I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 610

Today was a day to explore the forest, not the grasslands. Specifically, I planned to explore the lakeside.

The lakeside was a place where giant crabs and giant crayfishes used to wage territorial wars, and I visited it often in the past.

Back then, because food supplies were tight, I ate crab quite frequently. It would probably still taste delicious if I ate it now.

However, the biggest downside was the long round-trip time, along with the fact that dealing with those giant monsters was quite overwhelming.

Combined with several other factors, it was a region I had rarely visited recently.

Now, I’m much stronger than back then, and most of my companions are stronger than average Hunters.

With our combat power, we could explore not just the lakeside, but the entire area.

’Lectures... let’s skip that. Exploration is a practical lecture anyway.’

I have my hands full as it is, so if I get hurt while trying to look out for others, it would be putting the cart before the horse.

The biggest problem with the Forest of the Four Seasons is the variables themselves.

It’s a common occurrence for bizarre animals to pop out of places that were completely normal just yesterday.

A prime example is the Kangaroo Cave. Originally, it was an Owlbear’s lair, and when I first visited, there was only a single kangaroo.

Then at some point, the kangaroos migrated en masse and converted it into their own arena, didn’t they?

’Come to think of it, where did those kangaroos come from?’

Currently, with the forest and the grasslands merged, the grassland animals had undergone a massive migration.

But even without such natural disasters, there are times when specific animals migrate en masse.

Fortunately, the grassland animals crossed over to the neighboring neighborhood (?), because if they had come into the forest, it would have been bursting at the seams.

Chwaaak!

As I walked along the river with such thoughts, a huge whale leapt out of the river.

It was a whale glowing pink overall, and it felt like I hadn’t seen one in a long time either.

Back when I traveled alone and lonely, it was terrifying beyond belief, but now I only felt a sense of wonder.

"Woah. Dad. Did you see that just now?"

"Yeah. I saw it."

"I want to see it up close."

"Tsk. No way. Don’t ever get close to the river."

Just as Wonmo’s curiosity was about to ignite, I stopped him right away.

If it were the river near our shelter, that would be one thing, but downstream is extremely dangerous.

Because in the past, a deer was drinking water here when it got attacked by a bull shark.

Of course, the bull shark got knocked out cold by a single kick from the deer, though.

’I really should head toward the sea eventually, too.’

The lakeside was fine, but I felt like I should gradually check out the ocean as well.

Walking while thinking like that, before I knew it, we arrived near the lakeside.

You could tell because the fierce flow of the river was gradually calming down and the width was becoming immensely wide.

"Master. Is there anything to be careful of over there?"

"You came here last time too, didn’t you? You ran away for dear life after seeing the monster war."

"I haven’t come back even once since then. And I ran away the moment I saw it, so I don’t really know."

"Hmm... First, watch out for the muddy ground. Most of the things that look like rocks will attack you, so don’t go poking them carelessly."

Truth be told, the only things to be careful of at the lakeside were the giant crabs.

The small ones mostly lacked aggressiveness and were too busy running away anyway.

Thus, upon reaching the muddy lakeside, we encountered a scene different from before.

"Huh? What’s this? The crabs are all gone?"

"There are only crayfishes. Master."

I knew this was originally a place occupied by crabs, where they even waged a territorial battle against the crayfishes.

Perhaps after a long time had passed, the territorial struggle had ended, as not a single crab could be seen. Only crayfishes were in sight.

Not only that. In the middle of the lake where the monster war had unfolded, there existed a scene that felt quite majestic.

[Heavenly Demon] It looks like two rulers fought each other to the death.

[Sword Matstar] It looks kind of cool.

[Allfather] Dying together after a territorial conflict is a common occurrence.

The giant crab and giant crayfish that had waged the monster war—their corpses were entangled with each other.

They were mountain-sized creatures to begin with, so tangled together like that, they felt like a colossal structure.

"Master. Can’t we go over there and get something good?"

"No. Let’s not do that. Crossing the lake is inefficient."

"You can use my magic. Just use Teleport."

"Ah. That would work. Hmmm..."

Listening to Lackey’s words, I pondered. If we could obtain an Inner Core from those guys, nothing could be better.Enjoying the story? Read on at nove⁠lping.com.

"No. Who knows what’s waiting over there."

"Isn’t it a waste?"

"We should deal with what blocks our path, there’s no need to ask for trouble."

Unless it was related to Earth, there was no reason to go out of our way to invite trouble.

The entire neighborhood of the Forest of the Four Seasons was like a hornet’s nest, so why poke it?

Perhaps agreeing with my reasoning, Lackey let it go obediently, even if he found it regrettable.

"Still, let’s catch these crayfishes. If we grill them, they’ll be super delicious."

"Are we eating them for lunch?"

"Yep."

They were practically equal to lobsters in size rather than mere crayfishes. They were bound to taste delicious.

I placed all the crayfishes crawling on the ground into my Subspace Backpack. It was an empty backpack, so I could pack in as many as I liked.

I heard crayfishes sleep in dark, cold spaces, so they should stay fresh.

Ggureureuk.

"Right. You guys would be here too."

The relatively smaller crayfishes could just be picked up, but the monster crayfishes had to be brought down directly.

In the past, catching a single crab was a bloody ordeal, but not anymore.

Seogeok!

First, I severed the front legs, which were the crayfish’s biggest weapons.

Having its front legs sliced off, the crayfish blew bubbles frantically from its mouth.

Touching that didn’t seem like it would yield any good results, so I asked Tyranno.

"Tyranno. Breathe fire and burn away those bubbles."

"Pik!"

Hwareureureuk!

At Tyranno’s breath, all the bubbles spewed by the crayfish evaporated completely.

The monster crayfish couldn’t withstand the heat of the breath either and even staggered back.

Meanwhile, Dolsoe stepped up. Dolsoe had Mythricon gauntlets equipped on both hands.

Kwadeudeudeuk!

Delivering a Palm Strike to the crayfish’s flank in that state, the crayfish’s body literally split in half.

With his skill, he probably could have pulled it off easily even without Mythricon gauntlets.

I could cut it down in one strike as well, but in terms of efficiency, Dolsoe was the best fit.

"Master. What should I do?"

"There’s nothing for you to do, Park Kkobong. Just cheer from the sidelines."

"Then I shall dance a cheer dance. I saw it on the Gallery."

"Who was dancing it?"

"A cheerleader."

"Get out of here."

This guy learned something weird from the Gallery. Barely stopping Lackey, I engaged the monster crayfish.

Realizing their comrade had been taken down, other crabs hiding in the mud also emerged.

In the past, this was a scale and level of formidable foes that would have made me run away as fast as my legs could carry me. But not now.

Kwajik! Kwadeudeuk!

"Cain-ssi! Protect the kids!"

[Understood!]

"Dolsoe! Behind! Coming from behind!"

"Mhm!"

I have become stronger, and the specs of my companions are extremely high as well.

Even Lackey, who offered to be a cheer captain, only talked big; he had actually inherited martial arts from Wi Ho-chang.

He merely lacked skill compared to Dolsoe, but he possessed martial power more than enough to handle the crayfishes.

Perhaps because the crayfishes were slaughtered in an instant, they staggered back instead of facing us.

It seemed they instinctively felt that fighting any longer would wipe out their species.

’Since their leader is dead as well, they won’t dare attack carelessly.’

The reason we could act so cocky was also due to the absence of the giant crayfish.

If its corpse hadn’t been there, we would have pivoted to breaking through rather than fighting.

At any rate, as the monster crayfishes slunk away, we were able to break through the lakeside relatively easily.

However, from here on was an unexplored area, so we needed to be careful.

"What’s usually near a lakeside?"

[Usually there are wetlands or swamps... but since this is the Forest of the Four Seasons, don’t hold your breath.]New chapters come out on novеlping.com first.

Cain was right. Just next door to the forest was the Ash Zone, wasn’t there?

There was no telling what might be near the lakeside. In the worst-case scenario, there could be something like a radioactive zone.

’If this forest corresponds to Earth, it was North America...’

Thinking that, we crossed the lakeside completely. For now, we planned to go into the forest visible ahead.

With no crayfishes blocking us along the way, it was a comfortable walk.

"Master. There is something strange over there."

"Uh... You’re right? That’s something found only in the sea though?"

...If only we hadn’t encountered some giant starfish along the way.

To repeat, yes, that starfish. The creature with the impressive star shape.

It was surprising enough for a starfish to live at a lakeside, but it was even trotting around on foot. Its size was much bigger than an average adult man.

Puuuuu!!!

"Ugh!"

Was staring at it so offensive?

Out of nowhere, the starfish fired a water cannon. It was such a sudden ambush that I had no choice but to get hit.

Fortunately, only the water pressure was high, and since it was just a normal water cannon, I merely tumbled backward and that was it.

[Allfather] Starfish are brainless creatures. It seems its instinct deemed Grylls-ssi dangerous.

[Heavenly Demon] Dangerous by mere existence, is it. It seems your fame pierces through the entire Forest of the Four Seasons.

[Sword Matstar] Is this something to be happy about?

[Don’t Abandon the Hero] Having a rising reputation is always a good thing!

[Passing Dwarf] Congrats. Treat us to a drink to celebrate.

What does getting hit by a starfish’s water cannon have to do with buying a drink?

Clutching my slightly throbbing solar plexus, I slowly stood up.

Binggeureureu—

"Ha."

Afraid it might get caught by me, the starfish fled straight away.

The way it ran away, it was spinning round and round as if it had turned into a wheel. Unbelievable.

"Gguuung... cha!"

"Wonmo. You don’t need to copy that."

Finding it pretty fascinating, Wonmo also rolled sideways on the ground.

Thanks to that, Wonmo was covered in mud all over. When we get back home, I must scrub him squeaky clean.

Anyway, although we were delayed by the starfish, we were able to reach the opposite side.

Since we circled around the outer edge rather than cutting straight across the middle of the lake, quite a bit of time was consumed.

Still, for the sake of safety, it couldn’t be helped. There was no need to invite danger.

The place we finally arrived at was a forest no different from any other.

We pressed forward with the mindset of wondering what might be in this forest. If possible, I hoped there would be ruins related to Earth.

"Master. Look at this."

"What’s there?"

"There is the railway track we saw last time."

And that wish was granted before long. Lackey discovered a railway nearby.

I checked the railway Lackey found. It was indeed a railway, but something was odd.

"...Isn’t it too narrow for a train to pass through?"

"Are there no small trains?"

"Almost none, right?"

The gauge of the railway track was simply way too narrow. It wasn’t the standard specification for a train that I knew to pass through.

Looking around at this, the terrain features were also somewhat strange. Though integrated with nature after a long time had passed, something caught my eye.

That was a completely worn-out, ancient signpost. I wondered why a signpost was at a place where trains passed.

’Something is written on it... but I can’t really tell.’

It was so old that the letters were completely erased.

Leaving my regret behind, I resolved to move along the railway.

Just in case a train came from the opposite direction like before, we needed to be careful.

Thus, the place we reached following the railway was...

"Master. What is that? It looks like it has multiple arms."

"Looks like... a Ferris wheel?"

Originally a place filled with dreams and hope.

"Was this an amusement park?"

It was a theme park.