Daily Dracula X - Stage 4': Fortress Of The Water Demon (alternate)

I said that the waterfall was irresistible, and knowing that, the developers hid a lot of fun stuff down here. There’s a chase on a waterfall, the return of a helpful ferryman, and perhaps the most creative boss fight in the game.

Scene 1

When you choose to ride the log down the waterfall you wind up in a chase with a succession of skeletons.

A bird will show up bearing gifts: hit the box it’s carrying to make items pop out at random. Be on the edge, or slightly in the air, to actually catch these items as they’ll normally go flying over your head.

When dealing with the pursuing skeletons, keep on the right side of the log, out of the reach of their spears, and they won’t be able to hurt you.

The thing to really watch out for here is the sudden drop at the end, pictured. The third bird who appears will be carrying a sign, not a box. That’s your signal to look out, because you’re going to get dropped pretty soon. Jump to the right fast when you see the end of the waterfall to avoid a quick death. It’s a tough reaction to make, even when you know it’s coming.

Scene 2

In another underground cavern, we might just be crossing the river Styx.

The ferryman returns to give us another ride. Love this fella. Your uneventful boat ride is a stand-out atmospheric moment, but there’s also a little trick here.

Get back on the boat and the ferryman will give you “something good”, in this case a health item. Do it again and he’ll give you a key (which you need to open the boss door). Bother the poor man one more time and he’ll tell you “Come no more!” and hand you an invincibility potion.

If you are quick, you can make use of that potion to cross over the next gap without being hit by the oncoming swarm of bats.

As for this long passage where you stand on a platform and try to dodge oncoming swarms of bats, it’s just kind of mean. You don’t have a sub-weapon here, so you want to stand on the right edge of the platform and crouch as the bats fly overhead. Of course the bats show up the moment you get all the way to the end. Of course they do.

Boss: Carmilla and Laura

The screaming toxic-gas green in this boss prep room is certainly a choice. I don’t do this in my play-through, but an axe is best for this boss, for reasons which will become apparent.

Carmilla1 is the giant lady riding a bloody skull around the screen, blasting flaming explosions at you. Laura is the ordinary-looking woman in the red dress who walks along the floor in this battle. She doesn’t look like an enemy, but she is: if you go down there she’ll grab you and drain your hearts (ammo) while holding you in place for Carmilla.

There’s a pretty simple solution to that, which is to just never go to the floor. With axes, we can just wait until Carmilla’s in our vicinity and attack her with axes while moving between her explosions.

Beating Carmilla triggers the second phase of the fight, in which Laura casts off her disguise and attacks. She’s a pretty simple opponent— just give her space and whip her as she falls from her jumps. Note that her hop kick jumps over your whip, so keep a distance.

Next time I am going to hit you all with the one and only paid-only post in this gigantic free solo effort that took two months of my life. It’s about a little secret in Rondo, called Akumajo Dracula Peke. Hope to see you there, vampire killers!