I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 304

Monsters, creatures far worse than ordinary beasts in this world, inflict all sorts of harm—both great and small—upon humanity.

The lifestyles of monsters vary drastically from region to region, drawing a sharp contrast even between the East and the West.

While monsters in the West resemble near-constant ’natural disasters’ that invade whenever they get bored, monsters in the East are relatively docile.

The East—specifically the Central Plains—is not only damnably vast, but also largely undeveloped.

Given how mountainous the region is to begin with, the environment isn’t particularly suited for development anyway.

Hence, humans killing humans happens far more frequently there than monsters attacking humans.

Title) The reason why large monster attacks are rare in the Central Plains

Simple. Because whenever they get the chance, people offer sacrifices while calling them Mountain Spirits or Mountain Lords.

Sounds like a lie, right? It’s real. Monsters don’t touch people because they get offered sacrifices.

In fact, if a lesser monster in their domain harms a human, the apex monster tracks them down and beats the shit out of them.

Virtually, monsters—no, Yokai—in the Central Plains can be seen as having a mutually beneficial relationship with humans.

Of course, if someone encroaches on their territory or tries to hunt them, they show zero mercy.

Re) Then why are the western kingdoms such a shitshow?

Re) Compared to the Central Plains, they have way more open plains, and overwhelmingly powerful figures are rare.

Re) There are dragons, though.

Re) Dragons aren’t common, and if a dragon shows up, that country is fucking doomed;;

Re) There are just a bunch of different reasons. Hard to give a definitive answer.

Re) It’s a territorial conflict. Unless humans drive them out for good, it’s a lifelong turf war.

For various reasons, the western kingdoms are sick and tired of monsters.

As a result, they’ve accumulated a wealth of know-how and manuals regarding monsters—and the profession that digs into this professionally is the adventurer.

Since controlling the monster population is of vital importance, the significance of adventurers goes without saying.

They’re so important that they receive benefits ranging from tax exemptions to actual pensions.

However, with such great benefits attached, being an adventurer is practically an extreme occupation.

Title) The difference between soldiers and adventurers

Soldiers are valuable human resources for the nation; adventurers are expendable pawns that can be thrown away at any time.

Re) Holy shit, that hits way too close to home. Can’t even argue.

Re) But it’s true lol Honestly I even think the tax breaks are excessive.

Re) Unless your inclination doesn’t fit, becoming a knight is better.

Re) Knights have vastly superior benefits and welfare, too.

As stated above, unless an adventurer reaches the highest tier, they are merely a downgrade from a soldier.

Unlike soldiers who obey orders, they are granted ’freedom,’ which means they must bear full responsibility for themselves.

Nevertheless, adventurers remain a nationally crucial profession, particularly useful in monster-related incidents.

If adventurers fail to handle a monster outbreak, the resulting damage ripples straight through the entire region.

When that happens, it signifies a dire emergency requiring direct national intervention.

Title) Monster Invasion Stages

Stage 1. Leave the monsters to the adventurers.

Stage 2. If adventurers warn that it’s dangerous, take it to heart.

Stage 3. If adventurers are wiped out before they can even issue a warning, it is an omen of disaster.

Stage 4. Immediately dispatch the military to exterminate them root and branch.

Stage 5. If even the army can’t hold them back, prepare for war.

Stage 6: Stop them even if you have to issue a total mobilization order—before they cause damage to neighboring nations.

Stage 7: By this point, foreign nations will send reinforcements. Though the aided country will end up completely battered.

Stage 8: That nation has collapsed, and a nation of monsters has been established.

There are no Stage 9 or 10 yet, yeah.

Re) Why not?

Re) Because even in history, it only ever reached Stage 8.

Re) Stage 8 is already beyond screwed, was there actually a time like that?

Re) The Immortal King.

Re) Ah. Right.

Re) Honestly, starting from Stage 4, things are already fucked. Best start preparing to evacuate.

And now, in the present.

The Cantata region within the Mercedes Duchy was currently hovering between Stage 4 and Stage 5.

A situation where adventurers could no longer hold the line, forcing a large-scale mobilization of the army.

What made it even more head-aching was that despite the commander taking prompt action, it couldn’t be prevented.

Like desperately trying to plug a broken dam, the march of monsters showed no signs of stopping.

"Kwwwoooaaarrr!"

Dark green skin and standing a full head taller than an adult man.

A hulking entity bulging with muscles swung down a massive stone club.

An attack executed with zero finesse, propelled solely by raw brute force.

Kwajik!

And because of that, it was catastrophically destructive.

The face of the person who took the blow head-on burst like a crushed watermelon.

Bone splinters and bloody debris scattered in all directions. It was a scene of absolute horror.

"Gaaaaah! My—my leg...!"

"Michael!!! Run away from there, fast...!"

"Kwraaaaah!"

"Uwaaaah!"

However, no one had the luxury to pay attention to such horrors. Hell had already unraveled in this place.

The adventurers struggled desperately to hold back the swarming horde of monsters, but even this fell far short.

The sheer number of monsters exceeded all imagination; far from diminishing over time, their ranks kept swelling.

Monsters were notoriously cunning by nature, famous for swarming in to join the fray whenever they sensed an advantage.

Orcs, goblins, gnolls, kobolds, ogres, trolls, mad dogs, silver wolves, and more.

When monsters of every shape and kind formed an army to invade human territory, adventurers alone could never stem the tide.

"Just a little more! Hold out just a bit longer! Those damn knight bastards will take out their leader!"

Even as the defense line was breached bit by bit, a certain adventurer bellowed steadfastly.

As proof of his status as a battle-hardened veteran, countless slain monsters lay piled around him.

"Yeah! Let’s hold on a bit more!"

"Even if we hate those goddamn knights, they get the job done!"The source of this chapter is novelping . com.

At that cry, the other adventurers managed to rally their spirits.

At the same time, a deep-seated trust in the knights shone through, which was only natural.

No matter how wildly monsters rampaged, they fell far short when pitted against the nation’s supreme military force—the ’army.’

Above all, humanity had accumulated a terrifying array of combat data and practical know-how through ages of fighting monsters.

They judged that this battle, too, would end smoothly if they stuck to standard tactics.

’While the adventurers act as the shield, the knights will slay their commander.’

This was one of the standard tactics forged through centuries of accumulated data.

Knights mostly fought mounted, and monsters lacked the defensive capability to withstand a heavy cavalry charge.

Since the enemy commander usually stayed in the rear guard, cavalry could reach them swiftly and end the battle quickly.

Doong! Doong! Doong! Doong!

It was right when the adventurers were struggling with all their might to hold back the monster army.

An ominous, deeply unsettling drumbeat echoed in their ears.

Just as the adventurers looked around in confusion, someone screamed.

"Th-There...!"

"M-My God..."

The moment the adventurers looked forward, their faces turned pale with horror.

And small wonder—for amid the sea of monsters filling the plain, a long spear stood erect.

"The knights were wiped out...?"

"No way! They were on horseback! Are you saying the monsters stopped that?!"

Impaled on that spear was the helmeted head of a human, displayed for all to see.

Not just one, but easily dozens of them.

The cavalry, meant to act as the hammer, had been completely annihilated.

The charging momentum of cavalry was something even solid infantry formations couldn’t easily stop.

Normally, the moment an enemy absorbed such impact, they should have been swept away like autumn leaves in a gale.

Furthermore, in a world overflowing with magic and superhumans, cavalry were equipped with countermeasures to match.

And yet...

’An Orc Champion has enough power to wipe out a cavalry division?’

The adventurers had heard the intel from the regional commander.

That an mutated Orc variant—an Orc Champion—was believed to be commanding the host.

And that this Orc Champion had acquired a relic-tier weapon, gaining tremendous combat power.

The adventurers had joined this battle lured by the prospect of that relic-tier weapon, but unexpected disasters had erupted one after another.

"Kwraaaaah!"

"Kkiaaaak!"

Unlike the panicked adventurers, the monsters grew boisterous and triumphant.

Fueled by the thunderous drumbeats, the monsters began to rampage with even greater fury.

"Uwoooooh!!!"

"Moo-oooo!"

An Ogre easily 5 meters tall mercilessly shattered the defense line set up by the adventurers.

Trolls continuously pressured the adventurers by hurling boulders and debris with their long arms.

Bull-headed Minotaurs charged recklessly, as if they themselves had become the cavalry.

No matter how solid a line of defense might be, relentless pounding would breach it eventually.

"Hold them off! We weren’t born to just be shields!"

"Hyaaaaah!"

Yet the adventurers immediately shifted back from acting as a shield to acting as a spear.

The cavalry acting as the spear had been purely a matter of tactical efficiency.

The adventurers were not mere grunt soldiers; they were veterans who had weathered countless desperate battles.

"Sever the Ogre’s ankle tendons first to bring it down!"

"The Mad Dog’s weak spot is its nose! Aim for the nose!"

"The Trolls are...!"

Befitting their title as monster extermination specialists, the adventurers fought remarkably well.

They targeted each monster’s vulnerability appropriately and barely managed to hold their precarious, crumbling formation together.

Kwajik!

"Ughhh..."

"Dan!"

However.

Woodudeok! Kwadeuk!

"Ugh... uh..."

"C-Captain!"

"Captain! Stay with us! Potion! Bring a potion!"

There were simply far too many of them.

No matter how respectable the adventurers’ skills were, skill meant nothing before overwhelming numerical superiority.

Furthermore, tricky and dangerous monsters mixed into the ranks caused their balance to collapse in no time.

And decisively...

"Kwraaaaah!"

"A-Aura! It’s an Aura Blade!"

"Th-The mutated Orc...! That motherfucker is the commander!!"

Before the variant mentioned by the commander—the Orc Champion—all men were made equal.

As if proving its status as a relic-tier weapon, the blade coated in an Aura Blade radiated a gorgeous green luminescence.

Every single time the Orc Champion swung its blade, three or four men were reduced to cold corpses.

"Nobody said anything about it using an Aura Blade...!"

"Is that even a fucking Aura Blade?! Fuck, it’s as big as a damn trunk!!"

Just as the adventurer yelled, the Aura Blade manifested by the Orc Champion was monstrously misshapen.

While a normal Aura Blade merely cloaked the length of the sword, the Orc Champion’s surpassed that by far.

Consequently, its destructive power was beyond imagination. ’Blocking’ it was fundamentally impossible.

Seogeok! Sseogeok!

Not only were weapons sliced apart like tofu, but human bodies were chopped clean in half.

The Orc Champion’s absurd brute force combined with its immense mana capacity—the duo transformed the creature into a walking catastrophe.

"R-Retreat! Fall back!"New chapters come out on novelping(.)com first.

"Run to the next defense line!!!"

With the Orc Champion crashing into the front lines, the tide of battle tilted catastrophically.

What was worse, many of the leaders and squad captains on the adventurers’ side had already been slain.

Continuing to fight like this was nothing short of suicidal thrown-away deaths, so the adventurers chose to retreat.

No one voiced a single objection; everyone began scrambling frantically to save their own skin.

"Kwahahaha!"

"Kahahaha!"

Simultaneously, a massacre erupted. It had always been this way.

An army’s true worth was often judged not by how fiercely it fought, but by how cleanly it preserved its forces during a retreat.

However, these were adventurers. The moment command and control collapsed entirely, they were nothing more than a disorderly rabble.

Kwadang!

"Kyaaaah!"

Just then, one of the adventurers stumbled and fell while trying to flee.

A woman clad in robes, likely a mage. She barely managed to push herself up.

"Ahhh..."

"Grrrr..."

Chills!

A terrifying sound echoed from behind her. A gigantic shadow loomed over her back.

Her face consumed by sheer terror, the female mage slowly turned her head.

Turning around, she saw an Orc far larger than an adult human grinning viciously down at her.

Grab!

"Kyaaaah! Ow, it hurts! L-Let go of me!!!"

Instead of killing the mage, the Orc grabbed her tightly by her hair.

Its intention was to drag her along and haul her back to their stronghold.

An adventurer dragged off by monsters—whether male or female—never met a pleasant fate.

Invariably, they were subjected to cruel torment and humiliation, and even if they somehow escaped, they usually suffered trauma for the rest of their shortened lives.

’N-No...! Please, anything but that...!’

The female mage prayed desperately. Her mana was completely drained, rendering her unable to cast a single spell.

However, this entire sector had already dissolved into living pandemonium. Other adventurers were far too frantic saving their own lives to spare a single thought for her.

’Oh God... Please...!’

Did the female mage’s desperate prayer somehow reach the heavens?

Seogeok!

"Kwoooaargh!"

"Kyaak!"

Accompanied by a deafening shriek, the dragged female mage tumbled onto the ground.

Dazed and bewildered, she quickly realized someone had stepped in front of her.

Dressed in a formal uniform, her silhouette looked slender overall, yet her height was easily comparable to an adult man’s.

Her blue-tinted silver short hair fluttered in the wind, and the sword in her hand was enveloped in a black Aura Blade.

"Phew."

"Ah... ah..."

"Are you alright?"

The knight who had intruded out of nowhere turned her head and offered a gentle smile. A breathtakingly beautiful, dashing smile.

The female mage nodded, mesmerized by her question.

And before long, she could vividly feel it.

"Grrrk...!"

"Kiiiiik...!"

"Kyaaa...! Kyaa...!"

The fact that the rampaging monster horde, which had been unleashing a brutal massacre, was now staring right in this direction.

The fact that they felt an overwhelming sense of ’threat’ not from the adventurers, nor the cavalry, but solely from this single knight who had stepped onto the field.

"Please hurry and fall back to the rear."

Overawed by the terrifying aura radiating around them, the mage regained her composure at the knight’s calm words.

Without even having time to voice her thanks, the mage scrambled away as fast as her legs could carry her—yet she couldn’t help stealing glances at the knight’s back.

Slide-

The knight picked up a sword lying scattered on the ground with her left hand.

A blade held in each hand—the stance of dual-wielding.

It was right then.

"Kwraaaaah!"

The Orc whose wrists had been severed by the knight charged forward.

Its eyes bloodshot red, blind to everything around it in pure rage.

A rage that had swallowed even its instinctual fear.

Seogeok-

That was its final cry.

The moment the knight executed a casual flick of her wrist, the Orc’s head soared into the sky.

Thud-

Soon, the head dropped to the dirt, and a dead silence descended upon the battlefield.

Slink-slink-

The monster horde faltered and took hesitant steps backward.

Possessing instincts far sharper than humans, they felt it with absolute clarity.

That the entity before them was a ’monster’ they could never defeat, no matter what they did.

Tread-

As the knight took a single step forward, the monster horde flinched violently. Yet the knight did not stop.

Her brilliantly shimmering silver hair fluttering in the air, she advanced with measured, deliberate steps.

And then...

Kwaang!

Instantly kicking up a localized hurricane, she charged straight into the monster army.