Part 26: Update XXIV - Featuring: More of the same dungeon

Update XXIV - Featuring: More of the same dungeon

Music: Cladeon - An Undersea Shimmer


With that, this room has been cleared out.



There's no cutscene between rooms this time.



But we do have, you guessed it, more dragons.



But we do have new enemies! Including Yuno's shiny new summon!



Dragon 1:



Dead.



Dragon 2:



Dead.



Dragon 3:



Dead.



And done.



Just three more dragons between us and the forge.





There's not really much to say, honestly.



This is literally the dungeon we just finished.



The devs are clearly just trying to pad out the playtime.



Music: Battlefield - Furious Predator


Something happened here, though!



This is a perfect chance for lostpower.exe.



It hits hard, and also inflicts some heavy debuffs.

So heavy, in fact, that it can actually become counterproductive.



As seen in this usage of madstrife.



A Sumo Dragon has 95 ATK and 86 DEF.

The ATK debuff on lostpower is so massive that it cannot beat over its own DEF.



This is the only funny thing that happened in this entire run.



Also I ran into a recolor of those snails from Atlantica.

Music: Cladeon - An Undersea Shimmer


There, finally.







How strange... It is my first time setting foot here, and yet I feel an odd sense of nostalgia...

Blind Smith Auroth: That is likely because you have the blood of a blacksmith running in your veins.

Novice Smith Cub: Let's get this started, already! Eigur and Unit 13 are gonna have to wait outside, though.

What, we can't watch?

Novice Smith Cub: Forging the Dragonslayer's gonna require intense concentration. Lady Ulania definitely won't be able to get that if you guys are gawking at her the whole time.

Grr... Fine.





You can do it, Ulania.

Thank you. Your words grant me courage and strength. I will hold them within my heart, and... I will succeed.

~

Do you want us to help?

No, you have provided a great deal of help already. Everything beyond this point is my responsibility as the queen of Atlantis.

~~

Please believe in me.

*nods*

Alright, we'll keep guard right outside. Good luck!



We now cut over to team 2.



Who knows? Either way, it's good to have hope in something every once in a while.

Suddenly, dragon roars!

Lookout Girl: *whimper* That sounds like a dragon!

...It seems the dragons have become aware of the Star Crystal's disappearance.

Young Militiaman: *whimper*

ISDF forces, along with Unit 13, will dispatch the dragon presence in the village outskirts. Guard this place with your lives!

Young Militiaman: O-OK!







The Star Crystal has actually been removed.



And everyone in Cladeon has vanished.



Funnily enough, you can still head back to Nodens and swap teams, so if I wanted I could have Opal simultaneously guard Ulania and protect Cladeon.

Music: Endless Attack Cycle


The people of the settlement barely have any fight left... One invasion would be the end of them. Things might get tough, but you can do it! Good luck!

Eeheehee... This is the perfect opportunity. Just hunt 'em all, and you'll qet a crapton of Dz.

So how many dragons does Valerie have to deal with?



About this many.

Also, for whatever reason, the devs decided to completely disable random encounters for this section.



First up...



Is just a Hammerstrike.

The sheer proximity of dragons is probably why random encounters are disabled, now that I think about it. With this many dragons, any fight would end up in range of at least one and lead to a chain of fights when you aren't prepared.





We get a cutscene after our first dragon kill.

Looks like things are going well. You've already taken one down. We'll still need a lot more Dz before we can build a facility to house all these people... But that number is attainable for you guys, right?

Valerie nods.

Good. I wish you the best of luck. Transmission, over.

Music: Cladeon - An Undersea Shimmer


I won't let them beat me!

A dragon roars.





Hrahhhh!







Yuma's in good form today. Looks like the D-Install had no side effects whatsoever!



...!?

Music: Destructive Curse


Oh wait.



Hrgh... Grahhh! M-My head...!

Turns out that having two True Dragons stuffed in your head is a really bad idea!



Admiral? Wh-What... !?

If you try and fight like this, all you'll do is hold us back.

...!?

Another dragon roars.













I can still fight, Admiral! Please, let me keep going!

Don't be stupid! There's no coming back once you're dead!

I'd rather die than run away from a fight! My value comes from my ability to fight... Fight, and win... That's my purpose here, isn't it!?

And turns out that creating a life for the sole purpose of combat and tying his worth solely to how well he can fight leads to incredibly unhealthy mindsets, who knew?

That's enough, Yuma!

Ngh... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell... I should be fine as long as I avoid any further injury. Please, don't take away my purpose...!

...This is the last time I'm going to give in to your selfish desires.

Admiral...!

You must promise me that you'll stop at once the next time you feel anything wrong.

*nods*

Understood.

Good. Then let us continue with the defense of this settlement!

Music: Endless Attack Cycle


With no random fights to drain resources, I can hit up the heal spot whenever I want.



Next.



Oh hey, another new dragon!

Now, this would normally be where I go over what they can do.



But these guys have basically no health.



So it died before it could get a single attack off.



Now, the intent of this room is obvious: Have a bunch of dragons huddled together so that getting into a fight with one naturally draws in several more, testing the player's ability to deal with a protracted fight.



But that doesn't matter when I can kill them this quickly.





And what dragons are beefy enough to survive until reinforcements can arrive are placed after the fragile ones, so by the time I get to them there aren't any dragons that can help out.



Look at how close these two are!



This one died in one turn, so it doesn't matter!







Just two left.





The last dragon?



Just a normal Sumo Dragon.

And just to rub salt in the wound:



While dragons give great EXP, they give jack for SP. So now team 2 is far behind on skill progression compared to team 1.



Yay! You guys are amazing!

Unit 13, come in! We can meet up with you guys if you need any support.

Psh, don't be silly. We finished that crap a long time ago.

Hmph... I see. I will leave the remaining monsters to our troops, then.

Any casualties on your end?

None. Yuma and I are just about to check on the progress of the Dragonslayer.

Gotcha. We'll head over to the forge, too. I guess we'll see you there.

And that's how to clear a gimmick room without ever having to deal with the gimmick.

I didn't even use any cheese strats or anything, this was just some basic team synergies.

Music: Cladeon - An Undersea Shimmer


Yes. I'd rather Unit 13 didn't know about my malfunctions... or the D-Install.

...Heh.

Ngh... What's so funny?

You really don't want to lose to Unit 13, do you?

Correct.

That's a good mindset to have. You seem to be picking up some human qualities.

Is that so...? I haven't quite noficed...

You'll come to see eventually. Anyway, how are you feeling?

Much more stable than earlier. I can execute a standard mission with zero chance of error.

I see... Alright, let's go meet up with Unit 13.



Next time: We finally get our Dragonslayer.