CH 198

<Battle wolf MK I>, the boss of <Battle wolves of the shallow forest dungeon>. (T/N : MK I in replacement of its usual first form)

It hasn't been long when we over hunted this particular boss but we have come here again to hunt it down.

"Growl, Groooowl...... "

"This doggie doesn't seem to be feeling well, no?"

"Yip!?

Said so Lulu, as she caressed the <Battle wolf> while the <Battle wolf> was trying with all his might to bite off her arm. This awfully looks like a typical main protagonist scene.

<Battle wolf> as if surprised why it can't harm that little girl at all, increases the number of his biting but the more it does, the more I see its tail losing its tension.

I suddenly felt like he's kind of scared of Lulu, but I dismiss it as my imagination.

We're in the middle of a boss fight right now.

As discussed earlier, five newly joined members are carrying their first exploration.

I thought the balance of the new members' party was kind of tipped off since all of them were mainly attackers but they are doing pretty fine with Lulu focusing on chipping away the opponent's mobility or offensive power.

As expected of the <Lolita hero>, this job is absurdly strong.

Lulu, the only one with the <Princess> category job among the group, naturally stood out.

As for me, I was watching over them from the shadows after equipping the <(Guest) bracelet> and intruding in the boss room.

Meanwhile Ester is waiting in the safety area. It seems like she's not going for another trip for material gathering, the last trip must have been too solitary for her.

Ohh. The other members have defeated the <Leader wolf> and its subordinates <wolf> and are now converging at one spot.

With all of them ready to fight one opponent, it's just one sided massacre.

"<Fire bullet>!, <Ice bullet>!"

"<Elemental Lance>!, <Elemental Javelin>!"

"Growl!? Gurr!?"

The <Battle wolf> who was thoroughly restrained by the Lulu quickly distanced itself after receiving the attacks from Shizu and Celia.

"Prepare yourself-desu! <Giant Shuriken Arts>!"

"Grr!"

"Ah, it avoided my attack-desu!?"

"Leave it to me. <Straight punch>!"

"Yip!?"

Pamela was chasing after the <Battle Wolf> holding a shuriken as big as her body. By the way, that shuriken is an illusion like Karua's <Throwing Blade>. However the <Battle wolf> avoided it with its wild intuition.

But a smiling Celestine was present at the spot where it retreated to unknowin一...... Hold on, since when is she there!?

And just like that, it stumbles after receiving her full powered punch. I could even see a bit of its white of the eye peeking out, what in the world was that punch?

"Lulu is coming too! <Charm point sword>!"

"Growwwl!?"

<Battle wolf> went in rage as Lulu's follow up attack hit it after Celestine's.

Boss monsters when they are under the barrage of attacks for a while have the disposition to go in rage. It's also called light rage mode.

However it's a pity that it cannot exert much offensive power since the <Battle wolf> is weakened by Lulu. Quite a pitiful <Battle wolf> I have to say......

The boss monster was thoroughly beaten by the attackers members with none of them unfazed at its violent act, including Lulu who leaped at the frenzied <Battle wolf>. It didn't take long for it to disappear under the barrage of attacks.

An effortless victory it was......

"Great work~"

"Yes. Thank you for your effort too, it was quite an easy opponent"

"Oh, I can relate with Celia's words"

Pitiful <Battle wolf>... Not only it was bullied one-sidedly, even it's pride as the strongest boss of the beginner-mid grade dungeon and one of the hardcore boss of the <Dungeon Activity> is so casually disssed.

Well, the <Battle wolf MK I> when fought solo is awfully weak to be frank.

Not only that, neither of the beginner-mid grade dungeon bosses are that much stronger when they are alone. What makes them tough is their subordinates.

That's why one of the basic strategies is to reduce their subordinates quickly.

For the honour of the <Battle wolf>, I should mention that it was quite a strong adversary in the beginning game phase. It would constantly be followed by its subordinates, powering them and even to the point of regrouping, disregarding the hate meter with <Merge> skill.

It's much easier now because of the solid strategy but when fought together with its subordinates present, it's not an easy opponent to take down.

I even heard players saying it was much harder to defeat, even more than the <Fatty ghost> which has clear weak points, in the early game period. Though it quickly went from the apex of predator to a weak prey when the method to prevent its <Merge> skill spreads.

Hold on, maybe I should do so?

Should I let them try fighting it once again, but without blocking it from <Merging> this time? That might prove to be good training and it will also chip away the slight conceitedness I could feel from Celia. This is merely a beginner dungeon. Getting self conceited at the beginning will only make them trip hard at their next blunder. It may be for the best to show them once how there could happen a bigger change in the boss monster with just one step.

Surprisingly, think this may be a nice idea.

"Round up everyone! I have something to talk about our next steps!"

As soon as I made up my mind, I immediately held an emergency meeting with everyone including Ester.

The leader was, of course, me. I would explain it briefly since we don't have much time to waste.

"The battle like the current one is great for leveling up but, I think it's not that effective for training"

Starting with Celestine, everyone nodded one after another at my remarks. I guess everyone must have the same thought subtly.

Especially the members with top abilities. Whether it's Celia or Shizu, both of them can effortlessly fire long range attacks which Hannah has attained after going through a lot of hardship. Something of that level shouldn't even be worth mentioning to them.

On the contrary to them, Pamela, who still has trouble in performing long range attacks, seems to be in daze. I feel like she should temporarily return to her home and begin her training.

Lulu looks puzzled with all this.

I proposed our future policy from there.

"Therefore, I tried to look for a plan where you can train in combat while also keeping up with our goal of reaching Lv30 for everyone's jobs. So what I came up after linking both points is a fair fight"

"Instructors will accompany us-desu?"

What will instructors even do by accompanying you?

"Fair and square fight. That means you can't take any countermeasures. You can't use the methods I have taught you. You have to struggle and seek for a breakthrough by yourself"

"I see. So basically Zephyr-dono wants us to feel how much our current strategy benefits us and the gap when we can't use them, right?"

"Pinpoint as always, Celia. Well, that's the basically it"

Our current strategy is the crystallisation of the wisdom players of <Dungeon Activity> has come after multiple trials and errors. Their tactics have optimised to the limit to shorten the grind limit. I want them to savor the taste of what it feels like when they can't use it.

From there, I discussed the specific and summed up that they should begin after Pamela and Shizu, who are still Lv18, unlocked their second order tree.

T/N : I have used MK( as in mark) II in replacement for the first battle form. Else it would be a long winded name like others. Second battle form would be referred to as MK II btw.

Also, a great shoutout for newly joined patreon, <Shirokitsune>, <Tuan>, <Petronio Coelho>, <Liam>, <Abrax> and <Darius winters>.

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