In a whale-shaped ship, you'll find the greedy Treasure Knight.
In the entrance room, look for the opening that is blocked by bubbles. You can easily plunge through that space, shovel pointed downward, or just stand on them and they'll evaporate soon. You'll land in a pool of water in a lower chamber. Here, crabs will start toward you. Knock them once to eliminate them, and then knock the shells to send them ricocheting around the room. They need to break a wall to your upper left, so that you can leap out of the water and pass through that opening, then drop down to the next chamber.
That lower chamber is relatively easy to move along. You can hit crabs and use their shells to clear the way. Near the right, there is sand along the ceiling. You can hit a shell that patrols a ledge to the lower left, then send it flying toward the diagonal upper right to clear an opening while also revealing a hidden ladder. There's an enemy on a ledge beneath it, though, so make sure you take it out carefully (remember: hitting it will knock you back, so you might want to try lobbing fire magic at it from a distance instead). Then climb the ladder into the overhead space.
The enemies in this overhead area are invulnerable, so you'll have to carefully leap along the ledges and proceed left to the treasure chest while avoiding contact. The chest contains a bunch of gems. Then you can head back right, descend the ladder, and then drop down toward the right and proceed in that direction to reach a new chamber.
There's a purple knight on an overhead ledge here. You can jump out to battle him, or you can head along the lower route and knock crab shells so that they bounce up to the higher passage and take out the knight cheaply. I prefer the latter method.
Continue right and you'll need to drop down through openings and avoid spikes. Remember that you jump more aggressively underwater, so tap the button rather than holding it. Head through the next room and watch for green eels that appear out of nowhere. Drop through a new opening to reach a checkpoint on a ledge.
From that checkpoint, head toward the right. Note that you can only stand on the seaweed-covered ledges for so long before they fly upward, so you should land on one and then jump quickly to the ledge the crab is patrolling, then jump again and once more to reach the far side of the screen.
Through that opening, you'll find another screen with seaweed-covered ledges. However, there's a spiked ceiling in this case. You need to be doubly sure to progress quickly, so you're not launched up to your death. Take care of the plant that sends out the balls of energy, then continue right and pass through an opening.
In this chamber, a ledge moves left and right along a gap at the bottom of the screen. Higher on the screen, there are sandy blocks. You can jump onto those and proceed cautiously right. An enemy will swim toward you, and it attacks with aura bubbles. You can advance on it, hacking it and knocking it back. A few hits will end it, and then you can continue right into the next screen.
This area is also rather dangerous, because there are quite a few enemies. Long, pink tentacles suddenly emerge from openings, so watch out for those and also for eels as you advance toward the right. There are spikes to worry about, as well. Near the far right side, there are two of the aura-spitting plants along a ledge, and a pink tentacle to the right. Kill the tentacle, then drop down and take care of the plants. Head left and slash the wall they were guarding. You will find food. Just to the right of where you killed the last tentacle, jump and strike the wall to reveal an opening. Pass through it.
In this chamber, you can hop along the bubble ledges, one at a time, to clear them without dropping down to the tentacles (which you need to stay in place for now). Open the chest in the lower right area of the room for some gems, then make your way back left by springing from the tentacles. If you have a fishing pole, this is a good ledge from which to fish. Note the sparkles. Give it a shot, and then head back to the room to the left. Now drop through the lower opening.
In this room, you can drop through either opening to reach an area below. If you drop through the left opening, though, you'll be able to grab some extra gems. To do that, you'll need to hop along some tentacles. Either way, you'll arrive in the lower room to find that a bed of spikes is positioned along the bottom. There is a platform that moves back and forth, though, so you can use it to keep yourself from too easily falling. Ride on it and hack at some of the tentacles, then jump to the higher ledge. From that ledge, jump right with your shovel pointed down and bounce along the two remaining tentacles, so that you can reach and pass through the opening to the room below.
In this chamber, you'll find the level's second checkpoint. Just avoid some of the enemies that crawl around the ledges as you head left and tag that checkpoint. Then travel left and dig through some sand to drop to the chamber below you.
Here, you'll see a treasure chest just sitting out in the open. Approach it, though, and you'll find that it is attached to a mini-boss. Now you'll need to head to the right, while the giant lantern fish swims in that direction. You can keep out of harm's way by using downward thrusts with the shovel. You'll rebound harmlessly from the chest and won't have to worry about bouncing along ledges, as long as you stay ahead of the fish. When you reach the far right side of the area, you'll finally have to battle the fish.
You can jump from the center ledge and hack at the fish, but he will sometimes also send out squid. Once he sends out around four or five of them, that's your cue to quickly leap up and start bouncing along the chest. The fish will swoop across the screen and disappear, only to emerge again a moment later. Repeat the pattern until you win. The chest will then drop and you can open it to find your merchant friend. He will sell you the
Throwing Anchor for 3000 gold, if you have the funds. Make the purchase.
Proceed to the right and tag another checkpoint. Here, manta ray enemies swim quickly left and right. You can hit them with good shovel thrusts, then climb to an overhead room where there are more of the rays. Now you need to cross left along ladders, hacking the rays and also the plant life.
Before you do that, though, look to the right. There's a weak wall to the right of the rightmost ladder. Climb to its top, then drop off toward the right and hack at the wall to reveal the opening. Return to the ladder and this time fall right and through that opening. You'll arrive in a long room. There's a tentacle just to the right of the entrance, and another swimming enemy to the right from there that likes to toss green slime balls at you. Beyond that, though, you'll find a chest that holds a
Music Sheet. Grab it, then hop on the ledge and hit the lever to cruise back left to this secret room's entrance.
Now return left to the previous room and jump to the first ladder positioned over the spikes. Climb to its top and then drop left and toward the wall, holding 'Up' on your directional pad so that you just barely grab the ladder before falling to the spikes. If you need extra security, you can also use the Phase Locket ability.
Climb the ladder into the overhead chamber and you're in a room with two more of the platforms like you saw in the hidden chamber a moment ago. Stand on the lower one and hit the red switch go fly quickly to the right side of the chamber. Jump up to the ledge before you reach the far wall, as your platform will disappear once it does. Now jump up to the upper ledge and hit that switch. Ride it over to the ladder and climb up into the overhead chamber.
This ladder will let you keep ascending, but you should pause for a moment. From horizontal rows to the left, ledges are launched and fly toward the right side of the screen. You need to climb up between bursts, pausing along the way where it is safe. When you reach the overhead ledge, jump toward the right and land on the floating platform. Then from it, you can swiftly jump as a platform nears overhead. Land on it and then jump to safety along the room's upper right side. Exit to the right.
In the next screen, you'll find a purple knight who tosses anchors at you. You can fence with him and win fairly easily, even in the confined space. Then open the chest for some gems before dropping onto the ledge that ascends and descends along the left wall. Wait for it to reach its lowest point and then hit the switch. The platform flies to the right. Hold in that direction as you reach the wall, and you should drop and land in the opening. Then walk right into the next chamber.
You are in a room with an anchor to the right and a checkpoint on the ledge to your upper left. Start toward the right slowly. The anchor will drop into the pit, then hoist itself back out. As it does, leap to the horizontal bar, and then from that bar leap left to tag the checkpoint. Now you can hop back right and continue in that direction.
You will need to ride along a series of anchors here, while also dealing with a swimming enemy that likes to launch slime bubbles your way. Your goal is to stay along the high anchors. It's easiest to jump toward one as it is coming back up. The next anchor will descend. Wait for it to start coming back up, then leap to it and repeat the process as you continue right. Near the far side of the room, a purple knight will be throwing anchors in arcs. Leap over them and to the high ledge along the right side of the room. Walk along it and to the right to access a special hidden room with another purple knight. Defeat him while avoiding falling shots from the plants overhead. Cross and open a treasure chest for a bunch of gems. Then return left and dig through a sand-covered opening in the floor to reach the chamber below you.
This lower room doesn't have much that you should fear. You can avoid the gray, shelled enemies easily enough, and you can hit the other crabs and launch their shells to clear the area of debris. Then exit through the opening to the right.
In the next room, hack at the steel column ahead of you and it will disappear. Stand on the platform to the right and hit the switch to the left, then face right and start mashing the button to swing your shovel as you fly in that direction. You'll need to break apart another few steel columns, and be ready to jump to the right to clear a bed of spikes on the chamber's far side. Then pass through the low opening. You'll be able to tag a checkpoint, and then you can continue right from there to meet the area boss.
Treasure Knight
This encounter shouldn't be too terribly difficult, because you can hit your foe several times at once without much trouble. The main thing you need to do is avoid his harpoon.
When the battle commences, Treasure Knight is likely to fire a harpoon left. You can leap it easily enough, given the underwater environment. Be prepared to leap over Treasure Knight also, because he tends to follow wherever his harpoon goes. When he arrives at the left wall, you will hopefully be in a good position to slash at his back a few times.
You need to watch out, though, because your foe could easily fire back toward the right or toward the ceiling. If you try to use a downward shovel thrust, it's important to aim for one of his sides, not his helmet, so that you're more likely to avoid any vertical shots he may fire.
Throughout the fight, Treasure Knight may also try to suck you into a treasure chest. If you get caught, he'll then break through the chest and you'll take damage, so be sure to fight against the suction. There are assorted other moves to face, as well, but they're easy enough to see coming. As long as you're alert, you shouldn't have to take a whole lot of damage, and a few flurries of shovel strikes will pretty quickly send Treasure Knight and his armor to the trash heap.
Victory gets you some gold, like usual, but not much else. If you have been following this guide precisely, you should also earn the "Halfway" feat, and your next destination (after any supply runs) should be Lost City to face Mole Knight.
NEXT: Lost City
