I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 469

A mutant fish reeled in the instant I used the Golden Earthworm.

An appearance and size reminiscent of an ocean sunfish. Human arms and legs exuding sheer grotesqueness.

I’ve encountered countless monsters so far, but this one felt like it was far beyond that category.

How should I put it? It felt like encountering one of those yokai that appear in Zhongyuan.

Monsters and yokai are virtually the same thing, but people around here consider yokai to be of a higher tier.

To be exact, they’re somewhere between a monster and a spiritual beast. Too ferocious like a monster to be called a spiritual beast, yet possessing unique abilities beyond an ordinary monster.

Why am I bringing this up? Because that sunfish with arms and legs just used a unique ’ability.’

"Kkiyoo-ot!"

Pu-a-ak!

The reeled-in sunfish didn’t fall to the ground. It just floated in midair while hooked on the fishing line.

Even worse, when it spread its two arms in a bizarre pose, streams of water surged up from the river.

Matching the freezing winter, those water streams cooled down rapidly into ice. Yet, the creature controlled them effortlessly.

Deureureureuk!

Pillars of ice swirled and plunged down toward us. It was like a giant drill plunging into the earth.

I was about to drop the fishing rod in panic, but stopped and looked at the creature floating in midair.

The fishing hook was still caught in its mouth. If I let go carelessly, there was no telling what might happen.

’It’s fine even if I can’t use one hand.’

If I manipulate the fishing rod properly, I can restrict its movements.

They have only one, while we have an entire party. If we tackle this methodically, we hold the overwhelming advantage.

Kwagagagaga!

The ice pillar, spinning like a drill, drove straight into the ground.

Its force was immense—enough to scoop out deep craters in ground frozen solid by the harsh winter.

I could endure a direct hit, but the others would be in danger. They surely knew this as well.

Pu-a-a-ak!

After that, multiple clusters of ice pillars shot towards us.

The companions dealt with them in their own ways, shattering or dodging the ice pillars.

They were coping in their own way, but targeting the sunfish proved difficult.

Gkwaak!

So I yanked the fishing rod with all my strength. My current physical strength far exceeds most beasts.

Besides, the sunfish wasn’t on the ground, but floating in midair.

"Gkwoo-ok?!"

It couldn’t possibly withstand the pulling force of the fishing line.

As the line went taut, the sunfish dragged helplessly along in that direction.

It would be great if I could neutralize it like this, but this creature was reeled in with a Golden Earthworm.

Kkiii-ik!

Surprisingly, it grabbed the empty air with the arms attached to its torso, struggling desperately.

I was slightly taken aback, but I had already encountered a goat using Void Stepping before. I could gloss over something of this level.

More importantly, the others needed to attack right now.

"Burn!"

[Hmm!]

Lackey unleashed fire magic through his Mythricon gauntlets, Cain threw his coffin as always, and finally, Ludwig fired Sword Qi, launching long-range attacks at the sunfish.

As long as I held it pinned with the rod, it had no choice but to take the blows defencelessly.

"Kkiyoo-ot!"

But the sunfish wasn’t easy prey either. Kick-stepping against thin air, it spun its body in a full circle.

Whether it had read all the trajectories of the incoming attacks or not, it smoothly dodged every single one. Truly remarkable movement.

’Is it because its body area is tall vertically? Its evasion range is surprisingly good.’

I didn’t panic. A situation of this caliber was well within my expectations.

What mattered more was that it was now their turn to counterattack.

Seemingly thoroughly enraged, the beast began making even flashier movements than before.

"Kkiyoo-ot!"

Stepping into thin air with its two arms, it spun its body like a top. It looked like it was breakdancing.

However, that spinning motion seemed to be an activation movement, as even more water pillars erupted than before.

Chwa-ak! Chwa-ak!

Unlike before, the pillars of water didn’t launch straightforward strikes.

Despite clearly being liquid, they lashed like whips or sliced like razor-sharp blades.

A barrage of attacks lightly defying the laws of physics followed one after another. It was as if a Taoist adept was performing sorcery.

’Is it manipulating the river through specific movements?’

If so, I need to keep pulling the rod so it can’t act freely.

I kept my eyes fixed on the frantically spinning creature, intending to figure out its direction of rotation first.

Soon, I realized it was spinning to the right, and immediately yanked the fishing rod in the opposite direction.

Geu-geu-geu-geuk!

With its strong rotational force and the need to dodge water jets, it was no easy task.

But if I didn’t stop that, we would just get attacked unilaterally.

Especially since the water jets were pursuing us like homing missiles.

Kkiii-ik!

Visibly, its rotation gradually began to slow down.This chapter is updated first at novelping dot com.

Along with this, the power of those fierce water pillars steadily weakened.

"Someone keep it in check!"

"Hmph!"

Chwa-ang!

At my request, Ludwig lightly launched a wave of Sword Qi. His motion looked casual, but the size of the Sword Qi was quite massive.

Soon, the Sword Qi hit the sunfish, but unfortunately, it didn’t do much damage.

Instead, its spin noticeably slowed down. That alone was enough.

I grabbed the fishing line itself, not the rod. Bringing the bastard down was the top priority.

’No matter how high you fly or crawl, you’re just a fish.’

And as expected of a fish, its intelligence wasn’t great either.

Any other monster would try to dislodge the hook stuck in its mouth first.

But since it was also the first time getting caught on a fishhook, it failed to grasp how dangerous this situation was.

"Huuup!"

As soon as its rotational force plummeted, I hauled hard on the fishing line.

For a second, my arm almost got jerked off, but luckily I held my ground. What was truly amazing was that the line didn’t snap.

Such is the majesty of the World Tree Silk received from Let’s Grow Trees. I plan to use this handily elsewhere in the future.

"Kkiyot?!"

Stopped from spinning by external force rather than its own will, the sunfish looked utterly panicked.

I didn’t stop there, wrapping the line round and round my hand. Honestly, this was quite a dangerous move.

If done wrong, the line could slice through flesh and gouge deep, inflicting a fatal wound.

There are corpses halved by piano wires, after all. But I had Body-Protecting Gangqi, so I was fine.

"Hryaaa!"

Real fishing began. I yanked hard on the taut line.

The sunfish began dragging through the air toward me. Even though it was empty space, a kkigik-gkik! creaking sound echoed.

Did the sunfish belatedly realize the hook was the problem? It grabbed the fishing line with its beefy arms.

"Bam! Bam! Bhabhabam! Bambam!"

A full-blown contest of strength began, and Maengkkongi atop my head also sang an urgent song.

Rather than a song, it sounded like some BGM heard who-knows-where. The unexplainable sense of familiarity was a bonus.

Still, thanks to that, I felt energized. I pulled with all my might so the sunfish couldn’t pull any useless stunts.

"Gkwoo-ooo-oo!"

Pu-ak! Pu-a-ak!

It seems to have realized it had no chance in a raw contest of strength.

As the sunfish shrieked, an immense number of water pillars shot up.

Those water pillars spun fiercely like drills and rushed straight at me.

Even so, I silently dragged the sunfish in. I wasn’t fighting alone right now.

Chwa-ang! Chwa-ak!

Numerous beams of Sword Qi swept through the water jets, shooting down most of them. Ludwig’s handy work.

The remaining streams were blocked by Cain raising his coffin or Lackey shielding them.

Even without my explicit orders, each of them faithfully performed their duty.

"Bhabhabam! Bam! Bam!"

Maengkkongi enthusiastically sang to boost my morale.

Singing right above my head, every beat sank straight into my ears.

Thus the tug-of-war continued, and the sunfish was dragged right in front of my nose.

"Puuu!"

Feeling a sense of crisis, it blasted a water cannon from its mouth. However, it targeted Maengkkongi on my head instead of me.

It seemed it tried to divert my attention by aiming for Maengkkongi. But it was fine.

Chwa-ak!

Because we had Bbareumbo as our final bastion. Bbareumbo blocked the water cannon simply by extending his claws.

Having its final desperate struggle thwarted, the sunfish froze in sheer shock. And that was its fatal blunder.

"Huuup!"

The moment I saw the monster right in front of my face, I pulled my arm back.

Belatedly realizing what was coming, it attempted to yank the line away.

Ppagak!

"Ggkwe-e-ek!"

Too damn late, though.

My fist landed squarely on the sunfish’s snout. Simultaneously, the water pillars pressing down on my companions completely collapsed.

Judging by how it was knocked senseless from a single punch, its durability seemed quite fragile, true to its sunfish nature.

In that case, there was only one thing left to do.

"Beat this bastard up, quick!"

Peok! Peok! Peobeobok!

Beat it half to death like a dog on a hot summer day.

In the air, maybe it was something, but once grounded, it was just a giant fish.

My companions and I used our respective weapons to thoroughly beat the flailing sunfish.

"Ggkweek! Ggkwek! Ggkwek!"

It resisted frantically with the limbs attached to its torso, but it was useless.

Besides, since it was a sunfish lying on its side, one set of arms and legs was practically useless.

How long did we thrash it? The sunfish finally went limp and passed out.

"Phew. Phew. Master."This story is hosted at novelping . com.

"What?"

"Are we going to eat this?"

"..."

Hearing Lackey’s question, I looked down at the sunfish yokai.

I hadn’t realized while it was floating, but laid out on the ground, its size was terrifyingly enormous.

Probably because its original base was an ocean sunfish. The problem was whether this thing was edible.

’I mean, it probably is edible, but...’

The limbs on its body were the problem. They weren’t normal-looking either; they were jacked with bulging muscles.

Thick like a gym rat’s arms. Just what kind of evolutionary path did it take to end up like this?

’To an outsider, it looks like a radioactive mutant fish.’

We caught it for now, but do we really have to eat it? Honestly, I just wanted to extract its Inner Core and discard the rest.

But since we frequently had days struggling with food supplies, even throwing this away felt wasteful.

I should butcher it first, then discuss it afterward.

Title: Caught a weird fish

Wild Grylls

(Photo 1 of unconscious sunfish yokai)

(Photo 2 of unconscious sunfish yokai)

(Just a photo of cute Maengkkongi)

I did ice fishing using the Golden Earthworm I got from the mole, and pulled this guy up.

It had all sorts of bizarre abilities, but I managed to catch it.

The problem is, I wonder if this is actually safe to eat. Isn’t it kinda off-putting to eat something with arms and legs?

Re: Heavenly Demon) ’Tis a bizarrely shaped yokai. Looks as if it could perform sorcery.

Re: Wild Grylls) It did perform something similar. It was literally controlling river water!

Re: Heavenly Demon) Yokai mostly possess unique abilities. Word has it that certain yokai can even manipulate the weather.

Re: Wild Grylls) Have you ever encountered one?

Re: Heavenly Demon) They dwell deep within nature, so they are difficult to encounter. Meeting one would not be a bad experience, though.

Re: Sword Matstar) Yokai are just annoying because of their abilities; they aren’t actually that big of a deal, you know?

Re: That’s because those are Western yokai. Eastern ones are on a whole different level.

Re: You’d literally faint if you saw a real Nine-Tailed Fox.

Re: So is it more amazing than Bbareumbo or Lackey over there?

Re: Definitely not LOL

Re: That’s a completely wrong comparison group haha

Re: Praise the Sun) I really hate eating things with human-like limbs. Isn’t Zhongyuan the only place where people eat stuff like that?

Re: Rumor has it that in Zhongyuan, they eat everything with legs except tables.

Re: That’s why their cuisine is diverse, but so are their bizarre dishes.

Re: Grylls-ya. You’re in no position to be a picky eater.

Re: Passing Dwarf) If it’s tasty after you eat it, give me a bite.

Re: Isn’t that an ocean sunfish? I heard it tastes like chicken breast.

Re: Some say it has literally zero flavor at all. That’s why the dipping sauce is crucial.

Re: What are you gonna do with those arms and legs?

Re: What else? Eat them, of course.

Re: How is that any different from eating goblins or orcs?

Re: Those just smell gamey, but they’re surprisingly edible, imo.

Re: Why the hell would you eat that;;; It’s poisonous in the first place, you’d get diarrhea right away;;

Opinions surged back and forth, largely because of the arms and legs.

Many agreed that eating a creature with actual arms and legs, rather than forepaws and hindlegs, was hard to stomach.

However, given my situation, a considerable number advised me to grit my teeth and eat it anyway.

’I’ll just chop off the limbs and eat the rest.’

Even if it evolved bizarrely, a fish is still a fish. A giant fish at that.

Thus, I decided to butcher the sunfish. Once a decision is made, swift action is best.

Butchering a fish of this size was quite a daunting task, but with my party around, we had more than enough hands.

"Ppi-yuung."

"Huh? What’s wrong? Do you want some too?"

In the middle of butchering, Maengkkongi let out a cry from atop my head.

I asked, but no reply came back from Maengkkongi.

Chulpok—

He simply fell limply off my head and plopped onto the ground. I blinked in surprise.

The way he shivered violently was advertising with his entire body, ’I’m cold!’

Come to think of it, this fellow was originally supposed to hibernate in winter. He was extremely vulnerable to cold.

"F-Fire!"

I immediately carried Maengkkongi over to the fireplace.

"Are you alright now?"

"Ppi-yung."

Fortunately, Maengkkongi narrowly averted freezing to death.

’Wait, did he keep singing even while on the verge of freezing to death?’

His professional spirit (?) was truly commendable.