I Became a Gallery Newbie Beloved by Transcendents-Chapter 27: The Forest of Beasts (4)
I declared that if Beron refused to talk, I would cut off his left ankle.
However, both of my hands were trembling slightly.
The act of taking a life was always unpleasant.
Whether it was a player or an NPC, it didn’t matter.
The threats I threw at Beron were nothing but intimidation—
A means to get what I wanted.
It didn’t matter if he was weak or foolish.
Two 3rd-Rank Combatants who used aura had already been in this battle.
If I had held back even slightly while trying to subdue them, the situation could have spiraled out of control.
Leaving someone alive was a privilege only an overwhelmingly strong person could afford.
If I showed that kind of mercy now, it wouldn’t be compassion—it would be recklessness.
“Talk.”
I repeated myself once more.
Beron’s hands trembled as he reached into his coat and pulled out something—
A map.
“...The final rendezvous point is marked with a circle.”
The marked location appeared to be near the entrance of the Forest of Beasts.
Specifically, a large rock just behind the entrance.
“When?”
Beron’s mouth opened.
“In... two hours.”
Two hours.
That wasn’t exactly a lot of time.
His voice quivered as he asked,
“Then... you’re going to let me live?”
I immediately pulled my body back.
Swish!
A sudden arrow came flying from the distance.
Four straight trajectories.
Tiing! Ting!
I deflected two arrows with my sword.
The other two struck Beron—one in the heart, the other in his shoulder.
“Ugh... gck...”
Beron let out a groan as he died.
Those last two arrows had been meant to kill him from the start.
In the end, his limp, lifeless body lay on the ground, eyes wide open, staring at something beyond me.
The direction where the arrows had come from.
A man stood there, holding a bow.
[NPC – Slave Trading Company, 3rd-Rank Combatant, Kaetor]
A red-haired man.
Kaetor’s voice echoed across the distance.
It was deep and firm.
“The Mandagore Company never lets a traitor live.”
I had no intention of letting Beron live either.
But I hadn’t expected him to die this way.
Kaetor showed no sign of engaging in a fight.
He was keeping his distance.
“The captain will come to kill you soon. Don’t move from this spot and wait quietly.”
I called out loudly,
“You sure you don’t just want to fight me right now?”
No response.
Kaetor turned on his heels and walked away, disappearing from sight.
He must’ve seen two 3rd-Rank Combatants lying dead on the ground.
Was he a coward, or just quick to assess the situation?
Either way, he really ran away.
The captain, huh?
If someone at 3rd-Rank believed in this captain so strongly, then it was likely that he was at least a 4th-Rank Combatant.
“...Hic!”
One of the Myo Tribe members suddenly hiccupped.
[NPC – Myo Tribe Beastfolk, Murene]
Including Mique, there were now a total of six Myo Tribe beastfolk here.
I still needed to find two more to fully clear the quest.
One option was to evacuate these Myo Tribe members.
But I decided on a different approach.
If the captain was strong, there was a chance he would kill me.
But if I killed him, this entire situation would be resolved.
So, I waited.
Kaetor would bring the captain to me soon enough.
I pulled all the jerky from my inventory.
Then, I handed it to the Myo Tribe members, who were watching me with a mix of curiosity and suspicion.
“I came here to save you. Mique, explain.”
“Yes!”
Mique’s yellow cat ears perked up as she nodded enthusiastically.
“Gather up! Gather up!”
Unlike when she spoke to me, she seemed quite capable of leading the Myo Tribe children.
“Yuseong is our savior...! Yuseong is strong! Yuseong is kind!”
She kept repeating the name I had given her earlier.
The Myo Tribe children nibbled on the jerky as they listened.
With her talking that much, there shouldn’t be any more suspicion toward me.
“We have work to do. If you notice the enemy approaching, let me know immediately. Think you can do that?”
The Myo Tribe children all nodded.
This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.
Even if I noticed before they did, it was best to be prepared for every possibility.
Time was running out.
I had no room to waste.
I opened the Transcendent Gallery.
Title: Just hit Level 20.
Author: ㅇㅇ*
- But I think I’ll have to fight someone around 4th-Rank soon? Need a crash course on sword aura. Within 30 minutes. ㅇㅇ
Visit freewebnoveℓ.com for the best novel reading exp𝒆rience.
└ LMAO. Do you think a crash course will actually work? 30 minutes? What a joke.
└ It takes months for some people to even get a feel for it, and you want to learn it in half an hour? 😂
└ 4th-Rank sounds dangerous.
└ Gutter Swordsman) Level 20 achieved. Mana 25 or higher. That’s the basic requirement.
Mana 25?
I probably had way more than that.
I opened my status window.
<Player Status>
Name: Han Yuseong
Race: Human
Level: 20
Strength: 112
Agility: 104
Endurance: 107
Mana: 75
Skills:
Pain Suppression Lv.5 | Composure Lv.5 | Concealment Lv.4 | Crisis Detection Lv.3 |
Enhanced Vision Lv.3 | Focus Enhancement Lv.4 | Warrior’s Movement Lv.4
Mana-Enhanced Body Lv.4 | Doombringer Lv.2 | Mental Barrier Lv.3 |
Trajectory Perception Lv.2
After checking, I replied to the comment.
└ ㅇㅇ) Yeah, 75.*
└ Damn, that’s plenty.
└ Wtf, if your mana’s that high, does that mean your strength is over 100? What about agility?
└ ㅇㅇ) Strength 112, Agility 104.*
└ LMAO, dude’s got triple-digit stats on the third floor. I wasted my entire Tower life.
└ Want a sip of some ultra-toxic venom?
└ Wait, it’s Pandemonium Mode, huh? Pande-fucking-monium.
└ Bruh, you’re already hitting mid-game stats. Meanwhile, I’m struggling in Easy Mode.
└ Bartender, one premium poison. On the rocks.
└ Heavenly Demon) The basic principle is the same as 'Mana-Enhanced Body.' You need to spread your mana from the mana heart throughout your entire body.
└ Sword of Light) ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) You have to take it a step further—release it outside your body.
└ Gutter Swordsman) The ‘Aura Circuit’ spreads downward from the top.
└ Archmage) I’d tell you to spread it upward, but that’s the ‘Magic Circuit.’ You’re clearly on the swordsman path. You’ve got the talent for it, so you have to go with the Aura Circuit.
└ Everyone’s saying the same thing. Once you choose, that’s it.
└ She really wants you to learn magic somehow.
Magic would be useful, but now wasn’t the time to worry about that.
└ Dragon King) Beltui~ I can’t explain it. It just works.
└ Ice Queen) Frozen! Same here!
└ Elf Guy) My power just comes from nature itself.
Damn, must be nice to have innate abilities and a powerful bloodline.
└ Sword of Light) Take all the strength you've built up and push it out into the world.
└ Heavenly Demon) Sit in a meditative stance. Imagine planting deep roots into your body—creating the foundation of a giant tree that can never be uprooted.
Planting the roots of a giant tree?
I had no clue what that meant.
There was only one way to find out—try it.
└ Famous One) Man, Heavenly Demon sounds like his old self again.
└ Long time no see, Sect Leader.
└ Why do you barely show up here?
└ Sect Leaders are busy.
└ ㅇㅇ) Heading out now.*
└ Archmage) Don’t die.
└ ㅇㅇ) Not gonna.*
I closed the Transcendent Gallery and stored the device back in my inventory.
The Myo Tribe children were watching me.
Well, from their perspective, I had just been waving my hands in the air like an idiot.
Following Heavenly Demon’s advice, I sat cross-legged.
I slowly released the mana stored in my mana heart.
The fundamental principle was the same as Mana-Enhanced Body.
Aura Circuit
A circuit that spreads downward from the top of the body.
I took a deep breath.
Push outward.
Following Sword of Light’s advice, I moved my mana.
Thud...
The ground beneath me began to tremble.
Crackle!
Small stones started to float into the air.
Thump—
The mana current that had begun in my upper body flowed down to my abdomen.
One stream split into two.
Like the roots of an ancient tree, they spread in countless directions.
A faint, pure white energy flickered in my palms.
[Aura Circuit Awakened.]
It worked.
[You have reached the level of a 3rd-Rank Combatant.]
I grabbed the Bloodstained Dagger from my waist.
Flow.
Into the blade.
[Skill ‘Mana-Enhanced Body’ has leveled up. Lv.5]
I had a lot of things to cut down.
Hssss...
A pure-white current began to coat the blade.
It was unmistakable—sword aura.
I suppressed the energy and rose to my feet.
Was it because I had awakened the Aura Circuit?
My vision and hearing felt sharper.
Someone was coming.
A group.
Slash!
The thick undergrowth was cut away.
A swarm of black leaves scattered into the air.
[NPC – Slave Trading Company, 4th-Rank Combatant, Liner]
So it’s him.
To his right, two Myo Tribe members stood chained by the neck and arms.
To his left, Kaetor—the bastard who had just left so conveniently—stood.
Behind them, I saw two more combatants—one 1st-Rank, one 2nd-Rank.
As expected, they wouldn’t rough up their "merchandise."
Good. That made my objective clear.
Kill Liner, Kaetor, and the other two.
Rescue the Myo Tribe captives.
It wouldn’t be easy.
But this was within my expectations.
Pandemonium Mode.
A Five-Star Quest.
There had never been a situation so far where I didn’t have to risk my life.
Liner’s sword shimmered with red sword aura.
“I heard... you killed two 3rd-Ranks?”
Killing intent.
It was thicker than what King Kobold had emitted.
Enough to send a shiver down my spine.
“Why is a human siding with these livestock? Do you want one? I can give you one.”
I lifted Carnavalt.
[Activating Mana-Enhanced Body Lv.5.]
Now, release.
Fwoosh—
A pure-white sword aura coated my blade.
“Big Nose.”
“...What?”
Your nose is big. That makes you Big Nose.
As if he didn’t like my nickname, his killing intent intensified.
“If you’re done talking, then come at me, Big Nose.”
“I’ll kill you!”
Properly pissed off, Big Nose charged straight at me.
