Starting out as a Dragon Slave-Chapter 55 : flight

The shaft was narrow and stifling, and the air was heavier than outside, saturated with a pungent mixture of heat, sweat and putrefaction. Silence was just an illusion - a veil stretched between them and the beating heart of the dungeon.

The ground beneath their feet was becoming increasingly organic. Chitinous growths covered the walls, pulsing faintly like a visible circulatory system. Each step sounded like an echo in a living trachea.

Erika was still leading the way, her gaze hard, her jaws clenched. Isaac, barely a step behind Rémi, observed everything with the same surgical precision. He noted shapes in the shadows, variations in the light, the rapid breathing of certain members of the group. The intensity was rising. The dungeon thickened.

- We’re getting close to the core, that’s for sure," Maëlle breathed, resting her hand against the wall. The mana is... denser. I’m having trouble breathing.

Jonah was already reloading his weapon, his fingers trembling slightly. He glanced at Isaac:

- You feel it’s going to get bad, don’t you?

- It’s already going badly. We’re just realizing it," Isaac replied laconically.

And he was right.

A shrill scream suddenly erupted from the bowels of the dungeon, echoed through the organic walls. A high-pitched, prolonged, non-human scream, which slowly turned into a vibration in the ground. A signal.

Erika stopped dead in her tracks.

- Formation! Defensive 180! It’s an ambush!

They came from above.

Scarab Harpies, but different.

They were bigger. Their shells had a dark blue sheen, like polished metal, and their wings, instead of vibrating at a single frequency, beat at a jerky, out-of-sync rhythm, blurring auditory perception.

And there were many of them.

Over thirty of them, emerging from cracks in the ceiling and openings in the walls.

- Jonah, back! Maëlle, shield!" screamed Erika, chaining orders together like a furious metronome.

Isaac activated [Black Stone Skin] in a flash. His arms grew stronger, his blade heavier just enough to gain strength without compromising speed. The first creatures dived.

- My turn.

Isaac leapt forward, his blade tracing a perfect arc through the air.

[Ding! Enemy defeated. Absorption available:]

* Physical statistics

* Physical skill

He hesitated for a fraction of a second. Then his inner voice chose:

- Physical skill.

A different wave passed through his body. Not like the brute force of statistics. Something... more subtle. More instinctive.

[New skill acquired: Flight (level 1)]

Allows basic elevation to be maintained using mana. High energy consumption. Low stability.

Isaac felt his shoulder blades heave briefly, as if a forgotten muscle were awakening.

But there was no time to explore: another Harpy was bearing down on him.

He pivoted on himself, his blade again biting into the chitinous flesh.

[Ding! Enemy defeated. Absorption available:] - Physical skill.

[Flying skill raised to level 2]

Reduced mana consumption. Slightly improved stability and directional control.

This time, he felt a distinct change. When he leapt to avoid an onslaught, his jump was prolonged, as if the air beneath his feet held him back. He glided lightly through the air, performing a pirouette he still couldn’t fully control, but which saved him from certain impact.

- You’re flying now?! exclaimed Jonah, slammed against a wall, shooting frantically at a creature that was trying to dismember him.

- Barely," replied Isaac between shots. But I’m beginning to understand.

He leapt again, this time consciously activating the skill. A surge of mana flowed down his back, and his feet left the ground. He toppled awkwardly through the air, but long enough to decapitate two beetles in a row.

[Ding! Enemy defeated. Absorption available:] - Physical skill.

[Flying skill upgraded to level 3]

Reduced mana consumption. Improved flight speed. Ability to maintain trajectory for several seconds.

The thrill of partial mastery ran through him. He was no longer simply leaping. He was beginning to fly.

- Erika, I’m taking the high road," he declared into the communication channel.

- Don’t be a hero. You’ve got no support up there.

- You just need a cutting edge.

He rose, this time more gently, more naturally. His arms relaxed slightly, his body understanding how to guide the flow of mana.

He twirled between two beams, his blade spinning like a satellite, mowing down three enemies in less than five seconds.

[Ding! Enemy defeated] - Physical skill.

[Flight" skill upgraded to level 4]

Ability to maintain flight over long distances. Acceleration possible. Average maneuverability.

Down below, the battle was still raging. Rémi, covered in black blood, held the central axis, shield forward, repelling wave after wave. Leïla, positioned on an old industrial gondola, fired arrow after arrow into the shadows, each one piercing a precise target.

Maëlle shouted incantations, her spells creating bubbles of reinforced light around the most exposed limbs. Jonah still held the southern corridor, but was struggling under the pressure.

Isaac, for his part, had become a bolt of lightning in the heights.

He whirled, splitting the air, his blade an extension of his thoughts. Each kill brought him more.

[Ding! Enemy defeated. Absorption available:] - Physical skill.

[Flying skill upgraded to level 5]

Basic mastery achieved. Controlled, stable flight, with possible abrupt acceleration. Ability to perform complex aerial maneuvers.

He landed softly next to Jonah, just after slicing in half a beetle in his path.

Jonah stared at him, eyes wide.

- Are you flying for real now?

Isaac wiped the black blood from his blade on his sleeve.

- I’ve told you. I know what you mean.

Erika approached, covered in blood, her gaze hard but brilliantly lucid.

- Well done. You’ve unbalanced their formation. The aerialists are falling back.

- That means the creeps are coming," Sami murmured, staring into the darkness of the tunnel.

Erika gritted her teeth.

- Let’s get on with it. And this time, we enter the nest proper.

Isaac looked up.

He knew it was far from over.

But now that he was flying, now that he had conquered the air, he was ready to take it to the next level.

The battle had changed dimension.

The organic corridor they had just traversed now opened onto an immense hall, an old industrial hall transfigured by the mana of the dungeon. The steel girders, metal walkways and rusty machinery were now overrun by suspended cocoons, nests embedded in the walls, and the glaucous glow of bioluminescent larvae.

A low hum rose into the air. Not a mere flapping of wings.

A beehive rumble.

Erika gritted her teeth:

- They know we’re here. Get ready for a real charge. Not scouts.

- I’m beginning to regret my "yes", Jonah growled as he cocked a new clip.

Isaac didn’t reply. He was away from the group, in a nook of the ceiling he’d reached thanks to his new flying skill, now stabilized at level 5.

He was at a safe distance, arms outstretched, breathing slowly and deeply.
All around him, the air vibrated. He could feel the mana flowing down his back, fueling the muscles in his shoulder blades, pulsing through his legs.

But that wasn’t enough.

He wanted to go further.

Shidensen.
A lightning strike. A single movement, focused on absolute acceleration from point A to point B, with a sharp cut faster than human perception.

But until now, he’d never attempted to execute it from the air.

And that was the challenge.

The ground provided the anchor to channel the tension of the body, the impulse of the foot, the release of the trunk.
But in the air, there was no support, no friction.
Only the wind. Gravity. The fall.

But now... he was in control.

And now was the time to try.

Below, Erika was shouting orders:

- Maëlle, 90° barrier! Rémi, turtle formation! Don’t let the larvae get around us!

A shrill howl split the air.

The Scarab Harpies were closing in on them.

And this time... they were nothing like their predecessors.

They were bigger, more robust. Their carapaces bristled with black spikes, and their wings seemed armored, vibrating with toxic mana.

Some even sported molten stingers suspended from their abdomens.

They hovered in formation, like organic hunters, stinging, spinning, diving at full speed. And above all... they seemed to be communicating, coordinating.

Jonah pushed one back with a shot, but another immediately flew around him, aiming as if it understood the formation.

- They... they read us?!

- They’re learning!" shouted Maëlle, backing away. We’ve been watched from the start!

- Then it’s time to return the favor," murmured Isaac in his head.

He placed his left hand on his hilt. His blade still in the scabbard, held diagonally.

Shidensen.

Slow breath. Center of gravity tilted.
Except this time, no anchor.
So he compensated by falling.
By absolute relaxation.

His body tilted, the angle of descent carefully adjusted, the energy wings of his [Flight] skill vibrated, creating a mini-vortex of mana.

Below, a Harpy-Supervisor - as he called it - opened its mandibles wide, preparing an acid salvo on the group.

And Isaac fell.

No... he plunged.

But not like a falling object.
Like a divine arrow. Lightning incarnate.

- Shidensen!

His blade sprang up.

A bolt of white lightning split the air.

The ground itself vibrated as it passed.

The harpy had no time to understand. Her body was cut in two in absolute silence, her insides vaporized by the compression of the air.

[Ding! Enemy defeated. Absorption available:]

* Physical statistics

* Physical skill

- Skill.

[Flying skill upgraded to level 6]

Improved dive handling. Ability to stabilize a fast trajectory after releasing acceleration.

Isaac landed gracefully, hovering a few centimetres above the ground before rising again with a flap of his mana wings.

He couldn’t believe it.

He’d done it.

He’d just merged Shidensen and freefall, becoming a lightning bolt from the sky.

Not yet perfect. He’d felt a slight deflection, a moment when control of the blade had almost slipped.

But it would come.

Another Harpy charged at him. He dodged sideways, this time in mid-air, letting himself be carried along by a spin, then cleaving the air at a counter-angle, slicing the creature’s wing.

[Ding! Enemy defeated. Absorption available:] - Physical skill.

[Flight] raised to level 7

You can now combine the [Flight] skill with other physical techniques. Drastic reduction in dive consumption.

Erika saw him pass like a bolt of blue lightning just above her head.

- Isaac!" she shouted. Keep it up! They’re losing their air superiority thanks to you!

Jonah added, panting:

- You stole. And you cut it. In half. You’re officially too classy for me, man.

But Isaac didn’t reply. He was already up in the air, ready to dive on another target.

He could feel his heart beating with controlled violence.

He was no longer just a hunter.

He was becoming a weapon.

And in this strange sky, above a nest teeming with horrors... he was lightning.