I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 334

Gareth’s daily life had been quite busy lately.

It all started when he began crafting various tools using the Mythricon hammer he received from Grylls.

Word spread that his friend’s efficiency surged drastically after using Gareth’s pickaxe.

As that rumor trickled around, people started treating him like a master artisan.

’This is entirely thanks to the gear, though.’

The problem was that the Mythricon hammer was simply overpowered; Gareth’s actual skill was quite ordinary.

Of course, "ordinary" was strictly among dwarves; objectively speaking, he was fairly excellent.

But even though he loved booze, he hadn’t thrown his conscience into the brewery, so the reputation felt burdensome.

He kept explaining that it was all thanks to the Mythricon hammer, and that he just happened to have a connection with Grylls.

’Let’s just drink alcohol.’

Since explaining only caused more headaches, Gareth decided to just keep his mouth shut.

A true master doesn’t blame his tools, so even with the Mythricon hammer, his limits would soon be clear.

He believed that if he just laid low until then, things would quiet down as usual.

’Lately, there are guys coming over who actually recognize good liquor, though.’

While he covered up his metallurgy with the Mythricon hammer, his brewing skills were improving day by day.

Turning every single ingredient Grylls handed him into booze naturally made his skills grow.

It was while Gareth was spending these ordinary yet non-ordinary days.

[Euaaaah!]

"Woah, shit. What on earth is that?"

Gareth couldn’t help but marvel as he watched Grylls’s stream.

Although the view was currently blocked as Grylls defended with his shield, he could still catch glimpses.

A strange-looking hermit crab and the shell it carried on its back.

That shell split open to both sides, and something resembling a cannon emerged.

But fitting for the Forest of the Four Seasons, it was no ordinary cannon. For a cannon, it had multiple barrels.

Soon, the cannon began to spin and spew terrifying fire.

’Was there ever a weapon like that in the world?’

Surprise aside, Gareth casually watched while sipping his liquor.

After all, Grylls was the one suffering, not him.

Either way, this world didn’t neglect weapon invention. Quite the opposite.

If a single tool could exert power comparable to magic, anyone and everyone would forge it.

’Looking at how it rotates, it must be drawing power from somewhere...’

Whether Grylls was struggling or not, Gareth, true to his dwarven nature, analyzed the situation first.

All machinery in this world is mere scrap metal without a power source.

Therefore, that rotating cannon must be receiving power from somewhere, and he was curious about its mechanism.

Even if it drew energy from the hermit crab, the operational principle would be different.

[Wiiiiiing...]

The furious spinning speed of the cannon abruptly slowed down.

Whether it ran out of artillery shells or ran out of energy.

Regardless, the fact that an opportunity had presented itself to Grylls remained unchanged.

[Cain-ssi! First, beat the shit out of that gun-shooting bastard!]

[Mm!]

Kwajik!

At Grylls’s command, Cain swung his coffin like a mace and smashed the hermit crab to pieces.

The hermit crab was completely crushed by the mace, rendered unrecognizable.

Aside from using a bizarre weapon, its intrinsic combat prowess seemed rather low.

[Ggururuk. Gguruk.]

[Gguruk. Gguruk. Gguruk.]

Sensing danger after their comrade was struck down, the other hermit crabs began to move.

Unlike the hermit crab using the cannon, they prepared to fight normally with their claws...

Cheolkeok!

"Oh."

[Wait. Are these bastards using their shells as weapons storage?]

...Instead of fighting bare-clawed, they pulled weapons out of their shells.

However, unlike the cannon hermit crab, they merely pulled out long iron rods.

Just as they used nearby trash as shells, these creatures knew how to utilize tools.

Kwajik! Kwadeudeok! Kwadeuk!

Of course, defeating Grylls’s party in close combat was impossible.

Occasionally they spat bubble-like substances from their mouths, but it was largely meaningless.

Before long, these hermit crabs were shattered into pieces just like the first one.

Having finished off the hermit crabs, Grylls caught his breath and muttered softly.

[What’s up with this bastard? It’s using weapons that look like something from the world I lived in.]

[Does your world use weapons like this?]

[Yes. But there are no bullet casings. The power is weaker than expected, too. What on earth is going on?]

Grylls’s voice was filled with confusion and doubt. He seemed unable to believe it himself.

Gareth watched Grylls and quietly left a comment.

ㄴPassing Dwarf) Hey. Can you send me the guy that was firing that weird cannon?

[Wait a second. I need to take a look at it too.]

Saying so, Grylls approached the hermit crab Cain had smashed.

Since it was practically obliterated, it was doubtful if it could be retrieved properly, but perhaps Cain had controlled his strength.

The shell mounted with the cannon was relatively intact.

Shortly after, Grylls inspected the cannon poking out between the shell.

[What’s the structure of this thing anyway? Looks like something’s connected...]

ㄴPassing Dwarf) First find the power source. Nothing in the world moves without energy.

ㄴStarlight Lady) Dwarf-nim is right. It’s dead anyway, so tearing it apart should be fine.

Apart from his good dexterity, Grylls seemed weak with machinery as he fumbled around.

Of course, the internal structure of the shell equipped on the hermit crab being surprisingly complex also played a part.

In the end, he had no choice but to receive help from the others in his party.

Ududuk! Ttuduk!

[There are so many wires. If I knew it’d be like this, I should’ve just given it to Dwarf.]

[Where were the wires connected to?]You are reading on novelpin⁠g.com, the official source.

[First, one is towards the head... Wait, is this connected to its brain?]

Since the hermit crab was already half-destroyed, figuring out the detailed structure seemed impossible.

Gareth closely analyzed it while sipping his booze.

’Judging by it, what fired from the cannon seems to be mana... Is it something like a beam?’

Apparently, it used mana as artillery shells.

If the user weren’t a hermit crab but a human, it would exert much greater power.

Of course, knowing nothing of its operating principles, it was pie in the sky.

[Sssba... I really can’t figure this out. Dwarf. Analyze this for me.]

Grylls handed over the minigun to Gareth.

At this, Gareth grinned and began thoroughly analyzing the minigun.

And in less than five minutes, he realized:

"...This material doesn’t exist in this world?"

The constituent material itself was strange.

’What on earth is this place? What kind of place has guns here?’

It was after I handed off the minigun analysis to Dwarf. I resolved to thoroughly investigate this area.

I had caught a hint of it back when I saw the blender with a cord, but this place was littered with objects from the world I lived in.

So I paused the stream for a moment and rummaged through the trash mountain.

A severe stench pierced my nose, but I quietly endured it and kept going.

"Everyone, help me search too. Look for anything with letter-like inscriptions on it."

"Before that, we must kill those guys first. Master."

"Ggururuk. Gguruk."

"Gguruk."

But searching wasn’t easy either. First of all, there were way too many hermit crabs around.

Deciding that I had trespassed into their territory, the hermit crabs swarmed toward us.

Many of the hermit crabs pulled weapons from their shells or just fought normally, so overall it wasn’t too difficult.

Wiiing— Cheolkeok!

However, among them were hermit crabs carrying heinous weapons. Just like the one with the minigun earlier.

The hermit crab I was facing right now was the same. It wasn’t a minigun, but it was a gun with an extremely large caliber.

No. Calling it a cannon rather than a gun wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

The moment I saw it, I shouted to the party.

"Get away from me!"

Taking a direct hit from that would only drag down those nearby.

Soon, a blue light gradually condensed in the hermit crab’s cannon.

Like the minigun hermit crab earlier, it felt like it was firing ’energy’ rather than projectiles.

Kwaang!

Was the tell-tale sign too long?

Right before the energy cannon fired, Lackey quickly darted in and slammed it with his fist.

Thanks to that, the hermit crab’s balance completely collapsed, and the energy cannon fired off in a different direction.

Piyuuung!

Drawing a long blue line, the energy cannon flew off somewhere else.

Judging by its speed, it seemed to hold extraordinary power.

’Reminds me of that turtle I saw before.’

I remembered the time I stole turtle eggs at the beach.

Unluckily, I ran into the mother turtle back then and was in deep trouble.

On top of that, that turtle fired energy cannons from its mouth.

In terms of performance(?), the turtle was far more threatening than these hermit crabs.

Kwazijik!

The hermit crab carrying the cannon was soon crushed to death by Cain’s coffin.

Unlike the minigun, it was crushed beyond retrieval, so I cleanly gave up on it.

[These creatures are almost like looking at myself.]

"What do you mean by that?"

Hearing Cain’s words, I expressed my confusion.

Cain retrieved his coffin and answered my question.

[Just as I control this Dullahan, it feels like they are controlling the machinery on their backs.]

"Mmm..."

It certainly felt that way. Though the structure was different, the principle was similar.

But I had no idea through what process the hermit crabs came to adopt firearms as their shells.

The only thing certain was that the probability of other weapons existing here was extremely high.

Since there were guys equipped with miniguns and cannons, how much more so for other weapons?

’Don’t tell me self-propelled artillery is going to show up next?’

Pushing aside the chilling thought, I rummaged through the trash mountain.

Televisions, radios, computer towers, and more. Objects familiar from Earth popped up one after another.

But these weren’t what I wanted. To be precise, what I wanted wasn’t on these.

’Anything is fine, so please...’

Did my desperate wish reach through?

Rummaging through the garbage while clad in Body-Protecting Gangqi, I found an object.

The object was heavily rusted and damaged beyond recognition, but the lettering was distinct.

I washed off as much rust as possible and checked the text.

[M??E I? ??????]

It was English. Even if slightly damaged, it was clearly English.

The method of connecting to the Gallery, and the trash discarded here...

For unknown reasons, it became certain that the Forest of the Four Seasons was connected to Earth.

’What on earth are these damn gods...’

But apart from the realization, my head grew complicated.

Though I learned that the Forest of the Four Seasons was heavily intertwined with Earth, I couldn’t know anything beyond that.

If I wanted to know details, I’d have to thoroughly search other places besides this one.

I let out a sigh and tossed the object aside randomly.

Ttak!This chapter was taken from novelрing.com without permission.

"Gguruk?"

I tossed it randomly, but it hit a hermit crab climbing the trash mountain.

I chuckled dryly and trudged down the trash mountain. A sudden wave of lethargy washed over me.

’Should I end today’s exploration here?’

The reality hit hard, and my body smelled after digging through the trash mountain.

Returning to the Shelter didn’t sound bad right now. I’d scoop up some Empty Sky Stone Milk on the way back, too.

"Master! There is a weird guy here!"

"What?"

It was while I was trudging along. Lackey shouted that he found a weird guy.

The entire trash area was weird, but since he specifically singled one out as strange, there had to be something.

’Can’t hurt to check.’

Pulling myself together, I headed toward the direction of the ’weird guy’ Lackey found.

Soon after, I realized why Lackey called it weird.

"Ggururuk."

"...A vending machine?"

It was a vending machine. A hermit crab was carrying a vending machine like a shell on its back.

How did I notice it was a vending machine? Simple.

The pictures of beverages drawn on the vending machine were crystal clear. Plus, the names were even written in English.

Rummaging through the trash mountain felt futile now. I didn’t expect it to be right out in the open like this.

"Ggururuk. Gguruk."

Furthermore, this hermit crab, unlike the others, didn’t attack us.

Instead, it flicked its claw, gesturing as if telling us to hand something over.

At a glance, it might feel like a mugger, but that wasn’t it. It pointed to the vending machine with its other claw.

"...Don’t tell me you want food?"

"Gguruk."

"So you’re saying you’ll give me a reward?"

"Ggururuk."

Blinking its eyes brightly, the hermit crab nodded.

Unlike the others, this fellow was very polite.

’What is this, a Yogurt Lady?’

Suddenly, the Yogurt Lady famous for being a neutral NPC came to mind.

Well, even if I get fooled, it doesn’t hurt to give it some food.

I logged into the Gallery, bought random meat, and handed it to the hermit crab.

"Here. Will this do?"

"Gguruk!"

Deciding it was enough, the creature started nibbling on the meat.

Up to here was well within understandable bounds. I was just curious about what comes next.

Soon, having finished the meat, the hermit crab looked satisfied and pointed at the vending machine.

"Ggururuk."

"You want me to press any button?"

"Gguruk!"

"Master understands beast language better than me."

"You be quiet."

I proceeded as the hermit crab instructed.

Of course, since it might backstab me, I didn’t drop my guard.

’Let’s just press a random one.’

Ideally, I wanted to pick soda.

But perhaps because the vending machine was too old, the contents inside weren’t visible.

The letters showing beverage names were the same. Heavy rust covered them all.

’Come to think of it, a vending machine needs items inside...’

Wiiiiiing!

Before I could belatedly realize that fact, a loud noise echoed from the vending machine.

Startled by the sound, I took a couple of steps back.

Just as I wondered if the hermit crab had betrayed me as expected:

Deolkeodeong!

The sound of something dropping inside the vending machine echoed. A familiar sound.

Dumbfounded, I watched as the hermit crab rummaged through the slot with its claw.

Then, amazingly, held in its claw was a drink can!

Did contents remain inside? I wondered, but that wasn’t it either.

"Gguruk."

"Th-thanks."

Because the drink can I received from the hermit crab sparkled like brand new.

I took the drink can in bewilderment.

Whether you can believe it or not, the drink was astonishingly cold.

In addition, clear letters were written on the drink.

’Eye of...’

The name of a drink that sharply divides tastes.

Wasn’t this only sold in Korea? When did it expand overseas?

Blinking in utter absurdity, I spoke to the hermit crab.

"...Friend."

"Gguruk?"

"Could you maybe dispense a different one?"

Rotten luck.

Letting out a dry laugh, I stared at the vending machine mounted on the hermit crab’s back.

’What principle does it operate on anyway? And why does the drink sparkle like it’s brand new?’

It was packed with things I couldn’t understand at all.