I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 599

It was something I had thought about constantly, but the rampant spread of pseudo-religions like Manatology was hardly surprising.

When 90% of humanity died due to mana, ordinary people who knew nothing had no choice but to rely on faith.

Given that it was a cult—and mana even offered visually tangible effects—the fanatical devotion must have been extreme.

The Flesh Golem, and the Flesh Aberration that had awaited us beyond the tunnel.

Considering the sheer size of those monsters, it was impossible to fathom how many victims had been sacrificed.

’The lion said it was just a creepy tree.’

If this flesh tree with eyes, noses, and mouths had actively hunted, the lion would have finished it off personally.

Visually, it didn’t look like a living creature so much as a clumped mass of raw meat.

’It has a face only a hyena could love, though.’

Regardless, the fact remained that this flesh tree had to be ’incinerated’.

It was a shape that naturally disgusted any human being who laid eyes on it.

Before the flesh tree could react, I tossed an oil flask straight at it.

I figured we’d just burn it down right then and there, but at that exact moment—

Chwareureuk!

Did it react to ’humans’ even if it didn’t react to animals?

The flesh tree squirmed and shot out tentacles that I had previously mistaken for branches.

Not at the Sun Wukong brothers, nor at the kids, but directly at me. Since I was prepared for any surprises, dodging it was easy.

"Let... be... us..."

"So...ya... no..."

The mouths covering the tree babbled bizarre noises in various languages.

A hideous monster squirming while forcibly mimicking human speech was a sight that made me grimace.

It felt like the uncanny valley brought to life through sound.

And yet, it kept relentlessly extending its tentacles, which began to genuinely annoy me.

Jjaenggeurang!

While dodging, I hurled another oil flask I held so it would burn nicely.

Now that it was thoroughly soaked in oil, Lackey just needed to torch it.

Lackey was great at taking initiative without me needing to order him, so there shouldn’t be any issues.

"Become..."

"...?!"

"...one..."

If only those words echoing from that hideous tree hadn’t been Korean.

Upon hearing that, not only I, but even Lackey—who was in the middle of casting a spell—couldn’t help but freeze.

I had heard plenty of English up until now so I could brush it off, but hearing such vivid Korean was a first.

Chwareureuk!

Who was it that said a ’split second’ in actual combat isn’t nearly as short as one thinks?

A hideous wooden branch—no, a tentacle of raw meat—wrapped firmly around my neck.

I hadn’t noticed while dodging, but even those vines were covered in eyes, noses, and mouths.

"Become... us..."

Korean spilled forth from dozens of mouths.

It sounded desperate, mocking, or perhaps like a plea for mercy.

Yet one thing was absolutely certain: I couldn’t just stand by and let this damn lump of meat have its way.

Kkwaaak!

I grabbed the tentacle gripping my neck with both hands using brute force.

Putting my strength into it, I pulled, causing the flesh tree—which seemed rooted like a nail—to wobble heavily.

Unprepared for such a turn of events, the entity began extending its other vines toward me.

Seogeok! Seogeok!

Cain wasn’t about to stand idly by and watch. Before the tentacles could wrap around my body, he severed them cleanly with his sword.

Lackey activated his magic a beat late, unleashing a fire spell straight into the flesh tree.

Kwaang! Hwareureureuk!

"Uwoooo... uwoooo..."

Dozens of mouths attached to the tree shrieked bizarrely, and its eyes flickered frantically.

The branch-like tentacles fluttered wildly, severing and regenerating repeatedly.

The stench of burning flesh stabbed into my nostrils, causing me to frown automatically, but I watched until the end.

They were such tenacious monsters that there was no telling what phenomenon they might pull off.

After all, hadn’t the Flesh Golem spawned zombie-like creatures from inside its own body?

Gkul-leok! Gkul-leok!

The flesh tree was no different.

Even without rationality, its survival instincts remained, causing it to expel lumps of flesh outward.

Soon, those flesh lumps assumed human shapes, taking on an appearance strikingly similar to zombies.

"Uwooo... uwo..."

"Euuu..."This chapter was copied from novelрing.com without permission.

However, unlike the active Flesh Golem, the flesh tree wasn’t fast at expelling flesh.

Thanks to that, the lumps of flesh caught fire completely before detaching from the tree, burning fiercely alongside it.

It was obvious they would perish on their own without us stepping in. I merely expedited the process slightly.

Seogeok! Seogeok!

To help the bodies burn faster—and more importantly, to shorten their suffering even by a margin—

I sliced all the detached lumps of flesh into pieces. The flesh masses couldn’t even let out moans anymore.

And so, as they turned pitch black and their bones reduced to ashes—

"Th-Th-Th..."

A mouth that had not yet burned stammered out words.

Between the stuttering and the sickening feeling it gave off, I was about to stomp on it.

"Thank... thank..."

"..."

"...you... you..."

Until I heard words I never expected. I quietly lowered my raised foot.

Just like earlier, it seemed there were Koreans among the victims claimed by this flesh tree.

Perhaps because I had encountered a fellow compatriot after so long, even in such a twisted form, a complex emotion welled up inside me.

’If it hadn’t attacked first... it seemed to have enough sanity left that I could have at least asked for a name.’

Looking at the flesh tree reduced to ashes, I let out a deep sigh.

I didn’t know what circumstances brought them here, but at least one thing was clear.

The people victimized by Manatology were likely still suffering inside these abominations.

And for at least several centuries at that. Since it had continued from Earth’s era to the present, it must have been an unfathomably long time.

"...Cain-ssi. You mentioned that Flesh Golems and Flesh Aberrations like the ones we saw before exist outside as well, right?"

[There was a time when they were purged on a grand scale. However, they were likely never wiped out completely.]

ㄴDon’t Abandon the Hero: Even now, monsters of that kind must exist somewhere in the world! Even if they don’t utter the word Manatology...!

ㄴAllfather: One of the taboos of necromancy is creating Flesh Golems. Specifically, the condition that flesh and muscle must not be used.

ㄴPrincess Chaenggu: Didn’t the Undead King break that taboo?

ㄴNecromancy is Love: Even if I broke it, I didn’t fuse them into one monstrous blob.

ㄴPrincess Chaenggu: Ah, so the Previous Hero took care of it before that!

ㄴNecromancy is Love: What are you talking about? We simply judged that solving things with numbers was better than getting wiped out by a single spell from Kadir.

I lightly ignored them, sensing a useless argument brewing.

Anyway, I understood that people in the past had suffered greatly because of these things.

Most had been resolved during Cain’s era, but remnants clearly lingered.

Normally, I would have brushed it off as bad luck and moved on, but hearing Korean changed my perspective.

’...Should I assume creatures like this exist in every region?’

Manatology boasted a vitality tougher than cockroaches.

One could deduce as much just by looking at the giant Flesh Aberration that maintained its vast size even after centuries.

I had no idea where it absorbed nutrients from, but seeing this flesh tree, it almost seemed to undergo photosynthesis.

Considering the Earth technology I had seen so far, technology converting solar heat into mana wasn’t impossible, so it wasn’t out of the question.

’Or maybe it mastered its own breathing technique.’

Just as Ash could steadily accumulate mana simply by breathing, Manatology constructs might operate similarly.

Staring at the desolate ash pile, I walked over to Largo. Largo was responsible for carrying our various supplies.

After grabbing a shovel from the packs, I began digging deep into the dirt.

[Are you planning to bury the ashes?]

"You know me well."

[I am a Paladin, after all.]

Those words carried a weight today that felt uniquely heavy. I let out a light chuckle and prepared final respects for the deceased.

I didn’t know their gender, age, or name, but being from the same homeland was reason enough.

Besides a funeral, there was another practical reason.

It was to prevent another flesh construct from being birthed from these ashes, just in case.

As long as mana existed, these entities maintained their form, so it wasn’t an impossible scenario.

"Phew."

I flattened the dirt over the mound and looked around.

It was a region where only the flesh tree had stood in solitude. Not a single animal was in sight, leaving only the endless horizon.

Since I had laid down signposts, losing my way wouldn’t be an issue. The problem now was what to target next.

Walking mindlessly through the savanna wasn’t a terrible option, but the sheer vastness was a problem.

’The forest clearly separates passable areas from impassable ones, but the savanna doesn’t.’

Because it was completely open in all directions, it felt far wider than the forest. The sense of aimlessness was an added bonus.

Of course, since the animals had undertaken a massive migration, the lack of immediate threats was a good thing.

"Hmm... I really don’t know which way to go. Hold on a second."

I had a weapon suited precisely for times like this. Walking back to Largo, I pulled out a piece of equipment.

That equipment was none other than Mistilteinn. I stood it upright on the ground.The source of this chapter is novelping dot com.

Even though it had a counterweight attached, it was a truly mysterious branch whose falling direction was always completely random.

Even when I intentionally tried to influence the direction it fell, it would subtly veer off course.

Tuk!

It was the exact same story now. The moment I let go of the upright Mistilteinn, it fell in an entirely unexpected direction.

Turning my head toward that path, an endlessly stretching horizon filled my vision.

"Let’s head over there."

I wasn’t sure what lay ahead, but let’s just walk. Something would pop up if we kept going.

Steadily advancing in a straight line was far better than wandering aimlessly here and there.

And as a result of pressing forward without hesitation, we ran right into quite an amusing situation.

"Master."

"Yeah. I see it too."

"No, not that. That guy’s eyes look weird."

In truth, what we encountered wasn’t a situation, but a zebra. I stared blankly at the creature standing proudly ahead.

Even the lion had initiated a mass migration once four seasons manifested in the savanna.

As everyone knew, the lion’s martial strength was something even Bbareumbo secretly acknowledged.

For a zebra to remain behind when even such a predator migrated meant it was far from ordinary.

’Come to think of it, I feel like the Heavenly Demon mentioned a zebra before...’

What was it again? Something about a two-headed lion being chased by a zebra, only to get kicked by its hind legs and sent flying?

Hearing that alone, one might question if such a thing made sense, but this was the Forest of the Four Seasons.

Things that seemed illogical were often logical here—much like military life.

ㄴHeavenly Demon: Those eyes are practically brimming with madness. Be careful.

ㄴSword Matstar: A drunken rogue is always far scarier than a gangster.

ㄴPassing Dwarf: A drunk dwarf isn’t scary at all though.

ㄴSmart Demon: That’s because all the other dwarves are drunk too lol

Zebras were animals notorious for having atrocious temperaments.

Their personalities were so terrible that even the Mongol army gave up on taming them.

As that fact crossed my mind, I quietly veered off to bypass the zebra.

There was no reason to pick a fight, and we had a path to travel.

Yes. Normally, that’s what should have happened.

Seueuk-

"...?"

If only the zebra hadn’t stepped up to block our path. I couldn’t hide my utter dumbfoundedness.

We avoided it to signal we had no interest in fighting, yet it blocked us out of nowhere. I wondered what on earth this guy was doing.

"Uh... you want to eat this?"

Thinking it might be demanding a toll, I gently extended a Fasting Pill.

Bbareumbo grabbed my shoulder tightly as if deeply dissatisfied, but I tried my best to ignore him.

Meanwhile, the zebra brought its face close to the Fasting Pill resting on my palm.

The zebra was ultimately a herbivore, so it ought to like the Fasting Pill.

"Puh-rruuk."

Just as expected. The zebra slurped the Fasting Pill into its mouth and began chewing on it contentedly.

Now we should be able to pass, I thought, and quietly shifted to the side.

Seueuk-

"..."

Yet the zebra blocked my path once again.

Unsure of why on earth it was blocking us, I stared at the creature.

"Puh-rureuk."

The guy, chewing the Fasting Pill like gum, uttered something.

I looked at Lackey for a translation. Lackey replied with a slightly bewildered expression.

"...He said, let’s fight."

"What?"

"He is saying, let’s fight."

"No. Why?"

Why on earth would he say such a thing?

Utterly unable to comprehend the reason, I expressed my disbelief, whereupon Lackey continued.

"Just because."

"..."

"Does one need a reason to fight?"

"No."

It seemed we had picked a fight with a mad dog... no, a crazy zebra.