Update 10: Mantis Dragon




We’re in a new part of the world map now, so let’s take a look around and see if there’s anyplace useful around.



...After getting into a few battles, first.

Blue Wolf
Level: 19
LIFE: 64
ATK: 62
DEF: 36
INT: 24
SPD: 26
Attack Type: Blunt
Enemy Type: Large Animal
Exp: 125
Gold: 19
Item Drops:
-Normal: Sharp Fang - 30% Drop Rate. 3 needed to unlock the Broadsword + 1. (Sword, +34 ATK, + 5 POW.)
--Fang of a Blue Wolf.
-Rare: Predator Meat - Kill with Thrust damage. 15% Drop Rate.
--A predator's meat. For carnivores. Increases POW for the day.
Damage Multipliers:
Slash: 100% Blunt: 100% Thrust: 100%
Fire: 100% Ice: 100% Lightning: 100%

Skills:

Bellowing Growl: 70% chance of inflicting Fear on one party member. Has a speed modifier of 85%.
Aww, they look adorable!
...What in the world makes those beasts look “adorable!?”
Those ferocious teeth, that murderous intent in their eyes... oh! And I can’t forget that flammable looking fur-
Okay, that was far more than I needed to hear.

The only notable thing about Blue Wolves is that their regular drops are needed for a quest.


Bugbear
Level: 20
LIFE: 70
ATK: 68
DEF: 41
INT: 23
SPD: 26
Attack Type: Slash
Enemy Type: Large Animal
Exp: 139
Gold: 20
Item Drops:
-Normal: Bear Paw - 30% Drop Rate.
--Paw of a Bugbear.
-Rare: Beast Fur - 15% Drop Rate. 2 needed to unlock the Iron Greaves. (Boots, +3 DEF.)
--Thick, wiry hair.
Damage Multipliers:
Slash: 100% Blunt: 100% Thrust: 100%
Fire: 100% Ice: 100% Lightning: 100%

Skills:

Mow Down: Randomly attacks the party with Slash damage 3 times, dealing 90% melee ATK-based damage per hit. Has a speed modifier of 80%.
Oh look, it’s a downgraded Raging Beast. Well, in terms of HP, at least. It’s stronger in all its other stats. Sometimes 7th Dragon just reuses sprites entirely for its enemies instead of bothering with a palette swap.


Roundhorn
Level: 18
LIFE: 50
ATK: 50
DEF: 20
INT: 18
SPD: 24
Attack Type: Blunt
Enemy Type: Large Animal
Exp: 70
Gold: 17
Item Drops:
-Normal: Soft Wool - 30% Drop Rate.
--Mass of wool from a Roundhorn.
-Rare: Pasture Meat - Kill with Instant Death. 15% Drop Rate.
--Livestock meat. For carnivores. Increases status defense for the day.
Damage Multipliers:
Slash: 100% Blunt: 50% Thrust: 100%
Fire: 100% Ice: 100% Lightning: 100%

Skills:

Languid Bleat: Applies a 50% multiplier to the party’s SPD for 5 turns. Has a speed modifier of 80%.
Ooh, that wool looks so fluffy!
And those horns look sharp enough to impale someone.
Do you really have to focus on the negative?
These animals are trying to kill the rest of our guild, Nila!
I don’t see why we should care when we’re not really involved in this mess at the moment. It’s not as if there is anything we can even do for them.



There’s a dungeon over here, but we won’t go in there at the moment.

But this place is of interest.

This song is a bit weird. Best way I can describe it is that it starts off real slowly before it kicks into gear.


Huh. Kind of a shabby looking village...
No matter what condition this village is in, it should serve as an adequate place for us to rest.
You said it! After all that mountain climbing, I’m beat!


Time to go plundering the village as we look around.


Uhhh, free treasure...?
I think we should put that back. What would we even do with that, anyway?





I can't go shopping, thanks to that, and we're low on goods. At this rate, we're all going to die like dogs out here!
It doesn’t look like this village is holding up too well.
At the very least, we’ve cleared a route to Miross.



I’m not sure why I looked in here in the first place.





Ah, what a refreshing drink.
Mmm. Doesn’t look like this village is completely in the dumps yet. Maybe there’s still hope for this place.



Although, I may just remember it that way...



But, the Gouga Thicket is in the way, so be real careful, it's a mess. I heard someone northwest of here had a map...
Gouga Thicket is the next mandatory dungeon.




Take your time ~



Whoa, she wasn’t kidding about Miross having better equipment.
Equipment? They barely have anything he- MMPH!
Manners, Ark.
We were warned that the store in this village didn’t have equipment as good as Miross’. Though it would be more accurate to say that it doesn’t have any equipment at all, aside from that Katana you can get from the cave. They also have less supplies here, so Simon Village is purely a pit-stop for the party.

In fact, this village isn’t relevant to the plot overall, but there is something of interest here. When we walk to the northwest...








We’re not interrupting anything, are we?
You overheard me... No one anywhere can know about this!


The man moves in to attack Stella...
Uh-um, can we talk about this!?


But she knocks him back all the way into the other man.
I... wouldn’t try that again, if I were you.



Please, be our friends! Won't you? You have the strength of a hundred soldiers!
I- uh. Lemme get this straight. Ya attack us, and then expect us to be friends with-
Sure!
WHAT!?
I'm sorry I was so rude! Would you like to make the acquaintance of our lord?
A-apology accepted. As long as you stop attacking random strangers. Where is your lord, anyway?
The man looks to the house north of everyone.
He should be in the house. You can believe me! I'm telling the truth!
Might as well go in.
Let’s hope that he’s not as... aggressive, as that rowdy bunch.





Ah, and you are...?
I am Shion. Leader of the Resistance, advocate of the people.
Wait, you!? How old are you!?
You're surprised? A kid like me, heading the Resistance? I understand. I've heard it all before from the people here. But I mean to do it! I have the strength and the power to change Aizhen.
Hold on. What is going on in Aizhen?
As catastrophe engulfs the country, the king won't even lift a finger to help. My beloved motherland will wither and die under him. It's only a matter of time.
Oh, politics. Ew.
For once, I concur. I’m not sure if we should be getting involved. Political matters can get quite messy, and I’m not sure we’re suited to handle those.
We need your strength! I beg you, travelers, lend us your famous power. I won't ask you to do anything untoward. Surely you've seen Gouga Thicket, choked off by the Bloom. With the path through in such a state, we're cut off from Aizhen and vulnerable. If you could help us, we would be most grateful!



Now this, we can handle!
We can talk with Shion again.


With the path through in such a state, we're cut off from Aizhen and vulnerable. Please, help us!
So, while we got a map to the next dungeon, everything that Shion talked about isn’t actually relevant to the main plot of this game. What we just started was a sub-event. These are side stories that take a while to complete. Usually there’s a portion of them we can get done, and we can’t get started on the next portion until we reach a certain point in the main plot. For this sub-event, we can’t start the next part until we get rid of the Bloom in Gouga Thicket. No part of any sub-event is missable, so don’t fret about that since it is in your best interest to complete them.


Wh, w, what do I do? If I don't find it fast...


Talking to him just has his repeat his last line. This is the only quest that Simon Village has throughout the entire game, and it’s one that we can actually complete right away. There’s just one problem with it...

There aren’t any quest offices in Simon Village! In order to actually accept the quest, we have to backtrack to Miross to accept the quest there, and then backtrack back to Simon Village just to start it. Didn’t find the shortcut in Mt. Todowa? Sucks to be you!



This all the free stuff we can get in Simon Village, so it’s time to head out.



Oh, and if you’re interested in shopping at Simon Village, this is how much of the Bloom I had to clear out to lower the prices back to normal.

While I was clearing out the Bloom, Stella got a level up.

Purge is now maxed out. It deals 180% damage and will instantly kill the target if they fall below 45% of their max HP. Too bad that really doesn’t apply to dragons, but it’s still one of Stella’s strongest damage skills.

Buront also got a level up in the process.

Walk Safe now lasts for 84 steps. In the Japanese version, the damage reduction increases to 2 points of damage, and will completely nullify the damage for a party member if they’re under 100 Life. At this point in the game, it applies to all classes, so it effectively nullifies damage for a while.


What a pain...
Unfortunately, Haru died while I was mowing the continent.

Meaning that he missed out on a level up he would have gotten this fight. Ark did level up, but there’s nothing I want to do with that skill point at the moment.


About time you caught up with us, gramps.
Oh, hush.
EXP desynchronization apparently really ticks some people off. I don’t really care myself, as I don’t see what’s the big deal about it. But the important part is that Haru got a level up.


I’m sure this will be shocking.
Haru now has access to Thunder, which deals Lightning damage to one enemy. (For those of you familiar with the Etrian Odyssey series, it does not deal Slash damage as well. Attacks that have multiple damage types do not exist in any of the 7th Dragon ganes.) It’s not considered to be a spell, so it runs off of Haru’s ATK stat. It has a speed modifier of 90%, and at level 1, it deals 120% damage. I want to max this skill out next so Haru can still contribute to fights if he runs into an enemy resistant to Slash attacks.

Zenda Thicket is an optional dungeon, so let’s check it out.



Once again, we don’t start off with a map here.

But I’ll go ahead and show it to you. There are 7 dragons in this screen, Every single dragon in this dungeon is a Sphere Dragon. And like on Mt. Todowa, they all just shuffle around randomly.


I spy with my little eye, the goods!



Are you serious!? Ugh, what a tease!
Relax. I’m sure we’ll get to that chest eventually.
So here’s the “gimmick” for this dungeon. A few tiles in this dungeon have these bamboo shoots in them. When you walk near these shoots, they’ll pop up and block your progress. It’s not really an interesting gimmick. All it really does is turn the place into an invisible maze that basically slaps the player in the face for going in the wrong direction.

The spots in blue are where the bamboo shoots will pop up. As you can see, a couple of “quick” routes are blocked off by the shoots, forcing you to take the long way around. The shoots really don’t add anything other than annoying the tar out of the player as they constantly get road-blocked by the shoots.

That’s what was in the chest.
See? What did I tell you?
Patience is a virtue, after all.
Yeah yeah, whatever.




The 2nd chest contains the map to this dungeon.

The party got more level ups as they were clearing out dragons.

Defense Down deals 114% damage, and applies an 88% multiplier to the target’s DEF.

Walk Safe now lasts for 96 steps. And in the Japanese version, the damage reduction increases to 3.


If at first ya don’t succeed, just hit harder!
Now that I have Bow Mastery maxed out, I’m gonna take POW Bonus so she can hit even harder. Yeah, there aren’t many skills that a Bow Rogue actually wants. Dual Shot and Seeker are the only active skills Ark really needs.

And there’s Haru’s level up.

Thunder now deals 122% damage.

There’s the last chest in this screen, so that pretty much does it for this part of the dungeon.

And this is the last part of the dungeon. This screen has 7 Sphere Dragons. And like with the others, these guys just shuffle around.

And there’s the map of where the bamboo shoots are. This area really isn’t that open when you take the shoots into consideration.



Oh hey, new enemies. These two enemies are the only new ones in this dungeons.

Deathflower
Level: 21
LIFE: 72
ATK: 67
DEF: 38
INT: 25
SPD: 27
Attack Type: Blunt
Enemy Type: Large Animal
Exp: 91
Gold: 21
Item Drops:
-Normal: Big Flower - 30% Drop Rate. 3 needed to unlock the Round Shield. (Shield, +6 DEF.)
--Blossom of a Deathflower.
-Rare: N/A
Damage Multipliers:
Slash: 100% Blunt: 100% Thrust: 100%
Fire: 100% Ice: 100% Lightning: 100%

Skills:

Twining Vines: 80% chance of inflicting Skill Seal on one party member. Has a speed modifier of 90%.
Deathflowers serve as the introduction to the Skill Seal ailment. What that ailment does is prevent the target from using skills. It’s a pretty powerful ailment, and it’s incredibly hard to inflict. In fact, most of the methods the player can use to inflict it are limited to EX skills.

Ice Slime
Level: 21
LIFE: 66
ATK: 62
DEF: 31
INT: 22
SPD: 27
Attack Type: Blunt
Enemy Type: Small Animal
Exp: 70
Gold: 21
Item Drops:
-Normal: Shining Jelly - 30% Drop Rate. 5 needed to unlock the Iron Breastplate. (Armor, +12 DEF, +3 POW, -3 SPD.)
--Plasm of an Ice Slime.
-Rare: N/A
Damage Multipliers:
Slash: 100% Blunt: 100% Thrust: 100%
Fire: 100% Ice: 0% Lightning: 100%

Skills:

Jellify: Applies a 50% multiplier to the user’s physical damage multipliers for 5 turns. Has a speed modifier of 80%.
How in the world did those slimes freeze over? The Aizhen region isn’t that cold!
They’re slimes. Who knows how they even work.

Buront, Ark, and Haru got level ups after killing another Sphere Dragon.



Shield Front now reduces damage by 44%.

Ark increases her POW even more.

And Thunder deals 127% damage.

First chest in this screen contains this nice piece of loot. Eventually I had to go back to town to rest up.


Rrrrgh, this patch of Bloom really doesn’t want to go away!
Clearly we should increase our trampling efforts until this Bloom is flatter than a piece of paper!
Hey, I’m trampling as hard as I can! Any more, and my feet are gonna turn to stubs.
I said before that sometimes, a Bloom tile will take 20 steps to get rid of. When that happens...
We should keep trying. I think we’re about to be rid of this patch.
Yeah, it looks like it’s about to go awaAAAAAHHHHH!







What the heck is that!?
It appears to be an egg, or a seed of some kind.
I dunno about you guys, but I really have this urge to squash that thing for some reason!
Indeed! Something about that... thing is filling me with murderous intent!
If it takes 20 steps to get rid of a Bloom tile, you’ll get into an encounter with a Bloom Seed after getting rid of it. What’s so special about Bloom Seeds? Well...

Bloom Seed
Level: 20
LIFE: 1
ATK: 40
DEF: 999
INT: 999
SPD: 150
Attack Type: Blunt
Enemy Type: Large Animal
Exp: 347
Gold: 500
Item Drops:
-Normal: Bloom Seed - 30% Drop Rate.
--A seed with the power of the Bloom. Restores the Bloom to an area.
-Rare: Dragon Egg - 5% Drop Rate.
--Translucent egg of a dragon. Recovers one level of EX Gauge.
Damage Multipliers:
Slash: 0% Blunt: 0% Thrust: 0%
Fire: 0% Ice: 0% Lightning: 0% Non-elemental: 0%
Ailment Susceptibility:
Death: 0% Masked Pain: 0% Skill Seal: 0%
Fear: 0% Curse: 0% Bleed: 0%
Poison: 0% Sleep: 0% Confuse: 0%
Paralysis: 0% Blind: 0% Stun: 0%

Skills:

Running: Escapes from battle. Has a speed modifier of 300%.
Bloom Seeds are pretty much straight up immune to everything. They’re even immune to non-elemental attacks, which is this game’s neutral damage type. They only have 1 HP, so it’s a relatively moot point though. I should note that it is possible to deal 0 damage in this game. Though if that happens, the game just tells you that you missed. Not to mention that their high speed stat can also make sure that you actually miss your attacks. Overall, they’re tricky enemies to take out, since they’re very likely to escape at the first opportunity. But there’s a guaranteed way to kill them.


I’m ready to kick some grass!





Bullseye!
Using EX also ensures that the attack will never miss. And gives enough of a damage boost to ensure that the attack doesn’t deal 0 damage.




I feel stronger already!
Ha ha! What a truly rewarding experience!
All that from just killing a seed?
Hey, I won’t say no to all this!
What makes Bloom Seeds special are that they’re hardcoded to give out 50% of the exp needed to reach the next level. So it’s always a treat when you run into one. (Though there’s a base exp yield coded in for those. Presumably for cases where you somehow cause the game to not give you the intended amount.)

Defense Down deals 116% damage and applies an 87% multiplier to the target’s DEF. Anyways, we’re almost done with Zenda Thicket so let’s head back there.




Hey, leggo! LEGGO!



Raglfraglstein...
Skill Seal is a pretty debilitating ailment to be inflicted with, since you’re locked out of skills. It’s also one of the strongest ailments to inflict on a dragon or a boss, but most of them are really resistant or outright immune to the ailment. So it’s not really that useful when the player makes use of it.

Level ups for Buront and Ark. Though Ark can’t make use of her skill point at the moment.



With Walk Safe maxed out, it now lasts for 120 steps. And in the Japanese version, this is where the complete damage nullification kicks in.

Haru soon follows suit.

That was the last Sphere Dragon in the dungeon, so...

The Bloom is now gone. But we’re not quite done with this dungeon yet. Oh wait, Haru got a level up. Let me just spend that skill point real quick.

Thunder now deals 133% damage.





This shortcut gives us a quick route back to the entrance. However, it also serves another purpose. We’re gonna need to come back to this dungeon later, and this shortcut will be helpful in sending us where we need to go right away.



Our reward for getting to the end of this dungeon is a Dagger. Which would be nice if I was actually using a Dagger Rogue.


What an odd looking shoot. I wonder why it looks different from the rest.
Eh, who cares what it looks like. I don’t see what it has to do with us.
That’s it for this dungeon.


Did we really have to... walk all the way back here...!?
We must always... always... ALWAAAYS... help someone in need...!
No matter what the cost...! Plus it’s good exercise! Can’t get enough of that!
Ya realize we’re gonna have to hike all the way back to Simon Village again, right?
...Maybe we should take a break first.
I took the time to go back to Miross so I could accept the quest back in Simon Village. So, let’s go do that real quick.




You’re having a problem looking for a lost item?
The truth is... my dog Shiro hid an important letter I've written. He doesn't stray far, so it must still be within the village. Anyway, please look with me! It's important!
We’ll find that letter in no time! Don’t you worry!
The party turns to leave.


Oh, no need to worry. We wouldn’t dream of doing something like that. ...Right!?
...What are ya looking at me like that for!?



He's such a bad puppy that we don't let him in. Probably running outside.



He's probably nearby. He has a bad habit of hiding things.
Some NPCs give some hints on where to find Shiro.

Which is completely unnecessary because he’s outside the house where we took the request!
...How did we miss him!?
Our observational skills are dulling! I blame the Bloom!
Or maybe we’re tired because someone thought it was a good idea to take two hiking trips over a mountain!
Okay boy, give us the letter! Come on, give it to us! ...Pretty please with a cherry-flavored bone on top?
I... don’t think you’re getting through to him.
...Darn. This isn’t over.
Perhaps someone over there knows how to deal with him.



Shiro's favorite bone is a hot item!



Now what are we gonna-



...What.
I... don’t understand this conversation. She tells you that she’s out of bones, and gives one to you anyway.

RegalStar from Something Awful clarified that her lines of dialogue got horrifically mistranslated:
I believe what she's actually saying is "I have some that were used in a soup that I can give out, if that's OK with you." Well, I'm not completely sure about the "used in a soup" part (trying to search it on google yields some cooking instructions that don't really make a lot of sense to me), but the second part it "I can give it out if it's OK with you" is really simple and I'm not sure how the translator got the meaning completely wrong.




Here you go, boy! Now show us where that letter is!




Shiro heads off to the southeastern portion of the village. However, we’re not shown exactly where he heads off to.


Ya’ll saw where he went, right?
Unfortunately, I... lost track of him.
At the very least, we have a general idea of where to look.


The letter is in this spot.






Oh lookie here, it’s already open. ...You know, she’d never know if we-
ARK.
Ah, chill gramps. I was joking. Mostly.
It doesn’t matter if you peek or not. That doesn’t affect the quest reward. I chose not to peek, but if you’re curious on what it says...
To My Dearest Lady, Two years have passed of our correspondence, and yet it feels young. Whenever a letter from you arrives, my heart melts like spring snow. Oh, beloved! I want to meet you soon! To hear your voice......

It goes on like that. You return the letter.





Oh, thank goodness, this is a relief...



Of course, you didn't peek inside, right?



Of course we didn’t!
You looked?! Really?!
...Wha!? But I said-
Jeez, how embarrassing. I told you guys not to!! You can't tell anyone! And you have to really promise this time. But, I guess I still get to send it now. Your reward is at the Quest Office. Thanks again!
Y-you’re welcome?
Yeah, I don’t know what happened there. For some reason, the dialogue choices are flipped. Because telling him that you peeked elicits this reaction:
Ah, just so. You did promise. Now I can send this where I meant to. Your reward is at the Quest Office. Thanks again!
Either the fan translation made a mistake, or it was like that in the Japanese version as well. Not that it ultimately matters since this doesn’t affect our reward.

Once again, RegalStar clarifies that this was a mistake that the fan translation made:
The "Yes/No" thing at the end was a result of the fact that in Japanese, your answer to negative questions are inverted as well, unlike in English.


W-we’re not gonna hike all the way back to Miross again, r-right?
I believe there’s a quest office in Aizhen, so there should be no need for that.
I’m gonna wait until I get to Aizhen to pick up the reward, since there’s a quest office there. And I’m in no rush to pick up the reward. But that does it for Simon Village, so let’s get on with the game.

Gouga Thicket is just a short distance from Simon Village. Anyways, let’s dive right into this next dungeon.





One dragon on this screen moves around in a loop, but the rest are just zipping around randomly.

Let’s take on one of the zipping dragons first.
I wonder what fearsome dragons we’ll be facing this time.
Let’s find out!





...
...I guess they’ll let anything be a dragon these days.
I’ll be honest, the first time I got into a battle with one of these in VFD, I just stared at my screen for a good while, realizing that yes, they just went there. Anyways...

Dragonfly
Level: 17
LIFE: 250
ATK: 59
DEF: 40
INT: 25
SPD: 200
Attack Type: Blunt
Enemy Type: Dragon
Exp: 691
Gold: 52
Item Drops:
-Normal: Compound Eye - 30% Drop Rate.
--Eye of a Dragonfly.
-Rare: Feather Boots - 15% Drop Rate.
--Superlight down-lined boots. DEF + 2 SPD + 3
Damage Multipliers:
Slash: 100% Blunt: 100% Thrust: 125%
Fire: 100% Ice: 100% Lightning: 100%
Ailment Susceptibility:
Death: 20% Masked Pain: 100% Skill Seal: 25%
Fear: 25% Curse: 50% Bleed: 25%
Poison: 50% Sleep: 25% Confuse: 25%
Paralysis: 50% Blind: 25% Stun: 100%

Skills:

Frenzybuzz: Deals 130% melee ATK-Based Blunt damage to one party member and has a 40% chance to inflict Confusion. Has a speed modifier of 85%.
Buzzwing: Randomly attacks the party with Slash damage 2 times, dealing 120% melee ATK-based damage per hit. Has a speed modifier of 90%.
Dragonflies aren’t exactly threatening by themselves. But they’re really annoying to deal with. Their high SPD makes it so that they’re extremely evasive to the point where every attack is a coin flip since your accuracy will effectively be lowered to 50% at this point. Oh, and they have access to Confusion, so you can watch your party murder each other as you fail to hit the Dragonfly for the umpteenth time. The Dragonfly’s regular attacks and Buzzwing are essentially free turns since its ATK stat is fairly low. Frenzybuzz is the real skill to watch out for.

I don’t know what I was thinking here. Dragonflies don’t have that much HP, so they’re pretty easy to kill. The only issue is actually hitting them in the first place. So I should have just been throwing out Purges.

Also at this point, I didn’t realize EX also guaranteed that your attacks would connect, so I could have saved myself a lot of trouble throughout this dungeon. A double whammy! Great job, Fetus. You’re really good at video games!

Ark’s accuracy is pretty much as low as it could possibly be, so she has nothing to lose by using Dual Shot.

And Haru will set up just in case the Dragonfly manages to survive this assault. Which it likely will.

And of course the Dragonfly’s high speed ensures that it will pretty much always move first.


AXE IS ALL THE REINFORCEMENTS THIS TEAM NEEDS!
I... don’t like the way she’s looking at her axe. And us.
The ideal target for Frenzybuzz would have been Buront, since his defensive capabilities aren’t really needed, and there’s not much he could do to the party. Of course he’s the only party member that would be fairly harmless while confused.


Would ya quit zipping around!?
I’m amazed that you could hit such a fast moving target in the first place.



Hmph, a mere insect like that should be child’s play to deal with... Once I’m ready, of course.





THERE IS NO TEAM IN AXE!
Assuming this deranged beast doesn’t kill us all first!
And that’s why Confusion is the most deadly ailment in the game. That is way more damage than any enemy or dragon is capable of dealing at this point.

Unfortunately, I have absolutely no way to deal with it. So I’m forced to just keep on attacking the Dragonfly and hope that Stella doesn’t kill the team.






HA HA! THE AXE’S BLADE HAS TASTED FIRST BLOOD!
...Did that Dragonfly give her brain damage?
A fearsome dragon indeed! It was a mistake to underestimate it!



A downward-



Strike...?
Child’s play, huh?
Oh, don’t look so smug.




Yeah, like I said. The Dragonfly’s offenses are pretty weak and are almost never gonna be a factor in your fights with them.






THERE IS NO ESCAPING AXE!



Enough with this nonsense!



This ends now!






Dragonflies aren’t too bad if you have some EX to deal with them. Otherwise, they’re massive annoyances.


Uhhh, guys? We got a big problem here!
And what would that be?
The boss lady’s still all loopy!
Hee hee hee, I loooooove you, axey!
...So, who wishes to be the bearer of bad news to the rest of the guild? Shall I bear the burden, or does someone else wish to do it?
Another thing about Confusion is that it lasts after the battle. But it will eventually go away after walking for a while. Stella doesn’t have enough skill points to level up what I want for her, so I hold onto it for now.
Oyyyy, what just happened- hey, where’d the Dragonfly go?
You... don’t remember?
No, last thing I heard was a buzzing sound in my head.
Oh, lemme refresh your memory. Ya went cuckoo bananas and tried to kill us all! Remember that!?
Oh, um, I, but, I’m so sorry!
Oh, don’t worry about it. You- ow didn’t really hurt me that much. Ark, I believe there’s a concept called “tact” that you should familiarize yourself with.





Greenhelm
Level: 22
LIFE: 55
ATK: 65
DEF: 50
INT: 27
SPD: 28
Attack Type: Blunt
Enemy Type: Small Animal
Exp: 105
Gold: 22
Item Drops:
-Normal: Hard Chitin - 30% Drop Rate. 5 needed to unlock the Crow’s Nail. (Dagger, +30 ATK, +5 SPD.)
--Chitin of a Greenhelm.
-Rare: N/A
Damage Multipliers:
Slash: 100% Blunt: 100% Thrust: 100%
Fire: 100% Ice: 150% Lightning: 100%

Skills:

Guard: Halves all damage taken for the current turn. Has a speed modifier of 100%. Has priority.
You know, it’s kind of cute to see those creatures cower and rush to defend themselves.
Is that so? I never took you for the sadistic type.
What!? Whoa whoa whoa, that is not what I meant!

The first treasure chest in this dungeon contains this.

And as for what this looping dragon is...

Oh, well this is kind of a sticky situation. That’s also the last new enemy in this dungeon.

Deminaga
Level: 23
LIFE: 63
ATK: 66
DEF: 40
INT: 30
SPD: 31
Attack Type: Blunt
Enemy Type: Small Animal
Exp: 125
Gold: 23
Item Drops:
-Normal: Snakeskin - 30% Drop Rate.
--Pliable skin of a Deminaga.
Damage Multipliers:
Slash: 100% Blunt: 100% Thrust: 100%
Fire: 100% Ice: 100% Lightning: 100%

Skills:

Sharp Cut: Applies a 50% multiplier to a party member’s SPD for 5 turns. Has a speed modifier of 80%.
For the last time, not all snakes are venomous!
Oh, so they aren’t dangerous?
That’s not what I said either!
Then again, none of these creatures can compare with the dragons.

And since the enemies got the first strike, that dragon is gonna join in right away. This could be a sticky situation.



Oh never mind! It’s just a Pteranosaurus. Those dragons are pathetic!



And that’s it for this screen.

Here’s the next part of this dungeon.

The 3 zipping dragons are the Dragonflies, and the 3 looping dragons are the Pteranosauruses.

Buront and Ark got level ups, but there’s nothing I want to spend Buront’s skill point on yet.

Ark gets another boost to POW.

Haru follows suit shortly after.

Thunder now deals 136% damage.

A Dragonfly kill netted me this piece of equipment.

The only one in this party who can wear these is Ark, and she’s already fast enough. So I’ll just hold onto this for now.





And here’s a shortcut. In fact, the only shortcut in this dungeon.

Another Dragonfly kill nets Stella a level up.

Defense Down is now at level 6, so it deals 122% damage and applies an 84% multiplier to the target’s DEF.

The only chest in this area contains this piece of equipment.



The Demon Axe is a straight upgrade to the Heavy Axe. However, the fan translation leaves out the fact that it also inflicts attack down whenever Stella uses a regular attack. Unfortunately, the ATK multiplier is only 90%, and the effect only has a 15% chance of happening anyway. And it won’t ever proc if Stella uses skills, which she should be using all the time in the big fights.

A couple of weapons come with additional effects, like the Demon Axe here. Unlike in Etrian Odyssey, there’s absolutely none of that nonsense where they only come on weapons with extremely low ATK. All weapons with additional effects can be considered upgrades in terms of stats by the points you can acquire them. It’s just that you’re not going to be likely to get the weapons solely for the additional effects since they kind of suck.


I steal from the slow!
Oooh! The last Pteranosaurus in this area dropped this baby!



The Hunting Bow is a very good upgrade for Ark since it gives her even more ATK, and bulk in the form of the POW and life increases. Shame I couldn’t have received this back at Mt. Todowa, but I’m not complaining about getting it now. The next upgrade for her isn’t coming for a long while anyway. That does it for the 2nd screen, let’s move onto the next one.

This is the last part of this dungeon.

Only 2 Dragonflies on this screen, and 4 Pteranosauruses. That one dragon staying still is the boss of this dungeon, and the Bloom is tied to it.








HACK PBBBTTH!
Oh, that is just nasty!
Fear not everyone, for I have protected you from the worst of it!
I never thought for once in my life that a treasure chest would betray me!
This just deals damage to our party. A couple of chests in this game will do that when you open them. However, this counts as field damage, so Walk Safe protected anyone from taking damage.



Buront and Ark get a level up out of a Pteranosaurus kill. Ark can’t do anything with her skill point at the moment.

With Shield Front maxed out, it reduces damage to the front row by 50%.

At this point in the game, the Ceremonial Dress is a complete downgrade for everyone.

Haru catches up to the others in levels.

Thunder deals 139% damage at this point.

Thanks game.

Ooh, now this is a good find!

Silver Water is an extremely rare item that can’t be bought anywhere. It fully restores one party member’s life and mana. So save it for emergencies!

Last chest in the dungeon contains this. Eh, it’s no Silver Water, but I’ll take it.

Stella gets a level up, but she can’t do anything with the skill point she earned, since Defense Down now requires 2 skill points to level up.

There’s a healing spring right before the boss if you need to use it.

You can actually skip this boss, but the Bloom is tied to it, and we have to get rid of it to progress Shion’s sub-event.







A little status update on our team.

And here we go.
Video: Mantis Dragon




For the record, this dragon is actually a boss. Not a regular dragon taken from the next dungeon placed at the end of this dungeon. So we won’t be seeing this thing again.

Mantis Dragon
Level: 24
LIFE: 1800
ATK: 85
DEF: 51
INT: 34
SPD: 32
Attack Type: Blunt
Enemy Type: Dragon
Exp: 1728
Gold: 72
Item Drops:
-Normal: Expansive Wings - 30% Drop Rate.
--Wings of a Mantis Dragon.
-Rare: Bloom Seed: - 5% Drop Rate.
--A seed with the power of the Bloom. Restores the Bloom to an area.
Damage Multipliers:
Slash: 100% Blunt: 100% Thrust: 100%
Fire: 100% Ice: 100% Lightning: 100%
Ailment Susceptibility:
Death: 20% Masked Pain: 100% Skill Seal: 25%
Fear: 25% Curse: 50% Bleed: 25%
Poison: 50% Sleep: 25% Confuse: 25%
Paralysis: 50% Blind: 25% Stun: 100%

Skills:

Nail Slice: Deals 100% melee ATK-based Slash damage to party members in the front row. Has a speed modifier of 80%.
Thunderfall: Deals 120% melee ATK-based Lightning damage to one party member. Has a speed modifier of 90%.
Call For Help: Summons 2 Cure Wisps. Has a speed modifier of 100%.
There isn’t much to Mantis Dragon itself. It just likes to throw some attacks out there.

Stella will open up the fight with Defense Down.

Ark will just do this for the whole battle.

And Haru will set up his stance.




Here’s an arrow in your eye! And another!



Prepare yourself.





SHELL SMASH!



Get ready, cause here I come!


Stella is just gonna throw out EX-boosted Purges for the rest of the fight now.

And Buront is gonna shield the front line, especially since the Mantis Dragon has an attack that specifically goes after them.


I’m done messing around!



Behold, my true strength!


And Haru is gonna throw out EX boosted Downstrokes as much as he can.


Worry not everyone, for I shall protect you!
Except for me.







An excellent attack, if I do say so myself.



BUG SWATTING ATTACK!



...Though I suppose there’s room for improvement.





Not so fast!








Mantis Dragon hits pretty hard with that high ATK stat. Buront is taking a lot of the sting out of its attacks there.

Mantis Dragon has one more trick up its sleeve once its life drops low enough.




Hey, that’s not fair!
Welllll, fighting four people at once all by yourself isn’t exactly fair either.
Whose side are you on!?

Cure Wisp
Level: 24
LIFE: 30
ATK: 50
DEF: 30
INT: 28
SPD: 25
Attack Type: Blunt
Enemy Type: Small Minion
Exp: 36
Gold: 33
Item Drops: N/A
Damage Multipliers:
Slash: 100% Blunt: 100% Thrust: 100%
Fire: 100% Ice: 100% Lightning: 100%
Ailment Susceptibility:
Death: 20% Masked Pain: 100% Skill Seal: 25%
Fear: 25% Curse: 50% Bleed: 25%
Poison: 50% Sleep: 25% Confuse: 25%
Paralysis: 50% Blind: 25% Stun: 100%

Skills:

Cure: Heals one ally with a base healing of 100 (Restores 125 Life to the target, factoring in INT.) Has a speed modifier of 80%.
The Cure Wisps are pretty fragile, but you want to take them out quick. They’ll pretty much focus on healing a good chunk of the Mantis Dragon’s life, and undoing quite a bit of your progress.




No cheating!





Farewell.




Mantis Dragon isn’t really that bad. Just make sure to snipe the Cure Wisps immediately when they get summoned.



And that’s it for this dungeon!



We no longer have to travel through it, and can just skip over it on the world map.


Hey, we got rid of the Bloom in the thicket, right?
Yes we did. Your point being...?
So why is there still Bloom on the thicket!?
I dunno. We should probably just accept it and move on.
And clear it out ourselves!
If my feet had eyes, they would be crying like crazy right now.
With the Bloom cleared out from Gouga Thicket, let’s go tell Shion the good news.




If you’re talking about what we did in Gouga Thicket, yep, that’s us! If you’re talking about something else, I dunno.
Thanks to you, we can safely travel to Aizhen again... But, without any change, we are still a foundering nation. I studied psychology, politics, the art of war, everything I could... Why have I been such a child so long? Why, I... ... Going too long without action isn't healthy. I'll be in the Aizhen Slums, where the Resistance headquarters is located. Please, stop by if you are in Aizhen.
Shion leaves.

We need to head to Aizhen to do the next part of the sub-event, which we’ll do next time.