Michael sat on a tall hill, resting his elbows on his knees as he stared across the endless frozen plains.
The land was quiet and empty.
Cold enough to numb a normal person, yet strangely peaceful.
Michael exhaled slowly.
"It looks beautiful," he said under his breath.
A soft crunch of snow sounded beside him.
Spartan stood there in a perfectly tailored suit, his long hair tied into a high ponytail, black-rimd glasses resting neatly on his nose. He adjusted them with practiced elegance.
"What looks beautiful, Master?" Spartan asked gently.
Michael did not answer right away. His eyes remained on the horizon.
"It reminds ," he finally said, "that even in a place that feels lonely, the peace it provides might be more valuable than one can imagine." Spartan blinked and looked out at the sa landscape, confusion flickering in his eyes. He clearly did not see what Michael saw, but he did not question it. He simply adjusted his glasses again and nodded. "A deep thought from Master. Very poetic."
Michael chuckled quietly. He was not trying to be poetic. He simply liked the sight.
The world was frozen and harsh, but in that mont it was peaceful, and he liked that.
After a few more seconds of silence, Michael rose to his feet. Snow slid off his cloak.
"That is enough rest. It is ti to enter the second floor."
Spartan straightened imdiately. "Understood, Master."
Michael looked across the wide expanse. This floor was enormous. Even after hours of hunting, he had barely covered the terrain. The monsters here were sparse, but each encounter added sothing new to his legion.
Along the way he had also encountered several races. So he recognized, others he did not but not a single elf among them. No trace of them anywhere.
He had hoped to see at least one elven settlent, but there was nothing.
Maybe they simply did not have a station on this level.
Or maybe they did, but it was too far for him to reach during his sweep.
What he did find were two additional Federation stations.
It made sense. Aurora could not rely on only one entrance into Hell.
What Michael did not know was how many gates truly existed across the realm.
"Truly an interesting place."
He checked his panel and nodded.
"Four hundred."
His undead count had nearly reached that number.
There were two things worth noting about this.
First, it was nowhere near his limit. His contract slots could handle much more.
Second, he had not been hunting randomly. He only recruited two monsters per species, a male and a female, then imdiately left to locate a new race.
He had no desire to fill his legion with identical creatures for now.
What he wanted was variety. A balanced and flexible army.
His lineup was already impressive.
As for why four hundred was far below his true limit, the answer was simple.
It was not even close.
He needed two things to advance to Rank Three.
The first was a law.
The second was five Rank Three undead.
That requirent had once barely been a wall for him since five hundred had been the limit of his contract slots. He assud that to break the mission again he would need to raise all five hundred to
Rank Three.
That was the plan.
Then his second evolution happened.
Becoming a True Human changed everything. His foundation strengthened, his soul deepened, and the limit inside him expanded. His contract slots rose from five hundred to fifteen hundred.
Triple his old capacity.
Now the old requirent felt trivial.
What benefits levelling up at Rank Three would bring thanks to this evolution was sothing he would only know once he advanced. Spartan finished adjusting his gloves and looked out at the plains.
"I wonder where the entrance to the second floor of Hell is located,"
he said.
Michael reached into his storage space and pulled out the crystal
map.
"That is easy to check."
A pulse of mana lit the surface as a wide projection appeared. Michael shifted the map until a faint marker blinked.
"There."
The entrance.
It was farther than expected. Michael morized the position and
stored the map.
*
The journey toward the entrance was long, but for the first ti since entering Hell, Michael saw a large gathering.
Aside from the Federation settlents scattered across the plains, this was the only place where travelers seed to gather naturally.
The closer he drew to the entrance, the more figures he spotted
moving across the frozen field.
Michael also spotted a few from his own race.
They passed by him with quick glances.
Those who nodded at him received a simple nod in return.
Michael could already see it ahead.
A massive crack on a boulder in the frozen earth, like a wound carved
into the land, glowing faintly with dim blue light.
The entrance.
Michael did not slow down.
The mont he reached the glowing boulder, he placed a hand on its
surface and stepped forward.
In the blink of an eye, his body was pulled in.
A twisting force wrapped around him like a spiral tunnel, dragging his
consciousness through a passage. His vision blurred, colors stretched, sound vanished, and for half a second he lost all sense of direction.
Then a dull boom followed.
Michael landed on solid ground.
His knees bent instinctively to cushion the impact. He steadied
himself, shook his head once, and exhaled.
Michael opened his eyes.
And the world had changed.
The icy plains, the pale blue glow, the serene cold silence, all of it was
gone.
In its place was heat.
Oppressive heat.
The ground beneath him was red, like rust, like dried blood, like
scorched clay that had never known water.
The sky above him was also red.
A deep, ominous crimson.
A/N: It is a day before the end of the month, guys. Thank you all for
your support and happy thanksgiving. Sorry it is coming late. I am also sorry for the disorganized uploads. I promise it will get better after exams haha. In any case, happy new month in advance. You guys are the best. All of you.
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