Chapter 77: Sand dungeon.

Rigel entered the sinkhole and he didn't expect the sinkhole would be so deep. He landed on the sand dune after falling for a few seconds. When he looked around the area, it was dark, but he could see clearly thanks to his Wyrm's eyes.

He could see a sand castle in the distance, a castle that he saw on TV where people built sand castles on the beach. The castle was big and strong even though it was hidden underneath the desert. He then decided to enter the castle and check what kind of monsters he was going to face.

He hoped that the monsters in the dungeon could help him progress because he had been doing nothing in terms of making himself stronger. He wondered if it was because of his rapid growth that required him to climb the tower to match with his growth.

When he entered the castle, he was brought into a big hall, and the door behind him shut, startling him. He could see humanoid monsters where their heads were like dogs and wolves, holding swords and shields or spears. They were new to him, but they didn't seem strong at all since the amount of Mana on their bodies was so little.

Rigel sucked the Mana in the hall and turned them into fire. He released the fire like a shockwave and burned all the monsters into crisp. He realized those monsters were weak against fire and it was as he expected that the monsters were weak.

He proceeded to the next room, but he was welcomed by 5 different types of doors in front of him. He wondered which door he would choose and believed if he was a Player, the system would give a heads-up before he chose the door he wanted to go to.

He opened all the doors and checked if he could sense the danger from within, but they all looked the same. He believed that the danger would only be triggered once he entered the door like in games or movies. So, he chose the door in the middle and hoped he could fight strong monsters.

His expectations were ruined when he encountered the same monsters, only the amount was doubled. This time, he used Lars' spear because he wanted to test it out.

The spear was easy to wield and it was quite flexible when he swung it around really hard. He started to think that the spear belonged to Lars, a royal guard called the Black Sovereign. A strong Player that could be called an elite among the elite resided on the 65th floor. That meant, the spear could be one of the many strong weapons that existed in the tower.

As soon as he cleared the 2nd challenge, he went to the next room and this time he chose the door on the far right. When the door shut behind him, he saw minotaurs waiting for him in the darkness.

He didn't waste his time playing around with the monsters inside the dungeon. He made quite the scene outside the dungeon and the fact he killed a Black Sovereign meant he could be in danger. If he didn't clear the dungeon fast, he might be surrounded by the Black Sovereign, and they might send a full force just for him.

He took the Cores of the minotaurs, but unfortunately they were immature and barely gave him power. He went straight to the next challenge, but this time, there were only 2 doors in front of him. The right door that was in a bad state where it would break the moment he opened it and the left door where it was blocked by chains.

He took the left door and broke the chains without hesitation. When he entered, he heard the sound of sand falling in front of him. The sand was so thick that he could put his foot down and would bury it up to his knee. He then went further as the sand became thicker and deeper.

There was no monster that welcomed him, but he could feel movements in the distance where the sand was sinking. He could see that something was moving underneath the sand, and when he looked down, the sand underneath him started to sink. He moved away immediately and saw a monster emerge from underneath.

A monster as big as a bus with its head that looked like a dragon's head. Its body was like an armadillo where the shell on its back was covered in sharp scales. The tail was long with spikes on the end of it.

The armadillo wiggled and swung its tail toward Rigel, but Rigel dodged it. The armadillo then turned into a ball and rolled over toward him at full speed. Rigel didn't want to dodge it because he had Lars' spear, so he activated Adrenaline Rush and enhanced his legs, back, and arms with Anima.

He thrust his spear right into the armadillo's back like tenderized meat. The spear easily pierced its thick and sturdy shell, making the armadillo wiggle in pain. He couldn't handle the weight and the mass of the monster, so he kicked the monster as he pulled his spear.

Since the armadillo was no longer in ball form, he threw his spear right into its head. It was over before the armadillo could do anything, and the best part was that it dropped a mature Core.

Rigel consumed the Core and it felt like he breathed fresh air that he hadn't felt in a while. He could feel the soreness in his muscles lessened and stronger. Unfortunately he didn't know what kind of ability he got from it, and before he checked it, he felt the ground trembling.

The sand sunk into a hole and dragged the armadillo's body down into it. Rigel made himself far away from the sinkhole, and wondered if that was the only way to the next challenge since there was no door on the other side. He decided to wait to see what would happen and if the sinkhole would close itself.

After watching for a whole 5 minutes, the sinkhole stayed there and the amount of sand didn't decrease. He decided to jump down into the sinkhole, and he was surprised when he saw a head statue below him. He landed on it and realized he was at the peak of the sand dune where the bottom was at least 100 meters away.

He slid down and looked at the head statue from below until he realized the head statue wasn't just the head, the body was buried in the sand. He used wind magic to blow the sand away slowly and patiently until he saw the whole statue. A statue of a woman, putting her hands on her chest, staring down at something, but the face was covered veil.

"What an eerie statue..." Rigel muttered to himself as he looked at the statue from different angles. "I wonder who she was and why her statue got buried in this place..." he added.

When Rigel was busy looking at the face and hoped he could see what was underneath the veil carving, he saw someone peeking at him. All he saw was a quick black shadow going away when he noticed someone was watching him.

"Is someone there?" Rigel's voice echoed.

"You can see me?" Faint and weak voice could be heard from behind the statue's foot.

"Yes, I can see you and hear you," Rigel nodded and wondered if the person he was talking to was a spirit or lingering emotions. "We don't know each other, but I don't mean any harm," he assured as he slowly walked to the side, hoping to see the person he was talking to.

"You can go down here, that means you're not a Player," The voice became clearer, but it was still ambiguous if the voice belonged to a woman's or a man's voice.

"How do you know that?" Rigel furrowed his eyebrows and based on the statement, he didn't feel any resentment or hatred from the voice. "Are you a Non-Player that died here?" He asked with curiosity as he kept walking and started to see something hiding behind the foot of the statue.

"No, I was a Player. You could say I was the one who found this dungeon a hundred years ago, and I died because I went against the system," A young man with half of his face broken and his limbs twisted. "I know the secret about this place, and what lies in this dungeon," he added and stared into Rigel's eye.

It wasn't the first time Rigel saw lingering emotions in a horrifying form. The man in front of him would be in the most disturbing form he had ever seen so far. He wondered what happened to the man that made him look like that, and he knew that some of those lingering emotions used the form before their deaths.

"What kind of secret? Are you talking about the woman of the statue?" Rigel asked.

"I would love to tell you everything, but the guardian of this place is here..." The young man answered. "I can only wish you good luck," he added and disappeared.

The sand was being sucked and something emerged from underneath it. A golem that was as tall as the statue stood tall with massive hands that could crush the statue.

"This is a level 50 dungeon? No wonder nobody could clear it..." Rigel talked to himself as he looked at the titanic golem in the distance.