Chapter 54: An invisible and inextinguishable flame.

Aria was a third of Serena's size, and with that being said, he was overwhelmed by Serena's brute strength. Aria got his hand cut off, but fortunately, he could regenerate it back even though it took a while. Rigel used the high-tier magic of all elements, but they barely did anything to Serena's body.

No matter how many times Aria and Rigel tried to hurt Serena, he healed faster than the damage they both could inflict on him. Not to mention, Serene could become as small as a fly which made it even harder to fight him.

"Aria. I don't know if this would work, but can you give me time? At least 5 minutes?" Rigel asked as he stood behind Aria.

"No problem," Aria answered as he turned back to his human form. "Take your time, and I'll do what I can," he said and started running to the side and used the strings to send the rubbles at Serena.

Rigel concentrated the flame in his right hand, trying to make the fire even hotter by feeding it with oxygen. The more he fed the fire with oxygen, and next, he produced hydrogen and another oxygen after he used his Mana to mix water with a lightning element. He transferred the hydrogen into the flame as he kept controlling the fire. Lastly, he took the methane from his own body using Mana.

The process took a while because that wasn't originating from the spell he had learned, it was the knowledge he'd gotten in his previous life. The moment he stabilized the combustion, he fed the fire with Mana and it significantly made the fire even hotter until the color of the fire turned yellowish-white.

"More... I need more..." Rigel looked at the fire in between his hands.

Rigel thought that he could add more power to the fire, and it was by feeding Anima into it. The problem was he didn't know if he could handle it anymore the moment the fire was fed by Anima. He needed to release it before it exploded in front of him because it would kill him instantly.

"Aria!" Rigel shouted as he focused on the fire that had started to become unstable. "If you're still alive, get behind me," he added.

"I'm here..." Aria said quietly as he caught his breath and he sounded weak.

Rigel looked at Serena who was running toward them at full speed, sending massive rubbles flying like dust. He infused Anima's energy into the flame, and as he expected, he couldn't control it anymore. He used all the strength he had to suppress the fire into a small ball, as small as a marble. He wrapped it with the Mana barrier and threw it at Serena.

He created a barrier made of Anima's energy and protected him and Aria. The moment the fire cracked the Mana barrier around it, a blinding light arose. The moment the flame exploded, it sucked all the oxygen in the whole room and released it into a powerful blast with flames that disintegrated everything it touched.

The barrier around Rigel cracked and was on the brink of shattering, and he used every last bit of his Mana and Anima energy inside him. He fell to his knees, and he was relieved that the barrier had managed to withstand that powerful explosion.

The smoke covered the whole room, and Rigel couldn't be at ease until he could see the dead body of Serena. He knew it would take a while until the smoke disappeared, but he was wrong when a gust of wind blew all the dust away. At that moment, both Rigel and Aria were in disbelief, shocked by the truth.

"Ha..." Rigel tried to stand up even though his legs had given up. "Now I believe it when they said Serena is invincible..." He looked at a white dragon, the same dragon that Rigel saw in Stryg's memories, an Elder Dragon that seemed to be the leader of all the Elder Dragons.

Serena landed and roared at them, shattering the barrier and sending Rigel away. Aria managed to grab Rigel and protect him from the overwhelming wind that cut their skin and flesh. They were powerless in front of an Elder Dragon, and Rigel still remembered the overwhelming presence of an Elder Dragon.

When they both thought they were going to die, Serena turned back into his human form. A naked man's body without genitalia standing in the middle of the room. He looked at them and suddenly collapsed and his skin and flesh started to melt. They had no idea that the flame was invisible and that it kept burning Serena's body, an inextinguishable flame.

Rigel remembered the flame that Stryg's had, the flame that couldn't be extinguished. He wondered if it had the trait of Stryg's flame which made that magic so powerful even Serena couldn't get rid of it. What was more, the flame was invisible which was terrifying to look at.

Serena's body slowly became one with the ground until his body completely melted. Aria was in disbelief that Serena got defeated with just a single spell, and he had never seen such a spell in his whole life, an inextinguishable invisible flame.

"I'll leave the rest to you..." Rigel said as he collapsed and fainted before his head hit the ground.

Aria had no idea what to do and what Rigel meant by that. But, seeing Rigel's condition and the fact he used everything to fight Serena, he decided to bring Rigel out of the dungeon. He had to carry Rigel all the way to the surface.

(At the same time on the 60th floor)

Madam stood in front of a grave with Hondo's name on the gravestone. She was on her own, and nobody was there to grieve for him. While she was enjoying the silence, she felt a presence standing behind her, and that was when she saw Checil staring at the grave.

"He should have a few more years left. I never thought he would die today," Checil said with her arms crossed. "Seeing how you have the Dragon's power inside you, that means he gave all his achievements to you. How lucky, but I'm sure Leid would be pissed when he found out," she looked at Madam.

"Why did you send him? He's the last person I want to see in the tower," Madam asked as she kept staring at the grave.

"Why not? He's reliable and he should be strong enough to help you hunt them," Checil raised her eyebrows. "I can't think of anyone else because right now, there are a lot of things going on right now. It's not just them, but the Resistance has been making a lot of scenes recently since the moment that boy came into the tower," she sighed because there were a lot of things on her mind.

"What do you mean? Aria and the Night Terror are currently on the 2nd floor," Madam furrowed and looked at Checil.

"If you think the Night Terror is their main force, you're wrong. There are still a lot of them out there. The Night Terror is just one of the many, and honestly, we don't know how they still have so many forces after we massacred them," Checil answered with a blank expression. "You shouldn't be here because I have sent 10 of my people down to the 2nd floor. You should go there now and lead them to find where that boy is," she looked at Madam.

"What people?" Madam squinted her eyes.

"The Masquerade," Checil answered.

Madam was a bit surprised when Checil sent the Masquerade because they were worse than her when it came to hunting Players and Non-Players. They were heartless and they would kill anyone without any consequences. They had killed countless innocent Players simply because they tried to stand up against the Player Association.

"You said that there are a lot of Non-Players making scenes on different floors, so why did you send them for that kid?" Madam asked.

"You asked quite a lot lately. I wonder if you still dare to question me after this," Checil put on a fake smile and looked at Madam, warning her to not ask any more questions.

Madam walked past Checil, but suddenly Checil grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer. Checil stared into Madam's eyes, and it made Madam couldn't move a muscle and forced her to look Checil in the eyes.

"You can go now," Checil said and then ripped a scroll, teleporting her away.

Madam was petrified because that was one of Checil's skills called Eyes of Truth, looking into someone else's memories and nothing could be hidden from her. She knew that Checil was suspicious of her because Hondo hid Non-Players, and she believed Checil wanted to know if Hondo sent a hidden message to Madam.

"Fucking hell..." Madam sighed as she walked away.