WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Got a Gallery in the Wild ◈

Chapter 108: Way of the Wild (3)

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Martial arts had contributed quite a lot to human history.

From ancient times to the present day, more than half of human history had been marked by war.

Martial arts had played a major role in those wars.

Especially in ancient times, an individual’s skill could often change the course of a war.

As time passed and technology advanced, the greatest cheat item of all time, the gun, appeared. Still, the importance of martial arts hadn’t changed.

Martial arts weren’t limited by tools. They were techniques for wielding force more effectively.

That was martial arts. Even with a gun, accuracy and stability varied wildly depending on the person using it.

And martial arts were difficult to master unless someone stood beside you and taught you. Even if you tried to learn on your own, it was practically impossible.

Everyone had different arm and leg lengths, heights, weights, and countless other differences. Even talent varied greatly.

You needed someone watching to correct those things in real time.

‘Who the hell...?!’

I couldn’t hide my shock at the Leader Gorilla’s palm strike.

It began with the way it slid toward me, then flowed straight into an attack like water.

Every part of it was shocking. But I didn’t have time to think.

What mattered was that this Leader Gorilla was my enemy. I had to take it down.

Whoosh!

The moment I dodged the palm strike, I counterattacked.

Time felt as though it had slowed down, so my counterattack was just as fast.

My sword came down from above. At this rate, it would pierce the Leader Gorilla’s collarbone.

Yet the Leader Gorilla still looked calm. It actually moved closer to me.

Grab!

Then it grabbed my arm with both hands.

That wasn’t all. It turned its body around.

Like before, its movements flowed naturally.

As the sequence continued, it lifted me off the ground.

Whoooosh!

I hadn’t wanted to, but both my feet left the ground.

Bang!

The world spun once, and a huge impact slammed into my back.

My eyes flew open as pain knocked the breath out of me. What the hell had I just been hit with?

‘Was that a shoulder throw...?!’

My shock at the Leader Gorilla using grappling techniques only lasted a moment.

The sole of its foot appeared above my head. If that stomp hit me, I’d die.

Baaang!!

I barely rolled away in time. I hurriedly got my breathing under control and stood up.

During the time it took me to rise, the Leader Gorilla closed in.

It had no intention of giving me even a second to recover.

One mistake and I’d really die. I rapidly accelerated the mana inside my body.

If one of its attacks landed, I was bound to suffer serious damage.

Clang!

Another palm strike flew at me. I blocked it with my shield.

It was strong, but not strong enough to break through my shield. If I could exploit an opening, I had a chance.

If it had been an ordinary person instead of a gorilla, I would’ve created some distance, but...

‘Its arms are so long that the difference in reach doesn’t mean anything.’

A gorilla’s long arms made spacing far less useful.

That meant I had to fight a battle of wits on nearly equal footing. This was completely different from my previous fights.

Instead of a fight where I survived through quick thinking, this was a fight decided by pure skill.

It could turn into the kind of endurance battle I hated most.

Bang!

The Leader Gorilla’s hand collided with my shield again. This time, it was a fist rather than a palm.

The impact traveling through the shield made my shoulder tingle. Its strength was on another level from the other gorillas.

Frowning, I slashed diagonally with the sword in my right hand.

I didn’t forget to be careful not to get caught in another shoulder throw.

Tap!

But it dodged my attack with a simple step backward. Its control of distance was excellent too.

Who the hell had taught this thing martial arts? Whoever it was had taught it some seriously nasty shit.

‘A weakness. I need to find a weakness.’

Its short legs? Those much longer arms made up for them.

Exploiting its sluggish movements with a counterattack? If I got thrown again, I’d die.

The difference between empty hands and a weapon? Its whole body was a weapon.

No matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t find a weakness. Like I said, this was a battle of pure skill.

‘No. I do have an advantage.’

After thinking hard, I realized I wasn’t completely without one.

It couldn’t defend. It had no choice but to dodge.

The moment it tried to block, the Heavenly Demon’s Sword would cut it. I decided to exploit that.

I had to put it in a situation where it had no choice but to defend. Then an opportunity would come.

Whoosh!

A thrust slipped through an opening, aimed at its shoulder.

But the Leader Gorilla not only dodged it easily, but also responded by lightly striking the flat of my blade.

The strike naturally knocked my sword aside and threw my balance off slightly.

Which meant it was the Leader Gorilla’s turn. It seemed to realize that too as it extended its palm.

That was what I was waiting for. I charged at the gorilla.

“?!”

The Leader Gorilla’s eyes widened, apparently not expecting me to rush in.

But it was too late to pull back the hand it had already extended. Even if it managed to do so, its stance would become awkward.

While it panicked, I drove my shield forward like a fist instead of using my sword.

My target was its face. The flustered Leader Gorilla hurriedly raised its arm to block, but...

Crunch!!

The physical enhancement from mana, along with a shield rippling with aura, was too much for it to stop.

The sound of bone breaking rang clearly in my ears. The instant I heard it, I was sure of my victory.

Crack!!

“Guh?!”

But perhaps that was the price of letting my guard down. Something felt like it exploded around my ribs.

The ominous sound was a bonus. It wasn’t the sound of something breaking, but of something being ground to powder.

At first, I didn’t feel anything. There was only a tingling sensation, as though lightning had passed through me.

Then, in an instant, agonizing pain came with darkness swallowing my vision. I couldn’t breathe either.

“Guh... guh...”

“Kuooooo!!”

The Leader Gorilla and I staggered backward.

We had each landed a critical blow on the other.

My ribs had taken the hit, and its arm had too. When it came to continuing the fight, I had the advantage.

The Leader Gorilla’s arm that had been hit by my shield dangled limply. Its bones had shattered.

‘My ribs...’

Of course, I wasn’t fine either. For one thing, I couldn’t breathe.

It was worse than when I’d been hit by the shoulder throw. Unable to breathe, my vision gradually blurred too.

“Ugh... Haa! Ugh!”

Thankfully, I managed to exhale, but tremendous pain washed over me.

It hurt several times more than when the Orichalcum Guardian had hit me.

It had only hit me once. Just one hit had left me nearly incapacitated.

Thank God it was my ribs. If it had struck another vital point, I would’ve died in one blow.

“Uwoo!”

Maybe it decided it couldn’t continue fighting.

The Leader Gorilla grabbed its broken arm with the other hand and fled.

That was probably for the best. I couldn’t have continued the fight either.

‘Elixir... I need to drink Elixir...!’

Clutching my ribs, I entered the cave. I still couldn’t breathe properly.

I worried that a broken bone might have punctured my lung. Still, if I had Elixir, I’d get better.

Once inside the cave, I hurriedly gulped down Elixir. I emptied an entire bottle.

“Hoo. Hoo. Hoo.”

Cold sweat poured down my body as I steadied my breathing. Thanks to the Elixir, I felt somewhat better.

But the agonizing pain remained, so I couldn’t help grimacing now and then.

“Haa...”

Only after about five minutes did I finally calm down.

This was nothing like the situation with the Orichalcum Guardian. Injuring my ribs had made even breathing difficult.

“Cough! Cough! Ugh!”

To make matters worse, blood sprayed from my mouth. That had been dangerous.

I roughly wiped the blood from my hand and sat down.

Things seemed to get harder with every passing day.

‘What the hell was that thing...?’

A gorilla using human martial arts. I couldn’t understand it at all.

I wondered whether a survivor had taught it, but even that seemed questionable.

Even people on the gallery had said no one had ever taught martial arts or breathing techniques to apes and seen noteworthy results.

‘Is the Forest of Four Seasons different?’

It would be easy to say that it learned because it was intelligent enough to learn martial arts.

But I wanted to know who had taught it. A gorilla had learned martial arts.

That person had not only reached a high level themselves, but also possessed the ability to teach a gorilla martial arts.

To begin with, they were someone who had survived in the Forest of Four Seasons and taught martial arts to gorillas.

Swish-

As my thoughts grew complicated, someone approached me. It was Fast Sloth.

I stared at Fast Sloth for a moment, then suddenly remembered what it had done.

It had beheaded the gorilla it held hostage and thrown its head.

It was a truly wild way of doing things, and another side of Fast Sloth.

“Hey.”

“...”

“Why did you spare me?”

Fast Sloth didn’t answer.

But it seemed to be saying this.

You were such a weak nobody that I didn’t need to kill you.

‘Hm. Fair enough.’

I snorted.

It was probably fortunate that I had been weak back then.

If I had posed even the slightest threat to Fast Sloth, I wouldn’t be alive today.

“Come to think of it, Fast Sloth. What do you eat?”

“...”

That aside, I needed to consider what to feed it going forward.

As always, Fast Sloth only wore a relaxed expression.

Of course, it wasn’t difficult to understand what that expression meant.

“No Fasting Pills for a while. They said to wait a bit.”

“...”

Fast Sloth’s mouth turned down slightly.

So this thing could make that kind of expression too. Interesting.

* * *

The Leader Gorilla ran and ran.

One of its arms had been completely ruined, so it couldn’t climb trees. All it could do was run.

Even so, it moved at a considerable speed. The surroundings changed in real time each time it ran.

Like the technique it had used to close in on Grylls in an instant, even its running was extraordinary compared to ordinary animals.

Rustle!

Before long, the Leader Gorilla arrived at its base.

The other gorillas were busy with their own tasks there.

Some picked bananas hanging from trees. Some lay sprawled out asleep.

Others chipped stones to make tools.

“Awooo! Oooo!”

Holding its dangling arm, the Leader Gorilla roared.

At that roar, every gorilla stopped what it was doing.

An eerie silence fell over the gorillas’ territory.

What had the Leader Gorilla said?

Swish-

Then someone approached from behind the Leader Gorilla.

The Leader Gorilla sensed the presence and immediately turned around.

Its build was similar, but its posture differed from the other gorillas’.

Even the Leader Gorilla placed both hands on the ground when it ran, but this newly appeared gorilla stood proudly on two legs.

More than anything, its appearance was clearly different.

The other gorillas, including the leader, had bare skin.

But this newcomer wore “clothes” like a human.

They were old and torn, little better than rags... but they were clothes nonetheless.

Black clothing that Grylls would probably have called Eastern-style clothing.

“Ooo! Oooo! Ooo!”

The moment the Leader Gorilla saw that gorilla, it explained everything that had happened.

It even pointed to its broken, dangling arm.

The newcomer silently listened to the Leader Gorilla.

“Ooo!”

“...”

“Oooo! Oo!”

The more it listened, the more serious the newcomer’s expression became.

Its face bore wrinkles and the marks of age, as though it was older than the other gorillas.

“Ooo! Oooo!”

“...”

It also had a five-pronged scar over one eye.

Footnotes:

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