The plan to invade Salome's Netherworld is temporarily being put on hold, as Zetta aims for Seedle's netherworld instead. Steve worries that this may not have been the best course of action just yet.
Before they head off into battle, a few more of the crew members are eligible for promotions. Malfus joins his comrades Ryan and Vanessa to be reborn, now under the assumed name of "Leonard". Meredith makes her promotion to Warrior; Satan is no longer an Errant Pumpkin...just a Pumpkin; and Morrigan upgrades to Occultess, becoming a White-Haired Pretty Girl in the process. As a side bonus to becoming a leader, Steve absorbs all of the mana residue left over from the unused huts appearing and disappearing every time his new comrades make wishes in order to fuel their ascension.
Stage 5-1: Jet Black Seedle
This is a semi-random stage, starting out in the middle of a mountainous area, with a Red Doll riding a Driller-G to the north, three Bomber Heads stationed in a hut to the west, and three Shadows in the Fortress to the east. Meredith enters the battlefield, but with most of her strength sapped after her ascension, she chooses to hang back while the others handle the enemy. (but the enemy finds her anyway and kills her). The normally passive enemies make a charge at Zetta's troop, believing that they actually have a chance to win. The team fights off the defenders, and then destroys the houses from which the enemy came, after getting a tip-off that the fortress itself IS the key.
Zetta's forces head to the south and run into a wasteland with more enemies and dead trees. They defeat them, but discover that there are a few driving around in vehicles, including an advances type of monster known as a Gourmet Ogre (the game mistranslates it as "Gourmet Olga", though). The team targets the Bomberhead riding the Dark Runner Z2, which seems to be coming out ahead of all of them. Lucca uses herself as a decoy so that the crew can disable the vehicles. After taking heavy casualties, the crew heads home before the gluttonous Gourmet Ogre can launch an attack.
Salome finds Zetta on the battlefield and confronts him directly. She says it's been so long since the two of them were together. Zetta reminds her that she was the one who left, but Salome said she disappeared because he was too busy lusting for power. "I don't see what the problem was", he adds, even making light of Salome's mana sickness. She then pulls the "Don't you love me?" card, and Zetta calls her weak for it.
Back at the base, Kashiwa rushes to the hospital and attempts to patch the wounds of those who fell during the last battle.
"I had no idea Seedle's monsters would be this aggressive," she says as she applies a Mega Heal spell on Astral.
"Next time, read the level description before jumping in like that, commander," Astral says, giving Steve a cold stare.
"Miss Kashiwa," says the medic now known as Leonard, "I brought the water just as you requested. What should I do with it?"
"You can stand here and watch me drink it." She takes the glass of water and drinks it, and then slams it angrily on the space beside one of the makeshift beds holding her growing house of invalids. She turns to Steve, eyes still mostly closed but visibly angry at him, and beckons. "Well, Steve, it seems your plan did not work as well as the last one. How do you expect to prevent these casualties from happening in the future?"
"Don't worry," says Steve. "I've already got it covered. A new dungeon just opened up!* We'll simply train every to get back up to speed, and then we can taken on the baddest of whatever Seedle can throw at us. Plus, we might even get some new vehicles out of the deal. I'm sure Satan's gotta be lonely riding that LEX on the battlefield by himself."
Kashiwa and Leonard ignore the explosion and high-pitched laughter just outside of the hospital, as they continue to work on restoring their comrades to fighting form.
New Map Effects
- Aim at the building?! - Summons enemies in vehicles.
