Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 16

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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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16
As I tried to straighten my body, blood poured from my mouth. My regeneration was working in real time, but with my E-rank Regeneration skill, it was impossible to recover from wounds of this magnitude in an instant.
The moment I staggered to my feet on trembling legs, the creature lunged at me.
I forced my sluggish body to move and rolled across the ground again, narrowly dodging the beast’s claws by a hair’s breadth.
As I rolled, I tried to recover as much as possible, but the creature had no intention of giving me that time. It turned its head and opened its jaws wide to bite me.
My battered body’s reaction was too slow to evade those fangs.
I gripped both its upper and lower teeth and held firm, but the creature’s bite force surpassed my strength.
Gradually losing ground, I was finally bitten on my flank. Its teeth sank deep into my body, but I used both arms to prevent its jaws from closing completely. If my body hadn’t been so resilient, I would have been torn in half in one bite.
When I didn’t snap in one bite, the creature began shaking me like a chew toy. With each shake, its teeth burrowed deeper into my flesh.
[Regeneration has advanced from E to D rank.]
[Sturdy Body has advanced from F to D rank.]
[Strength increased by 5.]
Just as I felt my spine about to snap, the notification window appeared.
I felt strength gradually flowing into the arms gripping its teeth. Slowly, the creature’s jaw began to open, and simultaneously, my wounds regenerated as fresh flesh rose to the surface. The newly regenerated skin and muscle were harder than before.
My strengthened skin no longer allowed its teeth to penetrate. My body continued the cycle of regeneration and resistance, and soon the creature’s jaw opened completely.
Confusion filled the creature’s eyes.
As I held its jaws open in a deadlock, flames flickered in its throat.
I hastily brought my hands together to close its mouth and twisted my body, wrapping both arms around its snout and squeezing.
The massive creature’s head was so large that it was difficult for my arms to encircle it with force. But now that my Regeneration had reached D rank, that was no longer a problem.
[Regeneration (D): Allows you to control your body’s regeneration.]
Now my Regeneration skill could transform my body within the limits of what I could visualize. The possibilities for combat would become extraordinarily diverse from here on.
Concentrating on the boundaries of my body and visualizing my enlarged form, my bones and muscles creaked as my body began to grow. With limited energy and still low proficiency, I only grew about forty centimeters taller, but my lengthened arms now allowed me to completely encircle the creature’s snout.
Startled by my growth, the creature thrashed wildly, shaking its head frantically trying to dislodge me. I hung there limply, squeezing its snout with both arms as if to crush it.
The agonized creature desperately tried to shake me off, rubbing its snout against the ground and slamming its head against trees and rocks. But my Sturdy Body, which had jumped two ranks at once, demonstrated defensive capabilities far superior to F rank, even though I hadn’t fully transformed yet. Moreover, the enlarged form increased muscle mass and strength, allowing me to grip the creature’s body even more firmly.
Trusting their alpha, the other hellhounds that had only been watching until now rushed to protect it and bit my body. I was bitten all over without a gap, but now their attacks couldn’t penetrate my flesh.
When the alpha grew exhausted, I wedged the creature’s snout between my left arm and ribs. With my now-free right fist, I brought it down on the creature’s head.
Crashing sounds echoed, but unlike the smaller ones, its head didn’t shatter in one blow.
The smaller hellhounds hung all over my body like ornaments, but I ignored them and continued to pound the largest creature’s head repeatedly.
[Your level has increased.]
Soon the creature’s body went limp. I had lost so much blood that I was exhausted, but as my level rose, I felt my body become slightly lighter.
Then I grabbed the creatures clinging to my body one by one, threw them off, and struck them with my fists. When I first started this subjugation, I couldn’t deal with the creatures clinging to me by punching them, but my strength had increased so much since then that I handled them without difficulty.
With the battle turning this decisively, the surviving creatures should have fled, but they charged at me instead.
To make matters worse, hearing the howl from before, more hellhounds streamed in endlessly.
But now that I had dealt with the alpha and my Sturdy Body had leveled up, these creatures were no match for me.
I threw my body at the charging creatures.
* * *
“Good heavens….”
It wasn’t until morning that the recovery team from the Awakened Management Bureau arrived in response to my request. They carefully picked their way through the corpses of what must have been hundreds of hellhounds as they approached me.
“Did you subjugate all of these alone?”
A bureaucrat asked me, his face drained of color, as I sat resting, covered in blood.
“Yes. Can I head down now?”
“Ah, yes. We’ll handle the recovery.”
With the hellhound pack no longer a threat, the recovery team was mobilizing again. Exhausted and hungry, I wanted to return quickly.
Too tired to walk, I hitched a ride back in one of the Awakener Management Bureau’s compact all-terrain vehicles.
After cleaning up, I headed to the Cafeteria to eat.
“Hyung! You’re okay, right? I was worried when you didn’t show up at the returnee gathering yesterday.”
Yang Sang-heon approached me with a worried expression as I started eating.
“Yeah. I caught a few more and just got back.”
“Thank goodness.”
As Yang Sang-heon and I were eating heartily, Baek Young-shin approached with a bright expression.
“I apologize for interrupting your meal. May I sit?”
He asked politely, and I gestured toward the empty chair across from me.
“You stood alone yesterday and held back those creatures. We set up a defensive line at the Resort, but if they’d scattered in all directions, there would have been civilian casualties. Thanks to you gathering the hellhounds in the middle and blocking them, we avoided major damage. The hunters scattered across the Mountain were also able to return safely because of you. Thank you.”
Baek Young-shin bowed his head as he spoke. It seemed the hunters who fled had arrived safely.
“It was nothing.”
“We also discovered a large specimen. We suspect the pack may have been gathering around it as a focal point. The Management Bureau should have identified the existence of such a specimen beforehand, and I apologize for that oversight.”
Baek Young-shin bowed again.
“We’ll provide maximum support for anything we can help with going forward. We’ll also pay the full hellhound subsidy instead of just half as originally agreed. You’re currently F-rank, correct? I’ll immediately promote you to E-rank. I’d like to make you D-rank, but the regulations are strict given how short a time you’ve been awakened.”
I hadn’t expected him to go this far and offer so much. It seemed that preventing a potentially catastrophic loss of life had made a significant impression.
“Thank you. Then I’ll head back out hunting.”
I stuffed the remaining food into my mouth and stood up.
“What? Again?!”
Baek Young-shin stood up in surprise.
“Since I’ve come this far, shouldn’t I aim for first place?”
“The rankings have already been finalized. The original plan was to continue until noon today, but given the number of injured, we decided it was best to have everyone return and conclude this subjugation.”
“I see. What rank am I in?”
“Hunter Lee Ji-seok is overwhelmingly in first place, even though not all of your kills have been recovered yet. Congratulations.”
I had caught quite a lot. It seemed it would take time just to recover them all.
“Thank you. Then I can eat a bit more.”
Baek Young-shin glanced over the plates I’d already finished, his expression suggesting disbelief that I’d eat more.
“Haha… Well, please eat plenty. I’ll see you at the closing ceremony this afternoon.”
He excused himself with a nervous smile and stood up.
But even if I ate everything here, I’d still be hungry. My Physical Body level had jumped two stages at once, and my body was constantly regenerating with evolved cells.
Now I could withstand rifle bullets and most flames as long as they weren’t direct hits.
And my Strength stat had exceeded 40. Stats become harder to increase the higher they go, but a single point gained early on and a single point gained at higher levels have different impacts. Now I could lift a car.
“Hyung, how many did you actually catch?”
Yang Sang-heon, who had been quietly listening to my conversation with Baek Young-shin, asked with an exasperated expression.
“Just caught quite a few.”
As I chatted with Yang Sang-heon while eating, I spotted Choi Chul-min passing by in the distance.
“Hey, Chul-min.”
I tried to slip past quietly, but when he spotted me, he flinched and turned in my direction.
“You owe me money, don’t you?”
I said, extending my palm.
“How the hell did you manage to catch that many?”
Choi Chul-min approached reluctantly, speaking as he came. Bandages wrapped around his body and head suggested he’d taken injuries, and his expression was twisted with pain.
“Well, I guess I just caught them diligently?”
“Stop spouting nonsense! You caught three on the first day, and now you’re telling me you caught hundreds on the last day—alone, without a party?!”
Choi Chul-min slammed the table repeatedly, just as he had when he’d first picked a fight with me, cursing loudly.
“If you lost, you should accept it gracefully. What is this behavior?”
Yang Sang-heon stood up and blocked Choi Chul-min’s path.
“These nobodies keep starting trouble. Do I amuse you?”
Choi Chul-min ground his teeth.
“You look ridiculous because you’re acting ridiculous. Don’t regret it later—just transfer the money.”
I spoke while remaining seated at the table.
“F-rank hunters like you are looking down on me?”
“Hearing you talk, anyone would think you’re an S-rank hunter. You’re E-rank too, aren’t you? Oh, and I’m E-rank now too. I got promoted.”
“What… what?! How so fast? Did you bribe someone? You rigged the numbers through bribery!”
Watching Choi Chul-min spin his own narrative, I let out a sigh.
“Are you stupid? If I hunted and caught more than you, that means I’m stronger than you. So why are you attacking me like this? And let’s say I’m weak. But if I have connections deep enough within the Awakener Management Bureau to manipulate my rank and subjugation records, shouldn’t you be careful? Don’t you think at all?”
Yang Sang-heon, listening nearby, stifled a laugh that was about to escape.
“This bastard is laughing?!”
The man, who had been at a loss for words with his face trembling, heard Yang Sang-heon’s barely suppressed laughter and immediately threw a punch at him. Throwing a punch here? Was he really that stupid?
Despite his low intelligence, being a notable E-rank hunter, his movements were definitely faster than Yang Sang-heon’s. Yang Sang-heon tried to dodge in surprise, but Choi Chul-min’s fist was faster. Yang Sang-heon took the hit and fell backward.
“Are you alright?”
I sighed and stood up, helping the fallen Yang Sang-heon to his feet.
“That bastard!”
As soon as he stood, Yang Sang-heon tried to rush forward again, but I pressed down on his shoulder to stop him. When Yang Sang-heon, burning with anger, realized his body wouldn’t budge in my grip, his expression turned bewildered.
After forcibly calming Yang Sang-heon, I approached Choi Chul-min and stood directly before him.

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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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