Part 16: The Ordeal of Air

Last time we went through the Beetle Forest of the Netherworld and finished the Ordeal of Fire which turned out to be the Ordeal of Doubt. Today we face the Ordeal of Air in the Dragonfly Forest of the Netherworld. First off though let’s talk to Ni.





: But the ordeal will challenge you to prove your devotion...

: And, therefore, prove our right to a future.

: You must focus your thoughts. Ask me anything you please...



One new option appeared from talking to him last after finishing the Beetle Forest of the Netherworld. The other don’t reveal any new stuff or aren’t changed at all so let’s ask him about Koris.



: I know not why he abandoned his village...

: But I have heard that the Nagi woman who went to Golan to marry him was the aunt of Ra and Mu...

: ... and that after Koris left, the village was swallowed by the forest.

Well that seems to be a trend. Maybe Ra or Mu can shine some light on why he left the village to its fate. For now we say our goodbyes to Ni.

: Now you must pass through the Kumari Gate and venture into the Dragonfly Forest of the Netherworld.

: There, the Disciple of Air awaits...

Anway we leave the central chamber and go to Ra to purify our new minions and merge them.
Here are the 3 that will accompany us into the next Forest as well as one I created for fun but who proved to be a bit too weak for what was to come (he got 3-shotted by a same elemental spell).



He is a mix between two Patdregs and one Patbaran from the Moth Forest. He is a fast physical attacker and comes with the Deva Agni spell.



Here I mixed old Bumblebee with 2 Hackaroos in order to turn him into a speed Attacker like Patdog above. He also comes with the Deva Mahli spell and Sel Selahm the Status prevention spell (as well as Malti and Maltis which doesn’t mater given his M.Attk score).



Can’t go wrong with good old turtle although it’s starting to fall behind as its defense starts failing to help his speed deficit.



Good old Arlazu got mixed with a hydra and a tree to skewer his growths towards magic and give him access to all the valuable spells. Still he doesn’t perform as well as I thought and got destroyed by monsters in the next forest (especially since only one is fire elemental). Therefore he has to sit out for now.

After we finished merging and spinning we head over to Mu to sell the silk we got.



: The Blue Cocoon Master is my uncle.

: It seems his heart has been swallowed by darkness.

: I beg you, do not blame him for what he has done...

: The reason he abandoned his village was... Well, it was because of my aunt’s death.

: She was offered as a sacrifice for the Act of Gehena.

Oh I see... wait what!? These morons sacrificed the wife of their protector who also is the only one enabling him to do his job and then are suprised to see him go? With great assholishness comes great idiocy apparently...

: My uncle lost all faith in the foolish villagers, so he gave up the flute and disappeared from the town.

: Later his village, Golan, was attacked by the Onibubu and swallowed by the forest.

And nothing of value was lost...

Alright, time to head into the forest.










And we’re back in the Dragonfly Forest. Like the Beetle Forest before it, the Dragonfly Forest of the Netherworld also use the same layout as its real world counterpart. As such I’m once again limiting the coverage of the forest to new minions and differences instead of showing of every screen we’ve seen before. With that being said let’s have a look at our first opponent of the forest.







Hirasag and Amasag are magical speedster. Both tend to have around 40 magic and speed e.g. about 5 points faster than our fastest minion and almost double as fast as our turtle. If they get you in the back than they will double Levant even with the Little Bird equipped and triple turn him if you have any of the slower weapons ensuring he dies without you having any say on it. Also most physical minions have horrible magic defense making them pack even more of a punch and hybrids or magic focused creatures lack the HP. Luckily they tend to come alone and have horrible defense on their own to the point where they die in one physical hit against their weakness. Unfortunately Speed seems to determine evasion as well meaning they like to dodge these blows and waste your MP. Both come with the strongest spell of their elemental e.g. Vahlia and Ulvia as seen above. They also can absorb your Mana with a non-elemental attack although the encounters are probably never going to last long enough for them to use it. Annoying creatures overall. I catch both and move on.



As you may remember the upper path leads to where we fought Kikinak and this time leads to our fight against the Disciple of Air. Alas there are some minions to be caught on the other path and treasure to be found. If you don’t care about it though, you can literally finish this forest in 5 minutes similiar to the Beetle Forest. We however want to catch all those minions and get all these treasure so we go down the left path further into the ruin.





Next up is our meeting with Skarunga and Dogle. They are the complete opposite of the Flying Mouth Creatures we met ealier. They are fairly sturdy and have good physical attacks but severely lack in speed and missed our dog minions more often than not. Dogle has a non elemental power attack and a normal fire attack while Skarunga got a +Power elemental attack. Both also have an all attack spell they are never going to use due to their atrocious magic score. Due to their ass speed they are much more managable than the magical beast although it can take a while if you don’t want to blow your MP. Once more both versions are caught which levels Levant up. He is now a Hero.



Here is the new capture melody that comes with the advancement.

Capture Melody - Hero





Zulmoo is quickly summarized: Big Ball of HP and defense but otherwise completely unremarkable. But his Brother Mugoo is the King Asshole of this forest concerning random encounters. They are the same as far as stats go e.g. huge Hp and Defense scores (as well as magical defense) but in contrast to Zulmoo they have the Ad Roqua spell that affects you like Flesh to Stone. Here is how an encounter is going with them: They cast Ad Roqua on you and then defend until you turn to stone killing you instantly. Thanks to their huge HP and defense you usually won’t kill them fast enough to finish the fight before you turn to stone (especially since they tend to come in pairs and flesh to stone ruins your speed and accuracy). You basically have 2 options: Have an air minion with Sel Selahm to prevent 3 castings of the spell from affecting you and then burn all your MP to kill them as fast as possible or you have to buy tons of Ikari Powder and switch in Levant every so often to counteract the Stone spells which will burn through resources fast. Best bet after catching at least one of them is to run though as all minions give similiar experience points according to their level and there are minions on the same level in this forest that aren’t completely annoying to fight.

We catch them and move on (and run away from any following fight with Mugoo).



We find this weapon where we fought the Poacher back in the real world. It has a chance to stun but will slow us down considerately which is foolish to do, especially in this forest. So it wanders into our backpack.





Meet the last new minions of the Dragonfly Forest of the Netherworld. Geenwee and Karn are middle of the line minions with a slight edge towards speed and attack. They both come with their respective Deva spells and non-elemental attacks that destroy your mana. They are probably the least threatening minions of the forest and also share the highest level with Mugoo/Zulmoo so use them to level up your minions. Both are caught and we explore the rest of the forest.



We find a Skeleton Key at the place where the Secret of Killing was back in the real world. Now we’ve done everything we can so its time to confront the Disciple of Air.



Before confronting him though we go to the left here.





We find some more stat oils and some sleep spores. Onwards to the boss.

Disciple of Air voiceacting



: So… Have you heard? Kelmar likes Mahbu...

: What? You haven’t? Well, you’ll find out sooner or later, so I’ll tell you, as one friend to another.

: Kelmar told me you have something that he does not.

: Did you think you were friends? What a fool you are!

: He’s jealous of you. After all, he likes Mahbu...

: What? You don’t believe me? How dense can you be? Well, how about this..?







: Didn’t you know that? I was born to be nothing but a blacksmith, and you, you get to be the Cocoon Master.

: No matter how much I love Mahbu,, she can never be mine.

: I know there‘s nothing I can do about this, but...

: I envy you. I am so fed up with tradition... And that’s the truth!







: I have a firm grip on the darkness in his heart.





And so we fight the Disciple of Air aka the Wind Boss. As with the previous Disciple there is a constant deva spell active. Here it’s Deva Mahli symbolized by the raging Whirlwind around the battlefield. I summon Patdog to deal with this boss and the Wind Boss summons his creature.



Which looks disgusting and in no way like a creature symbolizing the Air. But whatever.





As for its attack: He can summon a whirlwind which targets your magic defense.





He also like to punch you after grappling you with an elemental attack. All in all though this boss is easier than Tuturis since he can’t evaporate you MP you can deal good damage to him. Patdog also uses his elemental advantage and his speed to get turns. In the last attack you can see me guarding to regain some MP in order to finish Seterian off since normal attacks are not adviceable at all.





The Wind Boss itself is a push over unless you are seriously hurting already. He learned his fighiting from E.Honda and tries to constantly headbutt you into oblivion. Like the Disciple of Fire he also is not Air aligned so use an air minion to use the constant Deva spell against him to finish things quickly.



And that’s it for the Disciple of Air and the Ordeal of the Dragonfly Forest of the Netherworld.



We gain some more Walnuts for our stack.



: That’s why Mahbu is in love with you. Compared to you, I’m...

: Thanks... Your true feelings really hit me with your final blow...

: It’s wrong to be jealous, I know... But that’s part of who I am. We’re still friends, though, right?

















: Jealousy can drive one mad, Your success in this ordeal is proof that the strength of your friendship exceeded the threat of jealousy.

: Now, only one jewel remains. Let us open the way to the last ordeal.

: Now you are to venture into the Spider Forest of the Netherworld for your final ordeal.

: The Chosen One of Darkness will do everything in his power to defeat you.

: You must not be fooled by his trickery.

: The moment you unite the four jewels...

: ...you must confront the Chosen One of Darkness.

: he shall severely test your minions. You must be prepared.




Next time:

We finish the Spider Forest of the Netherworld and confront the Chosen One of Darkness in the conclusion of the main game.