I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 829

A Flesh Dragon formed from the amalgamation of countless human beings.

While it shared an undead nature with the Bone Dragon I had fought before, in reality, it was completely different.

First and foremost, the dragon’s signature breath.

Just as the Bone Dragon had spewed a devastating breath from its maw, the Flesh Dragon produced something similar.

Clack!

A massive cannon barrel emerged from its gaping maw, and then—

Whirrrr!

It condensed energy, preparing to fire a breath weapon that wasn’t really a breath.

The moment I saw it, I shouted urgently.

"Breath! Dodge! That way!"

If you’re a dragon, spit fire like one! What kind of dragon fires an energy cannon, for fuck’s sake?

Regardless, everyone moved without hesitation at my cry.

Even the dimwitted elf, Elia, who had been babbling about movies with 3D glasses on, snapped out of it and scrambled to move.

BOOOOOOM!

A tremendously powerful Photon Cannon blasted from the Flesh Dragon’s mouth.

Not the crimson flames a dragon should breathe, but a beam of laser blazing with blue light.

A bluish—no, a pure white flash so bright it felt like it would burn out your retinas just looking at it.

A force of light forged by combining the energy of a Dragon Heart with the peak of humanity’s mechanical civilization.

Rumble—

The fog blanketing the entire city scattered in all directions, briefly revealing the gray concrete jungle.

Except even that jungle began to crumble and get swept away by the dragon’s Photon Cannon.

Where I’d fought the Bone Dragon was an open expanse, so collateral damage wasn’t an issue, but this place was different.

"M-Master! The buildings are collapsing!"

"Dodge them yourselves!"

Korea was famous for having an enormous number of tall buildings to begin with.

Even if it wasn’t on par with the United States, countless structures, including high-rise apartments, formed a concrete forest here.

Thank God this was Daejeon; if it had been Seoul, the outcome would have been far worse.

The bigger problem, however, was the follow-up attack from the Flesh Dragon after firing its Photon Cannon.

Bubble, bubble, bubble—

Right as I braced for the next strike amid the chaos...

Bubbles boiled across the dragon’s fleshy body, and then it suddenly froze in place.

The abrupt halt caught me off guard, but a pungent stench of burning squid drifted toward me.

’Don’t tell me it couldn’t handle its own output?’

Between the suffocating smell of burning flesh and the bubbling, that seemed exactly the case.

Even if it harbored a Dragon Heart inside its body, the thing wasn’t a real dragon.

It was nothing more than Manatology attempting an imitation with a Dragon Heart.

?Heavenly Demon) It looks just like Qi Deviation.

?Sword Matstar) It seems its body can’t handle the mana.

The masters were thinking along the same lines as me.

It seemed even the formidable regenerative power unique to Manatology couldn’t compensate for it.

’Though that might also be thanks to the holy water...’

In other words, now was the perfect time to strike.

I shouted to my party, who were scrambling amidst the concrete landslide.

"Its weakness is fire, so hit it with that!"

"Understood!"

"B-But what about Mr. Cain?!"

Elia cried out while dodging the heaps of concrete raining down behind her.

Just as she said, Cain was nowhere to be seen, wherever he had gone.

He was probably still in Large Field, so maybe he went with Miren to evacuate the residents.

’Mobility isn’t what’s lacking right now.’

The Flesh Dragon had openings galore, and plenty of buildings remained besides the ones it had brought down.

In a densely packed city like this, a direct frontal assault was better than hit-and-run guerilla tactics reliant on mobility.

[Praise the... Manatology.]

[I want to live...]

[We just...]

While I quickly assessed the situation, the Flesh Dragon seemed to have nearly finished its recovery.

The boiling flesh had completely settled, and human voices were even rising from all over its body.

Now was the time to fight it using every means and method at my disposal.

’Asella is steadily supplying holy water too. We can win this.’

No matter how powerful its regeneration was, it would almost certainly kneel before holy water.

As long as we had time, we could keep receiving supplies, putting us at a massive advantage.

[Kuaaaaah!]

Every mouth embedded in its flesh shrieked simultaneously as it lunged at me.

At the same time, the mass of flesh squirmed, and grotesquely deformed hands burst forth, clawing toward me.

I had struck first with the holy water, and I was also the person with the most mana here.

It was much better for it to focus its attention on me like this.This story is hosted at novelping . com.

Whoosh!

The Flesh Dragon’s forepaw swept down over my head.

Even as it bore down on me, I saw it clearly with my own eyes.

Rrrrip—

A colossal human mouth gaping open on the dragon’s palm, and countless human arms reaching out from within.

It was a textbook display of pure grotesquerie, more than enough to make me grimace.

’Just how many people did it absorb?’

Thud!

Pushing the horror aside, I easily dodged the beast’s slamming forepaw.

Its objective combat strength was weaker than the Bone Dragon’s, and my own strength had grown since then.

Crucially, the most terrifying thing about the Flesh Dragon wasn’t its martial might.

Clank! Clank! Clank!

The instant I evaded, firearms and cannons protruded from all over its body, and then—

Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat! Kaboom!

It literally fired at random, laying relentless waste to its surroundings.

No matter how strong someone was, a stray arrow could always get them, and gunfire was far worse.

To make matters worse, cannons pulverized the surrounding terrain, producing massive shockwaves and debris.

’What the hell is packed inside that thing?’

The signs were there from the moment it unleashed that Photon Cannon on par with the Bone Dragon’s laser breath.

I could somehow manage to deflect it with my Body-Protecting Gangqi, but the others couldn’t.

"Aaaargh!"

"Female! You can’t block those weapons on reaction, so just deploy your shield the moment you see them!"

"B-But there are cannons that shatter the shield too?!"

"Then pump more internal energy into it! There’s no other way!"

Elia, relatively inexperienced in combat, floundered constantly, leaving Lackey with no choice but to cover for her.

Even if she had lived in the Forest of the Four Seasons for a long time, this was probably her first encounter with such a colossal monster.

Praying that they held their own, I kept watching persistently for an opening.

It was focused on me, sure, but the wild gunfire spraying in all directions was a massive pain in the ass.

’...Wait a second. Those are actual human hands firing them?’

Looking closely at where the various weapons jutted out, they weren’t just embedded in the flesh.

Humanoid shapes were wriggling out, crawling forth to pull the triggers.

You could basically call it an upgraded version of the Flesh Golem I’d encountered back then.

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: Grylls-nim! I made the holy water!]

As I kept dodging the Flesh Dragon’s relentless assault, Asella delivered the holy water.

Receiving the holy water, I bided my time and watched for an opening.

The Dragon Heart was bound to be hidden somewhere inside that massive lump of flesh, so that was what I had to destroy first.

’First, I need to know where it is.’

I stowed the holy water in my pouch so it wouldn’t spill, then drew an arrow.

Searching for the slightest gap, I immediately nocked the arrow to my bowstring.

Creak—

I pulled the bowstring, gathering and focusing my mana.

Twang!

I released it smoothly, firing straight toward the Flesh Dragon’s head.

Not a mere diversionary shot, but an arrow imbued with immense power drawn from pure focus.

Crash!

Before long, the arrow bored through the filthy fleshy head, gouging a massive tunnel in its wake.

The gaping passage that began at the head carved straight through the torso, piercing all the way through to the dragon’s rear.

An ordinary creature would have met instant death from a single shot like that, but this thing was Manatology.

You couldn’t say the damage was fatal from ’just’ this.

’Now.’

The crucial part was that a massive hole had opened on the inside, not merely the surface.

Before it could rush to regenerate, I hurled the holy water Asella had given me.

I had popped open the container beforehand just in case, so it sprayed wide as it splashed right into the wound.

Ssssss!

The moment the holy water made contact, it hissed violently, swelling outward like a massive tumor.

While the rest of the body mended quickly, the sections that touched the holy water struggled to heal.

[Aaaargh.]

[It hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts.]

[Get off get off get off get off.]

Plop— drip— splatter—

As if hit by white phosphorus, forcing it to carve away its own flesh.

The chunks of flesh drenched in holy water sloughed off in gooey clumps, splattering onto the pavement.

This wasn’t ordinary holy water—it was created directly by the Hero herself, so the amount of flesh melting away was immense.

"Ugh..."

The stench was vile.New chapters come out on novеlping.com first.

I could somehow stomach the smell of burning flesh, but this was on a whole other level.

The bigger problem, however, was that I still had no idea where the Dragon Heart was located.

I had blown a massive hole through its body and splashed holy water inside, yet there wasn’t a trace of it.

’It should usually be in the chest... but I can’t climb inside like I did with the Bone Dragon.’

With the Bone Dragon, I could crawl inside and check for myself.

Doing that with the Flesh Dragon, however, was asking for an unimaginable disaster.

The damn thing was already looking for any chance to get a taste of my flesh; crawling inside would be pure suicide.

Just as I realized this would turn into a grueling war of attrition...

[Ohh... Manatology...]

[Let us become one...]

A bizarre sound echoed nearby, making me turn my head.

Monsters were emerging from the fog one after another.

"Master! Monsters have appeared!"

"I see them! You have the holy water, right?!"

"I do!"

It wasn’t an entirely unexpected situation.

We were fighting in the fog, and with all this noise, every bit of aggro would naturally be drawn to us.

That was why I had distributed spare holy water to the two of them and prepared for the worst.

However.

[Become one... and...]

[Survive... together...]

As if paying no mind to Lackey and Elia, the monsters approached the Flesh Dragon, and then—

Whoosh!

Arms shot out from all over the Flesh Dragon’s body, snatching them up.

What would happen after being caught was plain as day.

[Praise the...]

[Become one...]

The Fog Monsters, the living nightmare of the residents.

Those very monsters were being absorbed into the Flesh Dragon.

For creatures whose desire to live burned so intensely, their actions were utterly incomprehensible.

Regardless of that, though.

[Kraaaah!]

The fact remained that the Flesh Dragon had grown stronger than before.

It extruded the massive Photon Cannon from its mouth, seemingly preparing to fire another laser.

And this time, it was aimed squarely at me, not the buildings.

Even if I blocked it with my own body, the sheer destructive force would devastate the surroundings.

’What do I do? Should I leap onto its head?’

As I wrestled with the thought, I could see the energy gathering.

Just as I resolved to forcibly wrench its head away, even if I had to use brute force...

Woof! Bark! Bark!

The barking of the dog I had heard before rang out, and at that very moment—

BANG!

A sharp, crisp gunshot resonated in my ears.

Thunk!

The moment the gunshot struck home, something went wrong with the cannon protruding from the Flesh Dragon’s mouth.

A sound of something embedding itself rang out, followed by a violent bzzzt!

Furthermore, the energy it had amassed gradually dwindled before dissipating completely.

Bzzzzzt! Bzzt!

Like an electronic device struck by an EMP, the Photon Cannon was rendered completely useless.

Visibly rattled, the Flesh Dragon struggled desperately to fire the cannon.

However, having drawn upon the Dragon Heart’s energy, its body was already boiling over.

I didn’t miss this window and charged straight for its head.

Slash!

With the Sword of the Heavenly Demon, I cleanly severed the Flesh Dragon’s neck.

As the massive head fell, the Flesh Dragon’s cross-section lay exposed.

Yet being an undead creature, decapitation alone wouldn’t end it.

"Daddy!!!"

Just after dodging the falling head of the Flesh Dragon...

Our cute and lovely Wonmo came scampering over.

"I brought a friend!"

"I followed my friend too!"

Accompanied by an adorable German Shepherd by his side.

’Our Wonmo made a wonderful friend!’

I couldn’t feel more reassured.