I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 335

We shared the drinks given to us by the vending machine hermit crab with the rest of the group.

Since it was a drink that people either loved or hated, the reviews were mixed.

"It tastes like stepping into a place thick with steam."

"That’s a very unique review. What about you, Lackey?"

"My mouth feels cool. But the taste is strange."

"A fitting review."

I chuckled, then gifted the vending machine crab a bit more meat.

When I handed over the meat, the vending machine crab let out a kkururuk sound and pointed at the vending machine.

’I hope a different drink comes out this time. Is there nothing carbonated?’

I pressed the button with a slight sense of anticipation.

As soon as I pressed the button, the vending machine began to make a racket, just like before.

Deolkeodeong!

Before long, the sound of a drink dropping from the vending machine echoed.

The vending machine crab picked up the drink with its claw and held it out to me.

A red color with a familiar pattern. It was exactly the drink I wanted.

’The one I had earlier, and this one too...’

Chiik!

Even as my questions piled up, I popped open the can.

As I popped the tab, a familiar and refreshing sound reached my ears.

Just in case, I took a sniff, and it was indeed the carbonated drink I knew.

Kkulkeok—

"Kiyah!"

The moment I took a sip, I let out an exclamation at the fizzy, stinging taste.

A carbonated drink for the first time in ages. And it was a brand I knew.

’Someone once said that even if Earth perishes, Coca-Cola will still be around.’

In countless apocalypse stories, the value of cola only goes up; it never disappears.

Looking at the state of the vending machine, it was definitely abandoned, but the drinks themselves were completely brand new.

"Try a sip of this. Don’t put your mouth directly on the can, though."

[I’m only asking this now, but is it really alright to drink something like this so carelessly?]

Cain spoke with a highly skeptical nuance. He was right.

In a place overflowing with trash, accepting food—let alone a drink—given by a monster was a sketchy thing to do.

But I, too, had only decided to drink it after examining it thoroughly.

"It’ll be fine. If the can had been damaged or showed signs of age, I wouldn’t have drunk it."

[The can was shining as if it were completely brand new.]

"That’s why it’s so fascinating."

I said so as I handed the cola over to Ludwig.

Ludwig stared intently at the opening of the can before taking a sip.

"Phooey!"

And at the carbonated sensation he was experiencing for the first time, he immediately spat it out. What a waste.

"#$$% @#$$? @#$$#$?"

[What is this? The moment I drank it, my mouth stung... Is it poison?]

"If it were poison, would I have drunk it? It’s just a slightly unusual beverage."

"Mmm..."

Ludwig pondered my words, then took another sip.

Unlike before, he seemed to be forcing himself to tolerate it, but soon his eyes widened.

"It’s good, right?"

"It is a mysterious taste."

It was somewhat funny to hear carbonation described as a "mysterious taste."

Next, I handed all the remaining drink over to Lackey.

"A small explosion is occurring inside my mouth."

"That is a very literary review."

At the same time, it was a highly appropriate description. That’s carbonation for you.

I wondered where to throw away the empty cans, then just tossed them onto the mountain of trash.

There wasn’t any trash can in sight anyway, and everything around us was already garbage.

"Kkyuuu..."

"No. You guys can’t drink this yet."

Perhaps because we had drunk it with such relish,

the little ones looked up at me with sparkling eyes. Their gaze practically begged for just one sip.

But human drinks aren’t good for pets. Especially carbonated ones.

Furthermore, these guys weren’t dogs or cats. They were all creatures straight out of fantasy.

’Then would it actually be fine to give them some?’

Since the owlbear’s base form is a bear, it would likely be fine, and dragons and Nidhogg are mythical beasts.

They probably wouldn’t be affected by most foods.

"I’ll buy some and give it to you when we head back. We don’t really have any bowls either, do we?"

"Kkyuuung."

"Ppiik."

At my persuasion, the little ones reluctantly let it go.

After exploring this place a bit more, we could just find it again on our way back.

With that, I bid farewell to the vending machine crab and moved on.

I only hoped we would encounter more hermit crabs that claimed neutrality (?) like the vending machine crab.

Dumchit— Dumchit— Dumchit—

"Master. What is that now?"

"...I don’t know either."This chapter was copied from novеlping.com without permission.

We did meet one. A hermit crab carrying an amplifier on its back instead of a vending machine.

Rather than an amplifier, it was a machine that played music. As a bonus, other hermit crabs were gathered around it in a huddle, dancing.

A video I had seen in the past came to mind. Crabs on a beach dancing merrily to a song.

It felt exactly like watching that, and I was so dumbfounded that I was speechless. The only certain thing was that this one was also neutral.

’Are the machines really controlling the hermit crabs?’

I passed by the hermit crabs that were in the middle of their dance party.

If nothing else, the vending machine and the music machine were tempting, but there was no good in messing with them for no reason.

The most important thing was finding out where this place was.

Title) Hermit crabs are dancing

Wild Grylls

(Video of hermit crabs dancing to the beat)

Saw some hermit crabs dancing on my way.

They’re grooving to the sound coming from the shells, it’s lowkey cute lol

ㄴHeavenly Demon) Are hermit crabs originally creatures that enjoy songs?

ㄴSword Matstar) How could that be? Those guys are just weird.

ㄴBe careful. If you keep listening, you might get possessed and start dancing too haha

ㄴWtf they aren’t Sirens, how would that even be possible lmao

ㄴIn all my years, this is the first time I’ve seen a hermit crab singing like a Siren lol

ㄴAren’t they playing a song rather than singing it?

ㄴEither way, they lured him in hahahaha

ㄴPassing Dwarf) Why aren’t you going over to dance with them?

ㄴWild Grylls) Why should I? Just go analyze the items I gave you.

ㄴPassing Dwarf) I’m planning to do that slowly haha

ㄴPraise the Sun) In the first place, if Grylls joins in, there’s no one to film him, right?

ㄴWild Grylls) Come to think of it, you’re right?

ㄴLook at his IQ level lmao

Regardless of that, I couldn’t resist browsing the Gallery. How could anyone resist that?

I posted the dancing hermit crabs on the Gallery and kept moving.

Every now and then, there were hermit crabs that rushed at us, and others that didn’t.

As this process repeated, I was able to realize one fact.

’The ones carrying weapons have nasty tempers.’

The ones equipped with firearms attacked us with a 100% probability.

To be precise, they attacked whenever we approached, and they seemed to decide to attack based on distance. It appeared that each hermit crab had its own territory.

However, apart from having territories, there were also those that did not attack.

The prime example was the vending machine crab. That fellow had actually urged us to trade with him.

[I am not sure whether their aggressiveness was amplified because they possessed power, or if it is the other way around.]

Just as Cain said, there were many highly significant aspects to this in various ways.

In the first place, the very idea of machines and hermit crabs merging made no sense.

It wasn’t as if the machines operated by using life force as an energy source; it was just a bizarre method.

After that, as we made our way through the trash area while encountering all sorts of hermit crabs,

"This is..."

"It looks... like a building. Master."

We managed to discover some kind of building.

It was a building characterized by its flat shape, and a worn-out iron door was attached to the center.

At first, I couldn’t recognize what kind of building it was, but soon I was able to realize.

’It looks like a bunker?’

Looking only at its appearance, it looked like a bunker or a shelter.

Just as I tilted my head, wondering why such a thing was here, Ludwig spoke up.

"It is a dungeon."

"Pardon?"

"A dungeon."

Ludwig, calling a bunker a dungeon. Hearing those words, I stared at the entrance.

With its gloomy appearance, it did look like a dungeon to someone from a fantasy world.

But to anyone else, this was clearly an abandoned bunker or shelter.

"And an ancient ruin at that."

"...An ancient ruin?"

"There may be relics inside."

"..."

Ludwig kept spouting words that were hard to make sense of.

Wondering if this was truly correct, I looked at Cain.

[I have never seen an ancient ruin before.]

"Mmm..."

Then I had no choice but to ask the Gallery.

It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Ludwig, but since it was so far removed from my common sense, I wanted to compare.

Title) What is this place?

Wild Grylls

(Photo of a tattered bunker entrance)

Ludwig ahjussi says it’s a dungeon, specifically an ancient ruin. Is that right?

ㄴHeavenly Demon) If it is an ancient ruin, I understand it to be a place where rare relics reside.

ㄴSword Matstar) Just looking at its appearance, it seems correct? I heard that most entrances to ancient ruins are made of iron doors.

ㄴDungeons are usually hideouts where monsters form colonies, but ancient ruins do look like that.

ㄴThere were ancient ruins in the Forest of the Four Seasons too?

ㄴThey exist on the outside, so why wouldn’t they be in the Forest of the Four Seasons?

ㄴWhere was the place where an ancient ruin was recently excavated?

ㄴThere are many ancient ruins around Setan. Quite a few are buried in the sand.The source of this chapter is nove⁠lping.com.

ㄴYeah, plus there are probably tons of high-quality Mana Stones in ancient ruins, right?

ㄴThings like the Subspace Backpack also came from ancient ruins.

ㄴStarlight Lady) Please be careful. I heard that Guardians are always waiting inside ancient ruins without exception.

ㄴI heard those Guardians are all insanely strong.

ㄴBesides Guardians, don’t other monsters occasionally live there?

ㄴIf so, you’ll get to see those monsters using all kinds of relics lmao

ㄴDidn’t a monster using a relic appear in the Cantata Estate before?

ㄴAsh totally wrecked them.

ㄴThat’s why an investigation is currently underway.

Most of the reactions agreed that it was indeed an ancient ruin.

They also said there were many mysterious items inside ancient ruins.

The Subspace Backpack that Allfather had gifted me before was an example of that.

’By the way, Allfather seems to be very busy.’

He wasn’t the type of gentleman to pass over something like this, so his silence felt strange.

I looked through the Gallery to see what to watch out for when entering ancient ruins.

First of all, countless traps lurk inside ancient ruins.

Therefore, it was common to bring an expert along, but I couldn’t do that.

’At least it’s a comfort that I can detect danger in advance with my Eye Lantern.’

Other than that, another point of caution was not to touch suspicious objects carelessly.

Touching them might activate some device. If that happened, the space itself could get completely jumbled up.

In the worst-case scenario, a self-destruct system could be triggered, leading to total annihilation.

’Should I not go?’

If I had multiple lives, I would enter, but it was too dangerous.

But the clue I wanted might be inside this place.

A clue that the Forest of the Four Seasons was deeply intertwined with Earth. Even if it seemed crazy, I had no choice but to do it.

I let out a long sigh and spoke to the group.

"Let’s all check our equipment. Also, since it’ll be difficult for Largo to enter, I think he’ll have to stay outside..."

While the cave had a high ceiling that allowed Largo to enter, this bunker was too low.

Therefore, it seemed like at least one person would have to stay with Largo.

"Ludwig ahjussi, you should stay with Largo..."

Kugugugugu—

Just as I was about to speak, the ground suddenly began to shake.

Up until now, I had never seen anything good happen whenever the earth shook.

To make matters worse, the vibration was echoing when we had barely even approached the bunker?

This meant there was a very high probability that something was sleeping beneath the bunker.

The big data I had accumulated up to this point told me so.

"Everyone, get back!"

I shouted to the group as I backed away from the bunker.

Indeed, the bunker shook the most violently, and it was floating upward ever so slightly.

Deodeodeodeo!

Soon, the ground tore open, and the bunker soared high into the sky.

From beneath the towering bunker, a colossal hermit crab revealed itself.

Even if it wasn’t as big as the giant crab by the lake near the Shelter, it was still of an immense size.

A size that made the queen spider we witnessed in the cave today look like ’nothing.’

"Kkururuk."

The giant hermit crab, carrying the bunker on its back, looked down at us.

I shrank back step by step, watching until the hermit crab made a move.

If we acted rashly and provoked hostility from the hermit crab, it would become dangerous.

For now, avoiding a fight as much as possible was the best policy. There was nothing to gain from fighting needlessly.

"Kkururuk."

The giant hermit crab stared at us intently while making its characteristic sound.

I wondered if it would end with just mutual observation.

Wiiiiiiing! Until a harsh siren sound echoed from the bunker.

As if sounding an alarm, the siren wailed loudly.

I briefly wondered, ’Was there a siren on the bunker?’ but that thought was short-lived.

[Who.]

"...?"

[Are. You?]

I couldn’t help but be astonished by the voice echoing from the bunker.

"Who are you." If that was English, it was a question asking who we were.

The giant hermit crab was speaking by borrowing the functions of the bunker.

"Did that thing just... speak?"

"Master. It is bizarre."

"..."

I couldn’t answer. I was just as shocked as they were.

I wondered what to do in a situation like this. Should I answer in English, or should I just answer honestly?

But I realized too late that even those thoughts were too slow.

Because.

[Get. Out.]

Seueuk—

As the giant hermit crab slowly raised its claw,

[My. Home.]

it slammed it straight down.