Summoned with an SSS-Rank Portal Skill

That city on the island wasn't exactly a great place to be. William didn't feel good there, and more than that, he could see the absurd number of pirates and criminals walking the streets.

And when they finally found a tavern to rest in—well, it was packed with shady people too. Everyone turned to look at William and Rena as soon as they walked in.

They tried to ignore the stares and rented a room for the night. It wasn't too expensive, and that was one of the few positives about the place. Even though William had a decent amount of the dungeon currency earned from killing monsters, he knew his money wasn't infinite.

Before they could go upstairs to the second floor of the tavern, a man approached them. He got straight to the point.

"Hey, you," the man said, "I can tell you're strong. Are you interested in exploring the sunken city? We're trying to form a strong party to head down there. The place is crawling with monsters."

William became interested the moment the man mentioned that. If there was a place where the portal could be, it would probably be in an underwater city. Not to mention he was curious to explore it either way.

"I don't know anything about that city," William replied with a smile. "Mind telling us more?"

The man lit up at William's interest. Few people had the strength and courage to dive into the sunken city, so he wanted to treat William well to make sure he would join them.

"Of course, of course. Come with us, I'll buy you a few beers," he said.

The man's name was Kurt, and he was sitting with four other people at one of the tables. They were all friends and part of the same team that had been exploring the sunken city.

And it was during that conversation that William discovered something surprising: they were actually people who had come from outside the dungeon!

"You all dress well," William said. "I didn't even notice you were outsiders."

Kurt nodded. "It's best to stay undercover. You never know if other outsiders are going to be friendly."

William agreed. What he said made perfect sense. Anyway, Kurt explained that they had arrived in the city about a week ago, and during that time, they had discovered the existence of the sunken city.

He had wanted to explore it, but knew it was dangerous—so he was waiting to build a bigger team before going in.

"Now with the two of you, I think we're ready," he said. "I'm almost certain the portal's down there. There's nothing else left to explore on this island."

"The odds of the portal being there really are high," William said, taking a sip from his mug. "And do you know what's down there? I mean, is the place full of monsters?"

Some areas in the dungeon were more densely packed with monsters than others, so William wasn't sure what to expect from this sunken city.

Well, Kurt knew.

"Yeah, it is. I ran into another group of adventurers who went down there, and from what they said, it's swarming with monsters. But they didn't share any details. Can't blame them, though—info like that is usually kept private."

"And do you think we'll be enough to explore the place?" William asked.

Their group had around seven people — including William and Rena.

"I believe so," Kurt said. "But the only way to find out is to go. It's not like we've got a lot of choices."

Kurt was right. That sunken city seemed like the only place left to go. William had spent days adrift in that boat without finding a single thing. That city was most likely where the portal was. At least, everything pointed in that direction.

"So when are we going? Actually, how do we even get there in the first place?" William asked.

Reaching an underwater city in the middle of the ocean didn't sound easy at all, and he had no idea how they were supposed to survive down there.

"We need to swim a bit, then we pass through a kind of barrier. The city itself doesn't have water inside, so don't worry about that," Kurt said.

The first thing that came to William's mind was the mermaid city he had visited before, which worked the same way. Even though it was deep underwater, there was no water inside the city itself.

Anyway, they kept talking for a while, drinking beer, and eventually went up to their rooms. Rena wanted to rest, as she was still recovering from the poisoning.

William went up too, mainly because he wanted to keep an eye out and make sure no one tried sneaking into Rena's room during the night.

The night went by without incident. The only thing they heard for hours were loud conversations and drunk yelling from the tavern below.

Well—William heard them. Rena was so exhausted that she completely knocked out and only woke up the next morning when William knocked on her door.

She took so long to answer that he got worried, almost thinking he'd have to break the door down. But eventually, Rena appeared, her hair all messy and her face creased from sleep.

"I totally passed out last night," she said. "Is it morning already?"

"It is. We need to get ready to go. Do you think you can make it, or do you want to stay behind?" William asked.

He used his senses to analyze Rena's aura, and she seemed to be about 90% recovered — which was pretty good, considering she'd taken the antidote just one day ago.

"I'm going with you," she said. "From what they said, the city's full of monsters. I could really use the XP."

"Alright, let's do this."

They went downstairs and met up with Kurt and his crew — William hadn't even bothered asking the others' names — and after grabbing something to eat, they set off.

The entrance to the sunken city was near the island, but not many locals dared to go there. It was known as a dangerous place, and only the strong had a chance of surviving.

Kurt led the way. They crossed through the forested part of the island, heading to the opposite shore. There, they stopped in front of the ocean.

"Now we just dive," Kurt said. "We have a fire mage in our team so he can warm us up and dry our clothes, so don't worry about that."

The first to dive in were Kurt and the rest of his team. William actually liked that — he didn't trust them completely, so it was better to let them go first and clear the way. That way, he could be sure nothing bad would happen to him and Rena.

After they went down, it was their turn. William and Rena jumped into the water, which was freezing cold, and swam toward the bottom, following Kurt and the others.

It took a while to reach the city — about five minutes of swimming. Luckily, everyone in the group was a mage, so they could hold their breath for quite some time. Getting to the bottom wasn't a problem.

The water pressure increased as they went deeper, but it wasn't anything they couldn't handle. When they finally passed through the barrier surrounding the city, all the water vanished. The barrier kept the ocean out, creating a dry space inside.

William was surprised by what he saw. The city was massive — bigger than any other city he had seen so far.

The buildings were made of stone — a kind of yellowish stone — and everything looked surprisingly well preserved.

But what really caught their attention wasn't the city itself — it was the creatures that lived there. They were some kind of aquatic beings, like bipedal fish that even carried weapons. They came in all sizes, but most weren't that big.

The real problem, though, was the sheer number of them. There were so many that the streets of the city were completely covered with these creatures.

From a distance, William could see other groups of people also exploring the city and fighting those creatures. It looked like the more they killed, the more of them showed up to attack.

Kurt's fire mage used his magic to dry everyone's clothes and keep their bodies warm.

"I told you this place was full of monsters," Kurt said. "We've only explored a small part of the city. There's a lot more for us to check out. Where do you want to start?"

Asura, William's demon sword, had a strong ability to sense energy. And it was Asura who felt something unusual. The sword gave William some directions.

He then passed them to Kurt. "Let's go that way," he said, pointing. "You guys haven't been there yet, right?"

"No, not yet," Kurt replied.

Kurt and his team took the lead while William and Rena followed close behind. The sunken city exploration had started.