Fantasy Galaxy: Why Are There Goblins and Orcs in Space?

Chapter 21 : Belgona the Tyrant Dragon

Up close, the Monoceros Saurus was massive. Roughly five meters long and two meters tall. That enormous body came charging straight at me.

In space combat, I'd always fought at considerable range, so fear had never been much of an issue. But with a monster closing to just a few meters, terror threatened to seize my limbs. I suppressed the fear and fired a Piercing Particle Bullet.

The shot veered slightly off course, doing nothing more than gouging a wound across the Monoceros Saurus's back before streaking away. Its horn struck my Particle Armor and launched me skyward. I flipped once in midair before slamming into the ground.

「Ghk-!」

The Particle Armor spared me any broken bones, it seemed, but the pain was brutal. I scrambled to my feet and locked eyes on the Monoceros Saurus. It had already wheeled around and was lining up for another charge.

This time I took careful aim at the Monoceros Saurus before firing my Piercing Particle Bullet. The shot struck its shoulder, tore through its body, and dealt a fatal wound.

The Monoceros Saurus buckled at the knees, collapsed onto its side, and went still. Relief washed over me as I approached and checked whether it was truly dead.

Once I confirmed the kill, I pried off its horn. The tool I used was the High-Speed Vibration Knife I'd purchased at a shop in the Elevator District. Monoceros Saurus meat tasted terrible too, so hauling the carcass back wasn't worth the effort.

The recovered horn was dead heavy in my hands.

「At this weight, carrying two horns back would be impossible.」

I decided to head home early. That was when a tremendous sound erupted from deep within the forest.

「What the-?」

I turned my gaze toward the forest's interior. Another sound reached me - like a massive tree being snapped in half.

「Is this…… bad?」

I considered running, but curiosity got the better of me. I wanted to know what was causing the commotion. Having confirmed my Particle Armor's solid defensive capability, I might have been feeling a bit overconfident.

I kept my Particle Armor active and advanced toward the source of the noise. Deeper into the forest, I sensed something fighting. Drawing closer, I found two enormous dragons locked in a standoff.

They were Tyrant Dragon Belgonas. Massive bipedal dinosaurs roughly fifteen meters long. Tyrant Dragon Belgonas were classified as dragons but not as true Dragons. The definition of a Dragon required breathing elemental breath attacks, and Tyrant Dragon Belgonas breathed none.

The slightly larger Belgona was circling the other with a gait that resembled skipping - or rather, what skipping would look like if you tried and failed miserably. As it circled, it bellowed as though pleading something. I'd seen behavior like this before.

「Ah - this looks like a bird's courtship display.」

At that moment, a colossal thud rang out. The Belgona I assumed was female had whipped her tail around and flattened her suitor in a single blow.

Then she stomped on his head. The downed Belgona let out a feeble cry. Hearing it, the female Belgona turned away with a dismissive pui[hmph] and lifted her foot.

The Belgona who'd found the male unworthy stalked off, leaving the rejected one struggling to rise. One look told me this was my chance. The male Belgona was in a daze. For just an instant, I wondered whether taking down a Belgona in this state was acceptable, man to man. But my opponent was a monster.

I decided to bet everything on a single Particle Strike: Circular Soaring Blade. My Power Conduit's Control Gate was set to Release Level T. I gathered every Bosoru particle and drop of Tenshiryoku available at that setting and launched the Particle Circular Soaring Blade.

The blade streaked at seven times the speed of sound, shearing through the atmosphere as it rocketed toward the Tyrant Dragon Belgona. The Belgona noticed it and swung a forelimb to swat the blade down. Because of that, the Particle Circular Soaring Blade - which should have taken its head clean off - only severed one forelimb before sailing past.

「Ah-!」

I knew immediately I'd failed and let out an involuntary gasp. The Belgona's face twisted; its eyes locked onto me, swimming with agony and fury. It charged, each thunderous footfall shaking the earth beneath me.

I steadied a heart that wanted to buckle with terror and launched another Particle Circular Soaring Blade. The attack carved through the Belgona's hip. But it wasn't a killing blow - the Belgona closed in and drove its foot into my stomach.

「Ghk……」

The Particle Armor absorbed most of the force, but the sliver of impact that bled through sent pain ripping through my body so intense I thought my organs had burst. I tumbled across the ground and forced myself up, driven by the sheer terror that I might die here.

The Tyrant Dragon Belgona was breathing hard, clearly suffering too. Blood gushed from its hip, soaking the earth beneath it. Still, it staggered toward me. If I didn't finish it with the next shot, I was dead. I lined up my aim with painstaking care, fired one last Particle Circular Soaring Blade, and it severed the Belgona's neck. The head sailed through the air and thudded against the ground, and the massive Tyrant Dragon Belgona toppled onto its side.

「I did it!」

Joy surged through me so fierce my whole body shook. Then, as if remembering it was overdue, agony slammed into me. I'd planned to train far more before attempting this - bringing down the Tyrant Dragon Belgona now was nothing but luck.

A little time passed and my head cleared, only for the realization that I'd nearly died to set me trembling. Fear welled up alongside a sense of fulfillment unlike anything I'd ever known.

「When I first learned to use the High-Dimensional Access Method Zorofiēnu gave me, I felt like I'd become someone special. I was wrong.」

I confronted the truth of my own ability - I couldn't even one-shot a wounded Tyrant Dragon Belgona. From that point on, I held myself to a far harsher standard.

I wanted to extract the Ryūju from the Belgona's chest, but my skills weren't up to the task. Left with no choice, I used the guild communication terminal to call a transport officer.

About thirty minutes later, a Hover Bike appeared overhead. Its rider maneuvered carefully to avoid snagging on branches and touched down. By then, my pain had subsided considerably.

「Are you from the guild's transport division?」

「That's right. The name's Jezero.」

Jezero was a Werecat. His race resembled cats given humanoid form, averaging around a hundred and fifty centimeters tall - a small-statured people.

「I need you to haul this thing.」

Jezero's eyes went wide when he saw the Tyrant Dragon Belgona's carcass.

「I heard Zen was only just nyow promoted to Rank F. Did you really take this down yourself?」

He seemed stunned that someone freshly promoted to Rank F had already felled a prize as big as a Tyrant Dragon Belgona.

「It took damage from some kind of…… dispute between Belgonas, but I'm the one who finished it off.」

「Nyaruhodo, so that's how it went.」

「How are you going to transport that Tyrant Dragon Belgona?」

Jezero showed me a bracelet-type device fitted to his wrist.

「This is an Isō Bracelet - a variant of the Isō Box. I'll use it to carry the Belgona.」

Jezero approached the Tyrant Dragon Belgona and extended the hand wearing the Isō Bracelet toward it. The carcass vanished. The severed head appeared to have been stored along with the body.

「That's incredible.」

「Since you took down a Tyrant Dragon Belgona, you can use its Ryūju to make an Isō Box of your own.」

Isō Boxes were apparently given different names depending on their form - 『Isō Bracelet』 or 『Isō Pendant,』 for example.

「You're fine with having the Belgona carcass butchered?」

「Yes, please go ahead.」

「Then I'll head back first.」

Jezero climbed onto his Hover Bike and flew off.

「I want a Hover Bike too.」

I murmured, watching him go. Then I headed for the Toryū Ryōhei Guild's Purchasing Department. By the time I arrived, the Tyrant Dragon Belgona's carcass had already been broken down, and Vezetta asked what I wanted done with it.

「I want the Ryūju made into an Isō Box. And I'd like part of the hide processed into armor.」

「Well thenya, shall I have the guild put in a request to a workshop?」

「Please do.」

I ordered the Isō Box made in pendant form and commissioned a set of protective gear called a Belgona Armor Set from the Belgona's hide. The set consisted of three pieces - an armor jacket, leather pants, and combat boots. I had the armor jacket dyed a dark wine color known as Bordeaux, and the leather pants and boots dyed black.

Including the Isō Box crafting fee, the total processing cost came to 5.5 million Credits. The remaining Belgona materials sold for roughly 6 million Credits, so I pocketed the difference - about 500,000 Credits.