Try running away and having him come near you. Hit him a few and then run away further and when he comes back by you by himself attack him a little more. Worked for me
I used cloud + tiffa for this Spaming sleep+ magnify using cloud then going full out on mindflayer Gotta say one of most annoying quests tried like 10 times before i made it
@@kevburke Why use elemental materia at all, when you can use Enemy Skill materia and get it all. Getting potent skills from enemies that trivialize the early game is poor game design.