Charybdis

Charybdis
In-game appearance
Statistics
Location	Tartarus Deep
Bounty	10,000 G
Wanted Poster
Raided submarines out in Depro-submarine route, 2 of which were sunk. Threatening to ships out at sea.

Charybdis (カリュブディス Karyubudisu) is a huge black seadevil (Melanocetus) that resides in Tartarus Deep. She is the third boss in The Ocean Hunter.

Background

Created by Rahab to oversee Tartarus Deep, Charybdis has raided submarines along the supposed Depro sea route, of which two were sunk, and has disrupted many deep sea operations.

The bounty on the capture or death of this giant anglerfish is 10,000 G.

The Ocean Hunter

Prior to Torel's and Chris' arrival to Tartarus Deep, Charybdis attacked an underwater operation, killing all but one diver.

While traversing an underwater dark cave, Torel and Chris notice a strange light in a distance and move to investigate. Charybdis then suddenly reveals herself once the two adventurers got close, but they are able to retreat to safety in time. Charybdis then proceeds to attack the two adventurers, who promptly fight back.

Halfway into the battle, Charybdis flanks the two from behind and attempts to suck them into her mouth. Despite the odds, however, Torel and Chris are able to defeat Charybdis, causing her esca to fall off due to extensive damage and ending Charybdis' reign of Tartarus Deep.

Gameplay

Sunburst Area/Vulnerable area: Entire body
Sweet Spot/Weakpoint: Eye(?) (first part), Esca/lantern

The battle is split into three distinctive parts.

Charybdis will first approach the player and open her mouth to release the lanternfish hidden inside. The player can either rapidly fire at her mouth or her eye(?) earlier to prevent this attack or attack the incoming enemies before focusing on Charybdis. This attack pattern will repeat so forth.

After she loses one-third of health, Charybdis will retreat further into the darkness (save for her esca). The player must repeatedly fire below the illuminating esca to stop Charybdis from coming out of the darkness to bite the player. Success will cause the monster to retreat into the darkness. This attack pattern will repeat so forth.

Once her health is reduced to almost a half, Charybdis will pull off one last move to kill the player by sucking the player into her mouth from behind. From here on, the player character (or rather the camera) will be thrown around by the strong current and the Sweet Spot will be revealed via a targeting reticle onscreen. The player must fire at the Sweet Spot before the time limit runs out, which will be indicated by the proximity between the player and Charybdis' mouth to avoid taking damage. Charybdis will be defeated once she receives three successful shots to the Sweet Spot.

Trivia

• A giant anglerfish boss named Myctophidae from Monster Eye has some similarities to Charybdis, such as she attempts to suck in the player characters during the last stage of its boss fight with her esca being the final target/weakpoint.

Etymology

In Greek mythology, Charybdis was a sea-monster whose gigantic whirlpool swirled in the straits of Messina opposite the cliffs of the monster Scylla.

Charybdis was born a nymph and was the daughter of Poseidon and Gaea, She aided her father Poseidon in his feud with her paternal uncle Zeus and, as such, helped him engulf lands and islands in water. Zeus, angry over the land she stole from him, captured and chained her to the sea-bed. Charybdis was then cursed by the god and transformed into a hideous bladder of a monster with flippers for arms and legs and an uncontrollable thirst for the sea. As such, she drank the water from the sea thrice a day to quench it before belching the water back out again, creating large whirlpools capable of dragging a ship underwater.

In another account she was punished for stealing and eating sheep belonging to Heracles, which he in turn had stolen from Geryon in his tenth labor. The fact that Charybdis had stolen what Heracles had rightfully stolen enraged Zeus.

Subsequent scholarship has suggested that the monster was based on a whirlpool in the Strait of Messina.

Gallery

Scan from Sega Saturn Magazine