The cerberus form up into groups of two and three, and we defend against their attacks.
When one attacks, the other supports or guard.
When they attack, we have to put more effort into defending, so we just can’t go all out and attack.
Because of this, despite the fact that their levels are going down, it doesn’t affect the effects of their magic.
Of course, it’s getting weaker, so while their magic removed elemental effects with one attack before, now it takes two or three.
Still, we have to block with those elemental effects active, or the flames won’t go out until they burn everything.
Something else that messes with our momentum is how the three heads don’t attack all at once.
We thought this fight was reaching its conclusion, but it actually takes us another two hours.
Up until this point, there were times when our opponents changed how they fought when we entered a new floor, but we didn’t expect them to bust out this kind of coordination at the end of the fight.
The ninety-ninth floor will be the last one with cerberus, but there’s a good chance that their coordination will be even better there.
“We might need to rethink our strategy.”
Says the beast king, and no one objects.
With our opponent’s skills going up, we have to also prepare accordingly.
But it’s not all bad. At least we learned about it, and it won’t have a bad effect on our skill.
Our coordination is better than when we started, and we have a good grasp on our strengths and weaknesses, so we can work in a way that makes up for them.
There’s also the fact that even when the cerberus were coordinating, our formation didn’t break, and we were able to cover for each other.
“Should we go to the training area to improve our coordination?”
“That’s fine, but we could do it here in the dungeon.”
The beast king proposes we go train on another floor.
It could be on a floor with another four-legged monster… The hellhounds of the seventy-first floor, orthros from the seventy-sixth, or the manticores from the ninety-first?
There are also the tigerwolves and stuff like that below the fiftieth floor, but I think those would be too weak.
We’ve gone through the upper floors, but it doesn’t mean the monsters there aren’t strong. But we have to face a certain degree of risk, or it won’t be much of a training.
After pondering it, we decide none of them really match cerberus, so we’re going to fight all three in order.
The problem is that none of them use magic as troubling as the cerberus.
“But if we fight hellhounds on the seventy-second floor for example, wouldn’t that affect a fight with orthros on the seventy-eight floor?”
“I don’t think so. If that were the case, they would adapt to our fighting style since the first floor, and it would be harder to conquer floors. I think that only applies to monsters of the same type.”
Rurika says to me.
It’s true, if they read our fighting style since the first floor, this would have been harder, wouldn’t it?
Then again, we have been changing party members and getting new weapons. Our fighting styles have stayed fundamentally the same, but there’s been plenty of changes.
There’s no point in thinking about that.
After that, we fight a monster a day. When they summon more and their levels go down, Mia and Chris get some training fighting at close range too.
I was against that at first, but the beast king convinced me that they can’t grow if we coddle them too much, so neither Rurika or I complained.
Also, Mia and Chris are fired up about it.
“I used to do it too.”
Says Figel while looking on into the distance. But it’s true that he can fight to some extent even if monsters get close.
But still, I have them agree to let me protect them with shields.
At first, they can’t dodge attacks perfectly and get hit, but after a few times, their movements become better, and they’re able to guess where attacks are coming based on the very first moves. By the end, they can dodge without any problems.
And by having a read on that, they can counterattack with magic.
“Well, we’ve done all we can. Now we just have to go through the ninety-ninth floor.”
A week after we started going around the upper floors, we’re ready.
We have plenty of disposable items too, especially MP and SP recovery ones, so we’re okay even if it turns into a long fight.
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Thanks for the treat.