Starting out as a Dragon Slave-Chapter 48: Pocketing the winnings

The inert body of the ant queen still lay on the ground, its white carapace cracked and burned, its blackish blood slowly running down the damp rock. Isaac, standing face to face with this defeated monstrosity, remained motionless for a moment, staring silently at his prey, his gaze impassive despite the adrenalin still pulsating within him.

Around him, his team-mates collapsed almost in relief, their bodies exhausted by the intensity of the fight. Jack wiped the sweat from his brow and laid a firm hand on Isaac’s shoulder.

- Fuck, man... I don’t want to sound dramatic, but without you, we’d probably still be running through these tunnels... Or worse.

Isaac simply nodded, sheathing his black katana in a precise gesture.

- It was harder than I expected, he admitted coldly. But it could be done.

Jack burst out laughing, a nervous, almost incredulous laugh.

- Playable, eh? My ass, yeah! Did you see the shit we went through?

- We’re still alive. That’s all that matters," Isaac replied neutrally.

Ella approached, bow still in hand, expertly inspecting the massive corpses of the queen and the ant soldiers around them.

- Well, we can’t just stand here and watch the carnage. Let’s get the cores and get out of here. This dungeon stinks of death.

Dimitri, still panting, looked up at her.

- Are you afraid another giant damn ant will appear?

- With the luck we’ve had today? I’d rather not tempt the devil.

Jack nodded and gave the final instructions.

- We grab what we can and move. Kara, Seiji, stay behind and watch our backs.

The group quickly got to work, collecting the magic cores extracted from the defeated monsters, the larger ones being carefully placed in a reinforced bag. Isaac personally retrieved the boss’s core, an imposing pearly-white crystalline stone imbued with a vibrant glow. He examined it briefly before adding it to the others.

- The guild is going to have a field day with this," Marcus commented, glancing at the bag bulging with gems.

- Yeah, and we’ll have to make do with the crumbs," growled Dimitri.

- As always," retorted Jack, shrugging his shoulders. Welcome to the guild system.

Once they’d secured their loot, the group set off down the dungeon’s winding tunnels until they reached the exit. When they finally emerged into the open air, the fading sunlight briefly blinded them, in stark contrast to the oppressive atmosphere of the basement.

Isaac breathed in deeply, enjoying the freshness of the outside air, even though his mind was still on the alert, haunted by the rage that never completely left him.

- Well, off to the guild," announced Jack. Let’s see how much the bureaucracy will steal from us this time.

The group set off again, tired but relieved to be alive. They quickly crossed the town, passing a few passers-by who gave them curious glances, some whispering at the sight of their torn, dust-covered clothes.

Arriving in front of the guild, Jack pushed open the door with an automatic gesture, entering the large hall where several hunters were huddled around the counters, noisily discussing their missions.

The old man at the front desk watched them for a moment before sighing, putting down his newspaper with obvious weariness.

- You’re alive, that’s something," he grunted as they approached. Have you got what I asked for?

Jack placed the bag containing the cores on the counter with a thud.

- As promised. The Queen of the Ants is dead, and her dungeon will take some time to reform.

The old man reached for the bag, opening it to inspect its contents briefly. He nodded, satisfied, before indicating another counter for the evaluation of winnings.

The group moved forward, and after a few minutes’ wait, an employee behind glass handed them a thick envelope. Jack opened it immediately, scrutinizing its contents before grunting.

- Well?" asked Dimitri, impatiently.

Jack sighed deeply.

- 150,000 euros in total.

The group remained silent for a moment, each of them inwardly evaluating this substantial sum.

- It’s definitely more than the E-rank dungeons," commented Marcus, crossing his arms.

- Because it was so much more difficult," retorted Ella, shaking her head.

- And how much did the guild pocket?" asked Isaac in a calm but sharp voice.

Jack chuckled bitterly as he held up the paper.

- 50 %.

A heavy silence fell over them before Dimitri whistled softly.

- Fucking hell, these bastards are not short of air.

Jack then distributed the winnings fairly: 25,000 euros each. A not inconsiderable sum, even if it could have been much higher without the guild’s intervention.

Isaac silently put his share away in his pocket, calmly observing the sum he had just won. He now understood why hunters were always looking to move up the ranks. D-rank dungeons offered far greater rewards, but the danger was just as great.

Jack raised his imaginary glass to them with a tired smile.

- Ladies and gentlemen, congratulations. We’re still alive and a little richer. That’s something to be proud of.

Dimitri raised an eyebrow.

- I need a real drink to celebrate.

Ella rolled her eyes but didn’t refuse.

- Just one, then.

Jack turned to Isaac, watching him for a moment before giving him a friendly pat on the shoulder.

- You’ve been a monster, man. Seriously. Without you, we’d have ended up in their stomachs.

Isaac remained silent for a moment, before replying simply:

- It’s not over.

Jack looked at him with a mixture of respect and concern.

- No, it isn’t.

Without another word, Isaac turned and left the guild. He’d collected his money, but his mind was still elsewhere, totally consumed by a single thought:

Getting stronger. Stronger still, until no dragon, no monster, no creature could ever resist him.

Isaac walked through the dark, silent streets of Paris, his mind still deeply imbued with the intense battle of the dungeon. The reward he had pocketed gave him no particular satisfaction. The money was just a tool, a means for him to keep progressing. The real victory was not in the amount of money earned, but in the experience gained, in the power he had accumulated.

As he slowly climbed the steps to his building, his body felt every effort. His muscles were screaming with fatigue, his nerves still raw after so many hours of tension. Yet her mind knew no respite. There was no room for rest. Not yet.

As soon as he entered his apartment, he dropped his jacket on a chair and immediately headed for his bedroom. He sat down slowly on his bed, his breathing slow and controlled. After a few moments, he reached over to the bedside table and grabbed the Ogame School Lightning Kata manual he’d borrowed from the guild.

The dim light of the room barely illuminated the old, worn pages of the book. His fingers glided gently over the rough paper, and he turned the pages with an almost religious concentration. He now knew the first two techniques of the Kata:

- Shidensen: the lightning strike, fast and almost impossible to dodge.

- Shinsoku: the dance of lightning, an attack followed by a perfect dodge.

But tonight, he was looking to go further. He needed superior power. A technique that would surpass all others.

And so he came across the third movement of the Lightning Kata:

Narukami - The Call of Thunder

The title was inscribed in elegant calligraphy, accompanied by a detailed illustration depicting a samurai in full attack, his blade surrounded by powerful electric discharges descending from the sky.

Isaac squinted slightly as he read the carefully written description beneath the diagram.

"Narukami is the third advanced technique of the Ogame School. Inspired by the raw, uncontrollable power of thunder, this attack concentrates the energy of a lightning movement into a single, explosive charge. The user, combining his breath and maximum speed, executes a vertical attack descending like lightning striking the earth."

Isaac felt a shiver run down his spine as he continued reading.

"This technique requires total mastery of the acceleration and release of energy. A simple imbalance in posture can break the impact and render the blow ineffective. Once mastered, it delivers a unique and destructive strike, surpassing all previous techniques in speed and power."

A deadly blow, precise and lightning-fast.

Isaac slowly clenched the cover of the book between his fingers, his gaze burning with a mixture of excitement and concentration. He knew that this technique was not a simple sword movement. It was a total understanding of rhythm, breath and the explosive release of force.

He slowly murmured the name of the technique, as if trying to grasp its full power just by saying it:

- Narukami...

He knew what he had to do. Tonight, he wasn’t going to sleep. Not until he’d tried to understand this attack.

He closed the book slowly, his eyes fixed on the void, his mind already focused on the sequences he would have to test.

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Even if you don’t want any news, I’ll give you some anyway! I haven’t stopped writing since this morning, I’m starting to have visions, God save me from this hell...