All right, time for the next part of Mireno. From here on out, the area is entirely based around one big (and quite irritating) puzzle. I know the solution by this point, but first I'll need to find some random mystical stuff to throw into it. As such, let's move on to area 5-3: Cemetery Entrance.
As we enter, Fia notes that the Six Priests set traps for intruders. Now, you're probably wondering who these "Six Priests" are, and I honestly can't tell you. The game offers absolutely no explanation for who they are, except that they're a bunch of dead people who figure into the gimmick for this area.
The second screen contains a giant stone monument, which says this:
"The names of the Six Great Priests of Mireno are eternally engraved in the Ankhs.
Their hands opened the Holy Land; their names sealed off the path.
Until the Six Priests meet again..."
Translated into English, that means "go find 6 McGuffins to get to the end."
First, though, I head past the monument into the next room. Fia notes that the walls are moist, meaning that there's water nearby. We are then accosted by some random demons. After killing them, I open the nearby chest...and repeat until it contains a new Salamander Rod for Cierra. Unfortunately, I fail to S-rank the fight on the attempt where I got the rod, though it doesn't matter that much.
Anyway, back to the monument room. I can go either north or south, so I choose the south path. This puts me in a seemingly empty room that, when I enter Look mode, turns out to have some vampires in it. Now, get ready, because this is the absolute dumbest moment of the game for all party members.
The vampires claim that Serene is one of them. And the rest of the party buys it.
Oh, and I'm given two options to go along with it. Instead, though, I choose the one where Ein is actually competent and doesn't believe the vampires about Serene.
Anyway, we then fight the vampires, whose are collectively referred to as "Winged Foes". I guess after thinking up that semi-elaborate scenario Sting ran out of creativity. I'll also note that this particular type of vampire is called a "Balrog". Something tells me these aren't what Gandalf had to deal with, though. Holy damage does them in as always, though, with Serene dealing around 600 damage with a Holy Sabre.
The vampires drop a Silver Moon, the next tier of scythe, though I don't actually take it because a chest with another one that has more uses appears after they die. That one replaces my Holy Water.
Interestingly, Silver Moon is also the name of Milanor's...thing that Satoko insists is an axe from Yggdra Union. This is infuriating for a very specific reason, but that reason has to do with Yggdra Union's gameplay, so I won't go into it. Instead, I'll master my new scythe for these abilities:
Ein:
- Silver Moon: Freeze Flash: Level 1, 1-hit physical ice-elemental attack, power of 379, low accuracy, unblockable
Lina:
- Silver Moon: Frigid Swing: Level 1, 1-hit magic ice-elemental attack, power of 281, low accuracy, unavoidable
Serene:
- Silver Moon: Serene Platinum: Level 3, 7-hit physical ice-elemental attack, power of 136, last attack hits all
With that, Serene has officially obtained her second-best weapon long before anyone else will. Anyway, I then head into area 5-6: Southern Catacombs. Note that the area numbering is going to remain this heavily messed up for the rest of Mireno.
This area starts off with an empty room, followed by a room containing actual graves. One of them has a book in front of it, which we pocket. The Book of Gelt replaces my now officially outdated Moon Wand. Unfortunately, its owner isn't particularly happy about us stealing his stuff, and he attacks us. Gelt is backed by a pair of elementals, though they don't last particularly long against our assault. He is actually pretty tough, but I still S-rank him and get his item drop, the Book of Kylier.
Now, you might be expecting a long, drawn-out rant about how Sting shouldn't have renamed this thing after a character from Yggdra Union, especially considering that the character in question is not a magic user at all. However, the above is all I'm going to say on the matter, because I don't feel like saying anything else.
Anyway, I drop the Thunder Chain, having never actually used it in a battle. Now, I've got some books to read at things, granting me the following powers:
Fia:
- Book of Gelt: Blitz Rune: Level 1, 1-hit magic lightning-elemental attack, power of 232, unstoppable
- Book of Kylier: Heilig Rune: Level 1, 1-hit magic holy-elemental attack, power of 291, unstoppable
Lina:
- Book of Gelt: Electric Thunder: Level 2, 4-hit physical non-elemental attack, power of 154, unavoidable, randomly does extra lightning damage
- Book of Kylier: Blazing Light: Level 2, 4-hit physical non-elemental attack, power of 199, unavoidable, randomly does extra holy damage
Cierra:
- Book of Gelt: Thunder Storm: Level 2, 1-hit magic lightning-elemental attack, power of 337, unstoppable
- Book of Kylier: Innocent Sphere: Level 2, 1-hit magic holy-elemental attack, power of 424, unstoppable
Having obtained and mastered the best book in the game (along with the second best), I move south. Here, the party encounters a chest that isn't trapped. After Fia gets suspicious of the untrapped chest (claiming that it's the only one with no traps on it despite the Silver Moon chest earlier), we open it and get a Salamander Rod (which is tossed because we've already got one). We then have to fight some skeletons, who aren't that tough due to our large selection of holy weaponry. The Book of Kylier does them in rather nicely, and I get to replace my Holy Sabre.
The next screen contains another grave, which has a rather interesting epitaph written on it:
"Iduna...
the priest of rebirth, below Xenon in fire, above Yumel in lightning, above Xenon in ice.
Do you seek my power? So be it...You must overcome my trial."
I then have to fight some more demons, including one turtling bastard skeleton who cost me my S-rank. After killing them, an ankh appears. Cierra claims that a type of magic called "Encoding" was used for this, and Fia explains that it creates a spell that activates when a specific person reads it. Rose clarifies that Ein could activate it because he's an angel and a priest made it, which...isn't really all that helpful, but it's the thought that counts. Everyone also gets a free Magic boost, and I receive the I Ankh.
Next, I return to the book room and go east. Thus leads to another fork, where I go north to another grave. I won't bore you with a repeat of the same epitaph with only minor differences, so I'll just say the important parts: This is the grave of Yumel, priest of creation. Yumel is below Teula in fire, above Askus in lightning, and above Telua in ice. Yumel's mooks include a ghost, a lizardman, and the Black Knight, who, as it turns out, does not always triumph. In fact, he was the first one down, after which Serene wrecked everything that lived with her Over Skill. This gained me another global Magic Boost, along with the Y Ankh.
Now, I head back to the last fork and go east. This room contains another grave to examine. It contains Teula, priest of courage. He's below Iduna in fire, above Iduna an lightning, and above Iduna in ice. His minions are dispatched with relative ease, mainly due to the power of the Book of Kylier. This gets me the same global Magic boost again, along with the T Ankh (as you might expect).
I then head beck to the hub, and I'm going to stop here for today. Next time, we'll complete the other half of the ankh collection.
