Uh-oh, I need to attack too. My monsters and I fought as hard as we could. As I watched the rest of the raid party members’ attacks, I saw that there were a lot of people who possessed powerful attacks that needed to be charged, even if they weren’t special attacks like Holland’s and Huey’s. I bet that they were high-leveled arts that prioritized power over being able to move hitting targets.
Kokuten, Sakkyun, and Kurumi’s skills looked especially strong, but even theirs didn’t deal as much damage as Holland’s and Huey’s attacks. I wondered if the best way to utilize the trap was to gather a bunch of players who could use superpowered special attacks so they could rain them down on the boss all at once while it was immobilized.
When at last the Cerberus Lion freed itself from the trap, it got hit with an explosion from Rikyu’s bomb, and then our opportunity for attack was over. Our collective efforts had taken out over ten percent of the boss’s HP gauge.
Of course, the boss rewarded us by powering up yet again.
“GRRROOOAR!”
Now that the Cerberus Lion was down to twenty percent health, it transitioned into its fifth state. This time, it underwent an even more drastic change in appearance. It doubled in size and all the fur covering its body turned into flames. It was also much faster now. The lion was running around with more intensity than ever as it relentlessly spit out giant fireballs.
And those weren’t even the worst changes.
“The traps aren’t working!” Sukegawa bellowed.
As he said, the traps were no longer effective against the boss. It was as if the boss had some sort of ability to disable them. Was this the part where we were supposed to abandon our cheap tricks and fight it head-on?
“Holland! Kurumi! Byden! It’ll be rough, but we’re counting on you!”
The tanks followed Kokuten’s order and moved to the front. Now that the traps weren’t working, Kokuten’s plan was to have the tanks stop the boss so everyone else could attack all together again.
However, things did not go according to that plan. The Cerberus Lion kept its distance from us and relied solely on attacking with long-range attacks. It also started mixing in some violent explosions among the fireballs.
In addition to that, it occasionally threw in some vicious charge attacks. Those charge attacks had a good chance of sending someone flying, allowing the lion to collapse the front line and even charge into the rear guard. A direct hit from the charge attack dealt heavy damage, and even just getting hit by the sparks scattering off of the lion chipped away at our HP.
After only three minutes of enduring the Cerberus Lion’s fifth state, everyone was at half health and we had used five revive potions.
I decided now was a good time to swap out some monsters. Tanks were pointless in the face of the boss’s charge attacks.
“Olto, return! I summon Carro!”
“Neigh neigh!”
“Lilith, return! I summon the Tea Kettle Tanuki!”
“Poko pom!”
I summoned in Carro, who could help me evade, and Kettle, who was capable of area heals. There was also one more task I had for Kettle.
“Kettle! Use Calling Blessing!”
“Pom!”
I wanted the tanuki to use Calling Blessing, which would impact my post-battle drops. I had purposely not used Calling Blessing until now since I assumed we had no hope of winning this battle on our first try. That way, I could get accurate data about what the pity rewards were for losing.
However, considering how close we were to beating it, I started to think we might actually have a chance, and since we were in desperate need of healing, I had no reason not to use Kettle’s moves.
“Carro! Keep running away from the boss!”
“Neigh!”
“Kettle, heal with Tea Tricks!”
“Poko!”
Whether we won or lost, the end of the battle was drawing near. We had to keep fighting!
However, determination alone wasn’t enough to deal with the Cerberus Lion’s merciless attacks. The raid party alternated between attacking and defending, and ultimately, we suffered some casualties.
We lost Todo and Gio, the scout and lancer from Kokuten’s party. They had been bolstering the front line this entire time, but at one point the Cerberus Lion used a super powerful move that killed multiple players, and we weren’t able to use revive potions on them in time.
The lion’s charge attack was immensely terrifying. Its body of flames blazed intensely, and each time it took a step, a tremendous explosion burst somewhere around it. I felt like I was being given a glimpse of the devs’ bloodlust.
I continued to swap out monsters from my party. Bear Bear had gotten taken out by a fireball—though it was partly their fault for getting overconfident and getting too close to the boss. I shouted for them to retreat, but it was too late.
“G-Grooowl!”
“Bear bear! I told you not to go too far forward!”
I didn’t feel too sad, though I wasn’t sure if that was because Bear Bear had died as a result of their own behavior, or because they gave me a thumbs-up as they faded away. Either way, I summoned Himka to fill in for them.
Ashihana absolutely lost her mind when Bear Bear died. She recklessly charged at the boss and ended up getting killed herself.
“You rotten cat! How dare youuu?!”
She rushed forward all on her own, moving out of range of my revive potion. Why was she even more upset than I was?
In any case, the undeniable fact was that we were losing fighting power bit by bit. And yet, not a single one of us was losing hope. If we just held out a little longer, we might be able to win this. At the pace we were going, the lion would run out of HP before we all got wiped out.
In raid battles, if the party succeeded, then that counted as a win for the players that had died as well and they would also receive rewards. It didn’t matter how many of us died, as long as at least one player made it to the end.
I really hadn’t thought we could win on our first try, but having revive potions really made a difference. Resurrection items were unsurprisingly essential items. However, after hope came despair. At a certain point, as we faced the boss, smiles on our faces, the worst thing that could happen, happened.
“Grrroooaaar!”
“Huh? Did it just change forms again?”
“Now? But it’s not on the verge of death yet. It transformed with ten percent HP left?!”
“I-It has a sixth form!” Akari exclaimed.
“Seriously? This is unheard of!”
Akari stared dumbfoundedly at the Cerberus Lion. And she wasn’t the only one—everyone looked flabbergasted. No one could believe that this raid boss had a sixth state. This was something that had never been witnessed before.
The flames coiling around the lion’s body vanished, then its four limbs rapidly began glowing red. It was as if the lion was concentrating its flames on its legs. It almost looked like it was wearing red boots.
“Now that’s a stylin’ lion!” Sukegawa rhymed lamely.
“This is no time for jokes!” Sawyer shot back. Good job, Sawyer!
“Grrr... ROOOAAAR!”
“It’s so fast!” I cried out in shock when I saw the Cerberus Lion suddenly move from a standstill.
“Gaaah!”
“Aah! Oh no, Murakage!” Kokuten hollered.
I watched as the ninja, dressed head to toe in black, was sent flying up towards the ceiling. He didn’t die, but his HP plunged right into the red zone.
The boss was too fast for even an evasion pro like Murakage to dodge it?! Also, even though he had been concealing himself, the boss was able to easily spot him. Though unlike KTK, Murakage didn’t possess the Scent Elimination skill. Someone who could neutralize their scent like KTK had a much better advantage against this super-smeller of a boss.
“At that speed, it can bowl through any battle formation we try to hold! Everyone, be careful!”
It doesn’t matter how careful I am! I don’t think I can land any hits or avoid that beast!
“Rooaaaargh!”
“Meow meow! Stay away from me, meow!”
“I will protect you, kitty.”
KTK is a rock star! She stood in front of Nyamun to cover her, and just when I thought she would fall victim to the boss’s combo attack, she evaded! She kicked into the air and pulled off some impressive maneuvers.
Wait, the attack did graze her! Nyamun was also unable to dodge the lion’s whiplike tail. Both of them took damage. The two members with the highest evasion skills of the party weren’t able to evade... If the boss targeted me, I’d be killed!
If that was how things were going to be, I had to do everything I possibly could before I died. First, items. I still hadn’t used my chili pepper bomb.
“Carro, turn invisible.”
“Neigh.”
Carro used Moon Magic to conceal us, but I knew this wouldn’t be enough to dupe the Cerberus Lion’s nose. After all, when I had tamed Carro, Rick had discovered him with even his sense of smell.