Part 71: Some good, old fashioned boot to his ass.
Welcome back. Last time, we beat Lorence. Take that, asshole
Afterwards, we found out that Richard's ultimate goal is the "Shining Ring", an artifact of the ancients sealed in the ruins deep below Grancel. It's exact function is unknown, but whatever it is, it's probably not good. And so, it's up to us to stop him! Us, and two friends, to be exact.
And these two friends are going to be Kloe and Olivier, by what one would be conservative to call a landslide.
He'll be able to show you the way to wherever we are. Also, if I'm not in the scouting party I'll send Sieg along with you guys instead. 
Scree. 
Ahh, good idea. That way, the search party won't have to backtrack to get the others. 
It's up to you, Sieg! 
Screee! 
Just to be on the safe side, I've prepared a complete set of tools. Should have everything you need. If you need to modify any orbments, just let me know. Okay! 
We'll be off, then. Russell does exactly what he says he does: He sells healing items, accessories, can synthesize pretty much any quartz, and lets you change your party members. Helpful guy!
We can also talk to anybody who's not in our party (and anybody who is, after we shuffle a little bit), so let's start with that.
To be fair, I don't quite think that's Richard plan for it either.
Olivier is speaking from personal experience here.
For once Agate, you've got the right idea.
Anyway, since this update is pretty much entirely dungeon crawling, I'm going to take care of some gameplay related odds and ends while I've got the chance.
If we so desire, we can shuffle the order our people walk in. Occasionally this will make a small cosmetic difference, with NPCs greeting the lead party member instead of Estelle, but Estelle is the only real leader for our merry gang so she's staying up front.
We can also change our starting positions in battle. I rarely ever change it, but that's mostly because I forget I can.
Anyway, you might be wondering why I've got Agate in the party.
He's still got an S-Craft we've yet to see: Final Break. Like I said in the character rundown last update, it attacks a medium sized group.
Alright, let's do this for real now.
Estelle gets a somewhat modified version of her build for fighting Lorence. The main difference is that she can now use Volcanic Rave, so she has a strong magic attack to use if need be, and her Mind 3 is going to let her do some back up healing if need be.
For everyone else, the name of the game is White Gehanna. So they have lots of time quartz, as well as any other stat buffs I feel they might like. Joshua is equipping the Gladiator Belt again - area attacks are going to be a necessity.
Kloe also has a slightly modified version of her build for Lorence, trading an Action 2 Quartz for EP Cut 2, which is going to let her cast White Gehanna. If I could afford EP Cut 3 I could replace EP 3 with that, which would give me the requisites for White Gehanna alongside Action 2, but I don't have the sepith.
Olivier gets the requisites for White Gehanna, as well as some water quartz, both to allow him to heal and for the stat buffs granted by Mind 2.
There is a note inside. It says, [I saw what you did...]
...You saw that? Who have you told?!
That's a lot of enemies! Olivier and Kloe make for a pretty good party for this part, and here's why. Magic is generally much more effective for tearing through large groups, and so having two strong magic users and two decent ones is a massive asset.
We've got three types of enemies here. The Photon Judges, who can do this:
Which impedes casting, and this:
Which deals damage to an area, potentially sealing your crafts. The Photon Judges are also by far the hardiest enemies of the group; they'll still be kicking way after the rest are dead.
The Guard Minions cast, and that's about it. They're fairly frail, so they should be dead before they get the chance to cast.
The Broken Pieces are basically filler enemies, hence the name. They'll die quickly, and if they survive for long all they'll do is attack for pretty low damage.
My strategy for this fight is pretty simple. Kloe and Olivier cast because that's what they do, Joshua casts because he wants so save CP for Black Fang, and Estelle does whatever she wants (wild card.)
Eventually, our casting punches through them, although not before we flirt with death.
We're going to level up a lot this update. By the end of it, Joshua and Estelle will be level 36, and Kloe and Olivier will be 37. Because of this, there's a mini difficulty curve built into the dungeon - as we level, things'll gradually become easier.
The Magesta is Olivier's best weapon, with 120 strength. (10 less than the Mystic Staff). Everyone is going to be getting their best weapon this update, all of which have 120 strength as well.
As you can imagine, there's a lot of chests this update, so I'm only going to show the extra text for all of them.
That's how chests work, alright.
Our haul from these three is a Teara Balm, a Celestial Balm, and the Daedalus Arm, Zane's ultimate weapon.
The Sealed Area isn't content to have just one monster chest. Let's check out encounter number two!
We have three D-Series Dooms, and two Broken Pieces. They're a little more spaced out, which makes unleashing on them with casting a fair bit tougher.
Not that the fight itself is any tougher though. In fact, it's a fair bit easier, as the D-Series Doom mainly spend all their time calling for extra Broken Pieces, which are Broken Pieces. It's in the name. They suck.
They can also use Blaster Beam to attack in a line, which really isn't threatening.
Our reward is the Royal Guard, which is the best male-exclusive armor. On top of the ultimate weapons, we'll be getting two sets of male-exclusive armor, two sets of female-exclusive armor, and an identical distribution of top tier shoes. For this reason, an equally mixed gender party is ideal, which is another reason Kloe and Olivier are good together.
Our haul: A Teara-All Balm, an EP Charge EX, a Teara Balm, and the Nine Tails, Schera's ultimate weapon.
And that's the first floor!
...This is not a short dungeon.
Here we find two Teara Balms, as well as the Atlas Gear, the best male-exclusive shoes in the game.
And finally, with all that done, we've reached our goal. It's been a long and hard road, but we finally have it.
The best female-exclusive sneakers in the game. You've earned them Estelle
Now we can go home....Wait, right, no, Richard, Shining Ring, etc.
There's not much of a difference, to be honest.
Here we find the Hauteclere, the Berserker, and the Valkyrie Dress, which are Kloe's best weapon, Agate's best weapon, and the best female armor respectively. We also find a Teara All Balm and a Teara Balm.
And with that, we're off to the third floor. This dungeon can get to be somewhat of a slog, to be honest. While it's fun at first, because the monster chests are interesting and the music is great, there's just so much of it. The decision to have every chest containing valuable treasure guarded by monsters somewhat backfires here. While it normally keeps the dungeons engaging, when you're getting eight weapons, four sets of armor and four sets of sneakers it starts to add up.
Here we find the Thor Hammer, Tita's fantastically named ultimate weapon.
And then we find ourselves in a much more dramatic hallway then before...
Wh-what the hell are you doing here?
Ha... You actually thought I'd be so easily defeated? 
Though it seems that Grancel Castle has been taken... 
It's no matter, though. Once His Excellency obtains the Shining Ring, it can be retaken at any time. 
Heh... I suppose that those with no place left to turn will cling fiercely to any dream, no matter how ephemeral. 
It is a bit sad, truly. I'm not sure exactly how it's determined who gets a line here (I think it's position in the party, but I'm not sure), but when I recorded it, Olivier took center stage. I'll include all variants, including Kloe's, at the end of the update.
Enough! If nothing else, I will not permit you to interfere with the colonel! 
To me, Archaisms! 
You're using the ancient machines... 
Ha ha... We don't care for being so casually underestimated. We've already collected an incredible amount of data since our survey here began. Even controlling these Archaisms is easily within our grasp. 
Wh-why would you do something like this...?
Hmph. Say whatever you wish. Now...come on!
Hey, Silver Will! You're moving up in the world, Amalthea
Along with her upgrade to a better background music, Amalthea has also gotten a hell of a lot more durable since we saw her last. Beyond that, she mostly fights the same. The only major difference is that Absorb now drains 200 EP instead of 100, which is actually a pretty big nuisance if she decides to spam it.
As for the Gundolls?
They either use the Gatling Gun for pitiful damage, or have a Control Function Irregularity and do nothing at all. Nice job controlling them, Amalthea.
Amalthea will occasionally cast, which is by far and away the most threatening thing she can do The most threating thing the Gundolls can do?
They can summon the M-Series Doom. The M-Series Doom is frail, but...
A pretty strong caster.
Not strong enough to make this an especially noteworthy fight though. Just focus on the M-Series if it shows up, and you'll be fine. (Be careful though, they self-destruct!)
Happy Trigger is not only a pretty great craft, but it also has a fantastic animation.
Anyway, one group of dead robots (and Amalthea), later...
Yeah... I don't think she'll be moving for a while. But more importantly...since she was guarding this area, this is probably the way we need to go. Yeah, you're right... In that case, I'll have Sieg call the others here. Sieg!
...but it looks like we're only at around the halfway mark. 
Whew... Well, at least there's that much covered. 
I know we can't just rush ahead, but I'm getting impatient... Yeah, if we try to rush things, we'll likely just wind up lost. We have to take it slow and steady. 
Indeed... Just hang in there. We want to be as well-prepared as possible when it comes time to confront the colonel. Halfway is a pretty big undersell, there's less monster chests in the areas to come so realistically we're more than two thirds done.
Anyway, we can talk to everyone again for some new lines.
Alright, let's keep pressing on!
More treasure, more! Here we have EP Charge EX x2, a Teara Balm, and another pair of Slyphen Boots.
With the coming of the second half of the dungeon comes new monster chests. Here we have a group of Guard Minions and M-Series Dooms. The M-Series Dooms, while strong, are also somewhat frail, so this fight is a fair bit easier than the Photon Judge fights. A solid round of casting should take them out before they can fire off a spell of their own.
The chest, while perhaps containing outdated memes does not contain outdated shoes, giving us the second Atlas Gear.
Almost there!
This group of chests gives us four Teara-All balms and three Celestial Balms, bringing us slightly closer to being able to sandbag indefinitely. Mixed in with the normal chests was a single monster chest, containing a second Royal Guard.
And here we have the last of the chest guardians. We've got a Gundoll, two M-Series Dooms, and two Broken Pieces. The Gundoll is a lot stronger then when we fought Amalthea, albeit still prone to bouts of doing nothing.
Strategically, this fight is basically the same as the one with 3 M-Series Dooms: A solid round of casting should take out the M-Series, at which point cleaning up the Gundoll is trivial.
Our reward for this not-so-hard fought battle is the Arc Rod, Estelle's would be ultimate weapon, if it weren't for the Mystic Staff.
And here we find Joshua's equivalent: The Erbe Blades. The Erbe Blades are, like the Arc Rod, Joshua's best weapon baring his Carnelia weapon.
And here's the last batch. We've got a Teara All Balm, an EP Charge EX, and our second Valkyrie Dress.
Something about this spot feels different from the other areas... 
I feel it... It's like some kind of massive energy flow. 
This is probably our last stop. Let's go over everything and make sure we're ready before we go inside. Next time: Facing off with the Colonel.
Alternate Dialogue:
Captain Amalthea... Wh-what the hell are you doing here? Ha... You actually thought I'd be so easily defeated? Though it seems that Grancel Castle has been taken... It's no matter, though. Once His Excellency obtains the Shining Ring, it can be retaken at any time. 
You must be joking. You don't ever learn, do you? 
You're more like a snake than a vixen. 
Well, vixens usually are pretty carefree. 
You just hang onto that dream. 
U-um, what's all this mean? I...don't really get it. 
*sigh* I think you're really just missing the point. 
It's a real shame, too. Look at you. You're a beautiful woman. This [Shining Ring]... Do you even know if it's possible for a human being to make use of it? There may be a reason it was sealed so far beneath the surface... ---
Even controlling these Archaisms is easily within our grasp. *sigh*... I hate stubborn women. Heh... I'm personally a bit touched by the effort. Crap... This ain't gonna be no walk in the park. 
I-if technology like that is real, then there have to be better ways of using it... Hey, now... Don't you think that's a little much? ---
Hey, check it out... Something about this spot feels different from the other areas... 
Feels like an orbal engine is causing a buildup of pressure... 
There's no wind, but I feel some kind of pressure... Yeah... It's almost hard to breathe. 
Yes...as if the air were charged, somehow. 
It's like...the flow of orbal energy...