PrinceWatercress plays Astyanax - Part 2 of 6

In this entry, we face a few more bosses while also tackling our first strictly vertical level.

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Round 2-1: Redroad

The pink skeletons not only shoot projectiles, but they will also strike low in case you're ducking.

Watch out with the small platforms. There's a plant shortly after the beginning, and another one at the end. Both spit fireballs. If you know what you're doing, you can land at the edge at the end, duck down and kill the plant in one shot if your swing is powerful enough. Otherwise, use magic.

When possible, let the flying blob enemies you've been seeing since Round 1-1 move past you. Whatever you do, don't stand where they spawn out from; otherwise they'll come back the instant you kill them or let them leave the screen.

The boss here is a green, one-eyed blob monster who travels across the floor. When you strike him, he rises and strikes back. Keep your distance and strike with your most powerful blows at all times. Thankfully, jumping over him does not put you in any peril, so feel free to do so as long as he's moving around.

Round 2-2: Inazumi

This is your first vertical level. Always jump straight up first before advancing, as this will show more of the level and also reveal some enemies ahead of time, such as the blobs that move back and forth and occasionally rise from the floor to throw spears at you. 

Keep holding the direction you're wanting to go in case you get caught on a platform while jumping from place to place; you'll get to where you need to go more often than not.

When you reach the top of the stage (you'll know it when you see it, as it's all floor with nowhere else to jump to), go all the way to the center, then jump. You'll trigger the mini-boss, which is a dragon-like creature that divebombs you. Avoid the projectiles that it shoots out in diagonal directions by keeping your distance, and strike it enough times with powerful blows from your weapon so that it backs up to the top of the screen. By doing this, you can stay on the ground and the mini-boss will have less of a chance to hit you. Be ready to back the mini-boss up to the top again after it attacks.

The boss is some sort of Medusa-like creature. You'll want to attack the purple jewel on his stomach by crouching down and striking it, and you'll want to be close enough so that you can duck under its hand when it claws at you  and still attack. It will also send two snakes at you, but you can turn around while ducking to strike them both down easily. After this boss sends out four snakes, it immediately disappears and come out from the other side of the screen, alternating between the left side and the right side each time. Thankfully, this boss is deceptively easy if you know what to do.

After the boss battle, Astyanax gets homesick, and Cutie apologizes for putting him through that, as Thelenea - where we need to go to face Blackhorn - is so far away.