Chapter 108

The Way of the Wild (3)

Martial arts had contributed greatly to human history.

From ancient times to the modern era, more than half of humanity’s history had been defined by war.

And martial arts had played a significant role in those wars.

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

As technology advanced, the greatest cheat item in history—the gun—eventually appeared. Even so, the importance of martial arts never diminished.

That was because martial arts weren’t limited to any particular tool.

They were techniques for wielding martial force more effectively.

That was the essence of martial arts, and even the accuracy and stability of a gun varied drastically depending on the person using it.

Furthermore, martial arts were difficult to master without someone teaching you directly. Learning them alone might technically be possible, but it was close to impossible.

The length of a person’s limbs, height, weight, and many other attributes were different. Even talent varied tremendously between individuals.

Someone needed to watch the learner in real time and correct them accordingly.

’Just who...?!’

I couldn’t hide my astonishment as I faced the gorilla leader that had launched the palm strike.

It had approached as though gliding across the ground, followed by an attack that flowed as naturally as water.

Every individual movement was astonishing.

But I had no time to think.

What mattered was that this gorilla leader was my enemy.

I had to defeat it at all costs.

Swoosh!

The moment I evaded the palm strike, I counterattacked.

Because it felt as though time were moving slowly, my counterattack was equally swift.

My sword descended from above.

At this rate, the blade would bury itself in the gorilla leader’s collarbone.

Yet the gorilla leader’s expression remained perfectly calm.

Instead of retreating, it moved even closer to me.

Grab!

Then it seized my arm with both hands.

Not only that, but it also turned its back toward me.

Just as before, every movement flowed seamlessly into the next.

And as that sequence of movements continued, something happened to my body.

Whoosh!

Without my consent, both my legs left the ground.

Booom!

The world spun once, and a tremendous impact struck my back.

My breath was violently knocked from my lungs, and my eyes widened in pain.

What the hell had it just done to me?

’Was that a shoulder throw...?!’

I had only a moment to be shocked that the gorilla leader could even use grappling techniques.

The sole of its foot appeared directly above my head.

If that stomp landed, I would die.

Booooom!

I narrowly avoided it by rolling aside.

Hurriedly steadying my breathing, I rose to my feet.

During the brief time it took me to stand, the gorilla leader approached.

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

One mistake and I would genuinely die.

I rapidly accelerated the mana flowing through my body.

If even one of its attacks struck me properly, it would undoubtedly inflict catastrophic damage.

Claaaang!

Another palm strike flew toward me.

I blocked it with my shield.

It was powerful, but not powerful enough to break through my shield.

If I could exploit an opening, this fight was manageable.

If my opponent had been an ordinary human, I could have created some distance, but...

’Its arms are so long that the difference in reach is meaningless.’

Since it was a gorilla, the length of its arms rendered distance management far less effective.

That meant I had to engage it in a battle of tactics on equal ground.

This was completely different from my previous fights.

Unlike the battles I had survived through improvisation, this was a contest of pure skill.

In other words, it might turn into the kind of prolonged battle of endurance I hated so much.

Booom!

Once again, the gorilla leader’s hand collided with my shield.

This time, it used a fist rather than its palm.

The impact transmitted through the shield made my shoulder tingle.

Its physical strength was on an entirely different level from the other gorillas.

Grimacing, I swung the sword in my right hand diagonally.

I didn’t forget to be careful so it couldn’t throw me over its shoulder again.

However, it evaded my attack with a simple backstep.

Its control of distance was exceptional too.

Who the hell had taught this creature martial arts?

Whoever it was, they had taught it something truly obnoxious.

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

Its short legs?

Its much longer arms compensated for them.

Counterattack by exploiting its sluggish movements?

If it threw me again, I would die.

The difference between bare hands and a weapon?

That bastard’s entire body was a weapon.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t find a weakness.

As I had said, this was a contest of pure skill.

’No. I do have an advantage.’

After thinking carefully, I realized I wasn’t entirely without an advantage.

That creature couldn’t defend against my attacks.

Its only option was to evade them.

The instant it tried to block, the Heavenly Demon’s sword would cut through it.

I decided to exploit that fact.

I would create a situation where it had no choice but to defend.

Then an opportunity would inevitably appear.

Swoosh!

I thrust into an opening, aiming for its shoulder.

However, the gorilla leader not only evaded effortlessly but also responded by lightly tapping the flat of my sword.

The tap diverted my blade to the side and slightly disrupted my balance.

In other words, it was now the gorilla leader’s turn.

Realizing that, it extended its palm toward me.

That was precisely what I had been waiting for.

I charged directly at the gorilla.

"?!"

The gorilla leader’s eyes widened, apparently not expecting me to charge.

But it was already too late to retract its outstretched arm.

Even if it somehow managed to pull it back, its posture would become awkward.

While the gorilla leader was caught off guard, I thrust my shield forward as though throwing a punch instead of swinging my sword.

My target was its face.

Startled, the gorilla leader hurriedly raised an arm to protect itself, but—

Cr-r-rack!

Its arm wasn’t enough to stop my mana-enhanced body or the shield surging with aura.

The unmistakable sound of breaking bones entered my ears.

The moment I heard it, I became certain of my victory.

Cr-runch!

"Keugh?!"

But perhaps that was the price of letting my guard down.

I felt something burst around my ribs.

It was accompanied by an ominous noise.

Not the sound of bones merely breaking, but of them being crushed into fragments.

At first, I felt nothing.

There was only a tingling sensation, as though lightning had passed through me.

Then, in an instant, excruciating pain struck and my vision went black.

I couldn’t breathe.

"Kuh... kuh...."

"Kuaaaaah!"

The gorilla leader and I both staggered backward.

We had each delivered a devastating blow to the other.

My ribs had been struck, while its arm had been destroyed.

When it came to continuing the fight, I still had the advantage.

The arm that had blocked my shield hung limply.

Its bones had been completely shattered.

’My ribs, though...’

Of course, I wasn’t unscathed either.

For one thing, I couldn’t breathe.

It was even worse than when I had been thrown over its shoulder.

As I remained unable to draw breath, my vision gradually began to fade.

"Uuugh... Hah! Ugh!"

Fortunately, I finally managed to suck in a breath.

Then an overwhelming wave of pain surged through me.

It hurt several times worse than when the orichalcum guardian had struck me.

It had only been one hit.

A single blow had inflicted enough damage to nearly incapacitate me.

I was fortunate it had struck my ribs. If it had hit another vital point, I would have died instantly.

"Ooh-ooh!"

Perhaps it had decided that it could no longer continue fighting.

Clutching its broken arm with its other hand, the gorilla leader turned and fled.

That was actually fortunate.

I wasn’t in any condition to continue fighting either.

’Elixir... I need to drink an elixir...!’

Clutching my ribs, I stumbled into the cave.

I couldn’t breathe properly.

I was worried that one of my broken ribs might have punctured a lung. Still, an elixir should heal it.

Once inside the cave, I hurriedly drank an elixir.

I emptied the entire bottle.

"Hoo. Hoo. Hoo."

Cold sweat poured from my body as I struggled to steady my breathing.

Thanks to the elixir, I seemed to be doing a little better.

However, the excruciating pain remained, occasionally forcing me to grimace.

"Haa...."

Only after approximately five minutes did I finally manage to stabilize myself.

This situation was completely different from when the orichalcum guardian had struck me.

Injuring my ribs had made it difficult even to breathe.

"Cough! Cough! Keugh!"

As if that weren’t enough, blood sprayed from my mouth.

That had been dangerous.

I roughly wiped the blood from my hand and sank to the ground.

Things seemed to become more difficult with each passing day.

’Just what was that bastard...?’

A gorilla that used human martial arts.

I couldn’t understand it at all.

I wondered whether a survivor had taught it, but I wasn’t even sure that was possible.

The people on the gallery had said there had never been a case where someone taught martial arts or a breathing technique to a primate and achieved any remarkable results.

’Is the Forest of Four Seasons different?’

Perhaps it would be easier to simply accept that the gorilla had learned martial arts because it possessed enough intelligence to do so.

But I still wanted to know who had taught it.

A gorilla had learned martial arts.

Its teacher not only had to possess a high level of mastery but also needed exceptional teaching ability to pass martial arts on to a gorilla.

Most importantly, this was someone who had survived in the Forest of Four Seasons long enough to teach a gorilla martial arts.

Swoosh—

As my thoughts grew increasingly complicated, someone approached me.

It was Namu-Ppareumbo.

’What was that all about?’

I stared intently at him, then suddenly remembered what he had done.

He had decapitated the gorilla we had taken hostage and thrown its head at the others.

It had truly been the way of the wild.

It was also a side of Namu-Ppareumbo I had never seen before.

"Hey."

"...."

"Why did you spare me?"

Namu-Ppareumbo didn’t answer.

However, he seemed to be saying:

Because you were so pathetic that there was no need to kill you.

’Hmm. That makes sense.’

I chuckled.

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

If I had posed even the slightest threat to Namu-Ppareumbo, I probably wouldn’t be alive today.

"Come to think of it, Ppareumbo, what are you going to eat?"

"...."

Separate from everything else, I needed to consider his diet from now on.

Namu-Ppareumbo merely wore his usual relaxed expression.

Of course, it wasn’t difficult to interpret the meaning behind that expression.

"There won’t be any fasting pills for a while. The Heavenly Demon said you’ll have to wait."

"...."

The corners of Ppareumbo’s mouth lowered slightly.

So even this guy could make an expression like that.

How fascinating.

***

The gorilla leader ran and continued running.

One of its arms had been completely destroyed, leaving it unable to climb trees.

All it could do was run.

Even so, it moved at an extraordinary speed. The surrounding scenery changed continuously with every stride it took.

Just like the technique it had used to close the distance with Grylls in an instant, even the way it ran differed from that of an ordinary animal.

Rustle!

Before long, the gorilla leader reached its main camp.

The other gorillas were going about their respective tasks.

One gorilla was gathering bananas hanging from a tree.

Another lay sprawled out, sleeping.

Others were splitting stones to make tools.

"Awoooooh! Ooh-ooh!"

The leader roared while clutching its limp, dangling arm.

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

An eerie silence instantly descended over the gorillas’ territory.

What had the leader told them?

Swoosh—

Then someone approached from behind the leader.

The leader turned around the moment it sensed the presence.

The newcomer was similar in size, but its posture was entirely different from that of the other gorillas.

Even the leader planted both hands on the ground when running.

This newly arrived gorilla, however, stood proudly upright on two legs.

More importantly, its appearance was markedly different.

The leader and the other gorillas all had their bodies exposed.

The newcomer, however, wore "clothes" like a human.

Although the clothing was worn, tattered, and practically reduced to rags...

It was still clothing.

It wore black garments that Grylls would have described as Eastern in style.

"Ooh! Ooh-ooh! Ooh!"

The moment the leader saw that gorilla, it began explaining everything that had happened.

It even pointed at its broken, dangling arm.

The newly arrived gorilla silently listened to the leader’s account.

"Ooh-ooh!"

"...."

"Ooh-ooh! Ooh!"

The more it heard, the more serious its expression became.

Perhaps it was older than the other gorillas. Its face was lined with wrinkles and bore the unmistakable signs of age and experience.

"Ooh! Ooh-ooh!"

"...."

It also had a five-pronged scar slashed across one eye.