Another productive evening, but I'm still stuck on the Flamelurker. On the brightside, I've completed the Shrine of Storms area (which I consider to be the easiest of the five regions) and the Warding Spell is still the MVP of magic spells, which allowed me to wreck the dual-wielding katana skeletons. I was also able to max out two of my weapons (Darkmoon and Quality/Raw) with the stones I acquired in the area, met patches, rescued Saint Urbain giving me access to the higher tier miracles I'm likely going to ignore except for possibly Second Chance, and I've unlocked one of the best Soul Farming areas in the game. Not to mention the Old Hero and the Storm King are two really fun fights despite how easy they are.

Now that I've gotten some more levels in Magic, I'm going to challenge the Flamelurker again. If I still fail, I may jump into Boletaria 1-3 and see if I can rescue Biorr and Yuria, mainly so I can get access to better sorcery magic. If not, I'll probably start Tower of Latria to rescue Sage Frieke, which I'm both looking forward to and dreading at the same time, as it ended up being one of my favorite areas in the game, but I can only imagine what NG+ has done to make the place more terrifying. As usual, I'm probably going to leave the Valley of Defilement for last, cause smurf that place.