So like I said before, I still have one battle before I can reach the volcano. First, though, I’ll check the equips that I got last time, and see if I can make use of any of them. I switch around a few accessories, and find that Vivi is now in my party. Actually, I forgot to mention that – she warped away just as we were leaving. I guess she came with us? She’s level 27, so I’ll want to be careful how much I use her. I don’t want her to be an experience hog, after all.
I save, and move into the battle ahead. Once again, I have eight people that I can use. I’ll bring them all in. Yes, that includes Vivi. If I can bring in a full party, then it’s best to do so.
The map has a few spots of lava, but nothing that’ll be too annoying. My enemies are two Fire Goblins, two Fire Golems, two Galbadons (red Behemoths, and two Red Snakes. They’re around the same level as my weaker guys, so this shouldn’t be too difficult.
Vivi goes first, so I check out her abilities. Her physical attack is ranged. Her weapons are lamps. In this case, they probably hide guns or something. She has four spells: a weak wind attack, an accuracy buff, a poison spell, and a stronger wind attack that can hit more than one unit. For now, I have her buff Nicolai, Theo, and Alph. Saki goes next, and uses her Chi Strike on a goblin. It’s a lot more useful than her card attacks, and it covers a wider range.
Mel’s battle cry of “Time to punish evil!” sounds a lot better now that she’s on my side. Cecille levels to 21 after healing Leon, who was attacked by one of the goblins. I try out Vivi’s physical attack, and it’s actually quite good. These Witches are kind of a mixed bag that way. Some of them have good physical attacks, but others really don’t. You still have them mostly using magic anyway. Leon kills a goblin. Saki has been attacked several times, so I have her heal herself with a Vita Mint. She levels to 24 and learns a new skill.
By this time, the monsters are starting to clump together nearby. This can be good, or it can be bad. I’ll be able to hit more than one at once, but it also means that they can gang up on me. Nicolai kills a fire golem and levels to 23. He learns a new spell. Alph levels to 25. Leon uses his Edge Slash flash drive to do serious damage to a Galbadon. Theo levels to 23 after hitting the remaining goblin. Saki kills a red snake.
Just three monsters left now. Actually, two. Saki just killed the other goblin. She levels to 25. Leon levels to 25 after killing the second-to-last monster. Nicolai kills the last one, and the battle ends.
My spoils are 4000 Rico, two Magi Mints, a Magi Soda, and a Vi Tonic.
I intermission with Saki for a change of pace. She asks me if there’s any information I need. My options are “Tell me about Witches,” “I want to know about you,” and “Everyone’s measurements.” That third option would probably yield amusing results, but I know it’s not the best one. The second seems good, but it’d probably make her uncomfortable. So I pick the first one. She says the Witches are not all uniform. They vary in appearance, personality, and abilities, and are also good on the battlefield. But I don’t get anything. Guess the second one really was the best answer. Oh well.
Anyway, the path is open to get to Iiyella Volcano, so I save and go there. The title of this chapter is “Witch and Rym.” I guess that we’ll finally know what that word means after this.
Everyone is complaining about having to hike up the mountain. Vivi is using her flying carpet, and Mel is warping. Leon thinks they’re cheating. But apparently, the Draconic Geode is just over the mountain, so we’re almost there.
The menu pops up, and I choose Action. I can talk to Mel, Saki, or Vivi. I go down the list, choosing Mel first. Alph asks her what kind of stone the Draconic Geode is. Mel says it’s a mighty stone, and it’s almost as strong as Alph and Theo are when they’re dragons. Alph says they can save Theo if they get the rock, and tells Theo to hang in there.
The “speak with Saki” option has Alph asking her if the volcano is still inside the seal that protects the forest. It seems that it is. Mel says that all the magma means that the planet is alive. Vivi says that it’s our god’s fault that there have been more earthquakes, though. Cecille seems confused.
Talking to Vivi has Alph asking why she’s helping us. Didn’t she not want to? She doesn’t seem to remember saying that. But she says that she wants to help Lucia, so she’s coming anyway. Nicolai starts being annoying, saying that his lovely Vivi is as moody as the clouds. Vivi just blows him away.
I stop to save, and then continue on.
Everyone’s tired, and they want to know if we’re almost there. Mel says that there used to be a lot of Draconic Geodes around here, but apparently the monsters ate them. Eating the geodes heals their wounds, or something like that. Vivi says that Lucia probably went deeper, to a more dangerous place.
Suddenly, Leon points out a bunch of monsters. Lucia is there too, trying to fight them off. It sounds like she’s also got a geode with her, and she’s trying to protect it. Alph comes in to help, but Lucia says she doesn’t need our help. Of course, we’re going to help out anyway.
I choose my guys, and go in. This time, I have to leave someone out, so I pick Vivi. Lucia is still only level 20, irritatingly enough. That’ll make this a whole lot more difficult, because…
My objective this time is to protect Lucia. Basically, I have to kill all the monsters without letting her die. To make things worse, she’s halfway across the map from me. My best bet is to have her meet up with the rest of the group as soon as possible. My opponents are two Triheads (red Cerberuses), three Gigases, a Keythong (blue griffin thing), and two Salamands. That’s eight monsters that I’m going to hav to kill. They’re also a few levels higher than the last bunch. Given the circumstances, I figure I should save before doing anything. After I do that, I begin moving my guys forward. Once I can move Lucia, I’ll start moving her backward towards the rest of them.
Lucia seems to have two more spells. One is amusingly called “Shut up!” and it’s a silence spell. The other is the same area healing spell that Mel has. Should be helpful. At this point, though, Shine isn’t very useful.
One of the Gigases attacks Lucia, and gets rid of more than half her HP. I’ll have to get her over here as soon as possible. Thankfully, that’s the only monster that can get at her, and it’s pretty slow.
Mel levels to 25. Cecille heals Leon. Alph finishes off the next-nearest monster to Lucia, and levels to 26. Lucia moves in and heals herself. She’s now caught up with the rest of us, and should be fine as long as I keep an eye on her. I save again, just in case. Saki kills two monsters at once, and levels to 26. Cecille heals Nicolai for the experience, leveling to 22. Man, she really needs to level. And whaddya know, a new spell. Maybe I should have Nicolai use his speed buff on her. Saki kills the nearby Gigas, leaving only one of those left.
Like I planned, I have Nicolai buff himself and Cecille for speed. He’s now level 24. Cecille heals Lucia for the exp. At this point, there’s just four monsters left. This must really be a charmed playthrough, because that sidequest is the only thing that’s given me trouble the entire time. Speaking of which, sometime I gotta go try that again.
Saki finishes the Keythong and levesl to 27. She learns a new flash drive. Man, I gotta be careful with her leveling now. Nicolai buffs Lucia and Theo for defense. Theo levels to 24 a little bit later. I consider having Lucia attack, but that would be a bad idea. Not only would it put her in harm’s way, but her attacks are just so weak that they wouldn’t be any help. Leon levels to 26 after attacking, and learns a new skill. I have Lucia heal Alph, which makes her level to 21. Theo ends up finishing the battle with a flash drive.
My spoils are 3000 Rico, and four Vitae. Two of the Vitae are the same kind. This means I’ll probably be able to use them soon. I choose to intermission with Theo. Alph starts lecturing Lucia, asking her why she went into this alone, and saying how worried everyone was. She actually apologizes, causing Leon to remark on how unusual this is. Nicolai comes in and says that Lucia did what she did for Theo, and that Alph should thank her. So he does.
Lucia also has a Draconic Geode. But it turns out that we have to go back to the village and have the “Great Sage” refine it for us. In that case, we’d better do that.
The intermission starts. Theo asks how he and Alph know that they’re really brothers. My options are “Our pendants go together,” “There’s no way to be sure,” and “We care for each other!” I know it’s either the first or third one, and the first seems kind of superficial. So I pick the third. Looks like that’s the right answer. He gives me an FP Max.
Kopin says that he met up with some other Kopins and talked about important things like world affairs and what they had for dinner last night.
Since the chapter is over, I save and turn the game off. Looks like we didn’t find out exactly what a Rym was. Guess that comes later. Either way, we’ve got Lucia back. Next time we’ll be going to see the “Great Sage.” I wonder who he is?
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