Part 47: Chapter 4, Part 4: Rigel Woods

The title says Rigel Woods, but let's take a quick look at the battle waiting in Rigel Plains first.



There are two enemy armies here. Either one alone would be a challenge for Alm; both together is probably too much to handle, given that they'd reach the bridge first and have plenty of archers.



The leaders of the two armies. Alm's going to avoid this path for now, getting some more levels and equipment from the side path.



Now it's time for the real battle as Alm enters Rigel Woods to deal with Saizo's army.



The enemy army is split into two distinct groups, which should make the battle more manageable. The boss is going to be trouble, though....



Just like the last slayer we saw - high Power, Speed, Defense, Magic Defense. There's no real weakness to exploit here, particularly with Alm's army.



The witches and myrmidons are tough, but Alm and company can handle them - as long as they don't come all at once.


Turn 1



The first objective is to take out the eastern group as quickly as possible, before the western group arrives. To that end, Cliff is going to draw in the myrmidon with his 10 Defense.



Cliff takes a couple of scratches but gets off a good shot of his own.



One witch teleports over to attack Claire, while another reaches her by more conventional means. Claire takes a total of 10 damage, but has the Holy Lance so will heal up half of that amount next turn.



The western group advances.


Turn 2



The witches are all but immune to magic, and most of our physical units have such a low Magic Defense that they'll take a lot of damage in a counterattack. The pegasus knights and mercenaries make good counter-units. Unfortunately the only merc we have is wielding a magic sword so is pretty much useless (I should have had him get rid of it) and we only have the one pegasus knight in Claire. She makes short work of one witch, but there's still two left here.



Alm gets in a strong first hit, but is too slow to follow up on it.



Matilda is a pretty strong counter-witch agent as well, particularly when holding the Steel Lance.



Cleive is weak to magic, so finishes off the myrmidon instead.



The last witch is in a tree, and only Python has a chance of doing much damage. Of course, he misses.



Cliff can only scratch the witch, and Dyute misses entirely.



She was parked at 99 XP, so gets a level out of the attack anyway.



Silk gets in a couple of mostly meaningless attacks on the witch as well.



Fortunately we still have some time before the western group gets here.



Cliff takes some fire damage from the witch, but nothing too threatening.



And the western group gets a little closer.


Turn 3



Claire only hits the witch once, leaving her at 1 HP, the perfect amount for a kill-shot from Silk.



That's a pretty good one-stat level.



Now, we need a strategy for the boss and the western group. The slayer is going to be difficult to deal with even alone, so the goal is to separate him from the other enemies by taking advantage of the fact that he has 7 Movement and doesn't get slowed down by the trees. That's right, the best strategy here is to run away!



In my first attempt, I tried to draw out the slayer immediately, and Cleive paid the price.



So the second time around, the retreating is a little more aggressive.



The slayer is now pretty isolated. Next turn I'll draw him in deeper and force him to have to stay out of the trees in order to attack someone.



Claire is all alone up north to distract some of the other enemies. She has some self-healing with the Holy Lance and can outrun anyone but the slayer.



I didn't realize the myrmidon was fast enough to double-attack her, though.


Turn 4



Claire parks on the healing tile, which is completely wasted on her since it doesn't stack with the Holy Lance and she doesn't gain any evasion. At least that myrmidon will stay distracted.



It took a few tries to get this setup just right, only giving the slayer targets with high Defense and a tree boosting evasion, while not letting it sit in a tree itself.



Then in the end I decide that Alm is better bait, even if he can't get to a tree, since he'll have a strong counterattack. I should've just put him on the recovery tile since it has even more evasion.



Alm takes 16 damage, but more importantly gets in 11 damage himself. His Regal Sword will help with some healing next turn, as well.



The myrmidon lands another couple hits on Claire. Time for her to get out of there.



One of the witches complicates matters by going after Cleive for 12 damage. Luckily she only got in one attack.


Turn 5



Claire can stay away from the mymridon, and survive a hit from one of the witches if necessary.



Magic isn't much help against the slayer, who has 15 Magic Defense, but this turn is going to be a real team effort.



Matilda starts in on the witch, but the tree makes her miss an attack.



Robin's able to finish her off.



Python and Cliff get in some more scratches on the slayer.



Dyute gets in a bit shot of Aura, which brings the slayer's HP low enough for Alm to take the kill.



Four enemies remain, and they're all pretty scattered so not much of a threat anymore.



One of the witches teleports and starts a lightning duel with Cliff.



The other witch reaches Claire, who barely survives.


Turn 6



Claire continues her retreat. Meanwhile one myrmidon and one witch have been separated. Cliff takes the first shot at the myrmidon for 9 damage.



Alm's a pretty effective witch-killer himself, even dodging the counter-lightning.



Gray throws some fire at the myrmidon, weakening it further. Python took a shot as well but missed.



Ryuto decisively finishes off the myrmidon, and just two enemies remain.



The witch chooses to stay close to her protector this time.


Turn 7



I don't have enough units far enough forward to handle both enemies, so instead I arrange everyone to properly counterattack on the next turn.



Now they're close enough.


Turn 8



Alm quickly takes care of the last witch.



Speed is helpful.



A crit with Aura is enough for Dyute to finish off the myrmidon.



A tricky battle, and one a little too reliant on luck with that slayer having a not-insignificant crit rate.


Next time:



Celica reaches the first major battle of the chapter.