Chapter 44 - 42: The Dragon’s Hoard

Chapter 44: Chapter 42: The Dragon’s Hoard

The chamber holding the true boss’s corpse dwarfed everything else Jason had seen in the dungeon so far, a vast, open cavern with a ceiling lost somewhere far above the fog, and at its center lay the dragon itself.

Even dead, its bloodline pressed against Jason’s senses like standing too close to an open flame, a weight of presence that dwarfed everything else he’d felt since entering the Gate.

Wings, fully formed, stretched wide beneath the massive body, unmistakable proof of blood purity none of the wingless wyrms had ever come close to matching.

Four other dragon corpses lay scattered around the chamber’s edges, smaller, still impressive but visibly diminished beside the one at the center, their bodies torn and scorched in ways that clearly hadn’t come from Titus’s strike force.

Jason studied the wounds a moment, turning the pieces over in his mind.

’These didn’t die to Titus’s team.

There were claw marks, burn patterns, that’s dragon on dragon damage.

They’d probably fought each other before the humans even got here.’

’Four contenders. One winner. And the winner took spoils.’

’It absorbed their bloodlines.

Probably by eating their hearts as Jason surmised from the large holes in their chest cavity.

He filed the thought away, unsettlingly familiar given his own recent experience.

He wondered what the true purpose of that dragon egg was.

He wondered who would truly come on top in the contest of wills required to wrest a person’s bloodline and from the strength of the bloodline Jason could sense, he didn’t have any faith in the now dead beast.

---

Titus’s team stood scattered near the body, and even from a distance the damage was obvious. Armor scorched and dented, several of them leaning on weapons just to stay upright, one sitting flat on the ground with his head bowed, breathing hard.

Titus himself looked marginally better, bronze armor scarred deep in several places, but even he swayed slightly as he turned to address the arriving auxiliary hunters.

"Good work clearing the paths," he said, voice hoarse but carrying. "This thing put up more of a fight than the scouting reports accounted for.

Close to Peak C-Rank, by the feel of it. We’ll have a cleanup crew through shortly to salvage materials and cores. Rest a few minutes, then we move."

A ragged cheer went up from several of the more exhausted auxiliary hunters, and Titus allowed himself a tired, satisfied smile before his gaze began sweeping across the gathered crowd, counting faces.

The smile faded slightly partway through.

"Where’s Kane?"

Silence answered him.

He scanned the group again, more deliberately this time, expression sharpening. "He was with the fourth path team. Anyone see what happened to him?"

Murmurs passed through the crowd, uncertain, nobody offering anything solid. Someone mentioned a chaotic wave a few hours back. Someone else mentioned the fog getting thick in that section. Nobody had an actual answer.

Jason kept his expression carefully neutral, standing near the back with Reeve and Skyler, watching Titus’s frown deepen without a single flicker of tension crossing his own face.

’Interesting. Look at me. Absolutely nothing to see here.’

Titus’s eyes swept once across the crowd, passing over Jason without pausing, without the faintest hint of suspicion, before moving on entirely.

’He didn’t even look twice.’

Something warm and quiet settled in Jason’s chest.

’Good. Exactly as it should be.’

Titus exhaled slowly, shaking his head. "People die in Gates. Nothing new about that." He glanced toward the empty space where Kane should have been standing, something almost regretful in his expression.

"Just didn’t expect it to be him. He was supposed to be the strongest one here, outside my own team."

Nobody had an answer for that either.

"We’ll note it in the report," Titus said finally, letting the matter drop. "For now, rest. You’ve earned it."

---

He addressed the wider group a moment later, voice carrying real warmth now.

"Given how far this Gate exceeded the original threat assessment, everyone who participated today is getting a bonus on top of the agreed payout. You all earned it."

The reaction was immediate, a wave of cheering rippling through the exhausted crowd, exhausted faces cracking into grins despite everything they’d just been through.

Skyler turned toward Jason, matching his own small smile with one of her own. "Not a bad payday."

"Not bad at all."

Cassius appeared at his side a moment later, grinning despite a fresh cut along his jaw, fist already raised. "Told you I was good luck."

Jason bumped it without hesitation. "You nearly got eaten twice."

"Details like that don’t really matter you know."

The crowd began filing out shortly after, making room for the cleanup crew filtering in from the entrance, already setting to work on the fallen boss and its rivals with the efficient, practiced motions of people who did this for a living.

Jason fell into step beside his own group, the ache in his body still settling, the itch beneath his skin finally starting to fade.

’Twelve thousand minimum. A bonus on top of that. Not bad for a day’s work.’

’But that’s not really what I walked away with, is it.’

He thought of the Stoneborn Spear resting quietly in his inventory beside Kane’s sword and compass.

He thought of the breakthrough humming through his Core, stronger and purer than it had any right to be.

He thought of a clan that would eventually notice their operative had vanished without a trace, and would eventually start asking questions nobody in this chamber could answer for them.

’Even if they didn’t pay me a single pound today, I still walked away with more than I could’ve hoped for.’

’Even if it means I’ve got a new enemy waiting somewhere down the line.’

He glanced back once at the massive dragon corpse being carefully dismantled behind them, then turned forward again, falling into stride with Reeve and the others as they made their way toward the Gate’s exit.

’Worth it. Every bit of it.’