Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 10

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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10
“Stop right there!”
Did anyone in this world actually stop when told to stop? I ignored Choi Mi-ran’s shout and bolted forward. Mana projectiles whizzed past me from behind as I zigzagged to evade them, creating as much distance as possible. My speed was sluggish due to the poison coursing through my veins, but with each passing moment, the toxin gradually broke down, and my velocity increased incrementally.
“Damn it!”
Choi Mi-ran pursued me while firing mana projectiles, her gaze flickering between me and the collapsed forms of Park Sang-jun and Yang Sang-heon. She wrestled with indecision until she realized she couldn’t catch someone faster than herself. Finally, she abandoned the chase and turned back.
Once I confirmed Choi Mi-ran had retreated, I crept cautiously forward again.
Spotting an opening as Choi Mi-ran rummaged through Park Sang-jun and Yang Sang-heon’s belongings, I charged at her once more.
“What are you?! Why are you coming back?!”
Choi Mi-ran shrieked irritably and unleashed another cloud of poison gas. However, I had already developed some resistance to this toxin, so I felt only a tingling sensation—my body moved without impediment.
As I rushed through the poison, Choi Mi-ran hurled mana projectiles directly at me. But at her current level, her projectiles posed no fatal threat as long as I avoided a direct hit.
I sidestepped the incoming projectiles by swaying my upper body left and right, deflecting the ones I couldn’t dodge with my arms. I closed the distance to Choi Mi-ran’s face and drove a hook into her ribs.
A sharp crack echoed as my fist struck something solid—it felt like punching a wall.
Choi Mi-ran had activated a defensive skill, wrapping her body in a protective barrier.
She hadn’t displayed such a skill throughout our entire day of hunting. Had she been saving it for a moment like this? As my attack was blocked by the translucent barrier, relief flooded back into her tense expression.
“Now just collapse already!”
Choi Mi-ran maintained the defensive barrier with her left hand while her right hand retrieved a sphere from her pouch—a different color than before. She hurled it to the ground.
The instant the sphere shattered, Choi Mi-ran leaped backward to create distance between us.
A pale blue mist emanated from the sphere.
The green smoke had primarily caused paralysis, but when the blue smoke made contact with my body, a searing pain erupted across my entire frame as if every cell were being pierced by a blade. As I collapsed from the agony, Choi Mi-ran stood at a distance, wiping sweat from her brow.
“Phew. What a handful. This poison is expensive, you know! You’re making me take a complete loss!”
Choi Mi-ran’s expression twisted with annoyance as she kicked me repeatedly. Convinced that this poison would kill me, she casually strolled back to plunder the remaining belongings.
Every fiber of my being screamed in agony. Each cell felt as though it were being pierced by a white-hot awl. Cold sweat drenched my skin, my vision blurred, and consciousness threatened to slip away, but I gritted my teeth and endured.
[Poison Resistance skill has risen from F to E.]
[Unwavering Spirit skill has risen from F to E.]
Choi Mi-ran proved stronger than I anticipated, but with my Poison Resistance and Unwavering Spirit skills now elevated, there was no real problem.
The poison and pain gradually dissipated, and my mind grew clear. I surged toward her as she continued ransacking the bags.
“How…how is this possible?!”
Choi Mi-ran hadn’t expected me to overcome even the blue poison. Her face drained of color as she fired mana projectiles to keep me at bay, but her attacks had never posed a genuine threat from the start.
I closed the distance in an instant and threw a punch, but it struck the barrier with a resounding crack. Choi Mi-ran’s lips twisted into a distorted smile.
“Your attacks won’t work on me! This time, I’ll use enough poison to kill an elephant!”
Just as she confidently reached for her poison, I unleashed a rapid barrage of two-fisted strikes against the barrier. With each impact, cracks began to spider across its surface.
“I’ll shatter it first!”
I roared as I hammered the barrier. Choi Mi-ran gasped in shock and redirected her hand from her pouch, gripping her wand with both hands to reinforce the shield.
The cracks in the barrier slowly sealed themselves, but I matched her intensity by accelerating my assault. A barrier was ultimately constructed from the user’s mana—neither infinite nor invincible. Strike it enough times, and it would inevitably break.
“Kyaaah!”
After dozens of strikes, the barrier shattered spectacularly. The impact sent Choi Mi-ran flying backward as she screamed.
As I paused to catch my breath after moving at such velocity, Choi Mi-ran seized the moment and fled.
I pursued her relentlessly from behind. As she ran, she indiscriminately scattered blue and green poison spheres in her wake.
They burst with a muffled sound, releasing dense clouds of poison across my path. Rather than evade, I charged straight through, absorbing the toxins with my entire body.
The high concentration of poison overwhelmed my still-developing resistance. My body succumbed to paralysis and searing pain, and my running speed began to falter.
“Huh? Did it work?”
The moment I stopped pursuing, Choi Mi-ran seemed to think the poison had finally taken effect. Her expression softened with relief as she glanced back at me and slowed her pace.
But the poison’s effects weakened within seconds, and I overcame the pain and numbness through sheer mental fortitude. Then I resumed the chase.
“How is this even possible?!”
Choi Mi-ran’s face turned ashen as she bolted forward again. For a mage, she was fast, but with my agility and stamina stats hovering near twenty, there was no way she could escape me through running alone.
Each time the distance closed enough for me to catch her, she’d hurl a poison dart to make me hesitate, buying herself space. After repeating this a few times, her poison darts no longer affected me at all.
The Gate came into view in the distance. If I let her slip away here, it would become a nightmare to deal with, so I poured everything into my legs for one final burst of speed.
[Stamina increased by 1.]
Running while inhaling the poison felt like my lungs and thighs were tearing apart. I pushed through the agony and kept running, and my stamina increased by 1. My body felt marginally lighter.
At my sudden acceleration, Choi Mi-ran’s eyes widened. I leaped into the air and drove a dropkick into her back. She screamed and crashed to the ground.
The Gate was now barely ten meters away.
I snatched the pouch from Choi Mi-ran’s fallen form.
“Which one is the antidote?”
“…The green bottle.”
She glared at me with defiant eyes as she spoke.
“Is that so?”
I pulled out the green bottle, grabbed Choi Mi-ran’s jaw, and poured it into her mouth.
“No! Aaah! Ugh!”
Choi Mi-ran foamed at the mouth in agony after swallowing what I thought was the antidote. It was probably the concentrated poison itself.
“I figured as much. You were far too compliant.”
I tested several medicine bottles from her pouch on my tongue and identified the true antidote by my body’s reaction.
I dripped some antidote into Choi Mi-ran’s mouth, then bound her hands and feet. Slinging her over my shoulder, I returned to Park Sang-jun and Yang Sang-heon, giving both of them generous doses of the antidote.
While waiting for them to regain consciousness, I chewed on some jerky I’d brought along.
Yang Sang-heon groaned and was the first to wake.
“What happened?”
Yang Sang-heon asked groggily, still partially paralyzed.
“Remember being engulfed in that green smoke? This woman poisoned us to paralyze us so she could steal our items and magic stones. If I hadn’t detoxified you in time, you’d all be dead.”
I gestured with my chin toward the unconscious Choi Mi-ran. Paralytic poison combined with pain-inducing toxin—exposed to large quantities over extended periods—could stop the heart or send someone into shock from the agony, resulting in death.
Yang Sang-heon’s expression turned incredulous. He stared in disbelief for a moment before shaking his head.
“She looked so normal. Why would she do something like this? And she entered through our Awakener app. Did she really think she wouldn’t get caught?”
“How would I understand a criminal’s mind? Besides, I doubt Choi Mi-ran is even her real name.”
If someone committed serial murders within Gates, records of their party members’ deaths would accumulate, making it impossible for them to keep entering Gates. In my previous life’s news reports, she had used forged identification.
“Thank you so much. I owe my life to you.”
Yang Sang-heon seemed to have gathered his thoughts. He bowed deeply to me in gratitude.
“Think nothing of it.”
While I spoke with Yang Sang-heon, Park Sang-jun also regained consciousness. After hearing the full story, he flew into a rage and tried to rush at Choi Mi-ran, but I barely restrained him.
After exiting the Gate, I explained everything to the Gate Management Official for the third time and handed over Choi Mi-ran’s custody. The three of us went to the Management Bureau to file our statements. As expected, Choi Mi-ran’s identity was fake, and with the poison darts and antidote submitted as evidence, there was no way for her to escape.
Though I turned in the poison darts and antidote, I secretly kept the concentrated poison. High-concentration toxins were difficult to produce and obtain, and thinking about using it to build poison resistance made today’s ordeal feel worthwhile.
“Thank you so much today. I’ll definitely repay this kindness next time.”
Yang Sang-heon bowed once more, expressing his gratitude again.
“Don’t mention it.”
If I hadn’t recognized Choi Mi-ran’s face and intervened, both of them would have died, but since I gained something from the encounter myself, I saw no reason to make a show of it.
Still, Park Sang-jun disappeared without so much as a word of thanks. I wasn’t doing it for gratitude, but the contrast with Yang Sang-heon was stark. I’d disliked him from the moment he started flirting with Choi Mi-ran, and it seemed unlikely our paths would cross again.
* * *
The weeks after my regression had been hectic, but now that the university had entered its winter break, it was time to head home. Finally, I could see Mother again. I’d considered going straight to her, but my body felt soft and weak after the regression, and moving through this world felt strange and unsettling. I wanted to restore myself to at least a minimum level of fitness before seeing her.
I hadn’t bought a car yet, so I took a taxi. Though I’d called frequently since my return, the thought of seeing Mother again—someone I’d believed I’d never see after she passed away—made my heart race with anticipation.
The taxi pulled up in front of a shabby apartment building. It had been years since I’d returned home.
I rode the elevator up and pressed the keypad code.
“Son~ You’re home?”
Mother emerged from the kitchen, wiping her hands as she welcomed me, having been preparing dinner.
“Yes, Mom. I’m back.”
I’m back. From the future.
“My, you’ve grown tall. And you look so much healthier.”
Mother’s eyes widened as she took in how much I’d changed.
“Come in quickly. Dinner’s almost ready.”
She pulled me into a tight embrace before heading back to the kitchen.
“Yes.”
I suppressed the surge of emotion welling up inside me and set the box of fruit I’d brought on the dining table.
“Why did you buy something like this? Where would you get money for that?”
At this point in time, I was still living entirely on Mother’s money, so she had every right to worry about the expense. Yet perhaps because it was a gift from her son, she seemed delighted instead. If anything, she looked concerned that I might be short on funds.
“Mom, I’ve awakened. I’m a Hunter now.”
Mother’s hands froze as she was placing the fruit in the refrigerator.
“I see.”
She didn’t sound happy. Despite the Academy’s establishment and improved equipment, Hunting remained an infamously deadly profession. Entering Gates to slay monsters with your life on the line, only to die in the attempt—it had become so routine that deaths now barely warranted more than a perfunctory mention at the end of the news.
Even before my regression, Mother had hoped I’d earn money through a stable office job rather than as a Hunter.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be careful. I won’t go to dangerous places.”
I knew full well I’d end up in dangerous places, and that caution alone couldn’t protect me from danger. But I did my best to reassure her.
“That’s good. You’ve always wanted to be a Hunter. Congratulations, son.”
She offered her congratulations, but her voice carried no warmth.
“Mom, let’s move. You don’t have to work anymore.”
“That’s enough. I like it here, and I’ll keep working.”
“No, I’m making good money now. You don’t have to struggle anymore.”
“I have no intention of sitting idle and living off money my son risked his life to earn.”
Mother’s firm tone—so unlike her usual gentleness—struck me like a bell. Here I was, finally in a position to repay her kindness, only to realize how deeply my becoming a Hunter worried her.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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