Lyra's breath quickened in an instant. Her heart started beating fast. Her eyes widened as she saw the arrows flying her way. But it was already too late. She knew she had no time to dodge or get out of the way of the arrows. She froze there in panic.

  Then suddenly, she felt a force grabbing the fabric of her clothes, and in the next moment she felt something pull her back toward the door. After the shock wore off, she found herself on the floor outside the entrance. Arix pulled her in just the right moment.

  She looked up to find Arix standing there, staring at her. Beside him stood Meilie, both her hands on her knees and her body bent forward.

  She looked to her left where Tarin was standing with his arms crossed, shaking his head slowly.

  After a deep breath, she stood up. “Thanks,” she said, pointing toward Arix.

  "Move carefully," Arix said as he looked in front of him at the pressure plate.

  He stepped forward, dodging the pressure plate to find himself in a closed room made of stone. There were cracks all over the stone walls while moss, lichen, and vines grew over them.

  On both his left and right, there were old rusting cellar doors made of iron.

  In front of him, he found three shiny chests made of gold. Dust was all over the chests. The others had also entered the cellar by now. They all examined the room in front of them for any possible traps.

  "Wow, treasure." Lyra's face lit up again, with her mouth wide open.

  "You just almost died because of it," Tarin said, eyebrows lifting slightly.

  She didn't say a word and kept looking all around.

  Above the chest, Arix saw a text printed in red. "TREASURY." He immediately understood that this used to be Lom's treasury where they kept all their valuables.

  Meilie took a step forward, holding her staff with both hands and looking down for any other pressure plates that might be lying around. She found none.

  Arix also looked all over, and only after he made sure there were no other strings or plates did he make his way forward.

  After examining the chests, he found that they were all locked and breaking the locks was impossible, at least for Arix as he had no weapon right now.

  "It's all yours." He looked toward Tarin, indicating that he should break the locks with his greatsword.

  Tarin understood his assignment immediately. His face lit up as a proud smile spread across his face.

  He stood in a straight posture, holding his greatsword, facing the chest. With all his might, he swung his greatsword at the chest. A heavy metallic boom echoed in everyone's ears, but the chest remained unfazed.

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  Tarin's facial expression clearly showed that he was shocked, knowing that his attack did no damage to the chest. While he stood there dismayed, Meilie stood up. She went beside Tarin and held her staff to the chest. A white glowing beam radiated from her staff, and then a clicking sound echoed in her ears. She looked back at the group, closing her eyes and lifting her chin up.

  She stepped back and lit her staff again to provide light in the room. Arix went near the chest and opened it. It took all his strength to pry it open—it was stuck and heavy.

  Upon opening, he found that it was empty.

  "Ugh…" Lyra groaned in frustration.

  Arix let out a deep sigh and checked the other two, which Meilie opened afterward.

  All three chests were empty. Disappointment crossed everyone's faces as they stepped back to face the two doors in front of them.

  "So which to choose first?" Arix asked the group.

  "Let's go through the left one first," Tarin answered and made his way toward the left cellar door.

  It didn't take any force to open the door because of all the rust. They all made their way into yet another long, stretched cave made of mud.

  After a while of walking, Arix heard a drop of water fall into a stream, creating small ripples. "There's water ahead," he said, pointing ahead. The ripple sound got louder as they closed the distance, and after a while, they reached another entrance.

  This one was not protected by a door of any kind. They all walked inside to find themselves standing at a small cliff. There was a pond below them.

  "Whoo…" Lyra stretched her words as she stepped forward to sit on her knees at the edge, looking below. She saw many dark shapes resting in the water, long and low, and barely moving. They had rough backs like stones, and two eyes watched from above the waterline. Neither Lyra nor anyone else knew what they were, as they had never seen an alligator before. But it felt wrong going anywhere near them.

  "They look like some dangerous creatures," Arix said while leaning forward to get a better look. He saw at least six of these creatures drifting slowly in no particular direction.

  "Are they dangerous?" Lyra asked, turning around to look at Meilie.

  She nodded, confirming their suspicion.

  "I don't think we can move any further in this direction. Let's head back," Arix said, turning around toward the entrance when he saw that three of these creatures had snuck up on them from behind. It seemed that they were already there, hiding in the shadows at the corners of the cliff.

  "Hey, watch out," he screamed, alerting everyone. Tarin unsheathed his greatsword instantly, standing before one of the alligators. The alligators were moving slowly toward them, not rushing, not making any noise.

  "Agh…" Tarin screamed while swinging his greatsword at one of the alligators in front of him. He struck the alligator in the head, knocking it out instantly, not realizing another one had jumped toward him and was already airborne.

  But as it was about to strike, Arix tackled the alligator from the side with all his strength. The alligator slammed into the mud wall and scrambled back toward the pond.

  The third one was standing to their left, also moving slowly. Lyra handled this one. She stepped in and thrust her needle sword forward, aiming straight for the head. It went straight through the alligator, killing it and coating her needle in blood.

  “Ugh… my needle got dirty,” she said, annoyed. She cleaned it with some water she was carrying.

  "Are you okay?" Arix asked Tarin.

  "Yes, let's make our way toward the other cellar door," Tarin replied as he made his way to the door.

  Everyone followed and went back to the treasury room in silence.