A few days later

Inside the bridge of the spaceship, Captain Charles stood at his station and directed his crew to monitor the travel.

"How long till we arrive at the first obstacle," the captain asked, his expression grim.

Neither he nor his crew wanted to venture into the Nether Regions, but when his lord requested his assistance, refusal wasn''t an option.

"In fifteen minutes, sir," replied a female operative, her fingers deftly swiping and issuing commands across the system interface.

"Mm," Charles nodded, his gaze fixed on the streaks of hyperspace lights.

As part of their journey to their location, the ship would have to make occasional stops to determine a way through the cosmic storms of death and phenomena plaguing the Nether Regions.

Going in blind could disrupt their hyperjump, potentially displacing them to locations no would could survive.

They could end up in a massive black hole millions of light years away—or worse, in a veiled space where survival was impossible. And those were just a few of the dangers lurking in the Nether Regions.

''God, have mercy on us,'' the captain thought with a gulp.

"Hm?"

The soft slide of the door revealed the presence of Hunter Zol as he walked in.

The crew members would have stood on their feet the moment he walked in, but he explicitly told them not to, seeing as how they were in charge of piloting the ship.

"Lord Zol," Charles greeted with a respectful bow as Zol stood beside him. He acknowledged the man with and nod and then said, "Your estimates said today, right?"

"Yes, and in about..." he glanced at his wrist and then continued. "... about 14 minutes."

Zol turned to the captain, noticing the expression of fear on his face. And despite the captain''s efforts to hide them, it was very clear to Zol''s senses.

"At ease, Charles." He placed a hand on Charles''s shoulders. "Traversing the Nether Regions is dangerous, not impossible."

The captain felt embarrassed but still nodded. Anyone would feel fear if they were asked to go where they were going.

With crossed fingers and held breaths, the crew stared at the passing lights of the hyperspace with heavy hearts.

And as they expected, a second after they entered, the hyperspace changed its normal behaviour.

From a normal tunnel of lights, the hyperspace became a deformed tunnel where the lights appeared to be bent by extreme gravitational forces, akin to a black hole trying to suck the space in.

But the space held—it was called a buffer zone for that very reason. For some time, the tunnel would not collapse upon traversing.

Then, as quickly as they entered, they exited the tunnel.

"Whew!"

An involuntary sigh escaped the crew''s lips as some leaned back in their seats with hands on their chest, taking in deep breaths to calm down.

But that was just one of the many obstacles, they''d be facing on their journey—both in and out.

Finally, the crew were able to catch their breaths and took a look outside. That was when they noticed something.

"Is that a ship?" One of the operatives couldn''t help but mutter.

"Yeah, and it appears to be recent." Their systems were taking a scan of the ship and it confirmed their words.

Someone or some people had been here, and while it wasn''t strange to find broken down or even destroyed ships in the void, their location was unique.

Once someone made it through the Eternal Maelstrom, they were pretty much safe until they continued their journey.

Finding a destroyed ship meant they failed to make it through their jump in time before the full force of the gravitational waves returned.

"Someone is also searching for the boy."

Zol heard the captain say, but his expression remained unreadable. Only he knew what he was thinking.

"Let''s move on, we can''t afford to waste time." Zol instructed several seconds later.

"Yes, sir!"