Chapter Three: The Temple of Lahkesis

You'll come across this foe again later in the game.

Another lengthy encounter with eagles here. Many of the eagles will be ridden by soldiers, allowing you to either kill them when you leap to the eagle (which extends the button-pressing game to two buttons), or attempt to knock them off their mounts by using your triangle whirling attack. Apart from that, the encounter is only slightly more complicated than before. You'll be able to kill the special mounted warrior at the end of the encounter, after navigating through another air tube; strike at him as you would an eagle, and when you fall off the pegasus, engage in the button minigame to finish him off for good and fall to the Island of Fate.

The Climb

Climb up the handpath that you're on until you reach a balcony. To your left are a pair of chests, one of which contains a Phoenix Feather, and to your right is a save point and a ladder. Climb the ladder up to reach another balcony with red soldiers, fierce warriors who act much like the warriors you've been fighting thus far, but who can't be grappled until you knock them around enough for an O-prompt to appear above their heads. We found it helpful to knock them up in the air with a strong triangle attack, then grab them in midair to knock them around a bit.

'I AM the leader of this pack!'

When the soldiers are dead, climb up to the ladder nearby to encounter some dog-like creatures. The dogs will attempt to swarm you, but if you keep grabbing them with the O button and kicking them around, you should be able to keep them away from you and deal heavy damage to them, to boot. When they're all finished off, head to the right and open the red orb chests there, then jump around to smash the hanging skeletons and the vases along the walls to wrest their precious lifeblood, as well. If you smash around enough, you should notice a dead body on the floor. Pick it up with the R1 button, then place it on the platform at the left end of the area and flip the switch to head downwards.

There's a pressure plate in the room below you that controls a gate nearby. Place the body on the plate to open the gate, then pull the switch in the groove here backwards until the second gate is opened. With that done, you should be able to run towards the second gate (which will close as you do so), then roll through it. Kicking the bridge nearby will show you a lengthy cinematic which explains a bit of the Greek mythology to you if you didn't learn it in school. What are they teaching you kids in school these days, anyway?

Cerberus

Your goal now is to reach the island across the sea. You can spy a chain off in the distance. If you head backwards you'll see a small walkway that's available to you, heading towards the chain; first head into the walkway opposite it and walk to the right to find another Gorgon Eye.

Following the correct path (be ready to jump to the end when it collapses) will lead you to the Cerberus fight. This three-headed dog will be surrounded by smaller dogs, which, luckily, you can use as weapons against it. Each of the heads of the cerberus will have to be removed individually before the animal keels over, but you'll gain Rage points for doing so, so feel free to use whatever Rage you have built up for the first head and third heads.

Video Walk-through

Ignoring the Cerberus, and using the dogs to stun it, can make the beast easier to kill in the end.
Watch It »

The easiest method to take down the Cerberus is to grapple the smaller dogs in the area. If the cerberus is close by, it will usually be auto-targeted as the target for the dog-kicking that follows, and it'll take light damage. There are so many dogs coming your way, though, that eventually you'll get the O-prompt above the animal's head and you'll be able to rip a head off (by simple O-button mashing). You can always just attack the cerberus for the same effect, as well. Note that you have a mana chest nearby, so feel free to unload your bow into the cerberus to damage it.

When the cerberus is dead, destroy the statues at the far end of the wall. One of them is holding up a large pedestal, which you can drag to the jumping spot here and jump up and move on.

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