I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 390

"Here. These are the books I’m returning this time."

[Confirmed. There are still remaining books.]

"Those still have time left on their due dates. Ah, also, I’d like to extend the due date for the Bible, is that okay?"

[Permissible according to regulations. However, the schedule must be rewritten.]

As I resumed my exploration, I paid a visit to the living wiki, Alex’s Library.

Since I hadn’t gotten back the books I lent to others yet, I planned to return the remaining ones first.

Still, for something with a monstrous page count like the Bible, I extended the period. Ludwig hadn’t finished reading it yet.

"Ah, by the way. That Kraken you warned me about last time. That wasn’t a living organism, it was a machine."

[Interesting. I request that you explain in detail.]

"Well, it was like this..."

I explained what I experienced to Alex.

Alex listened quietly to the story he was hearing for the first time.

"...So, I defeated it. Hearing about it, apparently it had been repelled once before. Do you know Wi Ho-chang?"

[A name heard for the first time. Presumed to be Eastern.]

"To summarize roughly..."

I gave a brief explanation about the figure named Wi Ho-chang.

That he was a mass murderer, had a faction following him, and even fled into the Forest of the Four Seasons.

Besides that, I dug through the Gallery and added several explanations. From my standpoint, it was as objective as possible.

[Summarizing: While Wi Ho-chang was alive, he was merely a terrorist, but currently, it is presumed to have degenerated into a pseudo-religious cult.]

"Spot on."

And when the Heavenly Demon personally pulverized the remnants of the Blood Cult, it completely perished.

However, since one of those remnants, Gu-chil, was residing in the gorilla territory...

The chances of that happening were absurdly low, but if Gu-chil spread the Blood Cult’s doctrine, it would become quite a headache.

"Hey. Lackey. When Wi Ho-chang was alive, did he teach you any doctrines or anything?"

"No. He just taught martial arts and that was it."

"Then if Wi Ho-chang had taught you doctrines, you would’ve followed them to the letter?"

"Probably."

The danger hadn’t changed at all. I was slightly worried.

As a famous philosopher once said, religion is the opium of the people.

Believing blindly in something is hard in itself, but religion makes that possible.

In civilizations where solidarity is key, religion is an inseparable aspect of culture. There’s even history where people fought wars for a hundred years over a single religion.

Exploiting this properly to commit all sorts of atrocities is what pseudo-religious cults do. It’s not called opium for nothing.

"Come to think of it, is there a famous pseudo-religious cult here as well?"

"The Heavenly Demon Cult of Zhongyuan."

Ludwig stated flatly without needing to think about it.

The instant I heard those words, my mind went blank for a moment before I stealthily checked the Gallery comments.

I had turned on the stream as I began exploring. Without a doubt, the Heavenly Demon was watching this too.

ㄴHeavenly Demon) Laughable words. The Divine Cult is not a mere religion, but a realm where a sky exists to embrace the ostracized.

ㄴSword Matstar) Who is that sky?

ㄴHeavenly Demon) This lady.

ㄴSword Matstar) That IS a cult then;;

ㄴSmart Demon) So what’re you gonna do? Subdue us or something? The moment you try, a storm of blood will blow keke

ㄴDon’t Abandon the Hero: Caring for ostracized people is a good thing, but brainwashing them is bad!

ㄴSmart Demon) We never brainwashed anyone. Besides, it’s a place where already abandoned people come. Even if the boss is trashy, it’s livable.

ㄴPassing Dwarf) Does that look like a brainwashed human to you? That’s just an overworked employee crushed by job stress.

ㄴKing Reor) I understand. Ever since humans treated us Demon Race as the Demon King, we’ve been gang-beaten too.

ㄴDon’t Abandon the Hero: That’s because you guys picked a fight first!!

ㄴKing Reor) Hehe

The history of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was quite long. Furthermore, it was ambiguous to treat it simply as a pseudo-religious cult.

Because the Heavenly Demon Cult was a sanctuary for those who were shunned and marginalized.

In order to protect such a place, overwhelming martial strength was required, and they selected their ’Cult Leader’ with utmost care.

"Um... Ludwig-ssi? Do you dislike the Heavenly Demon Cult as well?"

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

[He says he doesn’t particularly dislike them. Only that their object of worship is wrong; judging by doctrine alone, he finds it acceptable.]

Without a doubt, that object of worship had to be Aris.

In that case, which religion did Ludwig genuinely despise? I became curious.

"What about the ones you truly despise?"

"Heretics."

"..."

I had forgotten. This man was also someone with deeply devout faith.

I recalled the difference between heretics and pseudo-cults, then shook my head.

What was important right now wasn’t this, but the exploration ahead.

[Did pseudo-religious cults exist in the world you used to live in as well?]

"There were tons of them."

So much so that almost every country had representative cults.

From my standpoint, where I recoiled at the mere mention of gods, believing in a pseudo-religious cult instead of a normal religion was utterly incomprehensible.

Moreover, back when my days were packed with busyness, I didn’t even have time to blindly follow anything.

’Though I did see an old classmate promoting a cult before.’

He wasn’t a friend, just a guy from the same class back in school. He studied so well he ranked in the top 10 of the whole school.

Yet seeing him fallen into a cult was truly... hard to describe in words.

After seeing that, I realized that knowledge and wisdom were two separate things.

"Ah, right. You said mana was discovered after the war, right?"

[Discovered in the year 2035 AD.]

"And after that, the world went completely to hell."

[Deemed unrecoverable.]

Given an environment close to an apocalypse, the probability that pseudo-cults ran rampant was high.

Even more so when mana, which raised individual physical capabilities to the extreme, was discovered.

I was truly curious what kinds of cults had cropped up.Find the original chapter at novelpin​g.com.

’If even a few records remained, maybe I’d know, but well...’

I left my thanks with Alex and departed the library.

Having finished my business at the library, I just needed to start full-scale exploration.

Soon, passing the area where I had dealt with the motorcycle mimic earlier, I ventured deeper.

The deeper I went, the more moss was encrusted everywhere, and traces of civilization grew faint.

Unlike the village packed with mimics, this place had no moving animals, seemingly turning it naturally into a favorable environment for moss to thrive.

’Living creatures will probably pop up now instead of machines.’

I was just starting to get sick of dealing only with machines for a while.

The motorcycle mimic firing shotguns, the mothership launching self-destructing drones...

Of course, nothing appearing at all was the absolute best. No matter what popped out, the fact that it sucked didn’t change.

"Kkyu! Kkyu!"

"Wonmo. Don’t chase the butterfly."

I barely stopped Wonmo, who had almost strayed off following a butterfly.

Lately, Wonmo’s frequency of causing trouble was increasing, which was troublesome. I’d have to give him a harsh scolding sometime.

"Kkyuu?"

"..."

Yet whenever I saw this cute face, the rising anger melted away completely.

I pinched Wonmo’s cheeks, then put him back down. Fortunately, he didn’t wander off after that.

It was just as we passed through a stretch of forest speckled with moss.

Deolgeureok—

"Huh?"

Something caught on my foot. I looked down.

It was a stark white bone. And not just an ordinary bone, but a human skull.

Except for moss clinging to it, its state of preservation was remarkably good.

’Why is there a skull here? And isn’t this a forest?’

I tapped it lightly with my foot, inspecting the skull.

If a skull was preserved as a fossil, it could easily last thousands of years, but an environment like this was a different story.

Though it might last a few hundred years all the same, most would decompose.

Normally, this skull should have undergone that process as well, so it was odd.

’Even if the seasons change every week...’

It was one of two possibilities: either this skull died not long ago,

or there was a specific reason allowing it to endure for hundreds of years.

Ttak-ttak-ttak—

It was while I was tapping the skull with my foot. Astonishingly, the skull clattered its teeth.

The instant I saw that scene, flustered, I unintentionally put force into my foot.

Kwajik!

"Ah."

I had applied only a tiny bit of force, but the skull shattered into pieces.

I lifted my foot gently and stared down at the fractured skull. Its movement had completely ceased.

[An undead, I see. No wonder it maintained its shape for so long.]

"...Do skulls that become undead stay preserved for a long time?"

[Because mana is contained inside.]

Cain explained straightforwardly. After nodding at his words, I soon harbored a doubt.

Like the Wild Hunt phenomenon previously, and the undead wave caused by it.

Scientifically speaking, these were phenomena that made zero sense.

’Did undead appear on Earth as well?’

If they did, that was terrifying in its own right. Even more so if those undead possessed intelligence.

Could ancient humanity truly explain undead scientifically as well?

Of course, if they couldn’t explain it, they wouldn’t have been able to synthesize ’Holy Water’ either.

"Ahjussi Ludwig. You can craft Holy Water too, right?"

"I can."

"What’s the principle behind it?"

"Imbue divine power into water and it is complete."

"..."

I let out a silent sigh and walked forward. The further forward we went, the more bones there were.

Since there was a high possibility all of these were undead, we smashed them one by one as we advanced.

[Wild Grylls: Hello, Orange Badge-nim.]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: You need Holy Water! Of course I prepared it!]

[Wild Grylls: Uh... thank you?]

[Don’t Abandon the Hero: Remember that I am always watching! Please keep that in mind! If you need help, feel free to ask anytime!]

I also received Holy Water from Asella while at it. Having the Hero as an acquaintance sure came in handy for things like this.

Like that, we advanced while splashing Holy Water evenly here and there.

Chiiiiik!

The skulls emitted a boiling sound the moment Holy Water hit them, then melted away.

At the same time, a foul odor pierced our nostrils. It was enough to make one grimace involuntarily.

"Master. Did you pour piss by any chance? The smell is awful."

"It’s Holy Water. Holy Water."

"So Holy Water smells like piss. Understood."

"You sure say dangerous things casually, don’t you?"

Even though two clergymen were standing right there, he uttered such absurd blasphemy.

It was fortunate that both of them were magnanimous men; otherwise, he would have received a lecture.

ㄴDon’t Abandon the Hero: The smell is terrible, but it’s necessary work! And piss?! It smells way less than the stench of stale urine!

ㄴSword Matstar) We get it, so please calm down;;

ㄴPassing Dwarf) Why are you so mad? kekeke

I was actually receiving a lecture in text form. What a pity Lackey couldn’t log into the Gallery.

"Kkue-ek! Kkuek!"

"Biiik!"This story is hosted at NovelPing.

Perhaps because the stench was growing increasingly vile, the little ones were throwing a fuss too.

Ultimately, when it reached an unbearable level, I personally put gas masks on them.

Since they were animals, their sense of smell would be far more sensitive than ours, so it was an unavoidable measure.

"Master. I am an animal too. Ergo, give me a gas mask."

"No. You are human."

"If I am human, isn’t that a problem in itself?"

"I’m just a beast, so I have no idea what you’re talking about."

"..."

Lackey stared at me with an utterly dumbfounded expression. Naturally, I ignored him lightly.

Before long, passing by the increasingly dense heaps of bones, we arrived at a vast clearing.

"...I didn’t expect this."

[Did the world you used to live in happen to have a group prayer culture as well?]

"It existed, but it wasn’t a mess like this."

The issue was the scenery. Heaps of bones carpeted everywhere, along with a ’cross’ driven firmly into the center.

Skulls hung dangling from that cross as well, surrounded by skeletons kneeling all around it.

It was a sight where one could roughly deduce what had transpired. Not a pleasant sight by any means.

’Surely these aren’t all undead, right?’

Just in case, I splashed Holy Water onto a random pile of bones.

Fortunately, as if they were not undead, no reaction occurred whatsoever.

Even so, the fact that it was an eerie landscape did not change.

"Sssup... Should we just head back?"

"I shall follow your decision."

"What is Ludwig-ssi’s opinion?"

"I believe purification is required. That is my opinion as a clergyman."

An opinion as a clergyman, huh. It was a pretty reasonable stance.

Looking at Cain, he nodded as well. Meaning he shared the same opinion as Ludwig.

It certainly didn’t seem bad to find out what had taken place here.

’Provided we have plenty of Holy Water, that is.’

I received a large quantity of Holy Water from Asella. Enough for each person to use 2 bottles.

With preparations complete, we approached the cross planted in the center.

As we drew closer, we could clearly see what was hanging from the cross.

It was a human. Even the nails driven through the hands were identical.

"It’s not like he’s doing some Jesus cosplay."

[Jesus? Are you speaking of the person written about in the Bible?]

"Yes. That man was hung on a cross."

"I did not know that."

Ludwig spoke in a calm voice.

Unlike his calm voice, a heavy sense of disappointment lingered on his face.

It was the expression of someone who had been spoiled involuntarily, so to speak.

’Was there a passage like that in the Bible too?’

After a brief moment of curiosity, I looked closely at the skeleton hanging from the cross.

The skeleton hanging on the cross was one thing, but the skeletons praying around it were unusual as well.

Becoming corpses right in their praying postures. What on earth had happened?

Dalgeurak—

It was at that moment. The skeleton hanging from the cross twitched.

At first, I thought I misssaw it, but it was not the case at all.

As if detecting our presence, the skeleton twitched its body repeatedly.

Dalgeurak— Dalgeurak—

Its limply drooping head rose and soon stared straight at us.

Then, blue light ignited inside its hollow eye sockets.

[Oh... it’s been a whi...]

Surprisingly, the skeleton clattered its teeth and began to speak English.

However, it was unable to finish that sentence.

Kwajijijik!!!

Because a massive coffin flew through the air and completely smashed the skeleton to pieces.

Cain had smashed the crucified skeleton without asking questions.

[The words of the undead are not worth listening to. There is only purification.]

Ludwig, hearing those words, nodded his head as well.

Just as I realized once more that both of them were hardcore clergymen...

[You have a...]

One of the skeletons praying around the cross began to speak.

It was not just that single skeleton speaking either.

[#$%% #$ #%%]

[#$%% #$ #%%]

The other skeletons were speaking in unison as well. The moment I saw this, I turned to Cain.

[It says it tried to welcome us as new believers after a long time, but that won’t do.]

"Believers? Don’t tell me it thinks it’s some religious leader?"

Simultaneously as I voiced that doubt out loud—

[Praise the Manatology!!!]

[Praise the Manatology!!!]

[Praise the Manatology!!!]

Countless skeletons began repeating in unison. Though they were clearly dead bodies, madness could be felt radiating from them.

Should I call it fanaticism beyond madness? The extreme facets of religion were exposed bare.

[Manatology? Is that the pseudo-religious cult you mentioned?]

"It’s my first time hearing about it too."

Yet it was so absurd because it actually sounded like a cult that would plausibly exist.