Vol. 7 - Chapter 382 - The ups & downs in the journey - The 10th floor!

Floor 1~10 in this <Cat-Dun> were filled with bipedal or walking on four cat-type cute yet strong monsters, with them appearing no more than one at a time.

The monsters that appear alone were more formidable and tough to handle compared to the monsters in groups---this had been an absolute point in the game. And even in reality, this remained unchanged, the eternal truth.

Bosses are prime examples. So, it's not that monsters appear solo because they were strong, they appear solo because they were powerful. Anyway, back to the topic.

In essence, the cat-type monsters in this dungeon were known for their strength, even among the intermediate-mid dungeons. In other dungeons, it's more common to encounter them in groups. This was the reason why I had chosen this dungeon.

By having members confront the strong monsters from the get-go, the battle after that would become easier.

The monsters in <Cat-Dun> had average HP but their high evasion rate to compensate for that fact made them a nuisance to handle. Hence the important part was to devise a plan to seal their dodge first. If that’s not enough, there was another seasoning to garnish---brute force would not take you nowhere. Int-mid was where the difficulty spike suddenly picks its speed.

So, it's best if they face the reality now then get overwhelmed later. And when it comes to that, what better way there was than to experience it firsthand?

Albeit, the journey was fraught with quite ups and downs. Like---Party members got done by the cat's cuteness in the way due to which we had to halt our advances. Ester couldn't bring herself to attack them with <Carriage>. Pamela failed to disarm a trap on a dead-end treasure chest and got caught in a cat trap (She had let out a really sharp scream).

There was also the case where Lulu equipped herself with <Cat's Fake Whisker>, <Cat Ears> and <Cat Tail>, which instantly made all the girls squeal, bringing a heartwarming scene (?) that caused the exploration to halt for a while. Then, there was also Hannah who was about to start the Sli-po Marathon, so I had to issue a ban.

In particular, the last incident was quite dangerous.

She only said 'I am going to set-up <Alchemy Set> in the <Thunder Javelin>' in high spirits and suddenly took out '10 <Alchemy Set>' along with the large quantity of 'Muddy Water'. Her actions were so smooth and natural that I only managed to stop her by paper breath margin. That was seriously dangerous.

"Halt! I forgot to mention it to you, Hannah, but sli-po marathons are banned in the dungeon."

"Huh? W-Why!?"

"Do you forget you will break the <(Guest) Bracelet> by attacking slimes?"

"N-No way!?"

That was how our conversation had played out, causing her to let out an agonizing shriek. But aside from these hiccups, our exploration progressed smoothly and soon, we had safely arrived at the 10th floor.

"It was quite challenging."

"I really want to complain, they look so cute yet their attacks are so strong."

"The problem was it was hard to land the attack."

Sierra sighed, Ester's shoulder slumped while Lana puffed out her cheeks. This was their reaction having fought all sorts of cats till the 10th floor.

"Samurai Cat......"

Lana let out a groan while Rika's eyes sharpened hearing my explanation. As the tension run among the members, <Meowrrior> opened its mouth.

"Gnya."

"It is saying 'Well done to come so far-meow'."

"You don't need to translate, Karua."

I almost slipped hearing the meow suffix at the end of a warrior like tone.

I was getting more and more suspicious that Karua definitely knows their language. I hastily intervened to stop her from translating. That was so close. I mean, the deep tone of <Meowrrior> was almost turned into cute and fluffy by Karua. It had almost ruined the mysterious atmosphere.

For now, we stopped in our tracks. Moving forward would initiate combat. I raised my hand to signal the team members to stop.

"Alright. As we have decided. Team A will take the helm there, while Team B will stay behind."

"We remember. Do your best, Zephyr!"

"Sure thing. Make sure to properly watch our battle."

I raised my hand in response to Lana's encouragement.

We had a short meeting on how were we going to take down the boss of 10th floor; a single team or everyone together. In the end, we settled with a single team.

Of course, fighting the boss together would make the boss fight easier, but considering lower floors, facing it with a single team would be more advantageous. We did a lottery to decide on the said team, and Team A was chosen to face the boss. Consequently, Team B would remain behind and not participate in the battle.

"Let me remind you one more time. Once Team A starts the battle, Team B will not participate. If there's even a bit of support from the backup team, F-boss will fully recover its HP, not only will we lose the advantage, but the boss's stats will also receive a boost. Please stay out of the boss area and observe only."

"We know. We have already learned that intentionally sabotaging and causing F-boss to recover results in rule violation and we will be penalized for it!"

"Okay, as long as you remember, everything will be fine. Well then, here we go."

"Good luck!"

"Do your best, Zephyr-kun!"

With Lana and Hanna's cheers behind us, Team A commenced their field boss battle.