Summoned with an SSS-Rank Portal Skill

William returned to the dungeon using his ring. But for it to work, he had to be close to one of the dungeon entrances. So, teleportation didn't work when he was too far.

That would have been great since he could enter the dungeon from anywhere, but it didn't work like that.

"It would be too OP," he thought.

He made his way back to the dungeon, greeting the villagers and guards he met along the way. They were sad to see him leave again.

During the days he spent there, everyone got to know him better, and they really liked that he was always willing to help.

Once he reached the portal to the next floor, he activated his ring. Another portal appeared in front of him, and as he stepped through, he was back at the hub.

The hub looked the same as the last time he was there. There were a few new faces around, but nothing that caught his attention.

Before doing anything else, William decided to ask around again to see if the shop owner had returned. He went to the shop—it was still closed. He went to the Honeymoon Tavern, asking around about him, but no one had seen him.

William was certain something had happened to the man. That was the only explanation for his disappearance.

It was bad. He wanted to know more about the king and Professor James, or at the very least, know that the man had talked to them about him. But now, he had no idea how things stood.

Had the man shared everything William told him, or had something happened before he could even say a word?

Feeling frustrated with the situation, William moved on to the next floor of the dungeon.

To proceed, adventurers had to go through a specific gate in the hub. There, next to the massive gate, the guards would ask if they were sure they wanted to continue.

"If you go in, remember—the next hub is five levels away," a guard said. "You can always come back here, but you'll have to clear the floor first to use the ring. And remember, you need to be near the portal to do it."

That basically meant that if William wanted to return to the hub again, he had to complete at least one level and be close to the portal.

He nodded and stepped through the gate.

When the gate opened, William saw what was on the other side. It was pitch black, and the only thing shining was the portal.

The portal was close to where the gate stood. A guard warned him, "Go through the portal. You don't want to step out into the dark."

William didn't need the guard to tell him that. Just looking at that darkness was enough to know stepping into it was a bad idea.

"Gotcha," he said.

As he passed through the portal, the familiar sensation hit him. Nothing new there. But then, everything changed.

He was now in the middle of a dense jungle.

Towering trees stretched high above, their thick canopies blocking most of the sunlight. The air was heavy, humid, and difficult to breathe. The vegetation was so dense it restricted movement, vines and leaves pressing in from all sides.

William felt trapped, like the jungle itself was suffocating him.

There were no signs of people or civilization. The guard hadn't mentioned it, but the portal didn't place adventurers in the same location. Everyone was sent to a random spot on the dungeon floor. The only way to land together was by stepping through as part of a party.

That wasn't William's case. He was alone, deep in the jungle.

He began moving forward, using his sword to cut through the thick vegetation when necessary.

"Maybe I can climb a tree and get a better look from up there?" he thought.

Anyone would have thought of that. William climbed the tree with ease. With his current attributes, scaling something like this was nothing.

But once he reached the top and looked ahead, he was shocked. The only thing in sight was an endless jungle, stretching as far as the eye could see.

That was the first thing his gaze fell upon. But when he looked up—well, that's when he saw something really interesting.

Floating islands.

Dozens of them, scattered across the sky. Some looked like untouched wilderness, covered in thick vegetation. Others had cities and various structures built upon them.

Of course, from this distance, it was impossible to make out exactly what those places held.

"Is this part of the level? Or did someone build all of this?" he wondered.

His mind went back to the strange island he had seen before, the one with a modern Earth-style house and familiar objects that shouldn't have existed in this world.

Could it be the same thing?

Could those islands be home to the people who had created the dungeon?

William had no answers. And right now, he had no way of reaching those islands either.

He kept scanning the horizon, searching for anything else. Eventually, his eyes landed on something promising—structures built among the trees. Treehouses.

That was something. Maybe those were the settlements of this level.

Without wasting time, he moved. Staying above ground seemed like the best option, so he jumped from treetop to treetop, using the branches as his path forward.

It was working well—until he spotted something.

A flock of flying creatures, approaching fast.

And they weren't weak. Their aura alone told him they were powerful. There were a lot of them.

Not wanting to take unnecessary risks, William dropped back down to the forest floor. Moving slower but staying hidden was better than exposing himself up there.

That didn't mean he was safe.

The real danger wasn't in the sky—it was on the ground.

It didn't take long before the jungle itself attacked him.

Vines shot toward him, trying to ensnare him. Strange plants released toxic spores into the air, attempting to poison him. The entire forest was alive, and it wanted him dead.

William was glad he had his sword with him. Its sharp edge easily sliced through the vines and cut down the moving plants before they could reach him.

But that wasn't his only advantage.

His black fire magic was especially effective against these creatures, making his life a lot easier. Every attack dealt far more damage than normal.

The only downside?

If he missed his target, his fireball would ignite the wrong spot—and before he knew it, an entire section of the jungle would go up in flames.

Whenever that happened, William ran.

And hoped the jungle would somehow survive on its own.

"This place is magical, so there's no way my fire keeps spreading forever and burns the entire forest down, right?" he reassured himself.

Yeah… he wasn't sticking around to find out.

The good news? Every monster he killed brought him closer to leveling up. His EXP bar was climbing fast, and he was already approaching level 40. That was pretty high.

But what he really wanted was his class. And that… that was proving to be a lot harder to get.

After countless hours of hacking through the jungle, fighting off creatures, and enduring the mosquitoes, William finally reached the place where he had seen the treehouses.

He had expected to find a lively settlement—probably a village full of dungeon-born people who had never even heard of the outside world.

Instead, what he found was adventurers.

And they were struggling to survive.

The group had banded together to build a camp beneath the treehouses, using whatever resources they could to hold their ground. They were doing their best to grind levels and push forward, but it was clear just how hard it was.

William had only managed so well because of his own strength—and because his magic just happened to counter the creatures here. Not everyone had that luxury.

When the adventurers saw a new face, they immediately stopped what they were doing and turned toward him.

They weren't throwing a welcome party.

They just wanted to know who he was—and what the hell he was doing there.

It wasn't every day that a new face showed up.

Like in all settlements, there was someone in charge.

The leader here was a young man with a wooden staff strapped to his back. He looked suspicious—his eyes constantly scanning the forest around them, as if expecting danger at any moment.

"Are you here alone? How did you survive the jungle?" the leader asked.

No one believed a single person could make it through that place alive.

William understood their doubt, but he gave them a simple answer.

"Well, I have a special fire magic, so the plants didn't stand a chance against me…"

That was when he noticed the shift in their expressions.

They were looking at him differently now.

Like he was their savior.

Even the leader, the one who had been so cautious, suddenly bowed to him.

"You are now the leader of this settlement. Please, guide us…"

They weren't just impressed—they were desperate.

And apparently, William was the person they had been waiting for.