I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 854

As everyone probably knows, when it comes to pure physical ability excluding mana, hardly anyone can match my strength.

If anyone could, it would be the gods, but even they didn’t possess physical stats on par with the Chief God.

Having seen a mountain get hurled with bare hands, I believed I could pull off something similar.

That was why I threw the floating islands tethered by iron chains right at the Theme Park.

The process, however, was harder than expected—starting with the machinery keeping the floating islands aloft.

I had to destroy the mechanisms to strip the island of its ability to float, which proved to be quite a pain.

The thought of what would happen if it plummeted the second I smashed the machines kept crossing my mind.

Fortunately, Aragon, who built the thing, wasn’t a total idiot and gave it a grace period.

So I smashed all the mechanisms and, during that grace window, slowly shifted the floating islands so I could hurl them all at once.

A floating island was beyond merely heavy; it was the sort of thing that made you wonder if a human being could even move it.

To be honest, it wasn’t unimaginably heavy.

’It was tethered to chains, and with Unity of Self and Object, I could offset it to a degree.’

Of course, the Fixed Nicks watching this with their own eyes all had pretty much the same reaction.

? Heavenly Demon) Sir. There is a distinct difference between what looks feasible and what is actually impossible.

? Sword Matstar) Pretty sure you couldn’t pull that off even on drugs?

? Don’t Abandon the Hero) Because he’s the Chief God!

Even the people who already knew me were reacting with "what the hell is he doing?"

At this point, explaining it felt pointless, so I just shrugged it off.

Either way, simply shifting the floating islands didn’t finish the job.

Clatter!

Gripping the chains, I commanded the entire floating island like my own limbs through Unity of Self and Object.

Then, right as the machinery’s effect faded almost completely, I whipped the chains downward as if throwing them.

The floating island, which should have dropped straight down, plummeted at an angle, its descent terrifyingly fast from the start.

The other floating islands followed suit, literally ripping through the dark storm clouds blanketing the sky below.

Craaackle!

The first floating island falling toward the ground didn’t make a clean landing.

Just as a colossal presence surged from the earth, a lightning bolt shot upward, threatening to tear the sky apart.

The scorching heat unique to fire combined with the pungent smell of ozone from lightning.

A lightning breath combining both elements.

Boom! Bang!

But even for a dragon, firing off lightning breath continuously was impossible.

Unless he could chain laser-like breaths together like the Bone Dragon did last time, Dolos simply couldn’t keep it up.

Thud! Crash!

Unable to withstand the cascade of falling islands, he took a direct hit.

Had his wings been intact, he might have taken flight, but I had already wrecked those beforehand.

Would a dragon’s body endure that kind of impact, or would it be crushed to death on the spot?

Either way, it didn’t matter to me.

Honestly speaking, luck had been on my side in this fight.

’Weird memories kept popping up, and I didn’t even have a weapon to dish out real firepower.’

If I’d at least had a bow, I wouldn’t have pulled a stunt like this.

It stung a little that the Theme Park was completely wrecked, but there was no helping it.

Bzzzzt—

"Ugh..."

Again. That sensation of static filling my head.

Whether the lightning had triggered it or it was the influence of the World Tree, I couldn’t tell.

What was certain, though, was that my trip to Daejeon had gotten me unlucky enough to get tangled up with Manatology.

And beyond that, the Prometheus Project was deeply tied to me.

’Prometheus... As far as I know, he’s the god who gave fire to humanity.’

He was also the god who first created mankind.

Considering that humans perfectly adapted to mana were essentially a new human species, it was a loaded name.

If I was an essential asset of that project, the chain of cause and effect roughly made sense.

’They said mana was a new energy that emerged when AI reached its peak. And I worked for the National Intelligence Service.’

The NIS—especially black ops agents—operated strictly in the shadows.

Working in the dark meant an "identity" was practically a luxury, making them vital assets from the state’s perspective.

Even with the risk of being thrown under the bus once useless, as a valuable human asset, behind-the-scenes dealings would have taken place.

’And then I was captured and subjected to human experimentation.’

In the United States, no less—the country that allegedly invented mana in the first place.

The figures in my memories spoke fluent English, so that aligned reasonably well.

I just had no idea how I escaped or how mana managed to leak into the outside world.

Rumbleee—

While I was lost in thought, the dust plume billowing from the ground gradually began to clear.

Hurl multiple floating islands in succession, and the resulting dust was no joke.

On top of that, shockwaves powerful enough to level the surrounding terrain had swept outward.

It only seemed mild because I was standing on one of the surviving floating islands; on the ground, it was practically equivalent to a meteor strike.

? Allfather) Kadir has bludgeoned a dragon with the physical force of a meteor before, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen someone physically drop an actual meteor.

? Passing Dwarf) First time seeing it too ;; For a second, I thought I hadn’t drank enough.This story is hosted at NovelPing.

? Smart Demon) What do you mean you "hadn’t drank enough" instead of drinking too much ;

? Passing Dwarf) You gotta drink to sober up, obviously. Yeah.

Seeing the aftermath, the Fixed Nicks each chimed in with their thoughts.

More importantly, I needed to know if Dolos was still in one piece, so I narrowed my eyes and peered down.

Judging by that lightning breath, he definitely transformed, but beyond that, I couldn’t tell.

If he passed out while transformed, his enormous dragon bulk should have caught my eye.

’Can’t see him. Guess I have to head down?’

With nothing in sight, I took a step off the floating island and dropped below.

Falling unassisted carried plenty of risk, but this was my best option.

Riding the island’s transit device back wasn’t an option anyway, given that the Theme Park was completely gone.

Crash!

As I made a landing closer to a crash, debris sprayed in all directions.

Rubbing my slightly stinging knees, I looked around.

Due to not just one, but a succession of crashing floating islands, the Theme Park had vanished without a trace.

In its place, only a massive crater remained to hint at the sheer devastation.

"..."

And right in the center of that crater lay someone, dead still.

Dolos, bleeding from all over his body, with the thick webbing of his wings shredded in places.

Beyond just torn wing membranes, his wing bones looked broken, bent at grotesque angles.

Crack! Crunch!

What was even more startling was his rate of recovery.

As everyone knew, a Dragon Heart possessed the absurd ability to resurrect even a dead dragon given enough time.

Therefore, if given a grace period, even those critical injuries of Dolos would completely mend.

Before that happened, I had to make a choice: find a way to subdue him, or kill him first.

’Still... his recovery is slower than expected.’

The Bone Dragon I encountered before regained its intellect in no time at all.

Had it had more time, it would have fully restored its flesh as well.

Meaning Dolos’s Dragon Heart wasn’t operating at full capacity.

’Whether it’s because of that restraint collar or not... it works out for me.’

Crack!

Using cold energy, I froze everything on Dolos except for his head.

But even this didn’t feel foolproof, so I needed a more definitive measure.

[Wild Grylls: Bbareumbo. You watching the stream?]

[Wild Bbareumbo: Watching. As expected of my tree.]

[Wild Grylls: I’ve got a moment now. Can you pass me the Wedge? Or at least the arrow.]

[Wild Bbareumbo: Giving.]

One such method was the Arrow of the Lord God or the Wedge.

I looked back and forth between the Arrow of the Lord God and the Wedge that Bbareumbo handed over.

Both were objects characterized by voraciously devouring mana.

Of the two, the Arrow of the Lord God was closer to pure offense, while the Wedge was closer to sealing.

Thunk!

With that, I drove the Wedge into Dolos’s body like a syringe.

Dragon scales might be tough, but they weren’t impenetrable to this.

Crack...

Was it because of the combined effect of the frost and the Wedge?

His recovery speed noticeably slowed.

To the point where you’d wonder if he might actually bleed out if left alone.

Of course, since I had covered the wounds in frost to staunch the bleeding, that wouldn’t be an issue.

Time to wake him up, then.

Smack! Smack!

"Hey. Wake up already. I’m a busy man."

? Passing Dwarf) Look at that thug nature, never changes haha

I slapped Dolos across the cheek, trying to force him awake.

I saw the dwarf running his mouth, but I brushed it off effortlessly.

’He’s not waking up.’

Perhaps having taken too many Meteors (Physical), he showed no sign of coming to.

In fact, the mere fact that his body remained in one piece gave a good sense of his durability.

In the end, there was nothing to do but wait.

"Lackey. If you’re watching this, get over here."

So I summoned Lackey, who was likely watching this.

Unless he was slacking off at home, he’d be here in five minutes.

Besides, the crash of the floating islands was on par with a meteor impact, so the shockwaves had likely reached our house.

’Anyway...’

While waiting for Lackey, I thoroughly inspected Dolos.

His near-human appearance aside, the restraint collar around his neck bothered me the most.

Right before he ambushed me, a voice had echoed from that collar, and Dolos had obeyed it.This chapter was copied from novelping . com without permission.

From the way Dolos shouted back then, it was definitely no ordinary employer-employee relationship.

’Can I not break this?’

I had no idea what material it was made of, but it was an incredibly tough collar.

It had deflected even the Sword of the Heavenly Demon backed by Unity of Self and Object with ease, which said it all.

I gripped the restraint collar slowly to see if I could break it myself.

Whoooosh—

"?!"

And the moment I grabbed the collar, I flinched and jerked my hand away.

That sensation of a staggering amount of mana being siphoned away in an instant.

A sensation both alien and strangely familiar traveled up through my hand.

’Could this be...’

Made of the same material as the Arrow of the Lord God or the Wedge?

If so, that meant Dolos hadn’t been fighting at one hundred percent of his strength.

After all, the Wedge alone had reduced the World Tree to a sickly state.

’Makes sense. A dragon from the Mythological Era would have easily broken out of any ordinary collar.’

Something hadn’t quite added up, and this was it.

Still, it was ironic that this was the very reason I’d managed to take Dolos down.

At any rate, taking the collar off was better left for later.

There was nothing to gain from removing it right now, and I had a mountain of questions for him.

"Snore..."

"..."

"Ghh... khhh..."

And yet this lizard bastard was peacefully snoozing away.

Speechless, I kept slapping his cheeks, but he just went on sleeping like a log.

"Aaargh!"

Or not.

I jumped in surprise as Dolos suddenly let out a shriek.

Was it a seizure-like scream, or had something actually happened?

Even with the Wedge driven into him and being frozen solid, a dragon’s regenerative capacity shouldn’t be failing. It was strange.

"Air raid alert! Air raid alert!"

"..."

"Mobilize all emergency forces!"

Does this bastard browse the Gallery too?

Though the word at the end wasn’t "police force," it was close enough.

’No. That didn’t come from his mouth. This is...’

It came from the restraint collar.

It felt as though it was hailing something.

"What the..."

Flash!

...hell is going on, I was about to say.

A brilliant blue light beamed down from the sky, now completely cleared of storm clouds.

And that blue light shone down squarely on Dolos.

I’d seen something like this once before.

Drifting upward—

True to my guess, he began to float high into the air.

The moment I saw it, I reached out to tear him away by force, but—

Bzzzt!

The moment I touched the blue light, it repelled me violently.

A silent warning not to come any closer.

But I still needed to retrieve at least the Wedge I’d plunged into Dolos.

Bzzzzzt! Crackle!

Forcing my way through, I pulled out the Wedge lodged in Dolos’s body.

Part of me wanted to drag Dolos out as well, but that was out of the question.

Sizzleee!

"Gaaah...!"

Perhaps because I had forced my way through that blue light,

my arm was worse than just scorched black; it was severely scalded with raw red burns.

In the end,

Flash!

I could only watch as the unconscious Dolos vanished.

And then,

[Until next time.]

a woman’s voice pierced my ears.