The Team A—which includes, myself, Rika, Karua, Lulu and Celia—stepped forward to challenge ‹owrrior›, the the field boss of ‹Cat-Dun› 10th floor.
"As you can tell, ‹owrrior› 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 imdiately after striking."
"Sa as . Does it an weakness is similar too?" Rika asked, pondering if the sa fighting style ant the sa 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 . I will handle the aggro," Celia nodded, the sole mber 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 sa. Suppose one has ford 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 beco 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 ti to exchange moves with fellow samurai using a sword. My na is Rika, and I will have you beco the stepstone of our journey! ‹Reveal Thy Na›!"
"Gu-nyu, Jaffus!"
"‹Thy spirit is very admirable-ow, oneself's na is ‹owrrior of the Cat samurai›-ow. Co-ow!› 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 '—ow' suffix at the end. The more I hear Karua's word, the more ‹owrrior› 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 ga!
"Can you really understand it though?"
"Just a feeling."
"............"
Get a grip on yourself, . Focusing on battle is more important.
‹owrrior› swiftly unsheathed its dual swords. It wasn't the so-called comical ‹Fish Bone Sword› that ‹Chamisen› or ‹Wild-ow› were wielding, but real swords. This was one of the aspects that attracted about it, it looks so cool with real swords. It was strange but the image of cat and sword were oddly complinting each other.
"Hmm, ‹Shadow Warrior›! ‹Sword Strike›!"
"Gu-nya."
As if to say co at , warrior (?), ‹owrrior› 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›.
‹owrrior› looked unfazed as it swung its sword and offset that skill. They both were clearly cut from the sa 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›! ‹Elent Bost› ‹Elent 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 ‹owrrior›. anwhile, 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 ‹owrrior› 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 slamd 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 ‹owrrior› 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.
‹owrrior› 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 mont, situation took a different turn as soon as ‹owrrior› eyes glead with intensity.
"Gy-nya!"
"Guh, Argh!"
"Rika! ‹Aura Heal›!"
‹owrrior› counter landed a critical hit on Rika. It perfectly executed its skill followed by the agitated attack from Rika. Damn you ‹owrrior›, 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 ‹owrrior›. However, soone slid in faster than I did.
"I will not let you do anything to Rika! ‹32 Star Storm›!"
Karua apparently had the sa thought as she used one of her strongest move from the flank and beco a roadblock for ‹owrrior›. Facing the attack, ‹owrrior› gaze captured Karua. This, this was the ‹Super Reaction› from ‹Intuition›!
Along with counter-attack related skills, ‹owrrior› 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 seed 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 tis 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 ‹owrrior› was a boss specialized in counters. It didn't miss the chance.
Just as Karua had activated her skill, ‹owrrior› 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 equipnt, this might have been enough to take her down. I am so glad we bought the new equipnt. God bless you, Marry-senpai!
I imdiately used AoE healing skill and began working to heal her.
"Lulu, please lower its attack! Celia!"
"I know. ‹Spirit Summon›! ‹Elent Lease›!"
"Leave it to ! ‹Heart Charm›! ‹Charm Sword›!"
"‹Guard Rush›!
I gave my instruction and stood in the way of ‹owrrior› who was brimming with the intention to attack Rika in her critical down condition.
Celia summoned ‹Ice Spirit› with ‹Spirit Summon› and used ‹Elent Lease› to loan it to . ‹Ice Spirit› raises user's VIT by thirty percent. Alongside, Lulu used her attack debuff skill and weakened ‹owrrior›.
I hurriedly activated ‹Guard Rush›, a three consecutive hit skill which focuses on defense for its duration. It was an extrely 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 , 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, ‹owrrior› counter wouldn't be able to do anything.
However, seemingly realizing that it wouldn't pass through, ‹owrrior› dropped its focus on counter strategy and switched to attack mode as it rushed at .
"Ohh!? ‹Defense›!"
"Hng-nya!"
‹owrrior› 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, ‹owrrior› showed the sign of using its second skill imdiately after, ‹Warrior Cat's Upper Slash›. Damnnn! I have already used my defense skill! Ti to retreat!
I was about to use ‹Sonic Sword› to dodge when a confident voice called out to from behind.
"Zephyr, change with . I will settle it now and there!"
"Alright! ‹Sonic Sword›!"
"Unique Skill ‹Twin Swallow Flip›!"
Rika switched with at the precise timing ‹owrrior› 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, ‹owrrior› 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 ‹owrrior› 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 ti. ‹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›! ‹Fla Slash›! ‹Ice Strike› ‹Lightning Strike› ‹Light Flash› ‹Dark Sweep›!
"Gu-nya-rgh!?"
"And my turn, ‹Brave Heart›! ‹Swift Strike›! ‹Lightning Slash›! Haaa—--!!"
Everyone imdiately rained down their strongest attack at the petrified ‹owrrior›, shaving off a lot of its HP.
From that point on, the tide completely turned in our favor, and it beca 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.
‹owrrior› put up a brave fight by offsetting the long-range attacks with just its sword, but alas, it was destined to never make another coback.
"Fu, gu-nya."
"‹Hehm not bad-ow› so it says."
"I don't need any 'ow' for god's sake!"
With what seed to be its final chuckle, ‹owrrior› disappeared into the pool light particles. What remained were a copious boss drop and a shining silver treasure chest.
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