I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 442

The sight of countless flame moths coming together to form a single giant entity.

Beautiful and completely defying common sense, the spectacle felt almost like a boss introduction cinematic in a video game.

But it was as threatening as it was beautiful. With a single powerful flap of its wings, it scattered a storm of fire.

"Lackey!"

Just before the giant flame moth flapped its wings, I yelled out to Lackey.

It was because my accumulated survival experience sensed the ominous foreboding in advance.

Sensing instinctively that this was no ordinary situation, Lackey urgently cast a spell.

Kwaaa!

Lackey tightly clenched his left hand, which was wearing the Mythricon Gauntlet.

At that moment, a translucent shield generated around us. The flame storm crashed against the shield and vanished into nothingness.

Meanwhile, I pulled out my bow and arrow and waited for the flames to clear. When the fire finally parted—

Paang!

I fired an arrow straight at the giant flame moth. Matching my tempo perfectly, Lackey deactivated the shield at just the right moment.

The fiercely speeding arrow struck the giant moth’s torso dead center.

Kwaaang!

Since the arrow was infused with aura, a massive explosion erupted immediately upon impact.

Given its massive size, it made for quite the easy target.

Along with the explosion, the flame moth shattered into pieces and scattered in all directions, sparks showering everywhere like bursting fireworks.

Paseuseu—

However, the flame moth didn’t die. It had merely split back into individual units, just like when we first saw them.

The divided organisms clustered together once more, returning to their colossal form. Watching this, I clicked my tongue.

’What kind of ridiculous creature is that?’

Just when I thought I had grown used to the Forest of the Four Seasons, nope. Not at all. Bizarre and outlandish monstrosities were endless here.

In the meantime, the giant flame moth spread its wings wide and soared high into the sky.

Before long, the beast sped directly over our heads. Scattering glowing embers as it passed was an added bonus.

But these weren’t simple embers. Though they glowed like fiery sparks, they were practically a fine powder.

Paang!

Casting magic would be too slow. Thus, Cain and Ludwig stepped up this time.

Since both were highly accomplished swordsmen, whipping up a powerful gust of wind was a piece of cake.

As the two swung their swords simultaneously, a whirlwind blew outward in all directions, driving the fiery powder away.

Pubeobeobeong! Pubeobeong!

Before going very far, the airborne powder detonated into a cascade of minor and major explosions.

Had we inhaled that powder, explosions would have detonated inside our bodies, inflicting catastrophic injuries.

Judging by the gunpowder-like stench drifting through the air, its explosive power seemed considerably destructive. Add to that the scorching heat pressing down on us with every breath.

’I have to stop that thing from splitting apart somehow...’

The giant flame moth glided leisurely above our heads.

I wasn’t entirely sure why the creature was attacking us, but it was undeniably an enemy.

What was far trickier was its division and fusion. Even after taking my strike, it had merely split apart with no apparent major damage.

"...Lackey. Can you prepare a spell similar to a water cannon?"

"Preparation is possible."

"Then fire when I tell you to. I’ll try to bind that guy down."

Well, we had to do whatever we could first. I instructed Lackey to prepare his attack.

Next was Cain. Besides me, he was the only one here associated with cold energy.

To be more precise, it was the chain of the coffin flail he wielded. If we bound the moth with that chain, a way to defeat it would present itself.

[And how do you plan to tie down that moth?]

Hearing Cain’s question, I picked up a tree branch nearby.

Jjeojeok!

Freezing the branch solid with frost energy created a surprisingly plausible ice spear.

This ought to keep it in check to some degree. Of course, the real offensive strategy fell on Cain and Lackey.

Peolleok!

The giant flame moth flapped its wings and showered flames down. It was the same attack pattern as before.

In response, Lackey instantly deployed a shield and blocked it. For a bug, its attacks were predictably monotonous.

The instant the shield cleared, I hurled the ice spear. To be fair, I hadn’t practiced spear throwing all that much.

But given the moth’s massive size, throwing it roughly was still enough to score a direct hit.

Kwaak!

[Kiiieeeek!]

A reaction completely different from earlier manifested. When the ice spear embedded itself, the monster let out a painful shriek.

The fact that it couldn’t even split apart like before made it abundantly clear that it was extraordinarily vulnerable to cold.

"Lackey! Fire now!"

"Shui Pao!"Follow the newest chapters on novelping dot com.

Puaaaa!

A powerful stream of water blasted forth from Lackey’s Mythricon Gauntlet.

Just by the sound alone, one could tell the water pressure was intensely fierce. Any ordinary beast hit directly by that would lose its senses instantly.

Kwaaaa!

[Kieeeek!]

Taking a direct hit from the water cannon, the giant flame moth screamed in agony.

However, because the force of the water cannon was so intense, the bug got knocked back too far. The saving grace was that it slammed right into a massive tree.

"Cain-ssi! Now’s your chance!"

[Hmph!]

Chwareureuk!

Cain galloped forward on his horse and swung his coffin flail.

His goal wasn’t to smash the moth with the coffin itself, but to bind it fast with the attached chain.

Chiiiiik!

Thick white steam billowed off the iron chain. It seemed the flame moth’s heat was no joke either.

If that chain broke for no good reason, there would be no way to fix it. I immediately threw a rapid succession of ice spears.

Since these were spears I had crafted in advance while Lackey and Cain were acting, throwing them carelessly was more than enough.

Kwak! Kwaak!

Wings, face, torso, and more—the ice spears impaled themselves all over the flame moth’s body.

Even in this critical moment, the moth failed to split apart at all. It could only squirm helplessly like a pinned specimen.

However, the ice spears were melting at a rapid pace, and Cain’s iron chains were turning glowing red.

Wasting no time, I charged forward and drove the aura-infused Sword of the Heavenly Demon right into it.

Jjeojeojeok! Jjeojeok!

The moment I activated my frost energy, the moth’s body gradually began to freeze over with ice.

At first, the ice melted faster than it froze, but that didn’t last long.

Jjeojeojeojeok! Jjeojeok!

Shortly after, the moth’s entire body froze solid. Honestly, calling it a flame moth felt almost embarrassing now.

Because the blazing flames that looked ready to incinerate everything had completely extinguished. Thanks to that, we were able to witness the creature’s true form.

"This is..."

[It looks like maggots.]

Just as Cain said, it looked like a squirming mass of maggots lumped together.

To put it simply, even the individual split moths were composed of clusters of tiny crawling bugs.

It made little logical sense, but... it was the Forest of the Four Seasons, so I brushed it off.

Trying to make sense of things in this place was only a losing game. It was better to leave the analysis to someone else.

Kwajik! Kwaak!

I chopped the frozen giant moth into fine pieces and stomped on them with my boots. The rest of the group joined in as well.

Crushing them underfoot one by one like this would leave them zero chance of reviving. Tedious as it was, it was the best method.

Having thoroughly dealt with the giant flame moth, we moved forward once again.

Fortunately, aside from the flame moth, we encountered no other beasts worth mentioning.

"Master."

"What?"

"It is too hot."

Instead, the weather grew so sweltering it felt as though we had stepped inside a giant steamer.

Even with me acting as a walking natural air conditioner, even that was barely enough.

On top of that, the rate at which my mana was draining kept accelerating.

The temperature was bad enough, but the humidity was no joke. It felt just like midsummer back in the Republic of Korea.

"Bear with it a little longer. If it looks like a dead end, we’ll head back right away."

"...Understood."

"If it’s really unbearable, shear off your fur."

"I would rather not."

Lackey was struggling extra hard because of his thick coat of fur; the rest of us could still manage.

Just look at Ludwig. The man was dripping with sweat, yet he hadn’t even stripped off his upper garments and was stubbornly enduring it.

"That is because that person is unusual. Master knows his personality as well."

"Let’s just say he values principles like a proper soldier."

"In other words, he can be described as stubborn and rigid."

[Sword Matstar]: Just because someone’s a soldier doesn’t mean they’re all like Ludwig. Most of them try to slack off whenever they can.

[Don’t Abandon the Hero]: Ludwig-seonsaengnim has always been like that! He’ll probably stick to that until he collapses!

Hearing Asella’s chat message, I realized I needed to keep a close eye on Ludwig.

He was already extraordinarily patient as a Paladin, but Ludwig’s personal disposition was especially stubborn in that regard.

Well, it was precisely thanks to that personality that he had managed to adapt without major trouble so far.

Swaaaa!

As we traveled further upstream, the river’s current surged much faster. Its width narrowing bit by bit was an added detail.This story is hosted at novelping . com.

What was most astonishing was how steam billowed off the surface like hot spring waters.

’Is there a volcano up ahead or something?’ I couldn’t help but wonder.

’The steam is one thing, but the water itself looks weird...’

How should I put it? It looked almost like shimmering, undulating flames.

It sounded absurd, but it seemed as though water and fire had somehow blended together into one.

Though my wording was strange, this description was the best my vocabulary could manage.

When we finally reached the end of the upper river, a mind-boggling scene met our eyes.

"...Last time it was an Inverted Waterfall."

[How typical of the Forest of the Four Seasons.]

Cain and I muttered in dumbfounded voices.

The rest of the group threw in their two cents as well, though most of their reactions were filled with sheer awe.

Standing right in front of us was a waterfall. Not a waterfall flowing upward like the one we saw back then.

Hwareureuk! Hwareuk!

It was fire. From high above, literal flames were ’cascading’ downward.

The sight was so overwhelmingly surreal that my brain briefly stalled out.

Seeing molten lava flow would have felt far more realistic than this.

What kind of structure could possibly cause formless fire to plummet like a waterfall?

[Allfather]: This... is beyond my ability to explain.

[Starlight Lady]: A waterfall with reversed gravity would be preferable. At least that’s just inverted gravity.

Even the brilliantly knowledgeable Allfather and Starlight Lady couldn’t easily explain this phenomenon.

Just what on earth had transpired here to create a waterfall of pure fire?

Questions swirled, but caution was necessary. One wrong step, and a ruler-level monster like the one from the Inverted Waterfall might pop out.

"Master. Are we going up?"

"No way."

Like hell I would scale that. The height of the waterfall might be relatively low, but the risk was far too high.

There was no telling what lurked up there, and scouting ahead was virtually impossible.

"Master. Try throwing an ice spear at it once."

"Why?"

"I am curious how quickly it will melt."

Listening to Lackey, I looked toward the fiery waterfall.

The fiery cascade glowed a vivid, brilliant scarlet. Even with my frost energy, enduring that direct heat would be tough.

Still, as Lackey suggested, testing it out couldn’t hurt. So I picked up a nearby tree branch.

"Master. Throw a log instead. That is better."

"Should I?"

"Throwing something small will barely make a dent."

I wasn’t sure if that idiom applied here, but he made a fair point.

I snapped a nearby tree, then froze the entire trunk solid into a massive ice log.

Hoisting it up easily, I hurled it toward the waterfall with all my strength.

"Heave-ho!"

The frozen log rocketed toward the fiery waterfall.

Normally, it should have slammed right into the rock face hidden behind the cascade...

Ssuuk!

Strangely, the frozen log passed completely through the waterfall without stopping. I tilted my head in confusion.

Was the fire so blisteringly hot that the ice instantly evaporated? But for that to be the case, it went inside way too smoothly.

"Master. Inside there..."

"Hold on a second."

I grabbed another log and threw it in quick succession.

Every single time, the log passed cleanly through to the interior of the fire waterfall. A puff of steam billowed out, but that only lasted a brief instant.

Confirming it not just once, but multiple times, it clicked in my head. There was a cavernous space right behind that waterfall.

’...A hidden room behind a waterfall? Isn’t that a trope that only happens in video games?’

Feeling slightly dumbfounded, I asked the regular gallery users.

[Sword Matstar]: A hidden space behind a waterfall? That’s common sense.

[Allfather]: It is quite common for gold and treasure to be hidden behind waterfalls.

[Don’t Abandon the Hero]: I’ve seen that tons of times in adventure stories too!

[Passing Dwarf]: Isn’t that where people host drinking parties?

Apparently, it was common knowledge in this world.

At first, I wondered if they were just pulling my leg...

[Heavenly Demon]: Usually, behind a waterfall is where secluded masters hide secret manuals. Or undergo closed-door cultivation.

When even the Heavenly Demon chimed in to agree, I couldn’t bring myself to dismiss it.