I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 112

If asked who was the hardest opponent I’ve fought in a bloody battle so far, I would single out the Saber-toothed Tiger without hesitation.

The ferocity unique to tigers. The terrifying weight class. The ridiculous regenerative power.

If not for Speed Sloth’s timely assistance back then, I would have died several times over.

That hardship led to tremendous growth. Without the Saber-toothed Tiger, I wouldn’t even have defeated the Guardian.

Since then, I’ve encountered all sorts of bizarre creatures, but I never suffered a defeat.

Even if a beast appeared that looked impossible to beat, I quickly ran away instead of fighting.

Hwareureuk!

The Sword of the Heavenly Demon, its Aura surging like flame.

I stared blankly at the Leader Gorilla, who was holding that sword with just his fingers.

Even though I slashed with all my strength, the Leader Gorilla casually caught it.

If he had caught it with his full hand, I might have understood. But it was his fingers.

My baseline physical strength enhanced by eating eels, plus the strength gained from circulating Internal Energy.

Even combining all of that, I was stopped by a mere three fingers.

"Euguguk...!"

It wouldn’t even budge out of his grasp. No matter how much force I summoned, it didn’t move an inch.

While I strained with everything I had, the Leader Gorilla maintained a serene expression.

A silent pressure communicating just how vast the gap was between you and me.

There was a reason he had confidently declared he would take one of my arms.

Tuk!

"Uak!"

As I was desperately pulling on the sword, the Leader Gorilla released his grip.

The recoil from pulling against that force almost caused me to fall embarrassingly to the ground.

Managing to barely regain my lost balance, I faced the Leader Gorilla.

He was even crossing his massive, burly arms.

"Bu-kkeo-u."

In this situation, there was no time to log onto the Gallery.

Still, one thing was certain: he was looking down on me.

With that thought in mind, I resolved to attack more carefully.

"Kkyuu! Kkyu!"

Just then, Wonmo, who had stayed still until now, suddenly intruded.

It seemed he had identified the Leader Gorilla as an enemy.

Just as I was about to tell Wonmo to get back, someone else stepped in first.

Tuk—

"Kkyuu?"

"...."

It was Speed Sloth, who had climbed down from my back at some point.

Bbareumbo blocked Wonmo’s path and gestured for him to move back.

Wonmo looked bewildered at first, but soon turned his head to me.

"Wonmo-ya. Listen to Bbareumbo."

"Kkyuu...."

Only then did Wonmo step back. Bbareumbo even pushed him all the way back into the cave.

Afterwards, Speed Sloth didn’t climb back onto my back, but instead stood at a distance to watch.

Standing off to watch like that would make it easier to intervene than staying on my back.

’He seems to have grasped the situation roughly.’

Right now, the Leader Gorilla’s elite guard was also standing quietly, watching.

Meaning this was a duel between me and the Leader Gorilla. Bbareumbo seemed to understand that meaning too.

Or, as always, he might just be preparing to step in if I landed in mortal danger.

I could trust him a bit. Grasping my sword and shield, I glared at the Leader Gorilla.

He was still standing still with his arms crossed. For a guy without even a bridge on his nose, he sure looked arrogant.

"Hmeum!"

In that case, I’d make him pay for his carelessness. I kicked off the ground and unleashed a thrust.

An attack executed in a split second. Furthermore, it wasn’t a slash, but a thrust.

An attack exploiting the extreme sharpness unique to the Sword of the Heavenly Demon to its limit.

If he chose to block it like before, he would suffer severe injury.

Shuuk!

My sword precisely pierced the Leader Gorilla’s abdomen. Visually, at least.

’What?’

But the tactile feeling was strange. I was certain I had thrust into him, yet it didn’t feel like I stabbed anything.

It felt like stabbing empty air. The dissonance between sight and touch was extremely alien.

Shaaaaa—

Not long after that thought passed, a change occurred with the Leader Gorilla.

He wavered like a mirage and then vanished completely.

Panicking, I hurriedly pulled back my sword and looked around.

’Where is...!’

Ossak!

A chilling instinct transmitted from the back of my head.

It had only been two weeks since I started living in the Forest of the Four Seasons, but I had learned one thing.

Never ignore an ominous feeling—that is, instinct.Get faster updates on novelping . com.

I decided to trust that intuition this time.

Chwaak!

Spinning around, I delivered a horizontal slash.

The Aura blooming like fire fluttered violently.

"Eum."

Looking behind me, the Leader Gorilla was standing there.

Unlike before, his arms were uncrossed. By the looks of it, his ambush attempt had failed.

I didn’t miss this opportunity. He was still looking down on me.

"Heua!"

Putting a shout into my breath, I repeatedly slashed, thrust, and slashed again.

Surprised by my momentum, the Leader Gorilla didn’t counterattack and merely dodged.

Chwaak!

Again. I clearly slashed him, yet no sensation registered.

Simultaneously, the Leader Gorilla’s figure faded like a mirage.

What on earth was this technique? Could Speed Sloth use this technique too?

I hurriedly spun my body backward. Just in case, I didn’t forget to slash with my sword as well.

Chwaak!

The gorilla was not behind me. There was only empty, hollow air.

At the same moment, the back of my head throbbed acutely.

I got completely played. But I couldn’t just turn back around and slash again.

Unless my waist could rotate 360 degrees, it was an impossible feat. Thus, I picked the next best option.

’I have to block with the shield!’

Snapping my twisted waist back into position, I raised my shield.

Fortunately, that choice proved correct as the Leader Gorilla’s fist came hurtling straight toward my shield.

How powerful would that fist be? It belonged to the guy who casually caught my sword with his fingers.

Since I might be sent flying backward, I should consider break-fall techniques...

Tuk—

Yet, rendering all those thoughts meaningless, the Leader Gorilla’s attack was underwhelming.

No impact was transmitted to the shield. There was only the sensation of him touching it.

The Leader Gorilla placed his fist against the shield. That was all.

Filled with doubt, I looked into his eyes.

The Leader Gorilla’s expression was utterly peaceful.

’Why on earth...?’

Before that question even faded.

Kkuung!

A strange sensation pulsed through the shield.

Ppagaejak!

A sound akin to a tree branch snapping struck my ears.

With that, the shield slid down helpless. Even though I was firmly gripping the shield, it dropped limply.

Wondering what was happening, I shifted my eyes down toward the shield.

And then I realized why the shield had dropped. It wasn’t against my will.

Deolleong— deolleong—

My arm was broken, unable to transmit my will.

I stared blankly at my arm, hanging limply and dangling.

But that lasted only a moment before the pain, barely suppressed by adrenaline, surged over me.

"Kkeuaaaaak!!!"

The agony of a broken bone defied imagination. Hadn’t I suffered yesterday from broken ribs too?

Dropping even my sword, I grabbed my dangling arm.

It was a pain like needles repeatedly stabbing straight into my brain.

’H-How? He only rested his fist against the shield...!’

The way his body dispersed like a mirage, and that attack just now too.

Everything was beyond comprehension. The Leader Gorilla’s skill completely exceeded my common sense.

"Keuu...! Heuu...!"

"...."

While I gritted my teeth and endured the pain, the Leader Gorilla stared at me quietly.

A look asking, Do you want more? I answered that question with action.

Seueuk—

By picking up the Sword of the Heavenly Demon lying on the ground.

One arm was broken, but my other arm was still fine.

Squeezing out all the mana I had, I condensed it into the sword.

Uuuung—

Sensing crisis instinctively? The Aura that fluttered like flame began to condense bit by bit.

I couldn’t die here. The desperate longing for survival pushed my focus to the absolute limit.

Just as the flame-like Aura began to take on a concrete shape, the Leader Gorilla moved.

At first, it was a subtle motion, slightly bending his knees. The instant I saw that motion, I tried to react, but...

Shuuk!

Before I could even perceive it, the Leader Gorilla closed in right in front of my nose.

Speed equal to Speed Sloth, or perhaps even greater.The source of this chapter is novеlping.com.

Slowly, I looked up at the Leader Gorilla standing tall on both feet.

Have I ever been this thoroughly overwhelmed before?

A pressure so immense it eradicated even the slightest sliver of defiance.

Seueuk—

The Leader Gorilla pulled his right arm back. Not a fist, but a palm stroke—he was preparing to throw a Palm Strike.

The moment I took a direct hit from that Palm Strike, I would die. I had to move my body somehow to survive.

But perhaps because I was already overwhelmed, neither of my legs would move.

A feeling similar yet different from when I faced the Saber-toothed Tiger.

’I can’t die like this...!’

I struggled frantically. I even bit my tongue in an effort to move.

Fortunately, my frantic efforts seemed effective, as I was barely able to move my legs.

Next was my arm. Under the illusion that time was flowing slowly, I tried to move my arm.

Huuung!

The problem was that that split second applied to the Leader Gorilla as well.

The arm pulled back shot forward like a bullet.

Fitting for a gorilla, a massive hand completely filled my vision.

Right around the time I resigned myself internally, thinking this was the end—

Paaaang!!!

Right past the side of my face, the Leader Gorilla’s palm grazed by.

The sound of bursting air deafened my ears, and my hair whipped wildly.

Kwagagagaga!!!

My remaining working ear allowed me to guess what was happening behind me.

A noise not just of collapsing, but of complete pulverization. I prayed there wasn’t a cave back there.

"...."

"...."

I froze solid right in that position. However, I could still move my eyes.

Moving my trembling eyes bit by bit, I looked at the Leader Gorilla.

For some reason, the Leader Gorilla was smiling.

Tuk—

The Leader Gorilla lowered the hand that had grazed my face. Meaning he placed his hand on my shoulder.

Even though it was a simple act of resting his hand, it felt impossibly heavy.

Tuk-tuk—

The Leader Gorilla patted my shoulder a few times. As if telling me to rest easy.

His words about taking an arm were true. However, he had never said he would take my life.

Next, the Leader Gorilla removed his hand from my shoulder and spoke in the language of the Central Plains.

"Wai won-ni."

Welcome to the Forest of the Four Seasons.

"Ssin-sho."

Rookie.

For some reason, it felt like he was saying that.

"Jjeueo-ppa."

Turning his back, the Leader Gorilla issued an order to his elite guard.

The spear-wielding elite guards merely glanced at me once before following him.

I stood nailed to the spot until the group led by the Leader Gorilla completely disappeared.

"...Heueu."

Time passed after they vanished, and I was finally able to exhale.

I didn’t even pay attention to my broken, dangling arm. To be precise, I couldn’t.

Because my pounding heart felt like it was about to burst at any moment.

A sensation as if someone were forcibly crushing my body down.

If the Saber-toothed Tiger was an instinctive fear, the Leader Gorilla felt artificial, deliberate.

’Who on earth...?’

At the same time, I became curious about the entity that taught the Leader Gorilla martial arts.

Who was his master, to raise a gorilla into a martial artist of such caliber?

Clearing my cluttered head piece by piece, I came to my senses.

What I need to do right now is fix my broken arm.

Leaving it like this might cause severe aftereffects.

’Will this be healed with an Elixir...?’

It was right when I was being careful not to let the broken arm twist. The moment I looked back, I couldn’t help but freeze.

The Leader Gorilla had thrown a Palm Strike past my face. I had also clearly heard the sound of something shattering.

I thought it was simply trees collapsing, but it far exceeded that expectation.

Because a ’path’ had been created. It was originally a place packed with lush trees.

But with a single Palm Strike from the Leader Gorilla, trees had tumbled down in heaps or been uprooted entirely.

An unexpected path had formed, leaving my mind utterly dazed.

’...Even Sun Wukong wouldn’t be able to do this.’

Was Sun Wukong a tailed monkey, not a gorilla? Whatever, who cares.

’Can I really survive here?’

The fact remained that my spirit was slightly broken.