Chapter 57: Ruler of the sea.

Rigel felt a presence around him that had been following him into the city. He felt 3 of them, and it seemed Aria still didn't want to let him be knowing how dangerous it was. He didn't care about those 3 and kept walking to the Sacred Dungeon because he promised to bring the children back to Lysara'elmaris.

He arrived at the center of the city, and that was when he felt a strong presences around him. He knew those weren't the assassins but something else, powerful ones. He never thought they had noticed that he went back to the 1st floor, and that would be because he cleared the 17th and 18th floors.

One thing that he noticed was that they hadn't made a move and he believed they should have known he was in the city. While he thought about what to do, he heard a commotion in the distance. Screams and bells rang in the distance which meant the assassins that had followed him noticed those presences as well.

He decided to stay low for a moment and blended in with the crowd as he observed the building in front of him. He saw people wearing masks moving to the commotion and those people were the strong presence he felt earlier. But even so, there were still a few of them in the building, 2 of them were the stronger ones.

After waiting for 5 minutes, he realized those presences were still waiting for him to make a move. He knew they wouldn't come out unless he made a move, so he immediately went to the Sacred Dungeon because that was the only place he felt safe the most.

"Hey! You're not allowed to come here!" A guard stopped Rigel, and then they noticed Rigel's face. "Wait! You're the-" Before he could finish his sentence, his body was frozen, covered in a block of ice.

The other guard who saw his comrade in that condition, fell to his back and got frozen as well. Rigel used the Mana flow around those guards and made them frozen solid, trapping the guards inside blocks of ice. Rigel entered the dungeon hurriedly and tried to clear the 1st floor down to the 18th floor as fast as he could.

Madam and Leid looked at the frozen guards and were surprised a Non-Player could do something like that so easily.

"Are you sure that guy just entered the tower a few months ago? That doesn't sound believable at all," Leid said as he looked at the ice from up close. "This guy has mastered the flow of Mana, and even a Player can't do something like this during their first year in the tower," he added.

"That's why the Executives want him. I don't know what they're going to do with him, but I'm just here doing their errand," Madam answered as she looked at the entrance to the Sacred Dungeon. "He cleared the 18th floor. I only cleared up to the 16th floor, but that was years ago. I heard a lot of things about the 17th up to the 19th floor, and I don't think I would be able to clear the 17th floor on my own."

"Same here. But since we are together, I think the chance for us to reach the 18th floor would be a piece of cake. Especially after you inherited master's achievements," Leid responded. "Let's head in," he pulled out his greatsword and held it with his left hand.

Madam entered the dungeon with Leid, but when he went to the 2nd floor, they could feel the heat on their skin. It was too hot for a normal fire, and they could see the flames that were devouring the monsters. They knew the Non-Player was making his way down to the lower floors as quickly as possible.

They went to the 3rd floor, 4th floor, and then the 5th floor, but they hadn't encountered the Non-Player. It only took them 3 minutes to reach the 5th floor from the entrance, but the Non-Player cleared all those floors like it was nothing. They started to understand the power that the Non-Player possessed.

"He's not here either?" Leid looked at Madam since he knew that she could use the Dragon's Sense skill because Hondo used to use that skill.

"No, he's already on the 6th floor... he's clearing the dungeon like it's nothing," Madam smiled and she was excited to see him. "Let him waste his energy and then we will capture him once he's exhausted," she said and went down to the 6th floor.

"You're the boss. I'm just tagging along," Leid responded as he sheathed his sword because he realized he didn't need it at that moment.

They went to the 7th floor and all the way down to the 16th floor, still in disbelief at how a Non-Player could clear all those floors so easily. They couldn't find the dead body of the Mini-boss on the 16th floor, only traces of its body that had turned into ashes.

When they went to the 17th floor, they were shocked when the whole place had been flattened and the coffin had disappeared. They thought they could catch up to the Non-Player there, but something was wrong where there was nobody there. They went to the 18th floor and they saw an even more shocking find.

"There should be Serena on this floor, but what the hell happened here?" Leid squinted his eyes as he looked at his surroundings. "What's going on?" he muttered.

"I would like to know as well, but the next floor is Nauce, and I don't want to go there with my current strength. The 19th floor could only be cleared by Players at the same level as the Executives," Madam said as she looked at the stairs that led to the 19th floor. "I have no idea what that guy is thinking. If he ended up dying down there, we can't retrieve his body. We would have to ask one of the Executives to grab it because I don't want to die."

"So what? We are going to wait for him here? Another waiting game?" Leid asked as he sighed and sat down.

"We don't have a choice unless you want to go down there and die," Madam answered.

"No, thanks... I'll just make myself comfortable here, so wake me up when you no longer feel his presence down there," Leid responded as he lay down and closed his eyes.

Rigel entered the 19th floor, and he found himself inside another tomb, but the difference was the 19th floor got covered by a pool of water. The water only covered up to his knees, but it was enough to limit his movements. He found out that a Merfolk was half human and half fish, and that Arnel was Nauce's descendant which was why he could breathe in the swamp for so long.

"Nauce, the Ruler of the Sea..." Rigel read the words on the coffin. "Let's see how strong you are compared to Serena that they placed you above him..."

As soon as he said that, the pool of water rose and transformed into a sea creature that looked like a serpent made of water. It threw a gush at him, but he used the Anima barrier to protect himself. The serpent kept attacking him either with its body, tail, or water magic, but none of them worked.

He noticed the serpent wasn't controlled by Mana or Anima because he felt nothing when he looked at it with the Dragon's Eye. The water seemed like it had its own consciousness and could be whatever it wanted to be. He tried to freeze the water or manipulate it, but nothing happened and the serpent kept breaking free from his control.

"Well, since nothing works, I have to get rid of the water in this place," Rigel created a fireball and he had mastered the process which made it easier to recreate. But, he didn't dare to add Anima's energy into it because he still couldn't control it.

Rigel was about to release the fireball, but suddenly a droplet of water flew toward the fireball and extinguished it. He was surprised that a droplet could pierce through his Anima barrier and extinguish the flame even though it wasn't as strong as back then.

He looked to his left and found a man in a white robe sitting on top of the coffin with his light blue long straight hair. The man looked at Rigel with a lazy eye, but his eyes were as sharp as Dragon's eyes, and it glowed bright blue like the sky.

"All of you took my land, and now you tried to take my resting place..." Nauce jumped down and dipped his feet in the water. "Let the wrath of the sea bring you to the afterlife," he clenched his fists and suddenly he appeared right in front of Rigel.

Nauce punched the barrier, shattering it and hitting Rigel in the face. Rigel couldn't react at all and he didn't see it until Nauce's fist was already in his face. When he got back to his senses, Rigel opened his eyes and got back to his feet, but he was surprised when he saw Lysara'elmaris standing in front of him.

"I died?" Rigel furrowed and looked at Lysara'elmaris with a confused look.

"Yes, you died from that punch," Lysara'elmaris nodded.

"You must be joking..." Rigel rubbed his face as he sighed.