Chapter 26: Players and Non-Players.

Rigel slashed a Player's body diagonally from his left shoulder down to his right waist. The Player's body split in half and he was still alive when he saw half of his torso go the other way. He screamed until he died from blood loss while the other Players were busy subduing Rigel.

The Players were a lot weaker than Rigel thought, but there were some of them that were almost equal to his strength. But strength wasn't the only thing to measure someone's capability. Rigel excelled in swordsmanship so that none of them could land a single hit on him.

The people behind the counters were terrified by how strong Rigel was that he killed 14 Players in just a few minutes. One of them immediately ran to the back to inform the town about him, but Rigel noticed him. Rigel stomped the dagger right on the handle and it spun as it lifted into the air. He grabbed it and threw it right on the nape of the guy before he could leave.

The situation became chaotic, and Rigel didn't want to attract more attention because there could be stronger Players out there in town. He charged forward, slashing his sword and cutting the hands, arms, or necks of those who tried to stop him.

Rigel burst the door open and it startled everyone in town, he didn't think and started running away as fast as he could. Fortunately, nobody could catch up to him because of how fast he was. He managed to hide in a dark alley as he heard Players running around him.

"Are you a Non-Player?" A voice could be heard next to Rigel.

Rigel swung his sword and pointed toward the voice, but his sword got blocked by a dagger. He was surprised when his sudden attack was blocked by a person hiding his face in a hood and his body in an old and ragged robe.

"I'm not an enemy, I'm a Non-Player as well," The man pulled down the hood and showed his face. A gray-haired man with scars on his face, and one of the scars cut his left eye, making him blind. He looked like he was in his early 30s. "We're not welcome here, so if you want to survive, come with me and I'll tell you everything that you want to know," he put the hood on and walked to the other side of the alley.

Rigel put down his sword and followed the mysterious man from behind, keeping a distance since he still didn't believe that man fully.

The mysterious man guided him to the other side of town and left unnoticed even though there was a ruckus in the center of town. He was surprised that the guards at the gate let them pass. Rigel turned around to look at the town behind him and realized he wasn't welcome in that place and would never be welcomed there.

"Why did they let us pass?" Rigel asked the mysterious man.

"Why else? Of course, it's because they're Non-Players like us. We have eyes in town and put some people there pretending to be Players," The mysterious man answered. "We can talk when we arrive, for now, we need to hurry, so try and keep up with me," he said and started running the moment there were no eyes around.

Rigel managed to keep up with the mysterious man, and it amazed the man for his amazing body. They kept running and they went into the woods toward the mountains in the distance.

The forest was filled with monsters, but the mysterious man managed to avoid them all and kept running past them. Rigel wondered where the man had brought him to until they stumbled on a hill in the middle of the forest. There was a cave that looked dangerous, but the man entered the mouth without hesitation.

Rigel narrowed his pupils and it helped him to see the darkness clearly without any light. He could see the mysterious man waiting for him, but the man was surprised that Rigel knew where to go even though it was dark.

"We're almost there, just keep following me," the mysterious man said as he walked deeper into the cave in the absolute darkness like it was the back of his hand.

The cave was big, and Rigel was surprised that it had so many levels inside it. He wasn't only brought deeper into the cave, he was also brought lower into the cave, making it hard to detect. He also noticed that the big part of the cave was man-made, making the cave bigger and deeper.

"You turned the inside of the hill into a housing for Non-Players," Rigel said as he looked at tunnel after tunnel that was made inside the cave.

The mysterious man didn't say a word and suddenly a dim light could be seen in the distance. Rigel could hear people talking and it came from the same place as the dim light was. When he turned into a corner they saw a spacious hall where dozens of people lived, enjoying their food and drink.

"Come," The mysterious man guided Rigel to another tunnel.

Rigel was brought into a better looking room, a smaller one like a chamber with an oval table made from the cave itself that was carved into a table. The mysterious man sat down and whistled so loudly that it echoed throughout the whole cave.

"Have a seat," The mysterious man pointed at the chair across from him.

Rigel sat down and 4 people came out of different tunnels and they all sat at the table. They were all looking at Rigel, but they had no malicious intent, unlike those Players he had encountered before.

"Rare of you to try to save a Non-Player, Kane," A muscular man with long black messy hair staring at the mysterious man with his intimidating green eyes.

"Save him? It's more I'm saving those Players from getting killed by this man," The mysterious man responded. "Anyway, is Arnel not here?" he asked.

"He's in his favorite place. After all, he's the one who protects the forest from Players," An old man with rings on all his fingers, playing with a sphere stone that looked like a Core. "I think we need to introduce ourselves to our new friend here," he looked at Rigel and somehow his gaze was pointed at Rigel's heart.

The mysterious man removed his hood and introduced himself to Rigel. His name was Kane, the muscular man's name was Caius, the old man's name was Isaias, the woman with short brunette hair in his late 20s was Naya, and lastly, the man who wore a mask, the youngest of them was Larkin.

"Rigel," Rigel introduced himself. "So who are you people other than Non-Players?" He looked at each one of them.

"Just some people that tried to live, hoping that we can leave the tower," Caius answered with his arms crossed. "Just like you, we thought we could grow stronger to save our world, but apparently the Players hate us," he pointed out.

"Why do they hate us?" Rigel asked.

"We only heard stories, and we don't know if they're the truth or not. But, it happened hundreds of years ago when Non-Players were used to be the ones that controlled over the tower. The moment Players came in, they did everything they could to get rid of the Non-Players, hunting them, killing them for no reason," Isaias stared blankly at the table. "Some say it was the Gods who ordered them, but nobody can prove it," he added.

Rigel furrowed and somehow the story was similar to what happened to Lysara'elmaris' believers. He wondered if there were any connections between the two because to get rid of the Non-Players for no reason was quite extreme.

"So, what would happen if we got caught?" Rigel asked.

"If you're strong, you're definitely going to be killed. If you're weak, you will be enslaved until you die," Kane answered. "The world inside the tower is worse than my world, their world, or even your world. Everything is controlled by Players, and for people like us, we can only hide like this for the rest of our lives," he continued.

"And you're all hiding and plan to die in this place?" Rigel asked.

"Fuck that. We want freedom and if we can meet the resistance, we will kill those arrogant Players!" Naya slammed her hand on the table and it made a crack. "We are hiding because we need to get stronger, but it takes time and we need a guarantee that we won't die during our sleep by getting our throat slit open," she pointed out.

"And how are you going to achieve that?" Rigel looked at Naya.

"With this..." Isaias rolled the sphere stone and it stopped right in front of Rigel. "It's called Core, and we learned it from someone from the resistance army that we can absorb the power inside it, turning it into ours," he explained.

"You mean like this?" Rigel grabbed the Core and it disintegrated in his hand, turning it into ashes and getting absorbed into his body.

They were shocked and couldn't believe what they had just witnessed.