Navy Base Infiltration (4-3, Hard Mode S++ Rank)

This level was more frustrating than 4-1. It is too easy to make small mistakes in certain segments which causes the entire run to snowball out of control. What really kills me figuratively AND literally is that there's only ONE health pickup at the last 85% of the level. Hope you like not getting hit. It also took me until just today (8-27-25) that the music in this level also does not cycle appropriately. Was No Rest for the Wicked never considered?

This level introduces the running riot shield soldiers. They aren't a huge issue, but note that they have a whole turning around animation if you get behind them. Unless they hit a wall - then they just keep moving the other way like nothing happened. This bit me later on in the level when I didn't expect them to keep moving as fast. With the first conveyor belt section, I've inconsistently gotten hit by the flying machine and the barbed wire at the end of that mini section, which is why I just run the umbrella shield just to be safe. There's also the mutant soldiers with one slash (blue pants) or two. (green pants) They both take three hits to kill. The tall guys who lock onto you with their giant staff are literally just the enemies from Blasphemous who did the same thing with a lantern. (Looking back over this...did I really spell Lantern "LantURN" like the Pokemon?) They have a melee attack if you get too close, which also stops the electric tracker.

The target time is quite generous here - I nearly had 3 minutes of free time. You don't have to rush the level. There's plenty of obstacles to take your time through and/or get hit by. So then, you'd think...if there's next to no healing items, why not equip the Healing Fountain Ragebound Art? None of that truly matters because of the last challenge. You have to kill the boss in less than a minute. Fail that, and you've wasted all your time regardless of how fast or slow you went. To maximize my damage, I kept the Kunai Barrage to do ~ 1/3 of his health. It does not help that the boss can make it extremely hard to maintain constant damage on him. Here's the attacks to look out for.

Walk Forward
...uh, it's a real thing he does. He reaches his hand out like he's trying to rip your heart out, except with the urgency and speed of a elderly turtle. React when appropriate.

Flamethrower
He'll aim for a moment, and spray some flame at you. These can reach ~ half the screen so don't underestimate it. Good thing the shield enemies don't use this model of flamethrower...

Flame Charge (50 Base Power, fire type, raises users speed by 1 level)
The flamethrower gets wrapped into a giant mutant arm and he'll essentially do Terry's Burning Knuckle across the ground if he's on the ground, or will deliver a ground slam from off the wall. In either case, flames will coat the ground for a few seconds. Easy to dodge when you consider the rope at the top of the stage, but it's not about ease of dodging - it's more about the loss of time to drop him as fast as possible. Remember the time limit!

Uppercut
He'll charge at you with an uppercut two times in a row. After losing some health, he'll do it three times in a row.

Ranking parameters
Time: Less than 9:30 minutes
Kills: 180+
Max Combo: 45

Challenges:
1) Kill enemies of the specified type (8 flying sentries)
2) Kill enemies while airborne (20 times)
3) Kill boss in less than (01:00)

Talismans used:
No rest for the wicked - Dying makes you restart the level.
Unworthy - Checkpoints don't heal you.

Opening: (0:00)
Opening Cutscene: (0:05)
4-3: (0:33)
Mutant Commando: (7:25)
Post Mutant Commando: (8:28)