Chapter 50: In the darkness.

Rigel came out of the tower and he never thought that was how he moved to a different floor. There were 2 doors when he entered the tower on the 2nd floor. He saw a door with a writing that said it led to the 1st floor and the other was for the trial to advance to the 3rd floor.

He saw the chaos he made in the city and saw people trying to rebuild the city back to its prime. Since he was in his new armor, nobody knew who he was even though his face was everywhere on the walls. He believed even if he removed his helmet, nobody dared to do anything to him.

"Your friend's body. We have given her a proper burial somewhere. If you want to pay her a visit, you can ask us and we will lead you there," A man's voice could be heard behind Rigel.

Rigel turned around and the man had disappeared like a whistling wind. He was glad that they gave Vania a proper burial because she deserved it after what had happened to her. Remembering that moment, he couldn't hold his anger, and it made people around him move away to avoid him.

At that moment, he didn't know that he had released an intimidating aura.

"Stop right there," A guard blocked Rigel's path to enter the Scared Dungeon. "This place is currently off-limits. Everything in this city is being reorganized, and I hope you understand," he explained.

"If you want to live, move," Rigel stared into the guard's eyes with his narrow-shaped pupils that looked intimidating.

The guard trembled in fear and couldn't move a muscle. He then fell to his back as Rigel made his way into the dungeon. The guard was about to report it, but then a dagger touched his neck from behind. The assassin slit his throat when nobody was looking and then dragged the body into the dungeon.

The assassin came back after he wore the guard's attire and armor. He guarded the dungeon like a statue and then there was another guard who came down there. He knew it was another assassin who had stolen the attire and armor from another guard.

Rigel went all the way to the 11th floor like it was nothing since he already knew the route and the challenges he was going to face. He also killed the Mini-Boss that resided on the 11th floor, but unfortunately, the Core was still young and it barely gave anything.

On the 12th floor, there were no tricks, only challenge one's strength and will. The monsters there weren't small fries, and if those monsters decided to go out of the dungeon, the 1st floor would be in imminent danger. The monsters varied from drakes, wyverns, and elemental golems and all of them had high physical and magical resistances.

"This place is oddly rich in Mana," Rigel came down to the 15th floor and saw nothing but darkness. He used to feel dizzy and hard to breathe when he entered the 10th floor, but he was fine with his current state.

Rigel pushed his toes to the ground and released electricity that moved in the blink of an eye. He kept releasing strong currents of electricity like pulses and he heard roars and thumps from behind the walls. He never thought he would advance to the 6th circle when he tried to unseal the Dragon's power.

"Looks like even my magic on this floor doesn't work at all," Rigel unsheathed his sword and rapier as he felt a horde of monsters running toward him.

His basilisk's eyes became a lot better at seeing in the dark, and no matter how dark it was, he could sense the heat. He could see the monsters in the distance, and he counted there were at least 50 of them.

He made his way to the next floor after he killed all the monsters who he didn't know what they looked like. Some looked like Chimera, a monster with different body parts, and some were formless and came out straight from a nightmare.

"I don't know if these things can feed you, but I'll give as many as I can," Rigel said to the black dragon in his head. "I have fed you a lot of Mana as well, and I won't stop until you're satisfied," he added as he went down to the 16th floor.

When he stepped foot on the 16th floor, he realized it was similar to the 11th floor where the area was just a giant square. He noticed something was glaring at him in the dark, waiting for its opportunity to do a surprise attack. He lit his left hand with fire and blasted it so the surrounding area got covered in flames.

A dinosaur, like a T-Rex monster, was glaring at him with its massive teeth and skin that looked like rocks. When it roared, his heart trembled, but it did nothing else. He charged at the monster at full speed, and the monster did the same as it opened its mouth.

The monster tilted its head to 90 degrees and was about to bite Rigel. Its mouth was already in between his body, but he used his ability and moved swiftly in an instant as he took a step back and dashed to the side. The monster closed its jaw, making a loud noise of teeth clashing. Rigel who saw the neck of the monster in front of him immediately swung his sword at it.

To his surprise, Eclairswille was shattered into pieces when it tried to cut the monster's neck. He never thought the time had finally come when his sword wouldn't be a match for his opponent. He dropped his sword and immediately rolled over because the monster swung its head toward him.

He made some distance from the monster and grabbed his rapier because he had tested it before and the rapier was sturdier than Eclairswille. He charged at the monster again, and this time the monster released a deafening roar followed by a chain of lightning. He redirected the lightning with his Mana and sent it away from him like it was nothing.

The monster turned around and swung its tail at Rigel, but he jumped over it and stabbed his rapier into the monster's back right leg. The rapier was easily pierced through its thick skin and strong muscles. He lifted him on the monster's back and stabbed its back so he could stay up there while the monster wiggled its body to get rid of him.

The monster moved around, but Rigel stayed on its back as he held the handle of the rapier so tightly. The more the monster moved around, the wider the wound, loosening the blade. He knew that it was impossible to fight in his current state, so all he had to do was tire the monster.

Rigel was like doing a rodeo, and he could tell the monster was getting tired after an hour of wiggling its body. The moment the monster took its time to rest for a bit, he pulled his rapier and ran toward the monster's head. He jumped as he pointed his rapier right at the monster's head, piercing through its skull.

"Let's see if you can survive this," Rigel transferred the Mana in his body into the blade and created a combustion, igniting the flame and creating a blast inside the monster's skull.

The monster's eyes popped out with pieces of brain that got pushed out like toothpaste. The monster collapsed as Rigel kept pushing the rapier deeper into the monster's skull.

"This is only the 16th floor, I still have 4 floors to go," Rigel looked at the blood dripping out from the monster's eye sockets. "If I die, I die..." he pulled the rapier and started carving the monster's body to grab its core.

"That was quite intense," Aria's voice could be heard from the darkness. "But you handled it really well," he added.

"What are you doing here?" Rigel asked as he searched for the core.

"For your own safety. My mission is to make sure that you won't die, and if I let you go down here on your own and die, my life would be over as well," Aria explained. "Don't mind me. I'm not going to interfere, I'm just here to make sure you won't die."

"Leave," Rigel said as he pulled the red Core from the monster's body. "I appreciate your concern, but you're getting in my way," he coldly stared at Aria as he absorbed the Core.

Although it was dark there, Aria could see in the darkness well, but something was lurking behind Rigel. He could see the darkness that didn't affect him and suddenly felt darker in Rigel's surroundings. He felt chilled down his spine and unnerved when he stared at that darkness. It wasn't coming from Rigel, so he didn't know what it was, and whatever it was, it made him feel uncomfortable.

"Are you going to be okay down there?" Aria asked.

"I'll be fine on my own," Rigel answered and kept staring into Aria's eyes.

Aria nodded and left Rigel alone, thinking that the darkness wasn't from the Dragon's power, something dark and evil.