She was forced to abandon her bowstring, and the energy-infused longbow was assimilated the instant it touched the liquid gold.

It seemed to foreshadow her own fate as well.

But Cynthia did not retreat; she marched straight towards the King of Gold.

This time, even the air was assimilated.

An unusual sensation came from beneath her feet; her peripheral vision caught sight of liquid gold creeping up from her ankles.

The King of Gold spread his arms wide, quietly accepting the brand-new divine artifact forged by a Middle-Level God into his hands.

And in that fleeting moment, he shifted just a step to the right, scarcely noticeable blue energy pierced through his chest, but it left no wound; the pierced place seemed to fall into a time vortex, becoming blurry, until a moment later, when the blue energy completely vanished, did it restore to normal.

The spread of liquid gold paused for a moment.

"Ethan, why not let me first deal with the obstructions?"

The King of Gold asked calmly, "You should know the consequences of distraction in battle."

In the short span of just over ten seconds, deep within the temple, only the altar remained.

Ethan and Cynthia stood beneath the steps, gazing up at the figure overlooking them.

"This is a mechanism monster."

Ethan ignored the King of Gold, quietly reminded Cynthia.

During these few seconds, he had observed and understood; the mechanism was simple and transparent—the real threat wasn't the liquid gold spreading like magma; the King of Gold had skillfully used a blindfold, and the real transformative effect was the energy continually expanding outward from him as the center.

This mechanism can be simply understood as "any contact with the energy triggers instant death".

Additionally, that wind element's sneak attack was another kind of time-related authority, making the King of Gold almost an untouchable existence.

If this were a game, the designer responsible for such a broken design would surely be severely criticized by players, wouldn't they?

The key to victory lies in how to avoid the barely perceptible energy.

"I'm talking to you!"

A roar came from beneath the golden mask, evidently, the King of Gold couldn't stand being ignored.

This pivotal problem quickly found its answer.

It turned out, the designer, when designing this broken monster, left no room for challengers to evade; tidal waves of energy rolled toward the foot of the steps like an unstoppable flood, leaving no gap anywhere.

Cynthia's eyes lost focus, and compared to the earlier small commotion, this time the surge of energy had swelled to a degree she could see with the naked eye.

She watched as the golden wave crashed down on them, becoming the sole existence in this space-time.

Until, the blinding gold suddenly stained with scarlet.

The speed of the surging wave slowed more and more, until it completely halted in mid-air, followed by a soul-touching chill.

"Looks like someone taught you."

Once again, the voice of the King of Gold came from behind the scarlet ice layer, "Was it Merlin? Did he mention the method of power struggle in the manuscript?"

The frozen energy trembled violently.

As cracks appeared, the scarlet ice chipped away continuously, and the figure of the King of Gold emerged once again from the gaps in the broken ice, "I'll praise you a bit; to be able to train ice elemental magic to such a—"

The lofty voice abruptly stopped, after a sound of thunder, his body was cast away by a massive force, plummeting straight into the liquid gold beneath the altar.

Two figures faintly appeared over the altar.

"This is..."

Cynthia uttered, lost for words.

She had never seen the King of Gold so embarrassed, being kicked down by someone.

"This is a gang-up tactic."

Ethan calmly explained to Cynthia.