Part 177: 12/7: My Prized Hack

Part 167: 12/7: My Prized Hack

Music: Ark



We’re leaving the cleaner for last, so we just got that IT president guy left.
We don’t have any clues about him yet though… Either way, let’s proceed onward. We still haven’t gotten a full grasp of this ship’s layout.

The Phantom Thieves have taken down a new target, so it’s time for them to move on! And you know what that means...



MORE!!! FUCKING!!!!! HALLWAYS!!!!!!!

At least in this map we can actually see where the mouse statue areas are in grey.



These are Hanuman(s). They’re weak to Ice (but also have an Evade Ice skill), and can use Physical and crit boosting skills.



In the main hall, we find the interesting gimmick of this hall. See, the statues are actually off by default here, and the only way to the exit is past a lock door. The only way to subvert that door is through a mouse-sized vent right next to it. You see where this is going, and you’ll probably be able to guess where the switch the thieves need to activate to progress is. Yep! It’s all the way north, which they can only get to from the west, which means they have to work their way all the way around this area! And once they do that, the enemies will have respawned, so they’ll be forced to do another round of evasion to get to the vent!

If my mind was structured like this, I’d probably murder someone too. Just sayin’.



Queen learns Mafreidyne to replace Mafreila somewhere in the maze of hellways (heh, you get it?)



And eventually, the thieves make it through to the Side Deck, which contains another safe room to checkpoint them.





Nope. But… You beat the crap outta my men, and I can’t exactly let that pass. I’m gonna have to avenge them.
Wait, you’re the one who attacked us, remember!?
Hmph, you sure do an awful lot of barkin’. Well, I guess I could let you off the hook…



Get ready. Here they come…!



Some more of these guys, who are still weak to Bless. Not much for the thieves to worry about. This cleaner dude needs to do better, Lord Shido deserves it.



We caused no trouble whatsoever, yet were met with the same end result…

Fox, you pesky thieves have been causing nothing but trouble all day.

And on top of all that, he up and disappeared again!
We should ignore him if our actions have no actual impact on the results. For now, let’s focus on searching for the IT company president. I hope there are clues somewhere…

The P-Thieves are left with no choice but to proceed through a door at the end of the hall.



Which, naturally, leads to…



MORE OF THIS BULLSHIT

At least it’s short, this time. The thieves simply need to get through a simple series of rooms. Some of the rooms have statues, but others do not. I’m not even sure why there’s a switch to turn the statues off in this one, the thieves don’t actually need to press it for any reason. It’s not vital to their egress or even used to conceal a treasure chest, it’s just there if they want to clean up the theft spots I guess.



These Baphomets are weak to Bless, block Curse, and use Fire, Ice, and Electricity. They also have skills to increase their Burn, Freeze, and Shock rate with those skills.



This is Oberon, it is weak to Nuke, blocks Psy, and uses Wind and Physical. It also has Evade Nuke.



Once the Thieves make it out, they find themselves somewhere that feels a bit familiar…



Why, it was the locked door from the main hall!

And without any particularly useful information about the IT company president…
He almost never leaves his room! Nobody’s even seen him around!
Hm. If he “almost never” leaves, does that mean there are times that he does in fact leave?
Wouldn’t he have to head out to go to the bathroom? That’s how it was for me in my room!
But there are restrooms in the rooms here… What about meals?
Just one call and your food gets delivered to your room.



I think you’re right. Though this place is just a cognition, it has restaurants and bars as well. If the IT company president never leaves his room, somebody must be delivering the food to him.
Ohhh, so you think we should get info at the restaurants too! Nice idea, Joker! Oh, and Queen!

So, the thieves are heading back to the restaurant.

Music: Impromptu for the Next Prime Minister




Um, is it possible to have meals delivered to my room?
You mean room service. Yes, that is available only at this restaurant.
Aha! So, is there one room in particular that always orders food delivery?
Pardon me, but why are you asking me this? I would like to see your boarding passes if you don’t mind.
O-Oh um, we’ve been asked to make a delivery. It’s to the president of an IT company, I believe.
…… Hm…
He apparently never leaves his room, but Mr. Shido has given us direct orders about this… Now then, this is a highly confidential matter, so we must take it to him ourselves.
Ah, is that so? In that case, let me tell you the way to his room.

Moron!



Isn’t this pretty close? I suppose it’s just upstairs.
It seems to be above the side deck we passed through earlier. Is there a way up somewhere?
Honestly guys, I doubt this is gonna be any use. If it were me, I’d never open that door.
Well that’s no good! What are we gonna do!?
If only there was a way in besides through the door…
In any case, should we head back to the side deck? No that we’ll be able to get in from there…

The Phantom Thieves backtrack to a safe room, then warp back to the Side Deck.

Music: Ark



If getting this door open is impossible, we’ll just have to find another route inside. It’s the room directly above here, right? Hmm…



Heading over to the east, the thieves find their path obstructed.



But what’s this?




I mean, we ARE phantom thieves. We can use places that normal guests don’t have access to.



A ship needs a source of power to sail. There must be an engine room nearby.

So, the thieves’ current task is to climb up and up.




The view is terrible though.





And the thieves have made it to the room.

The cabin the target’s in is right there!
Indeed, I can sense someone within its walls.
What should we do, Joker?
>Check inside.
All right, here goes.

Music: Suspicion



I’m gonna go!



Oh, this seems like a great idea.

By yourself?
He’ll be on guard if we all go together… Plus, it’s IT stuff! This is my time to shine!
Should we leave it to her?



I can do it! It’s like that show where the kid goes shopping alone for the first time. Hehe, this is gonna be tough.
She’s feelin’ good enough to joke around, so maybe this’ll be fine after all…?
Just yell if things get dangerous, OK?



Futaba salutes.

Music: Wicked Plan




Smooth, Oracle.

Those clothes… I-I mean, why did you come in from the window!?
W-Well the door’s locked and you weren’t answering! How else am I supposed to get in here? Oh, but I get how you feel! There’s totes nothing better than relaxing in your own room!

“Totes,” ugh. I’m glad I’ve sided with Shido if they’re saying shit like that.



You’re an IT guy, right? I can tell we talk the same language!




Hehehe… This little guy caught your attention, huh? I made it myself!



Wanna see the benchmarks? It can pump out some awesome numbers. Although normall I just use this one as a sub-processor when I’m hacking into a tough system.



Hehehe… Ever heard of Medjed?
Well, of course.
Try not to be surprised by this. Actually, be surprised. I am Medjed! I’m the one who took down the fake!



Don’t believe me, huh? Here, this is proof.



If you want my skills, I’ll need a letter of introduction.
Man… To think the website we prepared got crushed so easily by a mere child.

Oh shit.



That’s right. Why did you have to go and destroy our work?
Because I’m a Phant--

Futaba sweats.

I-It was just because I couldn’t forgive someone using the Medjed name without my permission. So, why’d you send Medjed after the Phantom Thieves?

Music: Desire

There was no reason to choose Medjed per se. Their popularity was convenient for us though. We knew the Phantom Thieves couldn’t target an anonymous group, after all.
That’s why…?
Medjed’s defeat was supposed to be an act, so their actual fall was quite a shock to me and Akechi-kun. We were planning on shutting it down anyway though, so it really didn’t conflict with our plans. The Phantom Thieves must’ve enjoyed their moment in the spotlight, not knowing it would be so short-lived. You see, you gotta abuse a tool like the internet. Well, the word abuse doesn’t really describe it. The real charm comes in making use of the internet in innovative ways that circumvent legal restrictions.

Oh my god shut uuuuuuup

You little…
*chuckle* I’m sure you understand. You’re Medjed, after all. Isn’t it wonderful manipulating all those information-illiterate idiots!?
...What a third-rate fool.



Not only are your skills third-rate, but you stink worse than a third-rate person. Don’t treat me like we’re equals. I’m gonna reform society!
...What a stupid idea. Don’t tell me you destroyed my website for this so-called “societal reform”?




Picking on the weak and calling that innovative? Looks like I just gotta ban the guy at the root of all this… Shido! Now, you’re gonna give me that letter of introduction!
Why would I?




Welp, that went bad.





Noir sounds totally fed up with this garbage.

Well, now that we know he has one, this should be the easiest way to get it!

We already knew he had one, though.



Shadow IT President



These guys don’t present much of a threat to the Phantom Thieves, unfortunately for us. The Titanias are still weak to Psy and the Oberon is still weak to Nuke, so they’ll spend most of the fight hitting those weaknesses in order to get All-out Attacks. The Oberon can summon more Titanias once they die, but it’s still not much.



Noir learns Amrita Shower to replace Psy Boost. Her skills are getting crowded to justify my decision not to get rid of Tetrakarn and Makarakarn, unfortunately.



Four down for the Phantom Thieves and one to go. We better hope this cleaner can get the job done.

Music: Suspicion



Making that fake Medjed wasn’t the only bad thing you did, right? I want to hear your biggest secret.
The cognitive psience research…



After extracting the results of the research, I deleted every last scrap of the original data. After that, I encrypted everything we had and put it on a domain inaccessible to normal people. Don’t get me wrong though. I don’t know anything about all the mental shutdowns.
Shido… What the hell was he researching?
No matter what it was, we won’t let him abuse it!

Music: Desire




I’m honored to hear that.




It’s about the loyal customers of our mental shutdown business. How about you dispose of all the ones you think suspicious?

This is some North Korea shit. I mean, uh… in a good way!



Correct. The earlier the better.
Why so suddenly…? Did something happen?
Nothing in particular. But if something were to happen, it would already be too late.
I can understand why you might be nervous, but why not stay calm and hold off until after the election?

Akechi? Arguing against murdering someone? Hell must be freezing over!

I’d like to take out all of the trash before my inauguration as prime minister of this nation. For the sake of absolute victory, I need all roots of anxiety to be pulled as soon as possible.




Oh god, what’s wrong with your face/neck/shoulders!?



Shido hangs up.




Akechi seems to have come to a realization…

Man, making these updates is truly exhausting. I’m just going to rest my head on my keyboard because I’m… tired, and for no other reason beyond that.

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Whew, that was sure a nice nap I took. I think I’ll leave that meaningless string of nonsense characters in to commemorate the amazing nap I had! Once again, please don’t kill me, Mr. Shido.