"Eureka!"
Damon shouted the word with great confidence that was noticeable in his voice.
It was almost as if he had already won.
He had beaten the Symhars to their own game... or so he thought.
After many minutes of thinking about the riddle, finding loopholes and avoiding the crushing effect of unspoken rules, Damon believed he had finally found the answer to the riddle.
His tactic was almost flawless except for one thing, which he would soon come to realise.
His time was far spent and was still counting down.
The moment had come for him to reveal which Symhar was which and end the Riddle Game.
Damon opened his mouth to speak and his lips paused midway.
It was then that he realised that his tactic was flawed.
He could only tell that the Symhar on the left was the Symhar of Lies but the other two — the one in the middle and the one on the right — had both told him the truth.
Now, which Symhar was the Symhar of Truth?
And which was the Symhar of Both?
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.
.
[Riddle Game]
[Time Left — 00h : 01m : 39s]
'Perhaps, I was too quick to celebrate,' he thought to himself.
Damon had been quick to count his chickens before they hatched, and perhaps, too quick even.
Now, he was on the verge of counting his loss for that hastiness — the very attitude he was wary of from the start.
In the end, that attitude still dealt him a heavy blow.
Damon let out a deep and long sigh and wiped his forehead with his hand.
He had two options in mind — try his luck and ask one of them another question and see if it works or choose which one is which while relying solely on his fortune.
'I'm usually lucky with this sort of thing,' he boasted confidently to himself.
Now that he was at the end of the allotted time, he felt as though the timer was sprinting to reach the zero count.
In Damon's eyes, time was moving faster than it usually did.
[Time Left — 00h : 00m : 58s]
He breathed.
"Here goes nothing."
Damon's current situation could be likened to a person who stood at the edge of a cliff and was about to jump off while stark naked without a parachute and yet hoped for a safe landing.
It was a crazy idea fuelled only by nothing else by desperation and madness whether obvious or subtle.
"You... on my left."
Damon lifted his finger and pointed at the Symhar that stood to his left side.
"You are the Symhar of Lies."
The one he accused of being the Symhar of Lies glared at him and smirked.
What was his plan for the other two Simhars?
That aside, was he even Damon right about the one he just chose?
.
.
.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Riddle Game…
Naaray clapped her hands and laughed to her heart's content.
"You passed my test of riddles. It was either you had the answer in you or experienced it."
RedQueen69's heart dropped as she stared at the notification.
She could not believe it!
Overwhelmed by shock, she dropped buttocks first to the ground, panting with her eyes agape.
She expected a loss and subsequently, failure at the level of the 1st floor.
Notifications started to pop up very fast.
[You have completed the «Riddle Game»]
[You are now ready to ascend the «Crimson Spire»]
[+1 Level Up]
[+200 HP]
[+200 EP]
[+200 XP]
[You have received the «Gift of Naaray»]
[Floor Guardian, Naaray, has granted you the «Oil of Lilies»]
[Click to view]
RedQueen69 smiled through her gasps on seeing this and of course, she clicked.
—––
OIL OF LILIES:
[Description]
Oil of Lilies is a magical potion of healing. It grants +25% of player's HP. To refill the four drops in the potion bottle costs -1000 Coins (250 coins/drop).
—––
'I best reserve it for when I really need it then.'
"Inventory."
The player's unexpected win left her dumbfounded with streams of tears gushing from her eyes uncontrollably.
She sobbed and sniffled.
"Ooh?" Naaray muttered, "You thought you were going to die?"
She poked fun at the player and laughed at her.
"Well, you would have died if you lost," she stated with a grotesque grin maintained on her face.
.
.
.
"You in the middle," Damon continued, "you are the Symhar of Both."
[Time Left — 00h : 00m : 06s]
"Finally... you, on the right, are the Symhar of Truth."
Luckily, he had answered just in time to escape time up.
Glancing down, Damon noticed his left hand slightly shook and the calmness he had struggled to maintain for a while now was slowly leaving his body.
No matter how much he pretended to be fearless, Damon was still worried about the outcome of the choices he made since the challenge was not only about riddles and answers.
The Riddle Game was also a death game.