The giant amalgamation of evil spirits known only as Menace appears as the final boss of Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow for the Nintendo DS handheld system. He moves and attacks much like the other golem style enemies found throughout the game, but is far bigger and poses an even bigger threat. He has three heads (two of which being a weakspot): one in the mouth of the larger head encompassing him and one placed on his knee. There is a fourth head protruding from his chest, but is destroyed after the first round of the fight.
Creation
Menace was created when both Celia Fortner and Dmitrii Blinov travelled to the Abyss in order for Dimitri to fully round out his copied version of Soma's Power of Dominance that he had emulated after being in Soma's soul. This was to match Soma's level and make him viable for candidacy of the new dark lord.
Upon entering the central chamber of the Abyss, Soma quickly found that Dimitrii had acquired the souls of powerful demons to use at his disposal and had sacrificed Celia in order to acquire even more power.
Before Dmitrii had the chance to test his newfound abilities, however, the truth was revealed: Because what he had was nothing more than a copy of the true Power of Dominance, Dmitrii was unable to properly contain the monster souls he had collected, and they all slowly merged together within him, ultimately forming a single soul with the power of all those monsters combined; the Menace. Unable to contain such power, Dmitrii died in agony as the Menace emerged from within him, causing Dmitrii's body to violently explode in the process.
Methods of Attack, First Form
While in his first phase, Menace primarily utilizes several spiked objects that either protrude out of his body or from the floor. These spikes jut out from their hiding position following an attack made by the main head, which is colored mist which can cause poison and do massive damage to Soma Cruz.
Methods of Attack, Second Form
Menace moves and attacks similarly to most golem style enemies in this mode. He will move back and forth and occasionally jab or do an uppercut when he is close to you.
Menace also uses his very large size as a form of attack as still coming into contact with him can cause a great deal of damage to the player. If the player gets too careless, he can end up being juggled by the abomination's feet resulting in instant death almost every time.
One additional maneuver he has is to consistently spawn leech-like creatures from behind himself. These nuisances float toward the player, stop to bare their fangs, and continue floating until contact is made. They can do a considerable amount of damage and one can become easily overwhelmed by an entire swarm of the creatures.
Weaknesses
Menace has a weak point in the head on his chest in his first phase (when he's hunched over you) which is destroyed before the second form begins.
In his second phase, the beast reveals two new weak points in the form of red faces attached to his left knee and one stationed in his giant maw. Both must be destroyed in order to defeat Menace.
Recommended weapons to fight Menace are the Valmanway (First Form and knee Face), Gugnier (first Form and Knee Face), Death Scythe, or the Claimh Soalis. It should be noted that the Claimh Soalis do more damage than Death's Scythe despite Menace is not tolerant to Dark but is weak against Holy.
Recommended Souls are any Bullet Souls, but Guardian Souls cannot lock on to the faces in the second form. However, they will help defeat the leaches that Menace spawns (the Death soul may be real helpful here). The souls recommended are the Erinys, Great Axe Armor, Flame Demon, Abaddon, and the Malachi Soul.
Battle's Aftermath
Once defeated, Menace breaks down into his base components of evil souls and attempts to merge with Soma, nearly overpowering him and driving him insane with the powers of the dark lord. Only once he had thought of Mina Hakuba was he able to turn the tables on the assault of darkness that threatened to consume him.
Harmony of Despair
Menace appears as the boss of the third chapter. His first form is not confronted. He has his original attacks, as well as a kick attack and he can jump. His theme is Piercing Battle Fury. Instead of taking out all of his parts in order to destroy him, you only need to destroy two.
Enemy Data
| Enemy Data: Menace | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Image | Name - Game Description |
Statistics | Items | Location | Notes |
|
|||||
| A humongous amalgamation of powerful demons. | Weak: Holy HP: 3000 x 3 (see below) Exp: n/a Atk: 166 |
The Abyss (Final Chamber) |
|||
|
|
|||||
| A humongous amalgamation of powerful demons. | Weak: Holy |
Drop: Heaven Sword (Normal - Alucard only), Slick Boots (Normal), Lapiste (Normal and Hard - Shanoa only), Pneuma (Normal and Hard - Shanoa only), Chaos Ring (Hard), Nebula (Hard) |
Chapter 3 |
||
Trivia
- Menace is fought in a room similar to that of Legion's in Aria of Sorrow, Curse of Darkness, and Symphony of the Night - a place filled with thousands upon thousands of bodies. This is most likely due to the fact that Menace is essentially a demonic and vaguely humanoid form of Legion.