I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 443

There was a space behind the pillar—no, behind the waterfall.

Realizing this, I wrestled with a dilemma: whether to head behind that fiery cascade or not.

According to the regular gallery users, there was a high probability that ruins or equivalent artifacts were sleeping within.

If that was true elsewhere, then in a place like the Forest of the Four Seasons, the odds of finding something far more precious were even higher.

’Though it could just be a naturally formed cave.’

Going in couldn’t hurt. If it turned out to be empty or blocked off, we could just back right out.

Thus, I decided to enter the fire waterfall. Naturally, I had zero intention of charging through bare-skinned.

Kwaang! Kwang! Kwang!

"Be careful not to collapse the ground over there."

"Will digging through here work?"

"Ah, yes. As long as the cliff doesn’t crumble, it’s fine."

If breaking through the main path was hard, you simply made another way.

Instead of blasting through the center of the fiery cascade, I carved a tunnel into the adjacent cliff face.

It was a far better solution than trying to freeze the entire fire waterfall solid.

In that manner, we created a passage wide enough for even Largo to squeeze through. The cliff held sturdy without collapsing.

"Let’s go in."

Once the passage was fully carved out, we stepped inside. There were no cave-ins along the way.

Before long, we reached the cavernous space behind the fire waterfall. I glanced back briefly.

The fire waterfall was still pouring down relentless flames. As expected, it was definitely no illusion.

Furthermore, scattered across the floor behind the waterfall were the ice logs I had hurled earlier.

’What on earth could be inside here...?’

Half hopeful and half anxious, I retrieved the Light Crystal Orb.

Soft light spilled from the Light Crystal Orb, illuminating the entire interior of the cave.

It looked like a completely ordinary cave with nothing special in sight. Considering the effort spent digging a tunnel, it was a bit disappointing.

’Still, who knows? There might be something deeper in.’

In all my cave explorations so far, leaving empty-handed was a rarity. I ventured further inside.

All that greeted my eyes were rocks upon rocks. The only notable feature was the ground.

Though I couldn’t tell who maintained it, the floor was smoothly flattened. It was remarkably easy to walk on.

[There are ancient traces, but it seems someone artificially maintained this area.]

"Indeed..."

Just as I was wondering what could possibly lie ahead,

As I walked silently forward, I spotted something up ahead.

"This is..."

"A skeleton, Master."

True to Lackey’s words, there sat a skeleton. A skeleton collapsed face-down.

I tapped the skeleton gently with my sword. Pasasak! With a dry crumble, the bones instantly dissolved into fine dust.

It had clearly weathered away over an immense expanse of time. To make matters worse, humidity here was sky-high.

The fact that it had held its shape at all until now was surprising in itself.

"It’s a given that something is deeper inside."

Even as I spoke, I didn’t drop my guard for a second.

A terrifying monster could be dwelling within. In the absolute worst-case scenario, the entity mentioned by the Flame Horse might be waiting.

The rest of the party seemed to share similar thoughts, as each assumed a battle-ready posture. Maintaining utmost vigilance, we penetrated deeper into the cavern.

Jeobeok— Jeobeok—

In the heavy silence, only the echo of our footfalls resonated.

I quietly activated Body-Protecting Gangqi and pressed onward. Even though we had put considerable distance between us and the fire waterfall, intense heat still pressed against us.

Which meant there was a high probability that something deep within the cave was actively radiating heat.

Whatever it was, extreme caution was paramount.

’Is a real Phoenix actually nesting here?’

Just as anxiety began to well up, we arrived at the end of the cave.

However, it was merely the end of the ’cave’ itself, not a completely walled-off dead end.

"...Is this some kind of back door?"

[It appears to be so.]

Because before us stood a slightly ajar emergency door.

The emergency door was not particularly large. As a result, Largo and Cain’s mount couldn’t fit through.

Which meant someone had to stay behind here. We decided on who would guard the exterior.

[I shall remain behind this time. Even without my horse, passing through that door would prove difficult for my frame.]

After brief deliberation, we settled on Cain staying back. Indeed, the doorway was far too cramped for Cain’s armored form to comfortably squeeze past.

Thus, leaving only Largo and Cain behind, we stepped through the threshold.You are reading on novelpi⁠ng.com, the official source.

Ah, naturally, I didn’t forget to erect frost pillars with cold energy before entering.

Cain aside, Largo would certainly suffer in this heat otherwise.

When we finally crossed past the emergency door, I couldn’t help but freeze in my tracks.

"Why is there power...?"

Surprisingly, electricity was active. How did I know? Because of the lamp near the emergency door.

A bright red indicator light glowed vividly. Even if it was auxiliary emergency power, it was deeply suspicious.

Up until now, almost every ancient ruin we found had been completely depleted of electrical power.

[Allfather]: It’s a long shot, but... could someone be inside?

[Sword Matstar]: Just hearing that sounds terrifying!

[Starlight Lady]: Given how many people have entered the Forest of the Four Seasons, it might not be entirely impossible.

[Don’t Abandon the Hero]: Could it be Lady Aris?!

[Praise the Sun]: Hey, don’t get ahead of yourselves already, just watch.

Someone might actually be inside. At that thought, I swallowed nervously.

It felt nearly absurd, yet it wasn’t outright impossible either.

Just look at Ludwig and Gu-chil. Both were living and adapting just fine.

Provided basic conditions were met, residing inside wouldn’t be overly difficult. We also needed to discover the power source.

Exchanging looks with my companions, I carefully stepped past the emergency door. Beyond it, a long corridor came into view.

"..."

"...Remains, I see."

Astonishingly, the hallway was littered with bones—human remains, to be exact.

Because the bones were soaked in moisture, a musty odor hung in the air. Still, it wasn’t suffocatingly foul.

What tragic incident had transpired here to leave things in such a dismal state? Curiosity mounted.

’Is this Lady Aris’s doing too?’

It was still impossible to gauge the exact era. As demonstrated by the ancient ruins carried by the hermit crab monster,

Comparing those ancient ruins with the subterranean lab revealed a significant gap in time.

Therefore, determining whether this dated back to when Earth’s civilization was intact, or sometime after, was our top priority.

Deureureuk— Dalgeurak—

I shoved the human remains into the corners to clear a path. Clearing them out individually was too much hassle.

Furthermore, the moment my boot nudged them, they turned to white powder and scattered. As mentioned earlier, long-term exposure to dampness had made them extremely brittle.

Reaching the end of the corridor, I caught a vague glimpse of the facility’s interior.

"W-what on earth is..."

No, let me correct that.

Rather than the facility as a whole, it was the sphere sitting right at the center that commanded attention.

A sphere radiating intense orange heat, looking for all the world like a mini sun, caught my eye first.

While I gaped in utter shock at the orb’s existence, the others chimed in.

"It resembles a sun."

"We can turn off the light orb now, Master."

Ludwig gave a calm appraisal, while Lackey offered a pragmatic observation.

Hearing their words, I hastily snapped back to my senses. Then, I immediately activated my Eye Lantern.

Beonjjeok! Beonjjeok!

I flashed my Eye Lantern just in case, and sure enough, it confirmed my suspicions. That sphere was emitting a staggering amount of light.

It was the most powerful radiance I had ever witnessed. Meaning the mana sealed inside was beyond imagination.

[Allfather]: Merciful Aragon. What am I looking at right now? An artificial sun?

[Starlight Lady]: Rather than an artificial sun... it looks like a replica. It appears to be discharging its own independent mana...

[Sword Matstar]: Is something like that even possible through science or magic?

[Smart Demon]: They had tech like this and STILL went extinct? What the hell happened back then?

[Passing Dwarf]: Feels like they got too advanced and destroyed themselves.

The gallery regulars were equally astonished by the sphere, presumed to be an Artificial Sun.

Staring at the orb for a long moment, I turned my head to inspect the surroundings.

Surrounding the sphere were rows of circuit boards and control panels of unknown purpose.

They appeared to be machinery meant to regulate the energy output of that sphere.

"...First, let’s check if there are any records. Can everyone handle the heat?"

"It is hot, but manageable."

"I can endure it as well."

Fortunately, everyone seemed capable of moving around. Though sweating profusely, keeping hydrated would prevent any major issues.

Still, staying close to me provided relief due to my cold aura. Thus, we stuck tightly together as we explored.

As a rule, we avoided getting too close to the Artificial Sun. Getting near it felt inherently dangerous.

"Master. Look at this."

Just then, Lackey pointed toward something. I looked in the direction he indicated.

A hologram was displayed in the air, bearing unfamiliar English text.

I only knew basic English words, being practically illiterate in the language, so I couldn’t read it at all.Get faster updates on NovelPing.

"Lackey. Do you know what this says?"

"It says ’UNCONTROLLABLE’."

"Hmm..."

What a relief that Lackey had been studying English whenever he got the chance. Hearing his translation, I glanced over at the Artificial Sun.

Could the reason the Ash Zone ended up in such a ruined state be because of this Artificial Sun?

The possibility was high; otherwise, the entire regional environment wouldn’t have been utterly devastated like this.

But I had no idea how to operate it. Tampering with it recklessly would only invite catastrophe.

’By the way, the ceiling is completely wide open.’

Looking up, instead of a solid ceiling, I was surprised to see the open sky.

What should have been the cavern roof was violently blown apart, leaving behind only jagged ruins. Something major must have gone wrong.

From then on, I searched for other clues. Regrettably, I found almost no meaningful traces.

"There is a playback device here as well."

"Great."

Except for one thing: a video recording orb.

Taking the recording device from Ludwig, I tapped the screen.

Immediately, a hologram projected into the air, just as had happened before.

[Wiiing! Wiiing! Wiiing!]

[#$%%#!!]

[#%%%$%! @#$%!!]

[#$%%%!!]

The moment the video initiated, harsh warning alarms blared into our ears.

Following the alarms came the frantically panicked voices of people.

Furthermore, the focal point of the recording was the very Artificial Sun standing before us. It writhed violently, as if on the verge of exploding at any second.

[Kwagwagwang!!! Kwaaaang!!!]

The outcome was gruesome. A blinding white flash erupted from the Artificial Sun, completely enveloping the entire surrounding territory.

The camera perspective switched, showing not the interior of the lab, but a wide view of the outside world.

Unlike the current scorched Ash Zone, the exterior was once a lush, verdant forest. The problem was...

[Kwaaaang!]

A single explosion of the Artificial Sun incinerated every last inch of it.

Just like the Chernobyl disaster, the entire region was reduced to a desolate wasteland.

If Chernobyl was buried in radiation, this place had been swallowed by catastrophic flames.

Like Icarus, whose wings melted when flying too close to the sun, falling to his demise, these people had suffered a strikingly similar fate.

’Whew... Except for it not being nuclear fusion, this is the exact spitting image of Chernobyl.’

Actually, it was worse than Chernobyl. At least Chernobyl had some semblance of clean-up efforts afterward.

But here, not even a token effort at containment was made. It was utterly irresponsible.

Or perhaps war broke out right before they could clean up. Either way, there was plenty to ponder over.

"We got some valuable information. Now let’s..."

Just as I was about to suggest heading back,

Peolleok! Peolleok!

An ominous flapping sound echoed down from the ceiling—no, from the open sky. I raised my head upward.

At first, it was merely a tiny speck against the gray, overcast sky.

Swaeaaaeak!

But that dot grew rapidly larger until—

[Kieeeeeek!!!]

Letting out a harsh, piercing shriek, it plummeted straight toward us.

Startled out of my wits, I hastily readied my weapon. The others did the same.

Moments later, the diving entity closed in toward the Artificial Sun.

Teop!

Astonishingly, the entity landed directly atop the Artificial Sun.

That creature was none other than...

"Kieeeeeek!!!"

Hwareureuk!

A hawk engulfed in roaring flames.

No, to be precise, an entity possessing the head of a hawk.

"G-Gryphon?!"

"A Gryphon? Did you say a Gryphon?!"

It was a flaming Gryphon.