Eventually, Rynne spoke.
"Michael... stop."
Michael ca to a controlled halt atop a cracked stretch of ruined stone rising slightly above the swamp waters. The mist rolled slowly around them again.
Michael released her waist and stepped back half a pace.
"What is it?" he asked calmly.
Rynne did not answer imdiately. Her eyes scanned the distant swamp before she exhaled quietly.
"You were going too fast in an unfamiliar environnt. If we cross into a Rank Four creature's active territory, we will die. You wouldn't even know what killed you."
Silence settled between them for a mont.
There was no two ways about it. Even Michael, with his many advantages, did not think he could hold a candle to a Rank Four creature.
However, Rynne was sowhat mistaken about him.
With his perception boosted by being in Wisdom State, Michael had been actively scanning his environnt the entire ti. Even if she had not spoken, he would have stopped eventually.
The only reason he had gone that far was because he had been looking for a quiet place, which for so reason seed to be in very little number here.
The realization made Michael even more unwilling to remain in this layer.
"You ntioned earlier," Michael stated, "that you had a thod to carry us quickly back to the First Floor of Hell."
Her expression relaxed slightly now that they had stopped.
"Yes."
Michael tilted his head faintly.
"What thod?"
Rynne smiled.
Instead of answering imdiately, she reached into her storage space and retrieved a small object.
It was a key.
Not an ordinary one.
The tal shimred with a faint glow, its surface layered with intricate runic engravings that pulsed slowly like a heartbeat. The bow of the key was circular, divided into four segnted arcs, each one marked with a different sigil.
Rynne held it up between her fingers.
"This," she said, "is a Three Star Extraordinary Rank treasure."
Michael's eyes lingered on the key for a mont longer.
"It allows its holder to switch between four specific floors in Hell."
"Which floors?" he asked.
Rynne answered without hesitation.
"The First Floor.
The Fifteenth Floor.
The Thirtieth Floor.
And the Forty Fifth Floor."
Michael's gaze sharpened slightly when he heard that.
If this treasure only linked those four floors, and Rynne had reached the Fifty Sixth Floor, then it ant she had crawled the remaining
distance manually from the Forty Fifth Floor downward.
Through eleven floors of Hell.
His eyes flickered briefly toward her before returning to the key.
Rynne, unaware of his thoughts, continued explaining.
"It was sothing my teacher gave ," she said casually. "A precautionary mobility treasure for deep layer expeditions."
Michael nodded faintly.
"How does it work?"
Rynne rotated the key lightly between her fingers.
"It's not as convenient as it sounds," she admitted. "You can only teleport randomly within a chosen linked floor."
Michael's brows furrowed slightly.
"Random?"
"Yes," she said. "You select the floor, but not the exact location."
She continued before he could ask more.
"And there's a limit. Four uses in total."
Michael's gaze flickered again to the segnted arcs on the key's bow.
"One for each segnt?" he asked.
Rynne nodded.
"Once a segnt is consud, it enters recharge."
"How long?"
Rynne answered plainly.
"Ten years. Ten years per teleportation charge."
Silence lingered briefly after that.
A Three Star Extraordinary Rank treasure.
Its recharge ti alone made it clear why.
Perhaps if the cooldown ti was lower or did not exist at all, it
would have been an Epic Grade treasure.
Regardless of its rank, it was still an exceptional tool to have.
Rynne lowered the key slightly.
"So even though it lets us skip layers, it's not sothing you waste unless necessary." She glanced at him. "I've already used one charge to
descend earlier during my expedition."
Michael absorbed that information quickly.
So she had three charges remaining.
Michael gave a small nod.
"Understood."
Rynne lifted the key slightly as its runes continued to glow.
"If you're ready now," she said, "I can take us straight to the First Floor
imdiately."
She paused briefly before adding,
"Or, if you still have any business left in Hell, I can take you to the
closest linked floor instead. We can move upward from there
manually."
She did not even finish speaking.
"The First Floor," Michael said instantly.
His answer ca so fast it overlapped the end of her sentence. There
was not even a second of hesitation.
Rynne blinked.
She had expected him to at least consider his options. After all,
expeditions into Hell could provide rare opportunities. Many supernaturals tried to maximize their ti within its layers before
withdrawing.
Yet Michael's response had been imdiate.
Decisive.
Almost eager.
Rynne was slightly taken aback by that eagerness, but only for a
mont. She did not question him further.
Michael, however, had drifted into his own thoughts.
What he had experienced in Hell since his arrival started to play like a
movie in his head.
The Demon Lord incident.
The demonic supernaturals.
The Rank Four supernaturals who had been after his life, and many
more.
Even recalling it now, he could feel the faint echo of danger lingering
at the edge of his instincts.
He wondered if Rynne had any knowledge of what had been
happening in the early floors of Hell.
But he did not ask.
Right now, he wanted nothing more than to leave Hell first. After that,
other worries, thoughts, or concerns could co.
Also, from what he had seen so far, based on her possession of this
key alone, Michael figured Rynne had likely used the treasure the
mont she entered Hell.
Jumped directly from the First Floor to the Forty Fifth.
Then descended the remaining eleven floors manually. Michael was right.
The mont Rynne had entered the First Floor of Hell, she had not
lingered. After finding a secluded spot, she had activated the key
without hesitation.
She went down. Straight to the lower floors.
In doing so, she missed the entire incident with the Demon Lord. She
also avoided other disturbances that Michael was not even aware of.
But that did not an her journey had been easy.
If anything, the floors she chose were more dangerous than the
higher ones in a different way.
The deeper layers were alive with powerful natives.
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