Part 56: The "Invincible" Jugga Blubba

Update 45: The "Invincible" Jugga Blubba



I get the feeling it'll be a while before we can take on all of those rhinos...
Perhaps we should just take care of that quest where another guild requested our assistance... Oh, I believe that's the client!

This party is something I put together in a failed attempt to try and get the best reward for The test of courage. That didn't pan out, so we might as well just do this one.

Gallant ronin:

Oh, did you have something to say?
We took on your quest. What dumb task've you got for us?
Oh, you're here to assist? That'll be a great help. You see, our guild accepted a quest to exterminate certain monsters somewhere on the 20th floor. It turned out to be a pair of birdlike monsters. It ended up more trouble than it was worth, but we took them out.
So where do we come in?
Well, be patient. I'm still telling my story. There's something a little unusual about these bird creatures, and how they operate... Three pairs of them move as one group. And since we defeated only one of those pairs, there are two more to go...in other words, four birds left. I'm guessing it's because we took down a pair already, but the other birds are laying low, sticking to their nest. Looks like they're fairly riled up, though. If we just met them head-on, things might get unpleasant. Worst case, they might head to the lower floors and cause a lot of damage.
New explorers could use some practice.
Not everyone can just turn into a monster and shred everything in sight, you weirdo.
We should finish them off before they do... But of course it wouldn't be that easy. The two pairs split up to move.
Well, we already have experience killing gigantic eagles. Leave it to us.
Whoa there, hold on. Relax. We do need your help taking down the monsters, but since they split into two groups, we must do the same. If the plan works, our group and your group will defeat the two monster duos simultaneously. The birds we'd like you to go after are here, on the 20th floor.


Our guild will handle the birds on the opposite side. Once we notice that you have entered the 20th floor, we will take action. Good luck!




Our job is to kill these two Enraged Raptors. You've already seen what it's like to fight these things, so I'll just skip ahead.


SYSTEM: Cautiously, you ensure that the beast is no longer a threat... You've done it! The quest has been completed! Standing with pride over your quarry, you hear cheering and celebration from a distant room...


SYSTEM: Perhaps noticing your inquiring gaze, a gunner girl gives you a broad grin, waving her arm in farewell. The ronin client, and indeed the rest of his guild, appears to be all smiling with relief and triumph. You wave back to your colleagues. Their task complete, the group uses an Ariadne Thread to return home. You see them off. You may now return to town at your leisure to report.



Aw, welcome back! Seems like the quest was a big success! Between yeh lot and that guild, I knew I didn't have to worry about a thing!
You seem like you've known them for a while.
Oh, yeah, we're old buddies. Heck, I was the one who told 'em to put up a request when they were havin' problems. And now yeh finished a difficult quest in double time, all thanks to me! The Stickleback's reputation is flyin' high! Heh...but that ain't important right now. Here, take yer reward. See yeh!



Rheine's level up is irrelevant, for reasons you'll see later.



This is the only quest from 23F.

Ahh, that one! I've been saving it for yeh lot! It's from the Explorers Guild. Remember when yeh helped them get our stocks ready for winter? But now, any other guild I send their way gets rejected for not bein' good enough! It's all yer fault! Yeh set the bar too damned high!
Can you really fault us for being too good?
Anyhow, they won't accept a middling job anymore. It's yeh lot or nothing. Wh--Augh! Speak of the devil! Look, uh, I'll be in the storeroom! This is yer responsibility to deal with!


Why would we be digging wells?
Ahem... Guildmaster Marion, are you the one that filed that request?
Ah, the quest you're looking at comes from me. So, he finally gave it to someone competent... I insisted that he hire you for the job, but he kept telling me you were busy. That's all very well if we had other guilds of your caliber, but it appears we are not so fortunate. I grew tired of Cass's wheedling, so I came here directly. Ah, but I digress. The request, then. A noble acquaintance of mine recently had a daughter... I occasionally see her when visiting the family manor, but she seems terribly shy.
But babies are always shy. Except for monster babies.
She recoils and screams at even her maid if she so much as tries to breastfeed her. The sight of me sends her into hysterics, too. But if she's to go out in public, she'll need security. And she's not making it easy on us. However, there is one thing that calms her down...animals.
Babies. Can't understand them.
If she sees a dog or a cat or somesuch, she'll start to gurgle and coo and forget her fears completely. Now, I've heard that some guilds employ trained animals.
I don't know if I'd call Ursa a "trained animal" so much as "a person that happens to look like a bear," but in a sense, yes.
Some are so useful in the Labyrinth, they're treated as full-fledged members, with all the benefits and paperwork that entails. So I'm looking out for any guild with a trained animal to assist us.
How come you can't just raise one yourself?
What? Why don't I raise one myself, you ask? Well, that is... I myself...don't care for animals. It's the fur, you see. No, it's nothing to do with the feel, or the smell, it's just... I can't stand the beasts! Look! All I need is a combat-ready animal! Understood?
Loud 'n clear.


So, what were yeh asked to do? Heh...bring her an animal, huh? I see, I see... Yeh know, it might not have to be an actual animal. Sounds like it just has to look like one, see?
We have no need to resort to disguises--we have a perfectly capable bear waiting for active duty.
Awright, get it done! If yeh mess up here, it's my ass on the line too!

Cass was referring to an alternate way out in case you haven't been training a Beast. We don't need to do that, though!


Oh, yeh guys... Gah, dammit, she's here! Make sure nobody steals nothin'! I gotta run! Stealthy, now, stealthy...
Cass, I swear, this is the most irrational--


I certainly hope you haven't forgotten. Time is of the essence.
One bear, ready to go.
Hrror!
Hmm...? A-Ah, yes...this one will do. Gah! Don't let it get any closer! I told you, I'm not too fond of animals... A-Anyway... I'll accept this one for now. I suppose I'll be, ah...taking it with me...nngh.
Rrror?
Give me an opponent to fight and I'll make short work of him, but this... Well, I'll contact you when the job is done. Tell Cass to pick this beast up afterward. Immediately. And...not a word about any of this.
It would be quite low of us to spread around one's emotional weaknesses.
Urgh...so much fur... Stop shedding this instant, you beast! Argh...!
Rrrrrrer?
I knew I could count...ugh...count on Lumen.


But I honestly didn't expect that. Who'd have thought that animals were her weak point? Now that's news yeh can use... Haw!
AHEM. CASS.
Ahh, come on now, I won't do anything. Yeh know me. But yeh know, I do get a mite lonely here... Maybe it's time I got a dog for the place. Yeah...a big, shaggy dog. He could take care of burglars, rowdy drunks, unwelcome guests...yeh name it. Right?
Dogs're nice, yeah. Got an ol' basset hound back home. Been with me ever since I was a baby. Had to leave him back at home because he'd just get protective and bark at everything in sight if I brought him here, ha.
Haw haw haw! Looks like yeh've turned out pretty useful for me again. Almost makes me want to add a little bonus to yer reward. Only almost, though. Why don't yeh and I have a niiiiice long wait until the work's done with? Catch up, have a drink! Haw haw haw!


She tried to play it cool, but I could see her sweatin'. Haw! "Take this furball away this instant!" Haw haw haw haw haw! She was completely losin' it! Ahh, I haven't had so much fun in a dog's age, and it's all thanks to yeh lot!
Ba-dum-tish.
Keep up the good work, friends! Haw haw haw!



Medica IVs restore 500 HP to one party member. I'm not gonna show how I invested Phoebe's skill point, because...



Why oh why did I get stuck with this brainless danger again? And why is SHE here?
These two must compensate for the trauma they inflicted on Zachary and Tyler last night.
Why am I being blamed for Ranger trying to teach Zack and Tyler how to cook steak while transformed?!
But all I remember before going to sleep was spilling orange sauce on Realga and her steak.
'Least the two girls of the hour seemed to enjoy that mess in the end.

Meet the Juggernaut party. It only has two damage dealers plus Link Order, but that's fine, because Milly and Ranger are an incredibly lethal combo, especially when Juggernaut's gimmick is factored in.


Holdin' a dinner for two on the last floor of the 4th Stratum... 'Least Jackie knows how to pick good scenery.

Phoebe's unchanged aside from another point in Phys DEF Up. She has an Arm Guard on because arm binds completely shut her down, and Juggernaut's capable of inflicting them.


Orange sauce is too tangy for my tastes. Maybe if I mixed peaches in to make it sweeter...

Ranger just has more points in Force Mastery, really.


Getting called in for every almost every big monster is really getting on my nerves.

I rested Milly to reallocate her Shelter Song/Fire Prelude points into Volt Prelude and Shock Fantasia. I also maxed out Skanda Ensemble since it's useful in more than a few situations.


You try to give your friends just a little push in the right direction, and then everyone gets upset at you. Bleh. At least my plan's working so far...

Jackie is the same level she was for Harpuia. I got lazy with grinding her.


I have always stated that sovereignty is divinely granted, but if that Overlord is truly a god...

Rheine is, much like Phoebe, unchanged.




Let's get on with it, then. Juggernaut is completely stationary at the moment, but that will change shortly.



What we have to do is draw a bomb over here, and then draw it towards Juggernaut.



Like so.



Doing this knocks off around 10% of Juggernaut's HP, but also causes him to aggro to you. This is a very bad thing, since Jugg is REALLY fast. He needs to take a turn to change direction, but at the moment, he takes 3 steps towards us every two steps we take.

I'm really terrible at this puzzle, to the point that I have a solid 3 minutes of raw footage of me just meandering around, trying to hit Jugg with more bombs. All you need to know about Jugg's bomb puzzle is that he will swat away any bombs that collide with him from his front, and every time you hit him with another bomb, the number of steps he takes for every two steps you take goes down by one.



Once you hit Juggernaut with bombs four times, he stops moving, and the bombs will no longer spawn.

Before we fight him, though, I'm pretty beat up from the bombs. What was that blue Pole at the start of the floor?


SYSTEM: You are tempted to reach out towards the pillar of light, though you wonder if you shouldn't ignore it and proceed onward.
Eh, what's the worst that could happen?


SYSTEM: When the light fades, you find that your wounds have been mysteriously healed. It seems that this pillar, unlike a Geomagnetic Pole, has the power to restore one's health. You curiously touch the blue pillar once more, but nothing happens. It may be that you need to give it time to recharge before you can heal yourselves again. Upon reaching that conclusion, you decide to return to the task at hand.

The blue Pole functions as both a once-per-24-hours heal, and a save point. The save point part is very useful, since Juggernaut and the bomb puzzle reset when you leave the floor.


Time t' fight.
Let's give whoever was turned into this thing the eternal rest they deserve!
Does EVERYONE have to shout something long-winded before each big monster?! Gods.
Your shouting was longer than Jackie's.

VIDEO: Boss Fight: Juggernaut




A quick refresher on Juggernaut's stats:




Phoebe has nothing better to do on this turn.



Ranger will prep Delayed Chase, like always.



It didn't occur to me until halfway through the fight, but Shock Fantasia's debuff gets purged off by Ad Nihilo, and since Rheine is going to be using Ad Nihilo a lot, well...



I'd rather wait for Berserk Cry before using Burst Shot.



Rheine, similarly to Phoebe, has nothing better to do.


Oh, hey. Would ya look at that.

That was incredibly unlikely, to say the least. Not only is Shield Smite's arm bind chance terrible at level 1 (25%), but Juggernaut has a 22 LUC advantage on Phoebe.


Zip-zap!

It's...decent damage, but Juggernaut has a whopping 43200 HP right now. How will we ever fix this?


Am I crazy, or did that thing's skin just turn to rock?

Oh, right, before we fix our damage situation, Jugg casts Reckless Barrier, since we hit him with Volt damage. Nothing Ad Nihilo can't take care of, even if it will purge off the Shock Fantasia debuff.

Anyway, yeah, fixing our damage.



ＭＡＫＥ ＹＯＵＲ ＯＦＦＥＲＩＮＧＳ, ＲＡＮＧＥＲ ＩＳ ＨＥＲＥ！

This is how we fix it.



Juggernaut will cast Berserk Cry this turn, so I have Milly just put Volt Prelude on Ranger.



And Rheine'll take care of that pesky defense buff.


Ahem, ah... "In your face!"
That almost sounded natural.


ＴＨＵＮＤＥＲＯＵＳ ＡＰＰＬＡＵＳＥ！

That's nice damage...but it could be better.


I feel... PUMPED UP! OH YEAAAHHHH!
ＪＯＩＮ ＭＥ ＩＮ ＴＨＩＳ ＳＬＡＵＧＨＴＥＲ！
Fantastic, now there's two of them.

Oh, thank you, Juggernaut. In case you missed the stats above, Berserk Cry buffs your party and Juggernaut's damage by 100%--it doubles your damage.



Juggernaut's going to actually start attacking now, so I have Phoebe start using Front Guard.



I should've just kept using Thunder Wave, honestly. Blade Recoil is at a lower level than Thunder Wave is, plus Juggernaut's TEC is lower than his VIT.



NOW it's Burst Shot time.


Only the normal amount of pain, if you please!


ＷＡＳ ＴＨＡＴ ＳＵＰＰＯＳＥＤ ＴＯ ＨＵＲＴ？



Yeah, I would've gotten more by just using Thunder Wave. Oh well, 2700 damage is nothing to scoff at.


EEEEEYAHAHAHA! EAT LEAD DEATH, YOU FREAK!

Compare that to Jackie's damage output earlier.



We're dealing good damage, but Juggernaut's not close to dying right now. I have Ranger use Extend, as a result.



Warrior Song will get cut down to 60% of its normal effect (24%), but whatever, I want to squeeze out as much damage as I can.


I feel no rush of murderous rage, but I do feel a pleasant surge in power!



Two normal attacks, both on Ranger, who has Self-Regenerate and just heals them up at the end of every turn. Juggernaut isn't exactly using his turns well.



I've lowered Juggernaut's HP enough that I know for a fact that he's about to use Eradicate, which is very capable of leaving most of the party severely hurt, and Jackie severely dead, so I have Phoebe use Sentinel Guard, in combination with Shield Protect, because there isn't a lot of time left in the fight anyway.



I have Milly turn on War Song to pause everyone's buff durations, and to prepare for Violent Cry. She'll also heal Ranger's TP, since he'll run out otherwise.


I'VE GOTCHA IN MY SIGHTS!

I also have Jackie turn on Action Boost, so she can get the most out of it before I use Supreme Bolt.


Nothin' to fear.



Oh my god that's a massive increase from earlier.



Jackie's close to matching Ranger's damage!



Sentinel Guard took a LOT of the hurt out of Eradicate. It's a 40% reduction to all damage at level 20, in addition to "setting the party's DEF to the user's" (whatever that means on an internal level). With Shield Protect, the 60% damage our party would've normally taken gets further reduced to 30%.



To ensure nothing goes wrong on this turn, I have Phoebe break out Perfect Defense. Remember, Perfect Defense is not technically a shield skill, and is not disabled by Sentinel Guard!



This is gonna be fun.


Uh-uh, no takebacks.

War Song stopped Violent Cry from dispelling our buffs--it's easy to forget that it does that, honestly, since there's so few situations where this would be useful.

I'd normally be worried that Juggernaut's about to use King's Rush, but it doesn't matter in this situation.



Because he's about to meet a very gruesome end.


Alright, people, step it up.



Oh dear GOD.




Ｉ ＴＡＫＥ ＭＹ ＯＦＦＥＲＩＮＧＳ...



ＢＵＲＮＥＤ！


OH, JUGGERNAUT, WHO WILL THEY EVER FIND TO REPLACE YOU? ANYONE! HAHAHAhahaha... Woooooah, that was weird.
Thank you for snapping out of it.

Ranger is very strong, what can I say?



So...it seems no monster of my devising can deter you. Then you leave me no choice. Come to the 25th floor, the pinnacle of my stronghold. I have opened the way. Abandon any hesitation and come to me. As Overlord, it falls to me to end your journey myself. One way or another, I shall use the Grail of Kings to instill new life in you...
SYSTEM: The mysterious voice fades away with this ominous promise.
Nope, sorry, can't die yet. Got big, important plans that need fulfilling.
SYSTEM: It seems you are drawing near to the dread Overlord and the Grail of Kings he wields. You consider returning to town and stocking up on provisions before proceeding...



The room to the left of the Juggernaut arena has Japanese Food 5 in it.



This isn't actually the way forward, but I am nothing if not thorough.





This Mine point is basically the only thing in this area.



That encounter meter is dangerously in the red, and I do not want to risk dying after beating Juggernaut. Back to town we go.




Oh, come on.



I upgraded the North Ward because we had surplus funds.



The Gourmet King is in the North Ward, so I just tossed in the most expensive food I had available.




And the other ones.





Guardian Staff (+143 ATK, +60 HP, +5 TEC) is unlocked by selling 1 Guardian Skin. That is an absolutely massive TEC bonus, meaning this is probably the staff you'll be using on anyone that can equip them for quite a while.

That's all for now! Next time: 24F. Only two floors left before the final boss.