I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 328

We planned to venture quite far on this exploration.

This was possible thanks to Cheongseol’s ability, which allowed for easy round trips.

The key question was where to go, but that hadn’t changed from before.

Our destination was none other than the World Tree—not the one at our shelter, but the actual World Tree of this forest.

You might ask why we couldn’t just walk straight there, but unfortunately, that wasn’t feasible.

If Cheongseol were fully grown it might be a different story, but she was still a hatchling and couldn’t endure the spiritual pressure radiating from the World Tree.

And asking her mother was far too burdensome—and terrifying, frankly.

"While we’re away, you’ll have to self-sustain your food supply. Think you can handle it?"

"Kirik!"

"And there are fish traps set in this river, so..."

I carefully taught the hobgoblins guarding our base how to secure their own food.

Part of me wanted to take the mana scrambler along, but since it was dangerous out in the open anyway, the risk level remained identical.

If our shelter got raided while we were gone, it would cause a massive headache, so I decided it was better to leave it behind.

’Besides me, there are plenty of inner cores stored in the shelter.’

Though the inner cores were currently kept under cold storage, you could never be too safe.

After explaining various things to the hobgoblins, I gave them a few stern warnings.

"It’s fine to invite other friends over while I’m gone. It’s even fine if you mess the place up a bit. But you must clean it all up afterward. Got it?"

"Kerka. Unakurakun, Bajuake. Euhakl-a."

"Kerk!"

First rule: even if you mess up the place, you clean it up completely.

Even though they formed a village community like humans, their basic mindset was still closer to primitive beings.

I didn’t want to come back later, see a chaotic mess, and end up disappointed, so I cautioned them thoroughly in advance.

"Second rule. Never, ever eat these. The moment even a single pill goes missing, things will get really ugly."

"Fuka. Ma-uruka. Juhurok. Januka rra haruka."

Second rule: do not touch the inner cores, dragon gastrolith, or World Tree root fragments.

These were my ultimate fallback assets, and losing them would be extremely troublesome.

Finally, the third rule.

"See these? If you plant them here, various vegetables will grow. You can eat as much as you want, but leave the seeds."

"Kurah naku. Ira znakni..."

Growing vegetables and fruits was fine, but they had to preserve the seeds and germplasm.

The moment these guys got a taste for sweet potatoes, they’d undoubtedly wipe out the entire supply.

So I made sure to emphasize: don’t just eat sweet potatoes, eat other things as well.

"...By the way, Lackey."

"Speak."

"Can you speak Goblin too?"

"Can master not?"

"...."

No matter how many times I saw it, his language comprehension was terrifying. This guy was far smarter than the average human.

I bet the boss gorilla possessed similar linguistic capabilities.

Anyway, with all preparations finalized, it was finally time to head out.

There was no telling what dangers lay in wait, but we should be sufficiently prepared to handle them.

’Our overall combat power has significantly increased, after all.’

Most notably, Cain—who had previously served as little more than a makeshift translation device—was now combat-ready.

As the first paladin who had even achieved Ascension to Immortality, his baseline capabilities were exceptionally high.

The only issue was that his specs were too high, to the point where even a Dullahan couldn’t fully withstand his presence.

Even though the Dullahan’s armor was sturdy, its inability to channel mana was a major drawback.

"Cain-ssi. In your current state, how much of your former power from life can you draw out?"

[In physical terms, 50% at most, I would say.]

"Isn’t that still ridiculously high?"

[It is indeed high.]

I had read about it on the Gallery before. Achieving Ascension to Immortality meant reaching at least the Profound Realm.

For those unfamiliar with the Profound Realm, it was a stage of mastery higher than Sword Master Ash.

Furthermore, Heavenly Demon had mentioned that it was the very realm she currently occupied.

It was guaranteed to be several tiers above my current level.

’Though regardless of realms and bullshit, people who are just plain strong are insanely strong.’

I didn’t even have to look far—Ludwig was a prime example.

Even when he couldn’t unleash half his full power, he could still beat me effortlessly.

Of course, if we fought in a total life-or-death duel, my win rate would probably be higher. The moment I plastered myself in Body-Protecting Gangqi, he’d be left without a clear answer.

’Though wasn’t it said that win rates don’t mean much in a true battle to the death?’

Even a win rate of less than 1% loses its mathematical meaning when lives are on the line.

Unless you were an undead, a person only had one life.

It was like a sports match. Even if you lost repeatedly, winning at the single crucial moment was all that mattered.

And that was one of the reasons I had managed to survive up until now.

’Carelessness gets you killed just the same.’

In this place, you could never drop your guard even around tiny creatures.

No, on the contrary, the smaller the animal, the absurdly stronger it often was.

It was a place where the saying "small peppers are the spiciest" fit perfectly.

Having completed all preparations, I logged into the Gallery.

Title: Departing soon

Wild Grylls

(Photo of cute Wonmo)

(Photo of cute Tyranno)

(Photo of cute Cheongseol)This chapter is updated first at novеlping.com.

We’re planning to go quite far today. Heading out shortly.

I didn’t bother checking for comments separately. I was planning to start the live stream right away anyway.

As soon as the broadcast went live, I turned my head. In that direction, Wonmo was staring intently at me.

"Wonmo-ya."

"Kkyu?"

"Aw, look at you. Look at you. What a cute little guy."

"Kkyuuuuu~"

I thoroughly stroked the face of the little cutie who always provided huge emotional support.

Perhaps because Wonmo’s cuteness was being broadcast in real-time, the comment section rapidly scrolled up.

Most of them were posts praising Wonmo—calling him cute, saying they wanted to raise one too, and so forth.

↳ Praise the Sun) I’m gonna see a cute little guy like Wonmo pretty soon too lol

↳ Sword Matstar) You sound awfully confident. It’ll be hard to be cuter than Wonmo, though.

↳ Praise the Sun) As long as it’s cute in my eyes, that’s all that matters.

↳ Starlight Lady) I have no choice but to agree with that.

Don’t tell me he’s talking about the dinosaur carcass I gave him.

After that brief thought, I immediately surveyed my surroundings.

Lackey carrying the subspace backpack, the paladin Ludwig mounted on Kirin.

And finally, the Dullahan controlled by Cain. The expedition party was fully assembled.

↳ Sword Matstar) What is that Dullahan? Don’t tell me he’s controlling it?

"Something like that. After touching the coffin a few times, it started recognizing me as its master."

I tossed out a convenient lie to cover it up.

Checking our supplies one last time, I set out.

As I took the lead, the rest of the group fell in line behind me.

"Kuraka!"

"Kuraka!"

The hobgoblins stationed as shelter guards sent off energetic cheers of encouragement.

I waved back at them before focusing ahead.

Soon, we traversed familiar terrain one after another, and before long, we discovered a cavern entrance.

It was Kangaroo Cave. As if proving they were still dueling inside, two boxing kangaroos stood guard outside.

"Those guys are consistent as ever."

↳ Sword Matstar) Is that the kangaroo you mentioned earlier that was doing wrestling?

↳ Passing Dwarf) Probably? But why haven’t you gone there lately? Betting ladder points was pretty fun.

↳ Starlight Lady) He didn’t have the leeway to go. Strange things kept breaking out every single day.

↳ Passing Dwarf) That’s true enough.

Starlight Lady was right. With bizarre incidents popping up left and right, there had been zero time to relax.

Still, visiting a few times in the future wouldn’t be a bad idea.

As long as the spirit deer wasn’t participating, the other beasts were manageable opponents.

After exchanging glances with the kangaroos, I continued marching forward.

Arriving at Kangaroo Cave meant we were approaching the territory of the gorillas.

However, as I mentioned earlier, today’s goal was to push far beyond this area.

’This is jungle terrain, so I need to be extra cautious.’

Jungles were packed with far more venomous snakes, poisonous insects, and toxic plants than other regions.

In particular, there were many creatures possessing natural camouflage, so dropping my guard was out of the question.

Just in case, I geared up in advance. However, I refrained from activating Body-Protecting Gangqi.

Body-Protecting Gangqi fundamentally consumed a massive amount of internal energy. Maintaining it constantly was impractical.

"Shaaaa!"

A sharp, swift sound pierced my ears.

The instant I heard it, I swung my sword without a moment’s hesitation.

Chwaak!

Perhaps because it was the Sword of the Heavenly Demon, it didn’t even make a slicing sound. It simply cut through smoothly.

I turned my head to inspect the assailant. As expected, it was a snake.

"...Wait, why does this thing have three heads?"

To my surprise, the snake possessed three heads.

I had never seen a snake with multiple heads before—it looked like a miniature Hydra.

Even its scale was immense. Each of its heads was roughly the size of my face.

’Don’t tell me this is a Hydra hatchling or something?’

Watching the decapitated snake writhing on the ground, I nudged it aside with my blade.

There was zero benefit to touching a venomous snake’s head, and it didn’t look particularly appetizing anyway.

"Chwureub."

"Hey, Cheongseol-a. Don’t eat that. That’s dirty, dirty."

"Chwureureub!"

"Guys! I said it’s not food!"

Of course, the little ones thought differently. Wonmo, Tyranno, and Cheongseol were all licking their chops without exception.

They must have filled their bellies before we departed, yet their appetites were monstrous.

"...Only eat the body."

"Kkyuu!"

"Ppeek!"

Still, denying them completely wasn’t good either. I gave them permission to eat only the torso.

While the little ones devoured the snake body, I pulled out a shovel to bury the venomous heads.

After a quick snack break, we resumed our march.

The deeper we ventured into the jungle, the more bizarre creatures we encountered.

"Puuuu!"

"No, fuck. Why the hell is there an elephant in a jungle?"

[Elephants naturally inhabit jungles, though?]

The most absurd highlight was an elephant. An elephant was locked in combat with another animal.Get faster updates on novеlping.com.

With what, you ask? Astonishingly enough, a frog.

Let me repeat: an elephant was fighting a frog.

"Puuuuu...."

Kwoong!

To top it off, the elephant lost. As the elephant’s massive bulk collapsed, a faint tremor rippled through the ground.

Meanwhile, the frog—no, a monster that looked like a giant toad—began stuffing the elephant into its mouth bit by bit.

I watched the entire encounter unfold. Thanks to that, I understood exactly how the toad had won.

"...Does anyone know what species that is?"

"It’s a toad, master."

"I know that, you idiot. Have you ever seen something like that before?"

"It’s a wrestling toad."

"No, sigh... forget it."

Asking Lackey yielded nothing but absurd answers.

The funny thing was that Lackey wasn’t entirely wrong.

The method the toad had actually used to bring down the elephant was a ’chokehold’.

It had climbed onto the elephant’s back and constricted it firmly with its heavy, muscular arms.

The constriction was so severe that the elephant couldn’t even breathe before collapsing dead.

↳ Starlight Lady) From what I know, that posture is what toads use when attempting to squeeze eggs out of a female....

↳ Passing Dwarf) What? So they were mating?!

↳ Princess Chaenggu) As expected of the wild! There are no species boundaries! ♡

↳ Praise the Sun) Didn’t you see it get eaten just now?! ;;

Even the regular posters seemed frightened, as if seeing this for the first time.

I marveled at the sheer variety of weird animals while feeling secretly relieved.

Ah. Naturally.

"Pwaaaa!"

"Puuuuuu!!!"

"Ppueek! Ppueek!"

The toad that had swallowed the elephant didn’t last long before being brutally torn apart by a herd of wild elephants—the absolute bullies of nature.

Regardless of the realm, elephants seemed to push forward purely through weight class, literally trampling the toad underfoot.

Even more shocking was what happened next....

"Ppueek!!!"

Jwwaaaaaak!!!

"...Wow. Holy shit."

The elephants grabbed the toad’s limbs with their long trunks and ripped it completely apart.

Subjected to dismemberment, the toad let out a tear-jerking shriek before perishing on the spot.

Watching that scene in real time, a single thought crossed my mind: if you act cocky, you’re fucked.

Elephants were already famous for their high intelligence, but these felt significantly smarter and more vicious.

"Let’s get out of here quickly."

"I believe that would be wise."

"Mm."

My companions and I hurried our steps.

If the enraged elephant herd turned their aggression toward us, we’d be thoroughly doomed.

After pushing further through the dense jungle, my sense of direction began to falter.

Even though I was trying my best to walk in a straight line, navigating without a compass had clear limitations.

"It can’t be helped. I’ll have to use that method."

"What method is that?"

"There’s a way. Ahjussi?"

I called out to Ludwig.

Riding atop Kirin, he silently handed me a wooden stick at my call.

It was Mistilteinn, the twig gifted to me by Nidhogg earlier.

Back at the shelter, it had served as Ludwig’s walking staff, but not right now.

"Here, Lackey. Watch this."

I stood the stick straight up on the ground and slowly released my hand.

Before long, the stick wobbled slightly and fell in a specific direction.

Looking in the direction Mistilteinn fell, I spoke.

"Alright. Let’s go that way."

"...."

"What? What is it? You got something to say?"

Lackey stared at me with a strange expression before speaking.

"You look like a primitive human, master."

"...That’s not something you have the right to say, is it?"

"Then you have become just like me, master."

"...."

This bastard’s comedic setups were getting grander by the day.

I let out a hollow laugh internally before retrieving Mistilteinn.

For the time being, I planned to use this consistently to determine our heading. And then...

"Master."

"Speak."

"I think we’re fucked."

"I know."

We were caught in a spiderweb.