Part 17: Update XVI - Poisonous snake, jack of all trades

Update XVI - Poisonous snake, jack of all trades

Music: Breach


Here we have the age-old tradition of every Nasu-verse entry: rampant loophole abuse.

Sure, the system will break up a fight after three rounds, but that requires getting into a fight. Here, Dan just so happened to have his Servant spew poison everywhere, and we just so happened to be here. If we choke on poison and die, we haven't picked a fight with Dan, so there's nothing the system can do.



The poison isn't for show either, every few seconds I lose one point of HP, Servant MP, and Master MP.



Although the poison can't actually kill you, leaving you at 1/0/0.

This takes so long that I was able to make a smoothie, drink said smoothie, then clean the dishes and I still had to use the emulator speed up to get it this far, so the poison itself is fairly low risk.



Just up ahead, we can see our first enemy of the week.



Yep, we're on week 2 and we're already on palette swapped enemies.

Not that you can tell what color they are with this filter, mind.

Music: Battle - First Chimeric Lunar Sea


The filter persists into combat, too!



The reskinned Klein is called a Pradox.

The one advantage to model reuse like this is that each enemy type has particular patterns, so knowing how to fight one makes it easier to deal with later versions until you have enough info to reveal multiple moves.



And unlike last week, Caster now has enough Strength to breeze through random encounters.



Music: Breach


A bit further ahead, and Caster spots the tree we saw in the floor preview.



And just past that is a fountain, to patch up any dings the poison left.



At the fountain itself, we can see Dan and his Servant hanging around.



Unfortunately, they're between us and the tree.



There they are, Master. It looks like Gramps is talking about something important.



Come on, Caster, let's get 'em!

The enemy doesn't seem to be aware of us, and I have Caster by my side. Only a fool would pass up this opportunity. I catch Caster's attention with a meaningful glance and start forward.

There's no possible way my cunning plan can fail!

Music: Stops


Shit!



My cunning plan has been foiled by peripheral vision!



Just before my consciousness fades into oblivion, my gaze is drawn to the Servant clad in green. Suddenly, a sharp pain runs through me as what feels like a burning rod pierces my back, and my vision fades.



As my consciousness fades, I not only hear the mocking voice of the enemy Servant, but I think I hear Caster calling out to me.



The second big loophole is that the three turn limit does nothing to help if you get killed instantly.

On the plus side, that description of the Servant's attack sounds a lot like Hakuno got shot by an arrow, so there's a good chance our mystery man is an Archer!

~

Stay silent, stay hidden.

Time to be a fool, and not charge in and die.

I give Caster a meaningful nod and try to quiet my breathing. Attacking now would be a bad idea, especially since I can probably get a lot of information just by listening.

Music: Breach


What's that? I put up this little barrier so that you'd win, boss. Why wait until the Elimination Battle to take them out? If they drop out now, it'll be an easy victory for us.

...Who gave you the command to do such a deed? Even scavengers such as vultures that feed upon carrion have at least a single shred of dignity.

It's obvious by the heat in their voices that they disagree about what strategy they want to follow.



It seems to me that you lack the most important of traits: Pride.

Yew trees were big for Celts and druids, so this seems like a rather decent hint on who his Servant could be.



I mean, I'm all for it if that's all we need to win this whole thing. Really, it'd be the best thing in the world if our enemies would just kill themselves in the face of our Pride! Sorry, I'm not nearly the man you are. I'm just a pragmatist that'll resort to poison if it'll guarantee a kill.

...I see. Violation of trust. Ambushes. Betrayal. These are the things you rely on in battle.

This goes beyond a petty spat, these two couldn't have a worse compatibility if they tried.

Helps us out, though, so I'm not complaining.

The Servant put up the barrier on his own. It's obvious that there is disagreement about his actions.

So, those two don't get along at all. Their relationship is totally different from ours, my dear Master. I can't deny his resourcefulness, but since the dawn of time the weak have always hidden behind clever schemes. If the strong were to use poison, it'd almost be like cheating. I can see why Gramps is scolding his Servant!

Dan lowers his voice, although it's hard to determine whether he's doing so from scorn or disdain.

I will not order you to lower this barrier now. However, should you choose to disobey me again-



Dan and his Servant leave the Arena, opening up a path to the tree.

After a somewhat petulant reply of "Gotcha," the sense of their presences disappears and I sigh in relief. So there is discord between my enemy and his Servant. While the differences in ability between us is great, this might be my key to victory in the second round.



A different path holds a switch, but right now we have to deal with the poison tree.



All that's left between us and our goal is a reskinned Crix.



This one is called an Insanity.



And here we are!



Magic flows from where the tree towers over the Arena. There is so much of it that those who are unprepared would drown in poison.





Music: First Chimeric Lunar Sea - First Floor


The moment the source of the barrier disappears, so does the pressure and pain crushing my body. But, this barrier... We need to watch out for this Servant. I leave the area to focus. First, I need more information.



With the tree gone, the natural green color of the Arena returns.



Just off from the tree is a Folder that holds a Remedy.



With the poison gone, I can show off the shiny new Mystic Code we got last time, but it isn't showing up in the Cast list, what gives?



I have the Shockwave equipped, and release_mgi(c); explicitly says field attack, so how do I use it?



Field attacks work differently from normal Code Casts. Instead, they get used whenever you press X.



Doing so makes your Servant pop out in front...



And fire a bullet, costing 10 Master MP every time.



Hitting an enemy with it stops them in their tracks.



It also stuns them for a few seconds, letting you slip by.



Getting into a fight with a stunned enemy makes them lose their first action.



Although it gets a bit finnicky near walls. Here, Caster is rushing off to the side and firing in a random direction, making me waste MP.



But the bullet itself can go through walls, letting you nail an enemy with zero risk.



I'm not too fond of it, honestly. Just this little demonstration burned half of my Master MP, and being able to skip a single turn doesn't really help when I have The List to back me up.



Showing it off took so long that the Insanity respawned, so now you can see what color it is!

...green Arena, green enemies, green Servant, green Master. Christ, that's a lot of green this week.



The switch from before unlocks a door right next to it.

The game would probably yell at you if you tried to hit it before dealing with the poison, so this stops you from being stubborn and ignoring the tree.



Hit the switch.



Open the door.



And just past it is a room so massive you can't even see all of it from the entrance!



It also has these creepy things, which stroll around constantly opening and closing their massive jaws.



Caster's comment makes me break out the Saint's Monocle, and it turns out that enemies that have a few levels over you prompt unique comments from your Servant.





The Fishbite here is our first actually new enemy of the week.

Spoiler alert: The Fishbite is the only new enemy of the week, everything else is a palette swap.



All you need to know is that they really, really like to spam Attack.



There's one in each corner of the room, so I kill all of them for that sweet, sweet EXP.



Which nets us another level.



In the middle of the room is a switch guarded by two Pradoxes.



Hitting it opens a door out of here.



Dealing with Fishbites can be risky, as they deal stupidly high damage. Flubbing just three hits knocked me down to critical HP!



The final area of the floor is a long hallway, with branching paths every so often.

We also have our first red Folder of the week!



I bought one of those last week, game!



You can technically equip two of the same Mystic Code, but stacked Code Casts don't get any form of boost, so you're just wasting a slot for nothing. I'll sell this spare Uniform when we get back.



Further up the main hallway is a reskinned Viper.



Called a Swindle.



At the very end is a locked door leading to the exit portal.



Next to it is another fountain, as well as a path leading up.



There's another upwards path a bit further back that I choose to explore first.



It has our Trigger for the week!





Very first day of the week and we've already finished this floor!



The other route holds the button to open up the exit portal.



Not that you have to, mind, the portal by the entrance works perfectly fine, and you can always pop an Escape Crystal to leave.



A fight on the way out gets us a second level.



And with that, we're done for the day.

Music: School III


Here's why we'll win... The old guy doesn't get along with his Servant.

But, you and I are a perfect combo, so we're going to win!



We're missing some treasure, but keep in mind we still need to get Taiga's sidequest, and that counts even before the item actually spawns.

Next time: New friends, new skills, and item hunting.