Mystery Detective of the Steam World

Chapter 363 Slaying the Dragon
"Roar roar roar—!"

The dragon let out a painful scream, desperately rolling its body and struggling. But it was all in vain, for at that moment, the Death Puppet, controlled by Levi, was rampaging inside the dragon's belly—Levi, of course, didn't understand the dragon's internal organs, but that didn't matter; he just needed to swing his scythe and cut everything in sight!
This must have been incredibly painful for a dragon. Levi had seen scenes in movies where beetles burrowed into a human's body, ate his internal organs, and then emerged from under his skin—the dragons of today probably experience the same kind of pain.

The dragon opened its mouth and roared angrily, then spewed out another torrent of flames. However, it was clear that this fire did not harm the Death Puppet inside the dragon's body, and Levi manipulated it to swing its scythe again, severing another tube—whether it was a blood vessel or something else—that he couldn't tell.

"Awooo—!"

At that very moment, the dragon's legs gave way and it collapsed to the ground.

"Whoa, what's going on, Mr. Levi?"

Seeing the dragon's appearance, Katie was startled and quickly stepped back, looking at Levi and asking a question.

"They probably ate something that upset their stomach."

Li Wei stared at the dragon. Although he appeared to be doing nothing, he was actually subtly moving his fingers, controlling a death puppet to wreak havoc inside the dragon's belly, much like creating a doll. Of course, it would be much easier if Li Wei could find something resembling a heart, but for now, he seemed to have no other choice but to hack and slash aimlessly, trying to inflict as much damage as possible on the dragon.

From the Death Doll's perspective, the dragon's body was now filled with blood. Thick blood gushed out from all directions like a stream, soaking even the Death Doll. From the outside, it was clear that the dragon's abdomen had swollen, filled with the gushing blood.

Perhaps due to the excruciating pain, or perhaps because it wanted to vomit the Death Doll from its stomach, the dragon repeatedly and erratically spewed flames in all directions. Levi and Katie had to step back to avoid being hit by the dragon's fire. Fortunately, the dragon was so consumed by pain that it had completely lost its reason, allowing the two to escape unscathed.

But can this really kill it?
Li Wei continued to manipulate the Death Puppet to wreak havoc inside the dragon's belly, but he still harbored some unease about whether this would truly be enough to defeat the dragon.

Is this thing really that easy to kill?
This is a dragon, after all! And Li Wei still remembers how it manipulated the vines in the forest, causing trouble for them and turning people into monsters. Although the specifics are unclear, it's certain that this creature possesses some magical abilities.

The reason they didn't use it before was probably because the other party felt that there was no need for two humans like Katie to do those weird things, but now it's hard to say... Levi has had enough of this kind of thing in the game, where he works hard to get to the second stage.

Unfortunately, these kinds of things always seem to work out badly but not good.

Just then, the dragon suddenly took a deep breath and opened its mouth—but this time, what came out of the dragon's mouth was not flames, but blood!

"Pfft—!"

Blood gushed from the dragon's mouth like a jet of water, catching Levi and Katie off guard and spraying them with blood. But that didn't matter. What mattered was that Levi suddenly realized that after the dragon spat out blood, the muscles inside its body suddenly tightened, firmly binding his Death Puppet!
Is that even possible?!

This sudden turn of events also took Li Wei by surprise. He did not expect that this giant dragon had such abilities, that it could actually manipulate the muscles and internal organs in its body.

This is trouble!
But this wasn't the time for sentimentality, because Li Wei noticed the dragon turning and desperately running towards the cave entrance. Clearly, it planned to deal with its internal problems once it returned to its lair.

But for Li Wei, if this giant dragon just ran away like that, wouldn't his trip have been for nothing?
"Stop it!"

At that moment, Li Wei also acted hastily. He raised the Persuader and pulled the trigger. Then, Li Wei's figure vanished in mid-air and reappeared in front of the dragon. Before Li Wei could even regain his footing, he raised both guns again and fired simultaneously to the left and right. Then, Li Wei's figure vanished once more, exchanging positions with the deflected bullets.

The dragon had already closed its eyes and charged straight forward. It was clearly not stupid and would not give Li Wei the chance to blind its other eye.

However, Li Wei no longer needed to do that, because there was already a sufficient opening in front of him!

Before he could aim, the dragon had been shot in the left eye. Li Wei quickly reloaded his gun and then raised both pistols.

At the same time, the flow of time began to slow down again.

At that moment, the two pistols in Li Wei's hands emitted a black and white glow.

Then, Li Wei pulled the trigger forcefully.

"Bang bang bang bang bang bang...!"

Li Wei fired all the bullets in the magazine in one go, but he did not close the Eye of Death. Instead, he continued to reload bullets and fire again in the slow-flowing torrent of time, repeating this process over and over again.

Only after the last bullet was fired did the slowly passing time return to normal.

What followed was a storm of attacks.

Affected by [Multi-Shot], the barrage of bullets, twice as many as usual, ruthlessly surged into the dragon's hollow eye sockets like an army of steel. Each bullet could be seen flying into the sockets, exploding, and bursting forth with bursts of white phosphorus flames, resembling fireworks in full bloom.

"Ooh ooh ooh—!"

This was Li Wei's final strike, a strike infused with all his might. Under the relentless barrage of bullets, the dragon let out a shrill scream. Its head was thrown high into the air, and its body, which had been crawling towards the cave entrance, came to a halt.

Just then, a sword light sliced ​​through the dark night sky and descended from above!

"Heave-ho—!" Katie, gripping her greatsword, roared and leaped down, slashing at the dragon. In the darkness of the night, only a chilling glint of light could be seen as it cleaved straight down, and the dragon's tail snapped off in the next instant, sending it soaring high into the air!
“Ooooooooooooooooooooooo!!”

Compared to Li Wei's attack, having its tail severed seemed to have completely drained the dragon's strength. The muscles that had been tightly restraining the Death Doll within its body also loosened, and at that moment, Li Wei discovered the enormous thing hidden deep within its internal organs, which was throbbing incessantly!
That must be the heart!
Seeing the enormous heart gleaming with crimson light and pounding incessantly before him, Li Wei was startled. He forced himself to remain calm, manipulating the Death Puppet to rush forward, gripping the scythe tightly, and charging toward the gleaming orb suspended high in the abdomen.

Then, he slashed down with a single blow!

"Pfft—!"

The gleaming heart, like a water-filled balloon, burst open under the Death Doll's attack, gushing blood that completely engulfed the doll. But at this moment, Li Wei no longer cared about such trivial matters.

With the system notification sound, the dragon's head, which was raised high, paused in the air for a moment before crashing heavily to the ground.

This time, it did not rise again.

"…………"

Lieutenant Horn opened his eyes and realized he was lying on the cold deck. He tried to get up, but for some reason, he felt weak all over. Even so, Horn gritted his teeth and used the willpower he had honed on the battlefield to control his trembling body, and then slowly got up from the floor.

What happened in the end?

Lieutenant Horn shook his head. He only remembered that he was commanding the battle a moment ago. However, an unimaginable sense of fear suddenly erupted from Lieutenant Horn's heart. Before he could react, he was swallowed up by fear and lost consciousness instantly.

"Waaaaah..."

A sobbing sound came from behind. Lieutenant Horn turned his head and looked in the direction of the sound. He saw Marianna curled up next to the communications station, trembling and shrinking into a ball, like a helpless and pitiful little girl, sobbing incessantly.

"Lieutenant Guedes, Lieutenant Guedes!"

Lieutenant Horn walked over and pulled Marianna to her feet. She was in tears, her eyes vacant, and she was trembling uncontrollably. Previously, she had given the impression of being very intelligent and capable, but now she looked like an ordinary, helpless girl.

Lieutenant Horn raised his hand and slapped Mariana's face several times. The next moment, Mariana screamed, and then, as if she had just come back to her senses from the nightmare, she stared blankly at Lieutenant Horn.

"Huh? Lieutenant Horn? What happened...?"

"I don't know! But wake the others up! We're still fighting!"

"Yes!"

Upon hearing Lieutenant Horn's order, Ensign Marianne hurriedly wiped away her tears and, together with Lieutenant Horn, roused the others who were unconscious on the bridge. Most of them were also bewildered, unaware of what had happened. But being professional soldiers, they quickly returned to their posts at Lieutenant Horn's roar.

"Lieutenant Mariana, contact the captain immediately and inquire about the situation!"

"roar-----!"

However, before Lieutenant Horn could finish speaking, a series of eerie roars suddenly echoed from outside. Just hearing these roars was enough to make everyone tremble, turn pale, and feel terrified. It wasn't that they had seen anything; it was a purely instinctive reaction.

The atmosphere on the bridge instantly became heavy again.

Just then, Li Wei's voice rang out, breaking the deathly silence on the bridge.

"Calling the Eye of the Sky, please respond!"

"This is the Eye of the Sky!"

Lieutenant Horn also answered hastily.

"Are you alright, sir?"

"Well, Katie and I are both fine... but there's something I need your help with."

"Please give the order, sir."

"Contact MI7 immediately and have them come here... to dispose of this dragon's carcass."

"…………………Why?"

(End of this chapter)