I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 609

What kind of insect is a mantis? It holds a heavy weight class among insects, and like ladybugs, it is carnivorous.

Certain mantises are so powerful they prey not on insects, but on small snakes or birds.

Moreover, due to its distinct appearance, many people consider it the overwhelming ruler of the insect world.

What happens if such a mantis grows larger than an average human? What if it even retains its incredible reaction speed?

To top it off, if it undergoes the unique size-and-strength enhancement of the Forest of the Four Seasons, even ordinary beasts wouldn’t easily stand a chance against it.

"Keeeeek!"

"W-what kind of monster is that?!"

"It cut through iron?! Fuck, does that even make sense?!"

The adventurers were horrified by the mantis’s terrifying display as it effortlessly cleaved the leader’s sword and torso.

How sharp were those scythes to cut through steel and human bone like tofu?

Human flesh and bone aside, slicing a steel sword was completely off the charts.

"That means those damn scythes are at least aura-level..."

"I-is it not at the level of an Aura Blade?"

"Even people who can use an Aura Blade are a tiny minority, you idiot!"

The female mage yelled out in frustration at Brown’s question.

It was just that Grylls’s constitution had mutated strangely while surviving in the Forest of the Four Seasons; in truth, Aura Blade users were rare in the world.

An average person needed around three years of consistent instruction just to harness aura, and only the top 1% could master the Aura Blade.

A Sword Master above that level was beyond question. Among adventurers, those who had reached the realm of Sword Master numbered a mere three in total.

’T-that man really was the weird one...!’

Even Grylls had a grueling time in the beginning.

Despite wielding an extraordinary masterwork blade, the Sword of the Heavenly Demon, and having Bbareumbo’s protection, he had still overcome countless ordeals.

He fought a desperate battle against a Mad Dog far stronger than those outside, and even encountered an Owlbear.

To crown it all off, a Saber-toothed Tiger ambushed him in the dead of night, nearly killing him for real.

Though he had the Gallery’s help, his battles against the native threats of the Forest of the Four Seasons were overcome purely through his own capability.

Even after gaining an abnormally vast amount of mana later on, the times he hovered on the brink of death were still beyond count.

Crunch! Chomp! Crunch!

Having slaughtered the leader with a single scythe slash, the mantis began greedily devouring his corpse.

A leisurely demeanor, as if it didn’t care about the adventurers right in front of it.

Yet just like the grasshopper earlier, it was correct to view this as purely insect instinct.

"...Is there anywhere else to run besides through there?"

"No. Everywhere else is dense with trees."

"And if it chases us, it’ll slice right through those trees easily."

After discussing, the adventurers reached a dismal solution.

Unless they broke through that mantis, there was no exit out.

In their hearts they wanted to detour, but they hadn’t properly grasped the terrain here yet.

One wrong step could lead them somewhere completely disconnected from the entrance.

They had no choice but to break through with the mindset of willingly sacrificing an arm or a leg.

"So you go and draw its attention."

"Huh?"

Brown’s eyes went wide at the rough-looking adventurer’s words.

He thought he misheard, but not at all. On the contrary, many agreed with him.

"You’re the most useless guy here. So go draw that damned mantis’s attention."

"Wait, what on earth are you talking about?!"

"Hey, you bastard. If you can’t do anything except throw Molotovs, you should at least do this."

Saying so, the adventurer quietly drew his weapon to threaten him.

Meaning if push came to shove, he would throw Brown as bait and run. At that, Brown looked at the others with trembling eyes.

"This is the only way we stand a chance of surviving."

"This is a far more valuable contribution than doing nothing, my friend."

"Isn’t this why the higher-ups sent you here in the first place?"

"Hang in there."

Not a single person stopped it. On the contrary, they were busy pushing and pressuring him.

Only then did he realize: these people were branded as troublemakers even among adventurers.

He knew the adventurer profession was dirty, but he hadn’t expected to be used so openly as a disposable pawn.

"Hey, think a bit more rationally. What do you expect by throwing him blindly into a death trap?"

"Then do you have a better idea? That damned mantis is stronger than us!"

"I’ll bind its scythes with magic. That’ll work, right?"

Fortunately, the female mage defended him while offering a rational countermeasure.

At this, Brown let out a sigh of relief and sent a grateful glance toward the female mage.

However, this reaction proved he knew far too little about adventurers—specifically, troublemakers.

"So just hold out until I prepare my magic. Got it?"

"..."

"Why are you looking at me like that? Got a complaint?"

Should he just ignore them and run away? Brown cursed the heavens.

But Brown had no clever tricks either, so he had no choice.

If he survived this, he would turn in his adventurer license without fail. Helping his father back home would be much better.

"What are you doing?"

"Gathering dirt."

"Do insects throw a fit if dirt gets in their eyes too?"

"Probably."

Not at all. It was preparation for when he escaped—specifically, when he returned home.

Since someone else would swallow up the Inner Core anyway, it was better to give up cleanly.

’Wait. Insects?’

It was while lamenting his plight and scooping up dirt. Something suddenly struck Brown, and he stared at the mantis.

The mantis was still meticulously eating the leader’s corpse. What caught his eye more was its head region.

Specifically, the antennae. An insect’s antennae functioned like a human’s spine.

’If I slice those off, the mantis will stumble too.’

Antennae were every insect’s weakness. He had forgotten about it with the grasshopper earlier due to the chaos.

Gulping down his saliva, Brown crept forward holding a dagger.

Whether they yelled from behind to move faster or not, he focused on the mantis’s scythes.

"Keeeeek."

The mantis, using both scythes to tear at the corpse, lifted its head.

Seeing its antennae twitch, it seemed to have detected Brown. Brown swallowed hard.

’Unlike other insects, mantises can turn their heads. Their field of vision is insanely wide too.’

Being from the countryside, he possessed a decent amount of insect knowledge.

At any rate, trying to find a mantis’s blind spot was close to suicide.This chapter was taken from NovelPing without permission.

Furthermore, a mantis’s reaction time was under a second.

Since Brown didn’t possess an absurd physical physique like Grylls, a frontal confrontation was impossible.

’My only choice is to trust the mage.’

Dash!

Thinking so, Brown lunged at the mantis. At the same time, the mantis spread its two scythes wide.

The mantis’s signature signal that the hunt had begun.

Soon, the mantis swung its outstretched scythes diagonally.

As he had felt earlier, compared to the horrific sharpness of the scythes, the speed was manageable enough to see and dodge.

A fact he had realized thanks to the temporary leader whose body was split in half after clashing with it.

Hop!

Reading the trajectory of the diagonal scythe slashes, Brown leaped high into the air. His target was a single spot.

Antennae unusually long compared to other creatures.

"Ice Blaster!"

Timely enough, the mage chanted her spell. An ice spell to bind the mantis’s scythes.

Its effect was immediately visible. An ice pillar struck precisely at the moment the mantis’s scythes crossed.

Thanks to that, they achieved the result of freezing both of the mantis’s scythes solid.

Slash!

That wasn’t all. Brown grabbed an antenna and sliced fiercely with his dagger.

No matter how much an insect’s size increased, unless it wore a shell like a rhinoceros beetle, it was fragile.

Thanks to that, one of the mantis’s antennae was cut off, and its movements ground to a sudden halt.

"Now! Beat it to death!"

"Aaaaaah!"

Sensing an opportunity, the adventurers charged right in. Now, they could definitely kill that monster mantis.

But the mantis was no pushover. Though confused from losing an antenna, its vision was intact.

Above all, hadn’t Grylls repeatedly said that most creatures in the Forest of the Four Seasons possessed high intelligence?

Crunch!

"Gargle... gurgle..."

"W-what?"

However, only the mantis’s scythes were frozen; its mouth was still free.

The mantis lunged its head forward in an instant and bit into an adventurer’s neck.

His carotid artery severed clean, the adventurer gushed blood like a waterfall.

’What? I definitely cut its antenna...!’

Brown was thrown into panic witnessing the scene.

He had believed insects losing an antenna lost their sense of direction entirely.

A fact he had learned back in his immature childhood days while literally playing with bugs.

Yet that mantis retained its sense of direction completely and killed one of the adventurers immediately.

Hack! Slash! Stab!

"Die! Just die, you damn bug!"

"Legs! Cut the legs first! You gotta chop the legs on things like this!"

"Aaaaaah!"

Just as they had lynched the grasshopper, they dealt with the mantis similarly.

The problem was that the mantis struggled wildly in the process, freeing its frozen scythes.

As an aftermath, several adventurers had their upper and lower bodies separated, but in the end, they managed to kill the mantis.

"Huffs... huff... Damned bug bastard..."

"Phew... Let’s quickly take the scythes and go. These will sell for a fortune."

Covered in the mantis’s transparent blood, the adventurers exchanged a few words.

Adrenaline surged in an excited state, yet strangely, their rationality remained.

The scythes, sharper than steel swords, were the first subject of loot distribution. Bringing back just one would earn a hefty payout.

"I’m taking one."

"What? Is this bastard crazy? I cut this bug bastard in half!"

"Stop talking bull. You were scared out of your mind and only charged in at the very end."

"Fuck off, stop fighting and dismantle it. I want to get the hell out of here fast."

"Inner Core. Where’s the Inner Core?"

While arguing over who gets the scythes, one adventurer rummaged through the mantis’s corpse.

Like the grasshopper earlier, the mantis might house an Inner Core inside. Greed gleamed in the adventurer’s eyes.

"I’m just gonna leave. You guys split it amongst yourselves."

"Me too."

But physically exhausted Brown and the female mage didn’t participate. Telling them to split it among themselves, they turned to leave.

Their desire to escape this hellish forest immediately burned like a chimney.

Just as they were about to step away thinking so, an unexpected situation erupted.

"Huh? Something here is wriggling... Gwaaaaah!"

"S-shit! What is this now?!"

Long, pitch-black tentacles burst forth from the mantis’s corpse.

Those tentacles wrapped around various parts of the greedy adventurers’ bodies, unleashing a horrific scene.

Squelch!

"Ugh?! Mmmgh! Ugh! Cough!"

"Gwaaaah...! Aaaah! Aaaaaah!"

Prying into every orifice, including their mouths, they eroded the inside of their bodies.

Starting with the adventurer hacking at the mantis’s corpse for an Inner Core to the ones arguing over the scythes.

The infested adventurers resisted at first, but even that didn’t last long. The moment their insides were invaded, it was already over.

"Gwaaaah... gwaah..."

"Ughh... ah..."

The adventurers twitched, blood pouring continuously from every orifice.

Rather than zombies... they looked closer to hosts controlled by parasites.

Even so, they shuddered intermittently and moved their legs. Their brains were completely dominated.

"Aaaaaah! Aaaaah! Save me! Save me!!!"

Even the adventurer holding the mantis’s scythe trying to escape was infested by the black tentacles.

He reached out to Brown and the female mage right in front of him, but it was already too late.

Brown and the female mage witnessed the entire catastrophe. Their heads spun.

Wriggle- wriggle-

"R-run fast!"

"Huh? Uh, right!"

As the tentacles slithered over in the meantime, Brown yelled urgently. Scooping up the mantis’s scythe along the way was a bonus.

Fortunately, the female mage hurriedly snapped back to her senses and fled as fast as her legs could carry her.

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The problem was that the black tentacles crawled at an extremely fast speed.

Slithering like snakes, their speed was so fast that one misstep meant getting caught.

"Mage-ssi! In my bag, Molotovs! There are Molotov cocktails! Pull them out and throw them!"

"A-understood!"

Since he was carefully holding both mantis scythes, he asked the mage.

Soon, the mage lit the fuse of a Molotov cocktail and tossed it straight at the parasites.

FWOOOOOOSH!

The effect was incredible. Throwing it onto the path caught the parasites’ bodies ablaze.

Seeing that effect, the mage immediately threw all the remaining Molotovs.

Thanks to that, the parasites could no longer approach, and the man and woman reached the exit.

"Haaah... huff... huff..."

"Haaaah... huff..."

"The adventurers are back! Momentarily deactivate the barrier!"

As soon as they reached the exit, the voice of the knight guarding the entrance echoed.

At the same time, part of the barrier surrounding the entrance was lifted, and the two squeezed out every last drop of strength to barely escape.

Having arrived in the safe zone, they could finally relax with ease.

"Ugh... W-what was that just now? That’s the most disgusting thing I’ve seen in my life."

"It’s probably... a horsehair worm."

"A horsehair worm?"

"Think of it as a parasite. Usually found in mantises or camel crickets..."

Being in the Forest of the Four Seasons made no exception. On the contrary, it had evolved even more horrifyingly.

A horsehair worm controlling not just insects, but humans. Just imagining it was unsettling.

"Where are the others?"

While the two caught their breath, a knight from the Messiah Empire approached.

Brown looked up at the knight with a solemn expression and opened his mouth with difficulty.

"...Everyone died except the two of us."

"Can you tell me how they died? I intend to cross-examine with the Recording Orbs."

"One was eaten by ladybugs, one was taken by a dragonfly..."

Since it had been briefed beforehand, Brown answered without hesitation.

They would grasp it through the Recording Orbs anyway, but as the knight said, cross-examination was always necessary.

Listening to Brown’s story, the knight was initially expressionless, but his face shifted progressively.

He even dug at his ear as if he had misheard.

"...So, the remaining adventurers fell victim to horsehair worms and became hosts. They’re as good as dead."

"Without a shred of lie... No, wait. I truly can’t believe it just by hearing it. Good work."

"Ah. By the way, the byproducts we obtained inside..."

Brown asked cautiously. They had brought out two things.

One was the Inner Core obtained from the grasshopper, and the other was the mantis’s scythe.

Normally there should have been two Inner Cores, but they hadn’t managed to get the mantis’s.

In fact, retrieving the scythe alone was close to a miracle.

"Hey. Why are you bringing that up? Just shut your mouth and keep it."

"I want to sell it quickly and return home."

At the female mage’s scolding, Brown answered exhaustedly.

He wanted nothing more than to go home right now and enjoy a reunion with his family.

"Disposal is the adventurers’ business. All we need is information."

Do as you wish. At the knight’s words, Brown and the female mage blinked in surprise.

As if keeping his word, the knight paid no attention to the byproducts and gathered only the Recording Orbs.

Thus left standing alone, Brown asked in a cautious voice.

"...May I ask what your name is?"

"Lily. You?"

"Brown."

"Sounds like a puppy’s name."

At the female mage Lily’s comment, Brown formed a bitter smile. He heard that often.

Lily then glanced at Brown before speaking quietly.

"...What are you going to do with the Inner Core? Are you going to consume it?"

"I don’t know. Absorbing it blindly feels like it’ll only cause trouble."

"Then sell it at the auction house. As for the scythe... ask a blacksmith or sell it to the Magic Tower."

"Can you help me?"

"I can. But how about fifty-fifty?"

Hearing that, Brown answered immediately.

"I get 60, Lily-ssi gets 40. I did the dangerous work."

"Che. Fine. Shall we go then?"

"Yes."

Brown swore to himself.

Once he sold off these byproducts, he would return home immediately.

However.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

’...It was pretty thrilling, though.’

Was it because he had tasted an unparalleled thrill unlike anything in the world?

Contrary to his reason, his heart was leaning in another direction.

When the adventurers who had entered the Forest of the Four Seasons emerged suffering heavy casualties:

"Guys. Eat this."

"What is this, Master?"

"Dewormer. The stuff you take once a month, you know."

Grylls was taking deworming medication obtained directly from Lady Starlight.

Although he cooked most of his food before eating, precautions were necessary since you never knew.

’I must prevent parasites from coming out of Wonmo’s butt at all costs.’

Setting that aside.

"Alright. We’ve rested enough, so let me head back out. Today, I’m heading toward the lake."

"Haven’t you gone there a few times and stopped going?"

"You’re right. Now that I’ve gotten stronger, I figure it’s about time I crossed over."

It was time for me to do my job as well.

’Might as well film a lecture video too.’

It was a necessary task for the sake of those who would explore the Forest of the Four Seasons.