Kardius

Kardius or Warlock Kardius is the Boss from the Second Act of Ancient Temple, The Second Boss of Ancient Temple and the Tenth & Final Boss in overall.

Evil Kardius is introduced as the main antagonist of the game. He awakens from his slumber and immediately turns Mia to stone, forcing Teo to go on a journey to rescue her. Teo eventually catches up with Kardius and defeats him, saving Mia.

Kardius is depicted as a large black creature with a round head, a wizard hat, a cloaklike body, and two red eyes. He resembles a shadow. The warlock attacks by slowly following Teo around the level. He occasionally spawns a thick, purple, flashing laser and aims it at Teo. After a short time, Kardius shoots forward, hitting the wall and spawning four new fire creatures. To defeat Kardius, hit him with three rolling enemies. Every time he is hit, one of the three blue flames floating over his head will vanish.

When defeated for the first time, Kardius warps himself and Teo into a new level and transforms himself into a giant, black eyeball with a reddish-purple pupil. This new creature will attack by following Teo around the level. He is faster in his second phase than his first, but also less maneuverable. Eventually, he will fly to the center of the level and slam the three dark orbs circling himself into the walls, summoning two new shield creatures. To defeat Kardius's final form, you must hit it three times. Each time he is hit, one of his orbs will lose its light. (One may note that Kardius slowly blinks and that his orbs are perpetually flashing.)

Trivia

• In the Japanese version of Drop Wizard, Kardius is called Yamī (Japanese: ヤミー/).
• It is unknown why he turned Mia to stone.
• He is mentioned in Drop Wizard Tower in Teo's Almanac entry. In it, Kardius is mentioned to have simply been "banished" by the human wizard. However, it is unknown if this means that he was simply banished from Teo's kingdom (Therefore meaning that he is still alive) or if he was actually killed. It is possible that he is still alive.
• Kardius is the only boss in the entire Drop Wizard series to have two phases.
• Kardius's lack of backstory or clear motives is a nod to Drop Wizard's status as a homage to classic arcade games. Arcade games were infamous for having no explicit plot and simply subjecting protagonists to challenges for the sake of challenges. This fits Drop Wizard's lack of an elaborate plot.
• Kardius has a melancholy boss theme in his final form, possibly implying that he is a tragic character.