What surprised Ethan the most was that around the stone coffin stood or knelt a large number of goblin stone statues.
There were not only sturdy blue-cap goblin stone statues, but also orange-cap goblin stone statues that were advanced archers.
There were even many other goblin stone statues in all sorts of different forms.
However, with just one glance, Ethan could say with complete certainty that these probably weren't stone statues at all.
They were goblins that had been turned to stone by the Medusa statue inside the coffin, because one detail was especially obvious, the eyes of these goblin stone figures all carried a deep look of fear.
So Ethan was almost completely certain that these goblins had been petrified by the Medusa statue.
Which meant... If he opened the coffin, there was a chance he would be turned to stone as well.
But if he didn't open it, there was no way to get the platinum treasure chest inside the coffin, which left Ethan unwilling to give up.
He walked closer to the giant stone coffin.
Only then did Ethan notice that most of the carvings on the coffin depicted the special nature of Medusa's eyes. Several reliefs even showed two beams of light shooting from her eyes.
And according to the myths of the Old World, Medusa also killed people through her eyes.
'It seems the mage who made the statue has been quite respectful to the original story.'
'If only there were some way to avoid seeing Medusa's eyes, or some way to cover them up.'
'Cover them up?'
At once, Ethan's eyes lit up.
'I can't open a large spatial gate, but if I only used a spatial gate to move Medusa's eyes away, that shouldn't be too difficult, right?'
As soon as the thought came to him, Ethan immediately started trying it.
But since the Medusa statue was hidden inside the stone coffin, he couldn't be sure whether his spatial gate would open exactly over Medusa's eyes.
Because of that he came up with a method.
He took out a blue goblin helmet from his backpack.
Then he opened the Closed Gate beneath the helmet and opened the Open Gate inside the stone coffin. Soon, Ethan noticed that something had appeared under the helmet.
"Collect!"
[Advanced Stone +1]
"Nope!"
Ethan put the item from beneath the helmet into his backpack. Based on the prompt, he immediately knew what he had dug out using the spatial gate.
The method was a little stupid.
But it was safe.
"Level 2 Spatial Gate!"
"Collect!"
[Advanced Stone +1]
'Still not it.'
Ethan measured the proportions of the stone coffin with his eyes and guessed where the Medusa statue's eyes might be.
He had just tried the left side of the coffin, but after digging out two spots that should have been where the eyes were, he had only obtained stone. That meant... the head of the Medusa statue was most likely on the right side of the coffin.
"Let's try it!"
Even after failing twice, Ethan wasn't discouraged at all.
As long as he had enough time, if he kept trying a few more times, sooner or later he would dig out Medusa's eyes.
"Level 2 Spatial Gate!"
"Collect!"
[Petrification Magic Stone +1]
"It worked!"
Ethan's eyes brightened as he quickly checked the Petrification Magic Stone in his backpack. Of course, he didn't dare take this mysterious material out to look at it.
After all, he valued his life.
[Petrification Magic Stone: A magic stone with a petrification effect. Commonly used to make petrification wands or petrification-type treasures.]
[PS: It is said that the most famous artist of the Old World, Master June, once used Petrification Magic Stones to create a Medusa statue and achieved great success. However, because the statue also affected many mages and visitors, Master June was sentenced to one thousand years in prison for causing unlawful injury.]
[PS to the PS: Not long after Master June was imprisoned, her classic work, the Medusa statue, was stolen and has been missing ever since.]
"So that's how it is! It really is an imitation."
The moment Ethan saw that it was the work of an Old World artist, he finally let out a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, it was only made by an enthusiast of Old World culture. What he feared was that this world actually had the gods from Greek mythology, because those were truly terrifying beings.
For example, Zeus, or the immortal Achilles.
If he ever encountered an existence on that level, Ethan figured he wouldn't even get a chance to fight. A snap of their fingers would be enough to wipe him out.
But now that the eye-digging operation had been proven successful, ethan naturally wasn't going to miss the chance to get another Petrification Magic Stone. He roughly estimated the distance between the statue's eyes, then opened another spatial gate on the other side of where the eye should be.
[Petrification Magic Stone +1]
"It worked!"
Ethan's eyes brightened, and he was immediately delighted.
Only then did he hurry to the side of the stone coffin and push the lid open a crack with all his strength. Throughout the process, however, he never once looked inside the coffin.
After all, no one could be sure whether an artist in this world might have given Medusa three eyes.