I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 828

Dragons of the Mythic Age were practically semi-immortal, capable of resurrecting at any time as long as their Dragon Heart remained intact.

The Tyrant Dragon King had failed to resurrect because the Arrow of the Lord God was lodged in his heart, leaving him to rampage as an undead.

He’d even shown signs of regaining his intellect shortly after the arrow was removed, hadn’t he?

Thump! Thump! Thump!

And the dragon carcass in the Large Field laboratory was no different.

I’d wondered why the skeletal remains were still there despite having no Dragon Heart, but it turns out there was a reason.

’I had my suspicions, but to think they actually had the Dragon Heart.’

I’d somewhat expected it, but having my guess hit the bullseye was frustrating.

As everyone knows, a Dragon Heart grants semi-permanent immortality to whoever possesses it.

Whether that applies to creatures other than dragons, I wasn’t so sure.

Slither!

Seeing it mend its shattered body in the blink of an eye, one thing was clear.

Unless I blew that heart to pieces, the bastard would keep regenerating forever.

"G-Grylls-ssi...!"

"Calm down. That’s the real Elder."

"B-but for the Elder to be a monster..."

"You have the orb I gave you earlier, right?"

I said to the bewildered Miren.

Hearing me, Miren pulled out the crystal orb tucked inside his breast pocket.

The crystal orb was still glowing, and it served only one function.

Princess Chaenggu) The broadcast crystal orb I specially modified is glowing bright!

King Reor) I could’ve given one too.

Princess Chaenggu) As if he’d take anything from someone who roots for Leor!

Broadcast magic.

In other words, it displayed everything that crystal orb captured.

Where to? To another crystal orb linked with it.

And I had already handed that crystal orb over to Cain beforehand, so by now, this whole situation was being broadcast.

One might wonder if broadcasting through just a single orb would be enough, but it was plenty.

Because the display screen on the broadcast crystal orb Princess Chaenggu gifted me was massive.

Right about now, this entire spectacle was being projected into the skies above Large Field.

"Miren."

"Y-yes?"

"Later on, make sure to shout, ’Go Chaemes United!’"

After tossing in a shout-out that Princess Chaenggu would love, I looked toward the Elder.

The Elder had completely restored the body that was blown to bits in the explosion moments ago.

An ordinary Manatology entity would’ve taken ages to do that, but this guy was on another level.

[I do not understand.]

As if no longer bothering to hide that he was a monster, the Elder spoke in an unrecognizable, composite voice.

His current form looked like countless people forcefully mashed together, and from that grotesque mass, the voice drifted out.

[Why reject an easy life? Why reject becoming one with us?]

[Food, shelter, clothing, entertainment, comfort, ease.]

[We offer all of this, so why reject the desire to live?]

Even after taking an attack, the Elder seemed to be ruminating on the interview with Miren.

Watching him force his flesh back together while droning on was thoroughly repulsive.

[We only wanted to grant you comfort.]

[Even establishing the taboos was to grant a comfortable life free of thought.]

[Why do individuals who fail to understand our heart keep appearing?]

[If only you held the will to live, everything would be so easy.]

Before long, the Elder returned to a unified form.

His face was still expressionless, but beneath it lay pure bewilderment.

Instead of nocking an arrow to my bowstring, I gripped a bottle of holy water I’d steadily stockpiled.

[We only wanted to live.]

[We only wanted to live in comfort.]

[We only wanted to live in peace.]

[So why does no one understand how we feel?]

"What kind of bullshit is that? Spineless bastard."

I retorted in sheer disbelief.

The desire to live. That was an undeniable instinct of any living being.

Born human, born a living creature, the survival instinct is entirely natural.

Even people who take their own lives are driven to the edge by circumstances; deep down, they harbor a desire to live.

"Does that ’we’ of yours even have an ’I’ and a ’you’ in it?"

[We are... simply we...]

[Simply us... who wish to live...]

Just as I thought.

The word ’we’ requires at least two individuals to exist.

Yet to Manatology, ’we’ was singular.

A desperate urge to live, or to become one, pushed to extremes until it curdled into a monstrosity.

"Without an ’I,’ you’ve got no spine. Without a ’you,’ you’re just selfish. Altruism only exists when ’I’ can help ’you.’"

[Cannot comprehend.]

"Even dumb beasts understand what a pack is. You know what people call something that doesn’t have either?"

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With that, I splashed the holy water I’d hidden behind my back.

Not holy water brewed by an ordinary cleric, but a potent batch brewed personally by the Hero.

Tssss!

The instant the holy water hit the Elder’s skin, it began to boil.

Bubbles erupted as if hydrochloric acid had been dumped over raw steel.

[Aaaargh...!]

"They call pieces of shit like you worse than wild beasts! Miren! Run!"

"Y-yes!"

The second I drenched the Elder in holy water, we bolted.

With a Dragon Heart housed inside its body, it would regenerate eventually.

Still, the holy water would steadily eat away at it, dealing continuous damage.

"B-by the way, where is Lackey-ssi?!"

"He’ll be here soon!"

After scrambling out of Sung Sim Dang, I sprinted toward Lackey’s location.

I’d surveyed the local terrain in advance, but I still wasn’t certain where the item I wanted was located.

If the Elders went on a rampage in the meantime, we had to stop them somehow.

Rumbleeee!

How long had we been looking for Lackey?

A massive tremor echoed from Sung Sim Dang, growing steadily in intensity.

It felt like the Elder was about to throw a full-blown fit.

Screeech!

Fortunately, right on cue, a car slammed to a halt right in front of us.

A sedan, practically the only means of vehicular transport in Large Field.

Clunk!

"Master! I came to pick you up!"

"Good job!"

The driver’s door swung wide open, and Lackey stuck out a hand.

Naturally, the car’s original driver was nowhere to be seen, leaving behind only the torn traces of something having been ripped away.

"Where’s the driver?"

"Was a mimic, so I ripped it out."

Just as I thought.

I hurriedly shoved Miren into the back seat and hopped into the passenger side.

Where did Gu-chil go, you ask? He was already sitting quietly in the back.

As if instinctively realizing how serious the situation was, his eyes were wide as saucers, completely mute.

Craaaack! Crunch!

Not long after we got in the car.

The Sung Sim Dang building broke apart, and from inside, a colossal mass of flesh swelled upward.

At first it looked like an ordinary lump of meat, but hideous limbs burst out from it.

And when a lizard head and wings of flesh unfurled, it was immediately obvious what creature it was trying to imitate.

"W-what in the world...!"

"Master! Is that a dragon too?!"

"Hell if I know. Is it playing dress-up just because it’s got a Dragon Heart?"

First I had to deal with a Bone Dragon, and now a Flesh Dragon?

What’s more, both dragons served as gateways to reaching the World Tree.

[Praise the...]

[Want to live...]

[Don’t want to die...]

Yet this was an abomination far more horrifying than the Bone Dragon.

If it had just been bones, it might’ve been tolerable, but watching lumps of flesh squirm endlessly made it utterly repulsive.

’That holy water sure works like a charm, though.’

Slither!

As I stared at the Flesh Dragon, its maw tore wide open.

From that gaping mouth shot a long, enormous tongue, just like a chameleon’s.

Squirm, squirm—

Countless arms even squirmed along that tongue, clawing desperately to snatch us.

Fortunately, thanks to Lackey’s dazzling driving skills, dodging it wasn’t difficult.

"Master! Where do we go now?!"

"We have to pick up Elia and Cain-ssi first! Miren! Shout into the crystal orb right now and tell the residents to evacuate!"

"Y-yes!"

First, we needed to lure that Flesh Dragon outside of Large Field.

It had completely lost its mind and clearly considered me its top-priority target.

Clack! Clack!

Lackey was stomping on the gas, steering like a maniac.

Just then, a barrage of heavy weaponry emerged from the Flesh Dragon and locked straight onto me.

’Come to think of it, Miren did say...’

The Elder didn’t rely on personal martial prowess.

Instead, he wielded terrifyingly lethal weaponry.You are reading on nоvelping.com, the official source.

Seeing those weapons sprout from all over its flesh and take aim was threatening as hell, but...

Kzzzt! Crack!

I answered each time by letting loose an arrow.

Some of the weapons even collided with my arrows mid-firing, setting off massive detonations.

Kabooom! Boom!

Not only that, I fired explosive arrows to slow its pursuit as much as possible.

As everyone knows, the explosive force behind my arrows is devastating.

With only slight exaggeration, it was on par with firing actual missiles.

Thanks to that, we significantly delayed its pursuit and quickly reached Large Field’s center.

"Everyone, run! A monster is coming!"

"T-the Elders were really monsters?!"

"Then what about us? What’s going to happen to us?!"

Large Field was still struggling to grasp the situation, mired in absolute chaos.

My voice wouldn’t reach them, so what we needed right now was Miren.

"Miren! Gather the residents and evacuate them to safety!"

"W-where is safe?!"

"Wherever you think!"

I shouted and shoved Miren out of the car.

Miren was flustered for only a second before quickly rallying the citizens and helping them flee.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Just when I thought we’d slowed it down, the tremors grew stronger.

If things went south, I’d have no choice but to hold the thing off myself.

"Where’s Elia? Don’t tell me she’s still watching that movie?"

"How about we just ram that building, Master?"

"The car will wreck. I’ll bust it open with an arrow."

"W-wait. What about me?"

Gu-chil’s voice came from the back seat. Forgot he hadn’t gotten out.

I promptly ordered Gu-chil to go assist Miren with the evacuation.

All that was left was blowing a hole in the wall of the cinema next to our lodging.

Kaboom!

After easily blasting the building wall with an arrow, we drove the car right inside.

"..."

"..."

And the moment I looked inside, I was struck completely dumbfounded.

Because Elia and several locals were sitting there with 3D glasses on.

"Woooow!"

"What kind of new technology is this?!"

"This is amazing!"

They were actually cheering and having the time of their lives.

And Elia was right in the middle of them.

"Elia! Get in, now!"

"Ah! Yes!"

Thankfully, my yell snapped Elia back to reality.

She still had those damn 3D glasses on, looking so absurdly comical that I was at a loss for words.

"What are you all doing here?! Hurry and run!"

"B-but the movie isn’t over yet..."

"The movie just became reality, so get the hell out of here!"

Thank goodness Miren rushed over just in time to shepherd the residents away.

Thud, thud, thud, thud!

Now, only the Flesh Dragon remained.

I don’t know when it caught up, but it was already plowing through buildings as it charged our way.

The moment Lackey saw it, he steered toward the area the residents had evacuated from.

"Whoa! Lackey-ssi! Look at that! A real monster is chasing us!"

"Female! Get inside already!"

"I think it’s trying to eat us!"

"It IS trying to eat us, so get inside right now!"

Elia kept those 3D glasses on the entire time, making things an absolute hassle, but we managed to shove her in.

All that was left was luring the Flesh Dragon into the fog.

’It’s a pain in the ass, but this is the only way to see its memories.’

And on top of that, one more thing.

’Gas Mask will probably show interest too.’

It was also time to uncover who that Gas Mask bastard really was.

We finally exited Large Field and drove into the fog.

[Praise the Manatology...]

[Hungry...]

[Don’t want to die like this...]

We squared off against the Flesh Dragon in earnest.

"Why is it so huge? Is it because of the glasses?"

"Take them off already."

Seriously, what an airhead of an Elf Queen.