Chapter 152

Slave (2)

Greetings! What a strong and mighty morning!

If you ask who I am, I’m Grylls!

Scrape! Scrape! Scrape!

And a slave to life, hard at work from the moment I wake up!

"Ugh. Fuck."

I cursed at the clouds of sawdust that flew everywhere whenever I used the saw.

I had started processing the wood first thing that morning. It made me swear, but the pile of finished timber was steadily growing.

’I should’ve just asked the dwarf to do it.’

Since the wood had to be made according to the required width, I had decided that doing it myself would be better.

But that decision had been insane. Doing it alone was astonishingly inefficient.

What irritated me even more was that everything was proceeding exactly as I wanted.

You might wonder why I was angry when everything was going according to plan.

If I made a mistake, I could at least use that as an excuse to quit. But when everything was going well, I couldn’t even do that.

Eventually, I went beyond sheer stubbornness and reached a state of resignation, mechanically processing one piece of wood after another.

"Kkyuu! Kkyuu!"

"Kkiing!"

While I worked hard, Wonmo and the baby raccoon were busy playing in the yard.

Wonmo seemed to have developed a rough understanding of raccoons, because he played nicely without causing any trouble.

I did briefly wonder how they could play so carefree while their owner was working so hard.

’They’re children, after all.’

It would be strange to criticize children for playing.

Besides, hadn’t I been the one who decided to do this work?

If I got angry at them for no reason, I would be the only one acting strangely, so I had to endure it.

’Being able to work without any interruptions is already good enough.’

The only reason I could afford to work on something like this was because my life had become relatively peaceful.

If I had been fighting desperately for survival every single day, working on the bridge would have been impossible.

Moreover, winter had completely ended yesterday, so I needed to monitor the animals’ movements.

Just before winter ended, the raccoon family had been attacked by an enormous snake.

’Today might be my last peaceful day.’

The Forest of Four Seasons was a place where I had no way of knowing exactly what kinds of animals lived within it.

I had already seen quite a few animals, but an entirely new species could appear at any moment.

A real unicorn might show up, or perhaps something even stranger.

I hoped nothing like that would happen, but that was far too optimistic.

I could simply keep working and prepare myself if I ever got a bad feeling.

Snap!

Like right now, when the sound of someone stepping on a branch rang unusually loudly.

That wasn’t all. The entire forest had fallen silent.

There should have been at least some faint noises, but only a heavy silence hung in the air.

"..."

I stopped working and focused on the sound.

To determine whether I had heard it correctly, I also checked the reactions of the other members of my family.

"Kkyuu?"

Wonmo, who had been playing excitedly, had frozen in place and was looking around.

Perhaps sensing that something was wrong, he even drew his body slightly backward.

He had entered a defensive stance.

"Kkiing?"

"King. Kiing."

The baby raccoon, on the other hand, was probably still too young to understand. It merely tilted its head in confusion.

When the far more experienced Mama Raccoon carried it away, I became certain that we were in danger.

"Who is it?"

I cautiously retreated toward the cave while remaining vigilant.

Whoever it was must have been observing our reactions, considering they still hadn’t revealed themselves despite already being detected.

In the meantime, I entered the cave and armed myself. Fast Sloth seemed to realize how serious the situation was, because he climbed onto my back.

Rustle—rustle—

Just as I finished equipping myself...

The bushes along the path leading up to the river shook violently.

The intruder gradually emerged. Apparently, it had no intention of concealing itself.

Rustle—

"..."

The intruder finally revealed itself completely.

The first thing that caught my attention was the color of its fur.

Its white fur contrasted starkly with the surrounding environment. It wasn’t the fluffy pale fur unique to an infant. Its fur was simply pure white.

The white fur already made it stand out, but its eyes were even stranger.

Its blood-red eyes looked vicious enough to make me shudder simply by staring at them.

’...A gorilla?’

The animal possessing these unusual traits was a gorilla.

A gorilla with white fur and red eyes—an albino, perhaps.

Albinism was a genetic mutation that appeared not only in animals but in humans as well.

My surprise at the appearance of the mutant gorilla lasted only briefly before I remembered the information the All-Father had given me.

’Lais Kraone was attacked and killed by an albino gorilla.’

I didn’t know the reason, but that gorilla had a history of harming humans.

Naturally, I had no choice but to raise my guard even further.

There was something else I needed to check: Fast Sloth’s reaction.

When he had seen the leader gorilla, he had even frowned, which was rare for him. But he showed no such reaction toward this albino gorilla.

His reaction was closer to, Who the hell is that guy?

Had they never met before?

’Considering it openly revealed itself instead of attacking...’

Had it lost its way, or had it merely come here to investigate?

If it was lost, I intended to threaten it and drive it away.

Meanwhile, the albino gorilla carefully examined every corner of my shelter before looking directly at me.

"Ha piria ppazua."

"..."

"Ni Wild Grylls ia? Wo bini Wibaek."

Then, just like the leader gorilla, it spoke in the language of the Central Plains.

I had already seen the leader gorilla speak, but this was hardly a situation I was accustomed to.

I couldn’t help being flustered.

"..."

Once again, I asked the Heavenly Demon to translate.

[Heavenly Demon: He says he came after seeing the sign. He will lend you his strength, so he wishes you to lend him yours in return.]

Had he mistaken the sign for a recruitment advertisement?

If a stranger—especially an animal—saw it, I could understand how they might reach that conclusion.

But how could I have known there would be another animal besides the leader gorilla that could read?

After recovering from my bewilderment, I made another request of the Heavenly Demon.

[Wild Grylls: Could you write something asking what he needs help with?]

[Heavenly Demon: Wait a moment.]

As I had done with the leader gorilla, I used the Heavenly Demon’s help to write what I wanted to say on the ground.

The albino gorilla stared intently at the words I had written.

"..."

’...Should I learn the language of the Central Plains?’

The situation was enough to make me seriously consider it.

Meanwhile, the albino gorilla continued speaking.

Everything it said was in the language of the Central Plains, so I couldn’t understand a single word.

I therefore asked the Heavenly Demon to interpret it directly.

The Heavenly Demon readily accepted my request and kindly translated(?) for me.

[Heavenly Demon: "What a magnificent home. Are you Wild Grylls? My name is Wi Baek."]

[Wild Grylls: ??? He was introducing himself?]

[Heavenly Demon: It would appear so. Both he and the leader gorilla speak in a rather archaic manner.]

The albino gorilla had introduced himself as Wi Baek.

The mere fact that he had a name was absurd.

Put another way, it meant the leader gorilla probably had a name as well... But the atmosphere had been so hostile back then that I hadn’t even considered asking.

Meanwhile, the albino gorilla, Wi Baek, continued speaking at length in fluent Central Plains speech.

He squinted at the writing for quite some time. He even stretched his head forward to get a closer look.

I wondered if he couldn’t read, but fortunately, my concern proved unfounded when he finally opened his mouth.

Then I asked the Heavenly Demon to translate again.

This process repeated several times.

[Heavenly Demon: He says his hypocritical brother is leading the troop. It appears he and the leader gorilla are brothers.]

[Wild Grylls: Oh... And?]

[Heavenly Demon: He says that if you help him, he will defeat the leader gorilla. If you refuse, he will defeat you and use this place as his base.]

They said you should never take in a black-haired beast, but apparently white-haired ones were no different.

I had been relieved that we could communicate, but a beast was still a beast.

The leader gorilla was better than this guy. At least he had acknowledged my territory.

I snorted and asked the Heavenly Demon a question.

[Wild Grylls: Thank you. Could you teach me how to write "fuck off"?]

[Heavenly Demon: I could write down the worst insult in the Central Plains.]

[Wild Grylls: What is it? I want to say it myself.]

If I was going to do this, I wanted to say it aloud instead of merely writing it.

It took a little time, but I somehow managed to learn the pronunciation.

The words that came out of my mouth were—

"Cao ni ma."

"..."

It was one of the harshest insults involving someone’s mother in the Central Plains. Their language really did sound similar to Chinese whenever I heard it.

I could tolerate most things, but I couldn’t stand the way he was trying to subjugate me through force.

You might ask what else I expected from a beast, but precisely because he was a beast, I could curse at him as much as I pleased.

’Besides, he’s already harmed a human before.’

That was the deciding factor.

He had a history of attacking humans, so cooperation could go to hell.

Moreover, considering that he wanted to wage war against the gorilla troop, he clearly had no grasp of reality.

Maintaining the status quo was currently my best option, yet he wanted me to destroy that balance.

Huff! Huff!

After being thoroughly insulted, the albino gorilla’s nostrils flared widely.

He looked ready to charge at me at any moment. Then again, insults about one’s mother were difficult to tolerate.

But he was the one who had crossed the line first. There was a limit to how much bullshit someone could pull before it became intolerable.

The albino gorilla’s proposal—no, his demand or threat—had gone far beyond that limit.

"Zixun silu."

He spoke as he assumed a combat stance.

It probably meant something like, You court death.

I snorted and extended my sword and shield in front of me.

At the same time, I carefully observed his movements.

Until now, he had been resting both fists against the ground, so I hadn’t been able to see his palms. Once he assumed his stance, however, they became visible.

I had no idea what had happened to them, but both palms were as red as blood.

They looked ominous at a glance.

’Between his stance and those palms... he may be as strong as the leader gorilla.’

He wasn’t an opponent I could afford to underestimate. Acting rashly would be dangerous.

My only advantage was information.

I had already been thoroughly beaten by the leader gorilla once.

That meant I could respond to their fighting style to some extent, whereas this one knew nothing about me.

Boom!

While I was thinking, the albino gorilla charged at me.

There had been considerable distance between us, but he closed it in a single leap.

An enormous hand flew toward my face.

It was that blood-red palm.

’I can’t block it!’

Even if I tried, I wouldn’t be able to redirect all of its force. I would either be knocked over or leave myself vulnerable to his next attack.

That was something I had learned from fighting the leader gorilla.

Just as his palm reached my face, I swiftly ducked underneath it.

I then thrust my sword at his exposed torso.

Crack! Stab!

Something shattered as the tip of the Heavenly Demon’s sword barely penetrated his abdomen.

Normally, it shouldn’t merely have dug into him. It should have pierced straight through.

However, the albino gorilla’s hide seemed tougher than I had anticipated.

Whoosh—

Blue energy dispersed from the spot where my sword had penetrated.

I had already predicted that he could use mana, and apparently, he had activated some kind of defensive technique.

The Heavenly Demon’s sword possessed such absurd performance that it had managed to penetrate. Any ordinary sword probably wouldn’t have left so much as a scratch.

"Oooooh!!!"

Perhaps the albino gorilla hadn’t expected anything to pierce his body.

He cried out in surprise and leaped backward.

The wound wasn’t particularly deep, but the fact that his body had been injured at all seemed to have shocked him considerably.

That lasted only for a moment.

The albino gorilla charged at me again, looking even angrier than before.

Just like earlier, he attacked with a palm strike.

His attacks were surprisingly simple.

However—

Rumble—crash!

"Ah, fuck."

Their destructive power was terrifying in proportion to their simplicity.

I narrowly dodged the attack, but I couldn’t ignore its aftermath.

The timber I had spent the entire morning processing shattered and scattered under the force of his palm strike.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

A series of wild attacks followed the initial palm strike.

Aside from his first blow, his accuracy was abysmal.

He was clearly using some form of martial arts, yet every attack missed.

It felt less like fighting a martial artist and more like dealing with someone desperately thinking, Just let me hit you once.

It was almost anticlimactic.

’What’s going on? Why is he like this?’

Things became even stranger whenever I put some distance between us.

Once we were far enough apart and some time had passed, he would charge and unleash another palm strike.

During those moments alone, his accuracy was remarkably high—enough to make my blood run cold.

Of course, every attack that followed would be terrible.

’It’s almost like he’s blind despite having his eyes open...’

The instant that expression crossed my mind, I stared at the albino gorilla.

His face was tightly scrunched up. Rather than looking angry, it seemed as though he was struggling to see.

’What if the accuracy of his first strike comes from focusing as hard as possible?’

What if his following attacks were so sloppy because he was afraid of being counterattacked?

Most importantly, he was an albino—an animal with white fur and red eyes.

And one of the common characteristics of albinism was—

’Extremely poor eyesight.’

I had discovered the key to defeating him.

’I’ll personally make you my slave.’

I would inflict suffering worse than death upon him.

I gradually accelerated the mana inside my body.

The cold energy that had been condensed into a sphere completely permeated my mana.

Whoosh—

It was time to subdue him.