WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Got a Gallery in the Wild ◈
Chapter 159: Real-Life Fight (3)
──────
Humanity developed language, then built civilization, and learned how to solve problems through words.
People exchanged words to bridge differences that refused to narrow, trying to keep conflict to a minimum.
That was the defining difference between beasts and humans. The possibility of solving problems through words.
Still, people pursued their own interests in the end, so some things couldn't be settled through dialogue alone.
That was when they turned to force, which was, in some ways, more convenient than talking.
A simple, binary method where there was a winner and a loser. Very convenient.
The Gallery was no different. More than that, unlike reality, the Gallery was a place built around anonymity.
That made people less willing to persuade one another.
When conflict broke out, people usually mocked the other side or stubbornly dug in instead of trying to narrow their differences.
You couldn't swing a sword on a message board, so the person who got so furious they lost their mind was basically the loser. Still, there were occasionally people who asked for a real-life fight.
If words won't settle this, let's decide it with our fists. Something like that.
[Post title] Title) Isn't asking for a real-life fight basically admitting you lost?
[Post] Your logic is fucking amazing. Since you've got nothing left to say, let's fight with our fists.
[Post] Isn't that basically what you're declaring when you make the request?
└ Yep, exactly. That's why hardly anyone actually accepts a real-life fight request lol. Have you ever seen one? I haven't lol
└ Fights on the Gallery should stay on the Gallery. What's with the real-life fights? lol
└ Only the person who asks ends up looking pathetic lol
Since making the declaration itself meant defeat, real-life fights were rarely requested or accepted.
The person receiving the challenge came out ahead whether they accepted or not.
That was why real-life fights rarely actually happened.
Users usually just snickered and moved on.
[Post title] Title) Upvote if you're looking forward to Heavenly Demon vs. the Blood Demon devotees real-life fight lolllll
[Post] Me first lolllll
└ I'm so fucking jealous of people from the Central Plains. You get to watch such an insanely fun match.
└ I'm from the Central Plains, but I can't upvote this.
└ Why?
└ I'm not from that area... The Central Plains are so huge that it takes days just to travel between cities.
└ Don't the Central Plains have some kind of teleportation system?
└ There is one, but you have to transfer several times, so it costs way too much T_T
If a real-life fight actually happened, though, there was nothing more entertaining.
And these were registered users who were famous even among other registered users. Nobody could resist that.
Heavenly Demon was even an assistant moderator, so people had no choice but to pay even more attention.
└ Hasn't a moderator gotten into a real-life fight before?
└ Yep, a demonkind member and an elf. The assistant moderator said the Head Mod never did any work, so they fought.
└ They said whoever won would take over as moderator, but both of them died lol
└ And they still didn't get banned for that?
└ Why would they get banned? They said they wanted to fight each other~ lol
└ I've had a real-life fight before too. I'm going to dig that bastard's grave now.
└ D-d-did you really kill them?
└ No. We became friends while fighting, but they died of old age. Humans live such short lives...
└ Oh no...
└ That's awful...
└ That's kind of sad.
└ If you're going as far as digging their grave, you must've been really close.
The users eagerly anticipated this real-life fight between registered users, the first in quite a while.
Usually, real-life fights ended with the two sides throwing their arms around each other's shoulders.
That happened around seventy percent of the time. The other thirty percent fought bloody battles and died.
This wasn't Earth, protected by a complex society and strict laws.
Besides, people fighting each other in the Central Plains was just everyday life.
Buzz- Buzz-
A plaza in Shaanxi Province of the Central Plains.
Shaanxi was one of the Central Plains' major provinces, so many people passed through it.
Yet today, an unusually large crowd stood waiting in the plaza.
“Excuse me.”
“Hm? Go ahead.”
“What could possibly be happening for this many people to gather here?”
A martial artist who had noticed the situation asked a passerby.
The passerby looked the martial artist over.
Unlike ordinary civilians, the martial artist had a neat, well-groomed appearance and a carefully maintained beard.
Finally, the black martial robe gave a rough idea of where they came from.
“Ah, it's nothing major. Looks like a fight will be happening here soon.”
“A fight? Between martial artists?”
“I don't know that much. Have you heard of the Gallery?”
“The Gallery? That vulgar thing?”
The martial artist frowned. They clearly didn't think highly of the Gallery.
The passerby explained why everyone had gathered anyway.
“Since you don't know the Gallery, I'll explain briefly. You know it runs on anonymity, right?”
“Of course I do. That's why all kinds of vulgar things get said there.”
“So even when fights break out, people don't fight in real life. But...”
The passerby roughly explained everything that had happened so far.
As the explanation went on, the martial artist's expression changed.
First came curiosity. Then disdain. Finally...
“What?! Blood Cult bastards are coming here?!”
“Yes. That's why other martial artists came too.”
The martial artist was shocked. Remnants of the Blood Cult had actually requested a real-life fight.
The Blood Cult was a faction that kept causing trouble at every turn. Even its remnants couldn't be ignored.
No matter how many times they were cut down, they never vanished. Cockroaches was the only fitting description.
They inflicted mental damage simply by existing.
‘Come to think of it, there have been rumors that the Blood Demon achieved Feathered Ascension to Immortality...’
The rumor had started circulating about two days ago.
It claimed that Wi Hochang, the Blood Demon, the root of the War of Righteousness and Evil and the worst great demonic villain, had actually undergone Feathered Ascension to Immortality.
The martial artist had only half believed the rumors spreading through the Gallery, but that was no longer the case.
After hearing the passerby explain the entire situation, something felt off. The timing was too convenient.
‘What if the Blood Demon really achieved Feathered Ascension to Immortality, and the Blood Cult plans to rise again using that as a pretext?’
More importantly, a real-life fight challenge had been accepted on a Gallery built around anonymity.
Only someone confident in their martial arts could do such a thing. That was why the martial artist couldn't leave.
If it hadn't involved the Blood Cult, they might have just clicked their tongue, sighed, and moved on.
The other martial artists gathered here probably felt the same way.
“Place your bets on who's going to win!”
“I'm betting on Heavenly Demon!”
“Heavenly Demon, my ass! Are you looking down on the Blood Demon devotees?!”
“What Blood Demon devotees? They're probably both equally worthless!”
“...”
Should the martial artist just ignore them?
The serious mood lasted only a moment. Once bets began changing hands, the martial artist sighed inwardly.
When a fight broke out in the Central Plains, people usually ran away to avoid getting caught up in it.
A fight between martial artists was practically a disaster for civilians.
This case was a little different, though. It was a fight between registered Gallery users.
A fight involving neither the authorities nor the Martial World, but a third party.
Even now, government soldiers stood far away, watching.
Was this an affair of the Martial World or not? Should Officialdom-Martial World Noninterference apply or not?
It was too ambiguous, so they only watched.
As the promised time gradually approached, more and more people crowded in.
“What did you just say? You dare insult our sect?!”
“You insulted us first, and you dare spout such nonsense?!”
When people gathered, they naturally talked, and conflict naturally followed.
With so many people around, big and small fights broke out everywhere.
The Central Plains had always been a place where fists flew before words. Scattered fights between martial artists began.
“Now, now. Calm down. We didn't come here to watch you people fight, so keep it down.”
“What did you just...!”
“I said keep it down.”
The only thing that could suppress force was greater force.
It wasn't strange for so-called masters to be mixed among the spectators.
An unexpectedly peaceful stretch of time passed, and the promised time was almost here.
“Why isn't anyone coming?”
“Don't tell me they just talked big and ran away?”
“Aw, that'd be such a letdown.”
The two registered users who constantly acted like martial-arts boomers on the Gallery were nowhere to be seen.
Normally, they should have proudly announced their registered usernames and made an appearance(?).
But as the time drew near with no sign of them, the crowd couldn't help growing suspicious.
‘Figures. Ninety percent of the Gallery is lies, and the other ten percent is truth.’
The martial artist who had first asked the passerby clicked their tongue.
Just as they turned away in disappointment.
Thud!
“Urgh!”
It was like crashing into a boulder. They collided with something huge and fell backward.
Falling over was shameful enough, but the passerby they had struck silently continued walking ahead.
The martial artist's face twisted as they shouted at the passerby pushing through the crowd.
“Hey! Aren't you going to apologize?!”
“...”
At the martial artist's shout, the passerby slowly turned around, then faced forward again.
It was a reaction that said they weren't even worth responding to.
The martial artist's pride was wounded. They rose with a furious expression.
“You dare treat me like...!”
Crack!
Before the martial artist could finish speaking, a massive hand suddenly seized their head.
It was large enough to grip a human head. The description “as large as a pot lid” fit it perfectly.
Crunch!
The instant the hand tightened, the martial artist's head burst like a watermelon.
Bright-red blood sprayed everywhere, and fragments of skull rained down.
A human life had vanished in an instant. Brutally, at that.
“Aaaah!!!”
“W-what are you doing?!”
People screamed and fell into panic at the horrific sight.
Even for people of the Central Plains who were accustomed to battle and murder, this was too cruel.
The giant ignored their reactions completely and threw the corpse forward.
It landed directly in the place designated for the real-life fight.
Thud!
A space the people had intentionally cleared. The corpse with its shattered head fell right into it.
Naturally, the startled crowd looked toward where it had come from.
Step- Step- Step-
Like the parting of the Red Sea, people split apart around the giant.
People from the Central Plains weren't especially large, but this man seemed well over two meters tall.
He wore a rough, tattered martial robe, and his hair grew like a lion's mane.
Drip! Drip!
And finally, palms as red as blood. Seeing them, people thought of one group.
The Blood Cult.
The giant looked over the frozen crowd, drew a deep breath, and shouted.
“Blood Demon Reborn, All Blood in Submission! The Exalted One is Geumjang! Where is Heavenly Demon?! I shall announce the Blood Cult's return with your blood!”
The giant announced both his Gallery username and his name.
The moment he named his target as well, the crowd was overcome by fear.
“B-Blood Cult! Blood Cult remnants!”
“R-run! A real Blood Cult bastard showed up!”
“Aaaah!”
They had assumed this was the usual kind of joke seen on the Gallery.
The moment they realized it was not a joke but a vicious reality, they scrambled to flee.
As civilians ran, only martial artists remained.
They had resolved to deal with the Blood Cult remnants the instant they recognized them.
“It's really the Blood Cult...”
“If it's Geumjang... Isn't he one of the Blood Demon's disciples?”
“So he was alive until now.”
The Blood Cult might be ridiculed as a meme on the Gallery, but it couldn't be ignored in reality.
Geumjang, especially, wasn't someone who could be dismissed as a mere remnant. He had been a demonic villain who made a name for himself during the War of Righteousness and Evil.
The martial artists rushed at Geumjang, but...
“Aaaagh!”
“B-brother! You son of a... Aaaah!”
“Kuahahahaha! Blood! Show me more blood!”
They were no match.
Geumjang was a master who had survived the War of Righteousness and Evil.
There was no way the present-day martial artists, weakened across the board, could stand against Geumjang.
The longer the battle continued, the redder Geumjang's palms became with the martial artists' blood.
Crunch!
After casually crushing a martial artist's head in one hand, Geumjang looked around.
The plaza was littered with mangled corpses. The ground had already been dyed bright red with blood.
Geumjang smiled in satisfaction and looked for anyone else. There was nobody left.
‘Good.’
Geumjang immediately looked into the empty air.
What he did next was access the Gallery and make a post.
[Post title] Title) I announce the Blood Cult's return.
[Author] Blood Demon Reborn, All Blood in Submission
[Post] (Photo of the blood-soaked plaza)
[Post] (Photo of the plaza littered with corpses)
[Post] As of today, I announce the Blood Cult's return. Descendants of the Blood Cult, come to the old holy ground so that we may fulfill our long-held wish.
[Post] The Blood Demon watches over us from the heavens, so we shall never break!
A post this extreme would naturally result in a ban, but Geumjang didn't care. He had written it knowing that.
Geumjang's goal was to reunite the Blood Cult members scattered across the land. This was what made the Gallery so useful.
‘It saves me the trouble of tracking them all down myself.’
Rumors in reality spread slowly. Not on the Gallery.
Gallery rumors caught fire as though oil had been poured over them.
That was what Geumjang was counting on. Even a short amount of time would be enough.
‘That Heavenly Demon is nothing special either. The instant she sees this, she'll tuck her tail and...’
Just as Geumjang, pleased with the result, was about to leave.
“What a vicious hobby. Making such a mess of the ground.”
“?!”
A delicate woman's voice pierced Geumjang's ears. He couldn't help but be startled.
Geumjang had remained prepared for anything that could happen anywhere at any moment.
Yet despite that, the woman had escaped his notice entirely.
Geumjang turned toward the voice.
“You wench...”
“You're tall. How many feet tall are you?”
The woman wore a gat that obscured her face at a strange angle.
She was dressed in black, and her figure looked slender overall.
Even so, she couldn't hide her mature feminine presence.
Her beauty could be guessed from her lower face alone. She was worthy of being called a beauty.
“Kneel.”
“What?”
“This lady commands you to kneel.”
The woman had suddenly ordered Geumjang to kneel because he was tall. Geumjang was dumbfounded.
Why were there so many people begging to be killed today? Still, it didn't matter.
There was nothing better than soaking the ground in blood.
Geumjang snorted and spoke to the woman.
“You're quite the comedian. Is that your last wish?”
“I'm serious.”
Swish!
The moment the woman said that, Geumjang closed the distance in an instant.
Moving too fast for the eye to follow, he thrust out a blood-red palm.
It was the exact same stance, the exact same attack, that a certain gorilla had once displayed.
The strike looked ready to burst the woman's head apart...
Tap-
“W-what?!”
It was stopped by the woman's slender index finger.
The woman spoke again to the stunned Geumjang.
“Didn't I tell you?”
Her tone was arrogant. But it wasn't conceit. It was confidence.
“I said I was serious.”
Heavenly Demon had descended.
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
