Use the knife

You pick up the steel knife, and hold it out in front of you. You remember the story of Perseus, and how he used a mirror in order to look at Medusa without looking at her. You stand up and walk out from behind the statue. You face the wall, and look into the knife's reflection. The image is very blurry, but you can still make out simple shapes and movement.

You spot a pink blur in your knife, with an orange wriggling blob on it's presumed head. It stops, for a second, then starts swiftly getting closer. You hear the pitter-patter of bare feet slap against the stone floor. The sound of hissing draws louder and louder. You want nothing more than to run away or face it head on, but you resist. The blur grows closer, and closer. Three seconds... Two seconds... One sec...

You turn around and close your eyes. You slash wildly with your knife, then stab forwards. You feel resistance. Something warm splatters across your face. You dig the knife inwards, and drag it upwards. You come across something solid, but you continue sliding upwards around it until you can go no further. Something writhing brushes against your arm. You pull back the knife in fear, and a second later, you hear a loud, wet, "THUMP" in front of you.

You don't dare to open your eyes. You wait a couple of seconds and then move over toward the sound of the thump. You feel around. You feel something soft, yet warm and wet. You feel disgusted. Eventually you find what you're looking for. You stab your knife into one of them, and then the other. You get up, and open your eyes.

There in front of you, is the Gorgon, lying dead on the ground. Her chest split open up to her jaw, and her eyes gouged out to prevent petrification after ****. You feel a warm sensation on your body. You look down and see that about two liters of blood has splattered onto you.

Your eyes shoot open at the sight and you dry heave into your hand. You take deep breaths, and try to calm yourself down. Suddenly, you hear a fizzing sound coming from your hand. You look down, and see that your knife appears to be reacting with the monster's blood. It crackles and fizzes, bubbling heavily with brownish liquid.

You rush around the room madly, searching the place for any kind of thing that could remove the blood. After five minutes, you find a water fountain on the upper level that works. You try and remove the blood, but you're too late. The knife is completely ruined. It's brown and brittle and lumpy like a rock. You can't use it anymore.

Thankfully, the blood only seems to effect metal objects, as your skin is unharmed. It takes you a while, and you feel cold afterwards, but you manage to wash off most of the blood of your body. If other monsters smelled the gorgon's blood, they'd hurry to your location regardless if you were hiding or not. Clean once more, you explore the upper level.

Most of the rooms are empty save for more boxes and statues, but you find one room that appears to have been the Gorgon's lair. A makeshift bed composed of sripped clothing lies in the corner, and a collection of trinkets and treasures lay strewn across the two desks. You also spot find a pair of clothes lying in a corner that seems to be separate from the pile. One look at it and your recognize who's it is. Shantae's signature red bikini top and signature baggy red pants lay relatively untouched. They look relatively new. She must have been the Gorgon's latest victim.

"Rest in peace, dear..." You say to yourself. "I wish things could have turned out better for you."

You look through the trinkets. You find nothing useful. Mostly watches and hair accessories with the occasional booklet and pencil. Nothing seems to be written in any of them. Though you didn't find any new weapons, you did find Shantae's golden earrings. Funnily enough, they were clip-on, so you decided to wear them as a testament to her.

Finding nothing of note, you made your way back downstairs and approached the shattered remains of your friend.

"Sorry about this..." You say, and pick up the most intact limb you could find, her right arm. It was just long enough to reach the book. You closed your eyes, and put your hands together as a sign of respect, then made your way back to the intersection.