I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 471

The out-of-body experience I underwent every time I recited a new stanza in the Forest of the Four Seasons.

Through those out-of-body experiences, I was able to grasp the location of the World Tree supporting this forest.

The problem was that predicting the exact distance to that World Tree was impossible.

Even when checked during the out-of-body experience, the World Tree was of a remarkably eye-catching scale.

Compared to the size of the World Tree sitting squarely in Alfheim, it might be similar or even larger.

There was no knowing how long it would take on foot; in the worst case, it could take over a month.

The reason I estimated a month was because of the beasts or terrain features we might encounter along the way.

Terrain features were far more problematic than beasts; if there were a massive lake, we’d have no choice but to turn back with tears in our eyes.

Am I crazy enough to build a raft and cross it? There’s no telling what kind of monster lives under the water.

"Sbiria! Vodka! De mineurano!"

Re: Heavenly Demon) ’Tis a grand song. It oddly stirs my blood.

Re: Sword Matstar) Rather than stirring, how should I say... it feels threatening?

Re: Praise the Sun) Why does this make me think of a brown bear?

Maengkkongi singing while waving the four-leaf clover I gave him like a conductor’s baton.

I had no idea where on earth he heard that song, but since it was strangely energizing, I let it slide.

Sometimes during marches, singing military songs heartily happens; they say the rhythm helps make the march feel less exhausting.

Of course, near the end of a march, that loses much of its meaning anyway. Everyone’s too busy walking on the brink of death.

[The lyrics are truly... strange. ’Tis a song worthy of being sung by a conqueror of the continent.]

"Mm... feels like that, right?"

For the record, that song wasn’t an actual military song. It was just a song composed while taking that country’s image into account.

But because the song came out so spectacularly well, people tended to mistake it for an official military song.

’There was no song like that in the jukebox. In other words, he heard it somewhere else...’

Surprisingly, despite his frail appearance, Maengkkongi was highly likely to have roamed all over the Forest of the Four Seasons.

The fact that he collapsed from exhaustion right at our shelter was already a suspicious point.

Coupled with enchanting beasts using incredible vocal ability—he might be a true bard in every sense.

’Is he... a neutral party?’

A renowned bard couldn’t possibly be unpopular. First off, their silver tongue is amazing.

You might ask what silver tongue a frog could have, but there are plenty of highly intelligent beasts in this place.

So they must have understood Maengkkongi’s words perfectly. Singing along as a bonus, too.

From then on, listening to Maengkkongi’s vigorous march, we walked steadfastly forward.

Fortunately, we didn’t encounter any beasts or bizarre natural environments along the way.

The problem was whether we were moving straight. The trees were so dense that my sense of direction felt like it was disappearing.

Thus, I had no choice but to climb trees periodically to check our position.

"Alright, Lackey, off you go."

"Why me?"

"You’re a gorilla."

"Ah. Right."

What do you mean ’Ah, right’? I stared at Lackey with an absurd expression.

Because he acted like a human and lived with humans, he genuinely thought he had become a human.

Of course, looking at his behavior, he wasn’t any different from a human. Still, shouldn’t we strictly differentiate species?

’He won’t actually turn into a human or the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, right?’

Whatever the case, this was the Forest of the Four Seasons, so I could gloss over it.

After all, I myself didn’t possess human-like strength. I had long transcended the human category.

Soon, Lackey climbed to the top of a tree, located the World Tree, and returned.

"Over that way."

"Nothing strange in between, right?"

"I saw something massive. But it’s standing still."

Something massive standing still, huh? That wasn’t a remark to be easily brushed off.

Lackey’s eyesight had improved tremendously. He could easily tell rocks apart from non-rocks.

But considering he generalized it as ’something massive’... it was highly likely a building.

’Is there something like a skyscraper?’

Becoming curious, I looked toward the treetops. I could climb up and check it out myself.

But assuming it would take too long, I passed. Lackey aside, I had no talent for tree-climbing.

’Destroying trees is another story, though.’

Anyway, since Lackey finished checking the position, we walked forward.New chapters come out on NovelPing first.

Maengkkongi’s song, which had snapped off midway, resumed. Looking closely, this guy has incredible quick-wittedness.

Thus, checking our position every now and then while walking, the dense trees began to thin out.

"...It’s a cliff?"

"It is a cliff."

[A cliff, indeed.]

Soon, we faced a cliff that looked literally carved out. Uniquely, it was a pure white cliff.

Looking up at the cliff, I carefully placed my hand on it. Its smooth, non-rough surface was impressive.

Faint as it was, my face was reflected like a mirror. I realized what this cliff was.

’...Is this marble?’

Nothing could be this smooth except marble. I raised my head again.

Although it was a near-vertical cliff, its height wasn’t that tall. Putting in a bit of effort would let us scale it.

Backing up a few paces, I sprinted forward vigorously.

Reaching the brink of the cliff, I leaped with all my might.

Huu-ung!

"Uwah!"

Flustered, I flailed in midair. Perhaps because I used mana, I jumped far higher than expected.

Still, it wasn’t like I failed to land. Flailing in the air actually helped.

Deugureureu—

Right before landing, I instinctively curled up and rolled.

The impact on my body dissipated, and since I used Body-Protecting Gangqi, I took zero damage.

’...It’s flat land?’

Scaling the cliff, only a vast flatland met my eyes. The entire ground was white marble.

Baffled by this for a moment, I looked down at my party below the cliff.

Everyone tilting their heads up looked strangely hilarious.

"Ppi-ik!"

"Ah. You can just fly."

For the record, Tyranno was a hatchling, so he simply flew up. This is why flying is awesome.

I pulled out rope and pitons from my backpack. The rope was bought from the gallery, and I had crafted the pitons separately just in case.

Kka-ang! Kkang!

I brutally hammered the pitons in with my bare hands. Didn’t even hurt.

Hooking the rope onto the piton, I lowered it to the party. Now they could climb up using it.

However, there was a problem: Cain. Not the Dullahan himself, but the horse he rode.

Not just Cain, but Kirin and Largo were also problems, causing me a headache.

"I’ll just tie it to my body and haul them up."

[A truly simple yet brute-force method.]

"Still, it’s the easiest way, isn’t it?"

Cain nodded as if agreeing. Thus, using that delightfully simple method, I hauled up the horse and Largo.

This is why a person needs to be physically fit. If your body is good, your head doesn’t suffer.

"That’s something only Master can say."

"Good things are good things."

No need to overcomplicate the situation, so isn’t this great? Training my External Arts over winter yielded great results.

Having hauled the entire party up the cliff, it was time to traverse the vast flatland.

It was a flatland where literally nothing could be seen, desolate to the extreme. So much so that it felt like a desert.

"Master. I see a tree over there."

"Indeed."

The redeeming fact was that far off in the distance, a tree presumed to be the World Tree was visible.

I hadn’t noticed during the out-of-body experience, but it glinted with a golden luster.

’It being a golden tree makes me even more anxious though?’

The World Tree at our shelter was a normally pretty tree. But that one glinted like gold.

Usually glowing things aren’t great, but who knows. I’ll figure it out once we get closer.

Deu-deu-deu-deu—

While walking across the flatland, the ground shook faintly. Feeling the vibration, I drew my sword without hesitation.

The other party members also readied their respective weapons. Everyone maintained a vigilant stance.

’...Nothing happened?’New chapters come out on NovelPing first.

But apart from the quake, nothing occurred.

It wasn’t an overreaction. Haven’t bizarre entities popped out every single time an earthquake hit before?

Looking around, I sheathed my sword. There seemed to be no need to fight just yet.

"Ttadadan~ ttada~ ttattatta~"

Maengkkongi’s song didn’t stop either. He has ridiculously good instincts.

The fact that he continued singing despite the quake meant it was highly likely a trivial situation.

’Still, I shouldn’t put blind faith solely in Maengkkongi.’

This was the Forest of the Four Seasons, where anything could pop out anytime, anywhere. The moment I dropped my guard, I’d go straight to the grave.

Looking around, I shifted my steps toward where the World Tree glinted.

At first I thought it was a vast plain, but before long, I realized that wasn’t the case.

"Wow..."

I marveled while staring down at a wide-open ’crater.’ It wasn’t a simple hole.

An immensely vast space was gouged out, as if a meteorite had crashed down.

The difference was that a meteorite crater is natural, whereas this was an artificial hole.

Above all...

"Master. That’s what I saw."

[Is that... a machine? It is gigantic.]

A machine sitting squarely inside that pit. The moment I saw that machine, I realized what it was.

An excavator. A machine commonly used at construction sites or mines.

But that excavator was of a size comparable to a skyscraper.

Even viewing it from a distance, it utterly defied perspective.

’Was that in the United States too?’

I remembered seeing it on the internet. Known as the world’s largest excavator.

I even recalled that excavator moved like a vehicle. Sure enough, it had continuous tracks on the bottom.

Marveling at the excavator for a short moment, I soon realized an uncomfortable fact.

"Sss... Guess we have to cross through there."

To head to the World Tree, we had to go inside that pit.

We couldn’t even bypass it, as the pit blocked the entire path forward.

Was the minor blessing that we didn’t need to use ropes to descend?

Still, the floor was slick, so we went down carefully. Given the sheer scale of the crater, just descending took time.

"It’ll be lunchtime soon, so let’s rest over there."

[Would that not be dangerous?]

"That’s why we need to scout the surroundings."

If we were unlucky, that huge machine might spring to life.

The giant Kraken was like that, and so was the mechanical army that attacked us when we escaped the laboratory.

Fundamentally, machines were not trustworthy. So examining everything thoroughly was the best policy.

Glint!

"Huh?"

Then I noticed something other than marble rolling around on the ground. I picked up the stone fragment.

Unlike the pure white marble, this sparkled differently. Like, how should I put it...

"This is..."

Re: Passing Dwarf) What the fuck, isn’t that Adamantium?

The Dwarf called it Adamantium. But the problem was that it wasn’t raw ore.

It was as if it had broken off from something. Pocketing it for now, I approached the excavator.

And before long, I realized something...

"Why are the blades glittering like that? That’s definitely not ordinary iron..."

Re: Passing Dwarf) Holy shit, fucked up, those are ALL Adamantium too;;

The excavator’s bucket blades were made entirely of Adamantium.

The bucket blades of a giant excavator were made of Adamantium.

And it wasn’t just the giant excavator. All kinds of tools strewn around the area.

Starting from pickaxes to tools commonly used in mining like drills—they were no different.

’...Just what on earth were the ancient gods doing back then?’