The Jade Empire covers most of the southern half of the continent of Darhan; at the time that Leon passed through, it was ruled by the infamous Sun Hai. To the north was the legendary Desert of Hungry Insects, ruled by the mythical Insect Queen. These two people are well known historical figures in today's world, but only in Darhan is it common knowledge that there were actually Five Rulers that had divided the continent amongst themselves.
The Emperor of the Jade Empire.
The Queen of the Desert of Hungry Insects.
The Demon King of New Kunlun.
The Dark Lord of the Wind Road.
The Grandmaster of Nahul.
Nahul sits at the very north of the landmass, looking like a figment of science fiction thanks to its wealth of Lost Items and technology. Its ruler was a terrible sorcerer who deposed the rulers of old, plunging Darhan into anarchy. It was not until Sagacious Tien - ancestor of Sun Hai - united his scattered people and established the Jade Empire that peace returned.
Immortal and invincible, no army, monster or hero could threaten Meio's iron grip. He remained secluded in his northern fortress, creating ever more horrifying monsters to guard his dominion.
Then Leon came along; in his defence, that's really not something you can prepare for.
Huan Strongarm: A Bartfort Folktale, by Lufas Maphaahl
Leon ran without rest until the desert gave way to grasslands, until the grasslands gave way to dense jungle. The humid air was heavy in his lungs, and the trees were shrouded with dense mist; as he felt the ground incline upward he passed through a wall of fog, which he knew acted as a thermal barrier to maintain the jungle's heat.
On the other side was land of snow, a winter wonderland that extended outward in all directions. High mountains rose solemnly before him, the grey sky weeping with snow. Leon barely felt the bitter cold, while Moz didn't have an organic cell in his body and casually ignored it. Pietru squealed like a child, diving into the snow and playing gleefully.
If Meio had only taken the Occuluncus and left the freezing axe alone, he might have felt tempted to join her.
The citadel of Nahul crouched between the mountains like a monster of steel and concrete; its enormous outer wall towered higher than even the Holfort Royal Palace, and huge searchlights scanned the dim sky for possible aerial attackers. Watchtowers sat at intervals, and with his supernatural vision Leon could see they were manned by heavily armed guards with futuristic armour and heavy duty assault rifles.
"Well this is inconvenient," he huffed. His first impulse was to make like Kool-Aid Man and crash straight through the wall, but he was keenly aware of how badly that might end for the innocent civilians on the other side. "We might need to go over it."
"It's a shame I can't carry you," remarked Pietru. She had fluttered over to perch on his back, and had clumps of snow stuck in her fur. "Back in the day I could have flown us straight over that wall, easy."
"That would have opened us up to the turrets," Leon pointed out. "I think our best bet might be for me to just jump over."
Moz shot him an odd look, shifting the egg in his arms. "Can you really do that? Even for you, that's a pretty big leap."
"Yeah, but I grew way bigger than usual against the Fatalis. Maybe I can do it again."
Pietru cocked her head cutely. "Is that why your eyes are red now?"
"My eyes are red?"
"Hold on." Moz tucked the egg under one arm, picking up the Elder Dragon with his free hand; she squawked as he used her as a scrub, polishing a section of his armour to a mirror sheen. "There, take a look."
Leon looked at his reflection in the Comet General's armour: a terrifying black wolfdog looked back with demonic red eyes. "Oh man, that is sinister!"
"You're lucky that was funny Moz!"
At this point, someone had noticed the light glinting off Onemore's armour. Pietru ducked behind the wolfdog as they opened fire, while the other two responded with mild annoyance as the bullets harmlessly bounced off them.
"Anyway," said Leon. "I should be able to do it again. If you just turn into a bracelet-"
"I can't do that." Someone fired a rocket from one of the watchtowers; Leon barked at it, causing it to explode before it could even hit them. "Someone needs to hold the egg."
"Can't you just store it in your chest-gem-thing?"
"It's a living thing, boss! We don't know what pocket dimensions can do to a baby!"
"Why don't we just ride on his back?" Pietru suggested. "He has plenty of fur to hold on to."
Leon growled as a high caliber sniper bullet bounced off his face. "Fine. Let me just…"
He was already at his maximum size, which he had used to fight the Keoaruboru. With immense concentration he continued to grow, looming bigger and bigger until even the Lao-Shan Lung would have been dwarfed beside him; as the Nahul soldiers began to scream and panic he capped out, reaching the same immense height with which he had slaughtered the swarm of Fatalis. It was tough to estimate, but he was now slightly shorter than the Lao on its hind legs and many times bulkier.
"Ugh," he groaned. "That felt weird."
Pietru fluttered onto his head, looking tiny as she sat comfortably between his ears. "Did it hurt?"
"Nah, this was more like… you know… manual breathing."
"Oh, ew!"
At this point the city gates swung open; a battalion of soldiers swarmed through, joined by tanks and flightless Armours that were brightly painted in shades of red and yellow. "Dammit!" Leon cursed. "Why do I even bother!"
"Let's just go," said Moz soothingly. "Also, maybe I should… uh… duck down an alley once we're inside. I'm worried about a stray bullet hitting the egg."
"Yeah, that's fair." Leon strolled boredly through the front gate, coolly ignoring the hail of bullets and missiles; occasionally the tanks and Armours got in his way, causing him to swat them aside with his forepaws. The soldiers - who looked like Lego miniatures as they ran about his ankles - screamed in a panic as he infiltrated their home with casual ease: the enemy forces totally missed Sir Onemore as he slunk in behind them, ducking down a side street and lifting a manhole cover to hide below ground.
The streets of Nahul were as beautiful as they were barren, with chromed up buildings and a dazzling array of lights that hadn't been visible beyond the outer wall. The streets were covered in a deep layer of snow, and there was no one in sight but the aggressors.
"This is stupid," muttered Leon. "There are people waiting for the night shift who are trying to sleep."
He leapt into the air with Pietru clinging desperately to his forehead, belly flopping onto the defenceless buildings; at the last moment he shrank to the size of a regular dog, landing gracefully on a random rooftop.
"Holy crap, doggie!" Pietru rasped. "Warn me next time!"
Leon huffed in amusement and began hopping from roof to roof; small turrets set into the eaves maintained a constant rate of fire, but he took great care to dodge so as to avoid his companion being hurt. Occasionally he was attacked by small robots - some that hovered in the air like drones and some that hopped like mechanical frogs - but he tore them apart with ease. "This is easy. If this is all Meio has then I'm embarrassed for him."
"Loser."
In his private quarters, Grandmaster Meio was watching the invasion on a holographic monitor. The Occuluncus had been placed in a special cage with restraints to hold his eye shut, while the freezing axe was affixed to his wall. It rattled constantly as it fought to free itself.
"Well," he muttered to himself. "He's certainly more durable than I was expecting." His favourite method for ensuring loyalty was the infliction of pain; something told him it wouldn't work this time. He pressed a button, instantly placing him into contact with his two most trusted lieutenants. "Strobaya. Mikiel. Distract the invader while I arm the Divine Punishment Satellite."
Meanwhile, Leon continued merrily over the rooftops of Nahul with the Elder Dragon still clinging to his back. "I think we're doing well!"
Anticlimactically he slipped on the icy tiles, sliding down the slanted roof with a yelp; with a crash of shattering glass he fell through the neighbouring skylight, landing painfully on the hard floor.
"Oof," said Pietru. "That was embarrassing."
The room lit up, revealing itself to be a well-equipped laboratory. A platform slowly lowered from the ceiling, revealing an extraordinarily muscular man wearing a tight red outfit with a gold belt. Various machines were injecting unknown substances into his arms, legs and torso, reminding Leon of Bane, and his hair was blond and cropped short while his eyes were a piercing blue.
"Who the-"
"HORRORSHOW!" The man leapt through the air, the machines tearing away from his body as his shirt exploded off his bulging muscles. Leon yelped and leapt aside as he punched the spot where he had just been standing, creating an enormous crater that shook the earth. "Even immortal beasts flee before Strobaya!" Strobaya gloated. "Look at me! LOOK AT ME! I AM HERO!"
It should be noted that he was speaking his native language, which Leon understood because he could understand everything with a voice. This was just how Strobaya talked.
"Where the hell did he come from?" Leon yelped, too caught off guard to fight back.
"HERE I COME!" Strobaya lunged in close, attacking like a rabid beast. "I am going to KILL you and KILL you and KILL YOU!"
"I don't hate this guy," admitted Pietru.
Leon yelped as Strobaya swept him up in a bear hug, breaking his back with a horrific snap. "It is good day to be giant man!" Leon tried to expand in size, but an electric pulse lanced out of Strobaya's palms directly into his flesh; the wolfdog screamed as his muscles went numb, halting the transformation in its tracks. "Stoopid stoopid stoopid! You are no match for me!"
"Huan!" Pietru dive bombed them, spitting a blast of icy breath directly into his eyes.
"Gah!" Strobaya roared, dropping the wolfdog involuntarily. He blinked through the pain and glared at the tiny Elder Dragon. "What sick man sends BABIES to fight me?"
Like always, Leon recovered quickly. He grew and snapped up the giant in his jaws, only for Strobaya to brace himself against the roof of his mouth in a spectacular display of strength.
"Haha!" The man was actually pushing his mouth wider and wider, causing Leon to whine as pain ripped through his jaw. "Next time, pick on someone your own tiny baby size!"
The wolfdog began to buck and thrash, tearing down the walls of the lab. In one of the neighbouring rooms a strange machine raised out of the floor, its body plated in gleaming metal with six red nodes dotted over its sides; each of these nodes began firing lasers in all directions, which singed Leon's fur but didn't do much else.
"I have squashed you like bug!" Strobaya roared, either not noticing or not caring as the demolished his property.
"Huan!" Pietru screamed. "Use the machine!"
Leon held the blond man as close to the nodes as he could; his nostrils burned with the stench of cooking meat as Strobaya screamed, the lasers burning his spine in half and allowing Leon jaws to slam shut on his body. He chewed him up and spit him out; apparently, his massive body was almost entirely mechanical. Pietru crooned in concern as she landed on his shoulder.
"You okay?"
"I'm fine." Leon worked his jaw experimentally, the twinges of pain fading quickly. "That guy was tougher than I was expecting." He suddenly realised that the device was still zapping him in the side, smashing it with one paw.
The resulting explosion caused the floor to cave in, dropping them into the massive room below. They had clearly fallen into some kind of council room, which was a massive dome shape lined with countless seats filled by four dour looking men in uniform. They stared at the intruders in shock.
"General Mikiel," someone quavered. "The intruders are here."
At the centre of the room stood a stout, fat man in military gear with black hair and an unkempt beard. He was, presumably, General Mikiel. "The Grandmaster has spoken!" The man gestured grandly as he spoke, his body language screaming self importance. "Assemble the Ouroboros!"
His body unfolded into a mangle of machinery, as did every other man in the room; they floated through the air and joined together into the form of a segmented robotic serpent, whose red and yellow armour shifted as it floated sinuously through the air. It had two tiny arms holding a hammer and sickle, as well a shrieking, insectoid mouth.
"Ah," said Leon. "Giant monsters." His tail wagged as he grew in size. "Now this is more my speed."
The God Hound and the Ouroboros clashed, destroying what remained of the building. The battle spilled onto the streets, the wolfdog barking and snapping as the mechanical serpent wound itself around him. Its jaws and weapons tore at his throat, but couldn't even pierce his skin. "Pitiful beast!" Mikiel's voice suddenly echoed from its mouth. "Did you really think-"
At long last, Leon got a grip with his jaws; he ripped the Ouroboros from his body and tore it to shreds, which continued to move as the council members fought to escape. The wolfdog used his most disrespectful technique, rolling over them and flattening them into crushed metal and sparking wires.
Soon only Mikiel was left alive, his entire mechanical lower body destroyed. "Do you really think you can win?" Despite the defiant words, the General's voice was shrill with fear. "You will never defeat the Grandmaster!"
It was at this moment that Meio was contacted by one of his scientists. "Grandmaster. The Divine Punishment Satellite is ready to fire. Should we wait for General Mikiel to evacuate?"
"No. Destroy them."
Leon leapt away as instinct took over, every cell in his body screaming at him that he was about to die; a black hole the size of a truck appeared where he had just been standing, sucking in everything around and leaving devastation in its wake. After a split second it vanished, leaving hemispherical gaps where it had devoured parts of the scenery. "FRICKETY FRACKETY FUCK!" Leon yelped. "What the hell was that?"
"Tremble before the Grandmaster's Divine Punishment Satellite," sneered Mikiel, spewing black oil as it bubbled up the back of his throat. "It is an ultimate weapon capable of creating artificial fixed-point black holes! Not even you can survive a direct hit from this!"
"He's trying to kill you too, jackass!"
"Ignore him," said Pietru flatly. "He clearly can't understand us." More and more black holes appeared by the second, gleefully uncaring of civilian casualties. "We can't fight this! We should regroup!"
The giant wolfdog sprinted through the streets, the artificial black holes following in his wake and causing nightmarish property damage wherever he went. "Shit!" Leon hissed. "Looks like there's no choice."
Like the living weapon he was, Leon crashed into Nahul's outer wall at stop speed and exploded straight through it, rolling helplessly down the snowy cliff on the other side. Meio watched on his monitor as he gained more and more distance from the city.
"Why did we stop?"
"The Divine Punishment Satellite was oriented at the city, Grandmaster," explained the scientist. "The creature has moved beyond its established range; we will need to rearm it if we want to target… wait…"
Leon had regained his footing and taken off into the wilderness, his incredible speed making him impossible to track. For some reason, the deep snow did nothing to slow him down. If anything he was even more graceful than he was before. "Let me guess," spat Meio. "He got away?"
"Grandmaster-"
"I don't need your excuses, Schlange!" It took only a moment of distraction, but Meio had already lost sight of the bizarre canine. "Call my bounty hunters. All of them. Tell them I will pay them ten times the usual amount if they kill this dog, and extra if they bring me its pelt. I want it dead by sunrise.
In the sewers below Nahul, Moissa Onemore sat in a filthy corner with the egg cradled against his chest.
"Well this sucks."
Boss: Strobaya
Summary: Nahul here is represented by the first Stage of the original Strider, which is set in the real life city of St Petersburg.
Fun Fact: I have always associated this city with the corresponding missions from Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, where 47 must hunt down four generals for reasons I've forgotten. For some reason spellcheck wanted that to be spelt Silent Asian. Weird.
The Divine Punishment Satellite is lifted from Iron Ladies, and first appears in Chapter 240
Everyone knows about General Mikiel and the Ouroboros, given that the former is a major antagonist in the 2014 remake and the latter gets a new version in every game. No one remembers about Strobaya. But I do. I remember.
For context, Strobaya is the first boss in the entire Strider series; he is also skippable, and there almost no Let's Player willing to fight him. Personally, I could only find one: AL82 Retrogaming Longplays.
Do the gaming industry a favour: fight Strobaya, then upload the video onto social media.
Never forget.