The next room is dominated by a closed portcullis, with a door to the left and some suits of armor to the right. Once Dante has accumulated at least 45 Red Orbs, return to the door to break the seal, and proceed inside. Successfully landing this tricky jump will uncover a Red Orb Cache, instantly granting Dante 100 Red Orbs. To do this, the player must have Dante jump up on the horse statue's back from the stairway, jump up to the horse's head, and then make a careful jump from there, wall-jumping off the shaft of the raised spear and tapping slightly towards it, with the goal being for Dante to land on the tip. It is located on the left side on a platform which can only be accessed by wall-jumping off the wall nearby, using a diagonal movement to land on the small floor area with the Fragment.įor a more experienced or patient player, there is a shortcut to obtain the required Orbs and more besides. There is also a Divinity Statue located directly above the door with the magical seal, though this cannot be used for now.Īdditionally, the second Blue Orb Fragment of the mission is found in this room. The only ones that might elude an inexperienced player are in the back-right of the room: to get to these, the player has to have Dante wall-jump off the collapsed section of floor to get higher, then proceed forwards and drop down a hole. This area is intended as a jumping tutorial, and exactly 45 Red Orbs are scattered around the room. The door with the magical seal will note it requires 45 Red Orbs to open if Dante examines it: it will try to attack Dante during this, but cannot hurt him while the text is on screen. A strange red seal is placed over one of the doors which will snatch at Dante with a spectral hand if he stays near it for too long, while the other door is locked and requires a Rusty Key. This locks Dante in the castle's decrepit entrance hall, dominated by a statue of a mounted knight, with a larger statue of Mundus looming in the background with a blue flame burning in his outstretched hand.
Proceeding up the path and into the cracked wall of the castle will result in it sealing behind Dante: this is the "official" start of the mission, with the area outside not being counted towards the level time for ranking purposes. This is significantly easier on a New Game+ when Dante has Air Hike, but is quite achievable without it. The latter is not visible, and is claimed by standing in the small tower next to the path: to reach this on a first run, the player has to have Dante wall-jump off the arched bridge leading to the tower, aiming to land on top of it. Along the way the first two items of the game can be found: a Yellow Orb in plain sight in front of an altar-like structure, and a well-hidden Blue Orb Fragment. Dante starts out in front of the sealed door he entered though in the final cutscene, on a winding path heading towards the castle.