105. To the End of the Sky with You

The hunting battle in the desert was still raging. Relying on his rich experience and impressive agility, the Greatsword wielder locked the Devourer Dragon in a fierce struggle.

Muffled sounds of thrashing occasionally echoed from the dragon's belly; it seemed the Amalgam was not yet dead inside its stomach, but was continuing to wreak havoc.

Thanks to the Amalgam's internal disruption, the Devourer Dragon's movements had slowed down considerably, making it far easier to deal with than usual.

Yet, it was still a monster fledgling that had once nearly destroyed all of Night Pivot City. Even in its weakened state, it was not something a mere three-person squad could easily handle.

Its massive head was now scarred and battered from the Greatsword's heavy blows, leaving oily-green scales scattered all over the sand. However, despite sustaining such grievous wounds, the dragon only grew more ferocious as it roared, its attacks becoming significantly faster and more frequent than at the start.

"Hey, how exactly are we supposed to beat this thing?" White Fox asked, slicing off another section of her arm and tossing it. It detonated against the dragon's flank, blasting away three of its scales.

The trio had been locked in combat with the beast for over ten minutes, yet it showed few signs of weakening.

On the contrary, the Greatsword wielder's movements were growing sluggish, and he was nearly sent flying by a sudden sweep of the dragon's tail.

If this war of attrition continued, their stamina would give out first, leading to a total party wipe.

"Just wait a little longer!" Chen Shang said, keeping his voice as calm as possible while emptying another magazine with roughly fifty percent accuracy.

Suddenly, the Devourer Dragon froze, raising its head to let out a scream of pure agony.

Under the astonished gaze of the entire audience, a massive hole ruptured outward from the dragon's belly. Five or six bloody arms thrust out from the gaping, hemorrhaging wound—a grotesque, horrifying sight.

"Oh my god! What on earth is happening?" Flavie gasped, completely dumbfounded, his speech starting to slur in shock. "Could it be that the contestant from Team Amalgam is still alive?!"

Moments later, a smaller creature crawled out of the hole in the dragon's belly, collapsing weakly onto the sand.

The Amalgam had shrunk to a fraction of its original size, now barely the size of an adult human. Most of the animal limbs that once covered its body were gone, seemingly dissolved by the dragon's stomach acid.

Yet, this shrunken beast still bore three bloody heads, presenting a highly grotesque and disproportionate appearance.

"So hungry!" one head complained, opening its mouth.

"It ate so much of our flesh..." another head whimpered.

"We have to eat it back!" the third head snarled in resentment.

With that, the Amalgam struggled back to its feet, all three heads sinking their teeth into the flesh of the dragon's underbelly.

"Roar—!" The Devourer Dragon shrieked in pain, bucking violently to fling the Amalgam away.

Already severely weakened, the Amalgam tumbled across the sand and lay there helplessly, twitching like a dying insect.

Seizing the opportunity, Chen Shang dashed over to the Amalgam. He swung his rifle, using the buttstock to smash the three heads into a bloody pulp.

Once the Amalgam stopped twitching, Chen Shang pulled out a small incendiary grenade, tossed it onto the remains, and finally turned away with peace of mind.

If he remembered correctly, this kind of Amalgam was a rare creature found only in heavily irradiated zones. They possessed incredibly stubborn vitality and could digest almost any substance, including flesh and metal.

Even if its brains were crushed, it could still slowly regenerate. The only surefire way to kill it was to burn it alive when it was at its weakest.

In the original storyline, the Xu Corporation's team had done exactly this: they waited until the Amalgam was eaten to near-death by the Devourer Dragon, then finished it off with incendiaries.

With a gaping wound in its belly, the Devourer Dragon was instantly plunged into a weakened state. It wailed, attempting to flee.

The Greatsword wielder swung his weapon once more, slamming it into the dragon's head. The blow shattered a large patch of scales, exposing the raw, bloody flesh beneath.

Seeing this, Chen Shang quickly drew a dagger, rushed forward, and plunged the blade into the dragon's head, twisting it violently.

"Roar—!"

The Devourer Dragon roared in sheer agony. The concussive sound waves sent a sharp pain through Chen Shang's eardrums, leaving him deaf to everything but a deafening ringing.

Barely clinging to consciousness, Chen Shang used the dagger as leverage to fling himself into the dragon's open mouth. He screamed to White Fox, "White Fox, jump into its mouth with me!"

"Huh? Into its mouth?" White Fox asked, bewildered.

"Trust me!" Chen Shang grunted, desperately straining to prop open the dragon's closing jaws as he reached out a hand to her.

Before the massive jaws could snap shut, White Fox leaped forward, grabbed Chen Shang's hand, and tumbled with him into the dragon's mouth.

Perhaps traumatized by the Amalgam earlier, the dragon bared its teeth in distress, trying to spit out the two lumps of flesh in its mouth.

But the Greatsword wielder rushed up just in time, delivering a rising slash to the dragon's lower jaw that forced its mouth shut.

Seizing this chance, Chen Shang pulled White Fox along as they slipped down the dragon's esophagus.

"Oh my god! This is absolutely insane! The tactician of the Phantom Thieves and contestant White Fox have willingly jumped into the Devourer Dragon's mouth!" Flavie's voice cracked in sheer disbelief. "Oh! Wait! The Devourer Dragon is flapping its wings and taking off! It's actually trying to escape!!!"

***

The dragon's esophagus was incredibly spacious, seemingly designed to swallow massive quantities of food. For Chen Shang, it was like a small tunnel that only required him to bend his back to move forward.

As they made their way down the passage, they found a scene of total devastation. Everywhere they looked were signs of gnawing and tearing left by the Amalgam. Clearly, swallowing that beast was the worst decision the Devourer Dragon had ever made in its life.

And now, Chen Shang had brought a new heavy hitter into this already ravaged esophagus.

Under Chen Shang's instructions, White Fox stripped off her clothes. The human bomb continuously wreaked havoc on the dragon's esophagus, leaving a trail of shredded flesh and blood in her wake.

They could feel the dragon thrashing in desperation. Its throat convulsed violently, and foul-smelling stomach acid began to seep from the surrounding fleshy walls.

"Hey, did you really need to come in here with me?" White Fox asked. She casually tore off one of her arms and threw it at a rat-sized parasite, blowing it up along with a chunk of the esophageal wall.

She had probably figured out Chen Shang's plan to defeat the dragon by now, but she was still deeply puzzled.

This was something she could easily do alone. Why did a normal human like Chen Shang have to tag along?

To an ordinary human, the gastric juices of a giant monster like the Devourer Dragon were as lethal as concentrated acid.

Chen Shang was indeed in poor shape. His clothes were eaten away by the acid, and his skin was covered in extensive chemical burns. Furthermore, because of his proximity to White Fox, several spots on his body bore black scorch marks from her detonations.

In this state, even with the aid of stabilizing hormones, he was likely reaching his absolute limit.

Instead of answering, Chen Shang merely pointed a decaying hand toward a faint glimmer of light not far ahead.

White Fox followed his gaze and saw a hole violently torn through the flesh, leading directly to the outside of the dragon's body.

Without a doubt, this was the exit the Amalgam had carved when it escaped earlier.

Looking through the opening, the two could tell they were no longer on the sand, but suspended in the air at least twenty meters above the ground.

"Tsk, it's already airborne? No wonder I felt a jolt just now." White Fox scratched her head and looked at Chen Shang helplessly. "Falling from this height is going to hurt..."

"It's flying..." Chen Shang murmured, seemingly deaf to her words. He spoke as if to himself: "Go ahead and run wild inside its body... Let me watch it all from the best seat in the house."