Danger on All Sides

As he muttered to himself, his gaze shifted slightly, looking towards the end of the corridor, towards the rooms on either side of him where the doors were closed.

"Call!"

Danitz exhaled forcefully and cautiously approached.

He pressed his ear against the door and listened carefully. When he was sure there was no movement inside, he gripped the metal handle and slowly applied force, silently opening the door a crack.

The gap is getting bigger and bigger.

However, at this moment, Danitz suddenly remembered the captain's reminder:

Don't do anything unnecessary.

"Find your companions as soon as possible."

Uh, am I being too forward or reckless?

If there are anomalies inside them, and I leave immediately, wouldn't I be facing danger from two directions simultaneously when it erupts?

Thinking this through, he shuddered and made a difficult decision.

Investigate these cabins! He must rule out any potential danger from behind!

Without further hesitation, Danitz silently peered inside, using his "Hunter's" excellent eyesight to make out the general outline of the interior.

A metal bunk bed, Wardrobe, a table... a perfectly normal Bedroom setup.

Despite the apparent normalcy, he remained vigilant and walked inside, maintaining the fireball in his palm, thoroughly checking every corner.

It seems there are no problems?

The thought flashed through his mind, and Danitz retreated back into the corridor, turning towards the room opposite.

He used the same trick again, first pressing his ear to the door to listen for any sounds inside, then slowly turning the handle and gradually opening the door.

The room was dark and quiet, seemingly no different from the previous one.

Perhaps I'm overthinking it; there's nothing unusual about these rooms... Lost in thought, Danitz prepared to explore them as he had before.

But at that moment, a dark shadow suddenly shot out from under the bed.

"Dogshit!"

"There was definitely a problem!" In a flash, Danitz reacted quickly, retreating several steps, and then suddenly flicked his wrist in the middle of the corridor, launching the fireball from his palm.

The fireball and the shadow collided violently, causing a massive Explosion.

Boom!

The flames surged, briefly illuminating the surroundings.

Danitz was able to see the shadowy figure clearly—a creature the size of half a human head, covered in a blood-red shell, with sharp mouthparts.

It looks somewhat similar to the Yamaha, but it's larger and more aggressive... Danitz subconsciously imitated the captain's thinking to make a summary.

His gaze followed the black shadow that had been blasted away, and then suddenly froze.

The other party appears to be unharmed!

Not only that, but it seemed to be provoked by him, opening its sharp mouthparts and hissing, before transforming into a black shadow and pouncing again.

It withstood the Explosion of the crimson fireball; its defense is that strong?! Danitz was filled with fear and couldn't help but swallow hard.

However, he was, after all, a seasoned Beyonder, Great Pirate with Bounty of 5,500 pounds, and had extensive combat experience. He did not let his guard down while thinking.

One after another, crimson fireballs rapidly condensed and took shape in his palm. "Dogshit!"

Danitz retreated swiftly, then hurled another crimson fireball at the shadowy figure.

The booming Explosion continued to echo in the corridor. He kept changing positions, using crimson fireballs to repel the attacks of the dark figure time and time again.

After repeating this cycle several times, Danitz suddenly stopped:

"I'll take another fireball from you, you ' Flames ' grandpa!"

Before he finished speaking, he gave a sinister smile and, without hesitation, hurled a newly compressed, even more powerful, blazing white fireball at the black shadow that was lunging at him.

"Boom!"

This Explosion was far more violent than any of the previous ones.

The blinding light illuminated the corridor as if it were Daylight, Danitz, who was not far from the epicenter of the Explosion, even had the vague illusion that his eardrums had been ruptured.

"Hold head high--"

The dark figure let out a sharp roar, its blood-red shell rapidly melting away in the blazing white Flames, its mangled body blasted away by the aftershocks of the Explosion.

Thud. It hit the wall in the hallway and then fell to the ground, motionless.

Danitz did not approach rashly, remaining vigilant and standing still. He observed carefully for a moment, and only when he was certain that the other person was dead did he step forward.

He pulled out the dagger tucked into his waistband and carefully examined the charred, foul-smelling insect's body.

"It's really tough..." Danitz poked the remaining blood-red shell twice with the tip of his blade and immediately felt great resistance.

He then straightened up and slowly walked back to the room he had just been in.

A moment later, Danitz retreated into the corridor with a look of disappointment, muttering to himself, "Don't Knight romance novels always say that you can get the treasure guarded by defeating Monster?"

"This thing is practically Sequence 7, right? And there's absolutely nothing in it... All the authors are liars; you can't believe a single punctuation mark..."

Amidst his rambling incessant muttering, he walked towards another door.

The layout is similar, with dark and deep corridors.

A sharp hissing sound rang out, and a dark figure swiftly pounced on "Beast Tamer" Mia.

Her eyes flickered, and she immediately pulled back, simultaneously reaching for her waist and drawing the soft whip she usually disguised as a corset. Snap!

The soft whip vibrated the air, producing a crisp crackling sound.

The dark figure was thrown off balance and flew back even faster than it had come.

Hiss!

Seemingly annoyed that the woman in front of him had hurt him, the dark figure landed on the ground, opened its ferocious mouth and roared, crouching down to gather strength for an attack.

Upon seeing this, Mia pursed her lips slightly, a look of astonishment flashing in her eyes.

As a "Beast Tamer," her physical abilities are actually quite good; she can even fight many wild animals head-on and tame them by force.

In her mind:

With their own strength, plus this Mystical Item that the captain said came from a "Warrior" and could enhance their strength and speed, they were more than capable of dealing with their opponent.

But in fact:

Her all-out attack only left a faint white mark on the opponent's shell.

"I can't fight head-on, I have to outsmart him..." The thought flashed through her mind. Seeing the dark figure approaching, Mia quickly gathered her thoughts and lashed out with her whip, driving the figure back once more. Then, she swiftly took out a glass jar and threw it at the dark figure.

Snap!

Click!

Two voices rang out almost simultaneously.

The glass jar shattered into pieces, and the foul-smelling powder instantly filled the corridor.

The black image was greatly agitated. It scrambled to its feet, let out a short hiss, and then turned and left without hesitation.

Whew... Mia breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing this, her voluptuous figure heaving with each step.

She fastened the whip back to her waist, reached into her pocket with her left hand and took out the same glass jar, then pulled a miniature Revolver from her boot and held it in her right hand.

After doing all this, Mia turned to look at the room where the shadowy figure was, and walked step by step into it amidst the sound of bullets being chambered.

After carefully inspecting the entire room, her gaze fell upon the open drawer, landing on the dozens of Gold Coins gleaming in the Red Moon.

The entire piece is Dark Gold, seemingly pieced together from two semicircles of different sizes, extremely asymmetrical, with a pointed crown engraved on the surface... This is Gold Coins from the Solomon Empire; I've seen it in the captain's collection... Lost in thought, Mia couldn't help but take a few steps toward the drawer.

But soon she stopped and murmured, "The captain said that once on board, we should avoid doing anything unnecessary and focus on finding our companions as quickly as possible. Is collecting spoils considered unnecessary?"

With a confused mutter to herself, Mia let out a soft breath and turned to leave the room.

She chose to follow the captain's instructions.

Anyway, these highly collectible Gold Coins President legs and run away. We can just come back and retrieve them after we find everyone.

Meanwhile, in another room.

"Weapon Master" Welin cleaved the dark figure away with a single slash, then swiftly held his sword horizontally in front of his chest to block the attack of another dark figure, only to be forced back several steps by the impact.

"What a hard turtle shell!"

He cursed under his breath and quickly shifted his position, pressing his back against the wall at the end of the corridor to avoid being attacked from two directions at the same time.

"Hiss hiss hiss!"

Two dark figures launched their attacks simultaneously.

Welin scoffed dismissively, swiftly pulled out two penny coins and tossed them away, then swung his knife, fiercely slashing at one of the dark figures. Whoosh!

A gleaming blade flashed past.

The shadowy figure didn't even have a chance to scream before it was instantly sliced in two.

Welin narrowed his eyes, relying on his years of honed combat instincts to duck and dodge another attack from a dark figure, then retaliated with another powerful slash.

At this moment, the remains of the first dark figure finally fell to the ground, flowing with deep red to black bodily fluids and emitting a nauseating stench.

Do you really think I can't do anything to you?

He gave a silent, cold laugh, glancing down at the black scimitar in his hand.

--This is a spoil of war he secretly kept during a battle. As long as he has it, he can weaken the opponent's strength through bribery.

This kind of bribe is impossible to refuse.

Similar to the two coins he just tossed, the enemy didn't actually intend to collect them, but their defenses were still weakened, and he easily killed them.

The negative impact, in his view, was almost negligible: each time he used "bribes," he would become even more greedy.

But can greed really be considered a price? Welin scoffed, stepped over the disgusting things, and walked straight to the room in front of him, taking away an exquisite golden wine glass.

"An antique from the Fourth Epoch must be worth a lot of money, right?" He looked it over in the dim moonlight, a smile creeping onto his lips.

Suddenly, his smile froze, and then gradually faded.

"Intruders deserve to die!" he hissed coldly, abandoning the other unexplored rooms and heading straight to the other end of the corridor.

Danitz arrived at the end of the corridor, drenched in cold sweat, and couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief.

Fortunately, there aren't many rooms with those ghostly insects, otherwise I might have died here today... he thought to himself with a sense of relief.

Unfortunately, the captain warned me not to do anything unnecessary... otherwise I certainly wouldn't have let go of those Fourth Epoch antiques, books, and Gold Coins I just discovered... their value is at least equivalent to a property in Trier, and I wonder if I'll ever have a chance to take them... Danitz thought to himself as he rested.

After a moment, he gathered his scattered thoughts, looked up at the Portal in front of him, hesitated for a moment, then gently pushed it open and stepped inside.