Summoned with an SSS-Rank Portal Skill

Deep down, William was a little scared to get closer to the mermaid. Even though she seemed friendly, she was still a creature guarding the portal — meaning she could be dangerous.

Rena felt the same way. As soon as he started walking toward the mermaid, she grabbed his arm, holding him back.

"Relax. I'll be fine," he said as he turned and looked her in the eyes.

Reluctantly, she let go of him, even though the worry didn't leave her expression.

As William got close enough, the mermaid reached out and gently took his hand, examining the ring he had received so long ago from the Triton King.

Using the ring to open a portal to the mermaid's realm was impossible. The dungeon itself blocked that kind of usage. And even outside, on the demon island, the power of the ring had also been sealed.

William couldn't even use his SSS-rank skill to open portals for some unknown reason.

But when the mermaid touched the ring, she lit up with joy. "I can use my power to open a portal back to the mermaid kingdom… I can't believe it. After all these years… I'm finally going to leave this horrible place…"

Tears began to fall down her cheeks.

William decided to talk a bit more, trying to understand her situation.

"This portal… who built it?" he asked.

The mermaid was more than willing to talk.

"The ones who trapped me here… they were the same people who created this dungeon. But there wasn't any portal here before. They locked me up because my mana and my tears, over time, started creating mana stones."

"The portal you see next to me was created by another adventurer who came here once. But I couldn't use it. And he never told me his name. He didn't even try to take any of the mana stones in the cave."

It was a tragic story. She had been forced to stay in that place just to generate mana stones, and she'd been trapped for hundreds of years. When she said she had been there for around five centuries, William was stunned.

"All that time?" he said. "How long ago was this dungeon created?"

The mermaid shook her head. "I don't know exactly, but it was a long time ago. Though I don't think outsiders were always able to enter it. And before you ask — no, I don't know who created the dungeon. But you can imagine... they must be incredibly powerful people."

Rena stood beside William, listening to everything, and she was just as shocked. Someone would need absurd power to create something like the dungeon — a place that was practically a kingdom in another dimension.

Not to mention that it had multiple floors, people inside, monsters, even a sky, a sun, and a moon. It was like an entirely separate world. Whoever created it was playing god — or trying to become one.

Before they left, the mermaid decided to help William one more time. She used her power to gather all the mana stones from the bottom of the lake and sent them directly into his spatial magic pouch.

It was a massive amount — at least ten times more than he had collected in the rest of the cave. That alone would leave him more than wealthy once he left the dungeon.

After that, the mermaid took the Triton King's ring and used her power to activate the portal!

However, only one person could pass through it, which meant William couldn't go with her.

She handed the ring back to him and said, "I think it's a good idea for you two to get out of here. Opening this portal might have drawn the attention of some unwanted guests."

The "unwanted guests" the mermaid mentioned were likely the creators of the dungeon. It wasn't common for someone to open a portal inside the dungeon—so much so that William's portal-opening SSS skill was currently blocked.

In other words, they would definitely notice that something was off, and it was only a matter of time before someone came to investigate. Maybe it would take a while, but ideally, they had to leave as soon as possible.

So, after the mermaid passed through the portal she had opened to return to the mermaid kingdom, William and Rena used the nearby portal to head to the next floor of the dungeon.

"Let's get the hell out of here," William said.

Rena was still really confused about everything that had happened. She didn't know all the things William knew, and hearing the mermaid say all that left her mind spinning.

But this wasn't the time to sit around and talk—getting out quickly was the smart move.

Before stepping through, they made sure they were in the same party. Being in a party would ensure they'd appear in the same spot after passing through the portal. If they weren't, each of them would spawn in a random location—and that meant getting separated.

With everything checked, they went through the portal.

Everything around them twisted and distorted. They felt their bodies become weightless and fast at the same time, like they were being launched forward at insane speed.

The entire process of going through the portal and arriving at the next dungeon floor lasted only a few seconds. Less than five, to be exact.

When they came to, they realized they were in the middle of a vast ocean. There was nothing in any direction.

They were inside a small wooden rowboat, completely isolated and alone.

"What the hell is this?" William said.

The place was awful. A boat like that was way too slow for real travel, and even with his enhanced vision, William couldn't see anything on the horizon. In other words, they were screwed.

Not to mention, they had no food or supplies to survive for long in the middle of the ocean.

Rena was just as shocked. "As far as I know, the starting point of a new floor isn't usually this bad. But then again, I've never made it this far… and I don't know anyone who has."

They had no idea what to do at that point. The only thing they could do was start rowing.

Rena took the opportunity to talk to William and try to understand more about what the mermaid had said. She wanted to know about the people who had created the dungeon, and everything William knew about it.

Obviously, he kept most of it to himself—it wasn't a good idea to reveal everything. So he made up a story that was part truth, part lie.

He told her he had come across some strange people on an island on another floor of the dungeon, and he believed they might be the ones who created the dungeon. Their auras were so powerful that he couldn't even begin to grasp what kind of level they were on.

At first, it was all just a theory, and it was only after talking to the mermaid that he realized it was actually true—there really were others who had built the dungeon.

Rena wasn't stupid. She had also considered the possibility that someone had created the place—it was far too unnatural to exist otherwise—but she had never found any evidence or anything that could point her in that direction.

The only strange thing for her was the fact that only she and William were able to see those floating islands. That still remained a mystery to her.

"I see…"

She didn't sound angry that he hadn't told her any of this before. If anything, she sounded sad.

"I just didn't say anything earlier because it was only a theory, and we already had so much going on. I didn't think it was important at the time. I'm sorry," William said.

William's words seemed to have worked, as Rena calmed down a bit after hearing them.

"It's okay," she said with a small smile. "Now let's focus on this shitty situation we're in. What exactly are we going to do?"

They were stranded in the middle of nowhere. William stopped rowing and stared intently into the water.

"I'm going to jump," he said.

"What? No freaking way," Rena replied immediately.

Just looking at the water freaked her out—let alone imagining what could be lurking underneath. It was way too deep to see anything, meaning the only way to actually find out what was down there was to dive in.

But there was no way she had the courage to do something like that. She'd much rather stay inside their tiny rowboat and hope to eventually find an island or something.

William didn't like that plan of just rowing and hoping. His vision was much better than Rena's—he had already looked as far as he could in every direction and had seen nothing. The odds weren't in their favor if they kept blindly rowing.

He needed to try something different.

"Stay here," he said. "And if anything happens, be ready to fight."

When she realized there was no convincing him otherwise, Rena simply nodded and prepared herself.

William took one last look at the water—then jumped in.