Part 53: The Path of Tears

Last time we left off after learning that Cyllis and Yorath have killed Rachel and kidnapped Vahti and Ohm, leaving Vieg and Olgar in a situation that they have to fight through the remaining two dungeons in hopes of growing strong enough to face the two in a fight...

















...Right. We've gotta get Vahti and Ohm back.
But Cyllis is right. We can't defeat Yorath yet. So we gotta build ourselves up as much as possible before the last bell rings.
As old as I am, I have to take on this challenge. I'm no enjoyin' this like I usually would.
Let's hurry. Ohm is just a newborn. We don't have time to waste.
Vieg, lemme ask for just one favour first. I hafta take care of Rachel, give her a proper burial.
I can't just... leave her like that.
Okay.
Ya go on ahead. I'll catch up with ya.
Fine. I think I can take care of at least one mighty beast by myself.



So he goes off to the bedroom. If we try to go there, we are stopped:







But we can go to Piu-Piu for a short comment...





Um, what do you mean, "this time"?

That's all we can do here, the only way forward is to go to the next dungeon, which has a very inspiring name:



Since Olgar is taking care of Rachel's burial, unfortunately we will be going at it alone for now. What this means in practical terms, is that you probably need to dial down the enemy levels a notch so you don't get murdered when you come across a three on one battle.



In any case, here we are once again. As luck would have it, the English title is again a direct translation of the Japanese version (涙の通り道).





And we'll do that by solving yet another boring puzzle.



Every once in a while, we'll get a message like this one (remember how Cyllis told us about needing to finish both dungeons before twelve bells ring?). However, messages are actually tied to specific events in the story and there isn't an actual time limit, so you can take as much time as you want when playing this.

After finishing the first puzzle, we run into Yorath on his own.

















Snake, you must defeat all the monsters... uh wait what was I talking about again.



Let me put it simply. This place is a giant ship called the "Ark".
We're inside a ship?
And the ark was built in order to carry out a desperate plan.
What are you talking about?
This world will soon be coming to an end.
But... how?
It is destined to be consumed by the Qualia, the natural enemy of all life, an entity which exists only to devour the world.
The world of the people who create the Ark was completely wiped out by the Qualia.
And this world is next.
Okay, you're telling me that something out there can eat whole world?
What kind of crazy, made-up story is that!?
It's not made-up. You have been brought to the Ark in order to create a race of people capable of opposing the Qualia.
So we're supposed to fight this "Qualia"? Is that it?
To be precise, it wouldn't be you, but your descendants. But we won't get into that now.
In this place, time is condensed. You grow very quickly here.
And in order to facilitate even faster growth, we've provided ultra-strong creatures for you to hone your skills.
These creatures are genetic mixes of a variety of species.
We call them "Congloms".
So you're saying the monsters in this place were just put here for us to defeat and hone our skills?
That's right. They're born periodically for that purpose alone.



And so he turns to go after this plot dump, although we more or less already knew this from the first game.























Somewhat anticlimactically, after this we enter the second puzzle...

Meanwhile, Olgar...











You might recall that they commented on how this dungeon looks like home back when we passed though it originally. Also, in the first game it was mentioned how each dungeon looks like one of the couples' homeland.

While this was going on, Vieg has reached the first boss of this level.







This one is "Progenitors Tongue". It does not have any special attacks, so it's just a matter of trading blows until he falls.



With this, we can pass into the second half of dungeon.





And here we are joined again by Olgar.



































As you might remember this is again the dungeon where we push boulders to open paths to proceed.





The last two puzzles in this one are fairly annoying. Luckily in this game you can skip them without real consequences.

After this, it's time for another chat.



Rather than having us listen to the whole thing again, the game actually fades out here while Vieg recounts the conversation with Yorath!















But they're the ones who took the Agent out!
Internal discord, maybe?
I wonder.
Hey, Olgar. If what Yorath says is true, it means that even if we save Vahti and Ohm, the whole world is about to be destroyed anyway.
Which means...
Which means, all we can do is to keep fightin' until the bitter end.
I say we take Yorath and Cyllis out first. And if this apocalypse comes, we just face it head-on.
As long as we have on ounce of strength left, we keep fightin'.
Never mind this Ark scheme of theirs. All we can do is take care of ourselves, the only way we know how.
What about you, Vieg?
If ya were faced with an enemy mighty enough to swallow the whole world, what would you do?

I would go and find the next boulder to kick, I think:





So the path to the boss is now open.

I LOVE the colour palette of this scene, it really looks fantastic.



This monster is in fact Progenitor's Spine.



He does not have anything special to say either.





Really, Olgar? Are you sure? Sure-sure?





Oh hey, look who's teleporting in!

































With this he's gone. But hey, at least we have Ohm back.









And thus we are done with this dungeon.



Well... any interruptions notwithstanding, there is one more dungeon to do and then... who knows.