Welcome to this speedrun guide for Sword of Vermilion. Let’s get going!

General overview

Your game plan consists in 6 main steps: 1- Get the Dark Sword, then use the glitch to get a very high attack power. 2- Do all the quests required to get the Dungeon Key, which allows you to reach the 2nd half of the game. 3- Reach Helwig as fast as possible to get the Inaudios spell, which prevents all random encounters on the open map. Also, Helwig gives you access to the Aries spell, which warps you to any city you’ve visited. 4- Get the Old Nick Armor, then use the glitch to reach godlike defense. 5- Clean up all the skipped quests. 6- Defeat Tsarkon, that nice fellow turned evil overlord by the power of some rings (sounds familiar…)

Glitch explained

There are 3 cursed items in this game. When you uncurse them (we do that in churches), your Strength (or Armor Class for Old Nick Armor) gets lowered a bit. When you equip a normal weapon, it turns back to the original level. Instead of equipping a normal weapon, you reequip the cursed one and uncurse again, your Strength gets lowered a bit more, until it goes below zero, which causes an overflow and makes it extremely high. After this high level of strength is reached, if you equip a normal weapon and play the game, as soon as you level up, your Strength will be set back to 1,500, which is more than enough to kill with a single blow most of the enemies in the game. For the Armor Class, that level is 2,700, which is enough to reduce to 1 damage any hit you receive. Luckily, the Dark Sword is located early in the run. Although many monsters will hit hard until we get the Old Nick Armor, killing them with one attack allows us to get through most battles without problem.

The Ultimate Sword Swing Technique

• In almost all random encounters, you want to use the Ultimate Sword Swing Technique (USST). Once the battle begins, go straight to the right. Just before the enemies hit you, swing your sword and tap up and then down in a single swing. This should make you hit all the nearby enemies once. Before the Dark Sword glitch, the USST won’t be enough to kill the enemies, but they’ll cower in fear in the opposite direction for a second, giving you time to either leave or corner the monsters one by one.

Run Walkthrough

Let’s go to the step-by-step explanation of the speedrun. You should rely on maps to better understand the different names used in this guide. You can find some on the Internet.

Part 1 – Wyclif and the beginning

• Once you gain control of your character, head to the house on the top left of the village. Along the way, hit start and set your message speed to fast.
• Talk to Blade, your late father’s servant, which reveals that he is not your real father: King Erik, slain by Tsarkon, was. This sets you on a get revenge / save the world / marry the princess / get back your throne narrative.
• Go to the weapon shop and buy only a Bronze Sword.
• You don’t need Herbs to heal you or armor. If you die before getting the Dark Sword, well, you’re dead, so just reset. When you get the Dark Sword, you will be easily able to kill any monster without getting hit. Also, this route plans on buying the Sangua spell, which will be a safety net for the random hits you might get.
• Head outside, then equip the sword (this makes the first enemy appear a couple of steps later than when you take the time to equip the sword inside Wyclif). This is the only time in the run we’ll use something related to RNG manipulation.
• DO NOT go south to get that Ring of Wisdom. It will just take a bit more time than if we wait later in the game to do so.
• On the way to Parma, in the next to last stretch going north, a man will spawn in the way. Do not waste time talking to him. Interestingly, you can walk backwards, and he will not spawn, saving you a second. It’s not a lot, but once you’re used to his exact location, it is easy to plan ahead for a little extra time save.
• Enter the city of Parma, then immediately get out. We’ll talk to the king later. Doing so saves you one step and, most importantly, makes you go through as little chores as possible before getting the Dark Sword, as it is easy to die trying to reach it.

Part 1 – Monster Strategy

• Kill nothing. Just go straight to the right in every battle to save as much time as possible. The monsters take too long to kill for the EXP or kims they give you.
• If there is only a handful of monsters, it is sometimes quicker to kill them than to exit. It takes 5 seconds from the moment you control your character in the battle to exit to the right or left in a straight line. That includes the fade out. For example, killing two Kobolds take more time than that. Unless there are only 1-2 Slimes, kill only what is necessary to leave the battle.
• For the Dark Sword glitch to work with as little uncurse actions as possible, we need to be low leveled. Really kill only what is necessary.

The Dark Sword

• Just outside of Parma, walk backwards in the first stretch to prevent a guy from materializing.
• Get the Dark Sword, then die in the next battle. You will respawn at the church. Equip the Dark Sword, then uncurse it. Equip the Bronze Sword again. You now have around 500 STR, which is enough to kill everything until we do the 2nd part of the glitch.
• Go talk to the king of Parma. This will trigger the Treasure of Troy quest. Note that the Treasure will not be in the Cave of Troy if you don’t talk to the king.

Yet Some More Monster Strategy

• Before reaching the Dark Sword, you want to have 220 kims and no more than 359 EXP After the intentional death, you’ll be left with 110 kims, just enough to uncurse. Also, having a lower level will make the glitch more efficient. The higher your stats, the more curse / uncurse will be necessary. Eyeballs
• The eyeballs hit for A LOT. Use the USST. Red Glunk (Slime)
• The Red Glunks hit for A LOT. Use the USST, but you must be a bit quicker with your swings. Note that the Glunks give you only 10 kims, but 39 EXP. Be careful not to bust the targeted EXP total. Neophyte (Wizard)
• The Neophytes hit for A LOT (sounds familiar…) That battle is scary, but much easier with the proper technique. No USST this time. As soon as the battle begins, move right. Depending on the patterns of the enemies, there is a high chance that the bottom right one will go straight up to hit you. At the last moment, go diagonally right and down and swing. Keep going in that direction for the 2 hits required to kill the monster. Of course, this strategy depends on the overall possibility to do so. If too many Neophytes are around, just hit once and leave.

Fruit Bat

• USST. The bats are quick, but they offer a decent amount of kims and do not provide too many EXP points. They are a perfect target to level up once and reach 220 kims.

Flamer

• Do not ever, ever be tempted to kill them before the glitch, even when only one spawns. They take forever to kill and have an erratic movement behavior.

Part 2 – The Treasure of Troy

• Leave Parma and head east to the Cave of Troy. In the dungeon, kill all the Skeletons you encounter. Your goal is to get to 1,040 kims and at most 1,539 EXP. The Skeletons provide 16 kims. The Eyeballs, for 15 kims apiece, are also a nice target.
• Somewhere along the way, you should reach level 4. Once it’s done, in the next Eyeball battle, take damage until your HP drops to around 30-40. Later, we want an intentional death and the Skeletons (which you have a high chance of encountering) only hit you for 2 damage.
• Don’t take the armor in the cave, as we’ll get a better one soon.
• DO take the 300 kims treasure a bit before the end of the dungeon if you do not yet have 1,040 kims.
• After picking up the Treasure of Troy, take an intentional death. Equip the Dark Sword, then uncurse, then equip it again for a 2nd uncurse. You should now have 1,500 STR. Reequip the Bronze Sword and go see the king again.
• Talk to the king and accept to settle quietly in the city. Immediately talk to the king again. He will tell you that this is such a nice place. Leave the castle and immediately reenter. Talk to the king one last time. He will reveal his true self and fight you.
• After the fight, go to the right of the castle and talk to the true king. When asked to join the militia, say “no”. He will give you a Ring.
• Go to the magic shop and buy the Sangua Spell.

Part 2 – Boss Fight – Blue Dragon

• This one is very easy. As soon as the battle starts, rush to the right. When your body reaches the 2nd gargoyle in the background, swing your sword. You will kill the boss with a single blow.

Part 3 – The Road to Deepdale

• Just outside of Parma, walk backwards again in the first stretch to prevent a guy from materializing.
• Get the Gem Shield on the way. This is the quickest shield to grab before the Blue Demon boss fights later in the run and for those fights, any extra AC is most welcome.
• Enter Deepdale, then exit immediately. We’ll do the main quest here later in the run, when we have access to the timesaving Inaudios spell.

Part 3 – Monster Strategy

• On the way to Deepdale, use the USST to kill most of the monsters. You want to level up on the way. To do that, concentrate your efforts on the higher rewarding monsters (and, most importantly, the ones quicker to kill). You want to kill the following critters: o Red Glunks o Coyote Kobold (the pink ones) o Rattler (the Nagas) o Cave Bats
• Those battles are fast, and it is usually quicker to kill every monster than to run. Even when it takes an extra second or 2, it is worth it.
• You want to run from all the other Monsters, unless only 1 or 2 show up around the same spot. You DO NOT want to fight Needlers (the scorpions), as a hit from them often poisons you and we have no Poison Balm. If you get poisoned, your run is over.

Part 4 – The Sanguios Cave

• On the way to the cave, pick up the Gnome Stone in a chest.
• In the cave, try not to spend time using the Sangua spell, as we will soon buy Sanguios, the ultimate healing spell.
• On the 2nd floor, pick up the Skeleton Armor and equip it.
• Talk to the demon girl and buy the Sanguios spellbook.
• Use the Gnome Stone to exit, then walk to Stow.
• Ideally, you want to reach Stow with 2,830 kims. If you can’t, grind until you have at least 2,020 kims.
• Go to the Item shop in Stow and buy the following items in exactly that order. This way, the first item in your inventory will always be the one you want to use: o Gnome Stone o Griffin Wing o Gnome Stone o Gnome Stone o Griffin Wing (if you have enough money) o Poison Balm
• There are many runs where you don’t get poisoned at all. Taking one Poison Balm is a little safety measure. A 2nd one would just clog the inventory for nothing.
• Just before talking to the king, heal with Sanguios if needed. He will confiscate your ring and Sanguios spellbook.
• Go back to the cave and go meet the girl who sold you the Sanguios spellbook.
• Heal completely, tell the girl you don’t believe her, then enter the 2nd toughest fight of the game.

Part 4 – Boss Fight – Blue Demon

• The Blue Demon start by throwing a high fireball. Do not swing at it, but dodge. The demon will not send a 2nd one up until the first leaves the screen. When the fireball is passed you, progress a little, but cautiously, as another fireball will soon be thrown and the closer you get, the less time you have to react.
• The demon will also sometimes (but less often) throw a low fireball. The only option here is to swing at it. It is very hard to grasp the right moment to do so.
• When you reach the arm, KEEP PRESSING DOWN! This way, high fireballs will not hit you. The lower ones still can, but by keeping swinging, you will usually destroy them as soon as they spawn. Swing until the first arm dies, then move a step closer and swing at the body.
• It is highly recommended to practice this battle often by using an emulator and saving just before. To make sure the patterns are different each practice, encounter a random enemy, then save again before entering the fight.

Part 4 – Monster Strategy

• Here are the monsters you should kill: o Red Glunk o Gray Ooze o Rattler o Python (blue Rattler)
• You should run from everything else, except if you feel you will not reach the kim requirements.
• At some point, you should start encountering 2x Flamers. They are often quicker to kill than to run from.

Part 5 – The 2nd Blue Demon

• Once the first demon is killed exit via Gnome Stone and Griffin Wing.
• DO NOT enter Stow. It is useless. Just walk to Asti’s Cave.
• In the cave, get in front of the girl, but don’t forget to heal completely before beginning the fight.

Part 5 – Boss Fight – Blue Demon

• This fight is almost identical to the last one, except the demon has more health, which hardly matters because of our level of STR.
• It is also highly recommended to practice this battle.

Part 5 – Monster Strategy

• The monster strategy is the same as in part 4.
• One thing to consider: you will soon need to reach around 45,000 EXP. If you are far under that amount (say, under 30,000 before the 2nd Blue Demon fight), you might want to spend a few seconds here and there killing more of the enemies that provide more EXP.

Part 6 – The Doctor, the King and the Dungeon Key

• After the boss fight, use a Gnome Stone, then walk your way to Keltwick.
• Go to the item shop and buy a Griffin Wing if you didn’t have the money to buy it in Stow. Also buy the Alarm Clock.
• Go to the inn (two buildings up from the item shop) and stop in front of the doctor on the 2nd floor.
• DO NOT talk to the doctor. Instead, stand in front of him and use the Alarm Clock.
• Then, TALK TO THE DOCTOR. It is easy to forget about it.
• Walk back to Stow.
• Talk to the king. He will reward you with a ring and a quite useful Sangua Spell.
• Walk back to Keltwick one last time. Once there, talk to Anselm, the kid waiting in front of the house behind the church.
• Exit Keltwick and walk to Blazon’s Cave. Once there, talk to Bearwulf on the 1st floor. Go down the stairs and find the Poison Shield. Equip it immediately.
• Exit using your last Gnome Stone and warp to Keltwick with your last Griffin Wing.
• Talk to Bearwulf inside Anselm’s house. He will give you the Dungeon Key. You can now access the 2nd half of the world map through the Cave to Malaga.

Part 6 – Monster Strategy

• The monster strategy is the same as in part 4 and 5.
• At the end of this part, if you still have below 45,000 EXP, you should consider killing a bit more of the enemies you encounters, especially the python-style monsters. They are easy to kill and provide a ton of EXP.
• On the other hand, if you have more than 48,000 EXP, you have a bit too much! Try to kill fewer monsters.
• Once you reach 40,000 EXP, you will not level up for a long time, so try to maintain your health at a proper level. Make sure you have at least 48 MP (40 is the absolute minimum) left when you later enter Helwig.

Part 7 – To Swaffham

• After exiting Keltwick, enter the Cave to Malaga. At the first gate, use the Dungeon Key.
• After the cave, enter Malaga, then leave immediately. We only want to check in the city so we can warp there later.
• Walk until you reach Barrow. Also enter and leave immediately.
• Walk past Tadcaster without entering it. We have nothing of interest in this city in this run.
• Always be wary of your EXP level. We want to reach Helwig with 48 MP and at most 55,999 EXP. This is crucial for the road to Excalabria.
• We want to have 23,900 kims when we reach Helwig. This should be trivial to achieve but let us keep it in mind.
• Walk to Helwig and enter the Magic Shop. Start by selling your two spellbooks, then buy the following 4 spells in that specific order: o Inaudios o Aries o Sanguia o Extrios
• The reason to sell the Sanguia spellbook and to immediately buy it again is that we will use Inaudios quite often in the rest of the run. We want to be able to mash our way through the spell selection. If Inaudios is the first spellbook, this is much quicker. The 2nd spell we will use the most is Aries. We will use Extrios more often than Sanguia, but it is easier to select it if it is in 4th place than 3rd.
• Exit Helwig and immediately cast Inaudios.
• You preferably want to cast Inaudios again on the very last step before it wears out. You will thus not have to read through the warning message and, most importantly, a random encounter can happen on the very last step of the spell.
• Once you reach Swaffham (the City without a Inn), immediately leave, encounter an enemy and take an intentional death.
• Leave the church and talk to the king. He will give you the Ivory Key

Part 7 – Monster Strategy

• The monsters you kill shouldn’t provide too much EXP. The exception are the Cobra fights. In those fight, you can easily adjust the amount of EXP you have by either killing all the enemies or only 2, then running away. You should encounter between 4 and 6 Cobra packs. This can make you adjust your EXP total by around more or less 3,000 EXP.
• Keep in mind that you must at all costs not exceed 55,999 EXP. At the same time, you want to reach Swaffham with as close to that amount as possible. Below 52,000 might become problematic.

Part 8 – To Excalabria

• Exit Swaffham, then cast the Inaudios spell again and again until you reach the Cave. The good one is located at the end of the right branch.
• Just before entering the cave, use Inaudios one last time, as although we can’t use it in a cave, the effect still applies when you cast it outside, then enter the cave.
• For the remainder of the run, we will not tell you to use the Inaudios spell, but it should be a given for any travel on the world map, as well as just before entering any cave.
• Before leaving the cave, you will probably have a random encounter. Try not to level up just now if possible.
• Walk to the 2nd cave.
• We want to level up either in this cave or the next one. If you have fewer than 24 MP, make sure you level up in this cave.
• In the last stretch before turning left to enter Excalabria, an old man materializes in front of you. You can skip that materialization by walking backwards.
• When you reach Excalabria, immediately leave.

Part 8 – Monster Strategy

• There is a certain risk of dying in the Caves to Excalabria, especially to Zap Eyes or Mages. Be extra careful in those fights.
• The key in the cave is to make sure to manage your health level. Heal if your HP gets low, as an unfortunate fight can lead to a surprise death.
• Once you level up, try not to lose health, as this will affect your future choices.
• Also, try to kill all the Zap Eyes when possible, as you soon want to reach 62,000 EXP.

Part 9 – Hastings and Old Nick Armor

• Before getting to Hastings, we must refer to a decision tree. Here’s what to do depending on your MP: o 64 or more MP: Go to Hastings (part 9a), then to the Whisby Cave (part 9d). o 45 to 63 MP: Go to Hastings (part 9a), then warp to malaga (part 9b), then to Wyclif (part 9c), then to the Whisby Cave (part 9d). o 37 to 44 MP: In the last stretch before Excalabria, cast Inaudios one less time. There will be 10 steps where you can get a random encounter, but it’s worth the try. This will save you the 8 MP you need to have 45 MP. o 36 or fewer MP: Aries to Malaga (part 9b), then go to Hastings (part 9a), then to the Whisby Cave (part 9d).

Part 9a – To Hastings

• Simply get to Hastings using Inaudios all the time. Enter the city, then leave immediately to the next part you should aim for.

Part 9b – To Malaga

• Aries to Malaga. Enter the city and go to the inn. Then talk to the minister in the left room of the castle. Exit the city, then go part 9c.
• The reason why we go to this inn is that sooner or later, we will have to talk to this minister. We lose less time entering this inn on the way than any other in the game. Inn management is an important part of a quick speedrun.

Part 9c – To Wyclif

• Warp to Wyclif, but do not enter the city. Instead, Inaudios your way to the Peak Cave. With a little chance, you will have no random encounters until you reach the man waiting there. Talk to him to get the Ring of Wisdom. Extrios away, than Aries to the next part you are aiming for.

Part 9d – Whisby Cave

• If you began this part by warping from another city, make sure you reenter hastings. We will soon get an intentional death and we want to respawn at this church specifically.
• Enter Whisby Cave. Get the Old Nick armor. Equip it, then take an intentional death.
• In the church, uncurse 2 times, then check your AC level. If you’re not already underflowed to 5700 AC, equip and uncurse once more. That should do it. Make sure to reequip the Skeleton armor.
• Talk to the priest completely to the left of the screen. This will allow you to later buy the Pass to Cartahena.
• Exit Hastings. Before warping to Malaga, check your level of EXP and take a decision accordingly, as explained at the beginning of part 10.

Part 9 – Monster Strategy

• There is a certain risk of dying in the Whisby Cave. Just be careful with Killer Eyes, which are slightly quicker than their counterparts.
• Also, depending on your level of MP, you might not have enough left to heal. Manage your health accordingly.
• After you glitch your AC with the Old Nick armor, all the enemy hits suddenly turn into damage push. It becomes slightly better never to hit an enemy, but rather always run.

Part 10a – Swaffham – Ivory Cave

• In this part, we will fight 3 bosses that will each provide us enough EXP to maybe level up, so we want to keep a close eye on the amount left before the next level.
• If you have 61,000 EXP or more, you will probably level up after the Ivory Cave, so first go to part 12 – Deepdale Revisited.
• Get to the Ivory Cave. For the remaining 3 steps before entering, your Inaudios will wear out. It is not worth casting it again for those 3 steps, as you probably won’t encounter monsters.
• Make sure you enter the cave by walking backwards. This way, you will be facing the gate and won’t lose Inaudios-powered steps to turn around.
• Use the White Key, open the gate and get to the boss. There is a gate just before the boss. No need for keys. Just open it.
• IMPORTANT: Once the battle is over, the game will sometimes make you face a direction in which the chest containing the White Crystal will not spawn. Simply turn left or right if that happens. I had many runs end in one of the caves simply because I forgot to grab the crystal before exiting, thus losing a lot of time coming back.
• Right after getting the White Crystal, Extrios out. Now, take a decision: o If you have 76,999 or fewer EXP, that means you didn’t yet do part 12 – Deepdale Revisited. Aries back to Swaffham and go to part 10b. o If you have between 77,000 and 79,999 EXP, that means you finished part 12 – Deepdale Revisited. Also go to part 10b. o If you have 80,000 EXP or more, the next boss will level you up, so you want to get to part 11 – Malaga Revisited, part 12 – Deepdale Revisited or part 13 – Wyclif Revisited first to maximize the use of your MP.

Part 10a – Boss Fight – Dark Demon

• This fight is very easy. Just stay completely to the left and wait. As soon as the demon starts getting down, swing your sword frantically. He should die in the first cycle.
• Fun fact: all the bosses in this game inverted the EXP and kims you are announced to receive at the end. Most bosses give you the same amount of each, so it doesn’t matter, but that’s not the case for the 3 bosses in this cave. It really changes a lot when you carefully plan your runs. It took me some time to figure out the numbers listed where mixed up.

Part 10b – Swaffham – Ruby Cave

• Enter Swaffham and talk to the king. He will give you the Red Key.
• Get to the Ruby Cave.
• Make sure you enter the cave by walking backwards as done in the Ivory Cave.
• Use the Red Key, open the gate and get to the boss. There is a gate just before the boss. No need for keys. Just open it.
• IMPORTANT: Once the battle is over, don’t forget to grab the Red Crystal.
• Extrios out. As always, a decision tree: o If you have 100,000 or more EXP, do whichever among part 11, 12, or 13 that isn’t done yet. Keep in mind that you will need 68 MP to get back to Swaffham, finish the cave, warp back to Swaffham and again to the final preparations (55 if you buy the Pass to Carthahena in Barrow before returning to Swaffham). o If you have fewer than 100,000 EXP, you will level up in the coming part. Go do those sidequests depending on your current MP:  92 or more MP: Part 11 – Malaga Revisited (92-99 MP means you cast one less Inaudios).  79 or more MP: Part 12 – Deepdale Revisited.  71 to 78 MP: part 13 – Wyclif Revisited.  70 or fewer MP: go to part 10c.

Part 10b – Boss Fight – Dark Demon

• This fight is as easy as the last one. Use the same strategy.

Part 10c – Swaffham – Sapphire Cave

• Enter Swaffham and talk to the king. He will give you the Blue Key.
• Get to the Sapphire Cave.
• Make sure you enter the cave by walking backwards as done in the last two caves.
• Use the Blue Key, open the gate and get to the boss. There is a gate just before the boss. No need for keys. Just open it.
• This cave is substantially longer than the previous two.
• You should aim to finish this cave with 30,148 kims. Kill monsters accordingly.
• IMPORTANT: Once the battle is over, don’t forget to grab the Blue Crystal.
• Extrios out. Aries to Swaffham and talk to the king. He will give you the fake Ring of Earth.
• Exit Swaffham, then go to whichever part you have not yet done between parts 11, 12 and 13. When they are all done, go to part 14 – Endgame preparations.

Part 10b – Boss Fight – Dark Demon

• This fight is as easy as the last one. Use the same strategy.

Part 11 – Malaga Revisited

• Aries to Malaga. If you haven’t done so yet, talk to the Minister in the left room of the castle. You might also want to replenish your MP at the local inn, which represents a minor time loss.
• Inaudios your way to the Harmony Cave.
• When you encounter Bruno, DO NOT talk to him. Instead, move on to the end of the cave, where you will find the Crown.
• Extrios out, then Inaudios in and talk to Bruno. He will give you the Ring of Water.
• Extrios, then Aries to the next quest.

Part 12 – Deepdale Revisited

• Aries to Deepdale. Do not enter the city. Instead, Inaudios your way to Bremen’s Cave. Find the Truffles.
• Extrios out. If you have 13 more MP than needed for the upcoming quests, Aries to Deepdale and give the Truffles to the king, who can be found in the first house on the left.
• Aries to the next quest.

Part 13 – Wyclif Revisited

• Aries to Wyclif. Do not enter the city. Instead, Inaudios your way to the Peak Cave. Find the old man at the end of the Cave. He will give you the Ring of Sky.
• Extrios out, then Aries to the next quest.

Part 14 – Endgame Preparations

• You will have to buy the pass to Carthahena in Barrow, in which you can also use the inn that is on the way. If you have plenty of MP, get to Barrow as late as possible. If you are short, go there earlier.
• Now that you have all the rings, you can Aries to Excalabria to speak with Knute.
• Get back to Swaffham to speak with the dying king. He will tell you that He lost the ring. This will trigger the endgame events.
• Aries to Barrow. Go to the right and up until you reach the fence of the 2nd house. Line up with the horizontal fence and go through the woods. You will reach a cabin where a man sells you the Pass to Carthahena for a whopping 50,000 kims.
• Aries back to Hastings. Walk the long way to Carthahena.
• Once there, go directly to the throne room. Talk to the man there. He is actually a monster sent by Tsarkon. Kill him with two blows.
• Before leaving, talk to the man in the 1st house. He will give you the Thule Key, which opens the last cave of the game.

Part 14 – Boss Fight – Gold Dragon

• Your glitched AC of 2,700 is of no use for this boss. He will kill you in two strikes. Luckily, we also kill him in two strikes.
• The quickest way to defeat him is to walk right as soon as the fight begins. Once you reach the gargoyle in the background, swing your sword twice. You should be close enough to hit, but far enough to be hit back only once. This fight requires some practice.
• A slower, but safer way to beat the dragon is to line up with the background column. Once the head moves back up, get close and hit the head twice.

Part 15 – The Thule Cave

• Inaudios your way to Thule Cave. Before entering, face the opposite direction and cast Inaudios again.
• In the cave, open the gate using the Thule Key. The first boss to fight is on the 1st floor.
• After defeating him, take the Gold Key he left in a chest, then open the gate behind him and get the ring waiting there.
• Extrios, then Inaudios back in.
• Get to the 2nd boss. This time, you get the Silver Key. Again, open the gate behind the bosse with that key and get another ring.
• Extrios, then Inaudios one last time.
• Once the 3rd boss is defeated, get the Bronze Key, then the ring as usual.
• To reach the final boss, you will have to cross three gates, using the Bronze Key, the Silver Key and the Gold Key in that order.
• Talk to Tsarkon. Decline both times he offers you to joing the dark side. On to the final fight!
• Once the final boss is defeated, Extrios, then Inaudios to Carthahena. Talk to nobody and head straight to the throne. Once in front of it, use the 16 rings, a new item that shows on top of your list. Congratulations! You just beat the game!

Part 15 – Boss Fight – Red Cyclops

• A very easy kill. Just walk to it and swing your sword frantically.

Part 15 – Boss Fight – Red Demon

• A much easier kill than earlier in the run, now that you have a glitched AC. Use the same general strategy as before.

Part 15 – Boss Fight – Red Dragon

• Your glitched AC also doesn’t work against this dragon. Use the same strategy as for the Gold Dragon.

Part 15 – Boss Fight – Tsarkon, the Necromancer

• The fight is easy and straightforward. Skeletons rise from the ground until there are 3. They are easy to kill. Tsarkon will throw you lightning blast, unless some skeletons died, in which case he will raise them back. Once you’re in front of Tsarkon, a couple of blows will dispatch him quickly.

Part 15 – Boss Fight – Weird Hydra

• The fight is not hard, but the Hydra’s blasts are annoying. The quickest way to kill this boss is to brute force your way to one head and swing at it. When its neck shrinks, swing more and more until it dies.

General time-saving tips

• Keep a chart of the EXP required for a level up. In some cases, instead of using a healing spell, simply waiting for the next level to be reached saves a bit of time.
• In caves, try to count how many steps are required before you have to turn. With all the caves in the game, turning in advance instead of waiting to hit a wall saves a substantial number of seconds.
• Never use the inns in the beginning of the game. The Sangua spell and leveling up should be enough to keep your health at… healthy levels.
• As mentioned earlier, the most efficient way to use the Inaudios spell is to cast it on the very last step before the effect ends. This way, you prevent a message from popping up (wastes a bit less than 2 seconds every time). You also prevent a random encounter from happening on that very step.
• To be quick in this game, you need to have your maps ready at your side. It is quite easy to get lost if you go by memory only. Your maps should have everything written on them. Here are some examples of what is written on mine: o The tiles on which you should use the Inaudios spell. o The EXP levels that can be reached in the map area. o The steps needed in that part of the game (so often did I forget to pick up the White Crystal after beating the Dark Demon… o The minimum kims required before the next step.

I hope this guide will help you get through this game!