I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 805

I once watched a rather impressive zombie movie.

I thought it was just an ordinary zombie flick, but it featured many high-impact scenes.

The most representative of these was Israel building a wall to defend against the zombie horde.

It was successful at first, but the situation changed drastically after they began accepting refugees.

The refugees sang and cheered so joyfully that they agitated the zombies, who then piled on top of each other to form a literal tower.

The scene of the zombies forming a tower to scale the wall was jaw-droppingly bizarre and majestic.

Of course, it’s often criticized as a frustrating, cancer-inducing moment due to the citizens’ massive trolling, but it was certainly a memorable scene.

Kwaak! Kwak! Kwak!

And I was facing that very scenario in real-time—and from the defender’s perspective, no less.

My mind had gone completely blank when I first saw it, but I quickly scrambled to sweep them away.

Killing them one by one with arrows wasn’t efficient, so I used the Sword of the Heavenly Demon to deal with them all.

Like brushing away dust with a duster, I literally swept away the climbing beasts.

’These bastards aren’t even ants, and they don’t even have hands, so how the hell are they climbing?!’

Whenever I felt I had cleared enough of them, I pulled out my bow and fired arrows in rapid succession.

In my heart, I wanted to shoot an arrow right into the middle of their cluster and blow them sky-high.

But doing so might collapse the wall we had worked so hard to build, so I had no choice but to painstakingly pick them off one by one, annoying as it was.

Wareureureu!

Still, focusing my attacks on the weak points—specifically, the long, ladder-like columns—caused them to collapse on their own.

Although their numbers below were still immense, it would take them quite some time to rebuild the tower.

In the meantime, I supported my companions from atop the wall.

The campsite was brightly lit by the Light Crystal Orb and the campfire.

—Waoooo!

Once again, the roar of a water deer echoed from far away.

At that exact moment, the water deer rushing toward us scattered in an instant.

The same went for the ones climbing the wall.

The water deer that had clumped together like meatballs dispersed in the blink of an eye.

Quite a few of them had been crushed to death in the stampede.

’I need to catch the one acting as the commander...’

Once the water deer retreated, I returned to the campsite.

Having defended against the second wave, my companions looked visibly exhausted.

"Anyone hurt?"

"No. Phew..."

"What on earth are these things, Master?"

"Shouldn’t you know better than me? Didn’t you see things like this during your days as a hunter?"

"I know of beasts that live in packs, but none that charge like this. They all valued their own lives."

Lackey replied with the exact same sentiment Cain had expressed. That made it even more puzzling.

I couldn’t even begin to fathom what these water deer really were.

The only clue we had was that there was an entity commanding them.

We would have to capture or subjugate that entity to put an end to this exhausting onslaught of numbers.

"Can’t Master just sweep them all away?"

"Lackey-ssi. You saw the ones that jumped off the wall earlier. Those things are capable of thinking. If Grylls-ssi goes all out, we will definitely be put in danger."

As long as it didn’t involve trees, Elia showed the wise judgment befitting an Elf Queen.

Since I shared her thoughts, I couldn’t carelessly leave the campsite.

Heek. Heek. Hek.

"Wonmo. Are you okay?"

"So tired..."

Crucially, Wonmo’s stamina was holding us back.

Most of the group were ’humans’ with naturally high stamina, but Wonmo was not.

While he could crush enemies in short skirmishes with his overwhelming physical size, a prolonged battle was a headache.

It wasn’t as if Wonmo was useless either, which made it even more troublesome.

If Wonmo collapsed from exhaustion and had to rest, it would overload the rest of the group. If the attacks continued, it would lead to a vicious cycle of everyone eventually collapsing.

Especially since those bastards, as Elia said, knew how to think, they would relentlessly target our weakest links.

’Crucially, the biggest issue is that these water deer don’t care about their own lives.’

For instance, throwing their own comrades as bait to create an opening.

Right now, they were just mindlessly charging, but there was no telling when they might evolve their tactics.

In many ways, we needed a swift resolution.

"For now, it would be best to pair Captain Bbareumbo with Wonmo."

"I agree. But do we have to keep defending like this?"

"Won’t they retreat when morning comes?"

"That’s too optimistic. They could easily attack in the morning too."

I let my companions debate back and forth for a moment before quietly speaking up.

"...Dolsoe."

"Speak, Master."

Dolsoe had been staying silent without offering any opinions.

At my call, Dolsoe’s heavy voice cut right through the middle of the conversation.

At the same time, the companions who had been exchanging opinions focused their attention on us.New chapters come out on novel​ping.com first.

"Is there any martial art that lets you pinpoint an exact location based on sounds heard from afar?"

"There is a similar martial art. It is called Sonic Art, but I have not learned it."

"Sonic Art. Sonic Art, huh..."

I had heard about Sonic Art from Yoo So-wol before.

She said her opponent was a martial artist who unleashed a Lion’s Roar, and she had personally ripped his throat out with her bare hands.

But I couldn’t learn it right this second, and even if I grasped its profound principles, I wasn’t sure if it would help.

"Master. Instead of doing something like that, wouldn’t it be better to just blindly bombard the area where the sound came from?"

"What if they run away?"

"We carpet-bomb them so they can’t run. I’ve seen it on the Gallery too. In wars, the moment they locate the enemy headquarters, they unleash a carpet-bombing of magic."

"Hmm..."

Simple and crude, but highly efficient.

In reality, even the US military, when pinned down by a single sniper, would mobilize fighter jets to blow the whole place to hell.

Even if we couldn’t pinpoint the exact location, covering it with a massive explosion radius would be more than enough.

"Alright. I’ll give it a shot. But don’t expect too much, since I’m not entirely sure either."

"I shall expect great things."

"I literally just told you not to expect too much."

Grumbling, I climbed back up the wall and scanned the surroundings.

Aside from the light illuminating the campsite, the entire area was shrouded in pitch-black darkness.

Fortunately, my eyes had adjusted to the dark, and with the bright moonlight, I could make out some outlines.

Ugeul-ugeul-ugeul—

As the outlines became clearer, I saw the approaching army in the distance.

Judging by the countless glowing eyes, I could tell it was an immense horde.

’Just how much did they breed?’

Clicking my tongue, I nocked an arrow to my bowstring.

Then, I patiently waited for the water deer presumed to be the commander to roar.

Kkigigik—

Slowly drawing the string, I gradually channeled mana into it.

Not for the Unity of Self and Object, but a pure injection of energy for an explosion.

Kkigigigik—

Unable to withstand my mana, the arrow began to vibrate violently.

If I didn’t release it soon, the arrow would snap, or in the worst-case scenario, explode right here.

Even in that tense moment, I focused my hearing, waiting for the water deer’s roar.

Since the water deer would resume their attack shortly, patience was key.

’Where are you? Stop annoying me and just cry out already.’

Just as the arrow’s trembling grew increasingly intense.

—Waoooo!!!

As expected, the loud, obnoxious cry of the water deer echoed far and wide through the darkness.

The moment I heard it, I almost released the string instinctively, but something caught my eye first.

Beonjjeok—

A faint flash of light in the far distance.

It wasn’t the typical glow of a water deer’s eyes; rather, a blue light burst forth like an explosion and then vanished.

A brief doubt crossed my mind, but without a second thought, I released the arrow directly toward that spot.

Piiiiing!

With a sound that tore through the wind, it sliced through the darkness.

The arrow, bathed in moonlight as it flew toward where the blue light had dispersed, soon reached its destination.

Beonjjeok!

It unleashed a blinding flash of light, and then—

Kwaaaaang!!!

Along with a deafening explosion, a massive shockwave rippled out in all directions.

The ground was completely overturned, sending dirt and rocks soaring dozens of meters into the air, while trees caught in the blast were uprooted and flung into the sky.

It was a spectacle of sheer destruction. It was hard to believe this was the power of just a single arrow.

Yet, rather than the scene of destruction, what bothered me was what I had witnessed right before it.

The moment the water deer let out its roar, a blue light had gathered for a split second and then dispersed.

’What on earth was that?’

An unknown phenomenon that had been clearly visible even in the pitch-black darkness.

Of course, it could have just been a natural occurrence when the water deer roared.

This was something I could just ask the registered users. Right now, I had other things to do.

’What happened to the other water deer?’

I climbed down the wall and met up with my companions.

They all looked utterly dumbfounded after witnessing that explosion.

"Master."

"What?"

"If you could use something like that, why didn’t you do it sooner?"

"I can’t control the output of that."

If I could control it, I would have been blasting them left and right from the start.

Because I couldn’t regulate it, I had no choice but to refrain from using it.

Sniping a distant target was one thing, but unleashing that while a horde of water deer was swarming us would catch us in the aftermath as well.Visit n‌ovelping.com for the full chapter.

"So, what happened to the water deer?"

[Look over there.]

Cain pointed somewhere.

Shifting my gaze in that direction, I saw a single water deer staring blankly at us.

Just in case, I illuminated other areas with my Eye Lantern, revealing countless water deer quietly watching us.

The difference was that their faces were no longer filled with madness like before; instead, they had the typical, innocent look of wild beasts.

Tadadadadat!

And as one of them quickly bolted, the others scrambled to flee as well.

Nevertheless, some still lingered around.

"That’s mine! Don’t eat it!"

"Wao!!!"

A few even sneakily crawled into our campsite and tried to steal our food.

We kicked those freeloaders away or had Wonmo threaten them to drive them off.

And so, we successfully survived the crisis of that eventful night.

"Can we rest now?"

"Go ahead and rest. I’ll clean up the remaining carcasses."

"Hmm... No. I will help you clean up."

"Are you finally learning to read the room?"

"After you showed that kind of power, I have no choice but to grovel like a dog."

His comment about groveling like a dog was truly disastrous.

I let out a chuckle and proceeded to clear away all the water deer carcasses.

Because there were so many, we barely finished clearing them by 3 AM.

"Everyone, please rest. I’ll just do some Internal Energy Regulation before sleeping."

"Then we’ll leave it to you."

Showing their exhaustion, my companions went to sleep one by one.

I planned to relieve my fatigue through Internal Energy Regulation while staying alert for any unexpected situations.

"By the way, did anyone happen to see a blue light dispersing right before I fired the arrow?"

After finishing my Internal Energy Regulation, I asked the registered users.

I asked quietly, just in case my companions woke up.

The companions probably couldn’t see it due to their angle, but the registered users shared my field of vision.

Therefore, there was a high chance they had seen what I saw.

ㄴHeavenly Demon) This lady saw no such thing.

ㄴSword Matstar) A blue light dispersing? I didn’t see it either?

ㄴDon’t Abandon the Hero) But I did see a big, beautiful flash and explosion!

They all just said whatever they wanted, but the conclusion was that they hadn’t seen it.

Besides, given the late hour, there weren’t many registered users online anyway.

’Asella must be busy every day, so what is she doing awake at this hour?’

Setting aside Yoo So-wol and Ash, who were practically unemployed, it was a bit worrying that Asella was staying up so late.

After chatting with the registered users for a bit, I quietly ended the broadcast.

As soon as I ended the broadcast, the recorded video was uploaded.

’It doesn’t show up in the video either.’

It was truly bizarre that it didn’t appear, even though it was definitely in my field of vision.

Perhaps I had just hallucinated it.

For now, it seemed best to just brush it off.

And so, after surviving that dreadful night, the morning sun rose.

"Wow. Wasn’t there a mountain over there yesterday?"

"That is how I remember it as well."

[The mountain has been completely obliterated.]

I realized belatedly that the place where I had caused the explosion yesterday was actually a mountain.

Since 70% of the Republic of Korea’s territory consists of mountains, it was only natural for countless animals to inhabit them.

But seeing that mountain completely vanish made me feel a bit sheepish.

Of course, times like this called for shamelessness.

I spoke in a matter-of-fact tone, as if I had anticipated this all along.

"See? This is why I didn’t fire the explosive arrows earlier yesterday. I couldn’t risk hurting you guys, could I?"

"Master. Look over there."

Lackey, brushing off my half-truth as if it were a nuisance, spoke up.

The moment I turned my head in the direction he pointed, Lackey said:

"Your conscience is lying over there, Master."

"I don’t see it."

"Oh dear. It seems your conscience has already vanished. I figured as much."

"..."

I really wanted to smack him on the back of his head.

ㄴPrincess Chaenggu) I feel a sense of shame... Is this why I learned magic? lol

ㄴAllfather) I agree. This will leave mages feeling utterly defeated.

ㄴStarlight Lady) To think a single arrow has that much power, and you can fire them in succession... That’s terrifying.

Please stop treating me like a monster.