Chapter 107

The Way of the Wild (1)

The wild is harsh.

And savage.

It would be foolish to demand "reason" from animals living in the wild.

It was a world governed by the law of the jungle, where the strong took everything from the weak.

At the same time, it was a world where those who survived were the strong.

Even if I wanted to treat them rationally, animals were not rational creatures.

Their instincts took precedence over reason, and that wouldn’t change even if their intelligence increased.

Those who invaded your territory were enemies.

Those who stole your food were enemies.

Those who went beyond stealing it and actually ate it were enemies too.

Either you killed your enemies, or they killed you.

That was the way of the wild and the law of nature.

Whoosh!

The gorilla’s head had been punched away by the leader.

It flew toward Namu-Ppareumbo like a cannonball, but who was Namu-Ppareumbo?

He could effortlessly dodge an arrow fired from point-blank range.

Avoiding a mere head propelled by a punch was nothing to him.

’But that thing was launched with a punch?’

Even so, I was astonished.

The punch I had just witnessed from the gorilla leader wasn’t merely powerful. What made it even more astonishing was the perfect control behind that strength.

If the leader had simply forced it forward with brute strength, the gorilla’s head would have exploded.

Yet through some unknown principle, it had been launched like a cannonball without bursting apart.

"Ooh-ooh! Ooh-ooh!"

"Ooh-ooh! Ooh-ooh!"

Namu-Ppareumbo’s provocation had been answered by the leader’s attack.

When the leader began beating its chest, the other gorillas followed suit.

A gorilla beating its chest was unmistakably a threat.

In other words, this was a declaration of war.

"Ha...."

"Grrrr...!"

Unlike me, who let out a sigh, Namu-Ppareumbo wore his usual relaxed expression.

Wonmo seemed to sense the atmosphere too. His fur stood on end as he became alert.

’They were the ones in the wrong, though.’

The gorillas had poured the fuel, and Namu-Ppareumbo had thrown a match onto it.

The problem was that it was my house now going up in flames.

What a rotten situation.

Unless we dealt with those gorillas, there would be no extinguishing the fire consuming my home.

I steeled myself and prepared for an attack that could come at any moment.

’They’ll be incomparably stronger than those otters.’

These weren’t just any animals. They were gorillas, the primates with the greatest physical strength.

Moreover, as the clubs in their hands demonstrated, they could even use tools.

This would undoubtedly be a difficult fight.

Above all, the gorilla leader bothered me.

’What is that thing that it doesn’t need to carry anything?’

It had no weapon, yet somehow seemed even stronger.

It was a strange intuition.

While I narrowed my eyes and glared at the leader, the other gorillas began charging.

As expected of gorillas, they rushed forward with their long arms planted against the ground.

The leader, however, merely stood behind them and watched. It made no move to join the battle itself.

"Ppareumbo, get on Wonmo’s back."

"...."

"Wonmo, don’t start running yet. Stay close behind me."

After giving Namu-Ppareumbo and Wonmo their instructions, I slowly retreated.

My chances of victory would be low if I charged at the gorillas like this.

I had been able to defeat the otters because they were small and their tactics were simple.

But look at these bastards.

They weren’t merely charging blindly.

’They’re surrounding us.’

Instead of running straight at us, they scattered in every direction.

They spread out to the front, rear, and both sides, forming an encirclement.

They executed the maneuver the moment the battle began, suggesting they had done it many times before.

’As expected, these bastards know how to use their heads.’

Intelligence was the reason humanity had risen to the top of the food chain.

Even if their intellect fell far short of a human’s, that didn’t make them any less threatening.

"Kwaaaaah!"

Once the encirclement was complete, the gorilla whose gaze met mine swung down its weapon.

Of the three wielding a bone, a stone axe, and a wooden club, it was the one holding the stone axe.

I urgently raised my shield to defend myself.

Just in case, I even reinforced it with mana.

Claaaaang!

The stone axe collided with my shield, producing a deafening crash.

As expected of gorillas, reputed to be the strongest primates, the impact felt tremendously heavy.

If this had been before I ate the eel, every one of their attacks would have been lethal.

But I had no time to worry about the noise.

The gorilla wielding the wooden club was already approaching.

Without even thinking of counterattacking, I hurriedly pulled back my shield.

Whoosh!

The club narrowly swept past my face.

At the same time, the stone-axe-wielding gorilla roared and charged at me.

Its vicious teeth were slightly frightening, but I forced the fear aside.

Clang!

The stone axe struck my shield again.

However, counterattacking was difficult.

Just as before, the club-wielding gorilla immediately launched another attack.

Their attacks were wild and indiscriminate, yet that very recklessness allowed them to cover one another’s openings.

’At this rate, I’ll be at a disadvantage.’

I didn’t even have the freedom to check on Wonmo and Namu-Ppareumbo.

I was somehow managing to block and evade their attacks with the skills I had honed until now, but I was hopelessly outnumbered.

Unless I attacked, I would never escape the gorillas’ endless assault.

’Their attacks themselves are simple.’

After exchanging several rounds of attacks and defenses, I began to understand their pattern.

No, perhaps calling it a pattern was giving them too much credit.

Their attacks were closer to wild swings.

However, they were using "tools."

They were trying to strike me with those tools.

I was looking for the inevitable openings created whenever someone grew careless while trying to use a weapon.

How ironic.

They had picked up weapons to become stronger, yet those weapons were instead creating openings.

Whoosh!

The stone axe narrowly passed in front of me.

I had watched the timing of its downward swing and stepped back.

’Now the other one will swing its club.’

I glanced to the side.

Just as I had expected, the gorilla was preparing to swing its club.

It wasn’t bringing the weapon straight down from above. It was swinging diagonally.

Having roughly predicted the direction of the attack, I raised my shield.

And the sword in my right hand—

Stab!

I thrust my sword toward the collarbone of the stone-axe-wielding gorilla.

Since it was the Heavenly Demon’s sword and was even enveloped in aura, the blade penetrated easily.

Moreover, given the gorilla’s posture, stabbing it in the shoulder was extremely easy.

"Kuaaaaaah!"

Booom!

Clutching the wounded area, the gorilla stumbled backward.

Meanwhile, my shield blocked the wooden club.

Now was my chance.

While one gorilla was reeling, I decided to eliminate the other one first.

’If it’s only one...’

The remaining gorilla continued attacking despite what had happened to its companion.

That was the mistake that would cost it the fight.

Its physical strength might have been immense, but it was slow.

Furthermore, this one’s weapon wasn’t a stone axe. It was merely a wooden club.

Crack!

No matter how sturdy the wood was, it would still break after colliding with an iron shield.

The instant I heard the club snap, I swung my sword diagonally.

Slash!

Rather than trying to cleave through the gorilla’s entire body, I focused on cutting only as deeply as necessary.

That was something SwordMaster had taught me.

Trying to cleave completely through a body inevitably required putting more strength into the attack.

Doing so significantly reduced stability.

A sword depended more on stability than strength.

SwordMaster had even advised me to use an axe instead if I wanted to rely on greater force.

’He also said that striking something too hard could damage my shoulder.’

Following his advice, I had slightly changed the way I fought.

Even when a perfect opportunity presented itself, I wouldn’t put excessive strength into my attack.

The Heavenly Demon’s sword was so exceptional that I didn’t have to worry about its cutting power for the time being.

"Krraaaaaah!"

A diagonal wound appeared across the gorilla’s upper body, sending it crashing backward.

Blood didn’t spray immediately, but the wound was clearly deep.

"Kuaaaaah! Kua! Kuaaaaah!"

The gorilla thrashed and rolled across the ground.

Blood began gushing from the wound carved by my sword.

It wasn’t only blood. Its organs began spilling from its split abdomen.

Even though I had swung lightly, the power of the attack seemed to have torn open more than half its abdomen.

That took care of one.

The other was still clutching its shoulder.

When our eyes met, it looked at me in terror.

Perhaps the greater one’s intelligence became, the harder it was to escape the fear of death.

Stab!

"Kuh... kua...."

I immediately finished it by stabbing it through the heart.

Cutting its throat didn’t suit my nature, and more importantly, it would make cleaning up afterward troublesome.

Having killed both gorillas, I turned around to check on Wonmo and Namu-Ppareumbo.

"Kyuu... kyuu...."

"Wonmo?"

As expected, the two gorillas they had faced had become cold corpses.

However, Wonmo was whimpering as though he had been injured.

I glanced at the gorilla leader before approaching Wonmo.

"Kyuuu...."

"You broke a claw."

One of Wonmo’s claws had broken.

Fortunately, it wasn’t a serious injury.

It didn’t look as though a gorilla had struck him. He seemed to have made a mistake on his own.

I stroked Wonmo’s head and spoke to Namu-Ppareumbo, who was riding on his back.

"Go to the cave and give Wonmo some elixir. You can do that, right?"

"...."

Namu-Ppareumbo nodded.

He then patted Wonmo’s side a couple of times.

Wonmo glanced at me once before lumbering back into the cave.

’Now, all that remains is...’

The gorilla leader.

I turned and faced it.

The creature had continued observing from behind even as all its companions were killed.

Was it confident?

Or did it have some other reason?

’The fact that it isn’t carrying a weapon bothers me most.’

Unlike the other gorillas, which had wielded weapons, it stood completely barehanded.

What did it possess that allowed it to fight without a weapon?

I couldn’t help wondering.

But that didn’t change the fact that it was my enemy.

I spoke to the gorilla leader.

"Do you still want to continue?"

The gorilla leader didn’t answer.

Instead, it responded by slowly rising upright.

As it straightened its back, it lifted both hands from the ground.

Its two legs were short compared to its arms, like a sloth’s, but they were as thick as logs.

’So it intends to fight...’

Just as I thought that, the gorilla slowly began moving.

It placed its left foot forward and drew its right foot back.

It extended its left hand with its palm facing forward and positioned its right hand beside its waist.

Finally...

It slightly twisted its body.

When all those movements came together, they formed a complete stance.

’What the fuck am I looking at?’

No matter how I looked at it, that was a stance for performing martial arts.

And a gorilla was displaying it?

A martial art that could never be learned without a master’s instruction?

I wanted to deny everything I was seeing.

Even for the Forest of Four Seasons, this was...

This was going too far.

"...Who taught you?"

"Who the hell taught you...?!"

My voice was unconsciously beginning to rise when the gorilla leader leaned its upper body forward, as though it didn’t consider my question worth answering.

It was an obvious signal that it was about to charge.

I suppressed my agitation and assumed my stance.

Swoosh!

Its movements differed from those of the other gorillas.

The others had simply charged at me.

The leader, however, approached me as though it were gliding across the ground.

Whooom!

That wasn’t all.

The moment it arrived in front of me, the gorilla leader attacked.

Its enormous palm flew directly toward my face.

If that attack landed properly, my head would burst like a watermelon.

Bang!

I barely turned my head in time to evade the palm strike.

But I hadn’t avoided it completely.

The palm narrowly grazed my cheek.

I felt a stinging pain, as though my skin had been torn.

’Th-this is...’

As though time itself had slowed, I found myself staring directly at the gorilla leader.

Its eyes were perfectly calm, yet a faint anger smoldered within them.

Despite that anger, it maintained complete composure.

Seeing those eyes reminded me of the palmprints I had discovered during today’s exploration.

One palmprint that I had assumed belonged to a gorilla.

And beside it, another that appeared to belong to a human.

’Just who...?!’

There was only one possible explanation.

’Just who the hell taught it...?!’

Someone had taught this gorilla martial arts.