Chapter 75: Black Sovereign.

"You finally came..." Madam looked at Leid with dozens of Players from the Association. "So? What's the order?" She asked and watched those Players block the path to enter the 2nd floor from the tower.

"The 1st floor is prohibited. Players are forbidden to enter the 1st floor and whoever decides to go there, the Association won't take any responsibility," Leid answered as he leaned on the wall, looking at the dead bodies and the pungent smell of blood. "I'm surprised that you didn't go out there to look for Rigel," he stared at Madam.

"He has an Elder Dragon inside him. No matter how strong I am, in the presence of an Elder Dragon, my power is useless against him," Madam answered and she looked annoyed by it. "I need to upgrade my Dragon Slayer achievement. So I'm going off the grid for a moment to hunt dragons," she pointed out.

"You're going to the 66th floor? That place is crowded with Players because you're not the only one who hunts dragons. Finding a dragon these days is like finding a flying orc," Leid said, watching the Players get rid of the dead bodies. "Also, it looks like you have a competition right here. Rigel is as heartless as you when it comes to killing."

"It doesn't matter how many Players over there. All I have to do is to take their prey and they wouldn't dare to do anything," Madam responded. "If the Executives are looking for me, just tell them I have an important matter to do and I'll be away for a while," she added.

"Okay. I'll handle the situation here..." Leid said as he monitored the Players from the Association.

"Since when did you become a part of this? I was surprised when I received the letter from you," Madam asked.

"I have my own reason," Leid answered and he looked a bit troubled. "Just go. You can see this as your senior helping his junior," he looked Madam in the eyes.

Madam raised her left eyebrow and stared at Leid for a moment. She didn't want to thank him or appreciate his willingness to help her because she still had a bit of hatred toward him. She went into the tower and went straight to the 66th floor to hunt dragons.

(At the same time on the 5th floor)

Rigel had long gone after he avenged Kiko for what those Players did to her family. That was one of the reasons, but mainly because he had been slacking off for too long. He remembered Quaz's words and knew that he didn't have time to bother about other people's problems.

He took a map from a Player that he encountered when he entered the 5th floor. He looked at the map and it was a desert where monsters were hiding underneath the sand. He still had the materials that he took from that secret room and wanted to craft equipment from it.

"Sand dungeon..." Rigel looked at the map with the labels on the map.

The distance from his location to the dungeon was 4 days of walking. He hunted as many monsters as he could because he felt that his power stagnated. He believed that the monsters were too weak to make his power progress. He needed something more challenging which was to climb the tower as high as he could.

The Cores that he gathered barely did anything to his growth and thought it was a waste of time. He went straight to the Sand dungeon location, and found a big camp where Players were chilling near the dungeon. He could see the sinkhole where it led into the dungeon and people were waiting in line to enter.

"I'm going to be the one who clears the dungeon! I have prepared a lot of potions to boost my stats! I paid 10 Gold Coins for this, so if I fail, I'm going to lose everything and can't recover from this," A man with a broad sword was waiting in line.

"You're level 50, and this is your last chance to get in this dungeon, so we're counting on you," A woman with 2 swords on her back responded. "You can't enter the dungeon once you hit level 51, remember that," she added.

Rigel listened to the conversation from afar by manipulating the Mana around those Players and creating a current toward him. It was like a tin can telephone. He understood why so many Players were interested in the Sand dungeon since it had a restriction on entering the dungeon.

He decided to wait until nighttime and observed the camp and the Players.

The nighttime came and it was in the middle of the night where Players rested in their own tent. Rigel went to the camp stealthily and since it was in the middle of the desert, he was planning to kill them all in their sleep.

"I have been waiting for this to happen," A manly voice could be heard from behind Rigel. "You chose the wrong time to do something stupid," he added.

Rigel turned around and saw a man in full plate armor with a black cape on his back. He then glanced to his right and saw a woman in a cloak with the same black cape on her back. He glanced to his left and saw a man in light armor with the same cape as those 2 on his back.

"By the look of it, you're trying to make yourself look like a low-level Player, but you can't fool us. A scum will always be a scum," A man stood behind Rigel holding a sword with a long handle.

The man swung his long-handle sword, but Rigel dodged it which surprised the man who believed his attack couldn't be dodged from that range. Rigel pulled a dagger from his cloak and stabbed the man's chest, but to his surprise, the dagger shattered when it made contact with the chainmail.

"You think you can hurt me with that?" The man looked at Rigel with his red eyes. "You have no idea with whom you're dealing with," he threw a left hook on Rigel's stomach.

Rigel didn't expect the man to be that strong and fast because he was sure everyone in the camp was at most level 50. He made a ruckus when he landed and woke all the Players up.

"What's going on here?" A man came out of the tent and his body was buffed compared to other Players that Rigel had observed.

When the buffed man looked at those 4 wearing black capes, he shut his mouth. He then looked at the mess and saw Rigel standing after he destroyed a few tents from being thrown away.

"Were you here the whole time?" The buffed man looked at those 4. "Is there a Royalty among us?" He squinted his eyes and looked around.

"That's none of your business," The woman in a cloak glanced at the buffed man. "This too is none of your business," she pointed out and said coldly.

"What a Black Sovereign doing here? They're supposed to be on the 65th floor as a Royal Guard. Is it true there's a Royalty here?" A man asked his friends.

Players were murmuring about those 4 and they all recognized them as the Black Sovereign. The Black Sovereign was an elite among the elite from the 65th floor, the loyal and the strongest unit from the Crad Empire.

Rigel overheard the conversation and he realized those 4 would be guardians for a Royalty from the Crad Empire, Players that lived on the higher floor. He never thought he would be so unlucky to make a move, but that didn't mean he regretted it. He was excited to finally have some Players that could push him to the limit.

"Aldebaran, did you just punch him lightly?" The man in full plate armor asked.

"No, that guy took my hit and is fine even without armor on him," The man with red eyes answered. "He's strong, so be careful," he added.

"So we need to get rid of him together?" The woman asked.

"You protect the Crown Prince, Astrid. Lars, Deren, let's get rid of him," Aldebaran responded as he readied his stance.

"Thanks, I'm so bored right now..." Lars smirked as he grabbed his spear and swung it around.

The 3 of them swung their weapons at Rigel from 3 different directions, but he dodged them like it was nothing. They were surprised because they weren't playing around with him. They realized that he was a threat and the longer they prolonged the fight, the more dangerous it would be.

Lars coated his spear with a light blue energy and thrust at Rigel a dozen times in a second. The spear released that energy and when they hit the sand, they exploded and left huge craters.

"This guy..." Lars gritted his teeth in annoyance after his attacks didn't land on Rigel. "Do I really have to go all out?" He held his spear tightly.

Aldebaran clenched every muscle in his body and released a light shockwave around him. His body became lighter and easier to control, making it harder for Rigel to dodge his attacks. Seeing him use that skill, Lars and Deren did the same thing.

Aldebaran held the sword with both hands and swung it at Rigel, releasing a projectile attack. Rigel could barely dodge it and when he turned around to look at the attack, it cut the massive sand hills in half.

"Change of plan..." Aldebaran paused as he stared at Rigel. "Kill him at all costs," He continued with a serious expression.