[Mirrinus]

Here we go, the last floor!

Spoiler

Let's Play Labyrinth of Touhou - Chapter 27

Amazing. I really do think this is the last floor.

Oh? What makes you think that?

Well, the title of the floor, for one.

It just screams Final Dungeon, don't you agree?

Eh, I suppose so. It just seems a bit too...simple. I was expecting a Name To Run Away From Really Fast.

But it makes perfect sense! Especially since that's also the title of this game. And there's the unique background music that we've never heard before, and the bizarre purple overlay on the screen, and...

Wait...what? What do you mean by "game"?

You haven't figured it out yet? Haven't you been the one reciting tropes this whole time?

Just tell me what you know.

Well, I've had an inkling since we entered this dungeon, but it really started to hit me after I drank from the sake spring on Floor 5. I realized that this whole experience is part of a game of some sort.

And where did you get such an outrageous notion?

Because everything here runs off of numbers. For example, look at how you're equipped right now. Since you have naturally low SP recovery and status resistance, we gave you a ribbon and a bunch of recovery gear to cover your weaknesses. You also have relatively low HP, but you've got exceptional magic and mind stats.

Where are you getting all this from?

I can see it. The numbers, I mean. And I also know that this game is called "Labyrinth of Touhou", so the title of the 20th Floor was a dead giveaway.

Hmm...seems strange to believe, but I guess that would explain why everything in here matched with those tropes I've been reading about. And all along I thought it was just Truth In Television. Then again, I guess weirder things have happened.

I knew you'd believe me! But I don't know if the others would...

Well then, if this really is the Final Dungeon, what do we do now? Just go straight for the Final Boss?

Heaven's no, we'd get creamed! At times like these, the best thing to do to ensure our safety would be to do some level grinding.

Level Grinding?

Yup! The enemies on this floor give tons of experience points, several times as much as those of the past floors. But...

But?

They're all really strong. I mean, almost minor boss-level strong! You're smart, Patchy. You can help me figure these guys out, right?

That would be in my area of expertise, I suppose.

All right! With my ability to see stats and your bountiful knowledge of strategy, we'll win for sure! Let's start with this one.

Hellfire Demonsky, a powerful fiend who can strike with half a dozen consecutive Heaven's Lightnings each turn. With 376,000 HP, it can take quite a beating before it dies.

Also happens to be an Enemy Summoner who can summon other demons to aid it. And its Solar Light spell can cause severely heavy damage to all. It resists all elements except Cold and Spirit, which it's weak to. Too bad Cirno and Reimu don't offer much in the way of damage, even if they do specialize in those elements.

Ooh, looks scary. Let's see if we can find something easier to fight. How about this?

The Blue Comet SPT Ancient Soldier. It doubles or even triples its speed with each attack, eventually becoming so quick that it wipes out the entire party before our next turn. The challenge is to deplete its 332,000 HP before that happens.

It looks daunting, but its design makes it dreadfully weak to Fire. My Royal Flare would take out more than my fair share of its health. I'd say it's managable if we're prepared.

Good call! OK, what about this this one?

The Executioner. It has relatively low HP and defenses, but it possesses exceptional speed, and its attacks can be quite painful.

I wouldn't necessarily say that. Its heavy reliance on row attacks means we have a great shot of surviving with proper party setup, placing only tougher fighters in the front. Its weakness to Wind is easy to exploit, so as long as we can survive a single attack, defeating it shouldn't be too difficult.

Cool! This might be the easiest enemy on this floor, then. Although, I guess that isn't much. Much easier than this next one, at least.

The Diamond Knight is no joke! Not only does it possess extremely high defenses and resistance to all elements, but its Scourge attack is without a doubt the most powerful attack we've seen yet.

There Is No Kill Like Overkill, I suppose. It pains me to say it, but perhaps we have no choice but to sacrifice someone each time we choose to fight a Diamond Knight. Its low speed allows us to hopefully defeat it before it can one-shot a second person.

There's still more to go. This next one looks familiar.

Boasting incredible speed, the Norns follow the same attack pattern we've seen ever since Alice's dolls, alternating between physical, magical, and support spells. Despite being only one target, it attacks as often as three. The extra minions it comes with don't help, either.

Its attacks are fast, but not nearly as strong as what some of the other enemies on this floor are capable of. The quickest way to win is to exploit its weakness to Wind. Isn't that what your Throwing Atlas spellcard is for?

Yes, yes, of course. But I doubt it'd work against this last guy!

As the embodiment of lightning itself, Raijin's Expenditure is one of the toughest baddies here! Boasting an enormous 420,000 HP, the ability to chain multiple Heaven's Lightnings, and adding paralysis and stat debuffs to its already damaging attacks, this would definitely be a great challenge.

Exploiting its weakness to Nature would be vital to finishing it off quickly. Looks like Suwako will be needed once again.

Well, let's stop here for now. With all that strategy, I think we'll be able to get a lot stronger here! You know what'll come next after all the level grinding, right?

Oh, I can imagine.

Time for the Final Boss, is it?

All right, this is it! Come on, Patchy! The end is in sight, so let's do it!

~ Suika Ibuki

~ Patchouli Knowledge

A few short notes:

Spoiler

I chose to spend this chapter talking about the enemies on this floor, because you'll probably be spending lots of time here. Not only are you likely to be doing lots of level grinding here (as enemies give as much as 10x EXP compared to the 19th floor mobs), but you'll want to farm their rare item drops as well. Every new enemy here has a very rare but powerful item drop, many of which are unique and can only be gotten here. The unique ones are Flower Blade Kikuryusei (dropped by Executioner), Scourge (Diamond Knight), Armads (Raijin's Expenditure), and Divine Spirit Barrier (Hellfire Demonsky). Not only are they all very powerful pieces of equipment, but they're required for accessing later parts of the post-game content.

There was one more enemy that I didn't talk about, mostly because I found it kind of boring. The Exa Grain has 400,000 HP, but is really, really slow and weak to fire. If you let it get a chance to attack, it might wipe your entire party with Huge Earthquake. It has fairly high resistance to paralysis and complete immunity to debuffs, so you'll just have to race it with your most powerful attacks, just like with any other enemy on this floor. Treat all 20th Floor enemies like mini-boss fights.

Next chapter will be the last.