Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 155

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

155
Whiiiiiiiing
Jae-in pressed the button, and a light whirring sound emanated from the antimatter cannon.
Everyone watched in tense silence, but aside from the faint noise, there was little change, so they exchanged uncertain glances.
Then the acceleration began.
Boom boom boom boom boom!
A deafening roar erupted from the antimatter cannon. Small stones scattered across the ground, and the air trembled.
The dwarf holding the shield was sweating profusely from the tension.
“Why aren’t you firing?! Shoot already!”
Dallobit protested.
“It takes a moment!”
Jae-in shouted back in response, but I could only see her lips moving—the deafening noise drowned out her voice.
“She says it takes time.”
I relayed what Jae-in had said to Dallobit.
“That’s cheating! Cheating!”
“You never specified a time limit for the attack…”
Since this was our first exhibition match, there were plenty of loopholes, and Jae-in exploited every single one. A weapon this crude and massive, requiring such lengthy preparation and consuming such enormous energy, would be impractical in actual combat.
Once the preparations were complete, Jae-in dashed behind Bae Na-young.
Bae Na-young erected a thick shield, and the anxious mages from Newus and the Allied Nations reinforced it with multiple layers of their own. The originally translucent shield became so densely layered that nothing could be seen beyond it.
The moment tension reached its peak.
Pshhew!
With a somewhat anticlimactic sound, antimatter smaller than a millet seed was fired. The black antimatter was wrapped in blue mana and, as Jae-in had said, did not react with the air.
The dwarves, who had been braced for impact, relaxed at the sight of the antimatter’s tiny size and slow speed, their lips curling upward.
“Insane….”
Others seemed to sense nothing, but the ominous aura emanating from that black speck rivaled even Gaff’s presence.
Finally, the antimatter struck the shield.
Sound vanished.
The shockwave generated by the collision between Jae-in’s antimatter and the dwarf’s shield caused space to expand instantaneously, pushing everything around it outward.
The dwarf’s shield managed to withstand the tremendous energy for a moment, but quickly reached its limit, shattering into fragments and flying backward.
The fact that he wasn’t reduced to dust at such close range, and that the dwarf holding the shield survived, spoke volumes about its quality.
A needle-thin hole appeared instantly where the antimatter and shield collided.
That hole now pulled in the space that had been expanding with even greater suction force.
I pushed against the space with my feet and gripped it with my hands to resist the suction.
The dwarf holding the shield began to be pulled in, so I reached out and grabbed the back of his armor collar to yank him back.
Dallobit, who was nearby, was also being sucked in, so I kicked him away. A few bones probably broke, but that was better than being pulled into that void.
The suction ceased, and the explosion and shockwave detonated belatedly.
The antimatter cannon was obliterated by the shockwave.
Dust settled, and silence descended.
Benjamin, the referee, emerged from behind Bae Na-young once the situation had calmed.
“How… did that happen?”
However, it happened so quickly that his eyes couldn’t quite follow it.
“The dwarf’s shield is shattered.”
“Ah! His Majesty was watching! The shield is completely destroyed! This is the victory of Park Jae-in, the Minister of Magical Engineering!”
Dallobit grasped his broken ribs and staggered to his feet. He didn’t even realize I had kicked him.
“This… this isn’t magic?!”
“Would you like me to show you how it’s made?”
Jae-in spoke innocently to the bewildered Dallobit.
“No!”
Bae Na-young and I shouted in unison.
After two consecutive defeats, the dwarves’ spirits had been thoroughly dampened, but they seemed somewhat moved by Jae-in’s willingness to share the technology without boasting.
The dwarves’ characteristic of respecting good technology, regardless of how bitter their relationship might be, played a part in this.
“We’ll handle technical exchanges at the Academy later. For now, we need to proceed with the third match. Everyone, help clean up the arena.”
Not only Newus’s army but also citizens and spectators from various nations helped clear away the debris from the explosion.
“Jae-in.”
I approached Jae-in while the cleanup was underway.
“Yes?”
“That’s not quite right… What exactly is that?”
“An antimatter cannon.”
“Wait… isn’t that dangerous? It looked like a black hole formed earlier?”
“That’s precisely why the damage was minimal. It absorbed the shockwave and gamma rays as well. Otherwise, the surrounding area would have been completely obliterated. Hahahaha… haha… *cough*.”
Jae-in stopped laughing when I glared at him.
“Director, that thing has no practical application anyway. The weapon’s direct attack destroyed it completely, didn’t it? It takes too long to fire, and the efficiency is poor. With that much energy and money, it would be better to create a different weapon.”
“Then why did someone who knows all that create something like this?”
“Because it’s fun?”
“Don’t make anything like that again.”
“Okay…”
After hastily finishing the cleanup, everyone took their seats again. The atmosphere had heated up since the first two matches had been far more spectacular than expected.
“Do you really think they’ll teach that kind of thing at the Academy?”
Even the kings of weaker nations within the Allied Nations formed smaller alliances among themselves. Their conversation reached my ears.
“Surely they won’t teach that last technique?”
“Still, it’s certain we can learn something.”
“I knew Newus’s technology was advanced, but not to this extent. The dwarves couldn’t even fight back.”
“We deliberately sent only useless people to the Academy, but we’ll need to reconsider that strategy.”
If the nations that witnessed this exchange tournament sent capable people to the Academy and strengthened their national power, that would be welcome news for me.
“The second match is a magic versus magic duel! Representing Newus is Bae Na-young, the State Minister and Minister of Magic, and the living goddess of the Purple Goddess Church!”
At the announcer’s introduction, Bae Na-young stepped forward.
“Goddess! You are beautiful!”
“We love you!”
“Justice against evil!”
The followers of the Purple Goddess Church sent enthusiastic cheers. Their support revealed something of the nature of the Purple Goddess Church’s believers.
“To oppose him! The king of Wihol, the kingdom of the Elves—a race of long-lived masters of magic—Phillarion!”
Phillarion and the rainbow-haired elders rushed out in a flood.
“Ah… it’s not just one person.”
“There was no rule that only one person had to use magic. It was a duel between Elves and humans.”
“Booooo!!!”
The audience jeered at the Elf’s words, but the Elves remained composed.
“It’s fine.”
“It’s true there was no such rule. By that logic, we could also question what Jae-in did.”
Bae Na-young and I gave our consent. An overwhelming victory would minimize complaints later.
“Newus has raised no objections! Goddess! Please prepare your defense!”
“I’m ready.”
Bae Na-young immediately stepped forward, staff in hand.
“The Goddess is prepared! Elves, please begin your attack!”
Centered on Phillarion, the rainbow-haired elders positioned themselves—one in front, one ahead, one to the left, one to the right, and two behind—forming a formation of six.
Phillarion chanted in the ancient Elf tongue, and green mana spread around him as a magical circle materialized.
The other elders then chanted their own incantations, creating magical circles. The six circles resonated together, forming one colossal magical circle above their heads.
“Spirit King of the Winds! Descend upon this mortal realm and show these ignorant ones the overwhelming power that moves even the heavens!”
A hole ten meters in diameter opened above the massive magical circle, and a gigantic hand thrust through it.
The index finger of that hand—its forearm alone several meters long—pointed directly at Bae Na-young.
Though invisible to the eye, I felt the formless attack emanating from that finger hurtling toward her.
A bird flew between Bae Na-young and the finger, instantly shredded into a mass of blood that revealed the form of a compressed wind spear.
Bae Na-young traced a circle with her staff’s head, and a magical circle materialized before it.
A Gate opened in front of the magical circle, and another Gate appeared in the empty air several meters above.
“She opened a Gate on the spot, alone?!”
Phillarion gasped in shock.
The invisible attack from the Spirit King of the Winds passed through the Gate and erupted from the one above.
“Flee… flee!”
Phillarion and all his elders scattered, and as the magical circle dispersed, the Spirit King’s hand vanished.
A wind spear crashed down where they had stood, raising a deafening boom and clouds of dust.
“Defense successful! Creating a Gate magical circle requires extensive preparation and vast amounts of mana—everyone knows this! Yet she accomplished it on the spot! We have witnessed a moment that will be recorded in history! Truly, she is the Goddess.”
The Elves acknowledged Bae Na-young’s skill while grinding their teeth in frustration.
“Shall we begin the next match immediately?”
Unlike the visibly exhausted Elves and elders, Bae Na-young, showing no fatigue whatsoever, spoke.
“The Goddess says she is ready. Are the Elves prepared?”
“…Yes. We are prepared.”
The prideful Elves could not bring themselves to say they needed rest when Bae Na-young would not.
As if Phillarion and the elders alone were insufficient, dozens of Elves now lined up in formation and chanted in unison, each summoning a colossal tree to sprout from the ground.

The trees clustered and merged together, forming a wall three meters thick, ten meters high, and stretching dozens of meters in length.
The Elves didn’t need to construct something so massive, but they wanted to display their power.
“This wood is resistant to flame and acid, and its strength rivals steel! Go ahead and try to break it if you can!”
Phillarion, drenched in sweat with a pallid face, shouted confidently while pointing at Bae Na-young.
“Then I’ll give it a try~”
Bae Na-young unleashed the Curse of Decay forward.
While concentrating the curse’s power through a single point would have been more effective, Bae Na-young had decided to obliterate the entire wall, so she spread the curse like creeping mist, enveloping the vast wooden barrier completely.
“Hmph! As if….”
The wooden wall the Elves had boasted about withered away in an instant. It was as though time itself had accelerated a hundredfold.
“Uh…. Uh….”
As the wooden wall crumbled, the Elves’ expressions grew increasingly rigid.
And when all the walls collapsed, Bae Na-young’s curse surrounded the Elves.
“Do you surrender?”
“…We… we’ve lost.”
Phillarion surrendered as the violet mist crept to his very eyes.
“This concludes all the prepared skill exchange tournaments! I extend my gratitude to all the participants from Newus, Wihol, and Ailstobic for generously displaying their magnificent techniques!”
Benjamin’s closing remarks were met with thunderous applause from the crowd. Then the party began.
The party featured an abundance of cold dishes. Though the people of Tellus typically preferred warm food, the heat drove them all to eat and drink heartily.
“The great dwarves and elves won’t break their promises, will they?”
I spoke to Dallobit and Phillarion, both of whom hung their heads low.
“Tch…. Of course not.”
Dallobit and Phillarion didn’t seem entirely reconciled to their defeat, but I hoped that having demonstrated the difference in power, they would remain well-behaved.
After successfully concluding the exchange tournament and the party, everyone returned to their respective nations.
Contrary to my naive expectation that they would all behave themselves, I found myself needing to depart for Ailstobic the very next day.

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