Chapter 140
“Huh?”
In that instant, I doubted my own eyes.
With the sound of gunfire, one of the Gallery Doctors collapsed to the ground.
Naturally, I had thought guns were the exclusive domain of sapient beings, so I never imagined one would be fired at us.
“It's behind us!”
True to their elite status, the Gallery Doctors immediately assessed the situation.
Hearing the gunshot and seeing the direction their comrade had fallen, they instantly turned around and pulled their triggers.
-Bang!
“Kieeeek!”
But the thing hit by the gun was an ordinary pig fiend.
There was no way that fiend could have used a gun.
“It was definitely about twice as big as that one, and it looked a little filthier, too.”
I remembered the established user's final moments.
A hulking brute that practically screamed, “I'm a variant.”
And without needing to wonder where that fiend was, there it stood, boldly.
With countless pig fiends—meat shields—packed tightly in front of it.
It was holding a shotgun.
- Is that thing holding a shotgun right now?
- No, how the hell does it know how to use it?
- Huh?
- Seeing that in the enemy's hands is fucking terrifying, goddammit.
“So I was wondering why I hadn't seen many fiends. They were all lying in ambush.”
All the fiends that had been out of sight gathered together.
And that teeming horde soon began rushing over at the variant fiend's voice, one and all.
“Kieeeek!”
“Kueek!”
-Bang, bang!
Of course, every time they pulled the trigger, the fiends were torn apart like sheets of paper.
And amid the countless obstacles, that variant fiend couldn't use the shotgun either.
“There are only two shells left, so...”
The problem was the fallen Gallery Doctor.
The fiends tried to push the Gallery Doctors back, using their own bodies as shields.
They were buying time so the variant fiend could reach the dead Gallery Doctor.
“To get a new shotgun?”
Had there ever been a fiend this intelligent?
“What do we do?”
“Unload all the grenades first!”
Excellentdoc, the de facto leader among the Gallery Doctors, was dead.
The Gallery Doctors immediately pulled the pins from every grenade at their waists and scattered them into the air.
-Boom!!!
Soon, red fireworks erupted across the ground with a roar that shook heaven and earth.
The forest was engulfed in flames, and the fiends vanished until their forms were unrecognizable.
But new fiends came running over them and swarmed the area.
A single pig fiend was unimpressive, but they had intended to overwhelm us with sheer numbers from the start.
“It's getting difficult to hold our position!”
“...Let's fall back for now.”
Shotguns were powerful at close range.
But if the enemy completely closed the distance, they ultimately reached the limits of firearms.
There was no time to retreat while carrying Excellentdoc.
Every kind of fiend in the area had gathered and charged them.
As the Gallery Doctors retreated before the wave of numbers pouring down like a tide, the variant pig fiend laughed, spraying spit.
- Wait, aren't we really screwed if they capture that?
- And that thing has plenty of ammunition too.
- Head Mod gave them a shitload of support in the first place, so they've got plenty besides the grand magic of firearms;
For now, the odds were fifty-fifty, but the moment they recovered the weapons from the corpses, it was over.
If that happened...
“No.”
At that moment, Vampire Till I Die cut down the fiends on their own and flew toward the variant fiend.
“Kueek?”
-Bang!
Seeing this, the variant fiend pulled the trigger.
But Vampire Till I Die twisted their body and changed direction at a speed that was momentarily difficult for the eye to follow.
“Oh?”
It looked as though they had dodged it all, but with a shotgun, speed was meaningless.
They took a few pellets, but none of the wounds were remotely fatal.
“No, don't.”
But it would be better not to.
I hurriedly sent Vampire Till I Die a chat message.
Head Mod*: No no no no, don't do it.
Head Mod*: Just fall back.
A shotgun wasn't magic.
If you took a direct hit from that thing, even a dragon would die.
I sent Vampire Till I Die another urgent chat message, but—
-Bang!
“Oh.”
It was too late then.
At the moment they closed in at the nearest point and raised their scythe.
“Huh?”
Vampire Till I Die took the shotgun blast head-on and was struck so violently that their form became difficult to make out.
*
[Title: Is This For Real?]
(What had been Vampire Till I Die)
(Excellentdoc, collapsed and completely motionless)
They were two people who seemed absolutely impossible to defeat in the gallery, yet they just died.
Is this really the start of a Great War?
[Upvotes 4921] [Downvotes 1210]
- Wow, those two died, fuck;
- It couldn't be helped since it was Head Mod's grand magic.
- Ha, what the hell do we do now?
- This suddenly?
- ㄴ Remember how things blew up out of nowhere like this before? The possibility was always there.
- Can't we use that thing like last time?
- ㄴ That, you know... the meteor that split the sky...
- ㄴ The one that destroyed a dungeon in one shot?
- ㄴ Yeah.
- ㄴ ㄴ Yeah, they'll use it. Then all the villagers and Gallery Doctors still alive will die too.
The gallery was quickly swept up in anxiety.
It was only natural, since those two were people who never seemed like they could die, no matter what happened.
They had already lived through a Great War once and each carried their own unease.
In this atmosphere, the gallery users wanted the gallery—and Head Mod—to remain steadfast.
“Kuehehehek.”
At that moment, the pig variant fiend, reveling in its victory, approached Excellentdoc.
It intended to take the modern weapon I had given them as spoils.
- So why is Head Mod just watching right now?
- ㄴ What, did you leave something with him? lol
- ㄴ But honestly, I'm kind of worried.
- ㄴ What if Head Mod suddenly disappears somewhere too? Why is he quiet at a time like this?
And amid that atmosphere, the gallery naturally began searching for me.
But I took no action.
“Hmm.”
I merely gazed through the screen.
- Head Mod, are you really going to let that thing get away with it?
- Fuck, don't do this. At least say something.
- It may be a piece of junk, but it killed a dragon. Are you really going to let it just get away?
Since I gave them no answer, the gallery comments began filling with more and more huge walls of text.
The proportion of long posts filled with worry increased as people abandoned their usual personas and speech patterns.
“Why should I?”
But why should I?
It was only grenades and guns, after all.
In truth, even by modern standards, the Gallery Doctors weren't armed with state-of-the-art equipment.
Especially when the market even sold nukes, what did they expect to accomplish with a single grenade?
And more than anything, there was a reason I kept merely watching.
“Kuehehek.”
At that moment, the variant fiend grabbed the shotgun in Excellentdoc's hand.
- Ah, fuck, no.
- Ah, this is so fucking frustrating.
- (Screaming elf emote)
And it was just as they pulled on the gun to take the spoils.
-Clack
“Kueek?”
The shotgun wouldn't come free from their hand.
The variant fiend tilted its head.
Excellentdoc had definitely been shot with the shotgun and died afterward.
No, because it certainly looked that way.
“Did you think I hadn't given them body armor for no reason?”
I had equipped the Gallery Doctors as an elite force, like modern soldiers.
But I hadn't given them body armor or protective helmets in particular.
“Don't get cocky. Steel armor is god, and Gallery Doctors are invincible.”
They were already wearing steel armor several centimeters thick—not millimeters.
They were living masses of steel plates.
-Clatter
“Kueek?”
At that moment, Excellentdoc, whom everyone had thought dead, stood up as if nothing had happened.
- Wasn't he dead, you fucking bastard?
- No, how the fuck is he alive, you son of a bitch?
“Isn't that obvious?”
But I was more bewildered than anyone.
The fiend had used a shotgun, but it hadn't been at point-blank range, nor had it aimed properly.
Besides, the Gallery Doctor had been wearing a three-centimeter-thick steel plate, so why had I thought they'd die?
“Do I look like modern steel plates are your friends?”
There was a saying in the gallery:
Market goods can only be blocked by market goods.
Excellentdoc smoothly pressed the muzzle against the variant fiend's soft belly.
Not merely close-range, but point-blank.
The Gallery Doctor faced the trembling variant fiend and spoke just before pulling the trigger.
“Do you like impact?”
-Baaang!
It didn't even have a chance to scream.
The variant pig fiend split in half right where it stood.
*
The variant fiend died without putting up even a hint of resistance.
It all happened in a matter of seconds.
“Kueeek!”
“Kueek!”
The pig fiends nearby realized what had happened too late and pounced on Excellentdoc.
Countless blades battered them as they grabbed for the gun, trying to wrest it away.
-Bang!
But all they got in return was a spray of lead pellets.
The fiends' blades couldn't even scratch modern steel plates in the first place.
And to wrest the gun away by force, the Gallery Doctor was a superhuman who ran around with several centimeters of steel wrapped around their body.
“Kueheek... Kueeeek...”
“Wait, it's still alive?”
And astonishingly, the variant fiend was still alive.
Its body was half torn away and hanging in tatters, though it was already in a state where it would die even if left alone.
It would have been a waste of bullets to shoot it.
But a gigantic pool of blood approached over the pig fiend and engulfed it whole.
There was a sound of something cracking apart and melting, and soon it vanished, leaving only bones behind.
“You startled me.”
Of course, that was Vampire Till I Die's doing.
I hadn't thought it would die in the first place.
No matter how absolute the magical protection surrounding them was, it couldn't stop modern weapons.
But Vampire Till I Die doesn't defend themselves in the first place.
Since they were practically a cheat character with infinite lives, they recovered quickly even after being hit by a shotgun.
[Title: Fuck]
(A comment GIF making a huge fuss, begging them not to die)
(A selfie GIF of someone crying with their face covered in tears and snot)
Fuck, was I the only one who took it seriously again?
I really thought it was dangerous, fuck.
I cried my eyes out thinking the Gallery Doctor who saved me last time was going to die, so what the hell was that?
[Upvotes 4324] [Downvotes 523]
- You piece of shit, why did you post your selfie?
- Ah, fuck, my comment is in there too.
- This is so fucking embarrassing, fuck. I really wrote a will and everything...
- Head Mod*) Lmaoooo
- ㄴ Fuck.
- ㄴ You kept quiet on purpose just to watch our reactions, didn't you? lol
- ㄴ Agh, seriously, Head Mod, is it you again????
- ㄴ You fucking bastard!!!!!
- ㄴ Oh.
“But this variant fiend did use its head a little, didn't it?”
I didn't expect it to pick up and use a gun.
And unlike the variants that always charged in at the front, it had hidden its position the entire time.
Of course, it just happened to pick the wrong opponents, so all it did was give me information.
Excellentdoc: Arrived at the giant asshole
Excellentdoc: (GIF of the rift that swallowed half the village)
Head Mod*: Okay, okay. Good work.
Excellentdoc: What do I do now?
“Hmm.”
It was larger and more ominous than any rift.
Just imagining a wave pouring out in numbers matching its size was disgusting enough already.
“There's no guarantee some won't break away like this variant did.”
If even a few of them hid in this land, searching for them would become a headache.
I needed to catch them all at once as soon as they emerged, if possible...
“If only I could, I'd earn gyeongdan and level up quickly.”
Wasn't there some way to level up easily and kill the mobs without much trouble?
“Ah.”
At that moment, a certain video flashed through my mind.
- SansTV) This is a tutorial on building a national-power-level mob tower lol. Please subscribe, like, and turn on notifications!!
It was a guide to building a mob tower, a subject on which elementary school kids had given brilliant lectures centered on a suspiciously square game.
“This is it.”
It was time to build a real-life experience farm: a mob tower.
I immediately started digging through the shop categories.