Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 144

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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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144
Jackson shook off the curse and brought his halberd down toward Bae Na-young.
At least, that’s what Jackson believed he was doing.
But his halberd struck nothing but bare earth.
“Stubborn creature—clinging to life!”
Jackson roared, continuing to drive his weapon into empty ground.
Both armies froze, watching Jackson’s mad display.
“… Now! Strike him down!”
Billy charged first, driving his spear into Jackson’s ribs, and the rest of the Western Continental Alliance warriors surged forward as one.
“Protect Lord Jackson!”
The Imperial Army rushed to defend him, but Jackson had already become a porcupine.
No matter how skilled a Master might be, an unarmored body couldn’t withstand the onslaught of the Western Continental Alliance’s warriors.
“…What is this….”
Bleeding from every wound, Jackson couldn’t comprehend what had happened. The Witch had clearly been severed beneath him, and there were no other enemies nearby.
Yet suddenly, a burning pain erupted in his ribs, and The Witch’s form shimmered like a mirage before vanishing. His body was now bristling with spears and blades.
“She’s not dead—again…!”
Just as the Alliance warriors prepared to strike once more.
Jackson swung his halberd despite his wounds. A Master’s body transcended human limits. Though his strength was greatly diminished, it was enough to drive back the Alliance warriors.
“I’ll slaughter you all!”
As Jackson pulled his halberd back for one final, desperate swing, Bae Na-young’s mana needles punctured his forehead, creating a clean hole.
Jackson’s body froze, still gripping the halberd.
The weight of the massive weapon pulled him off-balance, and he toppled sideways like a felled log.
Bae Na-young rose slowly into the sky.
“Imperial soldiers—surrender at once! There is no need to throw away your lives!”
The Imperial troops lost their morale first at the sight of her prowess, and all will to fight drained away as they beheld her aura—purple, beautiful, and terrifying.
* * *
“Your Majesty. I come to report the results of the recent battle.”
Joshua, the Grand Master—strongest on the Eastern Continent and perhaps strongest across all of Telus—bowed before the Emperor seated upon his throne. Emperor Douglas Edwin Coho III was already aged and frail, stripped of all vigor. He looked less like the ruler of a mighty empire and more like a dying old man with little time left in this world.
“Many fell, then.”
The Emperor listened impassively to the casualty figures and battle outcomes from each force.
“Are the new Masters ready?”
“Numbers 1, 5, 38, 41, and 42 are prepared. The remaining sixty-five have been disposed of. This brings our Master count to twice that of the Western Continent.”
“At last, the preparations are complete.”
As Joshua turned his gaze backward, soldiers opened the doors.
Five individuals—men and women who appeared to have only recently reached adulthood—entered.
Their bodies were lean and muscular, their postures rigid and straight, yet their eyes were hollow, devoid of any soul.
“Kneel.”
At Joshua’s command, all five dropped to their knees before the Emperor.
“I apologize to you. For the peace of all people, I ask that you find strength. Deploy them at once.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
At the Emperor’s command, they left and the door closed.
“Your Majesty, the Emperor of the Empire should not speak such words.”
Joshua lowered his head as he spoke.
“So much blood… has been spilled.”
“It will end soon now.”
“If you took to the battlefield, this long and endless war would end in an instant.”
“As long as the Western Continent’s Divine Archer targets Your Majesty the Emperor, that is impossible.”
Nella, the Divine Archer called the strongest master of the Western Continent. She could pierce through space and fire arrows, capable of attacking any enemy in Telus across dimensional boundaries.
Because she had her sights on the Emperor, Joshua could not leave the Imperial Palace.
Conversely, Nella could not throw herself into the war either. It was not an ability she could use repeatedly at will, and she had the constraint that she could only pierce through space and snipe from the Sacred Mountain, the highest peak of the Western Continent.
The moment Nella descended from the Sacred Mountain and sniping became impossible, Joshua would throw himself into the battlefield. Even if ten masters rushed at him, they could not win, and he was first in the Empire for the cruelty of his methods.
Therefore, the two constantly watched each other without rest.
“Yes, I know. I know you won’t go no matter what I say. I was merely lamenting a little. It has been long, so very long. It is almost over now. Just a bit more and it will be done.”
“I find it regrettable that foolish people do not understand Your Majesty the Emperor’s profound intentions.”
“It is the karma of my curse—to know the future.”
Douglas recalled the past with clouded eyes.
Douglas Edwin Coho III, Emperor of the Empire, was not one destined to become emperor.
One hundred and fifty years ago in Telus, when the Empire did not yet exist.
Douglas was born as the third prince of the Exbrien Kingdom, a remote nation in the northeast, and was not even destined to become king of that small country.
However, the weak and unambitious Douglas harbored no discontent with this. Becoming king would require him to do many difficult things, after all.
Douglas did not put on airs despite being royalty. Rather, he played freely with the common people around him without hesitation.
“Your Highness, if your brothers knew you were spending time with commoners, you would surely be scolded.”
Dana, the maidservant who had cared for Douglas since childhood, cautiously tried to stop him.
“It’s fine if my brothers don’t know. Let’s go!”
Sword training and studying were not fun. Playing with this round leather ball in the streets of the inner castle with friends was far more enjoyable.
At first, the commoner boys had trembled with their foreheads pressed to the ground. But after eating the fine food Douglas brought a few times, they began to open their hearts, and now they had become friends.
“Your Highness! Here it comes!”
Robin, the butcher’s son, kicked the ball hard.
Thwack!
Douglas failed to react in time, and the ball struck his nose, causing blood to drip down.
“…”
Robin’s face turned pale. No matter how close they had become, there was a difference in status between commoner and royalty. And to make a prince bleed from his face, no less.
“I’m… I’m so sorry.”
Robin threw himself flat on the ground.
“Hahahaha! It doesn’t… actually, it doesn’t hurt at all.”
Seeing Robin trembling in fear, Douglas laughed even louder on purpose. His nose stung, but he wiped the blood away with his sleeve and didn’t touch it. If he showed pain, Robin would worry even more.
But the blood did not stop and continued to flow.
Dana rushed over and examined his nose. There was bleeding, but his nose was not broken.
“Your Highness, please, I beg you. Come inside now.”
Dana, Robin, and the friends they played with all had faces that turned not just pale but blue. Since the nosebleed wouldn’t stop and they couldn’t play anymore, Douglas nodded in agreement.
“I understand, Robin. This doesn’t hurt at all. I’m tough. Let’s play again next time.”
Douglas Edwin Coho III didn’t worry much. Once the bleeding stopped, it was just a slight redness.
When he woke the next morning, Dana, Robin, and Robin’s family were hanging by their necks at the city gates.
“…Ugh!!!”
“You scarred the face of royalty and left it untreated?! How much do you intend to diminish the authority of the royal family?!”
Second Brother screamed, but I couldn’t hear him at all.
‘Because of me…. Because of me….’
Second Brother was normally strict, but this was beyond that. Had they committed a crime worthy of death?
Douglas, who had always been timid by nature, became even more withdrawn after that. He no longer opened his heart to commoners or even the Attendant. He was terrified that one mistake in getting close to someone would result in their death.
On the day Douglas turned fifteen, a grand coming-of-age ceremony was held, but Douglas himself felt no joy. He simply sat there like a puppet.
After the ceremony ended, I lay my exhausted body on the bed.
I fell asleep without even changing clothes.
And I had a terrible nightmare.
A dream of being stabbed in the chest with a dagger right here on this bed where I slept. It was the Attendant acting on Second Brother’s orders.
Everything that unfolded afterward seemed as if I were witnessing it firsthand.
The dead Douglas is only known to have died of illness. A few years later, First Brother dies the same way.
Douglas’s father passes away and Second Brother inherits the kingdom, building it into a powerful nation. Though radical, Second Brother, being clever, builds up military forces and invades small nations to the west, expanding his power.
However, Exbrien Kingdom grows too large. It catches the eye of Beria, the great power to the south, and the remote small nation of Exbrien is reduced to ashes.
As countless pieces of information flashed through the nightmare and I jolted awake, drenched in sweat, I saw the Attendant holding a dagger. It was the face I saw in the dream.
Our eyes met.
“Forgive me! All of this is for the security of the kingdom!”
The Attendant brought the dagger down.
I rolled off the side of the bed, dodging the dagger. It pierced the spot where I had been lying, and I grabbed the candlestick from the nightstand and drove it into the Attendant’s eye.
All the knight training I had endured silently and diligently bore fruit in this moment.
The Attendant’s body went rigid and he fell backward.
“Ugh!”
I had killed someone for the first time. With my weak disposition, I retched repeatedly. Once I regained my composure, I thought about the dream I’d just had.
I had seen in the dream that this man would come, and I knew it. If that was true, then everything that follows must be real as well. I didn’t know why I had been granted this blessing, but knowing the future, I could prevent the calamities that would unfold. No, for the sake of the people of Exbrien Kingdom, I had to prevent them.
“Yes…. All of this is for the security of the kingdom.”
I steeled my resolve and repeated the words the Attendant had spoken. If I remained weak, I couldn’t protect my people. I couldn’t protect First Brother.
Once I had regained my senses, I began building my power. Since I knew in advance everything that would happen in the kingdom, earning money and secretly raising private soldiers was not difficult.
As I grew stronger, I purged all the malignant forces in the kingdom. However, my nature didn’t change, so I always had others carry out the bloody work.
I appointed capable individuals and extended my hand to those in need.
Second Brother, overflowing with ambition, was impossible to reform.
“Yes…. Please…. forgive me….”
“Did you forget that you sent an assassin after me, Brother?”
I put my weight behind the dagger embedded in my brother’s chest, driving it deeper. Though I felt the urge to retch, I gathered my courage because I wanted only my own hands to end First Brother’s life—no one else’s.
“Gasp….”
Watching Second Brother collapse, I vomited everything inside me. It was my second murder, but I never grew accustomed to it.
If it weren’t for First Brother and the people, it would have been better for me to die instead of killing my brother.
After his father’s death, he served as advisor to his First Brother, who ascended to the throne. With Douglas’s knowledge of the future, the kingdom flourished with each passing day.
He did not provoke neighboring nations or incite war.
He entered into a strategic marriage with Christine, the princess of Wiskecast, a small kingdom to the east, and fathered two children with her.
Though born of political necessity, his wife was a good woman. He was happy.
It was a peaceful life.
“Aaaaaahhhhh!”
Douglas Edwin Coho III jolted awake, drenched in sweat.
Since this happened often, Christine wiped away his perspiration without a word.
“I… I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright. Would you like to sleep again?”
“I’ll have some water and be back. You rest.”
Even as he drank, his hands trembled uncontrollably. To obtain this happiness, he had killed countless people. Though he had personally wielded the blade only twice, the deaths of many others were all his doing—ordered by his command.
Of course, his actions had allowed far more people to live in peace. So he told himself it was justified, but that peace would not last long.

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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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