Chapter 75: The Pleasure of Living (1)

Since the vote regarding the trade cooldown was underway, I decided to start with work.

First, I reinstalled the fish traps in the river and then focused on maintaining my tools.

Especially the Heavenly Demon sword. Whether or not I had that sword directly influenced my chances of survival.

But honestly, how many times in life does someone actually have to maintain a sword?

At most, sharpening kitchen knives.

That was why I paid even more attention.

Title) Dwarf, help

WildGrills

I want to do maintenance on my sword, so give me some advice.

ㄴDwarfPassingBy) Just like that?

ㄴWildGrills) Bastard.

ㄴDwarfPassingBy) Bring me crabs and then we’ll talk hahaha.

ㄴWildGrills) Ah, right. If I give you crabs, you’ll give me advice?

ㄴDwarfPassingBy) Just advice? I’ll also give you oiled paper and a whetstone.

ㄴWildGrills) Oh;;

ㄴDwarfPassingBy) But if there are no crabs, don’t even dream about it.

ㄴWildGrills) I fought a guardian and then otters, can’t you have some compassion?

ㄴDwarfPassingBy) If you’re really tired, you can bring them tomorrow. But it’ll be 3.

ㄴWildGrills) Ok;;

Looks like I’ll have to go.

Even though I’m somewhat tired, getting crabs isn’t difficult.

The mana the guardian had absorbed from me had already fully recovered after using the breathing technique.

Maybe it was because the Forest of Four Seasons had an absurd amount of mana, but just a few breaths were enough to recover it.

‘I haven’t maintained the sword even once.’

I’d better start doing it regularly from now on.

If I neglect it and it breaks right at an important moment, it would be a disaster.

After finishing some preparations, I looked toward the cave.

Wonmo was taking a nap after quietly devouring an entire fish.

The sloth, as always, only looked at me with a relaxed expression.

“I’m going out for a moment. Take good care of Wonmo.”

“……”

I entrusted that to the sloth and blocked the entrance with the metal fence.

That way, even if Wonmo woke up while I was gone, he wouldn’t be able to escape outside.

‘Elixir, fasting pills, smoked food, crossbow yes, I brought everything.’

Also the World Tree gloves that LetsPlantTrees gave me and a backpack to carry the crabs.

Everything was perfect.

Although I had already fought twice today, so I planned to avoid combat if possible.

Besides, there were still some lingering effects from the wounds the guardian gave me.

But if some beast cornered me, I’d have no choice but to fight.

‘If things get ugly, I’ll use the smoked food to distract them.’

Even if it was salty as hell, it was still meat.

I could use it as bait and escape while they were distracted.

‘And if they spit it out because it’s too salty…’

No idea.

I guess it’ll still be better than fasting pills.

I checked my equipment one more time and drank a sip of elixir.

The faint pain I still felt in my abdomen lessened a little.

It was time to leave.

This wasn’t an exploration. I just had to get crabs and come back.

Though.

‘If I follow the river downstream, it’ll be easy.’

The problem was not knowing what might appear in the river.

After all, a completely unknown group of otters had appeared just a while ago.

Maybe there were even crocodiles, so I walked while keeping some distance from the water.

‘Last time I ran into an iguana around here, right?’

And a huge one.

It was almost as big as a crocodile.

Fortunately, it was cowardly and ran away as soon as it saw me.

Though later we ran into each other again.

It ran off carrying the mosquito I had killed.

As I followed the path alongside the river, I headed toward the lake where the crabs lived.

Swoooosh—

As I got closer to the lake, the width of the river also increased enormously.

It wasn’t at the level of the Han River, but it was still a massive shallow current.

There were probably many more fish living there than in the upper areas where the current was strong.

Kwaaaah!

Splash!

And whales that you would normally only expect to find in the ocean could also be seen there.

I had already seen them before, but I still couldn’t believe it.

At this rate, even sharks probably lived in the river.

Well, being the Forest of Four Seasons, it wasn’t that impossible either.

“Hmm?”

While walking downstream with a blank expression, I saw a deer drinking water beside the river.

It wasn’t the spirit deer I saw this morning, but a normal one.

Judging by its antlers, it seemed to be male.

And those antlers were enormous too.

‘I’d better make noise on purpose.’

Who was it that said herbivores in nature are more dangerous than carnivores?

People usually stay alert around carnivores, but herbivores are the ones that end up killing you when you let your guard down.

So I decided not to provoke it and made my presence clear.

Tap— tap— tap—

Even though I made quite a bit of noise while walking, the deer didn’t react at all.

Rather, it glanced at me sideways and calmly continued drinking water.

Just as I raised an eyebrow thinking “is this bastard ignoring me?”, something happened.

Kwaaaaaah!!

Something gigantic shot out from the river.

Inside its enormous jaws were teeth the size of my fist.

And it was much larger than the deer.

I was startled because I hadn’t sensed any presence, but I immediately understood what it was.

‘Shit! Were there really sharks?!’

It was a shark.

And an absurdly huge one.

Large enough to swallow the deer in a single bite.

But this was the Forest of Four Seasons.

A place where even a sloth was strong.

Whoosh—

The deer, as if it had predicted this situation, immediately stopped drinking.

It turned half its body and launched a rear kick directly at the shark charging with its jaws open.

Crack!

The kick landed directly on the shark’s nose.

And a shark’s nose is one of its most famous weak points.

But getting kicked there by a deer?

Splash!

The shark was sent flying toward the shore and collapsed there after receiving the counterattack.

It didn’t seem to move at all.

It was probably unconscious.

Meanwhile, the deer calmly continued drinking water as if nothing had happened.

“…….”

The deer was drinking water next to the unconscious shark. What kind of combination was that?

I slowly walked forward while watching the deer from the corner of my eye.

Fortunately, it seemed to have no interest in me because it didn’t even look at me.

‘…First I’ll upload this to the gallery. Maybe the deer in this world are just strong.’

After all, creatures like spirit deer already existed. It wasn’t completely impossible.

I took a photo making sure the deer drinking water and the unconscious shark beside it were clearly visible.

Title) A deer defeated a shark.

WildGrills

(Photo of the deer drinking water beside the unconscious shark)

A shark came out of the river and attacked a deer, but the deer knocked it unconscious with a rear kick.

Can the deer in this world also beat sharks?

ㄴHeavenlyDemon) It seems to be a deer with deep internal mastery. Be careful.

ㄴWildGrills) Can you tell something like that just from looking at the photo? Just like with the sloth

ㄴHeavenlyDemon) Are you going to ignore the shark lying beside it?

ㄴWildGrills) Ah, I see.

ㄴSwordmaster) Wow. I’ve never hunted a shark either, so this is amazing. Don’t sharks normally live in the sea?

ㄴWildGrills) In this river there are not only sharks, there are whales too.

ㄴSwordmaster) That forest is truly insane.

ㄴAllFather) It’s a bull shark. They are sharks capable of moving between freshwater and saltwater. A similar animal would be the saltwater crocodile.

ㄴWildGrills) Then what about that deer?

ㄴAllFather) It’s just a deer. An absurdly strong one, apparently.

ㄴWildGrills) ;;;

ㄴRight now my common sense is collapsing. Is that real?

ㄴWell, sharks in the river are acceptable, but a deer? Hahaha.

ㄴBetween the sloth and this, why are herbivores so strong? What the hell is going on?

ㄴIt really is a crazy forest hahaha.

Just as I thought, the deer was the abnormal one. My common sense wasn’t broken.

I closed the gallery and glanced back, wondering what the deer might be doing.

“Pfrff.”

“……”

Good lord. When the hell did this bastard get behind me?

I completely froze upon seeing the deer silently approach without making any presence whatsoever.

Its size was right at eye level with me, but those antlers gave off absurd pressure.

‘…Am I screwed?’

I slowly stepped back while taking a defensive stance. The deer simply stared at me silently.

Then it snorted and turned its body around.

Without even making noise with its hooves, it calmly walked deeper into the forest.

Shortly afterward, it completely disappeared among the trees.

“Haa…”

I let out a long sigh. I seriously felt like my heart was about to burst out of my chest.

How could a mere deer give off that much pressure?

If we had fought, I think I would’ve lost.

Sure, the shark got hit in a weak point, but it still got knocked unconscious with a single kick.

No, before that, reacting to an ambush from a shark leaping out of the river was already insane.

‘When will I be able to react to something like that?’

Right now I can’t even properly respond to the sloth’s attacks.

The only thing I can do is block them with the shield, and even then I’m still nowhere near his level.

I sighed while continuing to walk through a Forest of Four Seasons that kept getting stranger and stranger.

Booom! Boom!

Just as I was almost reaching the lakeshore, a massive roar reached my ears.

It was coming exactly from the lake area.

It sounded like buildings were being demolished.

‘What is that?’

It was a sound I had never heard in the forest before, so I couldn’t help but feel confused.

And when I finally reached the shore, I understood where the sound was coming from.

Crack! Boom! Baaaang!

You know those giant monster movies?

The ones where abnormally huge animals or giant kaiju destroy everything while fighting.

Well, I was watching exactly that in real life and in real time.

‘…What the hell is that? A crayfish?’

I had already seen crabs the size of buildings.

But this was the first time I had seen a crayfish as large as an apartment complex.

And on top of that, both of them were fighting while exchanging blows with their claws.

Watching a giant monster battle in reality instead of in a movie was completely absurd.

Boom!

Just as I stared blankly at the scene, the giant crayfish’s claw smashed into the giant crab’s face.

And a piece of shell flew directly toward me.

I widened my eyes as I watched the shell getting closer and closer and hurriedly raised my shield.

Boooooom!!

“Guek?!”

I felt an impossible impact while a bell-like sound exploded beside me.

My body was launched backward.

Fortunately, I managed to block properly and cushion the fall, so the damage wasn’t too severe.

I staggered back to my feet while letting out a groan.

“What the hell…”

That chunk of shell was practically the same as a piece of concrete.

Did I really have to go into the middle of those monsters to get crabs?

With something like this, even the dwarf should understand and forgive me.

But well, I had already come all the way here. I couldn’t return empty-handed.

That said, I’m definitely squeezing everything I can out of that dwarf afterward.

I took several photos and recorded some videos.

Obviously, they were for uploading to the gallery later.

I wanted to see the dwarf’s reaction.

‘I’d better grab the crabs and get the hell out fast.’

While the giant crab and the enormous crayfish fought, the smaller crabs continued minding their own business.

In other words, they were eating something off the ground.

Pieces of shell were scattered everywhere around them.

They were probably feeding on the fragments falling during the fight.

Some crabs could also be seen crushed beneath the fallen shells.

Baaang!

“Ueek!”

Just as I was collecting crabs, a shell landed right beside me.

I grabbed several crabs with both hands and desperately ran away.

I wanted to collect more, but it was too dangerous.

I had no idea when another shell might come crashing down on me.

Damn hellish forest.

“Huff… huff…”

I couldn’t feel safe until I was very far away from the area where the shells were falling.

The crabs in my hands struggled, trying to escape.

I shoved them into the backpack and stabilized my breathing.

‘Now all that’s left is going back.’

Boooom! Boooom!

I could still hear explosions behind me, but I tried to ignore them.

No, honestly, it was impossible to ignore them.

A shell could still fly all the way to where I was.

So I returned to the shelter constantly checking behind me every time I heard a roar.

I had already fought twice today and on top of that ended up trapped in a natural disaster movie. It felt like all my energy had drained away.

“Uaaaa…”

“……”

As soon as I returned to the cave and collapsed from exhaustion, the sloth started patting me.

You really are the only one comforting me here. Thanks.

I gave the sloth a fasting pill and then entered the gallery.

I planned to tell them everything that happened.

Title) Dwarf. I got the crabs.

WildGrills

(Photo of the giant crab fighting the enormous crayfish)

(Photo of the shells that flew away during the fight)

(Video of the battle between both monsters)

I went through that hellish battle to get these, so I hope you appreciate my effort…

ㄴHeavenlyDemon) You truly live through extraordinary experiences that even I have never had. But what the hell is that fighting the crab?

ㄴSwordmaster) Isn’t that a crayfish? Judging by the appearance, it looks like one.

ㄴHeavenlyDemon) I’ve never seen one that large.

ㄴSwordmaster) Not just you, moderator. This is the first time all of us have seen something like this;;

ㄴDwarfPassingBy) Wow;; What the hell are those? Is this the same lake you went to before?

ㄴWildGrills) Yeah. When I arrived they were already fighting, probably over territory.

ㄴDwarfPassingBy) That’s insane. And the crabs?

ㄴWildGrills) (Photo of the crabs inside the backpack) Here. Aren’t you even going to worry about me?

ㄴDwarfPassingBy) You want me to worry?

ㄴWildGrills) Forget it.

ㄴDo monsters or animals bigger than those exist?

ㄴYeah, they’re right there.

ㄴI mean outside the Forest of Four Seasons, idiot.

ㄴI guess they do exist, but almost all of them are treated as legendary creatures, right?

ㄴThough the closest thing would be dragons, but those are even bigger.

ㄴThere are deer beating sharks, crabs and lobsters the size of buildings hahaha. What the hell is this place? Lol.

ㄴLiterally this place is like an onion. The more you explore it, the more weird things appear HAHAHA.

As always, the gallery was full of praise(?).

They said that thanks to me they had been able to see extraordinary things and so on.

But the reality was that I had barely survived today, so I couldn’t share that relaxed atmosphere.

‘Feels like all my strength is gone.’

I didn’t feel like doing anything, though now I felt even less like doing anything.

Exploration ends here for today.

I’m never going outside again.

‘…There were those cigarettes, right?’

Suddenly I remembered the World Tree cigarettes LetsPlantTrees gave me.

I was so tired that I wanted to put something in my mouth.

Though I also couldn’t waste food.

A cigarette was just right.

‘Never thought I’d end up smoking in my life…’

Is this how smokers feel?

Even in the military I never smoked, and now I ended up doing it here.

I took one of the cigarettes out of the box and examined it carefully.

From the outside, it looked like a normal cigarette.

The leaves were probably made from World Tree leaves.

They said it was extremely expensive tobacco.

Suddenly I became curious about how good it actually was.

‘I’ll light it with the light stone.’

Tap! Tap!

When I brought the light stone close to the tip of the cigarette, smoke slowly began to rise.

As soon as the smoke appeared, I hesitated for a moment before slowly inhaling it.

Normally tobacco smoke is harsh, and cigars are even harsher.

But the World Tree cigarette wasn’t harsh at all.

Rather, it felt refreshing.

It definitely had a mint-like scent, though several times fresher, to the point where all I could feel was that freshness.

And on top of that, my exhausted body started filling with energy again.

‘…It’s delicious.’

It was seriously delicious.