She was happy to hear that—but I said if we survived. It was impossible for us to beat the boss on our first try anyway, so it was unlikely that I’d have to fulfill that promise. Was that devious? Mwa ha ha ha ha! Reflet! That’s how adults operate!
“Hum?”
“Oh, um, nothing. Anyway, let’s get this poisoned food set up.”
The traps would come later. If I set them both up at the same time, it might have disastrous results.
The first step was checking the effectiveness of the poison. I moved to the center of the room, where the Cerberus Lion had been lying down at the start, and placed three poisoned dishes there.
The boss’s behavior remained unchanged. Since we were told it had a keen sense of smell, I thought that meant it would notice the food right away and go for it. And the perfume shouldn’t be affecting it anymore...
“Sukegawa!” I called out. “Can you ask Kokuten and his group to lure the boss this way?”
“Can do!”
As soon as Sukegawa ran off and delivered the message to Kokuten and the others, they got to work. I was glad they caught on so quickly. They retreated in a V formation, drawing the boss towards the bait.
Now that the boss was close enough, it caught a whiff of the food’s scent. It was looking all around, its nose twitching excitedly. Kokuten’s group made their retreat while avoiding running over the poisoned food, skillfully guiding the Cerberus Lion until it had a view of the source of the smell.
“Grrr?”
Nice! It found it! The boss’s eyes are clearly locked on the food! If I had to name the dish, I’d call it “Sea Bream and White Tomato Acqua Pazza, with a Side of Magic Poison”! Heh heh, sounds tasty, right? I assure you it’s a fine dish that even Reflet would hesitate to eat without the proper utensils! Go on, have a bite!
“Grrr... Chomp.”
“It ate it!”
“Whoa. Well done, Silver-Haired.”
“Big kitty. Cute kitty.”
The vanguard players cheered as the Cerberus Lion polished off the poisoned dish in one bite. It gulped down the entire thing without chewing, even the plate. Talk about a hearty appetite!
“Grrr... Graaawr!”
A few seconds later, purple bubbles appeared above the Cerberus Lion’s heads, indicating that it was poisoned.
“It’s poisoned! And it’s writhing in pain! Now’s our chance!”
“Let’s gooo!”
“Silver, onward!”
“Heh heh... Explosion time.”
“Redbud! Let us stab this spear right into that brute’s rump!”
Seeing their chance, the top players rushed forward to attack. I heard a few disturbing remarks from a few of them, though.
Anyway, it looked like the poison had worked well against the boss. At first I thought the boss wasn’t losing any HP from the poison, but then I saw that its health meter was gradually dropping. Plus, the poison would continue to deal damage over time for a little longer. Could the poison actually be super strong?
“Oops, I can’t just stand around and watch. Guys, let’s attack too!”
“Growl growl!”
“Kee-hee!”
My monsters and I joined everyone else in attacking the boss.
That poisoned bait was a lot more brutal than I imagined. The effect lasted for one minute, and during that time, it reduced the boss’s health by three percent. Three percent for a raid boss was several times the full health of some lesser monsters. Moreover, it even fell for two more poisoned meals. Though after that, it seemed to have learned its lesson. It crushed the fourth poisoned meal flat with its foot.
In just a few short minutes, we had taken out almost ten percent of the boss’s HP. Also, while the boss was poisoned, its movements became sluggish and its attacks became slightly weaker. Thanks to that, our party barely sustained any damage at all.
Hey, I made a pretty significant contribution, didn’t I? No one could call me a useless weakling anymore!
“Silver-Haired! Look out!”
“Wha?”
“Mm-mm!”
I heard Murakage’s warning at the same time Olto pushed me down. As I lay face up on the ground, I saw something bright and reddish-orange pass speedily over my head. It was the flame-covered tip of the Cerberus Lion’s tail.
The Cerberus Lion had gone through another change. This time, even its appearance had transformed: its mane and the tip of its tail had turned into flames. Apparently, the boss could now attack with that tail tip. I had dropped my guard since the boss had been pretty far away with its back facing me. Also, I was pretty sure its tail had grown longer.
“Are you all right?” Murakage asked me.
“Y-Yeah, I am. Thanks for the warning.”
Murakage had pulled off a spectacular jump to avoid the flames, something that I wouldn’t have been able to do in a million years. That’s a ninja for you!
“I think it would be in your best interest to move farther away,” Murakage advised.
“Good idea.”
I kept an eye on the Cerberus Lion the entire time as I jogged away from it. The fighting had become more intense. I had let my guard down since no one had died yet, but this was the point where things became serious.
“Aah! Byden!”
I saw Byden get forcefully sent flying back right before my eyes. All at once, our formation collapsed, the rearguard scattering in all directions.
“We need to be even more cautious now!” Kokuten shouted.
“Right!”
“Got it!”
“Here it comes!”
“ROOOAAAR!”
Yikes. The lion was spewing out a furious blast of flames while swinging its paws and tail. I’d probably get burnt to ash if I dared to get any closer to it.
Meanwhile, Kokuten’s party was facing the boss head-on. They really were awesome. In addition to them, I saw Kurumi, Filma, Murakage, Holland, and Sakkyun going all out too. But it was undeniably clear that everyone was now taking more damage. The sparks that flew out from the lion’s mane were chipping away at our health, the vanguard members’ HP declining at an abnormally rapid rate. Things were not looking good.
As I thought anxiously about what I should do, someone rushed over to me.
“Silver-Haired!” Sukegawa called out, clutching a rolled-up piece of paper that I assumed contained a trap. “Let’s set up the traps! If they work, it’ll ease the pressure on the vanguard!”
“Y-Yeah, let’s do it!”
Sukegawa was right. Even hindering the boss’s movements a little bit would be a huge help. Especially the giant trap I possessed that Yadan had repaired. If the information we’d been given was correct, the trap should be able to stop the boss for ten seconds. That was just enough time for us to heal up and recover our battle formation.
“Where are you going to place yours?” Sukegawa asked.
“In the center of the room, since it’ll be easy to lure the boss there. What about you?”
Sukegawa had made about ten of his own traps.
“I’m thinking I’ll put them wherever the boss has passed by at least once. That way, odds are it’ll run into them on its own.”
“That makes sense.”
After our quick briefing session to make sure we didn’t set up our traps in the same spots, Sukegawa and I dispersed.
The Cerberus Lion let out a roar in the distance. Murakage had used some sort of fire jutsu and had knocked the boss back. Well, what I called “fire jutsu” was really just a bomb. Fire wasn’t very strong against this boss, but evidently the bomb blast had had a Blow Away effect. Incidentally, Murakage had almost all ninja techniques covered through similar creative means. Ninja might not have been unlocked as a job class yet, but he was definitely playing as one.
“Growl!”
“Oops, sorry. Did you finish setting up the trap? All right, let’s get Sukegawa’s traps set up too.”
“Growl!”
Sukegawa had given me half of his trap scrolls so we could set them up more quickly. However...
“Bear Beaaar! Watch ouuut!”
Ashihana’s urgent shout reached our ears as we were crouching down to unroll one of the trap scrolls. I whipped around and saw the reason for her shout.
“Oh, shit! Run!”
“G-Grooowl!”
The Cerberus Lion was rushing towards us poor, defenseless creatures. Why?! It was fighting on the complete opposite side of the room!
I stood up to run, but the lion was already right in front of me, leaving me no hope of escaping. If this was how it was going to be, then I would act as bait to lure the boss to the trap!
“Aaahhh! Bear Bear, run!”
“Groooowl!”
The boss was too fast for us. At this rate, it was going to catch us way before we made it to the trap. Olto came running over to help us, but I knew he wouldn’t make it in time.
But someone else did make it in time to leap between us and the boss.
“A-Ashihana?!”
“G-Growl?!”
“Yaaaaah!”
Ashihana forcefully swung her giant ax over her head and then swung it down at the oncoming Cerberus Lion. Her ax was gleaming super brightly. I-Is that her special move?!
But before she could tell us if it was or not, the massive beast hurled Ashihana away, and her body dissolving into pieces and then vanishing. But not before smiling and making a peace sign at Bear Bear! Is this really the time for that?!