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-rimmed 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 me," 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 same 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 moment 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 time to enter the second floor."

Spartan straightened immediately. "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 something new to his legion.

Along the way he had also encountered several races. Some 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 settlement, 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 immediately 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 requirement had once barely been a wall for him since five hundred had been the limit of his contract slots. He assumed 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 requirement felt trivial.

What benefits levelling up at Rank Three would bring thanks to this evolution was something 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 memorized the position and stored the map.

*

The journey toward the entrance was long, but for the first time since entering Hell, Michael saw a large gathering.

Aside from the Federation settlements scattered across the plains, this was the only place where travelers seemed 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 moment 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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