Liam looked at the mountain of treasure one last time before raising his hand.
"Let’s see if this actually works."
Tatiana watched him carefully, still not entirely convinced that whatever Liam had discovered was as incredible as he claimed. Liam reached toward one of the piles of coins and focused his attention on it. For a moment, nothing happened.
Then the coins vanished.
Tatiana’s eyes widened.
Liam froze.
He looked at the empty space where the coins had been, then looked down at his own hand.
"...No way."
He turned his attention toward one of the swords lying nearby.
It disappeared too.
Liam stared.
Then he looked at Tatiana.
Tatiana stared back at him with her mouth slightly open.
"You actually did it."
Liam’s expression slowly changed from surprise into an enormous grin.
"I actually did it."
He immediately began testing the limits.
One pile of coins disappeared.
Then another.
Then several pieces of armor.
Weapons followed.
Gold, silver and bronze coins vanished from the ground one collection at a time, each disappearing the moment Liam focused on them. There was no sound, no flash and no magical explosion. They simply ceased to exist in the physical world and appeared inside the strange space connected to his Inventory.
Tatiana watched in stunned silence.
At first she had been impressed.
Then confused.
Then completely speechless.
Liam was starting to look like a child who had just discovered that his favorite toy could do something nobody had told him about.
"This is ridiculous."
He crouched and touched an old sword.
Gone.
He picked up a small piece of armor.
Gone.
He grabbed an entire sack of coins.
Gone.
Tatiana finally found her voice.
"How much can it hold?"
Liam paused.
"I don’t know."
He looked at the remaining treasure.
"Let’s find out."
Tatiana’s eyes widened.
"Liam..."
"What?"
"You’re enjoying this far too much."
He grinned.
"You have no idea."
Within minutes, a significant portion of the treasure had disappeared into his Inventory. Liam wasn’t even sure where the dimensional space ended or whether it had a limit at all. The more he stored, the more excited he became.
Eventually he stopped and looked around.
The hidden chamber was noticeably emptier.
Tatiana slowly turned in a circle, staring at the places where piles of treasure had once been.
"You just stole an entire treasure room."
Liam shook his head.
"Technically, the witch stole it first."
Tatiana considered that.
"...Fair."
Liam looked at her with a satisfied smile.
"Now we should probably go before they start wondering why we’re taking so long."
Tatiana immediately understood what he meant.
They couldn’t simply walk out together looking completely normal after disappearing into the hidden chamber for so long. The others would ask questions, especially Irina, who had already shown that she possessed an almost supernatural talent for noticing when something suspicious was happening.
Tatiana glanced down at herself.
Then she looked back at Liam.
A mischievous smile appeared.
"I have an idea."
Before Liam could ask what she meant, Tatiana deliberately grabbed the bottom of her clothes and messed them up slightly. She loosened the fabric, pulled part of it out of place and ran her fingers through her hair until several strands fell messily around her face.
Liam stared.
Then he understood.
His eyebrows rose.
"You are terrible."
She smiled innocently.
"You started it."
"I didn’t even do anything."
"Exactly."
She stepped closer and quickly adjusted his shirt, making it look slightly untidy before stepping back to inspect him.
Liam looked down at himself.
Then at Tatiana.
"Do I look suspicious?"
Tatiana gave him a long look.
"Very."
"Perfect."
They exchanged one final glance before walking back toward the entrance.
The moment they emerged from the hidden compartment, everyone outside turned toward them.
Irina looked at them first.
Her eyes immediately narrowed.
She stared at Liam.
Then Tatiana.
Then Liam again.
A long silence followed.
Finally she covered her face with one hand.
"Urghhh. You guys are unbelievable."
Liam stopped.
"What?"
Irina pointed at them accusingly.
"You disappear together for that long and come back looking like that."
She gestured toward Tatiana’s slightly disheveled clothes and Liam’s untidy shirt.
"I don’t even want to know."
Leonid glanced at them.
His expression slowly changed.
Then he sighed.
"Neither do I."
Mary tried desperately not to laugh.
Agatha simply shook her head.
Tatiana, meanwhile, had the audacity to look completely innocent.
"What?"
Irina stared at her.
"Don’t ’what’ me."
Liam scratched the back of his head and tried his best not to smile.
"We were just..."
He paused.
Tatiana looked at him.
Liam looked at Tatiana.
Neither of them finished the sentence.
That somehow made it worse.
Irina groaned.
"Please. Just get on your horse."
Liam laughed quietly as he walked toward the entrance.
The horses were already waiting for them there, their reins secured while they patiently stood in the dim cavern. The animals looked considerably calmer now that the witch was dead, though the cave was still so deep underground that the faint light from the entrance was nowhere near enough to illuminate their surroundings.
Everyone mounted their horses one after another.
Gregor needed a little assistance at first, still recovering from everything that had happened to him, but he managed to settle himself into the saddle. Leonid stayed nearby just in case he became dizzy again.
Liam climbed onto his horse and looked toward the passage ahead.
"Alright."
He adjusted the reins.
"Let’s get out of here."
The group started moving.
Their horses’ hooves echoed through the cavern as they followed the winding passage that led toward the surface. The path was much longer than it appeared from the lair itself. The witch’s hiding place had been buried deep within the cave system, and even after escaping the lair they still had several minutes of darkness ahead of them.
The deeper walls slowly gave way to rougher stone as they traveled.
Crystal formations became less frequent.
The air gradually became warmer.
A faint breeze touched Liam’s face.
He immediately knew they were getting closer.
Tatiana rode beside him, her red hair moving gently with the breeze.
Behind them came Mary and Agatha, followed by Irina, Leonid and Gregor.
For several minutes nobody said anything.
The only sounds were the steady rhythm of hooves against stone and the occasional snort of one of the horses.
Then Liam noticed something ahead.
A faint golden glow.
Sunlight.
He smiled.
"There it is."
Everyone looked forward.
The light slowly grew stronger as they continued riding.
The darkness behind them began to disappear, replaced by the warm golden glow of morning.
Liam took a deep breath.
Fresh air.
Real sunlight.
After everything they had gone through inside that cursed cave, even something as ordinary as the smell of the outside world felt incredible.
The horses continued forward.
One more turn.
Then another.
And finally, the darkness behind them gave way to sunlight.
They emerged from the cave.
The brightness forced several of them to narrow their eyes after spending so long underground. The open sky stretched endlessly above them, and the surrounding landscape looked almost peaceful compared to the nightmare they had just escaped.
Liam slowed his horse and looked back toward the dark entrance.
The witch was dead.
Gregor was alive.
Their horses were recovered.
And thanks to a strange new function of his system, he had just acquired an entire treasure hoard without anyone else knowing.
He smiled.
For once, things seemed to be going their way.
"Let’s keep moving."
The group continued down the road, leaving the cursed cave behind them as the morning sun rose higher into the sky.
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