I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 635

Footprints clearly stamped on the ground. I stared intently at those footprints.

This path leading to the heart was not naturally formed, but closer to something artificially constructed.

Normally, blood would have flowed like a tsunami in accordance with the heartbeat, but here, only a cool breeze could be felt.

Feeling a breeze meant it was a place where air circulated—in other words, it was close to a ventilation shaft.

Following this place might lead to a blowhole, but I had my doubts.

"Let’s follow this path for now."

"I have a bad feeling about this, Master."

"Me too."

As I said earlier, the footprints were relatively recent.

It could be a monster that had lived here for hundreds of years, or it could be Manatology.

I bet on the latter. Manatology was notoriously tenacious when it came to staying alive.

’If they’ve been living inside the Sky Whale’s belly for hundreds of years...’

Their life force is incredibly outstanding.

That must be why there were things like the flesh giants I saw before.

I moved through the passage fully armed, checking the map along the way.

According to both the map and the signs, the distance between the liver and the heart was not very far.

"Let’s hurry. Judging by how the Sky Whale was in pain, they might have already reached near the heart."

I quickly quickened my pace.

It hadn’t even been a week since the Sky Whale had begun feeding in earnest.

’If they wanted to escape, they would have done it long ago when the Sky Whale had no energy. But instead of escaping, they headed for the heart...’

I couldn’t help but keep thinking of the worst-case scenario.

What I had encountered in the breakroom and the dormitory was just that shocking.

I could keenly feel how one goes mad when trapped eternally in ’time’ rather than hunger.

’It would have been better if they had something like the Gallery, like me.’

Not being able to tell the passage of time must have been one of the major causes.

They were truly pitiful people, but right now, they were merely enemies of the Sky Whale that had regained its freedom.

Kugugugung! Kugugung!

It was when we were walking along the passage following the footprints. Suddenly, the ground shook.

Since we were inside the belly and not outside, there was only one cause. It meant the Sky Whale was writhing in pain.

It seemed we had to pick up the pace. I put strength into my legs and dashed forward.

The Wukong brothers also hurriedly moved their legs to match my speed.

Koong! Kung! Kung!

As we neared the end of the passage, the thumping sound grew clearer in our ears. It was the sound of a heartbeat.

The heartbeat was so intense that the vibration was felt through the body rather than the ears.

Soon, the closer we got to the end of the passage, the more intense the vibration became.

Not only the vibration, but the light visible at the end was also clear. There was no need for a Recording Orb.

’The footprints haven’t stopped. This is the place.’

Since I had been checking the footprints along the way, there was no chance of straying elsewhere.

The moment we reached the end of the passage, the dark surroundings brightened, revealing a colossal sight.

Whether it was because this was the atrium where the giant Sky Whale’s heart was located, or because this place had also been separately modified.

Whichever it was, the sheer spaciousness of the area was a good thing for us.

And at its center, a heart as large as a villa throbbed violently, asserting its presence.

But the heart wasn’t the only thing asserting its presence.

"Master. That..."

"I see it too."

A human figure with its back turned, reaching out toward the giant heart.

It merely took the shape of a human in the literal sense, but its outward appearance was nothing short of hideous.

Because it was barely maintaining its form by forcibly holding together melting flesh.

I could even see parts of what looked like human arms and legs protruding from various places on its body.

It looked similar to or even worse than the Flesh Golem I had seen before. Whatever it was, it was definitely an enemy.

"Hey!"

Before recklessly firing an arrow, I spoke to it first.

One might ask why I was trying to converse with a mindless Manatology creature, but there was something puzzling about it.

If that guy was truly Manatology, why hadn’t he completely devoured the Sky Whale?

If he had been trapped here for hundreds of years, devouring the Sky Whale would have been better.

Yet he hadn’t done so and had slept for a long time. It was also strange that he was trying to absorb the heart only now.

"...?"

As if hearing my shout, the hideous lump of flesh turned toward us. Its hand remained embedded in the heart.

Thanks to that, I could clearly see its face. It clearly had only one head, but three faces were embedded in it.

I couldn’t tell if it was male or female. The facial features of three people were just jumbled together.

"...Human?"

Three mouths opened simultaneously, uttering the same word.

A mixture of male and female voices, it carried an unpleasantness akin to a modulated voice.

While I was feeling that way, the Flesh Aberration stared intently at me.

Just that gaze filled me with instinctive disgust, but I suppressed it.

"Rescue team! They’ve come to save us!"

"Rescue team! They’ve come to save us!"

"Rescue team! They’ve come to save us!"

The Flesh Aberration spoke in unison with a bright smile. Dancing around joyfully, it was bizarre beyond belief.

Even so, its hand remained embedded in the heart. It was continuously absorbing energy from the heart.

"...Why are you here?"

The Flesh Aberration tilted its head at my words. It seemed it couldn’t understand my words—specifically, Korean.

The letters written in the breakroom earlier were all in English. And these people were monsters formed by fusing English speakers.

"Why are you here?"

So, I asked in English, racking my brain to recall it, and only then did it react.New chapters come out on NovelPing first.

"I don’t know! I was just here!"

"When I opened my eyes, I was hungry!"

"I felt a delicious sensation, so I came here!"

"Master. Something is rising from my stomach."

Me too. It would be fine if it were just a mindless monster, but I didn’t know how to describe that thing.

It was neither here nor there, maximizing the uncanny valley effect. Still, since I had to gather information, I had no choice but to bear it and try to converse.

"A delicious sensation? Not a smell?"

"Everything else tastes bad! So I didn’t eat it!"

"I hate eating flesh! It’s horrible!"

"I’d rather starve..."

The last voice contrasted sharply with the cheerful ones. It sounded like it didn’t even want to imagine it.

It seemed that as numerous people fused into one, their traumas had fused together as well.

’Is this a conversation or not...?’

Whatever the case, I had no choice but to deal with it. I gestured to Lackey and Dolsoe.

Signaling them to prepare, as we would be fighting soon. Since it had become part of Manatology, leaving it alive was out of the question.

Furthermore, even while talking like this, it didn’t pull its arm out of the heart.

"Why don’t you pull your hand out of that heart first?"

"No!"

"We want to live longer!"

"To live, we must eat more!"

The Flesh Aberration rejected violently. I immediately notched an arrow on my bowstring and fired.

It was an attack with absolutely no mana infused, strictly meant as a distraction.

Kwak!

Naturally, it didn’t affect the Flesh Aberration at all. It just got stuck in its burly shoulder and that was it.

Next, the Flesh Aberration looked at the arrow stuck in its shoulder. It had an expression as if trying to figure out what had happened.

"An arrow?"

"It’s an arrow."

"They attacked us. They’re enemies."

Kkumteul-kkumteul-kkumteul-

Perhaps that served as a trigger, as the Flesh Aberration’s entire body began to wriggle.

It was originally about three meters tall, but it began to grow even larger, to the point where I had to look up.

Its outward appearance also changed significantly; originally, the Flesh Aberration had three faces on a single head.

But now... there was no face, and facial features were dotted all over its body instead. An appearance that had completely lost its human form.

To top it all off, there was a giant mouth right in the middle of its belly. It was no longer a human, but a complete monster.

"Let’s devour them!"

"Let’s devour them!"

"Let’s devour them!"

The Flesh Aberration began to view us completely as prey. The battle had officially begun.

The weakness of Manatology was fire, but this was the atrium. If a fire caught elsewhere, the Sky Whale would writhe in pain.

For the same reason, I couldn’t recklessly unleash my power either. After all, the heart was right in front of us.

"Lackey. Avoid using fire magic if possible. Only use ice magic."

"Understood."

"Dolsoe, you too, avoid techniques that cause severe collateral damage."

Although the inside of the Sky Whale was as sturdy as any steel, the Wukong brothers could unleash power that could easily destroy it.

It meant we might burn down the whole house just to catch a bedbug. Furthermore, this bedbug had an extremely tenacious life force.

It was obvious that the Flesh Aberration in front of us would stubbornly survive unless we burned it with fire.

’First, freeze it solid, then clean it up.’

I planned to eliminate it in a similar way to the flesh that had clung to the machine. Besides, ice wasn’t the only option.

The Holy Water I had saved just in case. Since Manatology was also of the undead type, Holy Water should be effective.

"Uwooooo!"

Kung! Kung! Kung!

The Flesh Aberration charged at us, dragging its massive body.

To make matters worse, it gaped the mouth in the middle of its belly wide open, as if to devour us right then and there.

Seeing multiple arms sprouting from that mouth as well, I wondered who on earth had created such a thing.

’...Wait a minute.’

I frowned at the arms protruding from its mouth, but then a brilliant idea crossed my mind.

But first, dodging its attack was the priority. Scouting it out first was essential.

Kwaang!

A heavy fist slammed down exactly where we had been standing. The faint vibration that echoed gave me an idea of the monstrous strength packed inside it.

’To have this much power after waking up from hundreds of years of slumber...’

I felt a bit puzzled, but counterattacking came first.

It was strong, but perhaps due to the inherent disadvantage of being a lump of flesh, it was incredibly slow.

Seogeok!

Thanks to that, I could easily sever the arm it had slammed down at us.

As long as it didn’t affect the Sky Whale, doing it this way wasn’t difficult.

In the past, I would have struggled due to the Aura Blade recklessly bursting forth.

But now, even if my technique wasn’t perfect, my skill had improved quite a bit, allowing me to control it well.

"It hurts."

"I hate pain."

"The one who does what I hate is a bad guy."

As its arm was sliced off, countless voices flowed from the Flesh Aberration’s mouth.

At the same time, the severed arm wriggled, and a new arm shot out with a ssook-.

Its strong regeneration was one thing, but the problem was that its speed was faster than expected.

The only thing it could have absorbed was the energy coming from the Sky Whale’s heart.

I wondered if the very fact that it was in the Sky Whale’s atrium was the problem.Read this novel at novеlping.com for the best experience.

’Before that...’

I stared at the Flesh Aberration’s belly. A hideous place where its mouth was wide open and countless arms were sprouting out.

It was practically advertising, ’I am a weakness.’ In that case, I had to exploit it.

"Guys! Bind its feet! Make it kneel!"

"#@$!"

Lackey froze one of its legs with magic, and Dolsoe shattered that part using a Palm Strike.

Even with strong regeneration, its balance was bound to collapse before it could regenerate.

Consequently, the Flesh Aberration fell to its knees, naturally becoming defenseless.

Hwareuk!

I pulled out a homemade Molotov cocktail from my Subspace Backpack and lit it.

Then, I hurled it straight toward the mouth in the middle of its belly. For the record, it wasn’t just one.

A single Molotov cocktail wouldn’t be enough to burn down a creature of that size. So, I poured in half of all the oil bottles I had brought.

Kwajik!

Just as expected. Since something had filled its mouth, it chewed it up thoroughly.

But did it even know that it was oil?

Hwareureuk!!

"Kyaaa!"

"Aaaargh!"

"It’s hot! It’s hot! It’s hot!"

Of course not. A massive inferno flared up from the mouth on its belly.

Since sparks might fly elsewhere, I asked Lackey to deploy a shield.

Sensibly, he cast the shield around the Flesh Aberration instead of us. This was definitely better.

Hwareureureuk!

"Aaaah! Aaaaah!"

The Flesh Aberration writhed in agony. Before long, the fire had spread across its entire body.

Yet strangely, its body didn’t shrink, nor did its regeneration weaken.

On the contrary, it covered the fire with its flesh as if to swallow it whole. I felt something was off.

’Why is its regeneration still the same...?’

Then, something suddenly flashed through my mind.

Had this guy ever pulled out the arm he had embedded in the heart while growing larger?

I hadn’t seen that part because it had grown so massive, but my intuition told me he hadn’t pulled it out.

The moment that thought occurred, I took the risk and dashed straight toward the Sky Whale’s heart.

Kkumul-kkumul-kkumul-

Sure enough. A lump of flesh connected to the heart like an umbilical cord came into view.

The source of its persistent life force was right here. It would have been a disaster if I hadn’t noticed.

Seogeok!

Without hesitation, I sliced through the umbilical cord. Once the connection was severed, the Flesh Aberration began to thrash about even more wildly.

Lackey was struggling to hold it back with the shield, but there was still work to be done.

Kkumul-kkumul-

"No, seriously."

Perhaps even the severed umbilical cord possessed a will to survive, as another lump of flesh began to form.

I didn’t know what kind of main body this was, but I had to tear it off completely.

First, I froze the end of the regenerating umbilical cord solid, then examined where it was embedded in the heart.

It was clinging tightly like a leech! I didn’t know what would happen if I tore it off by force.

’Let’s prepare the Elixir first.’

I grabbed the umbilical cord and pulled with all my might to tear it off.

No matter how well it clung, it would easily come off if I set my mind to tearing it away.

Pushee-ee-

As expected, the moment I tore it off, blood gushed from the hole in the heart.

I immediately treated it with an Elixir, completely preventing any potential issues.

I sprinkled Holy Water on the wriggling, parasite-like cord, completely vaporizing it.

Hwareureureuk!

"Aaaah...!"

All that was left was the monster rampaging inside the shield. It was amazing that it was still holding out.

"I want to live..."

"I don’t want to die..."

"...."

A figure that had become a monster solely out of the will to live. Honestly, the will to survive itself couldn’t be criticized.

It was just the process of achieving that goal that was the problem. Besides, this guy had already crossed the boundary of being ’human’.

"...Maybe I should have asked for its name?"

Did it hear my muttering?

"Name..."

"Our name is..."

"We are just us..."

Before long, the Flesh Aberration...

Tadak- tadadak-

...completely turned to ash and vanished, leaving behind only an unpleasant odor.

"Ah. Right. Guys, we need to burn this more."

"Are you talking about the things left in the bag?"

"Yeah."

I had to make sure what was dealt with was thoroughly dealt with.

At any rate, now that the Flesh Aberration tormenting the Sky Whale was defeated, it was time to go outside.

’I wonder what treasure it will give me?’

I felt I could look forward to it a little.