Shin Megami Tensei V - The Cursed Mermaids subquest and Pazuzu fight

One of your earliest subquests in Shin Megami Tensei V is an encounter with a demon tucked away in an easy-to-miss corner. The fight itself isn’t a big challenge, but making sure you don’t go running past the mermaid is more of an issue. 

We’ve got a complete list of every quest in SMTV that includes locations and rewards, but we’ve got a detailed rundown on the encounter if you’re having trouble with finding and finishing The Cursed Mermaids

How to complete The Cursed Mermaids and beat Pazuzu in SMTV

You’ll begin SMTV in the Minato region, and that’s where you unlock The Cursed Mermaids subquest. Take the Hamamatsucho Leyline teleport and run underneath the bridge towards the river; you should see a Mermaid demon ahead with a quest marker. 

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Speak to the Mermaid, and she’ll explain to you that Pazuzu has cursed her friends and she needs your help to lift the spell. This is when she asks you to accept The Cursed Mermaids, so agree to the task, and now we’ll worry about the actual fight. Before you proceed, you’ll need to have beaten Hydra at Tokyo Tower. If you’ve done that, take the Tokyo Tower Leyline to return to the area.

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You can make the encounter easier by building up your Magatsuhi meter first. Your party should include demons that can use Bufu (Ice) skills to exploit Pazuzu’s weakness. If you’re looking to fuse an easy one, I picked Mermaid. You can fuse her together with Pixie and Azumi or Pixie and Preta—there are plenty of easy to recruit early demons for the formula. Mermaid has Stomcaller Song, and that makes the boss way easier.

If you’re worried about healing, Angel is another quick and easy fuse that gave me some quick and easy restoration skills after combining Mandrake and Pixie. 

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Take the southwest path from the Tokyo Tower Leylines and move towards the other puddle of water. There’s a big wall there, and you’ll see Pazuzu hovering in the air when you approach. Aogami will stop and warn you that he’s strong—I was around level 15 when I beat him, and it wasn’t bad—and then you can proceed. 

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As mentioned before, Pazuzu’s weakness is Bufu skills. I started with Omagatoki: Critical and just chained Nahobino’s physical attacks with Mermaid’s Stormcaller Song every time. I had Bufu on Azumi, too. Don’t bother with Dark or Force attacks on him. 

He’ll use Mudo (Dark), Mamudo (Dark), Pulinpa (Confusion), and Mazan (Force). With the initial prep work, he shouldn’t even have many turns. After you defeat Pazuzu, return to the Mermaid demon from the Hamamatsucho Leyline. She’ll give you three Grimoires as a reward.

With that done, go ahead and accept her next quest while you’re here, The Demon of the Spring. It’s a bit further ahead, but it saves you a trip back. If you're looking for help elsewhere, we've got plenty of other guides: