Part 11: Part 2-3

The Wait Reaction skill, which we got from the Sacred Phase, is an Attack Skill that can be learned by Sorcerers. Attack Skills are set, then manually activated during combat. In this case, if a Sorcerer has CT remaining, we can command a familiar (usually a bird or other winged creature of some sort) to do a single attack during their turn. The attack doesn't do a lot of damage, but it is unblockable, making it great for setting up combos. This is brilliant since we can't just rely on Fire Storm forever and Wait Reaction allows the Sorcerers to do things while waiting for their spells to cool down.

Jelanda's familiar is a parrot, by the way.



Class: Spearman/Knight
Age: 20
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Homeland: Artolia

A young soldier from Artolia following in the footsteps of his knightly father. From a noble lineage, Lawfer had to combat the expectations of others and struggle to compete with the more skilled Arngrim.

Lawfer is a Spearman, and one of the only two in the game. As has been said by other posters, Lawfer is one of the best Einherjar in the game, with his attacks dealing very heavy damage and generating considerable meter on top of being easy to connect. Top it all off with one of the strongest PWS in the game, and it's almost absurd he's a guaranteed recruit in Chapter 2. Spears are also some of the better weapons in the game. Lawfer is inclined towards Lightning tolerance.



Class: Samurai/Warrior
Age: 21
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Homeland: Hai-Lan

A young man from the land of Yamato, Jun wields two swords with a style all his own. Jun's goal is to find a miracle drug that will cure his beloved sister, Ai, of blindness. His life is devoted solely to his sister, whom he cherishes.

In contrast to Lawfer, Jun joins at a high of level 10, making him the highest levelled unit we have at the moment. Jun is one of two Samurai in the game, and uses katanas as well as some longswords. Jun is a mixed bag - while his attacks aren't bad, chaining them efficiently needs a bit of timing or good jugglers, and in comparison to Lawfer he'll generate less energy. Still, Jun is capable enough, and can swap between katanas for more frequent PWS or longswords for damage.

Ushio is still the best Samurai since he acknowledges Arngrim as Berserker Beefcake.



The Supreme Crossbow is perfect for Lenneth - it's our first three-attack bow. Lenneth really shines with a bow because her bow attacks have more hits, do more damage, and generate more energy. Realistically, Lenneth won't need to use a sword til postgame. The Supreme Crossbow also allows access to Lenneth's second level of Niebelung Valesti, which is all the more sweeter.

I suppose you could give the Crossbow to Llewelyn if you're still using him... but really, Lenneth has dibs.



With the new chapter, the Divine Item shop has been upgraded. Lawfer joins without a weapon and Jun without any equipment, so we'll have to grab something for them. Of note are some expensive equipment pieces with special effects - the Spinning Spear for Lawfer is very expensive, but it acts like a mini-Emerald Necklace by granting 20 CP with level ups.



The Go-Shorai Blade, aside from being Lightning elemental, reduces the CT of the user's PWS by 1. Since Jun's PWS costs 2 CP, this means he can use his PWS every turn. It's a nice weapon, but we'd only need it for bosses for now.

There's also a Supreme Crossbow for Lenneth/Llewelyn, but we already got one last Sacred Phase. Instead I get an Elemental Edge for Arngrim - it isn't any stronger than the Two-Handed Sword, but it has three attacks, is Holy-elemental, and increases the strength of his PWS by 30% - all very nice for a mere 1000 MP. I get a Winged Spear for Lawfer and a Tachi for Jun, which will do - we'll get some decent weapons for them soon enough.



And finally, we teach Frigid Damsel to Jelanda. Let's go run a dungeon!





OST: Clouds of Spray.

I actually really like the Hai-Lan dungeon music. It's pretty groovy.

The Dragoncastle Caverns are a minor maze, but it's not too hard to carefully scope out all the treasures by making note of where you've been.



On the enemy list, we have Current Fish, which are weak to Fire. Fire Storm will still crisp them up in a jiffy. They tend to Faint characters more easily than other enemies, but it's not too much of a problem.



Monstrous Vipers have no weaknesses, but have only around 500 health and as such easy to kill and uneventful.



Venomous Spiders are weak to Ice (so perfect for our new Frigid Damsel spell). I guess they might be able to inflict Poison? I've never seen them do so.



Finally, Banshees. They guard fairly often, so you'll ideally want to hit them with magic or a Wait Reaction to start. They're the most dangerous enemy in the caverns, as they might occasionally bust out Angry Scream, which hits the entire party for 450-500 damage. This will likely two-shot Jelanda or Llewelyn if you haven't buffed their DME.



Frigid Damsel in action. One of the nicer spell animations in my opinion.



And here are Lawfer and Jun. They sync together decently with Lenneth, who can usually juggle them long enough for both of them to land their hits for now. We'll see what happens when Jun gets a better weapon.

Incidentally, we have new PWS to look at - Jun, Lawfer, Lenneth (with a level 2 Bow), and Frigid Damsel.



Jun, Lawfer, Lenneth, Frigid Damsel



Senko-Jin is a great support PWS to lead a chain off with - 15 hits means it'll boost future PWS quite well. It's also sufficiently flashy. It only costs 2 CP, so as mentioned before, with the Go-Shorai Blade Jun can use it every turn.



Justice Stream. Third most damaging PWS in-game, fifth best post-game. Very good stuff. To top it off, only has a CT of 2.



To nobody's surprise, the second version of Niebelung Valesti is plenty powerful, and adds a lot of energy to the meter. The bow version is fourth-strongest PWS in-game, sixth post-game.



Finally, Absolute Zero. It's a little weaker than Calamity Blast, and on a single target Frigid Damsel thrice is better damage. Frigid Damsel is a better spell than Fire Lance though, which is what's important.



The caverns require quite a bit of backtracking to squeeze out all the possible treasure, but there aren't any puzzles or crystal tricks that need to be done. Wander around, kill things, pick up treasure.



Flying enemies also start to appear, requiring either timing to hit them or jumping and slashing. None of them are too aggressive, however.



Is everyone alright?

Random aside, if an ally is Fainted when the battle ends they remain that way on the results screen.



No matter how many are defeated, more appear!

I haven't gotten a consistent rhythm yet, but Lenneth is just really good at crystals or gems.



Lenneth is also really strong right now, with three attacks, great multipliers and several points in Attack Pow. One could even just go through the caverns with just her and Jelanda for healing and backup.



Some enemies wait just below drops or on cliffs you have to jump onto in an attempt to catch you by surprise.



At some point, I run into a double Banshee formation that leads to me using a Union Plume. Angry Screams are not exactly fun. Also you can see Jelanda's familiar there (now that I actually remembered to turn Wait Reaction on for her).



There are a bunch of decent treasures in the caves - extra copies of Frigid Damsel and Fire Storm, an Element Scepter, a Short Spear for Lawfer (if you don't mind the chance of it breaking), a few gems and seeds, and a copy of Slanting Rain, our first Attack Skill for non-mages.



Slanting Rain can only be learnt by Archers (so for now, Lenneth and Llewelyn), and is performed in battle by pressing left when doing their attack, sacrificing their move for an area of effect attack similar to magic. It's not a terrible skill, but Lenneth's attacks are good enough that she doesn't really need Slanting Rain right now.

Let's move onto our boss for the dungeon.



Could it really be that the legendary creature living in the bowels of this cave was a Dragon...

What is it, Battle-Maiden? Are you afraid?

This cavern has drunk too much blood. It is time to return this place to its original form.

...Do not make me laugh. Such words... They are but empty boasts!

By my word, Dragon, you shall be returned to the grave!



Alright, so our boss for this dungeon is the Lesser Dragon. It's got a hefty health bar of 9000, so let's see how much we can take off.



Woah now. Let's pause that for a second. Instant replay?



Yup, there it is. So what happened?

The Lesser Dragon has multiple weaknesses - Lightning, Poison and Holy. Remember the Grimrist sword we got in the first dungeon? Aside from being Lightning elemental, it has a special hidden property - if used against an enemy weak to Lightning, it takes out all its health in a single strike. I had it equipped to Jun before we fought the Dragon.

Incidentally, being a Dragon, the Dragon Slayer also works on it. But the Grimrist can't break.







Ai... have I made a terrible mistake?

Easy boss, fruitful rewards. Artifacts time!



The Dark Angel is a two-attack spear. Not as good as the Spinning Spear, but good enough for Lawfer.



The Scarlet Lotus Sword is a powerful katana with two attacks and added Fire damage. It doesn't have the Go-Shorai Blade's properties of reducing CT of PWS, but it's one of the best weapons we'll get for this chapter.



And finally, a nice chunk of event experience for completing this dungeon.



To get out, we have to shoot a crystal onto a wall and build a crystal wall up and out, then head for one of three exits.



And we're done! We'll tackle the other dungeon, as well as the Cave of Oblivion next update.

Sacred Phase

We still have to prepare an Einherjar for Freya. As a reminder, here's her request:

Hero Value 50, a Warrior, Tactics, Leadership, Identify.

Simple enough - Warrior aside, the other three are skills we can learn using CP. Jelanda isn't the best choice since she's a mage, but any of our other three Einherjar will work - Belenus, Lawfer and Jun can all easily fit the requirements.

Here are their traits:







So, who do we send?