Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse: How to Beat Medusa

At the far end of the Holy Innocents’ Cemetery, Medusa waits in the Serpents’ Lair. The battle unfolds in a submerged stone ruin, where Rose can stand on small elevated platforms. Defeat Medusa to receive a new Arcana card, a spell, and one of the three keys required to open the Catacombs’ sealed door.

Route to the Serpents’ Lair from Holy Innocents’ Cemetery

The path runs through the cemetery and loops back on itself. Your map objective during the trip reads “UNLOCK THE GATE TO THE CATACOMBS”.

Leave Pauper’s Grave and enter the “ROMAN AQUEDUCT”. Red saws travel along the walls, high above the green water. Use dashes, jumps, slides, and the golden grapple rings to get past them. Take the illuminated doorway on the right to exit.

The lower level of the “ROMAN BATHS” is filled with floating green serpent heads. Use the stairs on the right to climb up or descend to the flooded floor, then go out through the door at bottom left.

In the “HOT SPRINGS”, go left beyond the spear guard and floor spikes. Descend through a shaft to a passage with large rolling saw blades, then continue to a spike room containing purple grapple diamonds. Cross the pit by riding the moving platforms and swinging from grapple rings, then exit through the doorway in the upper right.

Back in the “ROMAN BATHS”, climb up with jumps and the purple grapple crystals. A “3/4 Wise Heart’s Fragment!” sits on an upper ledge here. Then drop down, leave through the lower-left door, and cross the spiked room again using the crystals.

Head right along a corridor with green water and pillars occupied by fish-men and undead soldiers. Get past a large rolling saw blade with a jump, descend the vertical opening at the far right, and go through the glowing white doorway below to reach “SERPENTS’ LAIR”.

A Mirror of Life sits in the next room, marked “MIRROR OF LIFE / MAP UPDATED”. Use it to save before the fight. A short scene plays, Medusa speaks to Rose, and the battle begins.

A spirit in the Roman Baths leaves the “Guardian’s Gaze” clue, a warning about her eyes. Keep that in mind for the eye beam below.

The arena and Medusa’s health bar

Medusa’s battle arena consists of flooded stone ruins encircled by enormous coils of her green body. Water covers the ground beneath Rose, who can stand on a raised platform on either side; purple grapple crystals sit beside the platforms, and a golden grapple ring hangs between them over the center. Medusa takes position on one of the two pillars, left or right.

She has one red bar labelled “MEDUSA” with no visible segments. It drains smoothly as you land hits, so there is no fixed checkpoint to watch for. Stay on the raised platforms unless an attack forces you down.

Medusa’s attacks, tells, and counters

Read the tell, get clear, then strike while she is open.

Swipe

Her hair curls as she draws one claw back; she then sweeps a blue crescent across the upper level. Evade by grappling to the opposite platform or jumping there.

Eye beam

A yellow-green light builds in her face as she pitches forward, followed by a broad beam fired straight across the upper platform. Use the golden ring to grapple away, or drop below the beam’s path.

Water dive with tail sweeps

With a splash, she plunges underwater, then her body or spiked tail surges along the floor through the water. Get above it by standing on a raised platform or hanging from the golden ring; a dodge roll through the tail is another way to evade.

Water dive and tail sweep — Her spiked tail sweeps along the platform after a dive, so climb above it or grab the ring. Shown at 81:00 in Shirrako’s video. Image: KONAMI

Lunge bite with hair snakes

She draws back while the snake heads coil forward, then charges across the top platform. Jump over her rush and strike her face while airborne.

Beam barrage

As the battle progresses, the snake heads spread out from her hair and turn yellow before unleashing several beams simultaneously. Find a clear space between the beams and grapple to the ring to leave their path along the floor.

Flying snake heads

Near the end of the fight, little snakes launch from her in your direction. Grapple across the room to avoid them, then move in again to attack.

When to strike back

After a swipe, bite, or dive, she leaves an opening. Use aerial whip combos against her head and body to deplete the bar quickly; a spell from a card ability can also hit her if cast in midair. Move between the pair of platforms and the golden ring to keep an escape option available, and attack during her openings. The final blow ends with a black-and-white slash finish.

Rewards and how to collect them

The bar empties and the trophy “Snakes speared in the ruins” pops with a “Trophy earned!” message. An absorption prompt then reads, “During the absorption phase, hold down R1 to absorb the power of the Arcana” — hold R1 to take it in.

The Prophetess Arcana card, granting the spell Petrifying Gaze, described as “Petrify enemies in front of Rose.”
To open the sealed door leading to the Catacombs, you need “THE PROPHETESS’S KEY” plus two additional keys.
The trophy “Snakes speared in the ruins”.

The battle has ended once the key is added and the Arcana has been absorbed. Before continuing toward the Catacombs, pick up the Rusted Harpe and Aegis, a new weapon pair found in the next room.