Part 25: Master Asura
A Rotten Nation
After the dark maze that was the entirety of 5F, the 6th floor is much, much simpler. It's still kind of a conveyer belt maze, if you want to stretch the definition, but it's all outside.
You kind of get railroaded here and can't leave.
Fortunately, the wall-mounted D-Pad is a switch of some kind.
A very magical switch, because it somehow reverses the flow of... water...? Basically the automove directions are the opposite direction now. Formerly up goes down and vice versa, same with left/right.
This lets us actually explore the area a bit more. There's the occasional hole down to 5F but they all drop you by the stairs back up.
It's really no big deal. In this case, it even helps as an alternative way of getting where we want to go.
...Granted there ARE a lot of holes (kinda) and most of them are at the end of conveyer belts. If you're not intentionally jumping down them I can see this being really annoying.
The Fear of God
6F adds a tiny, tiny number of new demons. As in just these two. This means Ghouls finally turn up here. Hi, Ghouls! They're weak to Fire, Expel and Mute. They like to use Mudo. If they basic attack you, it has a 30% chance to poison.
Hsing-Hsing are cool drinkin' monkeys. They have no resistances at all and are weak to Fire. They have Life Aid which is kind of okay (10% HP recovery at the end of a fight) but it can skill change into some fairly nice things.
A Rotten Nation
Anyway, the real trick to 6F is that it's really simple and very small. If you just go where you can, the main path becomes very hard to miss.
The one spot where you might go where progress isn't, is this alcove here. There's just a couple fixed forma but it's good for getting AT II and just in general if you missed the DF on the 5th floor.
But, uh, that's the floor. Go left, flip switch, and now you can leave. The entire right-side of the floor is just an optional "puzzle" for getting the forma.
7F now, and we can see two new signals on the map at last. Odds are good they're more Formless, but they could theoretically not be.
6F was super simple because it was basically a tutorial for this floor. We have a slightly more difficult version of the same puzzle going on now.
Gotta navigate our way to the switches to reverse the conveyer belts. Can't make progress of any kind otherwise.
We COULD immediately just leave and go to the 8th floor apparently. We're not going to do that though! Just remember that this is an option.
Now, when I said this is slightly more difficult than 6F the emphasis was on the slightly.
You're still ultimately just railroaded to the switch if you opt to not take the stairs, so it's just a matter of following the super-linear path. It's just slightly longer so you fight more things.
We do have to flip both switches to make it to either signal it looks like. This one seems marginally more annoying to get to, so we'll do it first.
In The Master's Name
ZELENIN... DO YOU KNOW HOW THOSE AROUND YOU SAW YOU?
What...?
ALL HAD BLACK DESIRES SMOLDERING DEEP WITHIN THEM...
Wh-What are you saying...!?THE CREW OF THE ELVE SAW YOU WITH LUSTFUL EYES...
Stop it...! What do you want!?...HMHMHM.
Unnecessary contact with that demon is dangerous. Eliminate it.
STARE DEEP INTO THE TRUTH...
Ahhh!
Huh, I guess she gets to handle this one. Makes sense to me.
TCH... STAY OUT OF MY WAY...! IT WAS GOING SO WELL... WHAT A STUBBORN WOMAN...
AH! BUT WHAT ABOUT THE MAN?
An Honor Befitting That Name
These guys are still ultimately identical to the past 3 times we fought them. But, yes, what about the man?
Well, he has the Frost Cannon which lets him fire powerful Wind bullets that tear into their weakness.
So that makes Fire, Ice, Elec and Wind in that order huh? I wonder if the next one will be weak to Expel...
In The Master's Name
This is proving to be quite the difficult mission...Eh, I'm not sure I'd say difficult. Time consuming, certainly, but at least it doesn't feel as padded as chasing Horkos could.
A Rotten Nation
Only way out of this area is to head into a dead-end. If you pay attention to your map, you'll know this is a hole that drops you down to the 6th floor's one missing tile.
And I really wasn't kidding when I said one missing tile:
The 6th floor is tiny. Really, really tiny.
Oh and it's around here I realised I hit level 34 which means that A Dark Hee-ro Emerges!
He gets Skogsra's source for the Rakunda and Arrow Rain. Frost Ace is cool and good.
Anyway, 7F's super linear and we just hit the 2 switches again and then we're at the other door.
Silence
I say again, unnecessary contact with the demon there is dangerous. Jimenez and the other crewmen serve as reminders. Defeat it immediately. You're right, Arthur. I'm sorry to have worried you. ......! The demon is here! In The Master's Name
ZELENIN...
Sorry, but I can't be bothered to listen to your nonsense!WHY DO YOU GIVE WORTHLESS HUMANS THE RIGHT TO LIVE...? WHY DO YOU ALLOW THE BEAUTIFUL SPIRITS TO BE TRAMPLED ON?
...Hitonari! Hurry and defeat it!IF YOU DARE INTERFERE WITH MY PLANS... YOU WILL DIE!
This'd be more intimidating by default if we hadn't beaten this thing four times over already.
Same as before except back to being weak to Fire, huh? I guess it just wraps around. Next one'll be Ice again, then!
THEN... I SHALL... RETURN... EVERYTHING.
Hm...? The readings... they're all disappearing!> The Rosetta readings on the automap all disappeared...
The Rosetta readings have gone... What happened? They disappeared when you defeated the demon!? You didn't get the Rosetta, did you!? Shit! Our only lead is gone...!? Attention, all hands. We lost the Rosetta readings, but the demon is likely proceeding to the next stage of its plan. All crewmen are advised to carry out their duties with caution. "I shall show you my true form..." That's what he said. He must be here somewhere! But... Where? A Rotten Nation
I'm gonna go and guess the 8th floor, or higher maybe, since we haven't been there yet.
Definitely not on the 7th since we've explored all of that now as well. I guess 1F is a technical possibility but the only place we haven't been there is somewhere we CAN'T get to...
8F has a pair of hidden doors right by its entrance.
Only noteworthy because they lead to already deflated cocoons and empty chambers. I guess there used to be Formless here before we killed 5 and they all buggered off somewhere?
There's a terminal up here as well, but we don't have a Strong Demon Detected yet so it can't be for that. It's probably to aid with backtracking.
There's also a 3rd empty chamber over here that isn't hidden. There was 8 Formless originaly and after we beat 5 they were like "okay fuck this we gotta Get Serious" and went somewhere else.
Wherever it is, it's not on the 8th either since this is the entire floor done. Delphinus' upper levels get REALLY small, really fast huh?
Prayer
Strangely noteworthy here is that Kato's dialogue is updated. But only Kato's. Everyone else repeats their post-Gore meeting stuff.
But now that he's shown up again... It's hard not to think about him. I hope the next time we meet him, it's in better circumstances.
And while we're here, let's see what new things we can get from Irving. The Rock Vest is pretty nice; resists Fire and gives us a decent Defense boost too. Gonna pop this one on, but it can prove slightly tricky to make since it requires DF Delphite II x2, Beast Flask x2 (Hsing-Hsing and he's probably the rarest non-Fiend in the sector) and Vermin Antenna x1 (Mothman).
The accessories are, uh, still accessories. Resolve Ring requires AC Deplhite x3, Wood Bark x2 (Skogsra) and UMA Foot x2 (Hare of Inaba) to grant Hitonari immunity to Strain...? Blech, pass.
Not like the Boundless Ring is much better. AC Delphite x3, Divine Heart x2 (Virtue) and Genma Conch x1 (Kurama Tengu) for Mute nullification. It's definitely better but that's a very, very low bar.
The items are all exactly what you think they are. And that makes them pretty nice if you can be bothered to farm 'em:
Tetraja Stone takes DF Delphite II x1, Nymph Fan x1 (Ame no Uzume) and Enigma Himorogi x1 (Futotama).
Dekaja Stone takes DF Delphite II x1, Flight Feather x1 (Caladrius) and Genma Conch x1.
Dekunda Stone takes DF Delphite II x1, Flight Feather x1 and UMA Foot x1. Notably not worth it because Hare of Inaba drops Dekunda Stones with a 100% drop rate in the first place.
That's that for the store for now. Back to Delphinus we go, and I suppose we'll just go up until we get the Demonica's alert.
A Rotten Nation
Surprisingly, that works really well. It's very quick to get back to the 4th floor because of the many shortcuts we unlocked earlier.
Also this is the only really obvious place to check anyway thanks to that super conspicuous statue.
Silence
> The statue is giving off a powerful energy reading...
What's this statue...?
Chaos Theme
That demon! Look, it's...!
As you'd expect, this is not at all animated. Just shows the Formless, shows the statue, then this. Boring.
This happens again and again...
The demons are gathering...!
Behold...
So you're the cause of the Delphinus Parasite! Tell me, humans... Why do you do nothing but try to escape this world?
What...!? Your spirits have lost their once-beautiful shape! You covet your material goods and do injury to your planet. You are vile, vulgar spirits! Therefore, this Schwarzwelt has appeared to test you.
And still, you humans can think of nothing but escape. Why will you not polish your spirits!? Why do you not seek to become beautiful? "Testing"? "Polishing"? That's barbaric and insane! I know full well there is evil in the world...
Humanity won't better itself by fighting! It's wrong! "Order"? Nonsense! I have observed this world for thousands of years, since what you would call ancient times... The human spirit was once beautiful.
It was because of the chaos in that ancient world that the spirits of humans were made beautiful! But the foolish notion of "order" has caused the human spirit to wither and decay. "Order" is nothing but comfort for the weak! The weak deserve only the comfort of death! We must bring chaos back into the world and halt the decay of the human spirit! No... You can't!
That is why we were sent here! It was the Earth's will that we bring back chaos! Bring back power! It is not wrong... it is beautiful! Do you still not understand...? Will you stand by and watch the Earth decay? And with it, your spirit...?
That's all a lie. ...It seems a rotten spirit cannot be told that it is rotten!
Unfortunately, your spirits are not yet in a beautiful shape. I will use my power to reshape them thus![/i]
Tyrant Asura Vehement Rage
Asura isn't a specific one deity. It's a class of lords that are either benevolent deva in Zoroastrian mythology or malevolent in Hindu myth. In Buddhism, they are the lowest rank of demigods and have 3 heads, each with 3 faces. Asura's designs are all based on the Buddhist version, naturally.
So, Asura has a... few very special skills. Asura Roga is his favourite and he usually, but not quite always, uses it in the first time. If you buff/debuff to +/- 4, then he spams it even harder before getting rid of buffs/debuffs. 3 is fine, as per usual, of course.
...Well, that's not meant to happen.
Ahem, Asura Roga inflicts a whole new ailment! Rage doubles your Physical damage output and forces whoever has it to only make basic attacks against either a random enemy or ally. Notable is that they cannot attack themselves. It is essentially A Worse Charm.
Rage is a special ailment. Every demon in the game, regardless of what it is, has a flat 100% resistance so functionally neutral. Except two. There are two demons that have a different modifier.
Oni and one other demon we haven't seen yet have a 300% weakness instead. That's it. Nothing has a normal 200% weakness. Nothing has an arbitrary and weird intermediary value. Nothing resists it in any way. It doesn't even have a cure; it just wears off over time. You can use Amrita items to remove it, but that's a waste.
Rage, like Bomb, is usable normally by enemy demons only. Rage, unlike Bomb, is kind of terrible so that doesn't matter.
He CAN cast Maragidyne, but against this party in particular that doesn't help him much.
He'll also gladly cast Concentrate. He will in fact cast Concentrate a lot. He will Concentrate to Concentrate to Concentrate. This does absolutely nothing, of course, so it's kind of a gimme.
Did I mention he casts Asura Roga a lot? Because he does.
He has two other unique skills though. One of them he adamantly refused to do. Black Flame is random target heavy Fire damage.
This can go rather badly for him, yes, especially with this party in particular.
Oh and, yes, he IS weak to Ice. He Reflects Fire and Wind so maybe don't use them. He also resists Gun for all the nothing that matters.
The End
Honestly, in terms of actual proper bosses, Asura is a very stong contender for the overall easiest. He has a whole 2 things he can do and while Rage might be scary if you have no idea what it does, it becomes very apparent very quickly that his gimmick is to make you stronger so you kill him faster.
So, uh, good job there, Asura! At least he gives decent EXP and... adequate Macca, I suppose. The Magic Mirror is a bit of a piss-take though!
End Chaos Theme
Do not think... this is... the end... It is too late... to stop the Earth... from being filled... with chaos! Hahahahahaha... Hahahahahahahahahahaha...!
The victory rings a little hollow, but... Hm? Look...!What, did he drop a Rare Forma and the Rosetta?
Yes, yes he did. Color me surprised.
The Rosetta reading in this sector is none other than the manifold before you. Secure the Rosetta and return to the ship. So ends our mission in this sector, eh? I'm so tired... But I'm sure you have it worse than I do. You've been fighting this entire time... Physically and mentally, your time in the Schwarzwelt is making you stronger... Whereas I'm only still standing by the grace of the angels. Silence
Return to the command room after you deliver the Rosetta to Engineering. Malevolence and Benevolence
Mission "Delphinus's Rosetta" is confirmed complete. I would like to let the recovering crewmen rest, but we are short-handed. They must return to duty.
Our main objective in sector Delpinus is complete. We will now proceed to the next step. The crew has worked diligently in analyzing the Schwarzwelt's structure.
This has allowed us to successfully navigate several quantum tunnels. Moreover, we have cooperated with the Joint Project on Earth to calculate our space-time location. We have amassed a vast store of data about the Schwarzwelt. This data is nearly sufficient to pinpoint our final destination:
The Vanishing Point!? We've finally found it!? We are in the final stages.
We must verify that, along with our method of navigation.
Good thing we never gave up! Devising a plan for our entry into the new sector will take time. All crewmen not in Operations should remain on standby. ......
I know that's what we've been trying so desperately to do, but...
No. I don't think we can accomplish anything here except to escape and report our findings. It's just... ...... We can't guarantee that anything we've learned will help to save the Earth, can we? I have the sick feeling there may soon come a time when we'll say to each other...
What do you think, Hitonari? Can you go back with no regrets? First let's find a way out.
The hard work isn't over yet...
...Oh, Jimenez. Back on your feet already, huh? Feeling better?
Besides, this is no time to lay back and relax, right? Hey, Tadano. Sorry to give you a scare... Thanks to that aim of yours, I'm back in action. ...... There are no lingering problems, Jimenez? You can move around? Sure, no problem. I mean... well... okay, there is one weird thing.
It's a real kick, getting possessed. You should try it sometime. Jimenez...! I can't believe you! Why must you be so childish!?
We cured you when you were nothing but a demon, and you claim to have enjoyed it!? Listen to yourself! How can you say these things!? ...... You wouldn't understand.
...... You might wanna think twice about putting too much trust in humans, Zelenin. Hell, maybe that was the real me back there. Maybe that's what we're all really like. Could be all us humans oughtta be snapping and snarling at each other...
Human beings don't live to fight each other. Quit that, both of you! Why are you being so hostile!? Back me up here, Hitonari!
I'm gonna hit the showers and then head over to sickbay... See you later, Tadano. ......
You mean we're going in circles?
The simple explanation goes like this... We thought the Schwarzwelt was a multilayered structure connected by quantum tunnels. The thing is...
How's that for absolute despair? The entire Schwarzwelt is built to give you hope of being able to leave, but it just keeps looping back on itself. It might not even be immediately obvious because of it being a seperate space/time location, so you'd just shrug at it looking similar and move on. The eventual reality would sink in and with no other way to progress, you'd most likely surrender and sink into despair and misery.
In other words... No matter how far up we climb, we can't reach the top. Before we know it, we're back at the start.
Indeed. Our normal methods of navigation will not allow us to reach the new sector. However, if we chart our own course towards the coordinates of the Vanishing Point...
We have informed Engineering and they are readying the engine. I know there's a risk, but... I have confidence in Arthur's calculations. Question is, will it just let us escape...? The Schwarzwelt... Let us move on to the next sector.
Get ready, everyone! We're almost home!
Swiftly moving on to the next sector... hopefully.
Comparing space-time coordinates... Our current location is verified as our intended destination. Bringing up the camera feed... Fear
It looks pretty nice, actually. Huh.
So this is the new sector... It feels very different from the others. They were all showing the dark side of humanity, but this...
You know, I think we might be the first to set foot in this sector.
At last! We're getting closer to Earth!
However, the Schwarzwelt is thought to contain many similar dimensions within it. Technically spekaing, it is not appropriate to call this the "final" sector. Hey, man, there's no reason to rain on our parade here. You really put the "artificial" in "AI."
Very optimistic of you... I remind you that we don't yet know for sure that we can make it home. Hitonari? Make sure you don't let your guard down.
Yes! Eridanus!
Ahem.... Eridanus is a river, it is named after the River of Hades, Eriadnos, from Greek Mythology. It's the 6th largest constellation and was first discovered and named by Ptolemy. So, y'know, pretty old. There's even a river in northern Italy, the Po River, that is named after it.
Anyway, that's our Eridanus. The Schwarzwelt's Eridanus is the best sector. If you disagree, sorry, you're wrong. If you think it's the worst, you're double wrong.
Our chief objective here is to find the Vanishing Point. Our means of escape is within our grasp. I am certain that you will succeed.
We've established a connection to the Joint Project.
But I'm sure there are demons lying in wait here, too. I wouldn't want to be in your shoes... We will deploy our forces into the sector shortly to begin an investigation. All right. I hear you. But before you do, we need to inform you of a decision we've made. Listen carefully... A decision? Whaddaya mean? We owe everyone on the crew a great deal. Thanks to you, we've learned a lot about the Schwarzwelt. Which brings me to the point...
We call it "Operation: Schwarzwelt Elimination." Operation... Schwarzwelt Elimination!? Is that possible!? The surface of the Schwarzwelt is composed of incredibly unstable fluidizing particle bonds. It's one of the Schwarzwelt's general properties.
I'll outline the stages of the plan for you... We'll set nuclear warheads around the Schwarzwelt and set them off in a chain reaction.
Its heat will break the fluidizing particle bonds, causing them to collapse... Thus destroying the Schwarzwelt.
The only thing left to do now is to wait to execute it. When will the plan be executed? Oh, as soon as possible. Every tick of the clock brings the Earth closer to danger, after all.
It's getting close to the southern regions of Australia, Africa, and South America. We can't afford to waste time... Operation: Schwarzwelt Elimination must be carried out as soon as possible! Please, hurry and escape!
......
We'll commence the operation the instant you escape the Schwarzwelt. Operation: Schwarzwelt Elimination is acknowledged. We will perform our task with that in mind. Silence We're counting on you... Humanity is in the throes of a nightmare. You're our lone ray of hope. We'll be praying for your safe return and a return to peace. Godspeed, gentlemen. Malevolence and Benevolence
We're all gonna be saved! Now we can focus on getting outta here! Get psyched, people! Prepare to disembark! The guys back on Earth aren't half bad after all... Well, anyone'd get desperate when they're back into a corner. Operation: Schwarzwelt Elimination... It is possible, in theory... Attention, all hands.
...thereby return to Earth. I call on you all to put forth your full effort in your duties. I look forward to the successful completion of your mission.But wait, there's more!
Tyrant Asura v Human Hitonari Vehement Rage
Asura's gimmick is that he inflicts Rage. Rage means you hit anyone EXCEPT YOURSELF. You hit them harder than normal.
If you're having trouble with Asura? Just buy the Rock Vest and rock up solo.
Asura Roga happens a lot. We can secretly deal ~150 damage a round with a non-Strength based Hitonari under Rage (you'll see). The Frost Cannon's Frost Shot deals slightly less and costs 20MP. That's balanced out by being more effective when not under Rage, yes.
The only thing that makes Asura not a guaranteed win, and instead only very likely, with this setup is this. Ashura is his last move and it's what he never used against my full party because he's a rude jerk.
It's just random heavy Phys damage. He only has Concentrate not Charge, so he can't make this stronger. The caveat is you can't realistically mitigate it AND Black Flame either.
You can use Tarunda/War Cry for sure and in this case Armshot if you don't want to have the Frost Cannon equipped for some unfathomable reason, though. Or I guess if you don't have it. But you have the Visualiser now, so go back and get it! Frost Ace is also really, really good!
So, yeah, if you're having trouble with Asura solo him and he will gladly help you murder him effortlessly. Go figure!