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Rock the Omni-Blue Mage - Part 13: Pharaoh
Last time, Rock struck down a sentient demon tree warlock.
This time,
Boko IS the father! 
Literal pitfalls in Rock's plans!
And a hungry Antlion clamps down on any chance to escape! Will our hero make it out alive?
BOSS DEATHS: Duh.
Anyways, let's fast forward to the next dungeon.
THE PYRAMID!
...Right after we score some fresh gear.
This weird old man gives a choice between two boxes, stating that the left is for brave warriors and the right is for, well, chickens.
Rock is clearly a brave warrior. Time for a quick 
lesson!
The Chicken Knife is well, a knife, that gets stronger every time you run away. It also has a chance of activating !Flee instead of attacking, which can be avoided through the use of some abilities.
Goblin Punch, luckily enough, is one of these abilities! Except it also has a rather peculiar effect - it ignores the scripting of any weapon and uses their base power.
Meaning Chicken Knife will always hit with an attack power of 1. 
However, the Brave Blade is a knight sword that drops in power every time you run (even at the beginning of the game). The main drawback is that Rock would have to use Equip Swords in order to use it.
Buuuuuut the base power of the sword is 
150 and it adds +5 Strength. In comparison, Ragnarok has a base of 140 and no bonus, while Apocalypse (Sealed Temple gear) is 145 and +3 Strength and Stamina.
In short, 
Meanwhile, back at the Pyramid, Rock finds the front door guarded. The Gargoyles' main gimmick is that they have to be taken out simultaneously or quickly in succession lest they regenerate.
It's a bit tricky solo, but Blue Magic prevails, yet again!
BOSS DEATHS: ZZZzzz...
Time to check out that cool sword!
Overall, the Pyramid doesn't have a whole lot going for it. There's loot, mummies (that can be dealt with through broken Fire Rods) and Mecha Heads that are similar to Prototypes and can mess you up if you're not careful DEATH: 33.
Additionally, Lamia Queens appear here and can be another chance to get 1000 Needles but don't Vampire it because it's undead and can lead to a DEATH: 34. Zephyrus appears as well, and they can summon old monsters with new stats.
It's possible to get Level 3 Flare from the Tunnellers they summon, but it's extremely rare that they do so in the first place. The only time Rock came across one was with the Reflect Ring on. Too bad! 
On the way back from the dungeon, Melusine takes her chance and attacks. The only threat here is her physical form, as all her other forms are essentially nullified with the Reflect Ring, but even then
Goblin Punching with the Brave Blade and using Vampire as necessary outpaces any healing she gets and negates any damage taken, respectively.
BOSS DEATHS: HA!
Clearing the fight gives back access to the airship. Swinging by Crescent has Rock finding Mid worrying about the sudden appearance of a tower. This is relevant.
It will not be (mostly) relevant for this update.
A quick stop in Phantom Village to catch up on the important things.
With the shopping done, Rock finally heads for the home of the next plot coupon - the Island Shrine.
More Gargoyles, more Time Slips.
BOSS DEATHS: Just rewatch the first fight
Inside it's more of the same.
Find loot.
Kill monsters. And avoid getting killed by things like Tot Aevis DEATH: 35
Repeat. This Protect Ring will serve nicely shortly.
These guys get hilariously messed up by Rock's Reflect status, as they cast (and are susceptible to) Mini and Confuse.
Level 44. He's shaping up nicely.
Time for a quick gear change. The upcoming boss fight has a new !Blue spell that is reflected and counters with Frost.
Wendigo was originally called Stalker, which might explain his pre-fight speech.
He also has a gimmick - only one of these Wendigos are real. Hitting the wrong one deals no damage, and targeting all of them causes the fakes to counter with Frost.
The damage in and of itself isn't that bad - even without an Ice Shield the Bone Mail trivializes it down to a bit over 100. Rather, it's the Sap status it inflicts that's the trouble.
Mostly because Wendigo has Hurricane as part of his attack rotation.
The new !Blue spell he has - Mind Blast - inflicts paralysis and sap. Though since he tends to use it towards the start of the fight and it doesn't deal a ton of damage, it's not an issue.
The best way to deal with this is the Trump way and toss money until the problem dies. With 20000HP, he takes 4 tosses before he goes down. Making sure they all hit before being sapped and Hurricaned is more... 
Fun fact: this boss fight is actually well suited for Geomancers, as !Gaia will either target only the real one or leave the fakes alone.
Fusui
RockTrump
Oh yeah, killing the demon Wendigo causes the Fork Tower to open up. What mysteries are found within? Not much.
BOSS DEATHS: 5
TOTAL BOSS DEATHS: 21
ENDING LEVEL: 44
Next Time: Heroes and subs, and not a single sandwich to be found. 