Starting out as a Dragon Slave-Chapter 78: First C-rank dungeon

The journey to the portal took almost an hour. Isaac and Jonah, alone at the start, had taken the metro to the far end of Paris’s southern zone, then a bus chartered by the guild had picked them up with two other members of their future team. Once again, Isaac noticed that the higher the rank, the more professional the logistics of the expeditions became.

On the bus, the atmosphere was relaxed, but tense with an underlying energy. No inappropriate jokes. No innocence. Every hunter present knew exactly what he was up against. Amateur hour was over.

Jonah sat next to Isaac, his gaze lost in the streets they passed.

- You know, I’ve been thinking about our last dungeon," he said suddenly. I’ve never been so close to dying... And I’ve never been so alive.

Isaac smiled discreetly.

- It forges steel. Or breaks it.

- And you seem more... I don’t know... focused," Jonah said, staring at him for a moment. Even your eyes have changed, man.

Isaac turned his head to him briefly, his orange pupils gleaming softly under the dim light of the bus.

- I’m just... decided.

- You look like someone who’s not allowed to fail anymore.

- Because I am," Isaac replied simply.

Jonah didn’t insist. He just nodded slowly, respecting what was behind the words.

The bus stopped at a secure site on the outskirts of town. An old disused building site transformed into a temporary base for hunters. The portal was there, imposing, vast, like a wall of bluish energy enthroned in a circle of security reinforced by soldiers and support mages.

But what immediately struck Isaac was the sheer size of the portal.

It was over eight metres high. Wisps of black energy billowed from it like filaments of smoke. It shone with a menacing, almost conscious glow. Nothing like the E- or D-rank portals he’d been through.

Now it dawned on him: they’d changed leagues.

- Here’s the team," said the supervisor, approaching. Let’s form a line and make a quick introduction.

Isaac and Jonah stepped forward, joined by the other members of the group.

- There will be six of you on this C-rank expedition. Three men, three women.

The supervisor pointed to a massive, brown-skinned figure clad in black leather plates.

- That’s Roland, specialized tank. Mana barrier, ground manipulation and madman cashing. He’ll take it for you, so don’t leave him alone.

Roland nodded briefly, his eyes hidden behind a black visor.

- This is Ivy, elemental magician, wind and ice affinity. You’ll see, she’s got an answer for everything.

A young woman with hip-length silver hair raised a hand. Her gaze was as cold as steel.

- Naël, scout. Extreme speed, stealth, reconnaissance. He doesn’t like to talk, but he’ll probably save your life once or twice.

A dark-eyed young man, thin and wiry as a blade, barely nodded, his fingers playing with a dagger between his phalanges.

- And finally, Sanae, healer and support. Not a front-line fighter, but her mana is solid and her team regeneration is vital. You protect her like your balls.

A golden-skinned woman, looking calm and benevolent, stepped forward with supple steps. She had a reassuring, soothing aura.

- You two," he said, pointing to Isaac and Jonah, "are the new rank. I advise you to listen to orders. Erika tells me you can fight, Isaac, but don’t let it get to you. This is the real world.

Isaac inclined his head.

- Copy that.

The supervisor observed the team for a moment, then raised his arm.

- Enter 3... 2... 1... GO!

They passed through the portal.

The air changed immediately. Thicker. Heavier.

They landed in a vast stone clearing, like a gigantic open-air underground cavern. The floor was a mixture of gray rock, slimy moss and greenish crystals pulsing slowly, like living hearts. The atmosphere itself seemed to vibrate beneath their footsteps.

Ivy shivered.

- This mana... It’s dense. Almost sticky.

Roland frowned.

- The environment is charged. Keep your senses alert.

Sanae gently twirled her staff, projecting a protective halo around them.

Isaac, for his part, could feel the pressure in the air. His mana core vibrated gently in his chest.

- This place is alive..." he murmured.

- Hush," said Nael. Turn left.

They all turned at the same time

And there it appeared.

The creature slowly emerged from a dark passageway, crawling with an unhealthy fluidity. Two and a half meters tall, almost six meters long, it looked like a nightmarish cross between a praying mantis and an armored centipede.

Its body was covered by a black chitinous carapace, streaked with red veins pulsing at a slow rhythm - like an external heart. On its back were two translucent wings, folded and covered with filaments, vibrating at such speed as to emit a high-pitched hum. Its compound eyes were a soulless, oily green, but all around them vibrated a ferocious intelligence.

But it was her posture above all that chilled the blood of the group: she straightened slightly on her hind legs, displaying her two pairs of front blades - sharp as sabers, covered with acidic mucus that dripped heavily onto the rock. And she didn’t move. She watched.

Waiting.

And one thing was certain: this creature was thinking.

- Holy shit," muttered Ivy. It’s a top predator.

- A Megamancer... level C confirmed... but I’d say... a mutation, Roland added. No two are alike.

Even the usually stoic Nael took a discreet step backwards.

Isaac felt an oppressive pressure on his chest. His mana core was vibrating insistently.

This thing... had nothing to do with goblins, harpy-scarabs, or even the mutant ant from the last dungeon. It was built to kill.

- We’re getting organized," Roland said calmly, but his voice carried a raw authority. Nael, light up the area. Ivy, charge your ice spells, freeze her supports. Sanae, stay back and prepare a double barrier. Jonah, Isaac, with me in the center. If she goes for it, we’ll stop her dead in her tracks.

- Copy that," they all replied almost at the same time.

Isaac swallowed as he stared at the creature. He hadn’t done anything yet, but already a drop of sweat was running down his temple.

And yet, he felt no fear.

Just absolute tension. Pure adrenalin. An almost... animal desire to see what this thing was capable of.

And deep inside him, something was moving. The scales beneath his shirt vibrated softly. His mana core glowed in his chest, like an ember ready to burst into flames.

The Megamancer began to move again.

She creaked.

It jumped.

And the ground cracked under the pressure.

The Megamancer leapt.

A shrill, inhuman scream split the air as she tore through space like a living projectile, her blades ready to slice through anyone in her path.

- GET OUT OF THE WAY!" screamed Roland, raising a stone wall with a thump to the ground.

The creature slammed into the barrier with a spray of splinters and earth, shattering it under the force of the impact. It slid down for several metres, snarling, looking for its first target.

But already, a silhouette was detaching itself from the group.

- Don’t move, it’s my turn," Jonah said, taking a few steps back, planted on his two legs and concentrating.

He drew a strange weapon hanging from his side. A long, silver, finely engraved rifle with a futuristic shape. Energy pulsed along its barrel, like a mechanical heart.

- What the hell?" gasped Ivy, preparing an ice incantation.

- A gift from my old man," grunted Jonah, steadying the weapon on his shoulder. And the reason I stopped by C recently.

A thin blue beam appeared at the end of the barrel, slowly increasing in intensity.

- Do you have any idea what you’re doing?" asked Sanae, worried.

- Don’t worry. Just... don’t blink.

The Megamancer, staring at the weapon, hesitated for a split second. Then she pounced again, blade raised, obviously convinced that Jonah was easy prey.

She was too late.

PFFFFHHHHZZZHHMMMMM

The laser beam shot out with a deafening roar.

A blinding light pierced the underground cave. The shot struck the creature in the chest with unprecedented violence. A pure impact of condensed mana, a jet of bluish-white energy so fast that the naked eye could not follow it. The Megamancer was literally torn apart from the inside.

The explosion resounded a few meters away: a mixture of sonic shocks, charred limbs and pulverized chitin. A spray of blackened flesh fell to the ground, smoking, inert.

Silence.

The whole group froze.

Ivy slowly lowered her hand. Roland blinked. Even Nael frowned slightly.

- Sanae sighed, her mouth ajar.

Jonah blew out a long breath and lowered his gun.

- And there it was. Daddy-style boneless Megamuffin.

Isaac, who had watched the whole scene in silence, smiled. He approached Jonah, arms folded.

- Impressive. But...

- Yeah, yeah, the but..." sighed Jonah. Two minutes recharge. And in the meantime, the gun’s just good for hitting like a baseball bat.

He pointed to the weapon, which was slowly deactivating, its red circuits becoming dull.

- And I can only fire it five times a day max. Then it overheats.

- But what’s in your hands, seriously?" asked Ivy, still wary.

- Experimental weapon. My dad’s in weapons research for the private security branch of the National Defense. Let’s just say I got a... favor.

-You never told me that," Isaac whispered.

- Why do you think I’m in this lousy guild, if only to get away from him?

Isaac nodded, the argument making sense.

- Damn it," Roland muttered, shaking his head. If this is your first shot... I don’t want to see your fifth.

Jonah smiled.

- You want to survive this dungeon? Stick with me. And make me a coffee on the way out.

They laughed lightly, but the tension quickly returned. For they all knew: he was just a scout. An isolated monster.

And if this one was already so fearsome... what else was there in the bowels of the dungeon?

Roland stepped forward, tense:

- Form up. No stopping. And keep your nerve. That was only a foretaste.

Isaac tightened his scabbard and drew his katana.

- It’s time to find out what’s in that nest.