No direction. Just the pulsing Specter Bead in his hand.
Rey had no choice but to follow where the Specter Bead pointed.
The chubby dragon had claimed Rey's shoulder as its designated throne. It sat there, staring straight ahead, looking for all the world like a majestic dragon rider mounted on a beast of war.
It was pretentious. It was vain. It had absolutely zero self-awareness as a pet.
Rey didn't even know if this thing could be kept as a pet, but right now, aside from pointing the way and acting cute, it was useless.
Rey turned his head and shot the dragon a look of annoyance. The dragon ignored him completely, eyes fixed forward. Rey swallowed his irritation and kept walking.
If anyone knew how to get out of this world, it was the chubby dragon on his shoulder.
Rey was certain of it. After all, this little guy was the one who had brought him here.
But the creature refused to make eye contact, clearly indicating that Rey was to follow the Specter Bead and its own directions without question. There was no room for negotiation.
Fine. Walk it is.
Rey couldn't do anything to it right now anyway. As long as it got him out eventually, he would play along.
He walked forward. The ground was littered with corpses and bones. Although it wasn't as visually shocking as the black dragon and the giant demon, the brutality of the war was evident.
The Specter Bead pulsed at a steady rhythm, slightly faster than before, confirming the direction was correct.
After crossing shattered mountains and a frozen river, Rey arrived at a flat ice field.
The ice field was vast, stretching endlessly beyond the horizon. It felt to Rey like an entire ocean that had been frozen solid in an instant.
Walking on the ice, Rey felt an impossible chill. He turned to look at the little dragon again. Sensing Rey's impatience, the creature lifted a stubby wing and pointed forward once more.
Damn it!
Rey's eye twitched. He was on the verge of exploding. Walking for so long without reaching the destination was maddening.
Frustrated and bored, Rey's walking speed increased abruptly. Then, he started to run. He was sick of walking through this world. It had been too long. As a human, his tolerance for lonely trekking had reached its limit.
However, as he ran in anger, he made a surprising discovery. His speed increased exponentially. The world blurred around him. He felt like a supersonic jet, whooshing from one spot on the ice field to another in an instant.
It was too fast!
It was as if the world itself was moving beneath his feet.
Startled, Rey stopped immediately. He was standing in front of a towering ice mountain.
---
The massive mountain rose vertically from the ice field, piercing the sky.
Just moments ago, Rey had been miles away.
How long did it take to get here?
Rey remembered starting to run. It couldn't have been more than a few dozen seconds—maybe two or three bursts of speed.
So, all that time spent walking earlier... what was the point?
If he had known running would let him travel this fast, why had he wasted so much time slogging through the wasteland?
He felt angry.
Angry at his own stupidity. He should have realized this sooner. Everything in this world was like a holographic movie to him. Since it was a movie, fast-forwarding should be possible. Yet, he had walked like an idiot.
When a person is in a bad mood, everything they see becomes irritating.
For example, the chubby dragon sitting on his shoulder, treating him like a mount.
I'll deal with you sooner or later. Just you wait.
Rey roared internally. But in this world, the situation dictated his actions. If he wanted to leave, he couldn't afford to offend the guide.
Forward. Keep moving forward.
At the foot of the ice mountain, Rey saw a deep, dark cavern.
It was massive. Unlike the outside, there was no ice inside. It looked like a mine shaft, but scaled up to a gargantuan size.
Here, the chubby dragon finally reacted. It hopped down to the ground, glanced back at Rey, and then waddled into the cave, leading the way.
The message was clear: Follow me.
Staring into the dark abyss, Rey felt as though the cave led straight to the center of the earth.
He looked back at the frozen world outside, sighed, and followed the dragon into the dark.
---
The path inside was rugged and wound spirally downward. Stepping inside, Rey felt a sense of foreboding.
It was a bad feeling. Hard to describe, but it felt like the onset of terrible luck or impending doom.
Walking in this environment, Rey felt his emotions being polluted by a cold, dark aura. He became irritable, sensing that something unknown was waiting for him in the depths.
Rey was sensitive to sudden emotional shifts—like the temptation he felt after using Avada Kedavra.
The entrance was no longer visible. Rey didn't know how deep they had gone.
The ominous feeling grew heavier, as if a catastrophic accident were about to happen at any second.
The feeling became so intense that Rey stopped dead in his tracks. He hurriedly reached into his spatial pouch, pulled out the vial of Felix Felicis—Liquid Luck—that Salazar Slytherin had given him, and downed it.
The moment the potion hit his stomach, the sense of impending doom vanished.
It worked!
It really worked.
Delighted, Rey scooped up the chubby dragon and started running down the winding path.
Without the dragon, he couldn't leave this world. He had to follow the little guy down.
But walking was too slow. With Liquid Luck coursing through his veins, Rey tucked the dragon under his arm and began to dance along the subterranean cliffs.
The world blurred again as he "fast-forwarded." Rey finally reached the bottom and stood before a river.
The river cut across the entire cavern from left to right. Above it hung a bridge—a crystal bridge suspended by only four long strands of hair.
Four hairs holding up a crystal bridge. It was inconceivable. But Rey didn't hesitate; he crossed the bridge in a flash.
At that exact moment, a humanoid monster with exposed fangs suddenly materialized at the bridgehead and snapped its jaws at the space behind Rey.
It was aiming for Rey, but it bit empty air. Rey had moved past it so fast that the creature was left confused. It sensed a presence, but its bite found nothing.
Rey couldn't see the creature, but he felt a jolt of fear. If his luck had been any worse—if he had been a fraction of a second slower—he would have been bitten.
Having crossed the crystal bridge, Rey didn't dare stop. He kept running.
Past the bridge, through a forest made of wrought iron, Rey arrived at a massive gate guarded by a giant dog covered in blood-red spots.
With the aid of Liquid Luck, Rey slipped past the gate, terrified but unharmed. He found himself inside a magnificent palace.
By now, Rey had a guess. The final destination of this "holographic movie" was likely the Netherworld—Hell itself.
The monster at the bridge, the giant dog at the gate... these were things that belonged in the Underworld.
"You brought me to Hell. What exactly do you want me to see?"
Rey asked the question in his heart. In reality, he was asking the pulsing Specter Bead in his left hand and the chubby dragon tucked under his arm.
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