Random Curiosity

Summary:

With Druaga rampaging about, Jil proposes a plan where he lures it to the spot above them in order to restrict the monster’s movements. He’s counting on Kaaya to use the stone slab to take down Druaga’s protective barrier, and everyone else could help at that point. Neeba meanwhile is hiding from Druaga, and the Succubus finds him and gives him the final Void Arrow that he had lost during the fight with Pazuz. He thinks that she’d be happy with Druaga being so strong since Druaga used to be her man, but she feels that that person already died in the fight with Gilgamesh. This causes Neeba to recall how he had discovered her sealed away in the depths of the tower, and she explains that it’s her job to help him get to the top of the Tower. Her suggestion for him is to watch the others try their best against Druaga, and that will allow him to get to the mythical tower where the real journey begins. The others are at this moment preparing to face Druaga, and Kelb takes the chance to apologize to all the Climbers for looking down on them until now. Melt, on the other hand, uses this time to tell Jil to be careful, and Coopa in turn tells Melt that she’d serve him even in the next life because he can’t do anything without her.

Over in a different corner, Kaaya gives Fatina a magical buff, and Fatina asks Kaaya if she’s going out with Jil. Kaaya’s denial prompts Fatina to suggest that Kaaya stop acting like a tease, and Fatina claims to hate women with a lot of secrets. Kaaya then moves on to casting a protective spell on Jil, and he thanks her for everything up to now. He knows that he could die but tells her not to worry because he’s happy about having gotten this far and about fighting alongside everyone. Knowing that this could be the end, Kaaya feels that she has a lot to apologize to him for and can’t hold herself back from kissing him. In tears now, she gets him to promise not to die before leaving his side. Moments later, Druaga crashes through the wall beside Jil, leaving him no choice but to urge the others to run while he enacts their plan. He thus taunts Druaga into attacking him and leads Druaga to the upper floor where everyone is waiting. After Kaaya successfully takes down Druaga’s barrier with the magic of the stone slab, they all begin to attack and manage to whittle away at Druaga’s various appendages. Unfortunately, Jil gets caught in the process. Things look bad as Druaga starts to squeeze Jil to death, however a Void Arrow courtesy of Neeba suddenly gets shot at Druaga’s chest, separating the top and bottom halves of its body.

This allows Jil to get free of Druaga’s grasp and jump on its back, and although he had dropped his weapon, he notices that Ahmey’s is still lodged into the back of Druaga’s head. He thus finishes what Ahmey started by activating her weapon’s drill ability and using it to cut through Druaga’s neck, severing its head. This completely defeats Druaga, and its body subsequently vanishes into dust. This also causes every other monster in the Tower to disintegrate, and all the particles gather to form what appears to be the Blue Crystal Rod. Jil staggers towards it with the desire to bring Ahmey back, but before he can reach it, he gets shot in the back with an arrow, and Neeba picks it up instead. Neeba declares that this isn’t the real Blue Crystal Rod, and by holding it up, he causes a giant structure to float down from the sky above the Tower. A stairwell then appears from what Neeba identifies as the mythical tower which holds the true ending point, and he reveals that the current Rod is only the key to that tower. Feeling betrayed, Fatina confronts Neeba, and so he openly admits that what he told her about treasure and the end of their journey was just to get her to do her job.

Jil meanwhile is angry at Neeba for deceiving his friends, so Neeba notes that he’s not the only one to do so and singles out Kaaya. To Jil’s surprise, she willingly decides to continue on to the mythical tower with Neeba, leaving Jil behind. Shortly after those two get on the stairwell, a blast of water comes crashing down and washes the others away. When Jil finally is able to regain his footing and stand back up - with an unconscious Fatina in his arms - he finds that he’s back at the waterfalls by the settlement of Meskia. After yelling out Kaaya’s name in frustration, he resolves to try once again.

Bah. I was literally cursing at the episode like a drunken sailor when it ended and the Sword of Uruk in 2009 message came up. The fact that there’s going to be a second half in itself isn’t so bad, but it’s incredibly frustrating to see virtually nothing important get explained and have them put off everything until next year by introducing a secret part of the tower. Technically we now know a little more about the Succubus and about what Neeba meant when he kept talking about what came after Druaga, however his and Kaaya’s motivations are still unclear. It doesn’t help either that they tease with the mysterious girl (who appears to be emerging from one of the casket that Pazuz had brought up) and then with Gilgamesh at the end.

Now, despite labeling this as the end of this series, I’m not going to be writing my usual final thoughts section about it since the story isn’t over yet. I’ll say this instead: Druaga has had moments of brilliance - mainly when it doesn’t take itself seriously - but has been overall just an average series with pretty good production quality (especially when you consider this produced by Gonzo). The story is interesting enough and I’m invested in it enough to know I’m almost certainly going to watch the next one (which I wouldn’t do, for example, if Dragonaut were to get a sequel), but that doesn’t keep me from feeling very frustrated with it right now. Hopefully, the Sword of Uruk will get a proper ending that wraps everything up nicely.