Deep down, William was a little scared to get closer to the rmaid. Even though she seed friendly, she was still a creature guarding the portal — aning she could be dangerous.
Rena felt the sa way. As soon as he started walking toward the rmaid, 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 rmaid 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 rmaid'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 so unknown reason.
But when the rmaid touched the ring, she lit up with joy. "I can use my power to open a portal back to the rmaid 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 rmaid was more than willing to talk.
"The ones who trapped here… they were the sa people who created this dungeon. But there wasn't any portal here before. They locked up because my mana and my tears, over ti, started creating mana stones."
"The portal you see next to was created by another adventurer who ca here once. But I couldn't use it. And he never told his na. 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 ti?" he said. "How long ago was this dungeon created?"
The rmaid shook her head. "I don't know exactly, but it was a long ti 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. Soone would need absurd power to create sothing like the dungeon — a place that was practically a kingdom in another dinsion.
Not to ntion 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 beco one.
Before they left, the rmaid decided to help William one more ti. 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 tis 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 rmaid took the Triton King's ring and used her power to activate the portal!
However, only one person could pass through it, which ant 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 so unwanted guests."
The "unwanted guests" the rmaid ntioned were likely the creators of the dungeon. It wasn't common for soone 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 sothing was off, and it was only a matter of ti before soone ca to investigate. Maybe it would take a while, but ideally, they had to leave as soon as possible.
So, after the rmaid passed through the portal she had opened to return to the rmaid 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 rmaid say all that left her mind spinning.
But this wasn't the ti to sit around and talk—getting out quickly was the smart move.
Before stepping through, they made sure they were in the sa party. Being in a party would ensure they'd appear in the sa spot after passing through the portal. If they weren't, each of them would spawn in a random location—and that ant getting separated.
With everything checked, they went through the portal.
Everything around them twisted and distorted. They felt their bodies beco weightless and fast at the sa ti, 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 ca 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 ntion, 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 rmaid 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 co across so 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 rmaid 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 soone 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 ti. I'm sorry," William said.
William's words seed to have worked, as Rena cald 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 imdiately.
Just looking at the water freaked her out—let alone imagining what could be lurking underneath. It was way too deep to see anything, aning 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 sothing like that. She'd much rather stay inside their tiny rowboat and hope to eventually find an island or sothing.
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 sothing 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.
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