Halo 2: Sacred Icon — Mythic and the terminal hidden beside the last descent

Halo 2: Sacred Icon — Mythic and the terminal hidden beside the last descent Halo 2: Anniversary in The Master Chief Collection. Mission-route spoilers. Sacred Icon has enough shafts, dark corners and nearly identical rooms that “look in an alcove” isn't much help on its own. The important distinction is this: **Mythic is up on a ledge in a Flood-filled interior reached after the later exposed Enforcer-area ledges. The terminal is later, on the main floor beside a wall, before another drop.** Neither requires searching the final outdoor defense area. This route covers the skull and Terminal 8. The Arbiter toy is a separate collectible with its own route; finding it doesn't replace either of these pickups. **Set up for the right achievement** For both items in one visit, select **Sacred Icon on Legendary**. The MCC achievement is **Skulltaker Halo 2: Mythic**, and its requirement specifically includes Legendary. Don't confuse this with the Mythic skull in another Halo game, or assume that a menu modifier being available means you have collected this mission's physical skull. Terminal 8 unlocks **Determined** and can be activated on any difficulty. If that's your only missing item, there is no reason to put yourself through Legendary just for the terminal. Use Anniversary graphics when looking for it; the terminal isn't present in the classic presentation. You don't need Mythic enabled to find Mythic. For a straightforward collection attempt, leave extra modifiers off rather than changing the combat and jumping behavior while learning the route. **Mythic: get above the crates, not down the next shaft** Play through the opening Sentinel Wall passages and the section with the large Enforcers. You're looking for the **later dark, foggy interior reached by descending a piston after the partially open Enforcer areas**. This is not the first little room you drop into at the start of the mission. Once you enter the correct Flood-infested room, look for the conspicuous **stack of crates near the entrance**. Above that stack is a landing with dark recesses along its wall. Those crates are the way up. 1. Deal with immediate attackers before trying to balance on the boxes. If you use the Arbiter's camouflage to reach them, remember it is temporary; don't treat it as protection for an unlimited search. 2. Jump up the crate stack, using the higher boxes to reach the elevated landing. This is an ordinary climbing route, not a requirement to blow yourself onto the ledge with a grenade. 3. Move along the landing with the row of dark alcoves **on your right**. 4. Check the **third alcove** along that row. The skull is inside, hovering over a dead human Flood combat form. 5. Move close and use your pickup interaction. Looking at it from the landing isn't enough to claim it. Some short guides call this the “last hole.” The more useful directions are the crate stack, the landing, the right-hand row and the third recess. Don't apply that description to an unrelated row of openings farther back in the level. Once you've collected it, work back out of the recess and return by the ledge and crates to the mission floor. There's no special requirement to carry the skull through the rest of Sacred Icon or kill a particular enemy beside it. This is a pickup, not a new combat objective. If the spot appears empty, first check that you're on Legendary and have reached the correct dark room. Don't start inventing a spawn ritual around the Flood bodies or the order in which you killed the Enforcers. **Terminal 8: pause before the last stretch of piston drops** Continue onward through the wall's interior and the later descending shafts. Watch for a shaft with a **divider at the bottom**, followed by an open-sided platform where you can see the sky beyond. There is another piston/shaft ahead on the normal route. **Do not immediately drop through that next opening.** This is the terminal stop. From the direction you enter the platform, head to the **right-hand side of the room**, toward its outer wall. Look into the narrow space between that outer wall and the intervening wall or pillar. Turn back toward the inner face of that structure: the Covenant terminal is tucked against it. That's why descriptions can say both “right side of the room” and “on the wall to your left.” You move right to reach the gap, then look back at the wall within that gap. It isn't a contradictory instruction to search the opposite half of the room. Switch to Anniversary graphics if necessary, approach the panel and activate it. The collectible here is the terminal, not the piston control. Check for **Determined** before treating this stop as finished. The room is commonly identified by dead Flood rather than a fresh battle. Use the platform, outside view, right-hand gap and onward shaft together as your landmarks; don't rely solely on whether a room happens to be quiet when you arrive. **If you've already gone past it** The repeated drops make this a poor mission for casually promising that you can walk back to everything. If you're still in the collectible's room, stop and search before taking the next descent. If you've already dropped beyond it, an available earlier checkpoint may help, but don't assume MCC has a selectable archive of every checkpoint you've passed. Otherwise, revisit the mission. You can collect the terminal separately on an easier setting, while the Mythic achievement still needs its Legendary visit. Check which achievement is actually missing so you don't repeat the harder run for an item you've already claimed.