Vol. 7 - Chapter 389 - 40th Floor and Grind Dilemman. Are we going to do it?

"Finally, we're here at the deepest floor."

"We're finally here."

While taking a sigh, Lana muttered this the first thing when we arrived at the safety area of the deepest floor.

It was a 40 floors long journey after all. So, not just her, the rest of the members also looked slightly tired.

Lana's reply was missing her usual upbeat tone, I guess the long journey must have taken over her, huh? Usually, she would be the first one to chime in with high spirits.

But I guess it was just natural to be tired after everything we have gone through. Especially in the second half of the dungeon, traps and dangerous cats had appeared more often. Furthermore, we also didn't take the short route since I wanted to secure the treasure chest from the hidden door and dead-end.

However, this was just the start. Our journey to the depth of the dungeon would continue to stretch further and further from here. Int-high has 50 floors. Adv-low have 60 floors, Adv-mid have 70 floors and Adv-high has 80 floors.

The early phase of the game was designed primarily to clear the dungeon in just a short time, with the exploration difficulty at the lowest.Alll latest novels at novelhall.com

<Dungeon Activity> had its own in-game time so the exploration time in the game was obviously far shorter than what appears in reality. Not to forget there was also x2 or x3 time fast forward mechanism. Even then, clearing top grade dungeons, which had as many as 100 floors, used to take 4~5 hours from a real time perspective.

However in-game time translates to weeks or if you mess up somewhere, even one month. There was also a time where it was impossible unless I utilized two dungeon weeks.

Needless to say, the days in the game pass directly as real days. There was also not any fast-forward or skip option either. Now that I think about it, it's really something I need to do something about. Anyway, this was something for later to decide. We had a more pressing situation at our hand.

"But we're going to fight Dungeon Boss now! Let's make haste!"

Indeed, the pressing situation was a boss battle!

I gazed at the boss room in front of me and raised my voice to cheer up Lana and other members. As long as there was the fodder called the end boss, I was sure this would be enough motivation to raise their morale.

I just want to quickly start with the boss.

"Alright, boss explanation time, everyone. We don't have all the time in our hands."

While Lana let out a shout of joy, Sierra and Hannah said the following. In my defense, I guess I was really lenient on girls. SO I will accept their evaluation gracefully.

"Cough, let's take turns with Teams A and B. Team A will be challenging the boss first. We'll also have dinner alternately during breaks."

I cleared my throat to cover up the creeping awkwardness and decided on the plan for the boss battle.

"The boss here is <Meownarch of Cat King>, or <Meownarch> in short. It wears a golden crown and wields a sword adorned with gold coins. It knows swordsmanship, can use area attack and is both proficient in long-range attacks and close-range attacks. So rearguard, make sure that you don't let down your guard. Furthermore, it also has two of its lackeys there to stop us from close distance. And of course, the boss itself excels in close combat."

<Meownarch> was what you'd call a dual-range expert. This was just the starting, and as we continue to advance, we will see more of such bosses. Most bosses employed area attacks, so even the rearguards had to stay vigilant.

In <Meownarch> case, it could send a flying slash which looked cool if you ask me.

"Rearguard, the moment you see the boss preparing for an area attack, activate your defense skill immediately or assume a defensive stance. Under no circumstances should you get knocked down, understood?"

Defense stance was one of the commands available in the <Dungeon Activity>. In simpler terms, it was a skill-less defense measure. In the Dungeon Activity>, leaving aside the obvious <Normal Attack>, there were few other commands like <Defense Stance>, <Skil>, <Item> or <Escape>.

<Defense Stance> was an action anyone, irrespective of their job, could perform. It provides effects like <Knockdown Prevention>, <Damage Reduction> and <Abnormal Status Resistance>.

By doing that, rearguards could withstand the target's aggro, weakpoint attribute or the charged attack of opponent one time. Though, <Defense Stance> only last for one move before getting canceled, so it would be a game over if the opponent was performing a multi-hit attack.

Also, the drawback of <Defense Stance> could be said to be inability to use <Skill> or <Magic> command.

I wondered if the same could be reproduced in the reality and taught <Defense Stance> to rearguards specially. Well, it appeared <Defensive Stance> already existed and Sierra, Ester were already using it, so it was the reason why I moved it to rearguard members.

I also learned it, but it was kind of ordinary. Unlike skills, it wasn't a forced action but simply a defensive posture. In my case, the form consists of dropping my waist and crossing my arms to guard. Others seemed to have different ways of guarding, though.

It was like a defense edition of regular attack.

Oddly enough, <Skill> or <Magic> were unavailable to use when using <Defensive Stance>. According to Sierra and Ester, if you couldn't use either means you have successfully perform <Defense Stance>. Hmm~.Real life <Dungeon Activity> is so full of secrets~.

Ahem, returning to the topic. I explained about the point that everyone should be careful about the <Meownarch> and then, I led Team A through the gate of boss room. End boss were different, the upper limit was only 5 people.

I know they have to wait, but this was the result of discussion. I asked them to prepare dinner while Team A tackled the boss battle first.