Manticore

The  is a large lion-like creature with a pair of bat-like wings affixed to its back, and which also has a poisonous scorpion-like tail. It usually has two forms of attack:
 * Shooting a series of fireballs from its mouth.
 * Stinging with its poisonous tail.

In Aria of Sorrow, the manticore appears first as a boss and later as a lesser enemy. A stronger version of the manticore, called Mushussu ("Caleo" in Greek mythology) appears in Dawn of Sorrow.

The manticore also appears as the Poison-element attribute card in Circle of the Moon.

Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
The manticore appears in Circle of the Moon as the Poison-attribute DSS card, thus producing poison effects, such as summoning a poison cloud. When the Uranus card is obtained, you can summon the manticore, which produces a poison rain that damages all enemies on-screen.

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
The manticore is encountered in Aria of Sorrow as the boss of the Chapel, and later as a common enemy in the Floating Garden. It is considered to be a hard to obtain soul, and the room where it is found must be entered from the right side in order to farm it, as the left room goes to a different area of the Floating Garden.

It has two attacks, both of which deal a decent amount of damage if you're not careful:
 * The first is an attack with its tail if you are within range. The tail also poisons Soma on contact.
 * If you are out of range of its tail, it will shoot fireballs. Depending on the amount of health it has left, the amount of fireballs will change. If it's close to full health, it will shoot only one, and when its health is below half, it will shoot two or three. It is also known for shooting more than three, but that's very unusual.

Defeating it as a boss has a small chance to yield its soul, but it can also be obtained later in the Floating Garden.

Like the Devil and Curly guardian souls, it transforms Soma into a rushing were-beast version of the manticore. It can be used to bypass the waterfall in the Underground Waterway and gain access to the Forbidden Area.

Interestingly, the manticore does not keep the same room when faced in Boss Rush Mode. Instead of using the room in the Chapel area, he uses the Colosseum-like room from the Arena as its lair, making it a somewhat more difficult boss fight.

Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow
These are encountered in the Wizardry Lab. They'll attempt to sting Soma and spit fireballs at him. Their souls let Soma use their tails. Getting its soul will also allow Soma to combine it with a Battle Axe and create the Bhuj (ATK +90), which is one of the most powerful weapons he can get at that point in the game. A pair of manticores appear in a room just left of the Wizardry Lab's Warp Room, which helps in their farming. The Battle Axe can be bought from Hammer's shop for $7,800, but a more economic way to create it is to buy an Axe for only $800 (or get it for free if an Axe Armor dropped one), and combine it with an Axe Armor soul to get the Battle Axe.

The Mushussu is based on a Greek mythological creature which was described as the stronger form of the manticore in Greek poet Homer's poetry.

Enemy Data
Manticore