Chapter 31: Untouched area.

Rigel had traveled for 3 days and he learned a lot about survival from Arnel and the others. He had no problem finding food or clean water, and he got a map that Kane gave him so he knew where he was going.

"Alma City, the biggest city on the 1st floor," Rigel looked at the map and saw the city in the center. "A month by horse. I guess I should start hunting monsters while I'm at it," he sighed as he looked at the sun and then looked at Eclairswille and the Rapier that he took from Hien.

Rigel took a few detours to Alma City because he wanted to get stronger and didn't want to be overwhelmed by his future enemies. He learned from his shortcomings and didn't want to make the same mistake that could risk his life. Thankfully, the map showed the danger level of each area, and Rigel went to his first dangerous area which was near his location.

"Fiery Caldera. That sounds convenient since I have fire resistance," Rigel folded the map and rode his horse to the Fiery Caldera.

It took him 2 days to reach the Fiery Caldera and he could see an active volcano in the distance where the dark clouds formed above it. There were levels of danger based on the map, and the outer rim where Rigel stood was the easiest level, and yet the monsters there looked vicious, they looked like hyenas with black fur and sharp teeth that their mouths couldn't even contain.

Rigel used magic and his sword consecutively, training both his physical body and his system to handle Mana. He didn't have time to rest even though his body was screaming in pain and covered in sweat. It would be wrong to do that if his body was still a normal human body, but he had become an Adapter where going over his limitations was the only way to grow.

After he was done fighting the monsters on the outer rim, he went to the foothills of the volcano. There, he saw crocodiles with their skin covered in solidified lava. They were big and moved quite fast for their size, and the scariest part was they could camouflage with their surroundings.

He was busy hunting them until he stumbled upon a group of Players running down the mountain. A Player was being carried on the back with burns all over her body. There were 6 Players and they seemed to be running away from something, but then the Player who carried the woman fell.

A giant crocodile burst out of the mountain's skin with its body covered in lava. It was chasing after those Players and since it was a downhill, it moved faster than those Players.

"Leave her! You will die if you don't!" The Player who seemed to be the leader shouted to the man that carried the woman.

Rigel watched them from a distance, and the man didn't want to give up on the woman that he carried. Because of his ego, he died with the woman he carried, getting crushed and melted by the crocodile's foot. The rest of the Players ran for their lives, but they couldn't outrun the crocodile and they died as the crocodile's food.

The crocodile crunched on those Players' bodies and Rigel could still hear the screams from inside its mouth. The moment he couldn't hear the screams, the crocodile turned around and climbed the mountain to go back to its home.

Rigel ran toward the crocodile and swung his sword at its back right leg, cutting its foot. The crocodile was startled and collapsed after it lost its footing. It whipped the tail at Rigel, but he ducked and rolled over to the left to avoid the dripping lava. When he got back up, he cut the back left leg and made the crocodile slide down the mountain.

The crocodile glared at Rigel when it slid down, and its mouth couldn't reach where he was standing. Rigel started to run down the hill to catch up on the crocodile. The crocodile stopped sliding because it reached the foothills and the lava on its body had cooled down. Rigel jumped and landed on top of its head, stabbing the rapier right into its skull and releasing a bolt of lightning through the blade and into the crocodile's brain, killing it before it could do anything.

Rigel pulled the rapier and could still see the lava attached to the blade. He knew that the lava had not fully solidified, so he waited until the lava had completely solidified before he harvested the Core inside.

After he waited and tested the lava had solidified, he started cutting the crocodile's body from the side. When he cut it open, the Players that had completely crushed it came out of the crocodile's body. He ignored them and focused on searching for the Core until he finally found it and took it.

When he was about to absorb the Core, a hand grabbed his foot. It was the man who led the party, staring at Rigel with its eyes barely open. Rigel looked at him and didn't hesitate to cut his head off. He looked at the remaining Players and they were all still alive somehow, so he killed them all before he decided to absorb the Core.

Rigel stood on a giant boulder of rock as he stared at his hands, wondering what kind of power that the Core gave him. It had some effect after he absorbed it, making his body stiff for a few minutes. He then looked at the lava that had moved down the hill, thinking of a stupid idea.

He unsheathed the rapier and stabbed the lava until the rapier was covered with it. He pulled the rapier and slowly pointed it at his left forearm. He took a deep breath and touched the blade to his skin, and to his surprise, his hand was strong enough to withstand the lava as he had expected.

"The Core is the characteristic of the monster. The more mature the Core, the stronger its effect and brings in the characteristic of the monster it carries. If it's still young, there's no characteristic, only strengthen someone's body," Rigel muttered as he put his index finger in the lava.

Rigel looked at the top of the volcano and remembered there was a cave inside. There was barely anyone that went there because it was said there was nothing special inside. Players started to ignore this area as they focused on climbing the tower rather than exploring everything first.

"There's no harm in checking it..." Rigel stood up and started climbing the volcano.

He found the mouth of the cave into the volcano, and he saw weird-looking creatures that looked like a blob that moved around the ceiling. Those creatures dripped lava from its body, and they weren't aggressive toward him or tried to harm him.

He went deeper into the cave and the smell of sulfur started to suffocate him, so he wrapped his mouth and nose in a piece of cloth. After he explored deep enough and every path was blocked by lava, he realized there was nothing inside the volcano until suddenly the volcano started to erupt.

The path he came from got blocked and he was stuck inside the volcano with nowhere to go. Although he was stuck there, he felt safe from the eruption inside the volcano rather than outside. He stayed there and endured the massive gas and heat around him.

"Is it over?" Rigel muttered as he kept his hands to cover his mouth and nose that were covered in a piece of cloth.

He looked around and noticed the paths that were blocked by lava had been opened, and he could explore deeper into the volcano. The volume of lava had been greatly reduced after the eruption, and he could explore more areas that hadn't been touched by anyone.

He didn't know how far he went, but the fact the tunnel that he was in had no lava or any solidified lava around it made him wonder how it was untouched by anything. As he went further he stumbled on a door made of stone that seemed to be man-made. Seeing how the area hadn't been touched by anyone, meant that he was the first one who discovered that area.

"Finders keepers," Rigel muttered as he walked toward the gate. His hands sizzled because it turned out the door was made from lava stone that could withstand extreme heat. Luckily, Rigel could withstand the heat as well and kept pushing the door until it opened up.

When the door was open, Rigel saw something that he could only imagine in a fantasy world or myth. A massive altar with pillars that supported the whole room where a wall of lava was falling down around the altar, There was a monster sleeping in the middle, a dragon without wings similar to a drake, but it had a long tail.

"Lindworm..." Rigel said as he unsheathed his sword.