WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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◈ Got a Gallery in the Wild ◈

Chapter 112: Welcome To (4)

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Of all the beings I'd fought to the death so far, the toughest had undoubtedly been the Saber-Toothed Tiger.

Its savage ferocity. Its terrifying size. Its absurd regenerative ability.

If Fast Sloth hadn't helped at just the right moments, I would've died several times over.

That ordeal had brought about tremendous growth. Without the Saber-Toothed Tiger, I probably wouldn't have been able to kill the Guardian either.

After that, I'd encountered all kinds of bizarre creatures, but I'd never lost.

Even when an animal that looked too strong appeared, I ran away instead of fighting it.

Whoosh!

Aura rippled like flames along Heavenly Demon’s Sword.

I stared blankly at the Chief Gorilla, which held that sword between nothing but its fingers.

I'd slashed at it with all my strength, yet the Chief Gorilla had caught it with ease.

If it had grabbed the sword with its hand, I could've understood. But it was using its fingers.

The basic strength I'd gained from eating eel, the strength I'd gained from circulating Internal Energy.

Even with all of that combined, I'd been stopped by three fingers.

“Grrrk...!”

I couldn't even pull it free. No matter how hard I strained, it wouldn't budge.

While I desperately struggled, the Chief Gorilla wore a calm expression.

A silent pressure that said the difference between us was this vast.

There was a reason it had confidently said it would take one of my arms.

Tap!

“Argh!”

Just as I was pulling on the sword with all my might, the Chief Gorilla released its grip.

The recoil nearly made me fall over in the most embarrassing way possible.

I barely regained my balance and faced the Chief Gorilla.

It had even crossed its massive arms.

“Bu gou.”

I didn't have time to access the gallery in this situation.

Still, one thing was certain. It was looking down on me.

The moment I realized that, I decided to attack more carefully.

“Kyuu! Kyuu!”

Then Wonmo, who had been quietly watching until now, suddenly charged in.

It seemed he had decided the Chief Gorilla was an enemy.

Just as I was about to tell Wonmo to get back, someone else intervened first.

Tap.

“Kyuu?”

“...”

It was Fast Sloth, which had somehow climbed down from my back.

Fast Sloth stood in front of Wonmo and gestured for him to move back.

Wonmo looked confused at first, then turned to me.

“Wonmo. Listen to Fast Sloth.”

“Kyuu...”

Only then did Wonmo retreat. Fast Sloth practically shoved him all the way into the cave.

Instead of climbing back onto my back, Fast Sloth moved a fair distance away and began watching.

It would be easier to jump in from there than from my back.

‘Looks like it has a rough idea of what's going on.’

The Chief Gorilla's personal guards were also standing still and watching.

It meant this was a fight between the Chief Gorilla and me. Fast Sloth seemed to understand that too.

Or maybe it was planning to jump in the moment I was in danger, like it always did.

I felt like I could trust it a little. Gripping my sword and shield, I glared at the Chief Gorilla.

It still stood there with its arms crossed. It barely had a nose to turn up, yet it looked ridiculously proud.

“Hmph!”

Then it was time to make it pay for letting its guard down. I kicked off the ground and thrust forward.

An attack launched without warning. And unlike before, it was a thrust rather than a slash.

An attack that took full advantage of Heavenly Demon’s Sword's sharpness.

If it chose to block it like before, it would be seriously injured.

Whoosh!

My sword pierced straight into the Chief Gorilla's abdomen. Or at least, it looked that way.

‘What?’

But the sensation was strange. I had definitely stabbed it, yet it didn't feel like I had.

It felt as though I had stabbed empty air. The disconnect between what I saw and what I felt was deeply unsettling.

Shhhh...

Not long after that thought crossed my mind, the Chief Gorilla changed.

Its body wavered like a mirage, then vanished.

Flustered, I hurriedly pulled back my sword and looked around.

‘Where did it...!’

A chill ran down the back of my neck.

My instincts were screaming at me.

I'd only lived in the Forest of Four Seasons for two weeks, but there was one thing I'd learned.

Never ignore that bad feeling, that instinct.

This time, I chose to trust it.

Slash!

I spun around and swung my sword horizontally.

Aura flared like fire and whipped violently through the air.

“Hm.”

The Chief Gorilla stood behind me.

Its arms were no longer crossed. It looked like it had tried to ambush me and failed.

I didn't let this chance slip away. It was still underestimating me.

“Hah!”

I slashed, thrust, and slashed again, pouring strength into every strike.

Perhaps surprised by my momentum, the Chief Gorilla did nothing but evade without counterattacking.

Slash!

Again. I had definitely struck it, but I felt nothing.

At the same time, the Chief Gorilla's body faded like a mirage.

What the hell was this technique? Could Fast Sloth use it too?

I urgently turned around. I didn't forget to swing my sword just in case.

Slash!

The gorilla wasn't behind me. There was only empty air.

At the same time, a sharp ache shot through the back of my head.

I'd been completely had. But I couldn't turn around and swing again now.

Unless my waist could rotate three hundred and sixty degrees, it was impossible. So I chose the next best option.

‘I have to block with my shield!’

I twisted my waist back into place and raised my shield.

Fortunately, it seemed that had been the right choice. The Chief Gorilla's fist came straight at my shield.

How powerful was that fist? It belonged to the thing that had casually caught my sword.

I might get sent flying backward, so I should prepare to break my fall...

Tap.

Yet all those thoughts became pointless. The Chief Gorilla's attack was utterly anticlimactic.

There was no impact against my shield. It only felt like something had touched it.

The Chief Gorilla pressed its fist against my shield. That was all.

I looked into its eyes, confused.

The Chief Gorilla's expression was completely calm.

‘Why?’

Before that question could even fade.

Thud!

An eerie sensation came from the shield.

Crack!

A sound like a branch breaking rang in my ears.

At the same time, my shield slowly lowered. I was holding it tightly, but it dropped limply.

Wondering what was happening, I looked toward the shield.

Then I realized why it had gone down. It wasn't the shield defying my will.

Sway. Sway.

My arm had broken, and I could no longer command it.

I blankly stared at the arm hanging limp at my side.

That only lasted a moment. The pain that adrenaline had barely suppressed came crashing in.

“GAAAAAAH!!!”

The pain of a broken bone was beyond imagining. Hadn't I suffered from broken ribs just yesterday?

I even dropped my sword as I grabbed my dangling arm.

It felt like someone was jabbing needles straight into my brain.

‘H-How? It only pressed its fist against my shield...!’

Its mirage-like body, and that attack just now.

Nothing made sense. The Chief Gorilla's abilities went beyond common sense.

“Kh... Hngh...!”

“...”

As I clenched my teeth and endured the pain, the Chief Gorilla watched me quietly.

Its expression asked, Are you going to keep going?

I answered with my actions.

Swoosh.

I picked up Heavenly Demon’s Sword from the ground.

One arm was broken, but the other was still fine.

I squeezed out every scrap of mana I had and condensed it into my sword.

Hummm.

Had I instinctively sensed the danger? The aura that had danced like flames slowly condensed.

I couldn't die here. My desire to survive pushed my focus to its limit.

Just as the aura, once nearly flame-like, began to take shape, the Chief Gorilla moved.

At first, it looked like it had only bent its knees slightly. I reacted the instant I saw it, but...

Whoosh!

Before I could even process it, the Chief Gorilla was right in front of me.

It was as fast as Fast Sloth, or even faster.

I slowly looked up at the Chief Gorilla standing proudly on two feet.

Had I ever been this completely overwhelmed before?

Its pressure erased even the smallest trace of resistance from my mind.

Swoosh.

The Chief Gorilla drew back its right arm. It wasn't making a fist. It was preparing to strike with an open palm.

The moment that palm hit me properly, I would die. I had to move somehow if I wanted to live.

But perhaps because I was already overwhelmed, my legs wouldn't move.

It felt similar to fighting the Saber-Toothed Tiger, yet different.

‘I can't die like this...!’

I fought desperately. I even bit my tongue as I tried to force my body to move.

Fortunately, that struggle seemed to work, and I barely managed to move my legs.

Next came my arm. In the illusion that time had slowed, I tried to move it.

Whooom!

The problem was that even that split second applied to the Chief Gorilla.

Its drawn-back arm shot forward like a bullet.

A massive hand, fitting for a gorilla, filled my vision.

Just as I resigned myself to dying.

BAAANG!!!

The Chief Gorilla's palm swept past right beside my face.

The explosive sound of wind made my ears ring, and my hair whipped wildly.

CRASHHHH!!!

My one remaining good ear let me guess what had happened behind me.

The sound of something collapsing, no, being utterly pulverized. I prayed there wasn't a cave back there.

“...”

“...”

I froze in that position. Only my eyes could move.

My trembling eyes slowly shifted toward the Chief Gorilla.

For some reason, it was smiling.

Tap.

The Chief Gorilla lowered the hand that had passed by my face and placed it on my shoulder.

Even that simple touch felt heavy.

Tap, tap.

The Chief Gorilla patted my shoulder several times, as though telling me to relax.

It had meant what it said about taking my arm. But it had never said it would take my life.

Then the Chief Gorilla removed its hand from my shoulder and spoke in the language of the Central Plains.

“Huan ying ni.”

Welcome to the Forest of Four Seasons.

“Xin shou.”

Rookie.

For some reason, that was what it felt like it was saying.

“Zou ba.”

The Chief Gorilla turned its back and gave an order to its personal guards.

The spear-wielding personal guards only glanced at me once before following it.

I stood rooted to the spot until the Chief Gorilla and its group disappeared.

“...Haa.”

Only after they were gone and some time had passed could I finally breathe out.

I didn't even think about my broken, dangling arm. More accurately, I couldn't.

My pounding heart felt like it would burst at any second.

It felt as though someone had forcibly pinned my body down.

The Saber-Toothed Tiger had invoked instinctive fear, but the Chief Gorilla felt different. More deliberate.

‘Who the hell...?’

At the same time, I became curious about whoever had taught the Chief Gorilla martial arts.

Who could its master have been to raise a gorilla into someone that skilled?

I gradually sorted out my tangled thoughts and got a hold of myself.

The first thing I needed to do was treat my broken arm.

If I left it like this, it could leave serious aftereffects.

‘Would Elixir heal this...?’

I was being careful not to twist my broken arm when I turned around and froze.

The Chief Gorilla had thrown a palm strike past my face. I had clearly heard something being destroyed.

I'd assumed a few trees had simply collapsed, but the truth went far beyond that.

Because it had made a road.

This place had originally been packed with dense trees.

But one palm strike from the Chief Gorilla had sent trees crashing down or torn them out by the roots.

An unexpected path had appeared, leaving my mind blank.

‘...Even Sun Wukong couldn't do that.’

Wasn't Sun Wukong a monkey with a tail, not a gorilla? Whatever.

‘Can I really survive here?’

Either way, my resolve had been shaken a little.

Footnotes:

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