Part 27: The Death of a Hot Lover

The Death of a Hot Lover


As you may remember, Ryle heroically took an energy bolt that was aimed at Caris. His reward is probably being dead.

"Raymah....!!!"



"Like I said previously, the green dragons were due to my commander's order, and this time I was merely aiming at that lady~ *shrugs* So please don't blame me for everything bad happening in your life~ Being a Mahzok alone isn't easy you know~?"

"You son of a...!!"


Oh shit, Fina is doing things



"Everyone back off! I'm gonna finish him!!"

"You gonna fight alone!?"

"If we all fight this guy, who will take care of Ryle?"

"Hoh? Please don't even think about trying to use the full power. You can't win against me at least not now."

"Then why don't you TRY me! You gonna regret saying this!!"



"Because!"


We all know what happens when she gets mad...




"I won't let you get away with this!! Your life ends HERE!!"

"You try to fight me alone? Poor little girl, but you can't even fully control your new power!"

"...(Damn! He got me right!)"

"Kahkahkah! This one should be very amusing! Oh my~"

".......(If I am a true High Valkyrie, then I should be able to beat him! By using "that move" which only a High Valkyrie can use!!)"


Oh boy, it's time for the famous skill called "that move"

Okay, this battle is pretty much a cutscene that you mostly advance by mashing the Spacebar. You also have to fight for a few turns, but it's nothing to write home about. The whole thing is going to be cool though, so I actually don't mind it this time. You can also see that Fina has the "DEPRESS" status effect.


It's a legit effect, but really has no impact during this scene.


I think it's more of a "dramatic" tool here, and is meant to symbolize the pressure that the current situation puts on Fina. She's pretty insecure and suffers under the whole "being the Messiah" deal, remember? And now shit has hit the fan, and she has to unlock her Jesus powers or everyone will die...

"Urg! This is bad! I better do something or everyone will...!"

Sucks to be her!



"Tsk..."

"Keke! It sure is fun to play around you humans...How amusing indeed!"

"...."


The screen just got a little brighter, seems like Fina is doing something

"...."


Could it be?

"...."


Yes! Bullshit-powers come to our rescue! It has been a while since the last time, hasn't it?

"I did it. I am finally able to use all my power!"

"What?!"




Welcome to the own-zone

"DIVINE"

"IMPACT-!!"






"Your body can't regenerate any more! Now you are finished!!"

"How dare you! It's not over yet!!"

"We gonna see about that!!"


Now we have to fight Raymah for real, but it's sadly just a formality. See, Fina will fully regenerate at the beginning of her turns...


..and Raymah's stats are fucked by Fina's bullshit-powers. He's barely able to cause a single point of damage on her, so there is no challenge at all!

"Bakana! My attacks are totally useless!! Why!?"

"Your power has been reduced by the HOLY powers of my Divine Impact!"

"You gonna die for sure this time!!"

"I won't be taken down that easily by some foolish emotion of you humans!!"

"Our will can generate unlimited power and mom used this power to defeat CHAOS."

"Shut your bashful mouth LITTLE girl!! I shall teach you who's right on that!"

"Don't worry, I'll make sure to eliminate you completely from this world."

"Kekeke! Words alone won't do any good little human!!"

"You gonna pay for it...DOUBLE!!"

And after that exchange, you just spam Fina's new move over and over. Of course, Raymah also has a ton of health, so this takes way too long.


Yay



"This is what you get for making fun of us!"

"Next time I'll kill you all!!! I promise!!"



Suddenly, Caris jumps into Raymah's face! She teleported so dang fast, that even I couldn't snag a proper Gif of it.


I can already feel the murder coming...

"!! Caris!?"



"Sorry Fina. I have to finish him no matter what!!"

"You think little girl like you can beat me? Even with this injury, I don't think so!!"

"Caris! Watch out! He got long range attacks!"

"Too late! DIE!!"





But Caris makes another lightning-jump!

".........."

"!? But how!?"

"Woe...!? What a speed!!"



Caris does her third jump here, but bolts upwards this time...


..and becomes the flying goddess of cutting.





She also learns this skill, btw.






"Caris...."



"Ah!?"




"Really?"

"I can hear it! Thank goodness, the attack barely missed his vital areas!"

"!!"

"Thank god...Oh Dear Ryle..."

"But it's not over yet! He'll die if we leave him like this! Heal isn't doing anything..."

"Even your magic can't heal his body!?"

"This is bad! His vital signs are too weak! Body's natural healing has stopped!"

"If his body continues to get weaker without proper treatments..."

"Oh no!! What are we gonna do!? We can't let Ryle die here!!"

"Anyway let's bring him back to Fina's home first!"

"That's too far away! Not Sea Mar Port?"

"I agree, that's much closer."

"Of course I know that."

"Then why?"

"I read the medical books back in Fina's home, which mentions a place called Mount Meldia."

"But who cares about some mountains?"

"Just calm down and listen to me. There we can get the medicine for Ryle's injury."

"I know! It's Paramekia Roots. That's why you wanted to move to my house...it's near the mountain!"

"The Paramekia Roots...Ryle can recover once we get these!"

"I see, Miss Flare must have tried them when she got injured?"

"(Hmm, she's very shrewd... Unlike her usual "Duh~" attitude.)"

"Dear Latyss and I will do our best to keep Dear Ryle alive, so rest of you please start to carry him!"

"Let's go search for that medicine! Come on Miss Caris!"

"Mariel and I will take care of the monsters! Hayami and Fina, please carry Ryle to the house!"

"I won't disappoint you!"

"Roger."

"...Got it. (Hope mom helps us out...)"


Okay, let's recap that a little bit.

Ryle survived, but is in a critical condition and the gals need to find the possible cure. That he didn't die shouldn't be surprising, he is our Hot Lover^Tm after all, but the game surprised us by him not being immediately healed again. It's perfectly fine to assume that he would be, seeing how the game went so far, but I think that it's neat that Flare made the whole thing into a serious plot point. I'll go ahead a bit here, but let me say that Ryle's condition will not be quickly fixed when we find the roots. Nope, there is something more to it. This also means that we'll be only playing with the gals for the next leg of trip, which is a nice change. Honestly, I think that the whole climax at the lighthouse is one of the better parts of the game. It has a few dents, but it's cool as a whole. And what follows will be neat too!


Latyss also permanently learns the Super Aero Slicer. I really have no idea why she lost in the first place, but here we are.

Since the rest of the gang is taking care of Ryle, we're left with Caris and Mariel.

Also, game faces

Now, I have to walk all the way back through the dungeon, and then walk even further to get to Fina's house. That's pretty annoying and I wouldn't have minded a transition somewhere! Since Ryle is down, I also have no access to the Warp spell.

But before I do that, I still have to grab an important item.





This sword is a bit of an upgrade for Caris, but it's not great or anything. The important thing is that it's the key to an optional dungeon! Better not miss or sell that. And doing the latter is real easy, because it's a kind of crappy sword without any hints to that optional dungeon. I honestly assume that most people will just sell it on their next visit to a trader.





"...."

"Caris, don't let it get to you. Men are always trying to protect us. If he didn't, he would have to regret it for the rest of his life."

"I know... but I just don't know what to do! I can't forgive myself!!"

"Dear Caris...."

"So back to what we were saying, we are going to search for that medicine Lady Latyss mentioned..."

"I tried all kinds of healing spells but none of them worked, so this is the only possible treatment left..."

"His vital signs are so low that his neural recovery stopped working?"

"I am not sure what she's talking about~what vital and what natural?"

"!!"

"Mariel please be quiet for now. We can't go on with our conversation~"


I honestly feel a little bad for her. Everyone has already settled on cutting her off as soon as she says something weird

"We have to act now and we should divide teams to search for the herb while taking care of Ryle."

"And we better hurry."

"Orubia and Latyss stay here and use the healing spells on him while taking turns continuously."

"I got it!"

"Understood."

"Caris, Fina...and Mariel, you three go search the medicine!"

"!? Please wait! What about sessha?"

"In case of emergency, you have to wait here and stand by."

"Sessha...got it."

"And Caris!"

"Y-Yes?"

"Don't try to do this all by yourself! His life is depending on you! You have to control your emotions. Only think about how to save Ryle! Got that?"

"..Understood. I'm going there to find his cure..."

"(Actually I'm kind of worried about her too.)"

"Hope the other Mahzoks won't interfere this time."

"When they do, we'll wipe them all out!!"

"No we can't do that! What if the precious medicine is lost or even ruined!?"

"!!"

"..I am sorry. We'll avoid any battles as much as possible!"

"Paramekia Roots only grow on the top of mountain, in worst cases try to run away all the way down!"

"Got it mom! I'm good at diversion tactics so don't worry about it!"

"Such over confidence makes me worry about you the most~"

"Everything will be just fine! I'll be with them as well!"

"(Man, sometimes I wish I can be as "easy-going" as she is~)"

"Let's get going then!"


It's actually a happy coincidence that ya'll like Caris so much. Because she'll be the leader for our forced party, and this whole part is a tiny bit like a side-story for her. Despite my initial reservations about Caris, I always liked her during this segment. Mainly because she settles down a bit, and has some character development along the line.


Hang in there, Ryle.