Part 12: Stratum 2: Ritual Part 1

In many lands they say that the Majin originated in a great volcano, which the land of Besek accreted around. Modern scholars suggest this is unlikely, however, despite reports that Besek’s interior is much like our world.
- excerpt, Legend Cycles of the Ancients

Sacrilege

A great volcano barred our path through the desert. It looked like it would take days to go around, so instead we took an ominous path through…



Video- “Ritual Part 1”

Click Here for Video With Commentary



Ally Team:
Sadly, I’ve had to swap out Stein for Irina in this map. Stein’s just not been able to pull his weight. Irina’s got the same Restore magic, healing, and can actually do damage. I make up for the Aqua II capability I lose by sacrificing a Laquo Magus for the skill and giving it to Ashley, who should be good if it comes to breaking an Aqua Demon Aura.

Enemy Team:
We’re up against an even harsher group than last time in principle but in practice they’re sort of easier, especially when you see what our secondary objective is going to be. There are three familiar Armatus, two powerful Nightwalkers, three Aranea, and two Zyr Phantasms. Let’s look at our new or upgraded Majin.



Aranea is the most powerful physical Majin we’ve seen yet to date. It’s got the ability to cause Sleep with an attack, a Dark element attack, and one that drains health. It’s totally immune to Darkness but is very vulnerable to Light. It’s also very fast, so we want to be careful we don’t let it slip through our lines.



This big Nightwalker is pretty much just like the little ones we met earlier. It’s got a couple of casts of Malus magic, is very weak to Light, and doesn’t have the stats to make it a real legitimate threat for the most part.



Zyr Phantasm is a new large Majin. This one is a caster. It’s got a single cast of all sorts of spells and is largely resistant to Magic and Piercing attacks. It takes straight double damage from Strikes, though, so once Ashley gets ahold of it things are all over. The wide variety of magic Zyr Phantasm gets makes it great for breaking Demon Auras, so capturing one is a priority.

Deployment:



So this deployment is designed to allow me to deal with the Majin that are going to come across the near bridge while also making it easy to get to the chests on the right and left before the map ends. I would like to loot them before the second map because I have a time limit there.

Tactical Objectives:
-Capture Majin
-Get the Chests

Map:



Okay, thanks.
Shouldn’t you worry about yourself first?
It’s good manners to see to a lady’s needs.
I hope you don’t hurt yourself showing off!
Look who’s talking.
That’s enough!
I’m sorry.
Yeah, sorry… I guess.
Holy Atona, please guide and protect us.
Majin! You better watch out!
FALSSSSSSSSSIN!
This ground is sacred! Leave or be buried under it!
Sacred ground…?

The Aranea across the near bridge immediately starts advancing, so we move up to engage it. We’re going to have to deal with the Aranea, Nightwalker, and Armatus together, because they’re all close enough to support each other. Fortunately, we immediately mute the threat of the Aranea by Fracturing it with Ashley. This makes it basically unable to injure her in any way. Glynne moves next to the Armatus and uses Slashing Art to help him tank its blows. An arrow from Reyna nearly finishes the Aranea off. Ares was hit with a Malus from the Nightwalker, so we heal her. She’s in a bad position so we start sending her towards the lightly guarded left chest with Irina to act as a healer.



Here we can see why Flying Majin are dangerous on maps like this. The Armatus flies right over the lava and gets behind our lines, doing terrible damage to Velnor and Fearing him. This is going to obligate us to deal with it and do so quickly.



Not again! I’m not Izel!
Meaningless! Pointless! Eat, eat, EAT!

A Light Attack from Ashley does massive damage to the Armatus. Glynne Overkills the fractured Aranea with a normal attack, which at least deals with one problem. Now the game’s going to explain our secondary objective.



I don’t know everything…!
Th-Then what should we do?
We could try capturing one of each type, I guess…?

It turns out that is exactly what we need to do. Note that when I’m playing this I’m sort of worried it’s going to be a jerk and want exactly one of each type but this turns out not to be the case. Anyway, I block off the Armatus with Reyna and Velnor (who I healed) because at least he can’t kill them in one hit. Ares moves over and Bleeds the Aranea on the left. In the meantime while it does get another hit in we finish off the Armatus on the bridge, ending the most immediate threat to our weaker characters. Reyna moves down to support Glynne against the Nightwalker, and Yuri heads over to heal. Ares sticks the Aranea again and levels up.



Not much to report about her level up really this time, though it should really be noted that Ares has a surprisingly high INT that really does make her viable as a store of some magic in a pinch. Aranea’s bleed pretty quickly takes it down to one HP, so Ashley runs over and overkills it with a Sacra. Glynne switches his Slashing Arts for Accelero to reduce the damage Nightwalker can do to him. It withdraws after hitting us, putting it pretty close to Ashley. This isn’t going to go well for it.



There’s probably a powerful Majin nearby.
I hope we won’t be in too much trouble.

We keep needling away at the Nightwalker to get it into the sort of range that Ashley can overkill with Sacrasphere. Ares loots the left chest, which has a bow called the Scorpion. This bow kind of sucks because it’s male only and Reyna technically counts as a female as far as equipment is concerned. What we’ll probably do with it is use a certain trick to transfer it to Thage’s party later on, because they’ll have better use for it. Nightwalker is overkilled with a Sacraphere, so now we’ve got three of our Majin targets bound. Now we start pushing back to the middle so we can grab the second chest.



Stop it! Stop iiittt!
Ashley! Control yourself!

Ashley pushes to the chest and opens it, which gives us a Cursed Edge. This is an incredible sword for Ares, because it has a chance to Seal those we hit with it. We’ll be giving it to her just as soon as she can use it. Sadly the Armatus does manage to land a Bleed on Ashley, but we’re in good positions to support her soon so this isn’t lethal.



Stop talking and lend a hand!
Right…

We throw some Sacra on the Armatus instead of a normal attack to eliminate the chance that it’ll counter Ashley and stack more damage on her. We then start pulling back to condense most of the party up top so that when we blow through the Armatus we can engage the Zyr Phantasm.



Ashley, don’t push yourself!
I… I’m fine…

A combo from Ashley and Ares finishes off the Armatus, and we start on the Phantasm. While we’re doing this Glynne levels up.



Crow’s Beak is a powerful Spear attack that is Glynne’s signature move. It’s not exactly as powerful as Punishment but it’ll do in a pinch. We slowly drag the Phantasm down with normal attacks before finally bashing it in with a huge combo from Ashley and Ares, overkilling it. Ashley levels up capturing it (though she doesn’t get anything other than more uses of her skills) and since we’ve taken one of each Majin, the map is over.

Battle Results:

Levels:
Ashley 18->19
Glynne 13->14
Ares 12->13

Majin:
Armatus Lv 12 x 2
Aranea Lv 14 x 3
Nightwalker Lv 13 x 1
Zyr Phantasm Lv 13 x 1

Sure enough, capturing one of each Majin drew out their master.



It’s coming…!
Ignorant Falsin, trampling through my sacred ground…

These Majin sure think highly of themselves.



Begone from here at once, lest you be judged.
Leave in peace before your flames are extinguished.
Never!
To reject mercy when it is offered… You are foolish.
Your judgement shall begin!
You’re the only one who’s going to be judged!

But they’re the ones who should be afraid…
- journal entry