Walkthrough

Prelude to the
Dark Abyss		 House of
Sacred Remains		Anti-Soul
Mysteries Lab
Dark Palace
of Waterfalls		Garden Forgotten
By Time		Ghostly
Theatre
Pagoda of the Misty Moon




HOUSE OF SACRED REMAINS
Divine Decay
The House of Sacred Remains encompasses a large, once-holy site that has come under the influence of darkness.  It has turned this sacred site into a haven for the undead.  When your platform rises into this new area, step off and descend the stairs to the center of the room.  Here four Skeletons assemble to welcome you -- not a real worry, considering you just fought some of them in the Tutorial.  Use the same tactics to keep out of their range, while attacking them.  Nothing else of interest resides in this room, other than Skeletons and Candles; quickly move on to the next hallway through the southern door.

As you enter this hallway two more Skeletons appear.  Two passages stand here as well.  Take the door to your left to enter a small chapel, where more Skeletons appear (and continue to appear a few times after you kill the original Skeletons in the room).  This time they are also joined by a friend, the Skeleton Archer.  This skeletal enemy doesn't take many hits, but until you reach it you need to watch out for its ranged attacks.  As the archer aims its arrows you see a telltale blue streak.  This warns you to either run out of the way, or use the Quick Step that you learned in order to dodge it.  The doors locked behind you as you entered the room, but as you defeat the final enemy they open once more, allowing you to move through the door in the southern wall.

Trapped!
In many of the castle's rooms the doors automatically bar themselves when combat begins within for the first time, unlocking when all of the enemies are defeated.  In most cases, repeat trips through the room do not cause the doors to lock in this fashion, so after defeated the enemies once, you might wish to just run straight through a room if you're starting to run low on HP or to make a quick run to a Save Room.  Just keep in mind that many enemies have rare drops that you might only find if you stop to fight those foes many times, and that fighting enemies over and over again is one way to make enough spare cash to buy all of the goodies from Rinaldo.

The large room at the end of the hall holds some of  the more disgusting enemies in the area -- a group of zombies have made up residence here, and rush to the room's defense.  These creatures have the habit of vomiting up a corrosive substance that pools on the floor and damages Leon if he gets too close.  Whenever you see them start to do this, stand well back.  You can deal one powerful attack across the pool, but executing a combo moves Leon forward into the corrosive liquid.  As the zombies are slow, lumbering creatures, the heavier whip attacks that you use by pressing triangle are a good choice.  If you attack with light, or heavy, attacks twice, then follow up with a third heavy strike, you get an attack that sends a wave of force along a short line in front of Leon.  This is a good way to attack more than one of he zombies at a time.  When you've finished off the zombies, the door s unlock, and you can continue across the room to step through the doorway opposite.

THE FIRST LOCK
This small room did not appear on you Map Screen until you stepped through the door, and it is soon apparent that the room is different from the rest.  Here a large pedestal stands alone in the room, unguarded by enemies.  Stand away from the pedestal to give Leon room to jump, then leap onto it, and after a moment the pedestal lowers into the ground.  This is the first of three steps to unlocking a door that you find later on, and a screen appears to show the door beginning to unlock.  For now, return through the previous room to the hallway (fighting the Skeletons and Skeleton Archers again as you go and this time take the door at the end of the hall.

This next hallway holds no enemies initially.  Even better, there is a save room along the southern wall, toward the western end of the hall.  Watch out through -- as you run toward the Save Room two Skeletons appear, and the door bars once more.  Finish the monsters off, then head into the Save Room to save your process.  While you many not have taken much damage thus far, it's always a good idea to save often.  After saving, head back into the hallway (the Skeletons do not appear after being destroyed once), head to the eastern end of the hall, and open the door.

In this large room a crowds of new foes greets you.  The Skeleton Swordsmen and Ghost Warriors appear in a group, so you should take care not to get surrounded.  Strike with light, quick attacks if many of them are close by.  Hard attacks, or combos, are appropriate if you can manage to corner one or two enemies away from the rest.  Once the enemies in the room are gone, you can explore it in more detail.  Return to the door that you entered then perform a double jump and grab onto the end of the balcony just to the north of the door.

Pick up the bad of coins to gain a quick 250 Gold.  Run the rest of the way along the balcony and leap off the end, the run across and double-jump onto the next balcony to collect a second  250 Gold bag.  Repeating the process for a third balcony just beside the northeastern door of the room nets you another High Potion  Remember that whenever you take too much damage in one fight you can return to the nearest Save Rom to recover, but unless you've taken a great deal of HP damage it's best to continue on through the door opposite you entry point.

The next room is similar to the last in structure.  This time the monsters lurking inside are Ghost Warriors and normal Skeletons.  Now you can use a new weapon if you like -- a Crystal sub-weapon is found by destroying the yellow-flamed candle at the southern end of the room.  While neither foe is weak against the Crystal, they also aren't resistant to it.  Of course, it's better to conserve Hearts and wipe the foes out with your whip if you haven't taken too much damage.  Like the last room, this room also hold multiple balconies, not all of which are useful.  On the balcony along the western wall of the room you collect yet another bag of 250 Gold, but the balcony to the southwest is empty.  The higher fenced-in balcony to the east of the room cannot be reached at all in this first trip through the area.

Varying Attacks
Remember to use different attacks when possible and to try out different button combos.  Some of the attack skills become available only after you've tried certain combinations a few times, so using some variation may open up new and stronger attacks more quickly.

UNLOCKED AREA:
BALCONY		ITEM NEEDED:
WOLF'S FOOT
Once you have retrieved the Wolf's Foot from the Anti-Soul Mysteries Lab, this hard-to-reach area just comes within your grasp.  Leap onto the balcony on the west side of the wall, and equip the Wolf's Foot as your relic.  Activate it, then quickly run through the gap in the balcony and leap toward the opposite side of the room.  If you jump perfectly straight ahead using the speed of the wolf and double-jump at just the right time to maximize the length of your jump, you can latch onto the railing of the balcony opposite with your whip.  This takes a very well-executed jump, so don't be discouraged if you fall the first time.  Keep trying, learn just the right direction to jump and the best time to hit the double-jump, and you eventually make it in style. Just remember to manage your MP carefully -- if you miss the jump, immediately deactivate your relic until you get back into position to make the jump again.

Out of Fuel?
The main drawback of using the Wolf's Foot is the speed at which it devours your available MP.  If you fail the jump the first few times, as is quite possible, you many end up out of MP to fuel the relic.  If this happens remember that you can regain MP by blocking special attacks or by executing a perfect guard.  If you must restore your MP this a a great opportunity to practice your perfect guard against the Ghost Warriors in the nearby rooms, as their attacks are not extremely damaging.  If you start to take too much damage, there is a Save Room close enough to keep you relatively safe.

Once on the opposite balcony you are finally able to step through the doorway and find a swarm of Bats alongside a Red Skeleton--not very dangerous foes, especially by the time you backtrack to this point after later areas.  Fight your way quickly up the hallway and through the door at the opposite end, where you find a valuable MP Max Up sitting on a stone pedestal.  Claim it, then take the door in the southeastern wall to continue on your journey.

Move up the next hallway past a pair of Red Skeletons to fight a Skeleton Hunter, a slightly meaner version of the Skeleton Archer.  With him out of the way, continue through the door that he was guarding.  The next room holds a whole army of Skeletons alongside a bigger, meaner Heavy Armor.  At the south end of the room you can claim a HP Max Up to increase your power, restoring your HP in the process.  You can also jump up onto the balcony, along the eastern side of the room, to claim a Serum.

SECOND DOOR, FIRST LOCK
Don't leave just yet.  There is one more secret left to uncover before you exit this area.  Jump down from the balcony, and you can see that the bookshelf in the center of the floor has a suspicious scuffmark in front of it.  Run in place against the side of the bookshelf to make it rotate on its axis bit by bit, granting you access to the room holding the last switch in the House of Sacred Remains area.  Leap upon it, and the final door down on level B1 of the area finally unlocks.  Now make your way back out through the rooms to the original balcony that was so hard to reach.  Jump down to continue on your way.

After you finish your business in the previous room, return to the hallway and save your game.  This is a good time to head through the door at the western end of the hallway.  This room is filled with Skeleton Soldiers and a new foe, the Rune Spirit.  The floating blue spirit only takes a hit or two before dying, but it can perform one of the special violet attacks that restore MP when guarded.  The Rune Spirit can also breathe fire in a long line, so beware of that, and keep your distance if it prepares to attack.  It also occasionally grabs Leon for a few seconds to deal chewing damage.  This leaves you vulnerable to the attacks of other foes.  Destroy all of the enemies and run to the door along the southern wall.  Double-jump up to the balconies on each side to claim two more familiar bags of 250 Gold.  Next, run to the northern end of the room where another hard-to-see balcony waits.  Here you find the Neapolitan.  This is just one of many foods in the game that heal Leon.  Now move across the room from the entrance and take the western door.
The Other Side of the Tracks
Like the eastern side of the castle, the first large room leads into another room with a sub-weapon to the south.  You can claim the Axe from this yellow candle, as you fight off a large group of Skeletons and Rune Spirits.  IN this room you can reach two balconies by double-jumping from there where the candle was.  The ledge along the eastern wall holds 250 Gold, while the western balcony allows you to access the door leading to the next room.

The door on the balcony leads into a hallway holding yet another pair of new foes.  The Bats always appear in groups, and die easily from one strike.  If a bat begins to glow be careful -- it means that is is about to immolate itself in a suicide diving attack.  Further down the hall lurks a Buckbaird, a strange floating eyeball of the Lightning element.  This foe can be damaged by attacks on the ground, or while jumping, but when it starts to spin it's tail go on the defensive and guard.  Once past both types of monster, take the door at the far end of the hall.

The room through this doorway holds more of the Zombies that you faced earlier, along with a faster foe called the Wolf Skeleton.  These new enemies literally run circles around Leon, pausing at times to leap in and attack him.  Try to draw them away from the Zombies in order to fight them alone.  Use the Axe to mow then down quickly -- they don't have a special weakness to it, but it does enough damage in a wide are to mop them up quickly.  Jump up to the balconies on either side of your entry door to claim 250 Gold from each, then continue on your way through the door on the western side of the room.

Another angled hallway waits through this door, with a group of Red Skeletons just past the bend.  "Destroy" one of these foes to add it's full information to your Encyclopedia, but don't waste too much time fighting the group.  Each Red Skeleton reassembles itself seconds after collapsing into a pile of bones, so there is no way to destroy them for good.  Instead, focus on destroying the Buckbaird just past the skeletons, then continue through the doorway into the next deadly room.

As soon as you step through this doorway you can tell that you are in for a rough fight.  This large room is similar in shape to the others you've recently visited, but the inhabitants are tougher.  A group of Red Skeletons lurk here, accompanying a suit of Heavy Armor.  You can use your Ax sub-weapon to get rid of the Red Skeletons temporarily if they start to warm you, but otherwise don't spend too much time with them.

You need to concentrate on the Heavy Armor because it is the only foe of the bunch that can be taken down for good.  This enemy holds a large spiked ball on a chain that it can spin for quite a long distance.  Luckily the Axe does quite a bit of damage if used against it, and you can always use the Svarog Statue for an extra bit of flare. Once the Heavy Armor is gone the music returns to normal, and you can try to avoid the Red Skeletons while collecting the room's bounty -- as has often been the case, balconies to the east and west of the room hold a bag of 250 Gold each.  Now leave the Red Skeletons behind, and step through the final doorway to the west in order to reach the last room along this particular path.

A NEW LOCK
At the end of this path you find another room with a pedestal-type switch, which in turn unlocks one third of a second locked door somewhere further inside the area.  Unlike the first switch room, this one also holds Marker Stone 6, which allows you to place a white mark on your Map Screen.  After collecting the Stone and triggering the Switch, return along the long winding pathway to the Save Room -- or you can take this opportunity to try out the Magical Ticket that you found, and spend some of the money you've earned thus far before making the trek back.
Running in Circles
After your progress has been saved, return to the hallway and take the eastern door back into the room holding the Ghost Warriors and Skeletal Swordsmen.  This time, go through the southern door into uncharted territory.  Run along the hallway and through the door at the end, which brings you into a new room.  The Skeleton Knights are upgraded version of the Skeletons you've faced so far.  The room also holds a few Ghost Warriors to help keep things varied.  If you must, stand back and let a few more axes fly in order to keep the harder-hitting enemies away from Leon.  To leave this room you have a choice of two doors -- take the one to the south for now, opposite your entry point.

Once more you run down a brief hallway with nothing other than candlesticks.  After you take the next door, you emerge into another chapel room, that holds Run Spirits and Skeleton Knights.  Don't get trapped by the Rune Spirits here!  They can give the Knights a chance to attack an unprotected Leon.  When leaving this room, take the second doorway along the northern wall, just west of where you entered the room.

A third uneventful hall brings you to a room with more of the Skeleton Knights paired with Zombies.  Luckily, the slower monsters don't pose much of a threat as you concentrate on the faster Skeleton Knights.  Taking the door in the eastern wall completes a brief circle, and brings you back into the room with the Skeleton Knights and Ghost Warriors.  Fight them fas you did before, take the northern door from this room, and return along the path to the original long hallway and Save Room.

A you sortie from the Save Room once more, head through the western door for a second time.  Go through the as-yet-unexplored southern door where, as with the other side of the castle, you run down a short hallway until you reach a chapel.  Another group of Zombies and Skeleton Knights await you.  After destroying them, continue south through the next doorway, and along the next hall through the door at the end.

The next room holds a group of Zombies and Rune Spirits, not quite as deadly as the Skeleton Knight groups.  Defeat them by concentrating on the Rune Spirits first, avoiding their entrapment, then continue onward.  The door in the eastern wall completes another circle by meeting up with the southernmost room, so head through the western door into a new area.
Heading South
Stepping into this next long hall brings a short cutscene of a group of misshapen men rushing toward Leon.  These are Flea Men -- enemies with few HP that are quite easy to kill.  Of course, as they jump around the room quite rapidly, hitting them can be the problem.  Use only light attacks against these enemies, and try to send the whip out in all directions to hit the agile foes.  Be prepared for a second wave of the Flea Men as you move further down the hall.  When the last of the agile pests is dead, continue down the hall and past the bend to the door leading south.

This area is sectioned off via transparent walls just over the height of Leon's head, barriers that he can easily double-jump over.  The problem lies in the strange gooey substance that lurks along the floor.  This isn't an enemy in the normal sense -- it is not in the Encyclopedia, and cannot be struck or killed.  If Leon stands in one spot for more than a second however it gathers under his feet and attacks him.  If you need a breather, the goo cannot reach onto the carpeted areas in front of the room's doors, nor can it reach Leon atop on the the stone pedestals holding up the transparent walls.  Don't be too quick to jump through the room, however; four coins worth 25 Gold are scattered along the floor, and three more valuable 100 Gold are also available.  There is a Save Room through the eastern door if you need to travel to it, but if you are not very low on health take the southern door instead -- exploring the rest of this loop saves some backtracking.

Another brief hallway lies through the southern door, which in turn leads to a room with a strange mechanical device.  Dangerous steel spikes rise through the floor along a circular track here.  To prevent taking damage, stand on the platform in front of the door until the "wave" of spikes passes you, then run and follow it along to the next platform.  Although there is a door at this platform, pass it by for now and continue to run in the wake of the spike wave until you reach a second platform, the one with a door leading west.

SECOND LOCK FOR THE FIRST DOOR
This door into a third switch room where you trigger the switch to unlock a second portion of the first door that you began unlocking.  Return to the spiked room and wait for the wave of spikes to pass you by once more, then follow them past the first doorway through which you originally entered the room and continue to the eastern doorway, this time heading through it.

The eastern door, from the spike room, leads into a short hall.  This, in turn, leads to a large open room holding Skeleton Knights and Skeleton Archers.  If can be tricky to avoid the attacks of both the short-range and long-range fighters, so try to take out the Archers first.  With the Archers dead you can then concentrate on the Knights at a more leisurely pace.  To make the fight a little quicker, use the Svarog Statue against the enemies in this room, replenish your MP by blocking the special attacks of the Skeleton Knights.  Once the enemies are gone, head to the south side of the room, use a double-jump, and your whip to swing up onto the balcony.  Pick up a Potion form the walkway, then jump down and go through the doorway located in the north side of the room.

This door leads into a large T-shaped hall where you fight two Skeleton Swordsmen.  There is a Save Room just off the first short section of the hallway that you enter.  Save your game and replenish your HP here before heading back out into the main hall.  Follow this short section of hallway norther where it intersects with a long east-to-west passage.  Just around the corner to the east stands a yellow candlestick with another sub-weapon, the Holy Water.  Take it, then continue east along the hallway and through the door at the end.

Now you find a second room containing the strange goo that attacks Leon if he stands still.  This time there are five 25 Gold coins along the floor, but be careful -- the walls are harder to detect in this foggy room.  Be prepared to double-jump through any apparent "space" between the pillars, and make your way to the northeast corner of the room where a bag of 1000 Gold waits just out of sight.  Jump along the various pillars to collect one more 25 Gold coin, as well as five 100 Gold coins before heading through the door in the southern wall.

After the hall, Leon emerges into a second spike room, but the plan is a bit different.  AS you attempt to follow the spikes from the platform your path is blocked by a transparent wall.  So, instead of following the spikes, wait for them to pass, and then immediately run to the west.  You cannot beat the spikes to the next platform, but if you time a double-jump as you see the spikes approach, you can jump over them cleanly without being struck.  If you're low on HP, use a Potion to restore some health just in case before you attempt this feat.

When you reach the doorway in the western wall, enter to fight a pair of Wolf Skeletons, and reveal the Yellow Dragon Door.  You cannot open it until you find the matching key, but it helps to include it on your map, so you know where to find it later, upon your return.

UNLOCKED AREA:
YELLOW DRAGON DOOR
ITEM NEEDED:
YELLOW DRAGON KEY
With the Yellow Dragon Key that you retrieved from the Anti-Soul Mysteries Lab you can now unlock this door and step beyond into the next room.  Select "yes" at the prompt to enter the area, then leap onto the stone pedestal found inside the room to claim the Black Bishop.  This useful relic allows you to increase your attack temporarily, always a good aid in battle.

Return to the spike room, and continue your progress around the room counterclockwise until you reach the eastern doorway.

THIRD LOCK FOR THE FIRST DOOR
Here you find another switch, the one that completely unlocks the first of the doors that you've been opening bit by bit.  Now of course you just need to find it.  For now, return to the spiked area to move back to your entry point.


Because of the dark barrier you must follow the circular room the entire distance clockwise to return to your starting position, by the northern door.  Luckily, you are running with the spikes instead of against them, so wait for them to pass and run in their wake to avoid a double-jump.  Make your way back through the room with the strange gooey substance, and back to the Save Room.

Get Protected
As you should have over 1000 Gold to spare at this point (unless you've gone on a recent shopping spree), making a trip back to Rinaldo's cabin is a good idea.  By now, you should have enough of the map explored to have unlocked the Earth Plate, armor that provides a 5% reduction in damage for Leon.  It may not seem like much, but every little bit counts.

Now that you've explored as far as you can on the northern side of the latest Save Room, it's time to delve farther south.  Go south from the Save Room and fight the Skeleton Knights and Skeleton Archers in the large room once more, this time heading through the south door when you are done.  As you enter the small room beyond, you see that the door that you unlocked using three of the four switches is here, and ready for you to walk through.
Beyond the Sealed Door
In the first area, past the once-locked door, you find a dangerous foe guarding the next room -- another Heavy Armor.  Be careful of his spiked weapon as you approach, but you should be able to take him down fairly quickly if you guard whenever he starts to swing his weapon around.  Once you defeat him, head through the next door to see what he was protecting.

Past the Heavy Armor you now get to fight a group made of Zombies and another ghostly form, the Vassago.  These floating enemies can take hefty double-swings with their axe-like arms; so if they begin to swing at you step (or Quick Step) far back away from them.  If they begin to glow purple they are about to launch a special attack consisting of a number of these sweeping blows in a row, so be careful.  Try to keep away from clusters of too many of these new creatures, and use the Holy Water if you begin to feel trapped.  You can swing up onto a ledge along the southern wall, this time to find a bag full of 400 Gold.  After claiming it head through the eastern door and into the next room.

In this area you get to fight a pack of Wolf Skeletons, this time joined by a monster called the Spartacus.  This new enemy can hit hard, but he's fairly slow at the same time.  You should be able to fight the canine skeletons alone without the Spartacus butting in too often.  Move the fight away from him until the pack has been annihilated.  Once they are gone, move in to finish off the final combatant, stepping away if he leaps up to make a slashing attack with his sword.  As before, leap up onto the balcony along the western wall in this room, this time to collect a Potion.  Then leap back down to head through the southern door.

Beyond this door is another short hallway, but this one isn't empty like so many before it.  Her you encounter the monster called a Peeping Eye -- it is much like the Buckbaird in form, but of the Fire element rather than Lightning.  It also has an added trick -- it can sink into the floor, and cause gouts of fire to spring up nearby so avoid it whenever it lowers itself into the ground.  If you wish to fight it normally, you should move in to damage it before it creates the flames.  Once you defeat the Peeping Eye a group of Skeletons approaches form the position they were holding in front of the door, but even in these cramped quarters you should be able to fight them quite handily and continue onward.  Of course, there are even better ways to get rid of these various foes...

SECRET! -- SKELETON BOWLING
Isn't it odd that the Skeletons would stand in such an arranged pattern and not move at all until the Peeping Eye is gone?  Try striking the Peeping Eye as soon as it lowers itself into the ground -- and suddenly it acts as a bowling ball, rolling across the room in the direction that you sent it!

You can use this technique to knock over the Skeletons at the end of the hallway like so many pins.  After knocking down all six original Skeletons, three more appear in a diagonal line.  With these three knocked down, a pattern of four crops up.  If you can knock down all three of these formations without destroying the Peeping Eye (and without cheating by attacking the Skeletons with your whip) you receive some Ramen as a prize.  Successfully destroying all three formations takes some careful "placing" of the "ball" by luring the Peeping Eye into just he right position before launching it at the hapless skeletons, but it's fun!

THE THIRD LOCK TO THE SECOND DOOR
The last small room, past the short hallway, holds the third switch to unlock the other sealed door.  Trigger it before moving back out into the room holding the Vassagos and Zombies.  Make a quick trip to the Save Room if you need to replenish your HP  -- just be careful going back past he Heavy Armor and other tough foes!  It's better to try to conserve your HP and use Potions to heal, rather than running the gauntlet through a bunch of nasty enemies and back.

Once in the room with the Vassagos and Zombies, take the southern door this time as your exit.  Run through the empty hall that you find, and through the opposite door.  You enter a large chapel, which hold no enemies, yet something else is amiss.  The only other door leading out of this room is barred, with no enemies to destroy in order to open it.  to get through this room run to the opposite end and leap upon the pedestal that you find in front of the altar.  Stand upon it until it lowers all th way to the floor.  This causes an electric barrier to pop up between the doors and the altar, but also unlocks the second door.

After the pedestal is even with the floor run over to the right of the altar (when facing it) where you can leap upon a handy stone block, then double-jump up to a balcony behind the altar.  Run along the balcony to the other end, then take a single leap form the end and latch onto the first pole attached to the wall with your whip.  You then must execute a series of seven pole-flips until you are over the barrier and land in front of the doors.

Quickly move through the eastern doorway before the barrier vanishes and the door relocks.  It takes good timing, but a few tries should take you safely through the other side of the door.

Once through the doorway you stand within the final hallway of he first floor.  Pick up the Cross from the yellow candle, found near the bend of the hall, then run down the stairs and into level B1.
Deeper into Darkness
The first area of the basement is another abandoned hall, although running through the door at the opposite end brings another fight soon enough.  Here you find a group of Vassago paired with Astral Fighters, enemies with the strengths of Skeleton Fighters and the added ability to teleport as they perform their special attack.  If you see one of these skeletal figures glow violet and vanish, watch your back -- literally.

Using the newly acquired Cross can help keep all of the foes at a distance, although it's not foolproof.  Once you've fought your way through them all head through western door.  Here you find a room similar to the last, but with even nastier foes.  The Vassago appears once more, this time accompanied by an Executioner.  This huge monster can hit very hard with its large, toothy weapon, cursing you at he same time, and he can perform special attacks as well.  To cut some of he problems in fighting such as tough foe, consider activating the Svarog Statue, or the White Bishop if you've bought it at this point.  The monster is week against the Cross sub-weapon, which can help, but first keep your distance from him while watching out for his thrown boulders and fight off the Vassago.

Then concentrate on attacking the Executioner, dodging or guarding against his (thankfully slow) powerful attacks.  Watch out as well for his stomp, which can send out a damaging wave along the ground.  With 350 HP it takes a while to bring him down, but just fight carefully and it can be done.  Once the foes are gone, head through the southern door.

After this nasty fight and no Save Room for a while, it's good that the next room is an empty  hallway, while the one after is a room that can damage you, but is more tricky than dangerous.  Still use a Potion or other bit of healing if you've dangerously low on HP.  As you walk through the door at he end of he hallway you stand upon a walkway, with two Wolf Skeletons and two Red Skeletons waiting for you if you fall.  If you do slip, destroy the wolves and avoid the Red Skeletons until you reach the stairs to the south of the wall, then execute a series of double jumps back up to the walkway.

The trick to this room is getting past the moving beams of energy, which damage Leon and send him flying for some distance.  You cannot jump over the beams while on the brown sections of the walkway, as this causes them to crumble and Leon then falls to the lower section.  (If sections do crumble, you can step out of the room and back in to restore them.)  Wait for the beam to slide close to the entrance area, then run along the walkway behind it as it moves back away.  Quickly run along the path as it curves toward the camera, then step behind the shield found to the left.  You then follow the path of the next beam and step behind the next shield, moving on to the third as the beam sweeps back past.  When this shield covers the last beam, run to the doorway along the southern wall and walk through.

The hallway that you enter contains a second Executioner, but this time the doors do not automatically bar themselves, which means you can quickly run into the Save Room on the right to recover and save.  If you do fight him now you won't have to fight him later to pass by, as he does not return after being destroyed.  After saving your game return to the room to the north of the hallway, and run back through the beam room and the next hallway to the room holding the Executioner and Vassago.  This time to through the western door into a new hallway.  This hall holds a candles with a Knife if you wish to grab it, but the Cross is your best choice for now.  Continue along the hallway and through the door at the end, where you step into a new room with a new puzzle.

Here you find no enemies, but instead five strange statues that have a horse's head on one side and a woman's face on the other.  There are two doors leading out of this room aside from your entry point, but both are locked for the time being.  To unlock them you must use your whip to grab onto the statues and turn them to the proper facings.  As you may have realized from the hints found in the previous rooms, the first arrangement is to have the statue on the left and second statue form the right facing out with a human face, while the others face you as horses.  This unlocks the western door, which you should now run through.

Within this newly unlocked room, a large assembly of Poison Zombies joins Astral Fighters.  These monsters are like the normal Zombies except that their corrosive secretions, or other attacks, can poison Leon.  While this is a state that you want to avoid, the bigger threat is the pair of Astral Fighters for the time being.  Concentrate on these skeletal enemies, then destroy the Poison Zombies.  After the fight has been finished, continue through the doorway to the north.  Now you stand within a short hallway guarded by three floating weapons called Evil Swords.  These enemies can be difficult to attack while not taking damage yourself.  They float around in all directions and quickly move in to attack on multiple fronts.  Do your best to keep an eye all all three at once, and attack as often as you can.  Each sword only takes a small amount of damage before being destroyed.  Continue through the northern door of the hallway, where you reach a small room holding a Bloody Cape.  This useful accessory converts damage into Hearts, making it easier to use sub-weapons frequently.  After you retrieve the cape return south, and east to the puzzle room.

This time you must have the leftmost and center statues facing out as horses, with the other three statues facing outwards as humans.  This unlocks the door to the north, where you can retrieve HP Max Up.  Now return to the room with the statues and head east all the way to the room with the Vassagos and Astral Fighters.  This time take the eastern doorway to a new hall.  Run along the hallway, through the next door, and you come into a familiar small room.  This is the location of he second of the sealed doorways unlocked by the switches, but it cannot be opened until later in the game, after you can access the final switch.  For now you at least have the extra bit of space added onto your map, and you can use one of the Marker Stones to mark this location in order to come back to it later.

UNLOCKED AREA:
SEALED DOOR
ITEM NEEDED:
WOLF'S PAW
Technically the Wolf's Foot isn't needed to access this area directly, but you need to unlock this final door by accessing the balcony much earlier in the area with this special relic.  Once the door has been unlocked you are free to enter at will.

Inside the once-sealed area you enter a hallway guarded by five Skeleton Archers.  Win your way past them using Quick Step to get close if necessary, then when they have been defeated step into the door to the north.  Inside this last small room of the area you find the White Tiger Key, so take it for use further down the road.
To Cleanse the Sacred Ground
Passing by the locked door the first time, instead head back to the Save Room on this floor to restore your health and save your progress.  With the rest of the level explored you can now concentrate on the final part -- fight the Executioner if you didn't destroy him before, then after making certain your inventory is in order and any armor or accessories are equipped, walk through the imposing doorway at the south end of the hall Here you face the final boss fore the area, the Undead Parasite.

UNDEAD PARASITE
HPTOLERANCEWEAKNESS
1200NONEHOLY WATER, CROSS
Combat against the boos isn't a normal fight, and not only because this is a Boss Battle.  Instead of fighting the foe head-on, you stand inside the strange creature and must attack various portions found within the room while avoiding or fending off other attacks.  Your first targets are the four strange eye-like mounds that protrude from the floor in each corner.  Damaging them is straightforward enough, but you must watch out for attacks from elsewhere at the same time.

One type of attack comes from the long worm-like creature that resides within this room.  Keep an eye on the holes in the walls, and every so often you can spot the worm poking out his head in order to breathe fire.  You can either run back far enough to be out of the range of this flame attack, or guard against it.  If you are standing close to the worm's head you can strike it with a whip attack -- this dos not do any actual damage, as the worm cannot be destroyed, but it does cause the head to retract and cease its attack.

This worm creature can also leave the holes in the wall completely, at which point it floats around briefly in a pattern and disappears back through another hole.  Attacking it at this time does no damage.  You just need to have Leon avoid it as it floats aimlessly around.  If it does touch Leon, it damages him.

Another attack comes form the Soulless creatures that constantly form and approach Leon to attack him.  These creatures are slow and mindless, much like Zombies, but as they constantly replenish themselves, and attack in endless waves, you must constantly avoid, or destroy them.

As you attack the eyes of the Parasite, don't forget about your Cross sub-weapon.  This only does small amounts of damage, but it constantly hit the eyes if you are standing close enough, and it has the added benefit of keeping the Soulless off your back while it is in effect.

After you've reduced each of the four eyes to a small smoking crater, a strange bolt of energy flows into each hole and a new form appears in the center you did with the eyes, although this time it takes a lot more damage to defeat -- its remaining health can be seen as a long HP bar at the bottom of the screen.  You must clear this bar of the blue color, leaving a yellow bar underneath, then reduce the yellow HP bar to another in order to defeat the Boss.

As you attack the final boss, you must also keep watching out for attacks from all sides.  The worm still makes its appearances, and the Soulless that attacks have a new stronger form.  The small object that you must attack also moves randomly between the five holes in the room's floor, which makes things even tricker.  Keep a close eye on your HP and use Potions or other healing items as needed.  This boss fight is hectic but not particularly deadly once you have the pattern of attacking and defending down, and you soon emerge victorious.

As the last bit of health drains away from the Undead Parasite and it dies in agony, your attackers disappear as well.  In their place the Blue Orb appears in the room.  Jump straight up in order to claim it, and you can now use more advanced sub-weapon attacks.  The Orb also restores your HP, and as it vanishes a glowing circle appears on the floor.  Step into the light to be transported to Rinaldo's cabin.

Now that you've won the first Boss battle ,step into the cabin and replenish Leon's supplies as needed.  Then make the trek back to the castle, where in the entry hall you see the center orb along the northern wall begin to glow blue to match the orb that you collected.  Continue into the eastern hallway and save your game, then head back into the platform room.
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