I Got a Gallery in the Wild - Chapter 812

Exploring ruins filled with mist exerts an immense psychological pressure.

It was only lesser because I had reliable companions by my side; if I had been alone, the sense of dread would have been no joke.

Telling me not to make a fuss because there’s a real-time video broadcast?

Those who know, know, but the difference between having someone by your side and not is truly massive.

—Heuuuk... Heuk-heuk...

Not only this, but with the auditory pressure added, the sense of fear was doubled.

As if it weren’t enough that the visibility was extremely short, making it difficult to discern objects ahead, there was even a terrifying sound.

"Hmm. Strange. There are no traces of being eaten."

"There are only bones, how can you tell?"

"Bones are highly nutritious. And look at this. This was cut by something sharp, not eaten."

While I focused on the woman’s sobbing, my companions observed the bones scattered on the ground.

Lackey was the main observer, and having once been active as a hunter, he quickly grasped what kind of traces they were.

Of course, I wasn’t just idling around either, and synthesized the opinions of the fixed-handle users.

ㄴAllfather) There is more than one strange aspect. How do bones end up like that?

ㄴStarlight Lady) It’s as if the bones melted and then hardened into place again.

ㄴSuspiciously...) Even a dog Beastfolk would pass on that.

ㄴSmart Demon) Isn’t that a racist remark?

ㄴSuspiciously...) If you ask a dog Beastfolk, they will agree.

As could be seen from the opinions of the fixed-handle users, the bones scattered on the ground were all, without exception, deformed.

Even in the Forest of the Four Seasons, where all kinds of deformed creatures inhabit, there is usually a recognizable form.

’I could practically use this as a drill.’

Bones with ends rolled up and deformed like a drill.

Forms that looked as if they had turned into liquid and then hardened, as someone had said.

They were full of things too strange in many ways to be simply classified as ’bones’.

—Heuuuk...

And there was a strong possibility that the one who made these bones was the sobbing woman.

I didn’t know what on earth she was crying so sorrowfully for, but it couldn’t help but send shivers down my spine.

"First, let’s roughly clear them away so Wonmo’s paws don’t get hurt."

ㄴDon’t Abandon the Hero) Because Wonmo is precious!

That was true, but Wonmo was also the weakest among us.

In addition, the others wore shoes or were entirely mechanical, so there was almost no chance of them being pricked by sharp bones.

Thus, the group cleared away the mountain of bones while moving their steps toward the direction of the sound.

"What kind of bones are..."

"...."

And the further we entered, the more we were left speechless by the mountains of piled bones.

It was no exaggeration; they were piled so high that calling them hills wouldn’t be enough.

Did that sobbing woman make all of this alone, or was it some kind of trap?

"Huh? The mist..."

"It feels like it has cleared up a bit."

Passing by the heaped hills of bones, for some reason, it felt as though the mist was gradually clearing.

But I wasn’t sure if I should consider this a good thing.

Since we still hadn’t grasped what the source of this mist was.

—Heuuuk... Heuuk...

The woman’s sobbing, which had grown closer before we knew it.

The closer we got, the more tension welled up, but enduring that, I moved my steps.

"Just in case, everyone get ready."

At my words, the companions prepared for battle without anyone needing to be told first.

Since Wonmo had also faithfully performed his role as a guide, I had him step back.

’There’s no way a human lives here, so it’s either a monster or...’

I moved forward, keeping the possibility of Manatology in mind.

Soon, we were able to reach a park filled with bone mounds in all directions.

"Gr-Grylls-nim! Over, over there!"

"I see it too."

In the middle of the ruined park, someone was seen sitting slumped and sobbing.

After barely calming down the fussing Elia, I narrowed my eyes.

However, the mist hadn’t completely cleared, so it was at a level where only the outline was barely visible.

—Heuuuk... Heuk-heuk...

Even though we had made our presence known, the woman only wept sorrowfully.

I furrowed my brow at that sad sound. Suddenly, a strange point occurred to me.

’Why does the sound sound exactly the same?’

Whether we were far away or close by like now.

The sound of that woman sobbing was completely identical.

It is common sense that sound naturally decreases the further away you get.

Especially with the bone mounds piled high around us, it would be normal for the sound to decrease even further.

I wondered if perhaps the mist had become a medium for transmitting the sound, but that was also ambiguous.

"Let’s back off for a moment, as there’s something I want to check."

"What are you going to check?"

"To check if the sound remains the same even when we move away."

"Hmm?"

At my words, the companions also seemed to have finally noticed the strange point.

They cast their gazes upon the woman weeping sorrowfully in the park, then followed behind me.

"Dad. Where should we go now?"

"You can go wherever you want to go, Wonmo."

After executing a strategic retreat, I put Wonmo at the front as a guide again.

As we left the park, the volume of the sobbing sound seemed to decrease slightly, but that was only temporary.

—Heuuuuk... Heuk-heuk...

A volume not much different from before pierced my ears.

But what I truly wanted to check was the change in space.

If the space hadn’t changed, then it would be confirmed that the sound was being transmitted by the mist.

"Huh?"

"What’s wrong, Wonmo?"

"This place smells exactly like the scent I caught earlier?"

Then, Wonmo stuck his nose to the ground and began to sniff continuously.

As if he had felt something strange, he sniffed every single scent on the ground.

"Kkyuu?"

After a moment, the fellow tilted his head, making his characteristic goofy expression.This story is hosted at nove‌lping.com.

He was cute enough to make me want to hug him right away, but for now, I satisfied myself with taking a photo.

More importantly, it was the sense of incongruity felt by the companions, including Wonmo.

"Come to think of it, that structure over there... I think I saw it earlier?"

"Our sense of direction might have gone awry because of the mist. Master, let’s find the rope we used to bind the rat first."

ㄴHeavenly Demon) It seems like a Forest of the Four Seasons within the Forest of the Four Seasons.

Listening to Lackey’s opinion, I headed toward where the rope was.

Since we had set up landmarks here and there, there was no way we would lose our way.

Hearing Yoo So-wol’s words, I felt a slight sense of anxiety, but fortunately, I was able to find the rope lying on the ground.

Now, if we just followed this, we should be able to go outside the mist.

"...Goddammit."

"Master. Wonmo is listening."

It shattered that hope to pieces.

The rope was severed in the middle, and at its end, only a structure I was seeing for the first time welcomed us.

—Heuuuk...

Would it be an illusion if that sound was starting to sound like mockery?

I sighed in distress as I looked at the severed rope.

If I knew it would be like this, I should have moved with the rope tied to my body; I wonder if I was too complacent.

ㄴAllfather) Since it has come to this, we have no choice but to grasp the source of the mist.

ㄴSword Matstar) It seems like you’re enjoying this, is it just my imagination?

ㄴAllfather) I am not that wicked of a researcher.

ㄴNecromancy is Love) Everything that comes out of that guy’s mouth is a lie, except for his inhalations.

I could hear Allfather’s excited voice all the way here.

After chuckling for a moment, I sent a message to the person I had in mind for times like this.

[Wild Grylls: Starlight Lady-nim. By any chance, could you teach me the same magic you used to send Gu-chil last time?]

[Starlight Lady: Do you mean the teleportation magic? Of course I should teach you. I will write down the spell formula, so you can just show it to the two of them.]

Starlight Lady’s teleportation magic, which would be utilized as a sort of emergency escape route.

Since the spatial coordinates were currently warping at will, standard Teleport magic was useless.

But Starlight Lady’s special Teleport was a different story.

Since it was originally invented specifically for the Forest of the Four Seasons, where space is unstable, it would exert its effect here as well.

[Starlight Lady: In my heart, I wanted to recreate the moment Grylls-nim descended during the Heavenly God Martial Festival, so it’s a shame.]

[Wild Grylls: Did I give you a Rose of Sharon before?]

[Starlight Lady: Yes. I am growing it diligently right now.]

I’m not sure if I mentioned it before, but I also gifted a Rose of Sharon to Selena.

Previously, I only gave it to people who could fend for themselves, but since I had confirmed its performance, there was no reason to hesitate.

So, I handed the Rose of Sharon to Selena as well and informed her of its performance.

Because I was a bit anxious about letting Allfather, who is obsessed with experiments, or the highly mischievous Princess Chaenggu and Kaylin know.

[Starlight Lady: I speculate that injecting a large amount of mana into the Rose of Sharon can summon Grylls-nim, is that not correct?]

[Wild Grylls: How did you know that?]

[Starlight Lady: Because I felt a terrifying amount of mana from the pillar of light during your descent. I made a rough guess based on that.]

I had never informed her to that extent, but as expected, a genius is indeed a genius.

In any case, if she grasped the principle of the Rose of Sharon, she might even invent a similar magic, even if it was difficult.

Of course, the help of Mage King Kadir would be needed, but Selena would handle that on her own.

"Hmm. Seeing this, we must be careful not to get separated from each other."

"So you’re saying you sent Gu-chil with this?"

While the magic users grasped the spell formula, I surveyed our surroundings first.

The sound of the woman sobbing was heard steadily, and the dreary atmosphere showed no signs of lifting.

In the end, we had no choice but to turn our steps back to where the woman was.

Even though it was dangerous, she was the only one we could grasp a clue from right now.

’It really feels like we’ve fallen into a trap.’

From the moment we showed curiosity toward the sudden sobbing, there was a high probability that we had fallen into a trap.

We would end up wandering while trying to break that trap, and instinctively feel that the woman was at the end of it.

"Prepare for battle."

As I spoke calmly upon returning to the park, the companions equipped their armaments.

Perhaps feeling self-conscious, the cute Wonmo waited behind with his eyes wide open.

—Heuk-heuk... Heuk...

As we drew closer, the woman’s appearance gradually came into view.

First of all, she was so white overall that even the expression ’pale’ was insufficient.

Even Ash or Selena had a subtle blue tint, but that woman was as white as if she had been bleached.

Furthermore, going beyond white, her skin even had a grayish hue.

"Master."

"Speak."

"I have seen human females on the Gallery posting about how well they managed their fingernails. Did they call it nail art?"

"That is just long, like Bbareumbo’s claws."

Lackey cracked a joke, but the woman’s hands had grown viciously, like Bbareumbo’s claws.

It was a shape as if she were wearing claws, and it was as clear as day what would happen if one were cut by those.

Although she had a human form, she did not look human at all.

"Should we try throwing some bread?"

"...."

Just because I made a joke about bread earlier, she’s actually trying to throw bread.

I dismissed her, telling her not to say useless things, and then finished preparing to fire an arrow.

There was no need for us to approach first; I planned to start with long-range attacks.

—Heuuk...

Even while I slowly drew the bowstring, the woman was busy sobbing while slumped.

To the point where it was confusing whether she was overflowing with confidence or if that was also a kind of trap.

But I wondered if she would still be able to cry before a powerful arrow.

Piiing—

Before long, the arrow left the bowstring, its tip aimed precisely at the woman’s head.

The arrow advanced, rapidly parting even the thickly spread mist.

At this rate, that small head of the woman would be easily pierced.

Peok!

That expectation was hit right on the mark.

Since it was an arrow packed with deliberate strength, it very easily blew a hole through the woman’s head.

It was to the extent of leaving a gaping hole, but the problem was what happened next.

—Kyaaak!

Despite her head clearly being pierced, the woman let out a shrill scream.This chapter was taken from novel​ping.com without permission.

Her body’s balance was greatly shaken, causing her to lie flat on the ground, but that was only temporary as she stood right back up.

Hui-beondeuk!

Subsequently, she snapped her head up and stared straight at me.

Thanks to that, I could see her face vividly, and there were no eyeballs, leaving the empty sockets completely exposed.

It was as if they contained the very color of pitch-black; nothing could be seen.

What was even more eerie was that it wasn’t just her eyes.

—Kyaaaaaaaak!!!

The pale woman let out a deafening scream.

Her mouth tore all the way to her ears, revealing a pitch-black space just like her eye sockets.

Chwareureuk!

Countless tentacles sprouted from that space.

The pitch-black tentacles stretched toward us, and I immediately raised my sword to deal with them.

The companions also dealt with the reaching tentacles one by one using their respective specialties.

Kkumteul! Kkumteul!

"Ugh?! Th-this is a tongue?!"

"Don’t mind that and just look ahead!"

I could realize that they were tongues, not tentacles.

But this was no time to be worrying about such things.

—Kyaaaak!

Using the numerous tongues as a distraction, the pale woman rushed at us.

With claws that were nothing short of vicious grown on both of her hands.

Since there were also bones split into multiple branches, it was dangerous.

[I shall block her!]

Just as I was about to swap weapons, Cain stepped forward first.

The knight charging at the pale woman while mounted on a sturdy steel horse.

It was a scene straight out of a movie, and since his skills were indeed sufficient, I trusted him and left it to him.

—Kyaaak!

Seogeok! Seogeok!

"...Huh?"

[Hmm?]

However, let alone my mouth, a bewildered reaction came out of the party concerned.

And for good reason, because right before the collision, Cain’s physical form was completely sliced apart by the claws swung by the pale woman.

Although it was of a nature that recovered quickly, a body with a hardness exceeding steel had been futilely sliced apart.

’Is she at a similar level to Bbareumbo?’

Although it was bewildering, it wasn’t entirely unexpected.

In addition, the pale woman had all her attention focused on me, who had launched the preemptive attack.

No matter what kind of attacks the other companions unleashed, she only rushed at me.

Since I was confident in a head-on clash, I quickly swapped weapons and gripped the Sword of the Heavenly Demon.

—Kyaaaaaaa!

Soon, the pale woman approached right before my nose and swung her claws.

I raised my sword with the intention of counterattacking simultaneously with defense.

Kwak!

Surprisingly, the pale woman stopped swinging her claws and grabbed my wrist.

I flinched as she demonstrated intelligence beyond that of a mere beast, but there was something even more shocking.

’St-strength...?’

That, contrary to her slender-looking body, she possessed terrifying strength.

"Save me save me save me save me save me!"

And that the language of the ’Messiah Empire’ came out of the pale woman’s mouth.

Kkumteul-kkumteul!

It was around the time my mind went blank for a moment due to the succession of bewildering situations.

Pitch-black tongues wriggled like snakes from the woman’s dark mouth.

I didn’t know what she would do with that, but with both of my hands grabbed, there was only one thing I could do.

Ppagak!

"Save... Kkuek!"

Delivering a powerful headbutt while putting strength into my neck.

Peok! Peok! Peok!

Not just once, but with continuous headbutts, the woman’s face gradually caved in.

To the point where the strength gripping my hands also gradually loosened.

Not missing this opportunity, I delivered a powerful front kick to her abdomen.

Kudangtang!

The pale woman was thrown back powerlessly.

She collided with the heaped hill of bones, causing debris to pour down in a heap.

’It feels like I kicked Adamantium...’

I grimaced at my slightly stinging ankle.

I didn’t know how her body was structured for it to be that hard.

"Master! Are you alright?"

"I’m fine. What about you guys?"

"The tongues we sliced earlier were moving alive."

Hearing those words, I checked below.

Pitch-black tongues wriggled like snakes, and some of them even threatened us.

No wonder they didn’t help me while I was grabbed; there was a separate reason.

—Kyaaaak!

The pale woman, who had already recovered in the meantime, let out a deafening scream.

-@#$#@#$#@#$#@#$#@#$#!

At the voice that followed.

"Th-that is... the language of our Alfheim?"

"What?"

"Unless I misheard, it is definitely the language of Alfheim!"

Elia brought up a significant fact.

Earlier the language of the Messiah Empire, and this time the language of Alfheim.

Kwagawang!

Just as I was deducing the facts vaguely emerging in my head.

Simultaneously with the shattering of the bone mound I had blown away earlier, the pale woman’s figure was revealed.

"...Her body shape changed?"

"She seems to have grown a bit larger."

With an appearance and body shape distinctly different from before.