I'd been through plenty of hardships while living in the Forest of Four Seasons. Whenever they left me exhausted, I'd spend the whole day holed up in the cave or otherwise take a break. I rested in my own way, sometimes practicing my cultivation method.

But I didn't smoke often. I'd decided to save it for times when I was worn out both physically and mentally.

HISS!

And that was exactly how I felt now. I lit the tip of the cigar with the ignition stone. Once smoke began to drift from it, I put it in my mouth and took a good, deep drag. Far from acrid, its cool fragrance filled my lungs, leaving me refreshed.

"Whew."

With the World Tree tobacco between my lips, I exhaled. The curling smoke slowly dispersed.

Smoking at least seemed to clear my mind a little, though my thoughts remained tangled. I wanted to stay away from tobacco whenever possible, but it wasn't easy.

'I have to clear away the gorilla bodies, and they might come back for revenge... Sigh...'

Thanks to the Elixir, my broken ribs had healed somewhat. I hadn't exhausted too much of my stamina either, so I felt fairly energetic, but my mind was a mess. I'd turned to tobacco to try to untangle it. There was simply far too much to think about concerning those gorillas.

'Who the hell taught it martial arts?'

I could accept gorillas using tools. Allfather had warned me beforehand. In fact, their fixation on their tools had made them easier to fight in some ways. Not so the one that used martial arts. That one had been incredibly tricky to handle.

A gorilla's powerful physique combined with fluid techniques made every attack dangerous. If I hadn't trained my reflexes with the speed-sloth, my head would have burst open.

'Considering the circumstances, whoever left that handprint on the tree must have taught it.'

I sorted through my thoughts with the cigar in my mouth. To establish the facts more clearly, I'd need to enter their territory. Capturing the gorilla leader wouldn't suddenly make it able to talk.

They might not speak, but they were quite intelligent. Going beyond tools and mastering martial arts proved that.

'Just how smart does it have to be to use martial arts?'

In martial arts, the student mattered as much as the teacher. The word talent existed for a reason. Without it, you were essentially running in place. It suddenly occurred to me that the gorilla might have more talent for martial arts than I did.

'... This forest is seriously insane.'

I could only give a hollow chuckle. After taking another deep drag, I exhaled the smoke. It would be best to put the gorillas out of my mind for now and get to work.

'Roundfur is... asleep.'

Roundfur, who'd suffered his first-ever injury, was sleeping soundly on the mat after receiving treatment. He usually slept sprawled out, but now he was curled into a ball. With intruders having entered his territory, he seemed to be staying alert so he could spring into action at any time.

'I can't even relax at home anymore.'

There was no telling when the gorillas might return. They'd even stolen the fasting pills. This wasn't something I could take lightly. Nor could I leave one of my companions here on guard. Even the speed-sloth would be in danger.

'In the end, I absolutely need a door.'

And it would have to be a very sturdy one. Something even the gorillas couldn't easily break down, which meant making it out of steel. I had no choice but to ask the dwarf. I'd handle the assembly myself.

'Would a few chunks of orichalcum do the trick?'

I took one last satisfying drag and opened the wooden box. Then I tapped the ash into the ashtray and sliced off the tip with my dagger. I could still smoke this a few more times. I didn't have much tobacco, so I needed to conserve it.

'It really does taste good.'

Once I started running low, I'd ask Let's Grow Trees for more. I didn't know what they'd want in return, but I could at least hear them out.

I took my shovel and various other tools outside, where the sight of the dead gorillas greeted me. The most striking of all was the decapitated one—the one the speed-sloth had killed.

'First, a few pictures for the forum.'

I had a mountain of questions, so documenting the scene was essential. After photographing even the tools the gorillas had used, I began cleaning up. Given their sheer size, even that was a struggle.

'Should I just bury them?'

The easiest option was digging a hole and putting them in it—in other words, burial. That would spare me carrying the bodies to the river one by one. Getting ambushed on an unnecessary trip up there would be disastrous. In particular, the escaped gorilla leader might bring another group back for revenge.

'Cutting them... into pieces doesn't feel right either.'

These were apes, not beasts like the saber-toothed tiger, so I felt uncomfortable dismembering them. Besides, some of the bodies were already badly mutilated. Better to just dig a hole. I started by gathering the bodies together. Finding the head for the decapitated one was quite a chore, by the way.

'I'll have to dig the hole a good distance away.'

I wasn't crazy enough to bury them right at my shelter. I'd put them somewhere reasonably far away. Another animal might come and dig them up, so I intended to make the hole as deep as possible.

'This should do.'

I chose a fairly spacious spot behind the cave, somewhere that could easily pass for a backyard, and dug a deep pit. Moving the gorillas one at a time was a hassle, but I'd have to live with it.

Only after about an hour had passed did I finish burying the bodies. Thank goodness my strength and other physical abilities had improved. Otherwise, it would have taken at least two hours.

Gorilla troop cleared

Wild Grylls

(Photo of a dead gorilla)

(Photo of a gorilla collapsed on the ground)

(Photo of a dead gorilla in a spray of blood)

(Photo of a gorilla carefully framed to hide its severed neck)

(Photo of the tools the gorillas used)

(Photo of the gathered gorilla bodies)

Took out all the gorillas that came to rescue my hostage.

There was a gorilla leader too, but that one ran away.

Also, the gorilla leader used something like martial arts. Is that even possible? Seriously?

└Heavenly Demon A gorilla used martial arts? What sort of martial arts did it demonstrate?

└Wild Grylls It's hard to explain in detail, so I'll start with its stance. It held its left hand out in front with the palm facing outward, and kept its right fist at its waist.

└Heavenly Demon That alone is not enough. Could you tell me a little more about the techniques it demonstrated? In detail?

└Wild Grylls It used a lot of palm strikes. It was incredibly fast too.

└Heavenly Demon Hmm. There are far too many martial arts that employ palm strikes. I need something more distinctive...

└Sword Masta Before that, aren't you shocked that a gorilla used martial arts at all? Something completely impossible just happened.

└Heavenly Demon True enough. I have seen countless fools worse than monkeys, but to think an actual monkey would practice martial arts.

└Sword Masta You do know the difference between an ape and a monkey, right?

└Heavenly Demon Is it not whether they have a tail? They are all monkeys to me regardless.

└Sword Masta Fair enough. Anyway, are you hurt anywhere?

└Wild Grylls It hit me in the ribs and nearly killed me, but thankfully I survived. The gorilla leader broke its arm too.

└Heavenly Demon How extraordinary. But it cannot have learned martial arts all on its own. I suspect someone taught it.

└Wild Grylls (Photo of the middle of a tree bearing a gorilla handprint and a human handprint) Looking at this, someone definitely taught it.

└Heavenly Demon A reasonable deduction.

└Allfather Perhaps there is a survivor still alive out there. If they taught the gorilla troop martial arts, they must have defeated them in battle.

└All Hail the Sun I'm more surprised that they used tools. Aren't they actually evolving into humans?

└Allfather A highly plausible hypothesis. Either these individuals have abnormally high intelligence, or the Forest of Four Seasons seems to be accelerating evolution.

└Just hearing that is kind of terrifying...

└So that's why the place is overflowing with spiritual elixirs. Makes surviving there that much harder too.

└Grylls got lucky, then.

└Forget all that. Doesn't this mean Grylls is worse than a gorilla?

└Wild Grylls Shut up. I didn't lose.

└If you lose, you're a bastard who's worse than a gorilla lol

└For real, worse than an ape lmao

└Wild Grylls Don't worry. I'm already a bastard who's worse than a sloth.

└Oh. Right. Hahahaha

└Forgot about that lmao

└Lmaooooooo

Once I posted on the forum, everyone began chiming in in their own way. A gorilla demonstrating martial arts was shocking enough, and they'd used tools on top of that. Why had humans risen to the top of the food chain? Because they made extensive use of tools. At least these ones had only used clubs. If they'd used spears, I would have struggled.

'And the person behind them...'

A "teacher" who'd taught the gorillas martial arts definitely existed. The question was whether that teacher was still alive. The gorillas currently saw me as an enemy. If they had a human teacher, surely they would at least have shown some curiosity about me.

'Besides...'

I turned to look at the speed-sloth. Was it because the fasting pills were still gone, even after we'd taught the gorillas a lesson? It looked unusually listless today. But I couldn't conjure up fasting pills out of thin air.

There was something else I wanted to know. Just what was the speed-sloth, for the gorilla troop to fear it so much? That fear had allowed us to sap their morale. It had made the biggest difference.

"Speedy."

"..."

"Just how strong are you for those gorillas to be afraid of you?"

I was curious about the speed-sloth's past. It was strong—stronger than I could imagine. It had treated me like a nobody, and even among the gorillas it reigned as an object of terror. What on earth had it been doing before I arrived? Today, I wanted to know more than ever.

"..."

Instead of answering, the speed-sloth stared at me, as if asking whether I wanted to know. I gazed back at its face, then nodded. Even though we'd been together less than a month, I could understand at least that much of what it meant.

SCRITCH, SCRITCH.

Then Speedy began drawing on the ground. I focused on the picture. Being a sloth, it was painfully slow, but I waited patiently.

'No, wait a second. It's drawing?'

I glanced at the speed-sloth. I was starting to suspect it was only a sloth on the outside, with a person inside. Of course, like the evolved gorillas, it might simply have evolved in a different direction. Nothing that happened in the Forest of Four Seasons would be strange. Better to let it go. Thinking about every little thing would only give me a headache.

SCRITCH, SCRITCH.

Over the next ten minutes, the drawing gradually took shape. The first thing the speed-sloth drew was itself. Short legs compared to its long arms. Claws at the tips of its hands. And finally, a peaceful expression. Anyone could tell it was the speed-sloth. But there wasn't just one.

Two, three, four, and eventually ten. The drawing looked like the speed-sloth's "family."

TAP, TAP.

It pointed a claw at the smallest speed-sloth—no, sloth—in the group. Apparently, that one represented itself. I nodded to show I understood.

'But I haven't seen any other family mem—'

Just as the thought crossed my mind:

SCRAAAPE.

It drew its claw across one of the sloths. The meaning was unmistakable: dead.

SCRAPE, SCRAAAPE.

One by one, the speed-sloth crossed out every member of the group except itself. It finally stopped after crossing out even the sloth standing right beside it.

That gave me a few theories to work with. First, the speed-sloth had once had a group of its own. Second, that group had been wiped out for some reason, leaving it the only survivor. And finally, the reason they'd been wiped out was...

"... Was it the gorillas?"

"..."

The speed-sloth gave no answer. It simply stared at the ground. But that was answer enough. Its group had lost to the gorilla troop. Only the speed-sloth had survived.

'They wiped out a whole group of creatures this strong?'

Apparently, the gorilla troop was stronger than I'd ever imagined. Either that, or...

'The person who taught them martial arts fought for them.'

It wasn't particularly encouraging news.