Part 77: Dragon

Update 61: Dragon



How much longer is that plush toy of the dragon gonna take, Jackie?
A couple of days. Why?
I wanna show it to the dragon before we fight it.
...When are you fighting it?
Five minutes ago.
RANGER!
Just go fight the dragon, Ranger.



I finally get to taste the dragon again!
I guess I should just give up on the idea of getting a break...
The more we explore, the sooner we'll be done with all of this.


I wish I could've shown him the toy.

VIDEO: Boss Battle: Storm Emperor




A quick refresher on the Storm Emperor's stats:




Storm Emperor always opens with Volt Torrent.



In the absence of another buff method, I bought two Bravants--one for Colette to use on herself, and one for Sophie to use on Ranger.




Sophie will use the Bravant on Ranger before he gets his turn, so I have him Transform immediately. I skipped out on Delayed Chase because it deals considerably less damage than just using Fire Wave.



Stardust. Compression. Repetition.


Non-conductive.


I wish I could eat candy to do things better...


Nice try, but no.

Volt Torrent would straight-up one shot everyone except a Transformed Ranger without Volt Wall.


ＹＯＵＲ ＶＯＬＴＡＧＥ ＡＩＮ＇Ｔ ＭＵＣＨ ＧＯＯＤ ＡＧＡＩＮＳＴ ＭＹ ＦＩＲＥ！


I haven't had a chance to break out the good old matches in quite a while.


Believe me, Sophie, you would not have liked this candy...



In case whatever Sophie does fails, I have Phoebe throw up Front Guard...which isn't actually that useful, since my main concern is Stardust getting one-shot by Judgement.



Having said that, I have confidence in Sophie, so I have Colette use Ailing Slash without enabling War Edge Power.



Madness Curse is my go-to skill for ensuring a boss doesn't do anything dangerous for a few turns.


Mmmm, it's as good as last time!


Try again when you're not flipping out.

Parry is a free passive chance for anyone in the same row as the Parry user to nullify an instance of physical damage. It's only a 6% chance at level 5 (its normal max), but flat-out stopping a damage instance is pretty nice.


I'd assume slices of an ancient dragon will preserve well.



Between Ranger and Stardust, this fight shouldn't take long.



Welp, had to happen sooner or later.


Yellow Heart
HP: 3000, STR: 77, TEC: 59, VIT: 58, AGI: 52, LUC: 53
Skills:

• Resonant Thunder: Cannot be disabled. Deals ranged TEC-based Volt damage to each party member at the end of the turn. Damage is based on the number of turns that have passed since the Yellow Heart was summoned: 60%, 90%, 135%, 200%, 300%, 450%, 675%, 1000%. The damage resets when the Yellow Heart dies. Does not check for accuracy.

Damage resistances:
100% 100% 100% 125% 100% 0%
Disable resistances:
0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
0% 0% 0%
0% 0% 0%

The only thing the Yellow Heart will do is use Resonant Thunder after everyone has taken their turn. It's light damage initially, but scales up very quickly. Kill it as soon as possible--which is easy, given that Stardust can just one shot it.

The other dragons (yes, there are more), though? Theirs are far more annoying. The next dragon's Heart has 7500 HP, and the last one's has 13000.



Ranger uses Extend because that's what he does.



Stardust can one-shot the Yellow Heart with an Analysis-boosted Compressed Inferno Formula.



Most of the Storm Emperor's really dangerous skills use the legs, so I have Sophie try to bind them.


Ow ow ow! I'm sorry for eating you, just don't hit me again!



Euch.


Let's just stop that before it even starts.



There we go.



I dealt so much damage to the Storm Emperor in one turn (around 8000 or so) that he just instantly resummoned the Yellow Heart.



I expect the Storm Emperor will be close to dying next turn, so I have Ranger use Accelerate.



The only time the Storm Emperor has even touched me was that one hit on Sophie.



That's how much the first cast of Resonant Thunder does, incidentally.



I'm confident that even a few of the hits of Fire Wave will put the Storm Emperor near death, so I have Ranger skip one Accelerate action and just go straight to Akashic Nova.


ＴＩＭＥ ＴＯ ＧＲＯＵＮＤ ＹＯＵ, ＩＮ ＭＯＲＥ ＷＡＹＳ ＴＨＡＮ ＯＮＥ！


Hm? I don't think this scale was here last time.
Guess we got lucky!

The Emperor Scale has a 25% chance of dropping, incidentally. I did get pretty lucky.



SYSTEM: You have defeated the fearsome legendary dragon! At last you relax, pausing to catch your breath after the harsh battle...
Always like a nice, easy--



Ah.
SYSTEM: If you do not interfere, the dragon will return to wreak further havoc, fully healed and filled with hatred!
W-what are we gonna do? I can't jump that high...
SYSTEM: ...Against all expectation, you see something else appear in the sky. The figure glides through the sky faster than your eyes can follow, on a direct collision course with the dragon!
What is that?!
Ohhhhh.
SYSTEM: ...All at once, it hits you. You recall the quest from Abigail, to rescue the young monster whose parents had been slain... There can be no mistaking it. The figure diving towards the Storm Emperor...is that very chick!
It's that monster baby that we gave food to.
I feel as though I should ask why you gave food to a monster baby, but now's not the time.
SYSTEM: It may be that the chick wishes to repay you, but it doesn't stand a chance against a legendary dragon! You cast around desperately, trying to determine some way to help!
Urgh, if only we had Nadia or Jackie. My matches can't reach that far up...

There's different flavor text from here on out if you have a Survivalist or Gunner--which we don't.

SYSTEM: No matter how you look at it, your party has neither a survivalist or a gunner! All you can do is watch and hope for the chick, with no way to keep it from pain at the Storm Emperor's hands... The chick fights with all it has, pursuing the dragon with no regard for the size difference between the two.
That baby's really tenacious.
SYSTEM: Though you have badly injured the Storm Emperor, it is still a fearsome dragon. Its counter sends the chick flying... Just as all seems lost, a black blur suddenly pierces the thunder dragon! An arrow is deeply embedded in the dragon's forehead! It falls limp, plummeting to the ground--the arrow having finished it.
A winged one?
You take care of that, Luca, we'll take care of the baby!
SYSTEM: Though wounded and battle-scarred, the chick flutters weakly down beside you. Concerned, you look over its wounds, but it bounds in happy circles around your feet. Against all odds, it is safe... As you fondly watch the triumphant chick frolic, Canaan approaches you--having been the one to shoot the dragon.



Thank you so much for saving... Too many things to say, really. Us, the baby, the town...
No, all is the will of the Star. And... I simply wanted to contribute to your efforts. I deserve no thanks. This Divide Bow, passed down through generations in our tribe... Upon touching it, I had a vision...that you would need it. But for you to truly fell the mighty Klanvaline...you never cease to amaze me.
We've been exploring for months now--I'd be surprised if anything was impossible for us by this point.
Then, that is your fate... Earthbound ones truly are interesting.
SYSTEM: Canaan nods his head in understanding. His gaze falls to the bow, and he gestures towards it.
I do not know if this is enough to repay you, but please, take this bow. I brought it here that you might make use of it.



The Divide Bow (+196 ATK) has +2 ATK on the Zamiel Bow, at the cost of the bonus LUC and TP. Meh.

Goodbye, Lumen. Your heroic deeds will forever be passed down our tribe in legend... I swear it.


SYSTEM: With a regal wave of his hand, the ruler of the winged ones departs. The monster chick flaps up into the air, cheeping, and flies off into the sky. You watch the two leave, and take one last moment to look at the Throne of Thunder. The Throne's master has been slain. You have defeated the thunder dragon. For your efforts, you now hold the most powerful bow in existence. Congratulations! All that remains is for you to return to the bar when you have time, and report your success!


I feel as though my limits have been increased. What mystic power is this?
Does this mean I can eat more things?

In the original EO2, you raised the level cap for individual characters by retiring them at max level (initially 70), which would raise their level cap by a measly 1. After that, you had to grind them all the way up to their new max from 30 if you wanted to raise the cap more. Getting to 99 for even one character without cheats was a massive exercise in "ugh."

EO3 changed that--now, the three elemental dragons each raise your level cap by 10 when you kill them (except for the last one you beat, which only raises it by 9), up to a max of level 99. Raising the cap to 99 is basically a necessity, and taking on the dragons out of order is a serious pain simply because you'll be lacking the raw stats the game expects.



We're back, Cass! We killed the dragon!
Wh--Yeh beat the dragon that attacked the city...and now we're all safe!? Th-That means...yeh're honest-to-goodness heroic dragonslayers now.
Do heroic dragonslayers get access to special kinds of steak sauce? I've been trying to make new ones for a while.
I...well, damn. I need to sit down... Look, lemme say this right now. No matter how strong or famous yeh get, yeh gotta keep comin' to my bar, awright?
I don't see why we'd stop by this point.
...H-Holy crap, this is amazing! I gotta tell everyone in High Lagaard! Here, take the reward! Yeh're the great dragonslayers, after all! Haw haw haw haw!



Each of the dragon quests gives 100k en.



Still just getting passives for Phoebe.



Each activation of War Heal All now heals for 33% healing power.



Ranger's Force gauge can now go up to a maximum of 200, along with 5% extra max TP.



Stardust almost has all of the all-target Formulas maxed out again.



Curb ATK Up multiplies Sophie's infliction chances by 1.23x at level 9.



Let's end with these things.

Ouroboros Robe (Alchemist ultimate armor; +72 DEF, +40 TP, +3 TEC) is made from 1 Thunderous Eye. I buy this immediately for Stardust.

Emperor Orb (Immunity to volt) is unlocked by selling 1 Emperor Scale. This thing is junk, to be honest.

Next time: we search for the Ice Duke's grave.