Summoned with an SSS-Rank Portal Skill

The creature could be anything. William didn't want to take the risk and just stay out in the open.

There was a chance it was something weak—something he and Rena could handle—but it could just as easily be something far too powerful. It didn't make sense to take that chance.

The two of them started climbing the floors of the building they were in. Since the creature was coming from outside, it would have to climb too. That meant staying on the top floor would give them an advantage.

Rena was clearly scared. The screams continued again and again, growing louder each time, as if the creature was getting closer.

The winged snake William had tamed followed them easily, keeping up with their pace without any trouble.

"What do you think that is?" Rena asked.

"I've got no idea," William replied, "but I have a plan."

He didn't stop for even a second to hide. William kept going, carrying Rena as they ascended all the way to the rooftop.

Once they made it to the top, they climbed onto the flying serpent and took off, soaring far away from the city.

They looked back to see what kind of creature had been chasing them—and what they saw was more than a little disturbing.

The thing letting out those screams was tall and unnaturally thin, wearing a tattered dark cloth. Its face was fully visible—and it looked like a mummy.

It was definitely some kind of undead. Maybe a wraith, or something even stranger. William had no interest in sticking around to find out what it could do.

"That was way too close," Rena said, letting out a shaky breath. "I thought we were done for."

And then more screams erupted from the city. William glanced down—and what he saw made his stomach drop. Dozens of those same creatures.

The city wasn't abandoned after all. It was infested.

"Oh my god…" Rena muttered.

If they had stayed even a bit longer, they would've been overwhelmed. William was glad he'd decided to use his mount and get out before it was too late.

Still, they didn't leave empty-handed. That phone they found—it meant something. William was genuinely excited about the idea of getting it to work again.

With nothing left to see on that floating island—and no intention of returning to that city—the only thing left to do was fly to another island and keep exploring.

There were several floating islands in that place. William flew around for a while and spotted another one that had a city. At first, he thought about not going there.

What if that city was also infested with those same creatures? But as they flew closer, William noticed something—there were actually people there!

The structure of the city was almost identical to the other one. Same style, same materials used in the buildings. But the difference was… there were people.

Well, not exactly normal people. These ones had wings on their backs.

"What kind of winged race is that?" Rena asked.

She was curious, but also shocked—and a little scared. William had no idea whether those people would be friendly or not. The only way to find out was by going there.

They went down to the island, and it didn't take long for a group of winged warriors to come meet them. These warriors wore silver plate armor.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" one of them asked.

William was glad they spoke the same language. "We are adventurers who saw the floating islands and decided to take a look."

He didn't want to lie to them, as that would give the wrong first impression. So William told the truth.

The winged warrior was shocked. "You two can see the floating islands? It's supposed to be invisible…"

It was clear the man was confused as to how William and Rena could see the floating islands. William was also wondering why only he and Rena could see them while the other adventurers couldn't.

"Come with us," the guard said, "but don't worry, we won't lock you up or anything."

William nodded. They went down to the ground. William and Rena dismounted the flying snake and walked along with them.

"Do you know what happened to the other city?" William asked them. "We were on another floating island and there were some strange creatures there."

The winged warrior stopped when William said that. He was visibly shaken by the question.

"Our people once lived in that city, but things got out of control… It's not a safe place anymore," the winged warrior said.

It made sense why the two cities were pretty much the same, structurally speaking.

William and Rena followed the guards into the city, and once they entered, the people there looked at them with curious gazes.

Everyone had wings on their backs—that was the norm there. William and Rena didn't have any. It was the first time in a long while that someone from the human race was in their city.

So, they were curious to know who William and Rena were. The guard led them to the guards' barracks.

There, the guard spoke with them in private.

"If you plan on staying in this city, you'll have to follow some rules," the guard said. "First of all, no messing around. We expect you to respect the citizens."

William and Rena listened carefully to what the guards had to say. They didn't want to get kicked out of that place.

The general rules followed the same things other cities did, so William wasn't that surprised by it. The rules were things he wouldn't do in the first place, even if the guard hadn't said anything.

After the explanation was over, William asked a few questions.

"Do you know where the portal is?" he asked.

He wasn't expecting the guard to know what he was talking about, but the man knew it!

"You mean the portal to the next floor of the dungeon? Yes, I do. Why? Are you planning on going there?" the guard asked.

That was strange. William had seen how the citizens of the dungeon didn't know they were inside a different place, a different realm. But the winged guard in front of them did.

"So you know this is a type of dungeon?" William asked.

"We do," the guard said. "But we can't leave this floor. This is our world, and we only hear tales about other areas of the dungeon."

The citizens of that floor couldn't travel through the dungeon floors like William and the other adventurers could.

William guessed that the people who created the dungeon didn't want their creations to leave the area.

"And can you show us where the portal is? Not today, but soon?" William asked.

The other adventurers were down there looking for the portal to the next level, so if he could get the guard to show where it was, well, that would make things a lot easier.

But the guard couldn't. "I'm sorry, I can't leave this city. But I can give you the general direction of it. Will that be enough?"

William was okay with it. It was better to at least have the direction than have nothing at all and keep looking for the portal like headless chickens.

"Sure. Thank you for this," William said.

The guard then shared where the portal was, and what things William should be looking for while searching for the gate—like points of interest, so he could orient himself in the middle of the jungle.

Rena also listened in, just in case William forgot something. After that, they left the barracks and moved into the city.

Once again, the citizens kept looking at them, shocked to see humans there. Some even talked to William and Rena as they passed by.

There were a few things for sale in the city, but nothing that really interested William. That changed when he explored one of the libraries in that city.

The library had a lot of books with different types of spells—spells he had never seen in the human world.

And to make things even better, they accepted the money William got from killing monsters.

So, he could actually buy some of the books in that library if he wanted to. That was just marvelous for him. Even Rena was excited about it.

"There are some interesting things in this library. Like, there's even a book here that promises to teach a spell to grow wings!" she said.

That was indeed pretty interesting. William and Rena moved through the library, looking for books to buy. For them, that was the best thing they could ask for.

Spells and powerful items were things all adventurers loved. William bought the spell that promised to give him wings—it looked useful—and he also looked for some spells that could enhance his body.

The winged people were pretty good in combat. They were fierce warriors, so they had a lot of those spells in their arsenal.

Eventually, Rena and William parted ways while looking for books inside the library. The place was just too big, so each of them moved to a different section.

William decided to pull the modern phone from his pocket. He was just too curious and anxious to make that thing work. He moved to a dark corner of the library and tried to energize the modern phone with his mana.

He wanted to try using his mana as some type of energy to make the phone work.

It worked.

The phone turned on. William saw a few apps on the screen, and something really interesting: it was a group chat. The people in the group chat also had other phones.

They were even exchanging messages at the time William opened the group chat.

"Is this a group chat of the people who created this dungeon? People from Earth?" he thought.