Part 51: The Mother Goddess' Gravestone

The Land Where The Seed's Memories Lie Buried



> The crewmen are examining the door.



But how do we open it?
It doesn't look like our equipment will make a dent in this thing.

Oh, right, I totally forgot.



Gotta grab this first, otherwise that guy won't let us open the door.



I just heard from an angel about some amazing treasure.
It's just past here... I think it is, anyway.
I'll let you have a share.
Wanna see what's on the other side of this door?



Why don't you return here after we are finished...?
Oh, you're here too? Sorry, forget what I said.
We should focus on the mission.
Well, maybe you can come back when you have some time.

...Augh, goddammit. I just wanna open the New Game+ door! Why does this require jumping through even more hoops? Gotta skip ahead to after Ryan et al have been sung at.



I just heard from an angel about this amazing treasure.
Apparently you can reach it from this door, but it's not that easy.



That's what this is. There's a strong demon who'll escort anyone out for the treasure to hell.
So, Mr. Ace Demon-Killer, that's where you come in.
Wanna explore this place with me?
Yes.



Though the path to the treasure is apparently a long one...

Understatement.

It might be tough, but I just know that treasure's worth it. Let's give it all we got!
......



Well that's weird...



Anyway, where were we? Gotta use Unlock E to open this door, since it's required for the scene in the first place.

So, yeah, gotta do the sidequest for Ame-no-Uzume in Eridanus to get the Sound Jewel for Gate Search E. This lets you get the Copernicus for Unlock E. Before you can even accept the sidequest here.

A Rotten Nation



Okay, so the second half of Grus is a gigantic fucking slog. It's not difficult, per se, it's just tedious and long.



There isn't much in the way of forma here; we've kind of seen everything there is in that regard though, so it doesn't matter.



We'll just see where this leads, shall we?



So, this part of Grus is in a way a gigantic empty area with fuckall in it of note.



But there's some stairs back up to B1F here so we'll see. I'm sure it's for a reas--



Oh, I see. It's a pithole trapmaze, huh? Explains why B2F is so gigantic and empty, I guess.

this is gonna suck



There's several terminals dotted around anyway.

And, yeah, uh, there's no new random demons in here. At all. Just gonna use Red Carpet to avoid dealing with that shit.



There's stairs over here as well, so this might be nicer as a starting point.



Ha, I wish. It lets you snag a Sacrifice and... that's it. Only other thing here is a pit drop back down.



...Oh. Ohhh. It's... it's a teleport-maze but the wrong teleports might sometimes be pits??



Ha, no, there's no maze to be had here. Each teleport room does the usual thing of place to drop you (usually in the center this time!), a right teleport and the rest are wrong spots. They're all pits.



All of them. This is a linear path that makes you THINK it's a teleport maze but it punishes you with dropping you back down to B2F. Sometimes it lets you open doors that aren't actually even shortcuts.



But that was a hidden door that could only be opened from the side of these stairs. It HAS to be useful, right?!



Hahahaha, no. This is a small room with nothing in it (except some Miracle Cores). No hidden doors, no map tricks, nothing. That's definitely not ominous.



I'm honestly kind of trying to not just whine incessently about this area, but it's really tedious and shit.



It gets better though. See, B2F is broken into these giant segments that are kind of internal mini-checkpoints. They have hidden doors that let you get to B3F and amount to nothing.



Logically, then, they have hidden doors connecting the segments so you DO get shortcuts to make it more of an actual checkpoint?



Hahahaha, no. Look right here, that alcove on the left. The one above the original stairs. That LOOKS like the perfect spot for a shortcut back here, doesn't it?



Which is why it doesn't have one. There aren't any actual shortcuts back at any point in this section. None. At all.



Even when it really looks and feels like there should be. There aren't any. Why? Because fuck you, that's why. It's not like getting back is difficult; there's no actual maze to deal with after all. It's just... long.



Oh and B3F is a one-way door maze, as you probably guessed. Added bonus: you can only start it from this one spot. At least initially.



Don't worry; I didn't skip over any treasure during the Infinite Walk of Bland. There's the one Sacrifice at the start and nothing until the Sacrifice now. That's definitely not ominous either.



This. This door right here. This is your only shortcut. Even that's being overly generous. It's the stairs leading down from the third giant open space. That IS the third of four, yes. This does technically have an actual use but it doesn't really matter.



Anyway, this staircase back up IS our way to progress, yes.



...Y'know, I forgot. This area has four Gate Search D doors. Just because. These ones gate off treasure which is at least something. The other 2 gate off getting to finish off maps. And nothing else. Why yes I will complain about that again when we get it done. Because it's fucking stupid.



Oh and there's poison tiles in this corner of B3F. Why? Why not. If it was sleep tiles it'd at least be maybe semi-dangerous.



Just to make the one-way door maze even dumber, it has phase shifters. Plural. One of them is redundant and stupid. This one is mandatory for getting to something special.



...Not this. Though this IS nice. Maybe.



Shoulda grabbed this first, but I sort of forgot. It's required to continue when we set the shifter to the B Sanctum.



This hidden door is ALSO required. It lets us finish the one-way door maze... when we return to the original space.



That also has the bonus of letting us get to the second phase shifter. Gonna ignore that for now.



Vitality Incense is still the worst incense. We've got our pile from the first run still sitting here. This can join them.



This elevator. Remember this elevator. We'll be needing it later. It is important.



Oh and there's more poison tiles in the top-left, just cause.



So that second sanctum? It just affects that one room. There's nothing hidden in it in either sanctum.

Why does thie exist? What is the point?!



Let's just make real progress, then. Gonna head back to the central stairs in B3F which lets us get to here.



And immediately after that, we have a spot that mirrors the location where we found Maya. I think we found where we need to go.

...I realise that from your perspective that didn't seem to bad, but even with the Red Carpet getting through that took about an hour. That's absurd.



Are you ready? Careful now.

We do get one last chance here to switch gear etc. Just because I'm paranoid and it's Always Helpful, gonna be using the Dragon Ring for this one.

Silence



It's a little too quiet...

Generic flash of white, but it does it twice!

Wh-What the...!?

In The Master's Name





Thou art... a human? A human!?
I see... I know not who hath sent thee, but...
I cannot allow the seal to be broken by anyone.
Atone for thy transgression with death!

Geist Alilat

Vehement Rage
oh back to this again



So, Alilat has no weaknesses. Hurray!

She also has almost no offense. Fuck.



She can do a basic attack. Which hits one person. She's already doing this wrong, I think.



In terms of offense, she has exactly one trick. Well, one and a half when she remembers to do this.



Her only actual attack is Megidolaon. She has no buffs, no debuffs, no way to clear any of them, no elemental attacks, only Megidolaon and her basic attack. This IS semi-threatening because Megidolaon is Almighty so Guarding does NOT reduce its damage output, and that damage IS with us at +4 and her at -4.



It's only semi-threatening because she doesn't Concentrate for each casting. And not doing that completely tanks its damage output.



Resistance-wise, she's strong to Phys, immune to Gun, Expel, Curse and all ailments.

Oh and she has 3500HP and will rarely cast Diarahan. Yawn.

End

In The Master's Name



But the restoration of the primal Earth neareth its end...
He can do nothing, even should the seal be broken...



The ancient world I crave...



Palace of Pleasure



I can now recover a lost aspect of myself.
The time has come for me to reveal myself to you.
As you have surely realized... I am no human.



I borrowed the form of your crew to search for one capable of defeating that demon.

> Light is gathering around the crewman...





Hey Metatron, how's it goin'? It feels really weird to have you relegated to sidequests like this, but at least that's still more than he got in SMT2 where has was... a random encounter.

But... Even this form is temporary.



By freeing the Holy Spirits sealed away all across the lands, I shall regain my true form.
To assume my true brilliance... That is the goal I seek.
I am sorry to have deceived you.
You tricked me.
No. I did not lie when I made my promise to you.
I brought you here with a tale of treasure guarded by a demon.



That demon's skull is precisely the rare forma that will prove useful in your mission...
You should have it as a trophy.
Please, take it.



Like he said, this is a rare forma. It's also a special one and in part the reason why I beelined for this at the earliest opportunity.

...Lance.
Will you indulge me in hearing me speak of ancient times?

Law Theme

The place you humans know as the Schwarzwelt...



It reflects the anger of the mother goddesses... and of Mother Earth itself, you might say.
But the earth understood that it would be difficult to carry out.



As long as He protected the humans, the situation we find ourselves in now could not have occurred.
But this equilibrium was eroded over time.



Worship of Him faltered, and the Earth did not fail to seize the moment once His power weakened.
The mother goddesses subdued Him as they were once subdued.

Wow, so I guess He was a chumpy loser.



I believe a part of me is sealed deep in this land.
It is a power that calls out to me... I can feel it.
Your spirit is not in harmony with our own...
But even so, I must rely on you.



Gotta admit, I do like how that thing that sets itself up for a moment as an alignment check isn't. You can do this at any alignment and Metatron doesn't get pissy or anything.

No.
I see. If that is your will...
I shall remain here until I become accustomed to this body.
Should you decide to help me, return to this place.

But, uh, fuck it. We'll deal with this later. We can't even do it right now anyway. Not because it's too difficult or anything. It's actually impossible right now.



So, usable Alilat is just the boss fight Alilat but with less HP. Same skills, same easy MO, same immunity to all ailments (barring Rage of course). She's even still a Geist race, which is weird because Alilat is the only Geist. I dunno.

Oh and her source is straight up the objective best in the game AND the only guaranteed spot for 2 special skills (straight up the only way to get one, and the other is... well, getting Alilat is a prerequisite). I am 99% sure it's the sole reason she's relegated to being NG+ only as a usable demon. It sure isn't because she herself is overpowered and good; her best stat is fucking Vitality for godsake.



The Nabatea Stone lets you get this. Scanning Zero is kind of amazingly good and what I would recommend actually getting before mapping out things like Horologium B1F. Y'know, if you still care about maps at this point.

But, uh, anyway, how about plot differences? Let's see what we get on a road that is not Law...