Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 114

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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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114
The head of Archangelus, who had reached out toward Bae Na-young as she subdued his followers, vanished with a dull thud.
It was Chang-hee’s long-range support. Though Bae Na-young was too far away to see, I waved in the direction where Chang-hee was positioned.
Chang-hee, who had rapidly advanced to B-rank Hunter status, wielded a large-caliber sniper rifle crafted by Jae-in. Since it used mana stones as ammunition—prohibitively expensive—it wasn’t a weapon everyone could handle, but Rigen had supplied it to nurture Chang-hee’s potential.
Chang-hee wasn’t a hunter with overwhelming offensive power or special skills, but his meticulous control far surpassed that of hunters at his rank. This made him one of the few hunters capable of wielding the mana stone sniper rifle, which had tremendous recoil and demanded precise firing control.
It was an attack that could obliterate B-rank monsters in a single shot, and depending on the species, even A-rank monsters. The heads of these merely C-rank Angels required only one shot.
“Will you surrender?”
I asked Princhipatus, who stood at the forefront, as I gazed at Archangelus’s headless body collapsed on the ground.
“For Metatron! Warriors, attack!”
At Princhipatus’s command, the surviving monsters and Angels rushed at me in a torrent. Despite the countless numbers I’d slain, hundreds still remained. As several hundred Angels with massive wings descended upon me, the sky appeared blanketed in pure white feathers. Yet their faces were twisted like demons, utterly at odds with the pristine plumage.
“Their true nature reveals itself in their expressions.”
Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop!
Dozens of them burst apart before even reaching me. After all, Chang-hee wasn’t my only marksman.
Those that survived the long-range barrage surged toward me like a tidal wave.
Angelus raked with protruding talons, and Archangelus thrust his blade. Princhipatus, unconcerned that the Angels clinging to me caught fire and burned, unleashed beams of light in rapid succession.
My form disappeared beneath the swarm of dozens of Angels.
Pop!
I enlarged my body and wrapped myself in armor from head to toe. Swinging my arms as I rose, the Angels above me were struck and scattered like flies to the ground.
“Kill him!”
An Angel shrieked. Even as they witnessed their comrades falling to the Hunters surrounding this area, they threw themselves at me like moths to flame—a futile gesture. The gap in power was as vast as heaven and earth. Yet not a trace of fear showed on their faces. Only rage and madness blazed in their eyes.
I brought my fist down on Archangelus as he flew at me with his blade aimed at my eyes, and he collided with an Angelus charging from the opposite direction, both becoming a pulp.
I seized the wings of an Angelus clinging to my leg.
Rip!
“Gaaaaaahhhhh!!!”
Even as his wings tore away, his back skin flayed, and his nails ripped out, he refused to release my leg, continuing to claw at me.
I struck down Angel after Angel, crushed them in my grip, and drove them into the ground.
My entire body was drenched in their crimson blood. Clad in blood-soaked black scaled armor, beating Angels to death, I must have looked like a demon myself.
With the long-range support combined, within mere minutes, hundreds of Angels lay scattered across the ground.
I shrunk my body back to normal size and stood before the surviving Princhipatus.
“Savor this small victory. We are merely the vanguard of Heaven. True warriors shall arrive soon. Spend your remaining time trembling in fear.”
“What nonsense. The moment Megatron descends to Earth, it’s over.”
“It’s Metatron!”
“Ah, I got confused.”
There were simply too many names to memorize these days.
“Gyaaahhhhh!!!”
Princhipatus shrieked and unleashed a beam of light from her staff.
“Move.”
I pivoted to evade and circled behind Princhipatus, striking her neck with a knife-hand strike.
“Gack!”
“Hmm… if she were human, this much would knock her unconscious…”
Their structure was different, so the angel didn’t lose consciousness. I threw another sleep punch at its face.
“Come… on… Still won’t go down?”
Thud, thud, thud!
I threw punch after punch, gradually increasing the force. It was difficult to control my strength enough to avoid cracking its skull. While I was at it, the three remaining angels slashed their swords at my neck, but it didn’t even tickle.
“Does it actually lose consciousness?”
Thud, thud, thud!
I wasn’t sure if it had lost consciousness, but its face was pulped and twitching, so it was definitely incapacitated.
“Okay. One down.”
I pushed myself up and shoved away the three angels that had been pummeling me.
To extract information, we’d agreed not to capture all of them and to keep some as prisoners, so the hunters waited there.
“It’s easier if they pass out quickly.”
I held up my blood-soaked fist and flashed the angels the same gentle smile they’d shown at the beginning.
* * *
I failed to control my strength during the capture process and killed one more, capturing a total of three. All the other angels gathered at the Sacred Ground and the monsters they’d collected were dead.
This place where people had gathered was filled with ash and corpses—it looked more like a battlefield than a Sacred Ground. Just processing the bodies of monsters and angels would take considerable time.
Some countries failed to detonate bombs in time to eliminate monsters or failed to neutralize civilians, resulting in casualties. However, Earth succeeded in saving most of the angels through coordinated operations.
“How is it?”
Bae Na-young massaged Angelus’s head. With each movement of her fingers, Angelus’s entire body convulsed.
“Their structure… is completely different from humans. It seems like they share one brain as a collective, with each individual possessing a piece of it.”
“So if there were ten thousand of them, there would be ten thousand brains?”
“Their intelligence wouldn’t increase tenfold, but they’re all connected. It was good I didn’t access their consciousness beforehand. If I’d connected while many individuals were present, my mind wouldn’t have survived it.”
Bae Na-young answered with her eyes closed.
For a moment, she massaged Angelus’s brain while I waited quietly behind her.
“Found them.”
Bae Na-young opened her eyes. She’d located the positions of the angels that had survived the previous operation.
Only a few hundred were now hiding throughout the world. We conducted cleanup operations through the World Hunter Association.
In Korea, they were hiding deep in the Mountain Range of the former North Korean territory.
“Run!”
When we burst in, the angels scattered in all directions like seagulls fleeing from people on a beach, but they couldn’t escape us who had come determined to capture them.
We surrounded the angels, and as magic and gunfire rained down, their wings turned black like moths burning in flames, and they dropped one after another.
“I need to keep this one alive for interrogation.”
I said to the last remaining Princhipatus.
“If only we’d had a little more time…”
Princhipatus looked back and gritted her teeth.
A massive magic circle was drawn on the ground behind her. Enormous magic stones were embedded throughout, and naked corpses lay at each corner. The blood flowing from their bodies was gradually mixing into the magic circle made of light.
Based on the scale and the amount of magic stones prepared, this wasn’t something prepared in just a day or two. They’d been sowing discord among people in front, while secretly creating this behind the scenes.
“Will it be complete once all the blood mixes?”
I continuously released aura from my hand and shattered the magic circle.
“What now?”
“Fool. Why do you think there’s only one? If even a single one succeeds, it’s our victory.”
Thwack!
I slammed his head against the floor with a vicious strike.
“Report the status of the operation to eliminate remnant forces across all nations.”
I asked the Control Center through my earpiece.
[We’ve completed operations in 43 regions. Currently awaiting reports from the remaining 12 regions.]
“Send an emergency directive to destroy any magic circles the moment they’re discovered. And tell them to report as quickly as possible.”
After organizing the situation on the ground, several minutes passed.
“Hunter Lee Ji-seok! All nations have completed their subjugation operations!”
An Awakener Management Bureau official came running to inform me.
“Phew….”
I had no idea what that magic circle was, but given how long the Angels had prepared for this, if it succeeded, it certainly wouldn’t be good news for us.
* * *
A group of people in military uniforms surrounded Angelus, who was restrained on a surgical table.
“Takashi Jun-teukwi, you’re certain about this?”
Japanese Prime Minister Saika glared at Takashi Jun-teukwi, the director of the Special Phenomena Research Institute under Japan’s Special Self-Defense Force. Jun-teukwi held a rank equivalent to a Korean military warrant officer—technically not a rank that should command a research institute. However, the previous director had failed to produce results and was removed, allowing Takashi Jun-teukwi, who possessed exceptional research and development capabilities, to assume the position.

“Absolutely certain. It’s a magic circle that enables unlimited healing at minimal cost for continuous operation. We’re designing the magic circle based on information extracted from the Angel’s head.”
Takashi Jun-teukwi adjusted his thick glasses as he spoke. The lab coat he wore was drenched in blood.
“Good. But these creatures communicate with each other, don’t they? The other nations won’t discover what we’ve captured?”
“We destroyed the communication organs upon capture, so communication is impossible.”
During the Sparrow Hunt operation, an Angel had survived a gunshot to the head. When the other Angels, who normally sensed each other without seeing, couldn’t locate this Angel’s position, Japan’s Special Self-Defense Force discovered this by chance. Afterward, the Japanese Self-Defense Force and Hunters destroyed the Angel’s communication organs and transferred the surviving Angel to the research institute.
“If this specimen’s communication function were still active, it would have been detected by a mind-control Hunter, and the World Hunter Association would have already stormed in.”
“Good. As long as those Korean bastards monopolize the World Tree, we must succeed in this project to restore the glory of the Great Japanese Empire. Accelerate the timeline as much as possible.”
“We… need more test subjects.”
“Haven’t I already provided dozens?”
“The information is insufficient, so extensive experimentation is necessary to complete the unlimited healing magic circle.”
“Tsk…. Fine. I’ll send more. How long will it take?”
“Approximately three months.”
“Finish it within one month.”
“But….”
“If you can’t, the next test subject will be you.”
Recalling what had happened to the previous director, Takashi Jun-teukwi swallowed hard, feeling as though a monster had gripped his throat.
“… I will complete it within one month, Prime Minister.”
“For the day we restore the glory of the Great Japanese Empire!”
Prime Minister Saika thrust his neck forward and saluted the Rising Sun flag first, and all personnel in the research facility simultaneously saluted the Prime Minister in unison.
* * *
“Gaff…. Aren’t you going home?”
Eres hadn’t returned home for a while either, and Gaff had made his nest in my house that I’d set up at the World Tree.
“Huh? You want me to go? It’s not over yet?”
Gaff, absorbed in his console game with dark circles under his eyes, turned to look at me. He’d discovered the one I’d brought for the World Tree Spirit and hadn’t stopped gaming for 24 hours straight.
“Not the end?”
“The Angels you captured are small fry. Princhipatus is Rank 7, Archangelus is Rank 8, and Angelus is at the very bottom—Rank 9. In other words, they’re the lowest of the low. And that’s not even all of them. Most likely died during the crossing, with only a fraction making it through.”
Gaff turned his gaze back to the screen, manipulating the pad with rapid precision. In a single day, he’d demonstrated the control of a professional gamer.
“Tens of thousands came down, and you’re saying that’s only a fraction?”
“Low-ranking Angels like those sprout from Heaven like weeds. What’s arrived now is nothing but dust compared to the whole. However, since the vanguard suffered losses, next time Angels of Rank 6 or higher might come.”
“Are there ones stronger than me?”
“Hahahaha, such confidence. Impressive. Truly impressive.”
Gaff burst into hearty laughter. Yet his gaze remained fixed on the screen.
“Metatron is an Angel on equal footing with me. Rank 1. Even a Rank 2 would be beyond your reach. However, fortunately for you, they won’t be able to cross while maintaining their full power intact.”
For us, lacking sufficient information, Gaff’s casually dispensed details proved invaluable in grasping the current situation.
“The Destruction God’s army has plenty of soldiers too, doesn’t it? Why don’t they all cross over at once?”
Since Gaff was absorbed in the game and freely divulging information, I continued pressing him with questions. It was a golden opportunity to extract knowledge about the Destruction God—something we knew precious little about—without much effort.

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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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