Bloody Lily looked at the ring, studying it for a moment before answering. "It's as if there's a connection, an affinity between us..."
Maelstrom nodded. "Of course, after all, this ring was forged by a blood manipulator. It intensifies his power."
Blood Lily hesitated for a moment, contemplating the ring in the palm of her hand. The pulsating aura of the artifact, combined with Maelstrom's explanation of its power, aroused a curiosity mixed with caution. She slid the ring onto her ring finger and the silver ring settled gently onto her finger, but contrary to expectations, there was no immediate burst of power or sensation. It felt like an ordinary adornment.
The player frowned, examining the artifact while Maelstrom watched with interest.
"Curious, don't you think?" commented the voice of the mysterious guide. "Not all treasures reveal their true potential immediately. Sometimes patience is required."
Lily nodded in agreement with Maelstrom's words. She felt the ring's presence, but still didn't fully understand what made it so special. She hadn't received any warning from the game about a boost or anything like that.
However, when Bloody Lily took a step away from the pedestal where the ring was, a subtle vibration began to travel across the floor of the treasure room. Bloody Lily looked around, noticing the flicker in the golden tapestries and shiny objects that adorned the shelves, as well as the peak of the mountains of gold coins falling.
Maelstrom kept his gaze firmly on Bloody Lily, as if he already knew what was happening. "However, as I said earlier, warrior, everything has a price." he said in a serious tone. "Every choice, every treasure. You are about to discover the cost of the power you have just acquired."
Suddenly, the entire room began to shake violently. The mountains of gold, which before had only seemed unstable like shining hills, began to literally crumble, completely covering the paths between them. Gold coins and jewels cascaded down, forming a glittering avalanche that obscured vision.
Blood Lily struggled to stand, holding onto the pedestal as chaos unfolded around her. The marble statues of warriors lost their balance and fell and broke. Swords and shields crashed to the ground with a thud.
Maelstrom remained impassive, floating in the air.
As the player tried to orient herself in the turmoil, a guttural roar echoed from the bowels of the golden mountains and with the explosion of a volcano, an avalanche revealed something that had been hidden, a monstrous being emerging from its hiding place.
It was a large creature, over five meters long, a distorted mixture of metal and flesh, its eyes burning with a demonic flame. Its sharp claws tore chunks out of the columns that supported this room as it began to move towards Bloody Lily. It was as if avarice and greed themselves had taken shape in that hideous creature, with its golden skin and ruby eyes.
"A guardian, awakened by the lust unleashed by the power of the ring," explained Maelstrom, his voice penetrating the monster's deafening roar. "Now, you must face what your quest for power has brought forth."
Blood Lily remained calm and wielded her sword firmly, her eyes fixed on the rising abomination. It wasn't as if she hadn't expected there to be a trap somewhere in this room or in this test. So she quickly looked around her, analyzing the area.
'The terrain is uncertain and unstable, but I can still fight,' she concluded.
Quickly, Bloody Lily ran to her left, where she had spotted some kind of large chest. After all, not knowing what this creature was capable of, she first needed to prevent it and find a safe place to hide from a large-school magical blow. As if it could read the player's mind, the creature opened its mouth and out of it came a beam of light, a laser that melted everything it passed, including the chest that was just ahead.
The red-haired woman's eyes widened in surprise, then she turned her sword and thought:
'I can't turn my back on this thing!
Then, as he turned towards the creature again, he saw it opening its mouth, so he ran back.
'If I can stay out of its sight all the time, the chance of it hitting me with this ability is considerably less.
An instant later, the beam of light came out of the monster's mouth again, trying to hit Bloody Lily, but the player managed to duck in time.
The gold coins hit by this laser instantly melted and then returned to their physical state. With such a capacity for destruction with a single touch, this ability was surprising for a creature that was simply guarding a safe. Even so, Bloody Lily began to run towards the creature and when she was less than two meters away, the monster tried to grab her, but the player was fast, very fast. Blood Lily jumped, dodging the grab and transformed her sword into a hammer in mid-air.
Although the hammer seemed quite heavy, Bloody Lily was strong enough to wield it as if it were an ordinary hammer, thus striking the top of the monster's head with an overwhelming attack, which resounded throughout the scissor chamber, making it tremble. The weight of the weapon mixed with the right movement caused twice as much damage as a sword blow could.
"My arrows or sword slashes probably won't be able to get through that layer of metal that forms your skin, so I'm going to focus on using physical attacks that will make your body crumble little by little!" She shouted with a broad smile on her face.
Bloody Lily was such an experienced player that just by looking at a monster's physical composition she could tell its strengths and weaknesses, as well as what would and wouldn't work against her enemies. Unlike Kaizen, who had the <Analyzing Eye> to tell what exactly her enemies were, Bloody Lily had to develop a skill like this to keep fighting at a high level.