I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 550

Several people had warned me that I was being too reckless, that my life could be in danger.

Even if I had grown rapidly stronger recently, this was still the Forest of the Four Seasons. A place where people considered fairly strong in the outside world died like straw.

As for me, though I was barely clinging to life with cockroach-like vitality, that was all thanks to a single ironclad rule.

’If it looks dangerous, run away immediately.’ That was true during the encounter with the master of the Inverted Waterfall, and it was true with the Colossus.

Whenever a situation truly seemed to have no answer, I always fled.

’Put differently, if there’s a breakthrough, I’m willing to give it a shot.’

I gave up on the others because no answer came no matter how much I wracked my brain. But the Shadow Cerberus was different.

As long as it possessed the clear weakness of ’intense light’, there was a chance of victory.

If other abilities popped up along the way, I could just turn tail and run like mad.

"Grrrr."

"What a peculiar creature. Do you not value your life?"

Lackey translated the Shadow Cerberus’s words. Hearing that, I shrugged my shoulders.

Up until now, I had fled many times because I valued my life. That much was certain.

But stepping back when a goal was sitting right in front of my eyes was out of the question.

"If I held my life that dear, I wouldn’t have even come here. Even surviving would have been too much of a struggle."

For pure survival, staying holed up in the Shelter was best.

But to raise my chances of survival even a little, I had to build up my weight class through exploration.

In this contradictory situation, I steadily went out on explorations to build my size and skill.

It was easier to view this as part of that effort. Above all, as I said earlier, the goal was right before my eyes.

"And I want to get the hell out of this damned forest."

"Grrrk."

At my declaration, the rightmost of the three wolves sneered.

The left one was no different. Tilting its head as if asking if that was even plausible.

Finally, the most solemn center one answered in a tone of foolishness.

"Grrr. Arf. Woof."

"Foolish. Once you have set foot in this forest, escaping is impossible."

"How do you know that? Have you even tried?"

I sneered. Even Vanir hadn’t flatly declared it ’impossible’.

It was merely that the probability converged to zero. I was working to raise that probability even slightly.

"I’m going to get outside no matter what. That unnecessarily huge tree over there is part of that effort, too."

Re: Let’s Grow Trees) It’s not an unnecessarily huge tree, it’s the World Tree!

Re: Passing Dwarf) Just read the room and shut up.

Re: Praise the Sun) If Dwarf of all people tells you to keep quiet, keeping quiet is the right move, fr fr.

An elf barged in mid-conversation, but I casually ignored it.

Anyway, hearing my words, the Shadow Cerberus also seemed to recall something and turned its head.

The place it turned its head toward was the World Tree. Could it be that the beast knew what was over there?

"...Grrrk."

"That is what is called foolishness. Human."

"Humans are all like that. Speaking of which, given that you called me a human, you must have met one before? Someone from the outside world? Or an Earthling?"

Flinch!

At the mention of Earthlings, the creature’s body flinched violently. Not just one head, but all three.

At the same time, they narrowed their eyes and glared at me. A chilling aura rolled off them.

Facing that murderous aura head-on, I waited for it to speak.

"You... Who are you?!"

"Huh?"

Something shocking happened. Human words came out of the Cerberus’s mouth.

And not just any words, but English. English was something I could easily understand.

My confusion was brief; realizing that beasts speaking human language were plenty around here, I replied right away.

"I’ve been speaking Korean this whole time, didn’t you notice? Seeing as you replied, you must’ve understood, right?"

"I do not understand human language. I discern intent from intonation and tone. I ask again. Who are you?"

"Park Jong-hyuk."

I boldly stated my real name. A name I hadn’t uttered in a very long time.

The Cerberus mulled over that name carefully, then suddenly crumpled its face in rage.

Just as I began to feel uneasy at its expression, it flew into a rage.

"Nonsense!!!"

Kwaa!!!

It unleashed an ear-splitting roar. Frowning, I raised my arm to block the violent blast of wind.

Looking ahead, their manes were undulating, blazing red hot as if on fire.

Just as I wondered what wrong I had committed, the middle head shouted.

"Do you think I will be fooled! An Earthling would already know how to escape this forest!"

"I-I lost all my memories, so I don’t know...?"

"Do you expect me to believe such a lie! How dare you insult me!!!"

No, wait. What’s wrong with my name? Did it sound like a curse word to him?

Just as my bewilderment turned into sheer absurdity, shadows rippled beneath my feet.

I briefly thought about extinguishing it with Eye Lantern, but an ominous feeling prompted me to step back instead.

Kwajik!

Sure enough, shadows shot out like thorns, threatening to impale me.

Up until now, it had attacked to subdue me, but now it meant it would grant no mercy.

No matter how much I thought about it, I didn’t think I had made a slip of the tongue, but I had clearly triggered it for real.Read this novel at novelрing.com for the best experience.

"Awoo-!!!"

As the central shadow wolf roared toward the sky, the wolves on both sides charged at me.

Instead of running on four legs like beasts, they glided forward like literal shadows.

Siing-

’A sword?’

When the wolves drew near, a strange phenomenon occurred with one of the two.

Instead of rippling shadow in its mouth, it was biting down on a worn, notched greatsword.

It was a bit jarring since it abruptly materialized out of thin air inside its mouth.

That wasn’t all—a weapon sprouted from the other wolf’s mouth as well.

Cheolkeok!

"Oh, shit."

A gun barrel protruded from that wolf’s mouth. Seeing that, I cursed.

Modern weapons popped out every time something happened. What a bizarre neighborhood.

But cursing changed nothing. The battle had already begun.

Peo-eong!

Dark light formed inside the barrel and fired out directly.

It was a shell made of pure mana, not shadow. So dodging it wasn’t difficult.

The problem was the wolf clamping down on the sword. Surprisingly, it rushed at me paying no heed to the destructive power of the shell.

As if physical force meant nothing to a body made entirely of shadows.

Chaeaeng!

The massive greatsword collided with the Sword of the Heavenly Demon. Due to its sheer size, the impact alone sent a sting through my hands.

Contrary to its shadowy body, it clearly possessed formidable physical strength.

"Master! What about me!"

"Take this!"

Fortunately, they were targeting only me. They paid Lackey no mind.

So I tossed the Subspace Backpack to Lackey. The items I prepared in advance were inside.

Lackey pulled items from the Subspace Backpack and began scattering them all over the place.

’I don’t know if I can kill them properly... but neutralizing them should be possible.’

Kwaang!

Another shell fired from the gun barrel. At the same time, the sword-wielding wolf swung its blade.

Having two attacks fly at me simultaneously was no small headache.

Siing!

Above all, the most troublesome part was that physical attacks didn’t work on them.

Even though it had split into three, each individual was huge.

So I tried targeting the legs to break their stance, but even that failed.

Chijijijik!

"Kuaaa!"

Still, it wasn’t as if there were no counter strategy. Namely, Eye Lantern.

Shining Eye Lantern on the shadow caused it to writhe in agony.

It was in so much pain that it abandoned its attack and stumbled backward.

Furthermore, the area scorched by Eye Lantern opened up like a gaping hole, and its recovery was sluggish.

’Intense light is definitely its weakness.’

There was a reason this entire zone had been dark.

That raised even more questions. Why was it pitch-black here when the sky didn’t have a single cloud?

But more than that question, the wolf observing from behind concerned me more.

’What is that guy doing just standing still?’

Standing loftily like an alpha, merely watching. I couldn’t tell what it was thinking.

Perhaps it was controlling the shadow that persistently tried to grab my feet.

It bothered me that it kept doing that, but right now I had no choice but to take down the other two first.

Kkaang!

Was it because I kept fighting it? I roughly figured out the attack pattern of the wolf biting the greatsword.

After all, a beast rather than a human slashing with its mouth had clear limitations.

It kept shifting into near-incorporeal forms, but a beast was ultimately a beast.

Chiiiiik!!!

"Kuaaaak!"

Kuung!

Ultimately, its muzzle got scorched properly by my Eye Lantern, forcing it to drop the greatsword.

No matter how nimble it was, it couldn’t escape my field of vision.

Chwaang!

Bbareumbo, clinging to my back, provided timely support. He sliced through the fired shell with sharp claws.

As I slowly broke them down like this, I noticed a striking point.

’The more I scorch them with Eye Lantern, the more their size shrinks.’

At first it was subtle, so I didn’t notice. But as I kept burning them, a noticeable change emerged.

I couldn’t tell if Eye Lantern was special, or if intense light itself was poison to them.

"Master! I’m done!"

That was why I had asked Lackey. At Lackey’s shout, I nodded.Visit novelping(.)com for the full chapter.

Kwaang!

The wolf that dropped the greatsword slammed down with its huge front paw.

But its size had shrunk significantly, draining much of its power.

Taking a couple of steps backward was enough to dodge it comfortably.

Giiiing!

But as if refusing to give me a breathing room, light leaked from the other wolf’s mouth.

As if it wasn’t sick of it yet, it seemed ready to fire another shell.

Chijijijik!

"Keeeee-eng!"

So I graciously scorched it with Eye Lantern. Putting a bit more strain on my eyes intensified the eye beams.

In the end, the thrashing wolf struggled, and the shell was fired uselessly into the sky.

Kwaang!

"Huh?"

But something was odd. Not long after the shell surged into the sky, it exploded.

It could be because it was a shell made of mana, but at the very least it should ’hit’ a target.

A strange sensation flickered briefly, but I decided to execute the plan first.

"Lackey! Now!"

The item I had given Lackey was none other than ’oil’.

Lackey had scattered the oil everywhere, and moreover, this place was littered with bones all around.

Bones that had been abandoned for a long time, no less. Virtually dry firewood.

Therefore....

Hwareureureuk!!!

Meaning as long as it caught fire, it would burn furiously.

To the point of filling the gloomy area with bright light in an instant.

"Master! Master! I’m hot! I’m hot!"

"Hey, damn it!"

An accident occurred where Lackey, who made a blunder mid-way, caught fire, but I managed to put it out fine.

What was more important was the wolves’ reaction. Now that an intense light was produced, they were bound to react.

"Kkaegaeng! Kkaeaeng!"

"Keeee-eng! Ke-eng!"

Just as expected. Since light was an absolute hard counter, they screamed repeatedly.

Even though they weren’t caught in the flames, they writhed as if burning.

But that was only for the two; the boss wolf remained calm.

Instead, it glared at me so fiercely it looked ready to chew me up this instant.

Sareureuk-

Eventually, the two wolves whose sizes had been steadily diminishing vanished.

As if the shadows had been swallowed by a grand fire inferno. Yet, the leader stood upright.

A beast immune even to intense light. This was outside my calculations, so I slightly grimaced.

What method would I have to use to eliminate that guy? Right as I harbored this question...

"Kueong!"

A single roar. A tremendous gust of wind exploded from that roar.

It was such a strong gale that the blazing flames vanished in an instant.

But it wasn’t a simple fire; it was oil. Unless the oil was cleared away, extinguishing the fire should be impossible.

Chiiik-

So it resorted to a simple, crude method.

Smothering the oil-soaked fire completely with shadows. Even though it was a shadow, physical force existed within it.

Thanks to that, the area returned to its original dark state, but nothing changed. It was alone now, and the other two were gone.

Just as I judged I still had a winning chance, a change occurred with the boss wolf.

Seumeol-seumeol-

Its gargantuan body gradually melted down, shrinking in size.

Not only that, it even absorbed the greatsword and cannon dropped earlier by the other wolves into its shadow.

Before long, its gigantic form vanished without a trace, transforming into a size similar to mine.

"...A human?"

"It looks like a mix of beast and human."

It was still a wolf whose whole body undulated like flame. But now it was different.

The body structure itself was beastly, but it possessed an appearance like it was clad in armor. Flaming, wavy hair.

Finally, the greatsword held in its right hand. Unlike its beast-like appearance, its hands were well-suited for holding something.

Something didn’t feel right. It was far too different from ordinary beasts.

"%^^%..."

Muttering indecipherable words, the creature gripped the greatsword with both hands and slowly raised it.

Seeing that, anxiety flared, and I immediately blasted Eye Lantern. But perhaps it foresaw this?

Chiiiiik!

Before I knew it, shadows erupted in front of it, blocking the glare completely.

Kwaang!

Ultimately, it slammed the greatsword into the ground.

Kwaaaa!

A colossal tidal wave of shadows began radiating outward with it at the center.