Eternal Poison Part #54 - Stratum 2: Sacrifice Part 1

Part 54: Stratum 2: Sacrifice Part 1

It is said that within the shadows a twisted evil dwells, waiting to devour those with darkness in their souls.
- unknown source

Baited Hook

Today we had an… unwelcome visitor. From the past.

I knew something was wrong as soon as we reached that place.

Video- “Sacrifice Part 1”

Click For Video with Commentary

Ally Team:
I add Ares to the party in place of Velnor and bring Komori back in. This turns out to have been a good idea, because there’s a lot of damage that comes in on this map.

Enemy Team:
There’s nothing new about the Majin we see on this map, but they certainly do suck. There’s the obligatory Thiefler, two Jade Sylphs, two Sprites, an Aquamote, and then four Nightwalkers. We’ve seen them all before, but this map’s gimmick is going to make things way worse.

Deployment:

We don’t have much space to deploy, so there’s nothing fancy about this. I’m going to want to split up once we get past the initial hurdle of the map so that we can get both chests, there’ll be no time next map for it.

Tactical Objectives:
- Do not kill the Aquamote
- Chests

Map:

If you’re having problems, you can wait behind, Retica.

I’m… too worried about you to leave, Thage.
I’ll do what I want to do, and you won’t say otherwise.
Ugh…!

If you talk like that, you’d better do your job later.

I’m sure I’ll be saying the same thing to you very soon.

There’ll be no one to mourn us if we die wasting time.

I start advancing hard towards the crossroads here in the map. I need to take control of it as best I can to get the Thiefler down and dead (though it’s not so crucial because the chests on this map are somewhat mediocre).

This ground is sacred! Leave or be buried under it!

Sacred ground…?

If you’ve noticed all three of the fourth steps of the second stratum have been sacred. Anyway, the Majin get the first blow in this time around, a Nightwalker hits Komori quite hard with a Malus III and diseases him. The Jade Sylph that’s relatively close to us advances a bit and casts on Raki, though it doesn’t’ really do much to him. Raki and Ares both advance and try to hit the Thiefler, but it manages to evade both hits.

Is the magic in the air affecting you too…?

No, this is different. It’s something else…

Thage makes up for their incompetence by burning the thing down. Now we’ve got the Aquamote to deal with too, and it’s joined by another Nightwalker from the same side as the Jade Sylph soon after. Even worse, as we’re about to find out, things are soon to become even more irritating.

What do you have in mind, Guiding Sage?

We can use them to lure another out of his perch.

S-Summon another Majin!? Why!?

Leave the Aquamotes until the end, and he will come.

Raki, I have a bad feeling about this…
Something’s wrong, this time.

Yeah, so I’m not allowed to kill the Aquamote. That is a real pain in the ass, needless to say. Raki and Alexei are sent over towards the Jade Sylph and Nightwalker, while Ares stays to keep the Nightwalker with the Aquamote from getting through. Thage blasts the Jade Sylph down to critical health, since she’s not got great options for a Nightwalker and I can’t touch the Aquamote. Meanwhile we work to drag down the Nightwalkers as best we can. I’m taking a lot of damage from everything, but now I’ve actually got the upper hand because I can get Alexei stuck in with the Nightwalkers one by one.

I intend to. It is his will.

“His will”? Whose will?

Thage then drops the Jade Sylph like a ton of bricks. We’re just barely holding up at the other front, but Aquamote’s almost out of spells to fuck us with and we’re almost done with the Nightwalker on the second front so that’s close to changing.

Cursed one, you must be eliminated!

Go ahead and try!

The Nightwalker behind our main line takes one last crack at Alexei before we surround it and Overkill it with a Combo. This gets the big guy a level, which is always helpful. We get some captures down, and now I start thinking through the best way to get the rest of the map done. I eventually decide to split Raki, Thage, and Yuri down to the right and everyone else up forward.

Silver Wolf, will you secure the sacrifice for yourself!?

Hmph, you feed on the minds of others. I said begone.

We start to execute our advance on the center front, but we make much more progress on the right. Raki and Thage both blast the Nightwalker with Aero magic, which gives us a good start on it. It fires back with some magic on Raki, but doesn’t really have the juice to do much to him. The Nightwalker on the other front pulled back a bit, leaving me to slowly try to move past the Aquamote as it slowly tries to move past me. It’s rather a pain but there’s nothing to do about it. Anyway, I get a Combo set up on the Nightwalker in the middle and Raki weakens the other, so both fall on Thage’s action. The first to a Combo from Alexei and Retica and the second to Thage’s Last Rites, a brutal Strike attack. This leaves us free to make some real progress towards finishing the map. Raki gets the Ring mail armor from the chest on the right, and everyone pushes up forward. Thage hasn’t been getting much from kills here, but she levels from capturing the Nightwalker.

Thage just gets better and better every level. We won’t really get anything exciting until level 20, though, which is when we get the almighty Malusphere. Now I’ve got to catch up as fast as I can, because the other group is about to have to fight two Sprites and a Jade Sylph.

Raki, stop smelling me to tell what my mood is.

The perspiration on your brow is all the sign I need.

Don’t treat me like some monster. Everyone sweats.

Fortunately, the Majin up top split their fire quite a lot, so while they’re doing a lot of damage to the group everyone is actually okay. We need to stay together and let them come to us or we’re cooked. Aquamote is continuing to chase Yuri, Thage, and Raki around and has actually run Yuri very low on healing by whacking her. The last Nightwalker has also started casting on us now, though it starts on Raki and doesn’t do that much. Our holding effort up top is starting to drag our enemies down slowly and surely, and Retica manages to level up, getting his Class Change.

Retica’s Serene One class focuses on Water skills, and he gets a Water Attack from it. It’s potentially pretty useful, some things are vulnerable to Water. I keep going on the Majin up top and throw everything at trying to get one set up for a Combo. It’s not easy, though, because they heal and even have a Release on the Sylph. Even worse, Yuri runs out of heals and falls to the Nightwalker’s magic shortly after. I get some revenge by smashing a Sprite, getting a level for Alexei, and then even more by blasting the Nightwalker down with Thage. The Sprite gets released, though, and hits Komori. This gets him a level, though, so it’s okay. Still, now it’s all over but the screaming. In the end we kill both of the Sprites, one with a miscalculated Malus spell and the other with a botch on weapon selection in a Combo. Jade Sylph does get captured, though, and with just Aquamote left the map is over.

Battle Result:

Levels:
Thage 17->18
Retica 11->12
Komori 10->11
Alexei 12->14

Majin:
Nightwalker Lv 13 x 3
Jade Slyph Lv 14 x 2

Gold:
6600

HE. WAS. HERE.