Vol. 7 - Ch. 380 - Monsters of the Int-mid dungeon — Too cute, but too strong!

For the exploration this time, ‹Eden› was challenging the ‹Solitary Kitten Dungeon› with 10 members (11 if you include Hannah).The members were divided into two parties, nicknamed Team A and Team B for easier differentiation.

Team A include ‹Brave› myself, ‹Star Cat› Karua, ‹Warrior Princess› Rika, ‹Lolita Hero› Lulu, and ‹Spiritualist› Celia.

Team B consisted of ‹Shield Princess› Sierra, ‹Saint› Lana, ‹Princess Knight› Ester, ‹Battle Maid› Shizu and ‹Female Ninja› Pamela.

Lana initially objected to her being in a different party than me, but unfortunately, there was only Lana and me who could play the role of healer.

Team B had mostly the princess and her entourage, but aside from that, they lacked a dedicated tank so I added Sierra to balance the party composition. Sierra was the primary tank, Pamela a sub-tank, Ester and Shizu the attacker and Lana the healer.

Team A doesn't have any dedicated healer, so it was just me, a part time healer and attacker, Rika the main tank, Lulu the sub-tank and Karua and Celia the attackers.

This marks the end of explanation. Now, as decided, it was time to take down the ‹Chamisen› with Team A. I asked Team B to back down since there was risk of being caught up in all this.

"Meow! Meowfufu."

"Hmm, it isn't cute at all."

"W-What's the matter, Karua?"

The sharp glint in Karua's eyes intensified as ‹Chamisen› pureed. Rika, who was trembling for some reason since a while ago, questioned Karua.

"That guy is blabbering 「Not done yet-meow? I am tired of waiting-meow. Whatever, all of you come at once-meow. I will show you the immensity of heaven and earth-meow」."

"You can understand Cat-o-language!?"

"......That's what I feel like saying."

"You feel like!?"

I was pretty excited to hear Karua could understand Cat-o-language, maybe because she was a ‹Cat-kin›, but her following words left me speechless.

However the air engulfing Karua was increasingly getting threatening;like a sword out of its scabbard about to attack. It seems she took that feeling to heart.

"A-Anyway, I will take the head, Zephyr. Okay?"

"Ah, yes, do that. Rika."

"Rika will control its aggro, and then I will chop it down in the end."

"K-Karua?"

Just what was happening with her? She has been acting strange for some reason since we have come here.

"I-I am going! My name is Rika, let's have a fair match! ‹Reveal Thy Name›!"

"Meow-fu!"

"‹Parry›!"

The ‹Fish Bone Sword› of the ‹Chamisen› glowed as it lunges at ‹Rika› in response to ‹Reveal Thy Name› skill. Rika calmly intercepted it and then parried it.

Instantly, a light effect spilled out from the ‹Chamisen› sword. It was using its skill.

"Fu~ Meow-Meow-Meow!"

"‹Upper Guard›! Guh!? It's stronger than I thought!"

It was ‹Chamisen› skill——‹Triple Meow Slash›.

‹Upper Guard› could only handle one, or at best two attacks. So while ‹Upper Guard› protected from the first two slashes, Rika ended up bearing the brunt of the third slash, taking in 40 damage. Had it been three slashes, it would have meant 120 damage. It was a formidable opponent.

"Lulu, lower its attack."

"Leave it to me! ‹Heart Charm›! and next, ‹Charm Sword...... it is so cute Lulu can't bear to strike it!"

Following Rika's instruction, heart effects floated in the air, applying attack debuff on ‹Chamisen›. Lulu tried to chain in her ‹Charm Sword› attack as well, but got defeated by its cuteness.

"Meow-fu, Meow-fu."

"Grr! It's hard to attack it, very hard!"

"Lulu, I will cut it down. ‹Scale Break›!"

"Meow-fu!?"

"Did you cut it down!?"

"Don't worry, it's not going to be literally sliced. It doesn't leave a wound either, just reduces HP. This is an atrocious monster. Lulu, don't hold back, and just attack."

"Ugh~. This monster really is too much of a fiend. Int-mid name is really not in vain."

"Rika will keep getting attacked at this rate.Lulu, do your best."

"L-Lulu understands. Lulu is prepared! ‹Charm Sword›!"

"Meow-fu!?"

Lulu drew her sword at Karua's persuasion, and slashed at ‹Chamisen› with her debuff attack ‹Charm Sword›, finally easing the pressure on Rika.

"Good Job, Lulu. I am also going to attack. Let's cut it down together."

"I did it! Lulu can do it if she wills!"

After the initial confusion, and thanks to Karua, she could now face directly ‹Chamisen›.

"Now. ‹Twin Wild Cat Scratch›!"

Karua, who was eyeing the opening, lunged forth to attack. However,

"Meowww!"

"Ah, it dodged."

"Grr, it's so fast."

Sensing it would be hard to deal with it, ‹Chamisen› swiftly uses ‹Dodge — Karua also knows this skill — and opens the distance between two. Karua's attack cut the empty air.

"Meow!"

"Kuh, ‹Parry›!"

‹Chamisen› slipped behind the Rika and followed with ‹Love-Love Fish Slash›.

For a brief second, ‹Fish Bone Sword› transformed into ‹Fish Sword› and attacked Rika. It was a strong attack; the force behind it was such I almost forget it had its attack lowered through debuff.

Rika barely offsetted the attack. That was a close call. Compared to the boss, it was tiny, fast and cute, so this caused some of the mental struggle between girls.

But right then, Celia, who had been waiting for the right chance, made her move.

"‹Spirit Summon›! I beseech thy ‹Thunder Spirit-sama›. ‹Elemental Shot›!"

"Meo, Meow-Meow-Meow-Meow!?

The attack of Celia who summoned ‹Thunder Spirit› drive struck the ‹Chamisen›.

The offensive attack in the spirit magic relies on spirits, so the accuracy rate, too, depends on the spirits. That's why, despite how tiny and agile ‹Chamisen› was, the attack managed to land on it. Spirit attacks weren't relient on attacks.

On the other hand, Celia is all about 'Lulu the cutest'. So she apparently had no misgiving facing ‹Chamisen›. With a crackling sound of electricity, ‹Chamisen› movement halted.

"Now is the time!"

"‹Sonic Sword› ‹Swift Strike›!"

"Kuh-meow!?"

I unhesitatingly followed with my attack and swung my sword! Opponent might be a cat, but it's also a monster. Nothing more, nothing less. I was just waiting for the chance, so I swiftly activated ‹Sonic Sword› to close the distance, and chained in my ultra-fast double hit attack ‹Swift Strike›, dealing a good amount of damage to it.

My attack happened to be a critical hit, causing the ‹Chamisen› to stagger and utter 'M-Meow~' before it dissolved into light particles. In its place, it left behind ‹A cat's fake whiskers› drop, a gag item.

"Lost, huh."

"Karua?"

Karua muttered her victory remark (?) while looking at the gag item. It was quite different from what I had imagined. But at least, the threatening aura around her had disappeared, perhaps she felt refreshed after we defeated it.

Haa... Rika let out a relieved sigh.

"Great work~. So, what do you think about the monster just now."

"You too, Zephyr. But, how to say, isn't it a bit too strong? It has reduced quite a good amount of my HP."

"This is the monster of the Intermediate-mid dungeon's monster. So brace yourself. ‹Aura Heal›!"

In the end, Rika had lost 200 HP points, around 30% of her total HP. Unbelievable, right? And this was just a regular monster, not even a boss. Furthermore, just one. Just thinking about 3 or more coming to attack chilled my heart.

I healed her with ‹Aura Heal›, and urged her to be more cautious.

"Hmm. Maybe I should focus more on evading its attacks. but its attacks are too strong."

"Well, there will be plenty of chances to get used to it. What do you think, everyone?"

"Hn, thank you. I didn't expect it to dodge like this. I will be more careful next time."

"Fish Bone was so tough, Lulu almost lost there! Also, Meow-san is cute and fast! Lulu almost couldn’t bring herself to attack it!"

"That was a monster feigning itself as a cat. But its movements were quick, like seasoned warriors."

As I looked for everyone' opinion, Rika's brows scrunched up as a complex expression appeared on her face. Karua was unhesitant in her attack, it was as if she never thought she was attacking a cat.

Lulu being herself, her impression was warm and fuzzy, while Celia replied casually.

On the side note, Hannah in the Team B was having a surprised expression, as if she had suffered a betrayal. What was she expecting from ‹Chamisen›?

"But it's challenging to save on skill while facing it......"

Rika was mainly speaking about MP cost.

Should it be a boss fight, ‹Eden› wasn't going to hold back from using the strongest move, but it couldn't be said similarly about the regular monster. Economising on MP in the dungeon was the basic of basic; after all, you'd want to use MP Hi-Potions on bosses if possible.

So, in general, when facing regular monsters, I recommend everyone in the ‹Eden› to use ‹1st Order› or ‹2nd Order› skills or spells, and defeat them in about two hits. That means two hits per battle. There are five of us, so that makes ten hits. The MP cost of ‹3rd Order› skill was just absurdly high so it was best to avoid using them in the battle against small fries.

"A question, Zephyr-dono. You used ‹Swift Strike›, right?"

"You're sharp, Celia. Indeed, I have."

"If I remember right, isn't ‹Swift Strike› a ‹3rd order› skill? Is it alright to use it?" Sᴇaʀch* Thᴇ NovᴇlFɪre .ɴᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

I see, she was confirming about the MP cost. ‹3rd Order› skill and spells are strong, but indulge too much in them, and you would find yourself in a tight spot later.

"Well, that's how strong Int-mid monsters are. As much as I want everyone to save their MP, don't hesitate to use ‹3rd Order› skill and spell when the situation calls for it. There's no problem even if you exceed the limit; that's why we have Hannah along with us."

"Ehehe. Leave it to me. It seems like I will be able to collect ‹High Mana Grass› here."

"I see. The monsters here are that formidable huh."

Celia nodded hearing my reply.

While ‹3rd Order› wasn't absolutely necessary to defeat the monster, they were significantly faster at taking down them. Plus, it saves us from unnecessary damage. It's fine to focus on saving MP, but we also have to be careful to not put the cart before the horse. It would be embarrassing to get party wipe-out just because we focused on economising, and it would also put a strain on long-term dungeon exploration.

The monsters in Int-mid were just that formidable, especially the ‹Cat-Dun›. From the impression of Int-low, we wouldn't lose, but it wasn't going to be an easy battle either. It would be best to have everyone quickly get used to Int-mid.

Besides, Celia's ‹3rd Order› skills were designed assuming the use of unique skill, so usage of them consumes far more MP than normal ‹3rd Order›. Fortunately, Celia has high INT, so she could sufficiently utilise the ‹2nd Order› and below. After explaining that, I also told her she didn't need to use ‹3rd Order› skills and unique skills in the upper floors. Saving MP was the basics.

Celia looked dejected, nevertheless, accepted it. Now that explanation is done, it's time to switch the battlefield with Team B.