Part 69: Un-Winter Wyvern

Update 56: Un-Winter Wyvern



We are certainly varying up our parties quite a bit recently.
Eh, what do I care? I get to do something.
Rrr.
I must admit, being on semi-active duty after months of rest is nice.
Hmm... Sauce #164, failure. Peaches, oranges, pears, and puckerberries do not taste good together. Almost collapsed in on myself. Side note: peach pits apparently have cyanide in them. Do not eat next time.



Everyone, bar Nadia, is the same as you last saw them. The only real changes are Ranger has a level 10 Freeze Sabre Grimoire instead of Shock Sabre, and Nadia is working on maxing out Sagittarius Shot now that she has Chain Dance maxed. She also has the Zamiel Bow and both of her ultimate armors equipped.

Note my choice of food, incidentally. You'll see what that actually means in a bit.



SYSTEM: Artelinde bows graciously towards you, and the old man stands as implacably as ever.
...Did you come here to find the ultimate gun, as I said?
SYSTEM: Having said that, Wilhelm casts a glance over his shoulder, then looks gravely to you again.
...If you did, you came to the right place. In here rests a fearsome flying dragon...and the ultimate gun lies next to it.
Uh, the quest mentioned nothing about a DRAGON.
Wh... Old man, you didn't mention the dragon? I told you to mention the dragon on the quest board!
Tch...
I will opt to believe you were not trying to just send us to our deaths.
*sigh*... Well, no point crying over spilled milk. Here, let us explain the situation.
That would be appreciated.
...We've talked about it before...about how someone close to me used to explore the Labyrinth. She explored for a long time...but met her end in the third Stratum, and became a monster...
SYSTEM: She bites her lip, finding it hard to continue. Seeing her expression, Wilhelm continues the story.
In her party, there was another gunner. He was a veteran marksman, and he taught me nearly everything I know.
Was he two hundred years old? He must've been old to be old that soon ago.
The gunner vowed to take revenge for her, and chased the monster that took her life. One gunner, rampaging through Yggdrasil. He suffered greatly, and at times the situation felt hopeless, but he never gave up, and never stopped moving forward. One day, he finally reached the room of the monster--the beast that freely terrorized the entire forest... And this room is that very room. Here, the gunner stood against the flying dragon alone...and fell.
It took a "veteran" gunner an entire rampage to just reach the secret area?
And his beloved gun fell along with him... Agnea. To my knowledge, it's the single most powerful gun in existence.

Wilhelm's technically not wrong, but we'll discuss that later.

Originally, I would have been the one to inherit Agnea, and confront the deadly dragon in his stead... But I no longer have the strength. And, moreover... I think it belongs in your hands now. Don't hesitate. Don't falter. Just keep moving forward...and please, defeat the flying dragon.
SYSTEM: The old man finishes his grim tale, and his partner extends her hand, passing something forward to you.
And since we're asking for your help, take this with you. It'll help you more than it would help me.


SYSTEM: This staff is the fabled Yggdrasil Staff... Inside it rests Yggdrasil's arcane might. The bearer's mind gains nigh-infinite power!
Well, this looks fancy. Thanks.
Hmhm... I didn't think you'd be the one thanking me. We should be thanking you. We'll pray for your safe return with everything we have. See you later, Lumen.
SYSTEM: With that, Artelinde falls silent, and Wilhelm moves aside to clear the way ahead. The two members of Guild Esbat take their exit...



What kind of wimp would I be to listen to that and not go forward?



Firstly, though, this thing. The Yggdrasil Staff is the first pseudo-ultimate weapon, as I'll refer to them from here on out. These are given out from quests, and have the highest ATK value of their respective weapon class (swords and katanas excepted)--albeit usually by 5 or less points. In exchange for that, however, all but one of them lack any secondary attributes whatsoever. The only exception is this one, the Yggdrasil Staff, which gives +50 HP and TP. That's a pretty mediocre bonus, honestly, and the actual ultimate staff, the Kerykeion, gives +200 TP and +7 TEC, which are stats that staff wielders would actually want.

Having said that, Colette will be holding onto the Yggdrasil Staff for a while, since its ATK is head and shoulders above anything else she can equip at this point, and it offsets the loss of bonus stats. She'll replace it with the ultimate sword later, though.

(Worth noting that there is no pseudo-ultimate spear.)


I never thought I would be able to call myself a dragonslayer.
Being a bit presumptive, huh?
You underestimate Ranger.

Wyvern doesn't have any pre-battle text.

VIDEO: Boss Battle: Wyvern




Quick refresher on Wyvern's stats:




I'm not gonna paralyze Wyvern just yet--I want to ensure that it'll die with the ailment. I enable War Edge Power to compensate for that fact.



Ursa immediately turns on Desperation so that she won't get one-shot by an unlucky Wing Talon.



Ranger preps Delayed Chase.



Nadia'll fire off Sagittarius Shot.



And Rheine buffs everyone's attack, same as always.


Wait for it...


Rr?

...I overestimated Burning Ray. To be fair, though, Ursa took 25% of its normal damage--50% reduction from the Bikini Armor, and a further 50% from Loyalty Mastery.


Þetta starfsfólk mun gera, fyrir nú.

Imagine if Milly was here.



Ｉ＇ＶＥ ＡＬＲＥＡＤＹ ＢＥＡＴＥＮ ＵＰ ＡＮＯＴＨＥＲ ＤＲＡＧＯＮ, Ｉ＇ＬＬ ＧＬＡＤＬＹ ＧＲＩＮＤ ＴＨＩＳ ＯＮＥ ＩＮＴＯ ＰＡＳＴＥ！



Now that Nadia is using actual skills, I have her enable Illusion Step.



Rheine throws out a Dauntless Order as insurance, in case Ursa gets one shot by something.


So nice, I had to do it twice.


Wait, nope, three times. ...There went the rhyme, I guess.



Ursa could survive that even without Desperation.



Breaking news: Ranger still deals big damage.



War Edge Power is about to run out, so I'm gonna try to paralyze Wyvern now.



Rheine's out of buffs to cast, so she switches to Link Order.


There we go!


Urrrgh!

Ow.



I'd say that's kind of Lucky, but Nadia has equivalent LUC to Wyvern, Wyvern only has 50% paralysis res, and Paralysis Arrow's base inflict chance at level 20 is 80%.



I wish I could stack more TEC on Rheine, honestly.



Ursa just attacks, since I know Wyvern isn't going to do anything.

Notice how I said "know." That is because the Shell Yakiniku, which bills itself as "Paralysis Effect Up," actually makes it so that paralyzed enemies have a 99% chance to not act. Paralyzed enemies are effectively completely helpless while the Shell Yakiniku is in effect.



Wyvern's at half HP, so I need more turns of Transform.



I'm not gonna need Illusion Step for the rest of the fight, so I might as well have Nadia deal as much damage as possible.


Too fast for you!



Yeah, we'll be able to kill this thing before the paralysis runs out.



Mhm, we're good.



I'm worried that the paralysis might run out after one turn, so I have Ranger just use Akashic Nova for maximum damage.





How is the dragon flying, but not moving?


Regal authority triumphs in the end.

Too easy, honestly.



SYSTEM: You carefully examine its titanic corpse, and discover a gleaming gun between the flying dragon's huge teeth. This must be the firearm known as the ultimate gun--Agnea!


Didn't we just buy Jackie a fancier-looking gun yesterday?
Yes. Much fancier-looking. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to have her test it, though.
SYSTEM: You obtained the gun, and completed your quest. All that remains is to go back to the bar and collect your reward.



Ranger's Force gauge can now go to a maximum of 185.


Oh, yeh're back safely. Did yeh manage to find this “ultimate gun" thing?
After killing a really weak dragon, yeah.
...Yeesh, I didn't expect a beast like that on the 1st floor... So, yeh got the gun after yeh managed to kill it? ...Maybe yeh really are stronger than any monster in the forest. ...Anyhow, good work. Careful not to lose that gun, awright?





Colette's working towards War Heal All.



Still giving Ursa marginally more survivability.



Accounting for Grimoires, Sagittarius Shot now deals 530% damage.



I've run out of actives I want on Rheine.



We'll close out on the items from Wyvern's drops.

Kerykeion (+175 ATK, +200 TP, +7 TEC) is made from 1 Paralyzed Wing. It's not that great for War Magi, but it is absolutely fantastic for Medics, Alchemists, and Sovereigns... Which means I'm gonna have to kill Wyvern three more times after this. Why three? See below.

Wyvern Spear (+223 ATK, +40 HP, +40 TP) is made from 1 Paralyzed Wing. Yeah, this is the only time in the entire game that a conditional makes two different weapons. It's Tyler's best spear, so I'll grab it for him when I have the patience to kill Wyvern three more times.

Kazakiri (+233 ATK, +5 AGI) is made from 1 Wyvern Talon. It's not Asriel's best katana, but it's a hell of a lot better than anything else I'll be getting for a while.

Next time: unlocking the depths of the Forbidden Wood by killing Golem.