Vol. 7 - Ch. 383 - Field Boss Battle - ‹Meowrrior› Edition!

The Team A—which includes, myself, Rika, Karua, Lulu and Celia—stepped forward to challenge ‹Meowrrior›, the the field boss of ‹Cat-Dun› 10th floor."As you can tell, ‹Meowrrior› is a cat samurai specialized in swordsmanship. It uses dual-sword style and like Rika, it excels at defense. Be careful how you attack, lest it pull one you with a counter. Karua, focus on hit-and-run tactic."

"Hn, got it. Escape immediately after striking."

"Same as me. Does it mean weakness is similar too?" Rika asked, pondering if the same fighting style meant the same drawback.

I nodded to her, "Yup, that's sharp of you to notice it, Rika. At close range, consecutive attacks are the key and——"

"Long-range attacks are highly effective huh. I see, Celia."

"Please leave it to me. I will handle the aggro," Celia nodded, the sole member in Team A to excel at long-range attacks.

The tactic was basically Rika defending and Celia attacking from long distance. Thus, gradually chipping away its HP. It was a case in reverse, unlike the regular monsters we had encountered on the way for whom long-range attacks were a breeze, this field boss was unable to do the same. Suppose one has formed the party specialized in close-combat thinking it was the mainstream team in this dungeon only to get whooped by the sudden twist.

Int-mind and above dungeons were filled with such nasty twists.

"What should Lulu do?"

"You focus on weakening it with your debuffs. Focus more on them than attacking. A wrong step might result in a counterattack."

"Understood! Lulu will be cautious!"

After explaining the key points. We started. Everyone had become quite used to fighting bosses. First step was Tank attracting its aggro, as such, our formidable tank Rika made her move.

"It is my first time to exchange moves with fellow samurai using a sword. My name is Rika, and I will have you become the stepstone of our journey! ‹Reveal Thy Name›!"

"Gu-nyu, Jaffus!"

"‹Thy spirit is very admirable-meow, oneself's name is ‹Meowrrior of the Cat samurai›-meow. Come-meow!› so it says."

"I beg you, Karua. Stop interpreting its words. I am almost losing my will to fight."

"Hn?"

It was a cool line if I just turn a turn a deaf ear to '—meow' suffix at the end. The more I hear Karua's word, the more ‹Meowrrior› image continue to change in my mind. You know, it had looked super duper-cool in that samurai clothing and seasoned warrior like tone in the game!

"Can you really understand it though?"

"Just a feeling."

"............"

Get a grip on yourself, me. Focusing on battle is more important.

‹Meowrrior› swiftly unsheathed its dual swords. It wasn't the so-called comical ‹Fish Bone Sword› that ‹Chamisen› or ‹Wild-Meow› were wielding, but real swords. This was one of the aspects that attracted me about it, it looks so cool with real swords. It was strange but the image of cat and sword were oddly complimenting each other.

"Hmm, ‹Shadow Warrior›! ‹Sword Strike›!"

"Gu-nya."

As if to say come at me, warrior (?), ‹Meowrrior› took a defensive stance.

Rika primarily relied on parrying to generate aggro, so it was hard to accumulate aggro if the monster didn't attack. Seeing no choice, she used taunt skill ‹Shadow Warrior› to attract its aggro and probed her opponent with ‹Sword Strike›.

‹Meowrrior› looked unfazed as it swung its sword and offset that skill. They both were clearly cut from the same cloth in terms of battle style.

"Kuh, not yet."

"Gu-nya-nya!"

Seeing that her single-hit skills were being blocked, Rika switched in to attack with a flurry of normal attacks. But as expected, it hardly earned any aggro. A strong opponent indeed.

"Everyone, be careful to not attract its aggro too much. Wait before you use your unique skill, Celia."

"I know. ‹Spirit Summon›! ‹Element Bost› ‹Element Arrow›!"

"Debuff incoming! ‹Heart Charm›! ‹Cute Eye›!"

"Gynya! Gun-nya-nya?"

Attackers started making their move at my instruction. Celia summoned ‹Fire Spirit›. Cat's were weak against fire. She further boosted her own status with ‹Boost› and attacked with ‹Fire Arrow›, dealing good chunk of damage to ‹Meowrrior›. Meanwhile, Lulu used applied debuff ‹Heart Charm› and speed debuff ‹Cute Eye› to shave of field boss power.

"My turn, ‹Force Sonic›! Retreating, ‹Slow Slash›!"

"Heal inbound, ‹Aura Heal›! And ‹Lightning Burst›!"

"Gunya!?"

Karua swiftly moved to use her four consecutive slashing attack skill, ‹Force Sonic› to strike at its flank and right before ‹Meowrrior› counterattack could reach her, she used ‹Slow Slash› to slash at it while propelling herself backward.

I healed Rika who bore the brunt of counterattack and confirming all attackers had retreated, I slammed down my ‹Lightning Burst›. My attack shaved quite a good amount of its HP but with Rika having yet to earn complete aggro toward herself, I could only stop from further pursuing my attack lest I overdid it.

It would be another bone-breaking task to regain the ‹Meowrrior› target if it shifted away from her.

Afterwards, Rika once again used her taunt skill to further attract its aggro while we, the attackers, continued to sparsely attack in between.

‹Meowrrior› was clearly focusing on the counter. But that passive attacking mode was what left Rika's usual tactic into shambles. Rika looked slightly impatient seeing she couldn't effectively gain its aggro.——No, it wasn't just my feeling that she 'looked impatient'.

The next moment, situation took a different turn as soon as ‹Meowrrior› eyes gleamed with intensity.

"Gy-nya!"

"Guh, Argh!"

"Rika! ‹Aura Heal›!"

‹Meowrrior› counter landed a critical hit on Rika. It perfectly executed its skill followed by the agitated attack from Rika. Damn you ‹Meowrrior›, you were aiming for this all along, weren't you!?

Rika was thrown back and suffered from the critical down. Shit!

I hurriedly casted healing magic on her and moved myself wedged myself between her and ‹Meowrrior›. However, someone slid in faster than I did.

"I will not let you do anything to Rika! ‹32 Star Storm›!"

Karua apparently had the same thought as she used one of her strongest move from the flank and become a roadblock for ‹Meowrrior›. Facing the attack, ‹Meowrrior› gaze captured Karua. This, this was the ‹Super Reaction› from ‹Intuition›!

Along with counter-attack related skills, ‹Meowrrior› was also able to temporarily change its target—when the main target wasn't present there—to the attacker when attacked. I should have explained it beforehand, but it seems like she was so preoccupied about Rika's situation that she seemed to have forgotten about it. It's going to be awful at this rate.

"‹Escape Dodge› now, Karua! Run away!"

"Hn!"

"Gu-nya!"

"Hngh!?"

A counter, damn it.

Karua's ‹32 Star Storm› was a powerful skill which allowed her to attack her enemies 32 times in just 2 seconds. However, the downside was it left the attacker defenseless for the entirety of the duration. 2 seconds might not be enough to call it a weak point but ‹Meowrrior› was a boss specialized in counters. It didn't miss the chance.

Just as Karua had activated her skill, ‹Meowrrior› released a flash faster than eyes could perceive and blew back Karua, dealing huge damage to her.

"Karua! ‹Area Healing›! Hang on, I will quickly heal you!"

Karua's HP was instantly shaved to 1/3. Ah, crap. If it hadn't been for Lulu's attack debuff and Karua herself new equipment, this might have been enough to take her down. I am so glad we bought the new equipment. God bless you, Marry-senpai!

I immediately used AoE healing skill and began working to heal her.

"Lulu, please lower its attack! Celia!"

"I know. ‹Spirit Summon›! ‹Element Lease›!"

"Leave it to me! ‹Heart Charm›! ‹Charm Sword›!"

"‹Guard Rush›!

I gave my instruction and stood in the way of ‹Meowrrior› who was brimming with the intention to attack Rika in her critical down condition.

Celia summoned ‹Ice Spirit› with ‹Spirit Summon› and used ‹Element Lease› to loan it to me. ‹Ice Spirit› raises user's VIT by thirty percent. Alongside, Lulu used her attack debuff skill and weakened ‹Meowrrior›.

I hurriedly activated ‹Guard Rush›, a three consecutive hit skill which focuses on defense for its duration. It was an extremely effective skill against counter specialized attacks.

"Take it!"

"Nyargh!?"

"It's effective, effective! Take it!"

I readied my shield and swung down my sword. Instantly, it attempted to parry it but it hardly put a dent on my HP after all the preparation. You are 100 years too early to counter me, the Brave!

And the skill ended.

"Not yet! ‹Lightning Burst›! ‹Shine Lightning›!"

"Gu-nya!"

I pursued it with magic spells! As long as I open the distance with backstep, ‹Meowrrior› counter wouldn't be able to do anything.

However, seemingly realizing that it wouldn't pass through, ‹Meowrrior› dropped its focus on counter strategy and switched to attack mode as it rushed at me.

"Ohh!? ‹Defense›!"

"Hng-nya!"

‹Meowrrior› used its skill ‹Cross Cat Crash›. I hurriedly defended against the dual sword's cross slash attack. Alright, it's under wrap.

Just as I was rejoicing, ‹Meowrrior› showed the sign of using its second skill immediately after, ‹Warrior Cat's Upper Slash›. Damnnn! I have already used my defense skill! Time to retreat!

I was about to use ‹Sonic Sword› to dodge when a confident voice called out to me from behind.

"Zephyr, change with me. I will settle it now and there!"

"Alright! ‹Sonic Sword›!" Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ NʘvᴇlFire.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

"Unique Skill ‹Twin Swallow Flip›!"

Rika switched with me at the precise timing ‹Meowrrior› used ‹Warrior Cat's Upper Slash›, a strong single attack from above, and flawlessly parried it with her unique skill.

"Grgh!?"

"An Opening!"

Rika's ‹Twin Swallow Flip› repelled the attack and dealt a great amount of damage. Receiving the attack, ‹Meowrrior› was further knocked back and froze in the pose of raising its sword. This is it, this was the chance!

"Take my unique skill! ‹Brave Slash›!"

With a powerful strike, I slashed at the ‹Meowrrior› stiffened due to the effect of knockback, and pushed it into knock down condition.

"Alright, everyone, you know the drill. Go all-out!"

"Here I go! ‹Justice Hero Sword›! ‹Hero Special Impact›! ‹Sacred Explode›! ‹Lolita of Hero Smash›!"

"‹Ancient Spirit Art›! ‹Advent of the Great Spirit›! I beseech thy, ‹Ignis›!"

"Payback time. ‹Scale Break›! ‹Delta Stream›! ‹Star Boost Tornado›! ‹Star Burst - Rain Edge›! ‹Twin Wild Cat Scratch›!"

"Here's my little gift for the earlier! ‹Shogun's Burst›! ‹Flame Slash›! ‹Ice Strike› ‹Lightning Strike› ‹Light Flash› ‹Dark Sweep›!

"Gu-nya-rgh!?"

"And my turn, ‹Brave Heart›! ‹Swift Strike›! ‹Lightning Slash›! Haaa—--!!"

Everyone immediately rained down their strongest attack at the petrified ‹Meowrrior›, shaving off a lot of its HP.

From that point on, the tide completely turned in our favor, and it became a one-sided battle, as if we were venting our frustrations from before. The key point was Rika had managed to activate her defensive skill in sync with the counter. So cool, she managed to make a breakthrough in her skills in the boss battle. No seriously, I really want to learn how she managed to parry all those counters.

With Rika garnering its aggro, Celia rain down her attack from the distance.

‹Meowrrior› put up a brave fight by offsetting the long-range attacks with just its sword, but alas, it was destined to never make another comeback.

"Fu, gu-nya."

"‹Hehm not bad-meow› so it says."

"I don't need any 'meow' for god's sake!"

With what seemed to be its final chuckle, ‹Meowrrior› disappeared into the pool light particles. What remained were a copious boss drop and a shining silver treasure chest.