Manticore

Watch your step! This section contains spoilers.

The Manticore is a being in Animal Well that was seemingly sealed away. In real world lore, a manticore is a legendary creature that has the head of a human, the body of a lion, and the tail of a scorpion or a tail of venomous spines similar to porcupine quills. In the game, it is depicted as some sort of spectral blue entity with the head of what appears to be a lion of sorts and a terrifying visage with beady eyes and a fanged mouth.

First encounter

During the course of the game, the player finds flames and uses them to light the four beacons, which disables the seal and allows access to the Manticore. As the player slowly unlocks the seal, more blue ghosts start to appear in areas that were previously clear of them, restricting player movement or making travel more hazardous.

Initially, the player is a little helpless when facing this creature as they have no way to damage it. Instead, the player must navigate the Manticore's enclosure while activating four yellow buttons to open the gate outside the room.

Given enough room, the Manticore's eyes will periodically begin to flash blue before firing a pair of powerful, instantaneous ricocheting lasers that can destroy glass blocks that the player themselves cannot break. However, the Manticore is also weak to light, and if the player throws a firecracker on the ground, it causes the beast to temporarily flee from the room for as long as the explosion lasts.

After leaving the Manticore's enclosure, the player must use a crank to pull up a platform to get across a pool of water. Following that, the player must navigate up and down a series of platforms while the Manticore continues giving chase.

Eventually, the player will escape to a grassy field with a special detonator, which when pressed, causes the Manticore to be bombarded with vibrantly colored fireworks, disintegrating it and finally marking the end of Animal Well.

In the Steam version of Animal Well when the manticore is defeated for the first time, the player is awarded with the "MANTICORE" achievement.

Second encounter

A tame manticore.

It is possible to hatch a new manticore by using the 65th Egg in the incubator after the first one is defeated. However, the second manticore cannot be defeated using fireworks. Instead, the player has to pass barriers to the left of where the new manticore has hatched. The laser from the manticore breaks the glass, the wheel is used to move the door. Afterwards, the remote and the B. ball can be used to to break the rest of the wall blocking the way. Playing the animal flute on the flute spot calms the manticore.

After playing the flute, the new manticore will "swallow" the player, and they will be teleported into a empty void. The player can now control the two manticores, and they will also unlock the "EXIT" achievement if the player has completed the second encounter for the first time.