Part 40: Update XXXVII - When death comes to us

Update XXXVII - When death comes to us

Music: Fourth Chimeric Lunar Sea - Second Floor


Today's dungeon is...!



A cave!



The Trigger!



And a whole lotta fish!







Even the tutorial is complaining about Kotomine.





Here's the entire map with every enemy marked, hope you don't forget it!



Focus on the enemy programs rather than wasting your strength dealing with the enemy Master. Let's Search and Destroy, Master!



The Carnivores are permanently marked, but the layout of the floor still needs to be mapped out.



Arc has a few lines here, but all of them have a heavy reverb added in.

This is too perfect! No, to praise a foe is to wallow in false humility!



The first target is impossible for us to miss.



Carnivores themselves are upgraded Fishbites from Week 2.



It dies without a fight.





From here, we can choose to go either dead ahead or to the left.



I choose to go left.



If you look closely, you can see that Gatou's arrow has met a target.









Oh hey, there they are!

...you might be able to see an issue here.



While I'm able to steal the kill...



I'm unable to avoid getting caught by Gatou.



Music: Duel - Unauthorized Battle


I'll send you infidels to the Pure Land Of Amitabha. Amen!



At least I get some info this time around.



Although Caster's magic damage still has a ways to go.



While Arc fares much, much better.



A single hit dropped Caster to critical, Arc is opening with a skill, and I still have a full turn after this.



So I patch her up.



And brace myself.



In a fun little callback, Gnaden Sturz is one of Red Arcueid's specials in Melty Blood. Did Melty Blood even have an official english release back then?

_{(The overlay ruins the filesize, so you'll have to wait for the Elimination Battle for the gif.)}



That would deal 1200 damage unblocked, and 600 with a normal Guard!

But wait, it gets worse!



See, the devs really, really did not want you to win this fight, so every action for turns 2 and 3 is Gnaden Sturz.



Even if I started with full HP and used Aphotic Cave every single action, (which, admittedly, would only cost the initial 40 MP while the refund would keep me going) I would still take 1,800 damage. While I could use heal(32); partway through the turn, the remaining attacks would leave me at critical HP going into turn 3, so even another heal wouldn't be enough to last.



So yeah, there's no way I'm surviving this. Maybe if I sunk every point from the very beginning into Defense, but that would leave me with non-existant damage for the actual Elimination Battle.

This is a dick move on two levels. First off, the game breaks its own rules and throws you a curveball you have no way of dealing with. Second, it also goes against how things went previously in the game! Way back in Week 1, during the Treasure Hunt against Shinji and Drake, there was nothing stopping you from chasing them down for an extra fight. And it was a completely normal fight! After the fight, they leave and you can take your time getting the rest of the loot! If you try the same thing here, you just die. No real reason, you're just Not Allowed to win.



Gatou gives the same speech from Day 1 when he wins.



Music: Fourth Chimeric Lunar Sea - Second Floor


Alright, let's try this again.



Kill this Carnivore again.



This time, I have an idea.



Gatou stops for a few seconds whenever he runs into an enemy. If I stun everything in my path, I can leave them for him to deal with and buy me some extra time.



I grab the Carnivore we could see chomping in the distance last time.





While they get the one we fought over.





From there, we head north into the cave.



Directly in our path is the Shark's Fin we need to get for Taiga's request.



The next target is right here.



Since I'm burning through Master MP at a decent rate, I use my Master actions to top off during fights.





Gatou and Arc reach the cave right behind us.



Gatou gives this line from killing the enemy by the red folder.





There's an upgraded Monophobia here, but he can wait a bit.



And with a small lead, we reach the last Carnivore first.



So small, in fact, that we can see them kill an enemy!



And done.

Music: Fourth Chimeric Lunar Sea - First Floor




I put the Music Box back on.



As Caster said, Gatou left as soon as the last Carnivore fell, so we can explore the rest of the floor freely.



Like this guy!



He's an Agoraphobia, and is the beefiest enemy on the floor.



The eastern edge of the cave has a large ramp.



Which leads us to the Trigger!



It also gives us a good view of the area.



After having the floor designs be tailored to our opponents for the past three weeks, just having a generic seascape is a bit of a letdown.





Another Trigger! I'm not trying to henpeck you, Master, but do you have all your Triggers? I'd scream if we got a Dead End just because we forgot to collect them both. Please check, Master!



Thanks to the hunting contest, most of the place is already mapped out.



This spot here is a straight shot, which is why Gatou was able to get as close as he did.



I double back to grab this loot a Carnivore was guarding.



And get a level on the way out of the cave.



We got this big guy near the entry portal.



And loot.



More loot. (This one held 6000 PPT)



And even more loot over here.



I grab the folder we skipped on the first run. Caster does not approve of the Return Crystal it held.



There's a bunch more fish by where we died.



Further ahead is a massive stone platform.



The path up leads back to the cave.



While the other leads to an item.



And the exit portal, where Gatou spawned.





Music: School III


And that's the floor done as soon as it opened! All that's left is the second monster hunt.

Next time: Monji Gatou the moral guardian.