The Ancient Cave has 99 levels. When you enter the cave, your level is dropped to 1 and you have no items except 10 potions and whatever items that you have already found in blue treasure chests inside the Ancient Cave. Also, the cave is different each time you enter. There are stairs going down but no stairs coming up and no save spots. The only way out is to use Providence, which you will be able to find somewhere between level 20 and level 30. After you exit the cave, your level will be restored and your items returned, however you will have to return all items that you found in the cave except the ones that you found in a blue treasure chest or the Iris Treasures. At the bottom of the cave is the Jugernaut Jelly. If you show him that you are worthy, he will give you the Ancient Key. The Ancient Key will unlock the door in the lobby of the Ancient Cave. Inside that door are three treasure chests which hold some very nice items. They are the Brill Helm, Dragon Ring, and Light Jewel. In addition to the blue chest items, there are items in the red treasure chests that you can bring out of the cave. These are the Iris Treasures. There are 10 Iris Treasures that can be found in the Ancient Cave. They are the Iris sword, shield, armor, helmet, ring, jewel, staff, pot, tiara, and the Jugernaut Jelly himself. When you get an Iris Treasure and exit the cave, take it to the shop right next to the inn in Gruberik and give it to the girl in the basement. You really don't get anything for collecting all 10 Iris Treasures, which I found to be VERY disappointing. The only thing that happens is the girl displaying the Iris Treasures pays you a compliment, that's it. But, it was still fun finding all of them. There's nothing quite like the thrill of beating the Jugernaut Jelly and collecting the 10th Iris Treasure. It makes all the time and effort that you put into the game worth it. It really is quite an achievement!
Here's How To Do It
One step ahead awaits paradise and purgatory.
Believe nothing save yourself!
1. Maxim, Guy, Selan, and Dekar should be in your party. If you are too far along in the game and you don't have Dekar in your party, you should save your game and start a new one. It doesn't take that long to get to the Ancient Cave and it will save you a lot of time. Although I have beat the Jugernaut Jelly with Arty in the party, I do not recommend trying to beat the Ancient Cave without Dekar. It is possible, but it was very challenging. It came down to the last attack of round 3 to beat the Jugernaut Jelly and the entire party was at level 86.
2. To beat the Ancient Cave is going to take A LOT OF TIME. If you're not willing to put the time into it, you will never beat it. To get to the bottom of the 99 level cave, you are going to have to make MULTIPLE trips into the cave. You have to have a lot of blue chest items to even get close to the bottom. This may require making 50 or even 100 or even more trips into the cave and then using Providence to get out. It is the only way. When I beat the Jugernaut Jelly, I started out with everyone in the party being totally equipped with blue chest items. Also, one blue chest item you MUST find is the Gades Blade. The IP of the Gades Blade attacks an enemy 8 times. This works really well against the Jugernaut Jelly.
3. After you have found the Gades Blade and your party is almost completely equipped or completely equipped with blue chest items, you are ready to go after the Jugernaut Jelly on level 99. First, read all the tips a-j and tip #4 below to get a good understanding of what you need to do. If you closely follow these suggestions below, I guarantee you will be able to whip the Jugernaut Jelly.
a. Use your sword to cut every bush you find. There are sometimes healing tiles under these bushes. After a while you will be able to spot these tiles without cutting the bushes.
b. Use every Brave and Power Potion you find on Guy. The higher his guts and strength, the more damage he will be able to inflict with his IP attack (Gades Blade), which allows him to attack 8 times.
c. Kill everything that you possibly can. Fight every enemy you encounter AT LEAST until level 85. Around level 85, Gold Dragons start appearing. Gold Dragons are bad ass. I do not recommend trying to beat the Gold Dragons. Although I strongly urge you not to mess with them, Gold Dragons can be beat by using IP attacks (Dekar Blade, Gades Blade, Lizard Blow, etc.). However, Gold Dragons get 3 attacks per round and their special attack (Stardust Blow) will kill ANY party if the Gold Dragon casts it 3 times in a round. The Gold Dragon will not cast this spell 3 times every round, but you never know when it will. Stronger parties will be able to survive 2 of these attacks. If you do decide to try to kill one, make sure you sneak up behind it to get in the first attack and try to kill it before it gets a chance to attack. If your IP is not at 100%, forget about it and just run. Also, you can beat 2 Gold Dragons at the same time (not recommended to try) if you can kill at least one of them and have the other one almost dead before they attack. 2 Gold Dragons have the ability to cast 6 special attacks (3 will kill the entire party).
d. There are several red chest items that you almost have to find if you are going to make it down to level 99 and beat the Jugernaut Jelly. These are discussed in tips e-g. Obviously you have no control over what you find in red chests but if you are getting down to around level 50 and you don't have most of these red chest items, it might be a good idea to Providence out and start fresh. Also, it is a good idea to keep in mind what NOT to feed to your capsule monster. Camu Armor and Holy Wings Armor should not be fed to your capsule monster. Even though they aren't as good as your blue chest armor defensively, save them to use against the Jugernaut Jelly because they raise ATP and you don't need defense against the Jugernaut Jelly anyway.
e. You need to find the Dekar Blade for Dekar. The IP of the Dekar Blade will cut an enemy's HP in half. The Jugernaut Jelly has about 10,000 HP, and you only have 3 rounds to beat him. You are going to need the Dekar Blade.
f. You need to find either the Champion spell or the Valor spell or both. Without a good healing spell, your potions will probably run out. Also, you need to find the Absorb spell, which absorbs MP from enemy's and you only need one MP to use it. Without this spell you will more than likely run out of magic potions towards the lower levels.
g. You need to find the Myth Blade or the Old Sword for Maxim. The IP of the Myth Blade cuts an enemy's HP by 1/4. The IP of the Old Sword cuts an enemy's HP by 1/6.
h. Build your capsule monster up to Master Level. You can start out with any capsule monster you wish but I don't recommend using Flash because he is a healer and you need an attacker against the Jugernaut Jelly. However, after you find a Charm Fruit, Earth Fruit, Holy Fruit, Breeze Fruit, Secret Fruit, or Blaze Fruit you should switch to the capsule monster that needs that particular fruit to get to Master Level. To get to Master Level, you must first feed your capsule monster enough items to get to Level 4. After that, feed Blaze a Charm Fruit in his Level 3 form, feed Gusto an Earth Fruit in his Level 4 form, feed Darbi a Holy Fruit in his Level 2 form, feed Sully a Breeze Fruit in his Level 4 form, feed Jelze a Secret Fruit in his Level 4 form, and feed Zeppy a Blaze Fruit in his Level 3 form to get them to Master Level.
i. Before you go down the steps to the 99th level, MAKE SURE that each member of your party's IP is at 100%. You can find this out by looking at their Status. If your IP isn't at 100%, get in a fight and get hit just enough to boost it up, but BE CAREFUL. You don't want to waste the 10 hours of your life that it took to get that far down in the cave.
j. Before you fight the Jugernaut Jelly, equip Maxim with the Myth Blade (red chest) or the Old Sword (red chest), Dekar with the Dekar Blade (red chest), and Guy with the Gades Blade (blue chest). If you found the Gorgon Rock (Gorgon enemy drops it), equip Selan with that and the best weapon possible for her. The IP of the Gorgon Rock cuts an enemy's HP by 1/8. Then equip your party with items that raise ATP or Guts, like the Camu Armor and Holy Wings. Also, I know I said it earlier but use all of your Braves and Power Potions on Guy, who should be equipped with the Gades Blade. The IP of the Gades Blade will attack the enemy 8 times. Be sure to make those 8 times count!
4. Give the Jugernaut Jelly HELL! Don't worry about defense because the Jugernaut Jelly doesn't attack. Have Maxim and Dekar use their IP attacks in the first round. Save Guy and Selan's IP for the second round and just have them attack or have Selan cast Trick on Guy to raise his ATP. After using everybody's IP attacks, the Jugernaut Jelly's HP should be pretty low if not completely gone. If not, you should be able to finish him off with your swords. Magic doesn't have much of an effect on him. Hopefully your capsule monster will get into the fight, but you never know. Whether it does or not, if you followed my advice, you should be able to prove yourself worthy to the Jugernaut Jelly (I did it in two rounds with Dekar in the party).
GOOD LUCK!
Blue Chest Items
Blaze Sword, Gades Blade, Sizzle Sword, Mega Ax, Snow Sword, Fry Sword, Sky Sword, Air Whip, Water Spear, Spark Staff, Dragon Spear, Ruse Armor, Mirak Plate, Bolt Shield, Flame Shield, Apron Shield, Cryst Shield, Water Gaunt, Dark Mirror, Ice Hairband, Boom Turban, Agony Helm, Aqua Helm, Flame Helm, Hairpin, Dia Ring, Engage Ring, Sea Ring, Earring, Catfish Jewel, Gloom Jewel, Spido Jewel, Camu Jewel, Thundo Jewel, Earth Jewel, Tidal Jewel, Twist Jewel, Water Jewel, Gorgan Rock, Silver Eye, Black Eye, Gold Eye
