Jack drifted into the vast underground hall. The hall stretched before him. The air here was thick with the oppressive aura of ancient magic. And the low, resonant thrum of danger.
At the center of this immense space was the Dragon. Coiled upon a raised platform of granite pedestal.
It was a magnificent yet terrifying sight. Scales the color of twilight shimmered with an inner fire. Catching the faint, diffuse light from the glowing fungus all over the place.
Its enormous head was lowered. Eyes were closed. Steam curled lazily from its nostrils. Smelling faintly of sulfur and burnt rock. It seemed to be asleep. But it was radiating a terrifying aura of power.
It was unlike the severely injured, battle-scarred beast he'd faced in the Trial of Strength. This one was significantly bigger. With greater muscles. As if.. the one he defeated was a juvenile dragon. And here, this creature was the one in its prime.
Every inch of this dragon here was the apex predator. It was a guardian clearly meant to deter anything foolish enough to reach this deep.
Jack drifted into the chamber. The Mental Gravity Ward's effects had disappeared. But the ambient magical pressure here somehow felt even heavier.
He kept his form as low and ethereal as possible. His invisibility was still active. A shroud against visual detection. But the Dragon wasn't just relying on sight.
Dragons were creatures of immense magical power. And also known for its innate, often overwhelming, senses. Could it detect a spectral entity? Probably. But how?
Through heat signature? Possibly. But Jack's form generated no such thing. Magical aura? His [Mysterious Nature] trait was supposed to mask that. But against a creature of this magnitude, could he be certain? Draconic senses were legendary for their ability to pierce illusion and deception.
He needed to observe. He found a relatively shadowed corner near the entrance. He floated upward. Drifting close to the ceiling. Where the light was weakest.
From this vantage point, he watched the Dragon. It wasn't guarding in a conventional sense. Pacing and patrolling. But it also wasn't as deep asleep as he first thought.
Its head was occasionally lifted. The golden eyes sweeping slowly across the chamber. With an unnerving intensity that seemed to bore into the very fabric of reality.
It seemed to be listening. Not just with its ears. But with its entire being. Attuned to the subtle currents of magic. Air pressure changes. Or even the faint psychic intuition.
Getting past this thing was going to require more than just being invisible. It would require near-perfect stillness and timing.
Jack spent what felt like an age simply observing. The Dragon didn't seem to have a fixed time to open its eyes. But when it did, its gaze methodically covered every inch of the chamber.
Most of the time, its eyes would remain closed. But even then, Jack felt that the dragon was still observing. Listening. A silent vigilance.
Jack never planned to fight it. Not when he didn't have to. His task was to escape. But where was the exit? The huge chamber had the entrance he came through. The massive Dragon. And what appeared to be solid rock walls on all other sides.
His instinct, however, still screamed that the path lay deeper. That meant there must be an exit from this chamber. Likely hidden or heavily guarded.
He began to subtly scan the walls. Not by sight. But by extending his awareness. Feeling for variations in the magical hum. Subtle disruptions. Or hidden passages.
The Dragon's eyes snapped open.
Jack froze instantly. He hadn't moved much. Just a gentle expansion of his spectral senses.
The Dragon's head lifted higher. Its nostrils were flaring. Its golden gaze swept directly towards Jack's hiding spot near the ceiling.
His spectral form held rigid. Utterly still. Smaller than a mote of dust. Quieter than a thought. Every ounce of his focus went into minimizing his presence. Dampening any ripple his essence might cause.
The [Mysterious Nature] trait felt like a fragile shield. Tested to its absolute limit. By the sheer power radiating from the beast.
The Dragon stared. The silence in the chamber stretched. Heavy and suffocating. Jack could almost feel the weight of its perception pressing down on him.
It wasn't seeing him. He was sure of that. But it was sensing something. That familiar prickle. The wrongness in the air that the Abyss Trackers had felt. It seemed that it was now amplified a thousand fold by the Dragon's heightened awareness.
Slowly. Agonizingly slowly. The Dragon lowered its head. Its eyes remained open, though. Fixed on the general area for a few more minutes. Before resuming their slow sweep.
Near-miss. Jack released the tension he hadn't even realized he was holding. He couldn't afford to probe like that again. Not while the Dragon was actively alert. He had to rely solely on visual observation and his instinct for now.
He waited until the Dragon's eyes had closed for a prolonged period. The low rumble in its chest deepening slightly. This was his chance.
He began to drift across the vast space. Silently and slowly. He stayed low. Skimming just above the uneven ground. Hoping the ambient magical trace on the ground would provide some minimal concealment.
The air felt warmer as he moved closer to the Dragon. A wave of intense heat washed over him as he passed within a few dozen feet of its massive form. A reminder of the furnace within.
He braced himself. Focusing on maintaining invisibility. Lowering his presence. And holding his spectral integrity against the thermal onslaught. His recently acquired [Heat Immunity] helped a lot here.
He reached the far side of the chamber without incident. The wall here was solid rock. Identical to the others. No obvious door or passage. His survival instinct, however, pointed here.
He needed to find the exit. But without triggering the Dragon. He couldn't touch the warded rock surface like he did with the cell walls. That would immediately trigger a full alarm.
He couldn't expand his senses too much. He was relying on his gut feeling. And minimal interaction.
He drifted along the base of the far wall. He moved meticulously. Centimeter by centimeter, his spectral form pressed as close to the floor as the Mental Gravity Ward allowed without being in the rock.
And there it was. He found it. Not a door. Not an archway. A section of the wall. The part where the low hum of the prison runes was subtly different. Higher pitched. More complex.
Jack immediately understood. It wasn't an absence of warding. It was a different kind of warding. A gate-ward. One designed not to imprison. But to control passage.
It was likely a magical gate. Or a passage sealed by complex arcane means. Requiring a key. A password. Or a specific magical frequency to open.
For a physical being, it would be an insurmountable barrier without the right tools. For the current Jack, a non-physical construct... it just represented a challenge.
He looked back at the Dragon. It seemed to still be resting. The rumble in its chest was steady. But he knew that peace was fragile.
He needed to pass through that gate-ward. But how? It was a warded surface. Touching it would trigger the alarm. Just like the cell walls he bypassed previously.
And this was not like the cell walls, which were away from the guards. This magical gateway was right behind the dragon.
Triggering the alarm would definitely wake the Dragon. And pinpoint his location. No matter how strong his invisibility covered him. He would be the target of the dragon's fire breath.
He paused. Hovering before the section of wall that pulsed with the different hum. He had to find a way through without making contact. Or at least without triggering the 'breach' alert.
It had no keyhole. No indentation. The key should not be physical objects.
It had no visible button. No inscription line. The key should not be password-like touch.
It somehow emitted infrasound humming. Would it...
Wait! Jack suddenly realized. He had [Eyes of Judgement], didn't he? He immediately activated it.
[Object: Secret Door]
[Type: Spatial Gateway]
[Danger Level: High]
[Purpose: Teleportation to the Next Stage]
[Current Status: Locked and Trapped]
[Notable Properties: Unlockable with the Dragon's Acknowledgement or Matching Frequency]
[Residual Energy: Low]
Two ways to unlock? Jack immediately ignored the first one. Dragon's Acknowledgement would be too hard and too dangerous. But, matching frequency?
An insane idea suddenly came to his mind. Could he attune himself to the frequency of the gate-ward?
He was in specter form. Could he, a magical construct himself, resonate with the gate's energy signature in a way that simulated authorized passage?
He wasn't sure. His 'phasing through object' was technically changing his frequency to match the gap in cellular level of solid objects. It was instinctual. Now, he just had to do it on purpose. Wasn't it so?
It would be a gamble. But his instinct was still strong. Urging him towards this point. This was the path forward.
He gathered his spectral energy. Focusing it not on projecting outward. But on turning inward. He focused his will on the complex hum emanating from the gate-ward.
He tried to match it with his own internal frequency. The very vibration of his unique essence. Following the rhythm and tone of the gate's energy.
It was like trying to pick a lock with pure thought. He felt the intricate pitch and frequency of the warding. His mind brushed against it. Not physically. But on a level of pure magical resonance.
It took a while to match the frequency while still maintaining the invisibility. But, finally, the low hum from the gate-ward shifted slightly.
It didn't roar into an alarm. Instead, it seemed to... acknowledge him. The pattern matched.
Jack felt a subtle pulling sensation. Like a gentle current tugging at his spectral form. It wasn't forceful. Not like being caught in a trap. But... inviting.
Jack's intuition flared. This was it. He had somehow found the 'correct' frequency. The passive recognition signal that this gate-ward responded to.
Taking a gamble, Jack followed the sensation. He allowed his spectral form to drift forward. Pulled by the gentle current emanating from the gate-ward.
He didn't hit nor phase through the solid stone. Instead, as he approached the warded section, the very air seemed to ripple and distort.
Vaguely, through the shimmering distortion, he could perceive a space opening up. A passage forming within the solid wall.
He passed through the shimmering layer. There was no physical sensation. Only a transition. From the heavy, oppressive air of the dragon chamber. Into something much cooler. The shimmering closed behind him instantly.
He was in a short, stone corridor. He glanced back. The wall behind him was solid, seamless rock. The gate had closed as if it had never been there.
And, crucially... He heard no sudden roar from the chamber he had just left. No alarm bells ringing. The Dragon remained undisturbed.
He had done it. He had navigated the rune-laced cells. Evaded the non-visual senses of the Abyss Trackers. Pushed through a Mental Gravity Ward. And bypassed a Dragon-guarded chamber.
What would be waiting for him next?