Sala and her group were shocked to see that there was merely a human sitting there waiting for them. At the end of this cave, they did have some trouble with it once that got to the end. Where Sala had to assist and even sometimes take over for the attacker of their group. The same thing she ended up having with her old group Rotune which annoyed her greatly. She was a dragon thus she prided herself on being a tank like all dragons should given that defense was their main thing in all that they did. Attacking should always come after defense not before it as dragon even if that was your role in the group.
"I see you all got here pretty fast," the human said seemingly ignoring the rest of the group to focus in solely on Sala as he looked at her.
"Of course, what do you take us for the only thing we had to deal with was a bunch of humans after all" Sala said puffing out her chest as she then struck it as hard as she could with all her might.
A sigh of a proud dragon that fears no attack even their own as their own defense will keep them safe from all attacks from all sides after all.
"I see So you took out all the 'humans' that you found in this cave then" the human asked
"Yeah it was so easy as humans are so weak after all in fact we could have gotten here sooner if we had not taken the time to find them all" her group's attacker said
"Hunted them all down for what though," the human asked
"What if they had something of value on them or around them as it would be a bonus to what was supposed to be at the center of this cave after all" her party's mage said.
"Interesting so it worked after all as you all were completely fooled by it" the human laughed at them.
Then with a snap of their fingers, a mount of dragon corpse appeared in front of them. Falling from above and pile up in front of them.
"Are these the 'humans' that you slaughtered merely because you thought they might have something of value" the human asked with a smirk on their face.
"These are..... some of the dragon parties that have been going missing lately. They....you.....it can not be" Sala said as she and the rest of her party could not believe what they were seeing.
"Interesting no as you really thought they were human, Sala. Thus did not waste any time taking them out once they resisted it seems. Invading what seemed to be their home merely because you were informed of the treasure that might be at the center" the human said.
"Master, did I do a good job" a beast girl said as she appeared dressed up as a mage.
"Of course, as you used the magic I taught to fool the senses exactly. Despite being of the same race they could not tell their own kind even as they killed them. Typical Sala as she used to fall for this sort of thing all the time really" her master said.
"There was that one time that we had to tie her up because she kept falling for the same trick over and over again. It seems it was set up to be anti dragon after all" the beast girl said.
"Though eventually, that kind of backfired on them as the trap just seemed to turn her into a berserker that we just left roaming on that floor to kill everything with her own two hands and that interesting skill of hers where..." the human said before he was interrupted by her though.
"SHUT UP" Sala roared loudly
These two somehow knew of her dark secret that should be known outside of her parents and the other remaining members of the Rotune group which have started to go missing then later reappeared and....
"There is something very wrong here as I am getting out here," the scared mage dragon said.
They use their magic to boost themselves alone to increase their ability to escape on their own. What Sala did not know was that her family had not completely fooled and/or clammed down on the market for the things she had acquired from the Rotune group's journey completely. Sure they kept a monopoly on the items in question but the fact only Sala had anything from that journey and kept it all to herself alone raised enough questions to warrant those dragons in power looking into Sala and her family more.
They did not find anything on them other than the normal rumors that have always been flying around about them this entire time. However, once other former Rotune members started going missing those who were a part of Sala's new group were paid off to find out anything about Sala that could be used. They had something on her now as they had an idea of what this dark secret she did want anyone else to know could be and at least one of them had to make it out alive to reveal this to the world.
However, when the mage who running to the exit at their max speed, focusing their entire being only on speed alone. They crashed into what appeared to be an invisible wall since they were going at their max speed the crash suddenly brought them to a stop. They had basically killed themselves from the impact they made upon hitting the wall.
"No one will get out those are master's orders" a demon girl who had scars all over her body stated.
"See you were not lied to as there is something pretty rare at the center of this cave. However, did you ever think that maybe that was not a good thing at all? Just because something is rare does not mean it always going to be a thing you should try to see for yourself or obtain" the human said
"Then the information we were given was a lie then," Sala asked
"Lie? What lie were you told as everything you were told was the truth after all" the human countered
"What!? Not a lie as there are no rare treasures or valuables here at all. How can you say that we were not lied to" the dragon girl demanded
"One: Whoever said what was rare here was a treasure or material value" the human asked
"No one. We just assumed that because of the information we were given" the dragon girl said
"Two: Why did you assume that because it is rare that it was automatically a good thing for you" the human asked
"The one that told the information told it to us," she said
"Did you ever assume that they were lying to you? Did you double check their sources to at least get more than just their word alone?" the human told her
"No, as they seem creditable enough on their own from where they claimed to be from," she said
"Three: Would not you claim that beast that can use magic enough to fool your senses and that demon covered in scars there being a tank is rare" the human asked
"They are what," she said shocked
"Four: Of those dragons you killed were failed attempts at making a Dragon Fighter"
"A what," Sala said
"A Dragon Fighter. A dragon that specialized on attacking as their main job rather than defense" the human said
"That nonsense as a dragon might be able to do some damage but they are not capable of being full on fighters," the dragon girl said
"That fool sounds just like the girl that master killed when creating me. She claimed that a demon tank was impossible well master proved her wrong as I became the Demon tank and she failed to become" the demon girl said.
"Of course, I am a wonderful mage that master continues to teach new magic too even if I can not use any elemental types," the beast girl said.
"Those two are crazy as just look at them they could have not become like this on their own or because they wanted to" Sala stated.
She could not believe that at least Rotune's mage had fallen this far. Kind of expected that the beast girl could fall this far given she was the second weakest member of the group after all. They all looked down on her as much as they did their human leader.
"Well done as they did not want to become what they are as I forced them to become this way and well their current self is the result of their training. Now I wonder if any of you will be a success or will you end up just like that pile of dragon rejects over there" the human said
Before the dragon girl or the rest of her remaining group knew it, they were lying on the floor losing consciousness.
"Oh and I have high hopes for you seeing as you are the one I targeted this time around," Rotune said in her ear
Saying this as he punched her so hard in her chest that coughed up the contents of her stomach the blow seemed to blow past her defense like it was not even there at all.
Sala wanted to get up but could not as everything went black and she just hoped that someone from her family would come to save her at least before she ended up a broken mess like her other two former Rotune party members including that human leader who was now going by the name of Rotune.