"Young Lady Liora, be careful. Stay close to me," Lisa said, her tone cautious.

She glanced around left and right. The corridor felt… wrong somehow.

It just kept stretching on and on, like it had no end.

What really put Lisa on edge were the strange red mushrooms growing along the ship's wooden walls.

They glowed a bright crimson, lighting up the dark passage in an eerie way.

Lisa's instincts screamed that these were no ordinary mushrooms. They were dangerous—possibly poisonous.

"Umm!" Liora nodded, pressing herself close to Lisa.

She didn't dare ignore her warning. This place was far too mysterious and unsettling.

Yet for some reason, they still hadn't found a way out, despite walking for a long time—perhaps more than half an hour.

As they walked on in silence, each lost in their own thoughts, a sudden gust of wind rushed down the corridor toward them.

Lisa stiffened and immediately pulled Liora back. She opened her palm, and a sword appeared in her grip.

"Come out! Don't be a coward!" Lisa snapped coldly.

Liora swallowed hard and stared ahead. There was no one—only an empty corridor covered in those glowing mushrooms.

Second by second, the tension grew. Then, without warning, a laugh echoed from somewhere ahead.

"Kiekk… Kiekkk… Kiekkk…"

The sound was chilling, sending shivers down Liora's spine.

A black shadow emerged from the ceiling of the dark corridor.

"Kiekkk… It's been a long time since anyone came to this place… Kiekk… Kiekk… Fresh meat… Kiekkk…"

Liora looked up and froze in place. An old man was crawling along the corridor's ceiling, his face twisted into something terrifying.

He had four eyes and two mouths. His skin was extremely pale, as though there was no blood left in his body.

His head was bald, and the skin on his face and neck was covered in scab-like, pockmarked wounds that spread like a spiderweb.

A pungent, rotting stench emanated from him, causing Liora to instinctively cover her nose.

But what stood out most were his limbs. His hands and feet were unnaturally long and thin, resembling those of a spider.

Lisa stared intently at the mysterious man and slowly raised her sword.

"Who are you? Are you a native inhabitant of this ship?" she asked coldly.

She could sense that the strange old man was incredibly powerful—perhaps comparable to an eighth-level monster.

Although Lisa was at the Ninth Awakening level, she didn't dare underestimate something at that level.

Monsters of that caliber had already developed intelligence and thought.

"Kiek… Kiekk…" The old man laughed again and said playfully, "You don't need to know who I am. What matters is that tonight, you'll be my dinner!"

He dropped down and began crawling forward like a spider.

"Young Lady Liora, move to the back. Stay twenty meters away from me. I'll handle this," Lisa said calmly.

Liora nodded and quickly retreated.

Lisa lowered her sword, aligning its tip with the monster's head.

The two stared at each other for a few seconds before vanishing from their spots.

Boom!

Sword and claws collided with terrifying force. The ship's wooden walls shattered, debris scattering in all directions.

Lisa glared at the old man with a cold expression. She spun and kicked him in the stomach.

Thud!

The old man was instantly sent flying, hurtling through the air like a cannonball.

Without pausing, Lisa bent her knee and muttered, "Twilight Sword Technique: First Style… Crush the Earth!"

She stepped forward—but before her foot even touched the floor, her figure vanished in an instant.

The old man was startled. He opened his mouth, and a black web spread in all directions. In that instant, his senses sharpened severalfold.

He closed his eyes and tried to sense Lisa's presence. Strangely, he couldn't detect her at all.

"How is that possible!?" His eyes snapped open, horror etched across his face.

Slash!

Suddenly, his vision spun 180 degrees. He saw his own body crawling across the floor—completely headless.

"Huh?"

Before he could process what had happened, his head had already fallen and was rolling across the ground.

Lisa appeared behind his body. She raised her sword and thrust it into his severed neck.

Srck!

The blade pierced through and tore into his core, then shattered it.

Lisa pulled out her sword and smiled faintly.

"Done."

She flicked her blade, sending the remaining blood scattering.

Then she vanished and reappeared in front of Liora.

"Let's go," she said casually.

Liora could only stare in silence, her mouth hanging slightly open. She looked at the monster's corpse with a mixture of confusion and awe.

'Is this the power of someone who has reached the pinnacle of this world?' she muttered, swallowing hard.

Level-eight monsters were immensely powerful. Even those who had reached the Second Spirit Core, Eighth Awakening, or Eight-Star Mage level could not kill them easily.

Yet Lisa had done it as casually as if she were killing a cockroach. Liora knew Lisa was strong, but she still couldn't comprehend that her power was this overwhelming.

Snapping out of her daze, she quickly caught up to Lisa, who was already walking ahead.

After the two of them disappeared, the monster's body remained where it was. Seconds passed—then suddenly, the monster's head twitched.

Its seemingly lifeless face regained a faint trace of life.

Its four eyes opened, revealing a cold glint and an intense killing intent.

***

Liora and Lisa kept walking until they finally reached the end of the corridor.

There, a two-meter-tall black wooden door stood in front of them. The carvings were fine, but the wood looked old and worn down, damp with age.

"Step back two paces," Lisa said.

Liora immediately stepped back without hesitation.

Lisa clenched her fist and slammed it straight into the door with all her strength.

Boom!

The door shattered into pieces. Lisa peered inside and froze in shock.

"That…" Her eyes widened.

Liora was confused by her reaction. She stepped closer and looked inside as well.

In that instant, her mouth fell open.

"G-Gold!? No—wait, it's not just gold! There's other treasure too!" she shouted in shock.

The room was huge, and right in the center was a mountain of gold coins piled almost three meters high.

And beyond that were treasure chests, pearl necklaces, diamonds, and all kinds of valuables scattered around.

Everything sparkled so brightly it almost felt unreal, like it was pulling their attention in.

The two of them stepped inside slowly, completely unable to look away from all that glittering wealth.

Liora tugged at Lisa's sleeve and asked tremblingly, "L-Lisa, is all of this real? Are those gold and diamonds?"

Lisa took a deep breath. "Yes… they're real."

Liora pressed a hand to her pounding chest. In her entire life, she had never seen so much treasure.

Back in her hometown, gold and other glittering objects were not considered treasure. Instead, herbs were more commonly used as currency or personal savings.

But since entering the academy, Liora had realized that nearly every race in this world—even the elves—valued gold, diamonds, and other precious, glittering objects.

And now, a mountain of gold coins stood right before her, filling her with excitement, panic, and fear all at once.

Lisa pulled Liora closer and stopped in front of the pile of gold coins.

"This is the first time I've seen this many gold coins," Lisa murmured in awe.

She had once entered one of the Beethoven family's treasure storage rooms, but even the gold and diamonds there were not as numerous as what stood before them.

Of course, that didn't mean the Beethoven family lacked wealth. Their storage system was simply unique—they distributed their riches across various locations.

Only the head of the family and Margaret knew their exact locations.

Lisa was certain the treasure before her was only a drop in the ocean of the Beethoven family's wealth. Even so, to her, the amount was still extraordinary.

A smile appeared on Lisa's lips. Suddenly, she jumped and threw herself onto the pile of gold.

"Young Lady Liora, we're rich!" she exclaimed, laughing joyfully.

Liora was startled, then quickly asked, "Do you intend to take it?"

Lisa turned around, resting the back of her head on her hands as she lay comfortably on the gold. She looked at Liora with a playful expression.

"Of course. Since we found it, we should take this treasure, shouldn't we? I'm sure the ship's owner wouldn't mind," she chuckled jokingly.

"But…" Liora looked hesitant and was about to say something when a voice came from beside her.

"Liora? Lisa? How did you two end up here?"

Both of them were startled. They turned simultaneously and saw Margaret emerging from the right side of the room.

"Young Lady?" Lisa froze in shock. She quickly stood up and ran toward her. "Y-You… how did you get here?"

She clearly remembered there was no other entrance except the door she and Liora had come through.

So how could Margaret have appeared from the right side of the room?

Margaret looked deeply into Lisa's eyes, and after confirming she was indeed the real Lisa, she let out a long sigh.

"It's a long story. But one thing's for sure—I've come to bring you and the others some answers," Margaret said.

"Answers?" Liora and Lisa exchanged surprised glances.

"That's right." Margaret nodded with a faint smile. "It has to do with our way out."