I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 264

Although I lost the Mythricon sword in vain, I wasn’t too worried.

Because I could just forge a new one. Mithril and Orichalcum were scattered all over the place nearby.

That said, I had no intention of recklessly launching it like before.

Wastefulness aside, if something went wrong, our shelter might get blown up.

In fact, being launched like a rocket could be considered fortunate.

’By the way, where did that sword fly off to?’

I looked up at the sky. The Mythricon sword launched like a rocket.

Since it seemed to explode once more in the sky, it was likely shattered to pieces, but I was still curious.

If it fell into the ocean or a lake, that would be better. The problem was if it landed on solid ground.

Just as there was a gorilla capable of using mana, an entity that could use mana might pick it up.

Since it was a blade that amplified not only Aura but also mana efficiency by several-fold, I couldn’t rest easy.

Title: Are there any monsters that

Wild Grylls

use mana?

Curious if there are monsters that use Aura in addition to mana.

By the way, exclude the Forest of the Four Seasons. This place has to be treated as an exception.

ㄴ Heavenly Demon) They exist. In particular, quite a few among the Yokai know how to use Sword Qi.

ㄴ Wild Grylls) What are some prime examples?

ㄴ Heavenly Demon) The Nine-Tailed Fox, Sun Wukong, the White Tiger, and so forth. Most of them are spiritual beasts.

ㄴ Aren’t those all Yokai from legends?

ㄴ Yeah, true. But recently the consensus is shifting toward them actually existing.

ㄴ Why?

ㄴ Because of the Sky Whale, the paradigm for other legends shifted to "assume it’s true for now" lolol

ㄴ How dare mere legends try to compare with actual myth lololol

ㄴ If even gorillas handle mana, Sun Wukong must exist too~

ㄴ Sword Matstar) I don’t know much about Zhongyuan, but the West has a wide variety. Starting from Death Knights to Liches, Goblins, Orcs, etc. Especially high-tier entities or mutants can even use Aura.

ㄴ Wild Grylls) Which entities are those?

ㄴ Sword Matstar) For Death Knights it’s Dullahan, for Goblins it’s Hobgoblins, and for Orcs it’s Orc Champions.

ㄴ Wild Grylls) Ah. I’ve heard of Goblins before.

Come to think of it, Goblins existed. I had completely forgotten.

A monster whose cunning was second to none compared to humans.

If such monsters inhabited the Forest of the Four Seasons, wouldn’t they use mana too?

’Or maybe only Hobgoblins gathered together.’

That would be terrifying in its own right. Then what was an Orc Champion?

I knew what Orcs in this world looked like.

It wasn’t like a pig’s head was directly stuck on, but they were monsters just as ugly.

A race with virtually no bridge on their nose, a thick lower jaw, and giant tusks.

Their intelligence was higher than a Goblin’s, but lacking in many aspects to be classified as "humanity," so they were categorized as monsters.

ㄴ Sword Matstar) Simply put, you can think of an Orc Champion as an Orc chieftain. In those cases, most of them awaken to mana on their own.

ㄴ Wild Grylls) How strong is an Orc Champion?

ㄴ Sword Matstar) It depends on how experienced they are. Some are strong, some are weak.

ㄴ The strong ones are dirty strong. Plus their physical frame is huge, so if you lower your guard you’re dead meat.

ㄴ Wasn’t there an Orc that used an Aura Blade back in the day?

ㄴ Yeah, but you rarely see them these days.

ㄴ Why not?

ㄴ Because they’ve been constantly subjugated since then. If nothing else, whenever traces of Goblins, Orcs, or Trolls are found, they get wiped out immediately.

There are all kinds of monsters in this world. As expected of a fantasy world.

Whatever the case, I just hoped the Mythricon sword hadn’t landed in a weird place.

’Otherwise I’d be strangling my own life.’

I adjusted my training method and got to work.

Although work just meant forging various tools or chopping down trees.

Right now, the most important thing was the World Tree sapling. I needed to carefully select a spot to plant it.

Last time I planted it haphazardly, but now was different. Space had narrowed after building the forge.

’I want to place it in the center, but that would be way too inconvenient.’

World Tree leaves didn’t block the sun; light passed right through them.

Therefore, no shadow was cast, but it was highly likely to get in the way of foot traffic.

So a location was needed that wouldn’t obstruct movement while functioning as a pathway.

’Next to the cave should be enough.’

So I chose the spot beside the cave. I chopped down all the trees in that area.

This made me feel a bit like an environmental destroyer, but I had no choice. I had to survive first.

Now that the World Tree sapling was planted, all that remained was to bring back the squirrel and groundhogs I had postponed fetching.

"Alright, if everyone’s ready, let’s go."

"Kkyuu!"

"Pbi-ik!"

Since the squirrel territory was quite a distance from here, going all together was better.

I also hadn’t fully adapted to the new combat style yet, so I needed insurance.

Coincidentally, Wonmo and Tyranno weren’t taking a nap, so the timing was right.

’Just in case, though, let’s set up security devices.’

I installed an alarm orb alongside the recording orb.

Previously I would have only set up the recording orb, but lately gorillas had been scouting frequently.This chapter was taken from novеlping.com without permission.

Seeing this, it seemed they would step foot inside my shelter sooner or later. If they actually tried stealing, I’d cut off their hands or something.

’If so, the chief gorilla might come looking for me again...’

Let him come if he wants. If he tries to settle things with a single banana again, I’ll curse him out for real.

Not only had I grown stronger than back then, but with Ludwig and Lackey around, it was quite manageable.

’Crucially, Bbareumbo is here.’

Just having Bbareumbo was reassuring. I glanced back at Bbareumbo clinging to my back.

As usual, I had no idea what he was thinking. His expression had hardly ever changed.

Even so, he was the primary contributor making our shelter secure. Recently he was even playing well with the kids.

’He does look like an unemployed uncle resting at home playing with his niece and nephew.’

The scene where the uncle is drained from unemployed fatigue while the kids try to drag him out.

Watching Bbareumbo play with the kids looked exactly like that.

Well, when it comes to playing, he plays well, so it’s all good.

"Jjijik!"

"You’ve been doing well, right? I was busy recently so I couldn’t visit."

When I headed to the squirrel territory, the squirrel greeted me looking no different than before.

The World Tree had been well tended during that time, completely healthy without a single withered spot.

"Kkyaaang!"

"Kkyaaaa!"

"Fighting again, I see."

The groundhogs fighting whenever they had a spare moment were an added bonus. I barely managed to break them up.

Now it was about time to bring them back to the shelter. The overall construction would take about 5 days.

’We have plenty of food.’

As far as I knew, both squirrels and groundhogs were essentially omnivorous animals.

Giving them fish or sweet potatoes should do fine.

"Let’s go."

"Jji-ik!"

I returned to the shelter with my suddenly expanded entourage.

The squirrel was the supervisor and the two groundhogs were laborers. It was a combination that felt exactly like that.

I thought things would proceed smoothly like this, but...

Wi-ing! Wi-ing! Wi-ing! Wi-ing!

A harsh noise echoed from not far away. The sound of the alarm triggering.

Pausing briefly upon hearing that sound, I soon moved my two legs rapidly.

’I had my doubts, but did those gorillas actually...?’

I knew they scouted often, but I didn’t expect them to come the moment I left.

Although it could be another animal trespassing.

Praying that at least our food wasn’t looted, I arrived at the shelter.

Wi-ing! Wi-ing! Wi-ing!

Only after arriving at the shelter did the alarm continue ringing.

I turned off the noisy alarm first and looked around the shelter.

By carefully checking starting from where the alarm went off, I should be able to spot any difference.

Plus, since there was a recording orb, I thought I’d be able to check what went missing, but...

"...What is this?"

It seemed there was no need for that. Sitting right in the center of the shelter was a corpse left out in the open.

No, wait. Calling it a corpse wasn’t right—the chest was rising and falling.

Central Plains style clothing drenched in sweat, along with an emaciated, sickly complexion.

The expression "walking corpse" was fitting.

’Is this... a human?’

Seeing how there was no body hair, it didn’t seem to be a gorilla.

A human visiting was certainly a good thing, but the problem was that the clothing belonged to Zhongyuan.

’Could it be the Blood Cult?’

The four Blood Cultists Heavenly Demon mentioned missing before. The probability was high that it was them.

Deep down I had thought, Nah, no way they’d make it all the way here, but to think they actually found their way to my shelter.

However, their condition was far from normal.

Aside from the haggard complexion, splints were tied to their arms and legs.

’The Blood Cult is a faction of murderous demons.’

Was saving this person, who was presumed to belong to that Blood Cult, really the right thing to do?

If things went wrong and harm was brought to our shelter, what would I do?

Pondering back and forth, I glanced at the corpse—or rather, the near-corpse.

’Sigh. Let’s save him first.’

Save him first, then decide whether to throw him out later.

I wasn’t so rotten as to ignore a dying person.

"#$%%%?"

[Hmm? Is that not a human?]

Right on cue, the rest of the party returned. Everyone looked surprised seeing the collapsed person.

I asked Ludwig to help carry the person.

Ludwig gave a suspicious look for a moment, but complied with my request first.

We then brought the Central Plains native inside the cave. Looking closely, the condition was even more severe.Read the latest chapters at novelpi⁠ng.com.

"#$$$@@$. #$%^^. ##$%%."

Ludwig explained the Central Plains native’s condition.

Bones in the arms and legs were broken or fractured in multiple places, and an unknown illness was progressing.

Not only were there injuries, but having been unable to eat properly for a long time, physical strength was severely depleted.

Seeing splints bound to him, he seemed to have survived around this area, but beyond that was unknown.

"Let’s feed him honey water first."

I wanted to give an Elixir, but right now was difficult.

Not because he was a Blood Cultist, but because the efficiency would drop.

An Elixir is a medicine that boosts regeneration; if the condition is too poor, its efficiency plummets.

Above all, diseases cannot be cured by Elixir, so it was better to slowly improve his condition with honey water.

"Ummm... mmm..."

Fortunately, perhaps a sliver of consciousness remained, as the Central Plains native slowly sipped the honey water.

Feeling sweetness after a long time, his expression relaxed, but the illness remained.

I didn’t know if it was tetanus from the broken bones or due to another reason.

[There are bug bite marks here.]

"Bugs?"

[Not just here, there are many in other places as well.]

But before long, I was able to realize it was an illness caused by bugs.

Central Plains clothing covered a wide area, almost wrapping the entire skin.

However, lacking bug repellent like us, the back of the hands couldn’t be protected.

’If that’s really the case, I need to apply bug repellent consistently.’

I placed a damp towel on the Central Plains native’s forehead and waited to see his condition.

Meanwhile, I checked what was captured on the recording orb.

Because I needed to verify whether this person crawled here or walked.

Tuk-tuk—

Tapping the recording orb twice, the footage soon played.

I checked what happened together with the party.

’Nothing much at first... Huh?’

Before long, we were able to figure out how this person reached our shelter.

Three gorillas showed up at our shelter and gently placed the Central Plains native right down.

If they had returned immediately that would be one thing, but one gorilla actually entered the cave.

Pba-ak!

[Uook!]

[Uu! Uuuu!]

Fortunately, another gorilla smacked its head, so no theft took place.

Either way, I realized the ones who illegally dumped—er, brought—this Central Plains native were the gorillas.

Meaning there was a high probability this Central Plains native had been living side-by-side with the gorillas until now.

’Come to think of it, didn’t Wi Ho-chang teach the gorillas?’

Furthermore, since the chief gorilla could even use the Central Plains language, they must have communicated to some extent.

But for whatever reason, he was driven out of the pack. Did he throw a tantrum over there or something?

If so, breaking his limbs might have been their minimum mercy before tossing him out.

’I’ll have to ask for details later, but...’

I looked at the Central Plains native, whose condition seemed better than before, probably thanks to the honey water.

Frankly, taking him in was uncomfortable. A slave is only a slave if he obeys; this guy was a risk factor.

’Can’t I return to sender?’

It was right when I was seriously thinking that.

"Ummm..."

The Central Plains native let out a groan and regained consciousness.

He barely opened his uncooperative eyes. His mind was likely still hazy.

Soon, having barely opened his eyes, the Central Plains native looked around through dim vision.

Standing right in front of him wasn’t me, but Lackey.

"...Ah."

"..."

"##$..."

He muttered in Central Plains speech, so I didn’t know what he said.

However, right here was Lackey, a gorilla fluent in the Central Plains language.

I signaled him with an eye gesture, asking for a translation of what the guy said.

Lackey understood my request, scratched his head, and opened his mouth.

"Fuck."

"...What?"

"Said ’Fuck’. This swear word."

"..."

Should I really return him to sender?

While I’m at it, I feel like I should file a complaint with the gorillas. Formally, that is.

Even if we’re enemies, isn’t illegal dumping of trash a bit much?

I’d rather they take a dump to mess with me. Throwing garbage is crossing the line.

’They really dumped a total nightmare on me.’

In all my life, I never dreamed I’d get dumped with someone else’s trash out in the wild.