Part 29: Bonus Dungeon: The Demon Shaft

Added to the North American version of the game, the Demon Shaft is a 100-floor bonus dungeon designed to provide... something... for players who found the game too easy. No player-specific obstacles. No limited zones. Just 100-floors of some of the most annoying bullshit in the game.

Fun fact: If you have a save file with the Demon Shaft unlocked, starting a new game has the dungeon unlocked as soon as you reach Dark Heaven Castle.




This dungeon is designed for players with maxed-out characters and who enjoy pain. Inside you'll find;

-Enemies old and new, with boosted defense, hit points, and damage that rivals or surpasses even the bosses.
-Enemies that can kill you in 1-2 hits.
-Enemies that can only be hurt by speicifc elements.
-Enemies that can't be hurt by ANY element (meaning you have to disable attributes on your weapon - Something Ruby can't do and some of the other weapons for other characters can't do).



Like the other dungeons, you have a gate key a, a locked door key, and a backfloor key. Ideally, when playing through it, you want to luck out and find the Black Knight Crest as soon as possible and then make a run to the next floor. However, I decided to take the time to check every treasure chest and some backfloors in a last-ditch effort to find the 5 Foot Nail.

The 5 Foot Nail is a weapon for Ungaga, and it's the only weapon in the game with the Critical ability, which can cause massive damage (maybe even insta-kill). It's a starting weapon in his evolution tree, so you can't even build up to it. It's incredibly hard to find and I've never found one in my game.

So I continued on without it, but I DID add Poison to Ruby's weapon to help along the way. When it connects, it'll drain the enemy's health until it dies, which helps out a lot here.

Along with the number of returning enemies, we'll face 6 new ones.



Gemrons are little flying dragons that shoot fireballs and ram into you. They're weak against their opposing elemental attribute (this one is a fire Gemron, so we use ice on it). Every 20 floors, you'll find another type weak against another elemental type... Except the holy Gemron, since Holy has no direct opposite, so he's equally strong against all other elements.



Nikapous is a man inside a flying mask. He'll split the mask open to shoot fireballs at you or kick you with his bladed shoes, and that's when you can do damage to him.



Hornheads are tougher undead types. They attack with a flail and sheild, and seem to regenerate quite frequently.



Bishop Q will swat you with his giant hands if you get too close, and alternates between fire and ice blasts from a distance.



Silver Gears use magical crossbows to shoot at you with lots of speed and power. And again, they have a habit of getting back up after you kill them.



And finally, the Gacious, whom you may remember from the final battle. They're slow, but strong, smashing their huge swords down on you or attempting you combo you with a backhand and spinning sword slash. And again, these guys regenerate too.

Finally, we get to Floor 100.





And here's our super-special bonus boss, Black Knight Pendragon.



Pendragon is fought in two phases. The first one has him riding around on his beast, charging at you and ocassionally firing shots from his blade. You just have to keep sidestepping his rushes and then fire magic at him as he crashes into the wall.



The second phase is a bit more annoying. Pendragon faces off against you by himself. He fires more projectiles from his blade, will attack you with two swords up close, and block attacks. When you DO manage to get in an attack, he'll teleport right in your face and smack you down.




But finally, we take him down. Our reward? The Chronicle 2 Sword. It's Toan's best weapon, with a max attack of 350 and max magic of 200. Of course, you have to build it up to its max stats. And there's nobody left to beat with it... But... um... Hooray!

Hooray.