Make your way forward to find the secret mission right off the bat, or head to the left to go through a hollow log to continue. Smash the gross looking pods here to get through and continue your way to the left. Hop down the ledges to get to the bottom and then take out the enemies there. These new ones called Chimeras are easy peasy and can be ripped apart with one buster from the devil bringer. Head up the stairs in front of you but note the blue barrier wall to the right. Enter the door to the ruined church there and you will come across some (mutated!) scarecrows.
Whoop them good and then make your way up the stairs. Hit the mechanism there until it activates and creates a platform for you to cross. Go through the door on the other side and follow the metal stairs along to another mechanism. Hit it and platforms will start to appear. Make your way across while snatching the Mephistos that appear. Hop from one to the next as they appear and disappear and enter the door on the other side when you reach it. Now you are at the Lapis River and need to head across the bridge and then to the right. As you enter the Ancient Plaza, a load of enemies will appear for a good time. Take them out and continue across the area and towards the right. Directly ahead of you will be a gyroblade that you need to light and send through the wall ahead of you.
Do it and go through yourself to find that you are right back where you started from. Send the gyroblade through the blue barrier that you saw at the beginning and head through the door on the other side of it. Head across the metal stairs as the large snake tries to make you a snack and through the door on the far side. Continue forward and to the right of the building there will be a statue for you to beat on. Get the blue fragment from it after you score an A rating and continue through the archway. Cross the bridge and kill the enemies on it and do a little shopping at the statue if you need to since the boss is right ahead.
Echidna is the thing that has been chasing you and is apparently a dragon or snake or something. She has the head of a dragon, but she is called the She-Viper which would indicate a snake and although she has no wings….ah hell I give up. She’s a bitch and probably the hardest boss in the game. Much like Bael, she has three main attacks that she uses to try and put you in the ground, not counting when she drops the Chimera seeds. She will start by charging at you in her snake form and when she does, you need to simply roll or jump out of the way.
The two other attacks are while she is stationary. When her head opens and the female body appears, buster her to get close and open up some combos on her while she is targeted. Once you are close to her for too long, she will knock you back with her head tentacles, so watch out for her to start swinging her head and jump out of harms way before they start flailing at you. At times she will launch into the air and come crashing down and haunch up on her tentacles to reveal her lady bits underneath. When she does, she’ll drop seeds, but ignore them for now and focus on the pink sack hanging there.
Buster it and you will be able to pull off some hefty combos for some heavy damage. As she gets lower in health, she’ll switch up her attacks from glowing yellow and swiping at you, to driving her body into the ground and having her tentacles pop up to protect her. When she does either of these moves, get as close to her head as possible and unleash some combos while locked on. Eventually she will fall and victory is all yours. Once the she-bitch is down, you will receive the Sephirothic Fruit, which will remove the red slimy roots from your path. Once you have it, walk to the roots and head through to end the mission.
Mission Eight: Profession of Faith
Head south and then west on the path and enter the archway there. In the middle, look up and there will be a pod on the ceiling that is hiding a blue orb fragment. Snatch it and continue on through the narrow path way until you come to some more red roots. Wither them away and continue through to the ancient plaza. Cross the bridge and run to the right to the next area and you will get a cut scene showing some new enemies. Take them down with some fancy sword work. Keep going to the right and continue to the ruined church and go to the far left corner. Smash the glass plates there and there will be some more red roots behind.
Use the fruit to get through and you will come out to the Lost Woods. Lost…ha! That’s what this is for! If you read the inscription on the statue it says to go to the light. Look on the ground and there will be a shadow pointing in the direction of one of the four paths. The path you want to take is the opposite side of the shadow. Take the path opposite to the way the shadow is pointing three times and you will come out to the Forgotten Ruins. Head across the bridge and stock up on supplies in the training ground because there’s a dozy of a fight coming up. Make your way across the Gran Album Bridge and up the stairs at the end.
