HCBailly plays Final Fantasy II - Part 8 of 44

We take on our first boss and get the Mithril!

All maps by Paco.

Semite Cave

Map

Finally, we get some new enemies.

The Slimes are susceptible to both Fire and Ice. That's good, as their physical defense are just really, really high.

You'll soon see three doors. Enter the left one. You'll find the prisoners, as well as Paul! (So that's where he went when he disappeared from Altea.) Looks like he's helping the rebellion free all the slaves from Borgan's grasp, which include Nellie, Josef's daughter. Once you talk to him, all of the slaves (and Paul) will disappear. From there, you'll be able to go to the right and go down the stairs.

The Balloons are weak to both Fire and Bolt. You want to finish them all off as soon as possible when you see them, as they'll blow up and damage one of your party members with Blast.

There are two doors on the last floor. Again, enter the left door to fight the boss. Before you do that, though, walk across the bridge to the west.

When you open the chest with the Exit spell, you're trigger a fixed encounter. The Land Turtle (LandTrtl) is weak to Ice. If you have the Ice spellbook from earlier in the dungeon equipped on a character as an item, it can then be used as an item to cast a Level 8 Ice spell that damages all enemies. This will kill the Land Turtle really quickly. 

Unlike other Final Fantasy games, casting the Exit spell drains the HP of the caster. The higher the level of Exit, the less it'll drain. It won't drain very little unless you really level it up.

Once you go through the left door, you'll finally take on your first boss: the Sargeant. Put everyone except Minh in the back row. Have Minh cast Blnk on himself (it will raise his Evade), and use Black Magic to take the Sargeant down. Having Level 3 Fire works well here. This guy has a Bow attack like the Soldiers, but with Minh having a high evade and everyone else in the back row, the Sargeant still won't be able to pose much of a threat.

Once you beat the Sargeant, you'll finally be able to open the chest behind him and get the Mithril.

The Zombie and the Deadhead are also in the Semite Cave, but for some reason HCBailly never meets up with them here. You can easily destroy them with a powered-up Life spell.