Living life, who would have thought I’d be diving through a dragon’s snot?
I chuckled at this ridiculous situation as I navigated through the goo. If I could just sprint past the snot pool and hit the brain with my file bunker, taking down the dragon would finally be over.
It felt a bit empty, but considering the hardship I’d gone through since last winter just for this absurd battle, it seemed like it had to happen.
I modified the dragon slayer, took out all the demons to remove any distractions while hunting the dragon, and convinced the emperor to call in reinforcements and militia, even boosting our power to excessive levels, so I had prepared every possible means.
After all this prep, there was no way I’d struggle against a mere dragon.
And honestly, this situation wasn’t entirely unexpected.
When I get back, I’ll need to scrub myself clean.
I could feel my armor corroding slowly; it wasn’t just any snot, but dragon snot. It was disgusting enough to just touch, but it felt like it would harm my skin, so I’d need to douse myself in water as soon as I got out.
Plus, the beast seemed to be going wild, shaking me about like a crazy ride; I was pulled in and out of that sludge repeatedly. I trudged forward through that nauseatingly large slime.
I wondered how long I’d been pushing through this. I sensed I was nearing the transition from my nose to other organs. Probably around the bottom of the brain?
Given the dragon’s size, the width from its nostrils to the inside was nearly the size of a huge dungeon. Thankfully, inside was just a red mucous membrane, bones, and organs, so I took some comfort in the fact there wouldn’t be any interruptions.
I needed to get the dragon slayer jabbed into its brain as quickly as possible. Delaying would only increase the number of victims. But I was worried about the kids.
They must be freaking out, thinking I got eaten.
“Rue, if you spot anything suspicious, let me know immediately.”
[Got it!]
I explored the dragon’s brain, lighting the way with a fireball in my palm. With each step, I could feel the squishy insides and occasionally the roughness of a skull.
Using the skull’s shape to gauge my location, I started climbing upward bit by bit. After what felt like an eternity, I started to feel vibrations at my feet.
“…I think I’m in the right spot.”
The dragon’s brain. This was grotesque.
If a normal person saw the heavily folded brain, they’d probably freak out. But I wasn’t fazed at all. I’ve seen so many human brains on that deserted island. Smashing zombie heads tends to accumulate quite a bit of brain matter.
Rotten brains, relatively fresh brains, dried-up brains—having seen all sorts over the past decade, let me tell you, the dragon’s brain was…
…really fresh.
[Wow… so this is what a brain looks like?!]
“I better finish this quickly.”
With an outsider glaring at me, there was no way I could let myself be caught up by a dragon. I wasn’t sure if the outsider was stronger than the dragon, but at the very least, I had to eliminate this creature to focus on the outsiders.
I pressed the tightly stuffed file bunker against the brain. I could feel a tremendous tremor coming from it. The brain alone was the size of a decent building, so when I smashed it, brain juice was bound to spew everywhere.
Thinking that made me a bit annoyed.
So now, not only am I covered in snot, but also about to be covered in brain juice?
“Rue, hold tight. We might get swept away by the brain matter.”
[Okay!]
I slid the file bunker into the folds. The brain was massive, so the stake fit snugly. Now, just pressing the button would do it… right?
I imagined the beast must be freaking out, and I pressed the button while indulging in useless thoughts.
“Goodbye.”
As I pressed it, gray liquid washed over my body.
————————
“What the hell is going on?! Why is it suddenly going berserk?!”
Renny struggled to find her balance atop the thrashing dragon. As the phoenix crashed and Johann dove into the nostril, the dragon began demolishing the volcano wildly.
With the dragon’s thrashing, the erupting volcano shattered the ground beneath. In its final struggles, dozens of warriors lost their lives.
“Everyone retreat! Evacuate the injured and reorganize! Contact the magic unit to freeze its movements as much as possible!”
Sir Kalintz shouted hoarsely, gathering the aura that was leaking from his sword. He could see something was wrong given the dragon’s frantic behavior. Watching the array of spells landing on the dragon’s body, he checked his condition.
‘Almost out of aura.’
It was the result of burning through the aura trying to maim the creature’s foot. In the end, they had nearly severed one of its feet…
‘Seeing it flail like this means it’s probably preparing for its last desperate act.’
Approximately three hours into the fight. Considering how dangerous the dragon was, they were taking it down pretty quickly, but the damage was still growing.
Because facing a dragon was no different from dealing with a natural disaster.
‘But its eyes are getting cloudier; it can’t be long now.’
His gaze slowly moved up toward the head. Confusion built as he watched the dragon shake its head madly.
What on earth had happened for it to be shaking its head like that?
‘Dammit!’
The dragon exhaled rapidly, shaking its head. However, with Johann already deep inside, the dragon could only keep repeating its fruitless efforts.
‘That bastard went inside my nostril!’
He never expected such a thing to happen. Who would have thought someone would infiltrate through its nostril? No matter how powerful a dragon was, it couldn’t do anything about an intruder inside its body. Its eyes darted frantically, losing focus against the slowly approaching fear of death.
‘I can’t die like this!’
But what could the dragon do apart from thrashing its body around? For the first time, it prayed desperately to the gods that the human would drown in the snot or pass out by hitting its bones.
But the gods would never respond to one who despised them.
As it felt a mind-numbing pain within its head, the dragon sensed its end was near.
‘I can’t die like this, I can’t die like this…!’
That was its last thought.
—————–
[Contractor! Contractor!]
“I’m feeling dizzy…”
Is this what being swept away in a rapid feels like? I barely gathered my senses and got up. Fire lit up around me as I scanned my surroundings—still the insides of that beast, it seemed. I pondered how to get out of here.
Should I just blow up the file bunker one more time to get outside?
Ah, but first, am I even in one piece?
I quickly checked the condition of the file bunker attached to my arm.
“…I won’t be able to use it without repairs.”
I had designed it quite recklessly for that extreme shot, so it was broken. But hey, it did its job, so it didn’t matter much.
There’s no way I’d use something like this anywhere other than on this ridiculously large target.
So this was where the original story ended.
Or rather, the original version. I had no idea how much time was left for the true ending DLC.
I found it hard to decide whether to be happy about having witnessed the original ending with my own body. This creature was now just a mid-boss, and the real final boss would be the outsiders.
I had basically cut a year short, so it’d be nice if I had some leeway, but considering what happened with the World Tree, the erosion might have already started—it’s just that I hadn’t noticed it yet.
[Contractor! When do we get out? I want to get out!]
“Don’t whine. We’ll be out shortly.”
The recoil from the file bunker still lingered in my body, making every part ache. Without the Phoenix’s Blessing or the World Tree’s Blessing, it wouldn’t have just been aching.
I sprawled on a convenient spot, relishing in the comfort of a victor.
How long had I rested like that? A status window appeared before my eyes.
[Mission complete.]
-Reward: 10 Trait Points
Now I had over twenty points.
With this, getting an S rank seemed totally doable.
Without any hesitation, I dumped all my points into my crafting skill and got up.
“S rank, huh…”
I wonder how much better it’s become?
“I should get back.”
——————
“Johann!”
“Lady Karina. Please calm down for a moment!”
“Johann is inside!”
“That guy’s not the kind to die easily; he’ll be out soon!”
Karina, who had been frantically looking for me, halted her movements at Renny’s words. Like a broken doll, she turned her head towards Renny and asked.
“Is that so?”
“There’s no way he could die so easily.”
“There’s no way I’d leave Karina behind and die.”
I wasn’t dying without at least trying to escape.
“That’s right, if he left Lady Karina, there’s no way he’d die… huh?”
“It’s good to see you again.”
“Johann!”
Whew, I’m glad I ditched the armor.
I enjoyed the soft sensation of Karina nestled in my arms. Her fragrant scent relaxed me. Ah, I just wanted to bury my face in Karina’s hair and take a nap.
“Johann, I was worried about you.”
“Sorry to have worried you.”
“No… I’m just grateful you came back…”
I gently patted Karina’s back. My chest was quickly getting wet. Renny, watching us, smiled ruefully and said,
“Let’s report and head home quickly. I’m sore all over after pushing out so much aura. I need a few days to rest.”
“… Right. We’ll catch up on things after we get back.”
We headed toward the tent where the Second Prince was waiting.
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