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Update 28: Ketos
As queen, it is my duty to put an end to this.
First thing I'm gonna do is buy tents. Lots of tents. Why?
...And then, when she opened the door, she saw her own severed head staring back at her!
...That may have been the worst ghost story I've heard in my life.
What happened next!?
Uhhh... You know, I haven't thought that far ahead yet.
Everyone- Oh, I see Faye's telling awful ghost stories again. Anyways, there's something you need to see outside!
Using a tent can force a Pasaran to spawn on the map, although it may take several of them to do so. I had to use up a lot to force this one to spawn.
Also when one spawns, you can't just rush towards it. You have to maneuver carefully so the Pasaran doesn't clip into a wall.
Pasaran
HP: 220
TP: 300
STR: 18
VIT: 22
AGI: 34
LUC: 35
TEC: 22
Attack Type: Strike
Exp: 15000
Item Drops: N/A
Description: A fluff monster said to bring good fortune. They are few in number and rarely seen.
Damage Resistances: Slash: 25% Strike: 25% Pierce: 25% Fire: 25% Ice: 25% Volt: 25% Almighty: 25%
Ailment Resistances: Sleep: 5% Confusion: 5% Plague: 5% Poison: 5% Blind: 5% Curse: 5% Paralysis: 10%
Bind Resistances: Head: 122% Arm: 50% Leg: 50%
Other Resistances: Death: 1% Petrification: 1% Stun: 10%
Skills:
Self-Destruct: Uses the Head. The Pasaran explodes, dealing 140% Strike damage to the whole party, disappearing from the map and denies them exp.
Escape: Uses the Legs. The Pasaran flees from battle, denying you exp and disappears from the map.
Yep, there's a different Pasaran for every Stratum, and they all count as different enemies in the Monster Codex. So if you want to fill that out, you'll have to hunt them all down. This Pasaran introduces something that certain enemies can do. Self-destructing. Basically the enemy blows up, damaging the whole party and ends up killing themselves in the process. Now here's the annoying part. That doesn't count as killing them, so you don't get exp or their item drops! And a few bosses do this too, making this extra annoying. Now they still get registered in the Codex, so if you just want to get the Pasarans registered in there, getting them to blow up is just fine since they don't have item drops. But if they run away, they won't get registered. Now if you want to reliably kill one, you have to bind their body parts since they can take a while to kill.
For something so fluffy, they're sure as tough as bricks!
Just showing you what you're in for if you try to fight them the normal way.
Now if you have a Zodiac and Hellfire, you can just roast them immediately.
And get in on that sweet sweet exp reward.
Just confirming that yes, the game considers them different monsters. Anyways, time to move on.
After Faye gets a level up.
Now that Faye has all the skills I want, I'm going to focus on leveling up Form Qi. It provides a 30% bonus to non-fixed healing.
I believe that this is the whirlpool Kujara mentioned. Now, where's that Sea Bead?
Could this be the odd whirlpool Kujura spoke of...? You slowly hold out the Sea Bead you obtained towards it.
Shh! Do you hear that?
As you do so, a flowing sound echoes through the area. Eventually, the sound stops. The device has again fallen silent, and you doubt it will resume. You resolve to leave this room and explore to find out what has changed.
Hey, the currents are gone!
That should make this place far easier to navigate.
So all the currents that were in this Stratum are completely gone. They're not coming back. This lets us access some stuff that was blocked off before.
Anticold reduces the power of Ice attacks by 15%.
Rain or Shine now lasts for 30 steps.
Now that the currents are gone, we can open the treasure chests.
These books increase a character's TEC stat by 1 point.
I use one on Asteria.
I feel like I just got smarter.
Oh, and something I forgot to mention. Blind nullifies evasion. So not only does it decrease your average damage output by 66%, it makes you a sitting duck. These Whorled Puffers try to nullify your evasion so all the tougher monsters can take you down easily.
And here's the other chest that was blocked off.
This grants us the Lethal Tactic Limit, which guarantees that all regular attacks will be critical hits for 6 turns. It might sound great, but remember that skills tend to deal way more damage than regular attacks ever could. It's awful, probably one of the worst Limit skills in the game.
And this is the way forward, which the currents were blocking before.
I'll fill in the missing squares once our guild is strong enough to kill the Scaled Dragons. In the DS games, I prefer to fill in the map by stepping on all the tiles, because the FOEs don't show up on tiles that you painted in, but didn't actually step on.
And we're now in the 2nd part of the 8th floor.
And what a welcoming committee.
Iron Turtle
HP: 474
TP: 82
STR: 27
VIT: 26
AGI: 9
LUC: 24
TEC: 25
Attack Type: Strike
Exp: 1488
Item Drops:
-Drop 1: Century Shell - 50% Drop Rate. 1 needed for Laced Mail (Heavy Armor), and Helepolis (Crossbow. Must be restocked.) 2 needed for Serpentinelock (Gun), and Long Spear (Spear.) 3 needed for Double Mail (Light Armor), and Stun Guard (Accessory.)
--Shell of a gigantic turtle that has lived for over a century.
-Drop 2: Topaz - 20% Drop Rate. See 1st Stratum Mine Point info for more details.
-Gold: N/A
Description: A gigantic turtle with a steel-hard shell. Those who fight it find their weapons shattering.
Damage Resistances: Slash: 50% Strike: 50% Pierce: 50% Fire: 200% Ice: 200% Volt: 200%
Ailment Resistances: Sleep: 100% Confusion: 100% Plague: 100% Poison: 100% Blind: 100% Curse: 100% Paralysis: 100%
Bind Resistances: Head: 100% Arm: 100% Leg: 100%
Other Resistances: Death: 100% Petrification: 100% Stun: 100%
Skills:
Ice Slurry: Uses the Head. A random target Ice attack that deals 150% damage to 1 to 3 targets.
Once an FOE, now a regular enemy. Iron Turtles are pretty much the strongest enemies in the Stratum. Ice Slurry hits pretty hard, and can one shot certain classes. Take them out quickly, or run.
ARE YOU USING A ZODIAC YET ARE YOU USING A ZODIAC YET YOU SHOULD REALLY BE USING A ZODIAC YOU KNOW! Fortunately, this is the last enemy that's really in your face about that. The later enemies are a lot less blatant about it.
For extra annoyance, they defend to reduce the amount of physical damage they take. Fortunately, defending doesn't reduce the damage of elemental attacks. In this game at least. Later games changed the defend command to lower damage taken from elemental attacks, and it even lowers the rate you get inflicted by ailments.
If you don't have a Zodiac, they can be kind of a nightmare to deal with, but if you do, they're just a slight annoyance.
Metopons are an item version of Ad Nihilo, except they don't deal damage. You'll want to save this for the boss, if you don't have a Prince/ss.
The bodies are chewed and torn in a way unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.
Oh dear. What could have done this?
It appears that something came along and ate them all. But unless one of the monsters here was mutated, I don't think-hmm. Actually, I believe we got a request about this.
You think back to the request you accepted about investigating a mutated monster... It’s possible that these corpses were ravaged by that great beast...
Okay, whoever's making those funny noises, please stop. ...Something's right behind us, isn't it?
You approach the bodies to take a closer look, but you feel a chilling presence behind you...!
Well, there's our mutated monster!
You manage to draw your weapons just as the monster attacks!
Glutton Beast
HP: 1274
TP: 400
STR: 27
VIT: 26
AGI: 9
LUC: 24
TEC: 25
Attack Type: Strike
Exp: 2507
Item Drops: N/A
Description: A mutated turtle with an appetite so insatiable it threatened the 2nd Stratum’s ecosystem.
Damage Resistances: Slash: 50% Strike: 50% Pierce: 50% Fire: 200% Ice: 200% Volt: 200%
Ailment Resistances: Sleep: 100% Confusion: 100% Plague: 100% Poison: 100% Blind: 100% Curse: 100% Paralysis: 100%
Bind Resistances: Head: 100% Arm: 100% Leg: 100%
Other Resistances: Death: 100% Petrification: 100% Stun: 100%
Skills:
Ice Slurry: Uses the Head. A random target Ice attack that deals 150% damage to 1 to 3 targets.
It is literally the same enemy as the Iron Turtles. The only difference is that it has more HP and TP. It doesn't hit any harder. Kill it however you like, but if you don't have a Zodiac, good luck.
I just decided to roast it with Hellfire. And Akatsuki got a level up. 
Judging from its voracious appetite and extreme ferocity, this must be the mutated monster. You warily keep an eye on your surroundings as you write down details about the creature... ...Now that your report is finished, you should return to the bar to hand it in.
Keburi no Sue now reduces the TP cost of all skills by 6.
An Abyssal Death blocks the way forward. But it's easy to get past.
Get its attention.
Your teeth are so dull, that you couldn't rip Alice apart! ...Okay, run!
And then take advantage of its slow movement to juke it and slip past.
Here's this floor's campsite.
And a shortcut that lets us go through the 8th floor, without having to slip past the Abyssal Death again.
D4 Chop Point:
Sturdy Timber: 70% Gather Rate.
Indigo Pith: 30% Gather Rate.
Abyssal Twig: Rare.
Common Gather Periods: 1 to 9.
Rare Gather Periods: 1 to 5.
At this point, I opted to go back since my inventory was getting full. I unlocked some new equipment as well.
The Helepolis is the crossbow that the Ghost Keel unlocked. It's pretty powerful, and gives regular attacks a 15% chance to inflict leg binds.
Not much for this trip. But we did complete a quest, so let's hand in the report for that one.
Oh! You are back! Did your monster investigating go well?
I will be letting Scott have your report. Here is the reward for you. Good work as always, haha. Thank you!
Fire Mastery increases the damage of Fire attacks by 4%.
As for this Power Book...
Uhhh, my muscles feel stronger, I guess? I'm not sure why I had to be the one to read this.
No, I didn't waste the Power Book. I have plans for Asteria. Though the payoff won't be seen for a long time. Anyways, back to the Labyrinth!
There's another Abyssal Death up ahead.
Same tactics as before. Grab its attention.
And then juke it.
So cold...
An unfortunate accident happened while I was fleeing from a crocodile.
E6 Take Point:
Green Algae: 70% Gather Rate.
Sea Grapes: 30% Gather Rate.
Hibiscus: Rare.
Common Gather Periods: 2 to 8.
Rare Gather Periods: 1 to 4.
Last item point in the Stratum.
And another Star door. This is the last one in the game.
And here's the last Abyssal Death.
Same thing as before, you just have less room to maneuver around it.
And here's a quick shortcut back.
Okay, that's just mean.
You suspect it is the source of the voice who commanded Olympia and gave you the Sea Bead. The door stands imposingly, as if daring you to pass through... You wonder if you are ready yet.
Uhh, I think we should go back and prepare. Ketos or whoever might be beyond this door.
Oh what's this? You don't want to blindly charge forward for once?
Look, we're running low on supplies, and fighting with this team miiiight not be the best idea.
And here's all the equipment I unlocked for this trip. Now I changed the team around, and now for the main attraction. The boss itself!
Here's the team that was chosen to take on the boss.
You shall not fall in my presence!
I leveled up the other party members so they could catch up with the main team. Rally Order increases a row's maximum HP by 30% for 4 turns. It's not that great, but it's a prerequisite to a much better skill.
Now leveling up Sword Mastery to 10 and Rush to 5 unlocks this skill.
This is Rose's best damage skill, and she's going to be quite the powerhouse with this in her arsenal. Well technically she has one other skill that can theoretically deal a lot more damage, but it's not that great.
Trickster restores 8 TP whenever Scott uses an offensive skill.
And on the way to the boss, Faye got another level up.
Form Qi now gives a 35% boost to healing skills.
Holy crap, that's cold!
Unfortunately, this happened right in the area before the boss.
Get up if you can!
Heh, thanks!
Thanks for nothing!
And there goes my plan to launch a Mumyouken at the start of the fight.
And here's my setup for the fight.
Whoa. Uhhh...
Hmm. Can't say I was expecting the name to be literal.
You all sure we can take him on?
Well, we can't give up now!
In this hall at the bottom of the beautiful blue ocean is a whale of tremendous size! The white whale gazes at you with clear eyes glistening with intelligence, then speaks again:
The hulking form before you lets out an ear-splitting roar of a battle cry. Steel yourselves...!
The party automatically walks into Ketos.
It's go time!
Video: Ketos
Ketos
HP: 4699
TP: 802
STR: 33
VIT: 32
AGI: 15
LUC: 32
TEC: 31
Attack Type: Strike
Exp: 9905
Item Drops:
-Normal: Whale Fumarole - 100% Drop Rate. Unlocks the Ocean Gun (Gun. Must be restocked.)
--Used to spout sea water as an offensive measure.
-Gold: Tough Membrane - Kill on the 1st turn. 100% Drop Rate. Prevents Normal Drops. Unlocks the Calico Sailor (Buccaneer's ultimate Light Armor. Must be restocked.)
--White membrane that cannot be torn or pierced.
Description: A grand white whale that slumbers in the abyss. It uses telepathy to speak with explorers.
Damage Resistances: Slash: 100% Strike: 100% Pierce: 100% Fire: 125% Ice: 100% Volt: 100%
Ailment Resistances: Sleep: 50% Confusion: 20% Plague: 20% Poison: 20% Blind: 20% Curse: 10% Paralysis: 20%
Bind Resistances: Head: 40% Arm: 40% Leg: 40%
Other Resistances: Death: 1% Petrification: 1% Stun: 20%
Skills:
Spout: Uses the Head. Increases Ketos' evasion by 20 for 4 turns.
Grand Berry: Uses the Head. Ketos attacks a single target, dealing 140% Strike damage, and has a 99% chance to inflict Paralysis. Has an accuracy of 120.
Ocean Rave: Uses the Head. Ketos attacks the whole party, dealing 200% Strike damage. Has an accuracy of 0.
Ketos can be a bit of a brick wall for some players, but he's honestly not that scary if you know what to do. As long as you have a decent amount of supplies, and a good strategy, you can get through the fight easily. And here's what GeneralYeti has to say on the subject of Ketos:
GeneralYeti posted:
Ketus is the ancient Greek word (latinized as cetus, for those wondering) for a large fish, whale, shark, or other nasty beasties of the sea. Fun fact, the term cetacean derives from cetus, and there's also a constellation named Cetus. As for its mythological links, the Cetus is the sea monster sent by Poseidon to fuck up Ethiopia when Cassiopeia bragged about her daughter Andromeda being more beautiful than Nereids. This is the whole Perseus legend, if y'all aren't aware - Andromeda gets chained to a rock as a sacrifice, the sea monster shows up, and then Perseus saves the day by either stabbing his sword into Cetus's back or using Medusa's head to turn it into stone.
Interestingly, Cetus is(/was? I don't know much about maritime traditions) used as a ship's name to show that a ship is unafraid of the sea. Seeing one of the cetus monsters while out at sea, though, is a bad thing. Apparently while aboard ship it was as taboo a subject as speaking the name of the Scottish Play is in any production involving it. Kinda neat, really.
Gonna open up by weakening Ketos' defenses, and burning away his HP with an Etheric Charged Hellfire.
Protect us!
Aim for that spot!!
Ah, shoot. Where'd he go? I can't see him in all that mist.
Ketos will always use Spout on the 1st turn, and then he'll use it on every 5th turn. Spout makes the fight a lot more annoying since a lot of your attacks will miss. I hope you saved that Metopon for this!
AWOOOOO! Heh, caught him off guard!
Unfortunately for me, I forgot about that part, and just had Faye waste TP.
Ready to set the world on fire?
Ohhh, you know it!
Let's heat things up!
I hope these flames aren't too over-whale-ming!
Limits completely ignore evasion. And I just shaved off 2022 HP, pretty much skipping his first phase. Although it's not really a dangerous one.
Now that setup is done, I'll have the team go on the offensive.
Here's a blade in your head!
Did I give you permission to hide?
I DID NOT!
Ketos' evasion buff will no longer hinder the party.
Holy crap! Everyone, get out of the way!
Geez, it looks like getting hit by that would hurt.
But... I don't think he can hit us with that unless we're too slow, or staying completely still.
Yes. That attack does come out fairly slow, as powerful as it looks.
And here's how the fight operates. Thanks to Ketos' super low AGI stat, and the fact that Ocean Rave has an accuracy of 0, it's actually impossible for it to hit some classes at this point. While for the other classes, the chance of it hitting them is really rare. Like for instance, Rose only has a 3% chance of being hit by Ocean Rave whenever Ketos casts it. It's not much to worry about on its own, but Ketos will try to nullify your evasion, in which case Ocean Rave will always hit.
Gathering energy.
HRRRRAAAAAAARRRRRGGGHHHH! 
Susan will be buffing the team, Rose will be launching Charged physicals, and Asteria will be Etheric Charging Fire Stars.
Prepare to attack!
BAM! A sword to the head! That's gotta sting.
Probably not as much as a fireball to the face. 
Rrrr. 
Shoot! My feet are frozen to the ground!
Once Ketos drops below 76%, he starts throwing this move into the mix:
Freeze Ripple: Uses the Legs. Deals 80% Ice damage to a row, and has a 40% chance to bind their legs. Has an accuracy of 120.
While Grand Berry is a single target disable, Freeze Ripple can make a whole row sitting ducks for Ocean Rave.
I thought about having Faye use Unbind, but I opted to have Susan use a Therica A, and then have Faye use Line Heal in case Ketos used Freeze Ripple again.
Be free, loyal subject!
Thanks. I think.
Heal up!
Well it turns out I didn't need to use Line Heal. Anyways, Ocean Rave is a free turn for you if no one has their evasion nullified. If they do, it's something you have to be afraid of, because it can either one shot or heavily damage your party. Making sure that your party is clear of ailments and binds is the number one priority in this fight since Ocean Rave is Ketos' only AOE damage skill.
Prevent Order wore off, so I'm going to put it back up in case Ketos decides to use Grand Berry.
Oh fiddlesticks.
Once Ketos gets below 51%, the fight gets a lot more dangerous.
DENIED!
His most dangerous move, Great Melody gets thrown into the mix once he starts running low.
Great Melody: Uses the Head. Ketos sings in an attempt to put the party to sleep. Has a 30% success rate.
And right here, I realized that I made a pretty big mistake.
What the heck is that whale trying to do?
Kind of sounds like a lullaby. Maybe he's trying to put us to sleep?
Ha! You think a mere lullaby would be enough to break our concentration!?
Sounds kind of... soothing...
I really could use a rest...
Oh son of a..!
I forgot to put Prevent Order on my back row! And that's not all!
You may have noticed this already, but I forgot to bring any Therica Bs! I am good at video games! 
Can't you do anything to wake them up!?
I'm trying! But those ladies are in a deep, and I mean DEEP, sleep!
Just what did that song do to them?
So I go for one my backup plans, and put Guard Order on the back row. Hopefully that will be enough to mitigate the damage from Ocean Rave.
Guard them well!
But then Scott comes through with a clutch head bind! If you're wondering about the exact odds, Scott had a 24% to 27% chance to land that.
Try spouting all that water now! Ahahaha!
Way to go, Scott!
And since every one of Ketos' skills, aside from Freeze Ripple uses the head, Ketos is effectively shut down as long as that head bind stays on him. 
Rose' Limit Gauge is full, so now I can finally use Mumyouken.
Now it's my turn!
Eh, 505 points of damage. That's not bad, but that's as much as a single hit from Hellfire.
Ketos desperately wants to use Ocean Rave, but he just can't, thanks to the head bind.
And he's still helpless! Now once Ketos' HP drops below 26%, he gets more aggressive. He stops using Spout altogether, so every 5th turn is no longer a breather for your party.
Ketos' AI is pretty much fixated on using Ocean Rave if anyone is eligible to be hit by it.
Shoot! His head got unplugged! What are we gonna do!?
Hope that this works!
The damage boost that Sleep gives to physical attacks pretty much ensures that Ocean Rave will kill anyone that's asleep. This is gonna suck.
Fortunately, I made a really good call with that Guard Order. Without it, Faye and Asteria would have died.
Ow! What hit me!?
Ugh... How long were we out?
Too long! If it weren't for Susan, you would have gone down!
It's Megaqueen. And you're welcome.
Thar you blew.
Ketos may seem like a tough boss, but he's honestly not that scary if you come prepared.
Its tremendous form lies before you, ready to expire at any moment...
Its weak voice echoes in your mind just before that same voice speaks to you out loud.
With this, the Oceanmaster closes its eyes, its consciousness fading away. The way before you is clear, but you hesitate... perhaps you should return to Armoroad first.
Huh. What do you think he was talking about?
Probably the reason they went through so much trouble to keep people out of the Deep City. Well, shall we press forward?
We came this far. Might as well keep going.
Now we can open those Star doors, but we still can't do anything about the locked chests and the Moon doors. We'll check out what's behind the Star doors later.
Onward to the Deep City!