you!" The two looked back at their commander, "When you finish here you are to go and get her to our Majesty's keep. Am I understood!?"

"B-but sir, we do not finish to morning!"

"Did I stutter!?"

The two twitched in reflex into attention, "No sir!"

"Great, I'm going to get some damn coffee." And with that the man quickly turned around and made his way towards the barracks.

With that over with they slowly turned around, their sights moving to the little girl on the ground. The first to speak up of course was Johnny, "Uh, you okay Miss?"

The girl got up slowly soon dusting off the debris that was on her shirt and pants. She soon turned around and shined the biggest smile either of the men have seen, "Yup, he might have been a little rough but I made it alright." With those words she quite slowly made her way towards the forest.

Of course, the two men watched over her. They watched her for a good minute in confusion as she walked into it. But after that minute they had lost sight of her.

"Hey, was that the Shield Hero?" Evan quickly asked when they were sure that she was out of ear shot.

"Maybe? You think he'd be that cute?" Johnny quickly rebutted.

"You know what, you're right." Evan said with a happy laugh, "How the Hell would the Shield Hero be that girl who just left us. The same one who got metaphorically thrown out of the Castle and we were order too bring back to the keep."

Johnny thought to himself for another moment before nodding, "Okay, maybe."

For Maple, the way over was quite uneventful. For the most part people looked at her with a confused expression as the Guard carried her to the gate. Though it did not really bother Maple, since she was used to people thinking about her like that.

Either way, she was now taking a short stroll through the forest. Her eyes looking about to see if there was any monsters about. It did not take very long, as within moments a small group of three creatures came barreling towards her.

"Balloon Monsters? Those are new!" She cheered as they quickly slammed into her.

The three foes quickly went about biting her, trying their best to injure the being who dared come into their territory. If they were not mindless however, they would have quickly realized that their efforts were for not.

"Kya ha ha ha! This is just like before the Maple Patch!" The girl cheered as her damage reduction easily countered all the damage these little dumb fellows could dish out. Since they were not doing anything she grabbed one of the balloon monster with a small bit of drool coming out of her lip.

"Itadakimasu!" And with that she bit into the ravage beast. It was quite tough, causing her to try and tear it with a ravage pull. Soon enough though the beast was torn into pieces, giving her free reign over its corpse.

Tough and no taste. I guess they are balloons after all, so I will need to find some more meaty foes!

With that she continued on her way, with the other two balloons still trying their best to nom her. They were truly pathetic, the race of balloons. Their flesh was most comparable to that of rubber, which meant that they were only used as balls or bludgeoning resistant armor. Most remains were simply relegated to that of children toys when slain by wimpy adventurers. On the manner of strength, well Maple completely forgot they were chewing on her.

"Now what else is there. Please don't make them all Balloons, they are so tasteless!"

As if the world was responding to her cry, a small pair of beady red eyes came alight in a bush. As Maple did not have any survival instinct thanks to her build as a tank, so she was completely oblivious as the horned rabbit did a sneak attack.

Such horn did strike its target. However much to the rabbits surprise it did not receive any purchase of blood or guts. No, instead it felt a hand snatch it from its stunned stupor.

"Nom. Nom nom nom nom." The creature was quickly eaten up my Maple, who's bite was arguably a weapon. To that effect, the Shield itself tried to figure out if whether or not it should punish the little girl for circumventing its restrictions on additional weapons. However it quickly realized that its wielder needed something in this cruel world. So it decided to allow standard functions to occur.

Skills received, [Bite: Low], [Provocation], [Disease Resistance: Low], [Poison Resistance: Low], Now Level Three.

"Hmm? Oh, Yata! I have skills!" The girl cheered as she dropped the bones of the rabbit onto the ground. While a couple of them were things she did not recognize, Total Defense was easily one that she did. Just in case, she opened up her menu and looked to see what exactly she got.

After putting her points into Vitality as usual, she examined the skills she received. Most of the things were self explanatory, but there was one she never saw before this moments

[Blessings of the Shield]: Increases all Raw Vitality Input by 25%, Increase Experience Gain, Lower Requirements for Skills, Experience Increase for Party Members

She grew a small smile as she realized what exactly it was. This was basically all good things! She could not only get her skills faster, but she gets more Vitality! Such was the case that could be used in celebration!

"Now, I wonder what else is here? Maybe a Candy Bug?" She mused as the moon slowly rose over the horizon of the forest.

And so she kept on marching through the forest, a good majority of the things that did attack her were those balloon things and the occasional rabbit. It was starting to get a little ridiculous as Maple's entire back was covered in Balloon monsters. BY this time however she had raised her level just that little bit more.

Now Level 5: Skills Received: [Disease Resistance Moderate], [Poison Resistance Moderate], [Bottomless Stomach], [Total Defense], [Devour], [Shield Bash]

Should I be a little worried about that Disease and Poison? It keeps coming up every time I eat one of those rabbits? Well, atleast I can increase my Vitality!

With a few clicks of her hand the little girl raised the stat to a whopping 175 Vitality. For some reason she was receiving even more Points to spend on the Attributes than normal. Such things however just meant she was getting stronger and stronger, which was good for her.

As she reflected on the menu the girl had a slight thought, "Hmm, I haven't tried out the [Devour] skill yet. Maybe for the next Mob I will have my shield eat it!"

She did not need to wait long as within a few moments she caught sight of another Horned Rabbit. The beast was of course mindless, so it quickly turned face to the little girl who was covered in Balloons. No need to provoke it was needed as the beast quickly charged towards the little girl horn first.

"Oh, you're approaching me!" She cheered while bringing the shield to bare towards him, "[Devour]!"

While once in the game it would have been just a simple animation of the shield, this time it was something much different. Her dinky shield had suddenly become animated, a pair of metallic jaws jetting out into a maw. The Mindless Rabbit without any mind to save itself fell directly into the jaws. They closed with a loud snap and a sickening grind as both flesh and bone were eaten.

New Shield Discovered: Horned Rabbit Shield (Skill [Bullrush] unlocked)

"Huh, that was bloody and awesome!" Maple cheered as she quickly went into the menus. She took a moment to look at the brand her options given to her. With a few presses the once plane Shield transformed.

The silver design was now replaced with a fury white, a pair of small beady red eyes settled on the lower half of the Shield. What laid prominently upon it however was a massive horn that jetted out of the center. While the original rabbit's horn was white, this one was a greenish tint, sort of like the center gem that was on the older version.

"Yata! This means I can stab them with my shield!" Maple had already read the description of the skill that came with the Shield, and with a Balloon in sight she decided to test it out, "[Bullrush]!"

There was a small jolt as Maple was quite literally thrown towards the creature. With incredible speed she crossed the small distance and impaled the Balloon with the pointy end of her Shield. Though as it happened, the horn started to glow and the balloon was absorbed into the Shield.

[Yellow Balloon Shield Unlocked], +5 Resistance to Bludgeoning

The Shield Hero looked over the text for a moment, enjoying the new bonuses. However, an idea suddenly entered her mind, "Wait, you stole my meal!"

As if responding to her complaint a sudden message appeared before her, {Insert Goods and Monster Corpses to receive new and better Shields.}

"But that doesn't mean you can just eat them yourself!"

{To initiate Process, simply place the Sacrifice on the gem, to which it will be absorbed instantly.}

Maple looked at her pesky prompt as if it was a staring contest. However she was merely human, she soon relented, "So I guess you want to eat as well?"

{The potential for new Shields are limitless.}

"I guess so, lets see what you can eat!"

[Oak Wood Shield Unlocked]

[Orange Balloon Shield Unlocked]

[Ant Shield Unlocked]

[Grass Shield Unlocked]

[Dirt Shield Unlocked]

[Bush Shield Unlocked]

[Berry Shield Unlocked]

[Berry Bush Shield Unlocked]

[Red Wood Shield Unlocked]

[Wood Series Shield Unlocked]

[Blue Balloon Shield Unlocked]

[Green Balloon Shield Unlocked]

[Pink Balloon Shield]

[Red Balloon Shield]

[Greater Horned Rabbit Shield Unlocked]

[Horned Rabbit Mutant Shield Unlocked]

[Fur Shield Unlocked]

[Horned Rabbit Guardian Shield Unlocked]

Skill Increased, [Bite: Moderate]

[Impaler] (+5 to Piercing Attacks)

[Total Defense]

Level 8

"Hyaa! [Shield Bash]!" Maple cried out as she impaled the last three Balloons on her Shield. Ever since she received the Horn Rabbit Shield her rate of killing things has increased dramatically. Though there was the occasion where she needed to take a bite out of a stray balloon who survived being impaled.

She also learned some things about her skills. Like for one they no longer had a limit to their use, but instead she was bound to a system called SP. For example, [Shield Bash] uses 10 SP, [Bullrush] uses 30, and lastly [Devour] was at 50. Luckily, it seemed her SP cap increased for every point of Vitality she put in.

"Yata! So did you like that Shield-Chan?"

{You have unlocked 19 Shields Today}

"Awesome!" The little girl cheered, but as soon as she finished the ground beneath her feet started to shake. Since she was a Japanese, she did not pay too much attention to it until the ground around her started to fall apart.

Soon arising from the ground was a massive thing. Its body was a little long, its massive form that of a rabbit. Maple looked to see a massive set of horns coming out of its skull. What would have been small beady red eyes were now the size of Maple's arm.

Horned Rabbit Queen Lv. 15

A small smile and the licking of chops was what Maple did as she looked at the massive thing, "Yata! I found the Boss!"

"Graah!" The mighty beast yelled as it finally awakened from its slumber. Being the Royal of Horned Rabbits, it tended to sleep for years at a time. Occasionally it would awaken when the population of Horned Rabbits become low so that it can farrow a new stock of Monsters.

Now though, it was feeling threatened. All its potential suitors have been killed, all eaten by the trespasser in some way, shape, or form. Such a menace needed to be put down now, or her entire race would be placed into jeopardy!

And with those thoughts the beast went for a [Bullrush], its horn aimed to impale its enemy!

"Kya!" Maple let out a yelp as the massive beast impacted her Shield. While she only took a small bit of damage from the attack, her arms simply cried from the impact. With a slight movement of her shield the rabbit's horns were sent to the side with a thunderous crash.

With the side of the beast exposed, Maple moved herself so that the Shield's horned tip pointed directly at the exposed side of the Queen. With the weapon glowing she called out her skill, "[Bullrush]!"

With that cry of power her body moved in an instant, jamming itself into the side belly of the beast.

"Rawr!" The beast screamed as the small splinter of Maple impacted. On reflex the being tried to slam the splinter into the ground, but somehow such a thing just stayed on it! It could feel the wound expand even as it tried to bash itself against a tree!

As for Maple, she was holding onto the great beast for dear life. Let it be if she was squished, slammed, or bettered the Hero of the Shield held onto the Queen. Her hands were like an iron grip on both the Shield and the beast as she was in for the ride.

"Okay, time for me to fight back!" She yelled as the beast once more threw her into the ground, "[Devour]!"

With the cry her Shield once more animated, this time taking the form of a Horned Rabbit. With a swift action of its maw the Shield bit right into the Horned Rabbit Queen! It was a tight grip, one that scales not with the user's Strength but their Vitality. As such, No matter how hard it tried the Horned Rabbit Queen could not shake off the tick that was Maple!

"Hyyyaaa!" However, the girl was still along for the ride as the Royal Beast tried its best to buck her off.

At this moment it was truly a neck and neck race on who would reach zero first. While the Hero had the advantage in endurance and long term damage, the Beast was both higher level and on the same tier as a Queen. Its bucks were enough to kill the other heroes, let alone the average man.

So the Hero had to employ her last method of attack, one that has downed many foes both human and monster alike!

"Nom…" She Maple sank her teeth into the flesh of the monster, she felt her entire body elaight!

Its sooooo gooooood!

"Nom nom nom nom nom-!"

"Gah!"

Such is the fears of all being who are large. The fear of something as small as a nat and as durable as a tick grew the ability to bite through the fleshy outside. Its thrashing, slams, and bucking were at a whole new height. The reality of death was already creeping into its mind as the little girl finished with its skin to further bite into the muscle below.

It was not much longer as the Queen of the Horned Rabbits began her death throws. Once her teeth punctured an organ its days were numbered. More so that it was luckily the heart that was bitten into, causing all her attacks to change from standard damage to critical bites.

With about a fourth of Maples health remaining, the beast went limp. The body fell onto the ground with another great shake.

Within the next few moments the corpse of the beast seemed to move just slightly before it started to collapse towards the center of the beast. There was a soft green glow as the carcass finished being consumed by the shield. Soon enough, the Rabbit Queen's corpse was no more, leaving behind only the slayer of such a beast.

[Queen of the Horned Rabbits Shield Unlocked]

[One Who Feasts on the Living]

[Bite: Moderate]

Skill Unlocked, [Dominion of the Horned Rabbits]

Level 12

"Yata… I beat it." She tiredly celebrated with a raised hand, "I'm going to find a place to sleep."

And with that she slowly made her way to the nearest tree and laid next to it. With one of the greatest beasts of the forest slain, only the foolish Balloons would approach her.