The Battle of Olympus/Peloponnesus

Entering the forest
Before you arrive in the Peloponnesus forest, you should make sure that you have collected the Sandals of Hermes and have the ability to launch fire from the Staff of Fennel. From Arcadia, you arrive on the left side of section A. Immediately, a Jumper bird will be running toward you. Jumpers behave very much like Satyrs, except some are much faster. In addition to Jumpers, you will also have to keep your eyes open for Bats that swoop down from the tree branches. A short distance away from the entrance, you will encounter a spider web. These webs aren't deadly, but they will slow you down unless you leap over them, or burn them away with the staff. If you do get stuck in one, jump and swing your weapon to move through the web.

A woman in the middle tree behind door B advises you to burn away withered thorns. When you reach the right side of section A. it may appear as though you've hit a dead-end. However, there is a black space in the background (door C) that you can travel through to go deeper into the forest. Once you go through the passage, you will arrive in section B.

Three sections, B, C, and D comprise a trio of forest segments that look quite similar and can become hard to distinguish between. There are some visual differences, however, to help you tell them apart. Each one is colored slightly differently, and they each have a spider web in different locations. Try to use this information to help you determine where you are currently located, and which passages to take in order to reach your destination.

Your first destination should be the Temple of Apollo. When you arrive in section B, burn away the spider web and walk to the left. The door immediately to your left (E) and the door to the far left (D) contain information. When you are ready, use the door marked with the red X to switch to section C. Upon arriving there, head to the right, and enter the first door (F) that you come to, and you will be inside the temple. Walk to the right and kneel down to speak with Apollo, and he will give you the Harp of Apollo. This device can be used to summon Pegasus at sun monuments, but it will also have one other important use.

Exit Apollo's temple, and walk to the next door to the right. Pass through the door marked with the red W to visit section D. At this point, you have a choice. If you are having difficulty staying alive with the current level of health that you have, it may be wise to visit section H early to pick up an important item. Head to the left and pass through door I. When you arrive, you will see two tall trees to your left whose branches you can jump on top of. Reach the branch of the leftmost tree and strike the trunk with a weapon. An Ambrosia should fall out of the tree and extend your health meter by four more bars. Do not proceed any further to the left just yet, as you do not have the weapon necessary to defeat the boss on the other side of the rocks. Instead, head back through door S to return to section D.

If you have collected the Ambrosia, or choose to wait until later to get it, walk right to door K and head through the passage to reach section E. This section will contain a number of trees with branches that you can jump on. Watch out for the Bats that fly through the area. The ground is occupied by a few long stretches of thorns, so you'll want to remain up in the branches in order to avoid taking damage on the ground. Eventually, you will reach a brown colored thicket of thorns that is higher than usual and impossible to jump over. These brown thorns are withered, and therefore susceptible to fire. Burn them down using the Staff of Fennel, and proceed through door N to reach section F.

Section F contains Worms, just like the ones you've encountered in Arcadia. They're not much of a threat, but the hot springs that you must walk over can be. They will release scalding bubbles that float up into the air which you must avoid. Time your approach to each bridge carefully, and cross or jump just after a bubble floats by. Continue to the left until you reach section G. You'll have a few more hot springs to jump over and a few more worms to deal with until you begin to hear boss music playing.

When you reach the long bridge on the left side, you will see the Hydra raising his head out of the water. When you get close enough to the Hydra, it launches itself out of the water in your direction. To defeat the Hydra, you must strike it in the head eight times (regardless of which weapon you use). You must lure the Hydra out of the water by getting close enough to it, and then strike the head as it flies by. It's difficult to predict with what strength the Hydra will leap out of the water. Sometimes it makes a short jump that is easy to anticipate, and sometimes it makes a much longer jump that is likely to hit you. The bubbles indicate the next location it will jump from. If you stand too close to the bubbles, the Hydra won't leap until you move further away.

Once you strike the Hydra's head eight times, it will be defeated. The bridge to the land behind the Hydra will appear and you can safely walk to door R on the left. Behind the door will be a Nymph. Speak with the Nymph and she will reward you for saving the forest by giving you a Sword. The sword is three times stronger than the club (or 1.5 times stronger than the staff), which makes it better than the staff for fighting enemies up close. But since it has no magical projectile attack, you may still wish to switch back to the staff every now and then to attack weaker enemies safely from a distance.

Now that you have the sword, it's time to return all the way to the right, through section F, and back to section E. Return to the right side of section E to make it back to section D. This time, turn around and walk to the left to reach door I and visit section H. If you've already collected the Ambrosia, then simply leap past the trees to the rocks on the left. If you haven't, be sure to stop on the branch of the left tree before the rocks and strike the trunk to obtain this health-expanding item. Once you leap over the rock formation and land back on the ground, you will hear boss music yet again.

This time, you are up against the Cyclops. The Cyclops is a giant that tosses a never ending supply of boulders at you. He is only vulnerable to metal weapons, so you must have obtained the Sword from the Nymph behind the Hydra in order to defeat the Cyclops. Assuming you have the sword, equip it now. You must jump up into the air and strike the cyclops in the eye in order to hurt it. All the while, it will be dropping boulders on you, so it's important to do your best and avoid the boulders as much as possible. Strike the Cyclops in the eye four times with the sword and it will be defeated. This will leave you free to continue on to the left and reach door T at the end of the section, which will transport you to.