Part 31: Corrida de Toros

Update 31: Corrida de Toros





We have a lot of important things to do right now, not the least of which is finding out more about that egg we need to help Lita out, and there's a ton of sidequests and synthing stuff still waiting to get triggered. But before we continue with any of that, it's time for the showdown that's needed to happen since the moment Klein set foot in Kavoc...





A letter...? Who's it from?

Some guy with a big suit of armor.

… …

I think we all know what that means.

What does it say?



I hereby challenge you to a duel, to settle things once and for all. I'm waiting at the Outdoor Theater. - Your nemesis, Beggur.



Since when is he your nemesis?

Are you going to accept, Klein?

He'd probably leave Marietta alone if you beat him.

I don't want to cause any trouble.

You didn't. It would have come to this sooner or later...

Beggur may know something about Mull.





This is one of the more difficult bits of the game, although all told it's probably not quite on the same level as surprise dragon. We definitely want to be as prepared as we can be. I should have tried out more smithing on top of this (I'm pretty much hemorrhaging common Mana Stones at this point), but I skipped it this time.







You'd better leave us alone after this...No more begging for another chance!

How dare you insult my honor! My word is my bond!

Then let's get this over with...

ATTAAAACK!





Music: BULLFIGHT

Video: Ein, Zwei, and Neun


I'll give it my all.

I-I'm sorry...I must defeat you!


All right, our first battle is against the main healer, two more or less generic attackers, and





TONTA





As usual, I try to get some buffs up while my HP is high (which is to say while Klein has time he can spend on things besides healing). Meanwhile, Lita Jump Kicks Tonta until she can't anymore and Marietta bounces between healing and attacking.





Tonta poses a few dangers, but one of the more annoying things is that, as Neun's pet, it will tank attacks for her. Since she's spamming heals, that means you can't get rid of her first unless you employ some clever area of effect damage on her by targeting other enemies (if even then).





I tried using a couple attack Mana Items on Tonta to see what happened. The Lightning Rod hit for around 360 damage (with Power Item), not bad at all!





Besides acting as a tank, Tonta also has tons of speed. His attack power isn't quite as overwhelming as I remembered (though he can nail Klein for a good 80 damage, which is somewhat threatening). He can also burrow into the ground and pop up a couple turns later to attack, though that's kind of good in a backwards sort of way since he can't defend Neun during this time.







Tonta's super death anger charge isn't too strong either, but it can knock people over. Thankfully, both times he did that it failed, so I didn't have to put up with anyone losing turns that way.







With all that out of the way, Ein may actually be the greater threat. Neun and Ein both have attack boosting buffs, and as you may remember from the Norn fight all that time ago, buffs have a nasty habit of stacking and making fights unmanageable if they drag on too long.





Getting Tonta out of the fight took a load off my mind...





...And it looks like Ein's damage output is manageable for now. Okay, we've got a chance!





I don't think I've shown off Flare Shot yet besides a passing mention in the Quezzie battle. Flare Shot distributes a few hits over a large area, or it can just nail a single target upwards of five times. It gives Delsus some pretty solid damage output, and his MP is high enough that he can spam it. It's not so effective against groups, though, especially when one of our foes can group heal.





Ein and Swei both have attacks they have to charge. Neither is actually that dangerous (Zwei's does 40ish damage to multiple targets and Ein's is even less impressive) but I decided to try and Skill Break them anyway. I've found that Norn's Telekenesis and Delsus' Power Shot are some of the better abilities for doing this, so I brought Norn out to bust out some gravity-based violence...





Maybe I should have just let them use their stupid charge attacks, because Ein's normal attack has gotten so beefy that I can't really handle it anymore. A couple turns later he one-shotted Klein as well, so there go my casters.





Fortunately, I had Ein damaged enough by then that I was able to knock him out of the fight shortly afterward. He actually survived Delsus' attack on Guts (I forgot that was even a thing in this game) but died from the crossbow's poison effect immediately afterward anyway. With him down, Zwei didn't last much longer, and then it was just a matter of outdamaging Neun's heals.

(No, I don't know why I didn't get rid of Neun sooner)







I'm not the same weakling you defeated before! I have totally different tactics this time. I've maximized the power of my perfectly trained body...Fear my power!

… …

Are you ready to run home to mommy? It ends here, with my victory!





Video: Beggur, Drei, and Vier


One great thing about this being divided into two battles is that any characters who fell in the last one are revived with 1 HP. As such, Lita was able to use Veola brand products to get Klein back on his game.





Drei is probably the least effective of all the knights. His standard attacks are weak, and while he can heal with Drei's Lunch, it's only single target and he doesn't spam it constantly like Neun did with her healing. I went for him first to get him out of the way.





Meanwhile, Beggur has upgraded to genuine threat for this fight. He can emulate Tonta with an attack that knocks one character over in addition to doing 40-80 damage (depending on whether the character has defense or doesn't).





He also has a charge up attack...







...and it's pretty dangerous, I guess. These last few fights have really started to accentuate how fucking terrible Klein and Norn are at surviving anymore. They just get murdered. I really need to get some new stuff to emphasize Klein's defense so he doesn't go down so quickly. Fortunately, Marietta the Supertankadin can pick up some of the slack on the “not dying” front.





Veola comes to the rescue once again...





...And Klein drops a rock on Drei to get him out of the battle.





Vier, like Zwei, focuses on multi-target damage, with the downside being that her attacks are not very strong. She also has Marietta's Thunder God ability, but thankfully hers hurts a lot less. It can paralyze, which is annoying, but that's about the extent of the threat she poses.





Klein turned her life force into his own, and now it's down to Beggur himself.





I brought Norn out to help Skill Break his superattack. It worked, but then he used a normal attack instead to kill her.





I thought about just swapping her out, but then I figured I'd show off Newlife. It healed her for 80, which isn't really enough for her to survive, but at least it's a resurrection ability.





Once again, Delsus starts carrying most of the damage output with Flare Shot..





...and once again, Beggur barely survives an attack only to get offed by poison damage immediately after.

...Hey, that means we won! Excellent.





Snap out of it, ya moron!





Don't you get it? Alkavana doesn't need power, and neither do I! We need my older brother...a man who cared about others!

...Is that true? Why didn't anybody tell me?

We believe in you, Captain! We'd follow you into hell!

How could I be so stupid? I let greed blind me from what's truly important. I must atone for my misdeeds!


And so the newly reformed Beggur and his knights march off, but one straggles behind for a moment.





Sorry for the trouble. I hope you can forgive us.


...Huh. That was kind of abrupt, but I look forward to Beggur having wacky antics as an ally!


Maybe they're not such bad people after all.

What are you going to do now, Marietta?

I'm going to stay with you guys. My brother won't truly be free until Mull is defeated.


All right, looks like we've got things pretty well wrapped up here. Let's head back to town.





After fifteen years, they've started mining again in Arcose! If you've ever wanted to visit Arcose, now's the time to go!


What kind of mining?

Strip mining. They dig a cone-shaped hole and extract ores.

That actually sounds kind of fun.


What? No it doesn't. Oh well, at least we have a thing to do now.

It looks like that's an update, but let's have a couple of postscript moments before we leave for the day...










The Suxital?

Yeah. Cleaning's a snap with the brand new Suxital! I still use the feather duster for fine details, but...

Wow, Veola actually made something useful, then.

Please accept this as thanks. You guys saved my life!


And so we get two Hollow Pumpkins, which is...actually a pretty decent reward. Those things are pricey.




















… … … … … … … …

...What? Do you want some food, too?

Oh, no thanks.

You may not have a chance to eat later. You should eat whenever you have time. You never know when a fight's going to break out.

… ...

Oh well. I'm just going to have a little more...

(She calls that a little?)


Klein, don't be so judgmental. If I were a knight I'm sure I'd eat all the time, too, mostly because I already eat all the time.

See you all next update for mining, synthing, or both!