I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 811

I stared for a while at the mist filling the space beyond the highway entering the city.

Even the towering skyscrapers were shrouded in the mist, leaving only their lower sections visible.

A place where nothing could be seen, nothing could be heard, and where one couldn’t possibly know what would happen the moment they took a single step forward.

"What do we do now?"

Elia, sensing that something was off right from the entrance, asked cautiously.

I narrowed my eyes and stared at the city shrouded in mist.

Although the outlines beyond the mist were barely visible, the visibility was extremely short, making it practically meaningless.

This was the case even if I activated my Eye Lantern. It was at a level where scouting was impossible unless we set foot inside ourselves.

ㄴAllfather) Mist like that often rolls into coastal or cool regions.

ㄴStarlight Lady) But Grylls-nim’s hometown is incredibly hot and humid in the summer. It’s absolutely not the kind of weather for mist to form.

ㄴAllfather) Indeed. We must assume that something is artificially generating the mist. There is a high probability that it is a World Tree.

I paced around the entrance of the city while listening to the opinions of Allfather and Starlight Lady.

It was unclear whether this mist originated from a World Tree or something else.

’Even if there is a World Tree, I can’t shake the question of "why?"’

Because not only the World Tree outside, but also the numerous World Trees that had come into contact with our home so far were perfectly fine.

I couldn’t tell if a problem had arisen only with the World Tree generating this mist, or if there was some other reason.

We would have to enter to obtain more reliable information, but it was too dangerous.

’In the end, returning is the best course of action, but...’

Alternatively, there was the option of having only a small number of people enter.

Since we had already marked this spot, we could just use Cheongseol’s ability.

I contemplated for a long while, then looked around at my companions and sought their opinions.

"What are your thoughts, everyone?"

[Entering with this entire group is highly dangerous.]

"Aren’t we also short on gas masks?"

"That is not imbued with poison, so there is a high probability that gas masks will not work."

Unlike usual, when they were busy bickering with each other, a fairly deep coordination of opinions took place.

It seemed everyone instinctively felt that entering like this was extremely dangerous.

"Heukgu. Have you ever seen anything like that?"

"No. But I can roughly tell that it’s for defense."

"For defense?"

"You know the place where I fought you, right?"

Hearing Heukgu’s question, I recalled my past memories.

Heukgu, who had blocked access to the World Tree—specifically, the Tyrant Dragon King who had fallen into a state of suspended animation.

The strategy back then was highly complex, but somehow I won by destroying the barrier that blocked the sunlight.

"Are you talking about the barrier that completely blocked the sunlight?"

"Yes. In terms of its nature, it’s similar to that."

"Was that also from the World Tree?"

"You can think of it as dark clouds that hardened and became fixed in the sky."

ㄴAllfather) The generation principle of clouds and mist is essentially the same.

Thanks to Allfather’s additional explanation, I could roughly understand.

If it was the technology of the gods, something like a cloud that completely blocked sunlight would be incredibly easy.

"So what you’re saying is, there’s a high probability that this mist is being manipulated by someone. Is that it?"

"No, that’s not it. It means someone spread this mist, and the World Tree is maintaining it until it is destroyed."

"Are you saying we can destroy this mist?"

"Give it a try."

Hearing those words, I finished preparing to fire an arrow.

The other companions waited quietly behind, coordinating their respective opinions.

"If I knew it would be like this, we should have kept that human Gu-chil around. What a shame."

"Gu-chil? Do you mean the remnant of the Blood Cult who attacked Grylls-nim along with Dolsoe-nim in the past?"

"Indeed. We could have just pushed that human in."

"That’s a wicked thought!"

"That guy did wicked things to us first."

My concentration was momentarily disrupted by Lackey’s words ringing in my ears.

I also wondered what that human Gu-chil was up to right about now.

In the Forest of the Four Seasons, as long as you navigate crises well, survival itself is not that difficult.

Especially if your physical weight class is high, your chances of survival increase, and Gu-chil is a human who has steadily trained in the External Arts.

’We did send him somewhere for the Ducal Lady’s experiment, but he’ll probably survive well enough on his own.’

Piiing!

Thinking so, I lightly released the arrow I had notched on the bowstring.

Rather than piercing through, I intended to deliberately generate an aftershock to secure our line of sight.

However,

Kagagagak!

An anomaly occurred.

Normally, the arrow should have pierced through the mist and gone beyond, but it stopped as if blocked by a solid wall.

Despite being mist, which should be softer than soft and gaseous, it hardened the moment it made contact with the arrow.

Tuk—

The arrow generated a harsh friction sound for a moment before falling powerlessly to the ground.

I cast my gaze upon the fallen arrow, then raised my head.

There was no change whatsoever in the thickly spread mist.

"...Elia. Lackey. Try using wind magic."

Sensing that something was amiss, the two magic users immediately cast wind magic upon hearing my command.

Soon, a violent gust of wind surged toward the mist, but...

Hwaaaak!

The very situation I had dreaded unfolded.

Instead of the wind pushing the mist away, the mist blocked the wind.

It easily dispersed the gust of wind as if a solid wall stood there.

The dispersed wind also scattered along the surface of the mist, making it look as though the entire mist had become a wall.

"It is just as Heukgu said. This is closer to a defensive line."Find the original chapter at nоvelping.com.

"Then does this mean we have to turn back like this?"

"That is for Master to decide."

Listening to my companions’ opinions, I quietly reached my hand out toward the mist.

I felt a slight hesitation, but it was a task that had to be done for confirmation.

Seuuuk—

As if its feat of easily blocking the powerful arrow and wind magic was an illusion, the mist welcomed my hand warmly.

I felt the cool sensation characteristic of mist, along with a sense of foreignness as if I had entered an entirely different space.

’I know there are liquids that harden upon impact... Did they utilize that?’

In any case, to break through this mist, we had no choice but to enter it directly.

However, since there was more than one burdensome aspect, I utilized every method available to me.

"Why don’t you try destroying this mist just like you destroyed the dark clouds?"

"Should I?"

"Since you’re agreeing, it feels like it might actually work."

"If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work."

First, I decided to use a simple, brute-force, yet effective method.

If this didn’t work, we would truly have no choice but to enter the mist.

[Alternatively, there is also the method of catching an animal and pushing it inside.]

"How about putting in something other than an animal? Conveniently, we have a piece of scrap metal that speaks human language."

[I would like you to know that your human rights and my human rights are one and the same.]

The two individuals with no human rights bickered behind me, but I let it slide in through one ear and out the other.

After that, I fired an arrow that was far more powerful than before.

Since it was a shot intended to break that wall of mist, it carried immense destructive power.

Kagagagak!

The duration of the collision between the arrow and the wall of mist was much longer than before.

It even showered sparks, visually demonstrating a clash between spear and shield, but...

Tuk—

That was it.

The mist was perfectly fine, and only the arrow fell desolately to the ground.

Of course, it wasn’t that there was no change at all.

"Master. Unless my eyes deceive me, a phenomenon occurred where the mist rushed toward the point where the arrow made contact."

"I saw it too."

Just as Lackey said, the wall of mist was not merely solid.

If a hole formed in one spot, the mist would rapidly rush to that location to fill it.

Since the mist seemed to surround the entire city, trying to destroy it was no different from pouring water into a bottomless vessel.

’I wonder if the technique I used against Ash would work.’

Besides, that technique was still difficult to get a feel for.

I tried to use it again, but perhaps due to a matter of mindset, it wasn’t easy.

I didn’t know if it was fired from the exhilaration gained after a fierce battle, or if, as Asella said, faith was required.

Because of this, I steadily read the Bible even in my daily life, but it was still difficult to find that distinct sensation.

’Yoo So-wol said she would give me an edited version soon, so maybe I can get a rough grasp with that?’

Anyway, putting that aside, I pondered how to enter the mist.

As I said earlier, blindly throwing our bodies in was a dangerous act, so I started with an experiment first.

"Kkuaak! Kkuak! Kkwaak!"

"What is this?"

"I caught a guy that was nearby."

And Lackey had captured a massive nutria.

Nutrias are originally as large as medium-sized dogs, but this one was larger than a large dog.

To think a rat the size of a wolf exists—it is indeed fitting for the Forest of the Four Seasons.

"Kkwaaak!"

"He’s absolutely furious. What is he saying right now?"

"He is only repeating the words, ’Let me go!’"

"Can you ask him what lies beyond that mist?"

"I asked earlier, but he only threw a temper tantrum, asking how he was supposed to know."

"Well, he’s about to find out."

I tied the nutria’s body tightly with a rope, then approached the front of the mist.

Perhaps due to instinctive fear, the nutria struggled violently, but it was meaningless before my overwhelming strength.

"Heave-ho!"

"Kkwaaaak!"

Subsequently, as if splashing water, I threw the large nutria right past the mist.

Unlike the arrow or the gust of wind, the nutria’s body vanished beyond the mist very easily.

Apparently, it did not react unless it was a force powerful enough to severely disrupt the mist.

"Kkuwaaaak!"

"Farewell, you bastards!"

"You don’t need to translate that."

Before long, the nutria disappeared into the mist, and the rope also gradually grew longer.

Since the length of the rope was quite long, it was unlikely to break under normal circumstances.

Still, just in case, I purchased more rope from the Gallery auction house and connected it to the end.

Jureureuk—

It seemed to be a highly active nutria.

The rope showed no signs of stopping, making the wait rather tedious.

Tuk—

But that didn’t last long either.

Whether the nutria’s activity had ceased, the unwinding of the rope stopped.

Of course, it could have been waiting to rest, so I quietly pulled on it, and lo and behold.

It was being pulled back completely without resistance.

It was clearly a nutria the size of a wolf, so it was strange that it was pulled back so easily.

At this, I immediately pulled the rope all the way back.

[It has been cleanly severed in half.]

Only the corpse of the nutria, whose upper body had been cleanly severed and vanished, returned.Follow the newest chapters on novelping(.)com.

Normally, one would think of this as a dangerous matter, but...

"It’s a shame it’s only this much."

"Only this much?"

"In the Forest of the Four Seasons, corpses like this are common. There are even times when you step on a bug while walking and it explodes like a bomb."

In the Forest of the Four Seasons, this level of death is practically a peaceful passing.

Since having one’s body literally turned into rags or shattered into pieces was the baseline.

"And dangerous animals are scattered all over the place anyway. It won’t be any different inside the mist. What I wanted to know was whether entering the mist causes hallucinations."

"Seeing how it roamed around freely, perhaps there are none?"

"There is a high probability of that."

Of course, I had absolutely no intention of blindly charging in.

No matter how sturdy my body was, I was relatively vulnerable to hallucinations.

Although we had gas masks, we didn’t have many of them.

"First, entering the mist should be done slowly..."

"Keung-keung. Keung."

"No, Wonmo. Don’t eat this. You already ate earlier."

I formulated a plan while tightly hugging Wonmo, who was trying to eat the nutria corpse.

Since we had reached this point, only a small number of people would enter, just like before.

We would build a base camp near here to make travel convenient.

Perhaps because my companions also judged it to be reasonable, they obediently followed my words.

Thus, over the course of about a day, we constructed a base camp and narrowed down our numbers to a small group, just like before.

Me, Lackey, Elia, Cain, and finally, Wonmo.

One might say that including Wonmo is too dangerous, but Wonmo is gradually earning his keep.

Crucially, he possesses an extremely superior ’sense of smell’ compared to the other companions, which will be of great help in our future itinerary.

"Then, before we set off... I will go in first and come back out."

Before entering, I decided that I would go into the mist first and return.

Everyone cast worried glances, but for the sake of safety, it was an issue I was more than willing to endure.

Just in case, I tied a rope around my body, similar to what we did with the nutria, and slowly entered the mist.

’It’s chilly.’

Except for the short visibility and the chilliness, there were no particular symptoms.

I worried that perhaps memories might be recalled, just in case, but surprisingly, there were no such symptoms either.

Apparently, only things that had broken off from the mist behaved that way.

I entered a bit deeper, and when there were still no symptoms, I returned.

"The visibility is short, so we need to stick close together. We should also make landmarks to find our way back."

"Did you not hear any sounds inside?"

"There was nothing like that."

Thus, after completing all preparations, I entered inside with my companions.

The first thing to find was the nutria corpse.

Fortunately, the mist hadn’t completely scattered the scent, so Wonmo didn’t have a hard time.

Only—

Heuk... Heuuuk...

It was just that the further we went inside, the more we could hear the sound of sobbing.

At the sound, which sounded like a girl sobbing, our group stopped in our tracks without anyone having to say a word.

—Heuuuk... Heuk...

It was not a mistake. It rang vividly in my ears.

"...What are we going to do?"

At Elia’s question, I answered immediately.

"Let’s go."

"Won’t it be dangerous?"

"We need to figure out what kind of danger there is beforehand."

"Aren’t you scared?"

"If it’s a ghost, I suppose I’d be a little scared."

After speaking calmly, I added a word.

"Since you can’t hit a ghost."

ㄴHeavenly Demon) What a clear answer.

It seemed the Heavenly Demon also agreed.

In any case, leaving behind Elia, who reacted with bewilderment, I moved my feet.

—Heuuuuk... Heuk...

The woman’s crying began to grow louder and louder.

"What on earth happened to that person for her to cry so sorrowfully?"

"Who knows? Maybe she couldn’t buy bread?"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"This city is famous for its bread."

"Is it delicious?"

"I’ve never eaten it even once."

Since we’re already here, should we go take a look?

Around the time I was having such useless thoughts.

"Dad! Here!"

Wonmo found the last trace of the nutria.

"There are... so many corpses."

"There are also many that have nothing left but bones."

Along with this, the bones of numerous beasts and...

ㄴAllfather) That looks like a human skull.

ㄴSword Matstar) There are also quite a lot of human corpses, aren’t there?

Even human corpses estimated to be recent.

—Heuuuuk... Heuk... Heuk...

Only the sorrowful crying of a woman spread far and wide.