02x20 - Filleting the Dragonfish

[bunniefuu]

Abyssal Capital R'lyath

Huh?

It... inverted the whole city?

That has enabled the existence
of Abyssal Capital R'lyath.

And it has not merely been flipped.

Picture the entire area a surface city
belongs to being warped and inverted.

Inverted

That is why you can breathe in a
place where there should be no air,

and why objects fall upwards.

Is that also what creates the
fishman zombies and the mermaids?

Mermesis Bagroon

Yes.

Non-Human, Living Fish

It inverts non-human, living fish

Inverted

into dead, non-fish human hybrids

Dead Non-Fish Human Hybrids

and inverts non-human, dead fish

Non-Human, Dead Fish

Inverted

into non-fish, living mermaids

Non-Fish Living Mermaids

To flip, reverse, and bend
reality as we know it—

The transcendent being that
can transform the world itself

is Ctarnidd of the Abyss.

The Master's power can overturn even death.

Time to Fillet a Dragon Fish

"The Master's power can
overturn even death," huh?

Does that mean you can't
even really k*ll the thing?

Sheesh, talk about a ridiculous power.

At the least, beating it'll take more
than just dealing damage in battle.

I'd like to avoid fighting Ctarnidd
while the NPCs are with us.

I hope we can get out of here
once we're all reunited.

If you wish to leave here alive, your only
option is to give Ctarnidd a good show.

A good show?

The Master of the Abyss does not
bring people like us here to k*ll us,

but to alleviate its boredom
by watching us struggle.

It wants a diversion.

Talk about your stupid hobbies.

Know any comedy routines
an octopus might enjoy?

What are those towers on
each side of the city?

I do not know.

But I do know that each tower
contains a Sealing General.

Sealing General

A Sealing General?

Challenging foes, each with a special
power that seals our abilities.

The only one I have heard of is Clionaire,

which has the power to
seal the use of any spell.

Sounds like beating these
mini-boss-type Sealing Generals

could trigger an event of some kind.

Say, Araba, you know a lot about R'lyath.

About Ctarnidd, too.

Have you been here a while?

I have wandered for some time,

but this is, in truth, my first time here.

I have met the only merman who
ever escaped from R'lyath alive.

He said he pierced the left eye of Ctarnidd

and the next thing he knew, he was free.

That merman was my grandfather.

Got it. So your family's got a
history with Ctarnidd.

I have told you all that I know.

Now, how long do you intend to
stand in the open like this?

Well, part of me wanted to
make a mental map of the city,

but it sounds like anyone who moves through
R'lyath has gotta keep quiet, right?

Of course. The streets are
awash in dangerous foes.

All the more reason to leave this place—

Wait a minute. What are you planning to do?!

I figure making some noise is
the best way to be be found.

W-Wait!

Don't—

Anybody out there?!

What are you trying to—

Quiet!

Sunraku-san!

Sunraku-san!

Sunraku-san!

Bingo!

It worked! It's Emul!

This is no time to celebrate!

They're going to come right to us!

C'mon, no worries.

Mermaids can't sing while
they're on the move,

and the fishman zombies are total simpletons.

Are you saying...

If you run as fast as you can,
they're not that scary!

Sunraku-san! Please, help us!

Hey, Emul! And I see you're with Stude!

I'll draw aggro from the fishmen!

It isn't that!

Behind us is—

Don't bring some new threat with you!

I wasn't trying to!

Some monsters, such as
Vorpal Bunnies and Cait Siths,

know a skill called Random Encounter.

It is a last resort called upon by a
weak specimen threatened to a degree

that they cannot escape.

It summons a single monster of a
higher level than the summoner.

Arctus Regacles
Level 125

And that's what it summoned?

You just made the situation worse!

Threats on all sides, huh?

This way!

It's got a breath attack, too?!

It better not be as tough
as the Goldy Scorpion!

That is not a transformed
monster of this city!

I know nothing of it!

So it was summoned from outside R'lyath?

Araba! You remember the
place we rested before?

Y-Yes...

I'll keep it occupied.
You take these two there.

What?! You intend to fight it alone?

Who is this fish-like person?!

You want me to work with a
fishman?! I'll never do it!

I've got a plan, guys.

I'll meet up with you soon.

See to it, Araba!

Very well. This makes us even.

Hand me the child! I shall—

What?!

Th-This isn't good! I'm out of mana!

Emul!

Bamboo Lightning!

This bamboo...

It's still coming!

Thought I heard a commotion. So it is you!

Big Bro Ceecrue!

Emul! 'Tis good to see you well!

Rust, too...

Finally found another player.

This is no time for conversation!

We have not yet escaped them!

Hold on to me tightly!

R-Right!

First, we gotta get out of here!

Who's that fishman?

An enemy?

Hold it! He's on our side!

Isn't that obvious from context?!

It's back up already.

To break through my Bamboo
Lightning with ease...

Whence came that creature?!

No time to explain!

Just go with Araba the Merman!

I'll handle that thing!

You seek to battle it alone, Sunraku-dono?

'Twould be a reckless act!

It would be better to fight it as a group!

I don't care what you do!
Just get me out of here!

I have an idea.

You could fight it in your robot!

You just wanna see it.

Sorry, we can't use it. It's out of power.

I... see...

What, it's that bad?

Look, listen up, Rust.

Even if that thing takes me down, I'll revive
at the respawn point you're all heading to.

Meanwhile, if it takes you down,
we'll end up separated again.

And if it gets one of the NPCs...
you know the deal, right?

Guess so.

If you keep them safe,
I'll show you the robot later.

I'll guard them with my life!

Your obsession really
comes in handy sometimes!

Anyway, let's go!

Waning Mirror!

Waning Mirror

Waning Mirror

Sunraku-san?!

A-Aren't you scared?!

How can you be smiling in chaos like this?!

Perhaps braving the unknown simply
calls to a pioneer's soul.

It's how we've always carved
our path forward in life—

That's all.

Just kidding.

That was a fun little bit
of big-talk roleplaying,

but the simpler explanation is it's
easier to ditch you if I'm by myself.

But now I'm starting to get some
ideas about how I'm gonna beat you.

I'm not just bait, you know?

Birds eat fish, y'know?

Unbroken Light Dance!

Unbroken Light Dance

Unbroken Light Dance

This thing's huge! I'm dealing tons of
damage but it's still hanging in there!

It's basically toughness incarnate!

Good attack power, too!

And like the mermaids, it can swim
through the sky like it's underwater.

And when it charges, it packs a real wallop.

Even just moving around, it's turning
the fishmen mob into mince meat.

And on top of all that,
it's got a long-range breath attack!

Having the thing move freely in three
dimensions makes it way harder to deal with.

On paper, it's enough to make you wonder if
it's secretly a unique monster or something...

If we were anywhere but R'lyath, that is.

Shana-Oh Incarnate

Reason number one—

Ctarnidd's ridiculous ability lets you
swim through the sky like you're flying,

but you're not really flying...

Water pressure still gets
applied to your movements.

That means you need a straight, clear path
for that big body to pick up real steam.

And in the winding paths of the city

if you run into a wall,
it's hard to pick up momentum again.

You can gather speed in the skies above,

but I can just dive into an alleyway
to slam the brakes on you.

If we were both in the water
I'd be dead in a second...

Gravity Zero

But I can move like I'm on land!

So when I jump, I'm way faster!

Reason number two—

That brief "stunned" animation
you enter now and then.

When you were in the thick
of the fishman zombies,

I thought you were taking attacks from them,

but they're all gone now
and you're still doing it.

It's probably a total coincidence, but...

I think those fishman zombies'
attacks have a poison attribute

powerful enough to inflict a
debuff on that giant thing.

That means he's taking
incremental damage from poison.

Can't let your guard down around
those rotten little buggers.

I made the right choice to
avoid 'em from the start.

Close call!

Got a little too far away there.

And the last reason—though it's
got nothing to do with R'lyath—

Shelve Weapon

You just got unlucky.

I was raised by a fishing freak of a dad.

He taught me more than
I ever wanted to know...

about how to fillet a fish!

You see now?

It'd be one thing if we
were in the open ocean,

but here in R'lyath, your abilities aren't
nearly as broken as the Goldy Scorpion's.

Well, I think I've got my strat down.

Now it's a w*r of attrition.

Your toughness, or my Ducusram...

We'll see which wears out first.

Let's roll!

Listen to those explosions...

The monsters have all cleared out here.
I guess they were drawn there instead.

Someone's fighting over there.

I've got to get to them!

Stay safe, Ceecrue-san!

Akitsuakane-san, right?

I finally met another player!

Were you drawn by that sound, too?

It would be hard not to notice
a commotion like that.

If the others have been drawn to it too, it
should be easier than expected to meet up.

Let's hurry, then!

Right!

I'm really sorry, Hizutome-kun.

I promise I'll be back once
this is all dealt with.

Logging Out

Too slow!

Fleet Float

Fleet Float

You had a good run, but I
think you're at your limit!

Just go down already!

Hell yeah!

It's finally over!

You saved me, Ducusram!

I knew that guy'd be tough, but he didn't
stand a chance against your durability!

Okay, time to gather up materials!

See? It's Sunraku-san!

It really is!

Hey, Mold, Akitsuakane.

We finally found you!

I heard the commotion, so I assumed
there was combat going on...

But what in the world were you fighting?

How to put it?

Basically what you'd get if you
crossed an oarfish with a dragon.

It won't show up in town again,
though, so don't worry.

But I guess it worked out,
since the combat served as a beacon.

The others should come soon
if we stay here, right?

I already met up with
Rust, Emul, and Ceecrue.

They're waiting at base camp right now.

Really?!

Stude, too.

So we're the latecomers?

Oh, but I haven't seen Rei-shi yet.

Think we should wait a little...?

What? Reinforcements?!

No, this is...

All those ruined buildings...

It's like they were reset back to normal!

Sunraku-san, what does it mean?

I dunno.

But I'm betting this is part
of Ctarnidd's power, too.

Ctarnidd's power?!

That b*stard's making fun of me.

...does not bring people
like us here to k*ll us,

but to alleviate its boredom
by watching us struggle.

"You entertained me, so I'll
clean up your mess," huh?

Akitsuakane-dono, 'tis good to see you well!

Ceecrue, you too!

Sunraku-san!

You truly slayed that creature?!

I can hardly believe it!

And got me a ton of materials for my trouble!

Some meat, too. Hungry?

Looks like good,
white fish with lots of protein.

Rust! I'm glad we found—

Sunraku. You promised.

Even the NPCs got a better
reception than me...

Promised?

That if I got everyone here safely,
you'd show me a robot!

I told you before, it's out
of power. It won't work.

Irrelevant!

Yeah?

Fine, show yourself!

Behold, the Non-Standard
Tactical Avian, Suzaku!

Limp

What is this strange, metal bird?

He looks so very tired...

Is it broken?

I told you it was out of power!

He's locked in the position
he crash-landed in.

It's...

magnificent!

The chill of the metal!
There's no better feeling!

Cuddle
Cuddle

SLF even replicated that! Best game ever!

Games of Nephilim Hollow's generation
had to compromise a lot, yeah.

Amazing! It's even got real, working joints!

Hey, hey, hey, don't go moving him around!

I don't see Psyger-0-san here, though.

Yeah, I figured she'd come when
she heard the noise.

But when she didn't show I thought
she might be with you, Rust...

Nope! It's just us!

Well, I'm sure a player of Rei-shi's caliber
has figured out how the save zones worked.

Anyway, we've got our whole party minus
one, so let's discuss our next steps.

Special Status
"Abyssal Time"

First, it seems we've got 168 hours
to beat this Bonus Unique Scenario.

In other words, seven days.

Let's discuss and figure how to
schedule these next seven days.

Calling this day one, tell me what
days you feel like you can log in.

Akitsu

Rust
Mold

Today

Let's call Rei-shi a unknown for now...

We're all over the place, but it looks
like we can all be here on the last day.

What about you?

I'd love to come in every day...

But unfortunately, I've got plans
for tomorrow and the next day.

Depending on how things go,
it might end up being longer, too.

So I'll ask you to hold down the fort, Emul.

I'm supposed to stay in this
dreary old room the whole time?!

Hey! Are you just gonna leave me behind?

I wanna get out of this town ASAP!

Araba, can you look after them?

I-If I must.

Until I find my lost weapon,
I shall act out of this room.

You stay here too, Ceecrue-san.

Indeed I shall! Trust in me!

Sounds like we'll keep sharing information

and make as much progress as
we can when we're logging in.

I'm gonna log out for today.

But I'm not gonna leave here a plaything
for the Master of the Abyss.

X-Day is day seven.

We're gonna track down Ctarnidd
and his ridiculous ability...

and give him the surprise of a lifetime!

Yes!

We shall indeed!

[6 Days Until X-Day]

...

Hey, as long as we're here in Japan,

why don't we do some tourism
before hitting up the GGC?

Nah. Anybody know what hotel
Kei Uomi's staying at?

Wow, ready to issue your
challenge the minute we arrive?

You really are impatient...

Best-in-the-US.