"Fufufufu-meow."
"And this is the ?Meownarch of the Cat King?, a remarkable cat who has the unnatural habit of adding 'meow' at the end of its words."
"......It sure is fat. And lazy too."
At the deepest part of the last floor, what awaited us was a chubby cat resting on the throne adorned with the imposing face of a gigantic cat with two black and white cats serving it on either side. The lackey cats were both standard size and bidedal. Contrary to its lackey's sharp dignified aura, ?Meownarch? on the throne was completely exuding a slothful atmosphere. In term of size, it should be around as big as us but because it was resting on the throne with a rather sloppy posture, it appeared smaller/
Its appearance hadn't change from the game. Despite being chubby, it had the cat-like cuteness to it. While many exclaimed how it could be so adorable despite being a roundball, a cat phrase like 'it's cute because it's chubby' was suddenly invented.
Well, it seems like Karua here shares different sentiments though. She quietly muttered out her harsh criticism. On the other hand, other members were already on their battle stance.
"Be careful as it is pretty agile regardless of its appearance. It is especially hard to deal with area attacks. Rika, just call out to us when you feel it's impossible to handle, Lulu or I will switch the tank role."
"Understood. I will do so. Though, I want to avoid it as much as possible."
?Meownarch? often use area attack which was opposite to Rika's style. While she was strong against straightforward attacks, this was where she fall short at. ?Meownarch? attack pattern was basically a combination of AoE attack followed by a swift single strike. Dealing with this combo could be quite challenging.
Rika gained the boss's aggro by offsetting the attack, but there were many times it was impossible to parry the AoE attacks. It was easier for the target to switch to the attacker, so we atleast have to be careful Celia doesn't get targeted.
That's why I have asked her to switch with me or Lulu. I mainly was in charge of the healer role so if possible, I want Lulu to handle this matter.
Well, that's enough preparation I guess. Our opponent seemed to be waiting for us as well. Alright, time to act now.
?Meownarch? leisurely stood up from its throne while holding a greatsword around 2m in size.
I quickly fired my instruction.
"We first have to handle its lackey just as we had discussed in the meeting. Lulu, can you handle them?"
"Leave it to Lulu! Lulu will drag them away in jiffy!"
"But keep it in mind to not use the skill like last time, alright?"
"Roger! Then Lulu is going, Celia onee-chan!"
After putting Lulu in charge of dragging away the ?Meownarch? lackey, Celia and I watched her step forward.
Boss and its lackeys, too, had started moving, signifying the battle was about to start.
"Then I will handle the boss."
Following Lulu, Rika assumed her role to tackle boss's aggro.
On the other hand, as Lulu closes the distance, the cat duo immediately step forward to intercept her.
Black cat was equipped with a ?Fish Bone Sword? in its right hand, ?Fish Scale Shield? in its left hand while wearing ?Cat High Boots? on its legs. White cat was a twin sword user, holding ?Fish Bone Sword? in both hands and wearing ?Cat Geta? on its legs.
In fact, both sides were so similar in height it looked like a battle between miniatures. Honestly, it had struck an oddly adorable vibe that it inevitably attracted everyone's attention. Rika, who was about to face the boss, also stopped in her tracks, attracted by the spectacle. No, I know you want to watch it, Rika. But please endure for now. You know you are in charge of your boss, right?
As a matter of fact, Celia had already come to a standstill.
"Hyaaa! You can't even tickle Lulu with these attacks!"
Oh, here comes Lulu’s signature catchphrase.
Black cat and White cat struck down with their skill ?Tri Meow Slash? and ?Combo Meow Slash?, but it hardly fazed Lulu who had high knockdown resistance. On the other hand, even after receiving the duo cat's slashes, Lulu still stood tall...I mean excitedly.
"Payback time!"
"Meowrg!"
"Meowgh!"
Brushing off the cat duo’s attack, Lulu made her move next and followed with a regular attack against them, chipping away their HP. Unlike the cat duo’s attack, Lulu’s attack chipped away their HP. Well, it only caused them to utter a painful groan, though.
Lulu took this chance to turn on her heels and deliberately showed her escaping stance to the cat duo.
"Come and try to chase me! I'm here!"
"Meowfu!!"
"Gu-nya!"
Sure enough, Cat duo's hate was already on Lulu so they took the bait and chased after her.
Alright, it seems to be going fine. Let's see, as for the boss…it didn't budge at all. Boss's target was fixated on Rika—the first one to enter the boss room.
This was one of the reasons Lulu managed to separate its lackey. And one other reason was Lulu didn't use any skill.
In addition to the aggro set on the first person who entered the boss room, using ?Skill? or ?Magic? also contributed to attracting their aggro, even if the skill wasn't aimed at the boss. This was the reason Lulu only followed with normal attacks earlier, since Rika had yet to make a move and it also prevented aggro from being shifted.
People learn from their mistakes, huh. As a matter of fact, Lulu had precisely made a mistake of using skill against the lackey of ?Meowtherhood?, the 30th floor field boss. This resulted in her attracting the aggro of not only its lackey, but of the boss as well.
Fortunately, she seemed to have remembered her lesson this time.
"As expected of Lulu. Now, I can't be the one to drag down the others, eh. ?Parallel Slash?!"
This time Rika moved to make her move on Boss. A good choice. ?Reveal They Name? would have caused even the cat duo to focus on her.
"Hmph-meow!"
?Meownarch? calmly swings its sword facing Rika's offensive skill. Oh, it was a wide range attack—?A Cat's Horizontal Sweep?.
"Kuh!"
It was just a single large swing attack but because the sword itself was 2m long, it easily closed the gap between them and struck Rika, causing her stance to break and canceling the skill activation. ?Meownarch? didn't just stop there as a glow envelops it—it was the sign ?Meownarch? was using its one hit skill, ?A Warrior Cat's Downward Slash?! A vertical downward slash attack skill that ?Meowrrior? had used as well. Though, ?Meownarch? was a far cry from the image of a warrior.
"?Parry?!"
"Purrr-meow!"
Of course, Rika had experience blocking it once already. She easily neutralizes the skill. Alright, this scores a point in aggro.
I looked at Lulu's direction and she, too, had started using skill to retain the cat duo's aggro. Hmm, it means our initial phase of the plan divide is successful.
Both worked in tandem, Lulu drawing away the cat duo while Rika started using her taunt skill like ?Reveal They Name? or ?Clone? etc to further build up boss's aggro.