Chapter 29: Out of league.

"The owner of the Player Association is currently the one who have climbed the tower the highest?" Rigel looked at Kane eating his potato soup.

"He's the founder, but the ones who run it are different people. Still, I heard that those executives that run the Player Association are currently residing in the 75th floor," Kane answered and seemed to enjoy his breakfast like it was 5-star cuisine. "We don't know their names and what they look like because they're hiding their identity to avoid problems."

"They said those executives have a sea of gold coins that even if they had to melt them, it would take years..." Naya sighed as she joined in with a bowl of potato soup in her hands.

Rigel chuckled and found that ridiculous, but he didn't dismiss the information because that happened to people on Earth. A few people that controlled the economy as they made others suffer with debts or starve to die.

Rigel spent the whole night talking with Kane, Caius, and Naya about what was beyond the 30th floor. He never thought there were empires made by Players from hundreds of years ago. He started to understand why Players from his past life decided to abandon Earth. They were living their lives to the fullest inside the tower, and if they had to leave, they would have wasted their opportunity to become something that they couldn't have imagined.

When they were enjoying their breakfast, they heard a faint whistle. All of them stopped their activities and listened to the whistle again. When they heard the second whistle, they all jolted from their chairs and ran into the tunnel. Rigel had no idea what had happened, but he followed them.

They went outside the cave and saw Larkin staring at the eagle on his left hand.

"Someone is coming, alone. I don't think anyone would be sane enough to come alone to this kind of place," Larkin said and looked at Kane.

"Shit, it must from the Association..." Kane responded. "We have to leave and there's no way we can win against that person even if we fight together," he pointed out.

Rigel realized that it was because of him that the Association came to the forest. He didn't know how they could track him, but he brought a problem to Kane and the others.

"I'll buy you guys some time," Rigel said as he looked at them. "It was because of me, so I'll deal with the problem."

"You're strong, and I admit that, but you're no match against that person. Even though we know nothing about that person, they're out of our league," Caius responded as he shook his head. "It's not because of you. The rumor about the Swamp Knigh had spread around the floors, and it's a matter of time until they tried to investigate it," he added.

Everyone went inside the cave to inform the others to take their stuff and prepare to leave. Only Rigel, Arnel, and Larkin stayed outside the cave to keep an eye on the situation in the forest. There was only the sound of birds, insects, and leaves, but somehow it was unnerving because of the situation.

"Thank you for letting me stay here for the night," Rigel said as he pulled his sword. "I owe you guys for that, and I'll repay it now, so now we're even."

Larkin and Arnel looked at Rigel and they could see it in his eyes that he was determined to fight that person. Stopping him would be impossible, and the last thing they could do was nod with understanding and let him leave.

"Follow the eagle. It will guide you to where that person is," Larkin said and sent the eagle flying.

Rigel nodded with understanding and started running to follow the eagle.

It took him half an hour until he saw the man in a black suit with his slick white hair that stood out in the forest. He could see the rapier hanging on the man's waist, walking casually even though the forest was filled with monsters.

Rigel heard a roar in the distance and it came not far from the man's position. He watched the Razortooth bear ambush the man, but to his surprise, the bear got decapitated by the man's barehand. He could barely see the man's hand movement when the man decapitated the bear.

When Rigel observed the man from the distance, suddenly the man looked at his direction with a smile on his face and waved at him. Rigel felt a tremendous amount of killing intent from that man, and he was shocked the man could sense his presence even though he was 100 meters away from the man.

Rigel started running away and hoped the man would follow him, but to his surprise, the man was already behind him. He swung his sword at the man, and the man blocked it with his rapier that was still half sheathed. He thought his sword could break the man's rapier since it was thin, but to think the rapier could withstand his sword, it seemed the rapier was made from a strong material.

"What a fancy sword you have. No wonder you can cut those bodies so clean," The man said as she stared at the black sword in Rigel's hand. "Drake's scale, an excellent quality as well. I wonder how you got that material," he pointed out.

Rigel swung his sword at the man, but his sword got redirected by a simple flick of the rapier. He immediately followed the direction of where his sword got repelled and then used that momentum to swing it at the man's neck. When he swung it, the man was no longer in front of him.

"Your swordsmanship is perfect, but unfortunately your body can't keep up with your skill..." The man said from behind Rigel. "You're really interesting," he added and stabbed Rigel's left shoulder with his rapier and pierced through his bone.

Rigel flipped his sword and pulled it back, pointed the eye of the blade at the man. The man dodged it and his suit got cut from that attack. He immediately made some distance from the man and looked at the wound on his shoulder.

The wound limited his left arm's mobility, and he knew the man did that on purpose. He knew the man was toying with him, and the man was trying to enjoy every second of it. He was running out of options, and the longer he fought the man, the less the chance of him surviving.

"(If I died here, he would bring my body. If he found out I could come back to life, it would be troublesome not just for me but also for her because the Gods would notice)" Rigel thought. "(I have to do something...)"

"It has been a while since someone could rip my suit. You surprised me," The man said as he looked at his ripped suit. "You need to know that this suit is expensive, and your life might be enough to pay for what you did," he dashed forward and rapidly thrust his rapier at Rigel.

Rigel blocked the first half of the attacks, but the other half he got his body stabbed and slashed. The man's attack was pointing directly at his muscles, and it made Rigel experience what the orc leader felt when it fought him. But Rigel didn't care about pride, so he kept avoiding the rest of the attacks by keeping a distance from the man.

"You're going to bleed to death, but I don't want that to happen. I want you to die just like how those guys died," The man dashed and stabbed Rigel right in his chest. The rapier pierced through Rigel's back.

Rigel smirked as he stared at the man's eyes as he grabbed the man's right hand, preventing him from going away. He electrocuted the man's hand and at the same time swung his sword right into the man's heart. While the man was electrocuted and his heart got pierced, Rigel pulled the sword to the right, cutting the left side of the man's torso open.

He kicked the man away from him and pulled out the rapier in his chest. He fell to his knees because he lost a lot of blood and his body was screaming in pain. He crawled toward the man with everything he got, and when he was close enough, he stabbed his sword right into the man's skull, making sure he was dead for good.

"You could easily kill me, but you didn't. You can regret it as you suffer in hell..." Rigel said as he crawled away to find a place to rest.

Rigel was leaning on the tree, watching his whole body covered in cut where he could see his own flesh. He was about to pass out, but then he heard a screech of the eagle and saw Kane and the others in the distance.