Chapter 33: Chapter 32: Live or die.
The lindworm opened its eyes when it noticed Rigel's presence. It showed its sharp teeth and the saliva was lava, making Rigel remember his encounter with the black dragon. It roared and charged at him with its two legs and then started to fly.
Rigel moved at the last second before the lindworm could bite his head off. He stabbed his sword under the lindworm's belly and started pushing his sword as he ran forward.
The lindworm fell to the ground, wiggling in pain as blood came out of its belly. The lindworm looked at the big open wound under its belly, and it started to spit lava onto the wound. The wound sizzled and it helped close the wound, preventing the bleeding.
"How clever. I should do the same in the future," Rigel said as he walked back and made some distance.
The lindworm started spitting fire at Rigel as it ran toward him, giving no room for him to attack. When it got close to Rigel, it spun around and used the momentum to throw a powerful whip of its tail at Rigel.
Rigel didn't expect that and he couldn't dodge it in time, making him thrown to the wall of lava. He immediately rolled over to prevent his body from melting because he wasn't immune to that excessive amount of lava. His clothes had turned into ashes, leaving behind his ripped jeans and his shoes.
The lindworm didn't give him time to breathe as it used its massive and long claws to rip his body, but he managed to run away before it landed on him. The lindworm was agile and swift, making its movements unpredictable.
The battle was fierce as Rigel got thrown from left to right oftentimes. His body was on its limit and his body was covered in burns that a few more times getting touched by lava, his body would melt. Fire magic was useless, and lightning magic was also useless against that lindworm.
"We both are on our limits, huh?" Rigel raised his sword, naked without anything that covered his body. "I really wish I had armor made of those Drake's scales. Things would be a lot easier," he looked at his body and regretted that he only thought of making a sword of Drake's scales.
Rigel's body and the lindworm's body were in a similar state. Rigel was covered in burns while the lindworm was covered in cuts and lost its tail. They both were indeed on their limit, but when it came to this, there was no such thing as a limit, it was either win to live or lose to die.
The lindworm roared and started spitting lava at Rigel, knowing his body couldn't withstand it anymore. It flew toward him with every last strength it had in its body. Rigel who had nothing to lose decided to charge in as well, and the next attack would decide who would live or die.
The lindworm dove its head while at the same time, Rigel slid on the floor. The lindworm's mouth was so close to biting his head, that it knew it was over, and that was when Rigel stabbed his sword right under its mouth. He used everything he had to push his sword, and then he stabbed the rapier on the side of the lindworm's body.
Rigel pulled his sword and pulled himself up on top of the lindworm's body thanks to the rapier he stabbed earlier. He stabbed the lindworm's head and pushed it down and to the left side at the same time. When he landed the lindworm's head was barely attached to its body.
"It's over..." Rigel collapsed as he caught his breath. "You're a tough opponent," he looked at the lindworm's lifeless body.
Rigel took his time to rest, but suddenly the whole room trembled. He panicked and stood up to see what was happening and thought the altar was about to collapse. But he was wrong because the lava stopped pouring from the walls of the altar and revealed a hidden room behind it.
He checked the hidden room and there was a chest made of lava stone coated in gold. It was hard to open it, and when he looked at the inside, he was surprised when he saw an earring with an orange gem on it. He took it and looked at the jewel where it contained lava and it kept spinning inside.
"What a shame..." Rigel looked disappointed.
The reason why Rigel looked so disappointed was because of the truth about Players and the System. Every piece of equipment that existed inside the tower, those that had extra abilities could only be used by Players since both Player's status and those pieces of equipment originated from the System. With that being said, Non-Player couldn't get those abilities no matter how hard they tried to extract them.
"At least it looks good," Rigel looked at the earring. "Maybe I can sell this and get some money from it," he said, but suddenly the gem disintegrated and got absorbed into his body.
"What?" Rigel was baffled and then he felt a burn inside his chest.
His breath released a steam of hot air, and his face was itchy because of the heat that felt like burning his flesh underneath. He curled up as he tried to endure the pain until suddenly his hands caught on flames and slowly crawled up to his whole body.
He felt the flame burning his skin and flesh, but suddenly the pain lessened. He started to feel fine and slowly he felt better after getting his body caught in flames.
"The flame is healing my body?" Rigel looked at the flames on his body. "This is so powerful," he looked at his body and the burns disappeared, and even the scars disappeared.
Rigel noticed the flames consumed his Mana quite a lot. He wondered if it was because of the wounds on his body that made the flames require to use of a lot of his Mana. He then extinguished the flames and looked at the result of the healing of the flames.
"I can't believe it," Rigel scoffed in disbelief as he kept looking at his body.
Rigel had enough of admiring his new ability and came out of the hidden room to harvest the Core of the lindworm. He looked at the bright red Core in his hand and didn't hesitate to absorb it.
He felt itchy again, but only on his hands and forearms, and he couldn't help but scratch them because it was irresistible. The more he scratched his hands and arms, the more itchy they became. But when he scratched them again, he felt his skin harden. He looked like his hands and arms had turned like the 2 limbs of the lindworm where red scales appeared from his skin.
He looked at his hands and they were indeed similar to lindworm's 2 limbs. His nails grew into long sharp claws, so he tried to scratch the wall and his claws left marks on it. The nails were sturdy and sharp, but he hadn't tested how strong the scale was. He turned the claws back to normal nails and clenched his fist then punched the wall with full power.
His fist was buried into the wall, and when he pulled his hand out forcefully, the wall crumbled. He didn't feel any pain at all, and then he went to the pool of lava then dipped his hands in it. He chuckled in disbelief that his hands didn't even feel hot.
"I'm glad that I went here," Rigel couldn't hide his joy with a big smile on his face.
Rigel took the scales of the lindworm because he could make armor pieces from them. All he had to do was to find a place to forge them since he had the knowledge of the best blacksmith. After he was done taking all the materials, he left the altar and went outside the volcano.
He was still naked, but thankfully he had spare clothes on his horse. He walked down the mountain and went to the outer rim fully naked while carrying a bag full of scales.
After he put his clothes on, he looked at the map and marked the Fiery Caldera. He rode his horse and thought about where he should go next. He saw a town not far from Fiery Caldera and thought it would be nice to stay there for a few days.
"I got some money from Kane and those Players' dead bodies earlier. I can get something to drink and sleep on a comfy bed. Treating myself for once, isn't too much to ask, right?" Rigel looked at the pocket filled with silver coins and a few gold coins.
Rigel rode the horse and went to the nearest town called Vern.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone