Starting out as a Dragon Slave

Sixth Portal: The Crystal Caverns

An underground network of caves with walls lined with perfectly geometric crystals. Every surface reflected and amplified the light, creating a labyrinth of natural mirrors where orientation became a constant challenge. Crystalline formations rose from the ground like abstract sculptures, some reaching several meters in height.

The air was saturated with suspended mineral particles that shimmered gently, creating the illusion of miniature galaxies floating between the stalactites. The ground itself seemed alive, vibrating imperceptibly underfoot, as if the stone was reacting to the presence of intruders.

The burrowing insectoids that had settled in these caverns were giant arthropods with translucent shells, revealing their luminescent internal organs. Equipped with mandibles capable of crushing the hardest rock and drill-like legs adapted for rapid tunneling, they could emerge from any surface in seconds.

Their collective intelligence allowed them to coordinate complex ambushes, using the reflective properties of their environment to disorient their prey before attacking simultaneously from multiple directions.

This time, the young blond with the insolent smile took the lead, striking the ground with a mana-charged impact. A perfectly calibrated seismic wave rippled through the stone, creating a specific resonance that targeted the vibrational frequency of the insectoids. The creatures, paralyzed by the targeted attack on their unique nervous system, were eliminated before they could even emerge from the ground.

Isaac noted that despite his apparent nonchalance, the young man possessed an impressive intuitive understanding of energy interactions. A natural talent, probably still developing but already remarkably refined.

And each time, the looks returned to Isaac. Glances that evolved as the dungeons progressed: first attentive and expectant, then slowly tinged with confusion, finally revealing barely concealed skepticism. Glances cast sideways, silently questioning, increasingly visibly doubtful.

Seventh Portal: The Inverted Library

An upside-down library where books floated and attacked in swarms while the shelves moved to trap intruders. As they returned to the truck after clearing it, the youngest of the group, the one with the insolent grin, apparently couldn’t contain his frustration any longer.

"Not to sound skeptical," he began with a tone of forced nonchalance that betrayed his real intention, "but if dragons are so dangerous, why haven’t we seen any after seven portals? Gotta say, it’s pretty convenienttestimony without proof."

The provocation was barely veiled, the sarcasm evident. Isaac caught the furtive glances from the other members some embarrassed, others clearly in agreement with the sentiment, even if they wouldn’t have chosen such a direct way to express it.

Isaac stared at the young man without saying a word. He could have responded. He could have gotten angry. He could have detailed with traumatic precision every second of the attack, every detail of the dragon’s gaze, the burning in the air, the smell of charred flesh, the visceral fear that still knotted his stomach when he thought about it.

But he remained silent. A silence born not from an inability to respond, but from the deliberate refusal to justify his pain to someone who wasn’t genuinely trying to understand.

Naesha, sitting beside him as usual, simply turned her eyes to the young man. She said nothing. Not a word. Not an aggressive gesture. Just that look a gaze that seemed to contain abysses of understanding and unspeakable experiences.

Eighth Portal: The Viscous Expanse

A nightmarish landscape of ambiguous liquidity, where the boundary between solid and fluid seemed constantly negotiable. The ground itself pulsed like a living membrane, sometimes swelling into giant bubbles that burst, releasing vapors with psychotropic properties.

Tree-like formations rose sporadically, their limp branches swaying without any apparent wind, their translucent leaves capturing light from an unknown source.

The semi-opaque ooze creatures inhabiting this environment were amorphous entities capable of altering their density and form at will. Their gelatinous bodies could stretch, divide, and fuse again, making conventional attacks nearly impossible.

Their primary mode of attack consisted of enveloping their prey to digest it slowly, first absorbing its life energy and then its physical substance. Only their central core—a crystalline sphere pulsing with energy constituted an exploitable weak point, but it was generally protected deep within their shifting mass.

The Phantom Unit demonstrated their tactical mastery once again. Using a combination of temporary solidification spells and precise piercing attacks, they systematically exposed the creatures’ cores before shattering them with mechanical efficiency. What should have been a formidable challenge was reduced to a series of methodical operations, executed with the precision of a well-oiled assembly line.

Ninth Portal: The Palace of Illusions

An architectural impossibility that seemed to defy the fundamental laws of geometry. Stairs that ascended while descending, hallways that widened the further you ventured while appearing shorter, ceilings that became floors if you looked up for too long.

The walls were covered with living frescoes that changed scenes when not directly observed. Windows opened onto landscapes that could not logically exist in that place, some even revealing what appeared to be entirely different dimensions.

The atmosphere itself was thick with illusory magic, so dense that it subtly altered the sensory perception of intruders, making it difficult to distinguish between reality and fabrication.

The worm-like humanoids guarding this bewildering domain were tall, with segmented bodies covered in translucent skin. Their faces, devoid of distinct features except for oversized eyes with fractal pupils, were neutral masks capable of replicating any expression.

Masters of tactile and visual illusions, they could multiply into perfectly convincing mirror images, transforming a single adversary into an apparent army or making their presence disappear entirely while remaining physically present.

Their powers could have been devastating against ordinary hunters, but Lazare’s team had specific countermeasures. True perception enchantments, revealing magical lenses, and above all, collective experience that allowed them to instinctively recognize the energy patterns of even the most sophisticated illusions.

The creatures were methodically tracked and eliminated, their illusions dissipating like smoke under a violent wind with each confirmed kill. What should have been a mentally exhausting maze was traversed with the efficiency of a team that had faced far worse before.

Tenth and Final Portal: The Primal Arena

A vast natural amphitheater formed by the erosion of reddish rock, its empty stands now silent witnesses to forgotten spectacles. The ground was covered in ocher dust that rose in lazy spirals at the slightest movement, creating a permanent fog at knee height.

Massive stone pillars, adorned with primitive glyphs that were half-erased, rose at irregular intervals—some still standing, others collapsed into imposing heaps of rubble. An amber light, seemingly emanating from the sky itself—a domed, orange expanse without a visible sun—bathed everything in a frozen, twilight atmosphere.

The giant mindless apes that had claimed this place as their territory were impressive in size—nearly three meters tall—but pitiful in their behavior. Likely the result of abandoned magical experiments, their muscular bodies, covered in sparse patches of fur, were dominated by disproportionately long arms, twice the normal length.

Their brute strength was considerable, capable of pulverizing stone with a single blow, but their intelligence had clearly been sacrificed in favor of that power. Their vacant eyes betrayed an almost complete absence of awareness, their actions driven solely by rudimentary territorial instincts and untargeted aggression.

The team eliminated them with an efficiency that was almost compassionate, like one would put suffering creatures out of their misery. Simple elemental traps, basic diversions, and the beasts threw themselves toward death, incapable of understanding even the most elementary tactics deployed against them.

Isaac watched this final mission with growing detachment. It was no longer frustration he felt, but a kind of resignation mixed with perplexity. Ten dungeons. Ten distinct environments. And not the slightest trace of draconic presence.

He had not killed a single creature with his own hands. He had not touched any artifact, nor examined any dimensional anomaly.

And as the team climbed back into the vehicle one last time, a heavy silence settled in. The glances that occasionally flickered toward him were no longer hostile or suspicious—just marked with a kind of professional pity. The pity reserved for someone who sincerely believes they saw something extraordinary, but whose traumatic experience had clearly altered their perception.

The more the hours passed, the deeper the doubt grew within the group... and the more a sense of isolation invaded Isaac. An invisible chasm was opening between his lived reality and the absence of tangible evidence, between his unshakable certainty and the accumulation of contradictory experiences.

Only Lazare, whose expression remained indecipherable, and Naesha, as impenetrable as ever, seemed to suspend their judgment.

The vehicle was now speeding back to the Guild’s HQ, cutting through the falling night like a shadow among shadows. Isaac stared at the metallic floor, lost in thoughts that swirled rapidly, his pupils glowing slightly orange.

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To end this Chapter in style, here’s a joke of great quality and taste!

Measuring up to greatness

Why did the scarecrow win an award?

Because he was outstanding in his field!

Stop laughing I know I know it was hilarious ahahahaha

So Enjoy your reading ans ciooo