Vol. 7 - Chapter 381 - Cats are formidable opponent #2

"Ah! It went behind you, Pamela!"

"It's too a-agile-desu! <Ninja Art - Decoy! I am taking a strategic retreat!"

"<Long Thrust>! Kuh, It's really hard to hit the opponent with its size."

"Don't panic, I will create an opening, so deal with it calmly. <Shield Bash>!"

"Guh-meow!?"

"Now. <Rapid-Shot>!"

Team B was currently facing cat-type monster <Wild-Meow>. As for its appearance, it walks on all fours and holds a <Fish Bone Sword> in its mouth. <Wild-Meow> was both smaller and much faster than <Chamisen> from earlier, which made it a stronger opponent to tackle down.

At this point, everyone had understood that they were not the adorable, harmless existence contrary to what their appearance entails. Gradually, they were getting used to fighting them. Lana had immediately started with her full-on healing support as soon as they started fighting against a cat. This was what she would later say, "It was the first time I had used that much healing magic."

Well of course, the name of Intermediate-mid dungeon wasn't in vain. The normal monsters here could easily surpass the boss. That's why they weren't to be taken lightly.

Team B had already seen us, Team A, fighting <Wild-Meow> multiple times, so they immediately got into action knowing what to do. But they still were led around by <Wilde-Meow> swift <Cat Run>.

Things were especially rough for Ester, the attacker, whose weapon happened to be a huge two-handed spear, making it a challenging task to properly strike down the tiny <Wild Meow>. Fortunately, cool-headed Sierra swiftly used <Shield Bash>, knocking back the opponent to stop its movement, turning the tide of battle into their side.

Shizu didn't miss the chance and swiftly followed up with <Rapid Shot> to knock <Wild-Meow> down. From there, they managed to bring it down by pulling coordinated attacks. Finally, they didn’t hesitate anymore to slaughter it.

The drop item was 'Cat Ear', a costume item with 'DEF 1'.

"Great work, everyone. It was really a strong opponent as Zephyr said."

"Thank you, Sierra! As expected of our reliable tank-desu! I am not good at countering that much-desu!"

"You too, I really didn't expect it to be such a formidable opponent with how cute it looks. Cats are really terrifying."

Sierra, Pamela and Shizu shared their impression about the battle. I guess after having fought seriously, they keely felt the strength of the Int-mid dungeon's monsters.

Just when the monster thought it had dodged, a bullet came flying its way. It was no less than a miracle for me to see attacks striking different spots than expected or accurately shooting down an evading target. Of course, it didn't happen every time.

This is something to watch out for in guild battles if the opponent uses an accuracy increase.

Especially the <Flash Bomb>, which played a critical role. Monsters appearing in <Cat-Dun> were weak to <Blind> status effect. Once they're blinded, they're generally disoriented for about 30 seconds and couldn't move recklessly, making them easy targets.

Incidentally, Pamela's <Dark Art> were ineffective against them. They had resistance against the <Blind> from <Dark Art>. (I wonder if it is because cats have good night vision?)

in the <Dungeon Activity>, 'Blind' and 'Darkness' have similar effects, but the types of status ailments are different. (T/N - Changing Blind from Pamela’s Dark Art to Darkness)

<Blind> was classified as Internal Status Ailment, while <Darkness> was external status Ailment.

To go in more details------

Internal status ailment consists of <Poison> <Paralysis> <Blind> <Sleep> <Stun> <Fear> <Confusion>.

External status ailment consists of <Burn> <Bind> <Darkness> <Freeze> <Petrification> <Curse> <Charm>.

In reality though, there wasn't that much difference in internal and external status ailments. <Poison> and <Burn> cause damage over time, while <Sleep> and <Freeze> immobilize the target for a certain period. If the immobilized target takes damage during this time, the damage is doubled, and the status ailment is removed.

<Fear> and <Curse> inflict status debuff and MP based damage over time. <Confusion> and <Charm> cause the affected character to become disoriented and attack allies.

Internal refers to status ailments affecting oneself, while external means status ailments imposed or sealed by an external source.

There did exist the concept of <Internal Resistance> in <Dungeon Activity>, and boss monsters had quite a chance to have it. That being said, there were also quite a few bosses with <External Resistance>.

On the contrary, there are also bosses who have <External Resistance> but not <Internal Resistance>.

This aspect of <Dungeon Activity> quite enhances the way of strategising.

Ahem, I trailed off again.

Anyway, after they had gained enough understanding of how to handle those cat-type monsters, we advanced deeper into the dungeon.

Our current aim was the 10th floor. In the floor 1~10, only single monsters appear here, so I would have practiced here thoroughly. Then once they're all set, it would be the time for speed-run!