Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 160

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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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160
I abandoned my physical body, reduced to ash by Aither’s light, and focused entirely on my spiritual form.
As my flesh dissolved, only my spirit remained alongside Aither’s. With nothing but my crimson spirit form, every constraint binding my body vanished.
As my control over my spiritual form improved, Aither’s attacks no longer dealt the same devastating damage.
The only regret was that I’d expended so much vitality and spiritual energy that my form had become dangerously translucent.
It didn’t matter. I only needed one strike. Just one.
I moved my spirit form. Not by stepping through space or pulling at it. Without any constraints, exactly as Eres had described, I hurled myself forward in a straight line.
Caught off guard by my unexpected speed, Aither’s face met my fist.
My spirit form, forged from Aither’s light and my own life force, collided and shattered against him, snapping his head to the side.
My weakened fist delivered only the impact of a child striking an adult. His spiritual form remained intact.
“How dare you strike a god’s face!”
Aither’s fury redirected the light he’d been pouring onto Bae Na-young toward me instead.
My already faint form dissolved into the light, growing even more transparent.
“I intended to drain the planet and let you die slowly! But I’ve changed my mind! I’ll kill you all and leave to slaughter each of your kind with my own hands!”
Aither’s wrathful face was anything but the visage of a benevolent spirit.
“Who gave you that choice?”
Eres stood behind Aither, her expression seething with fury.
While I’d drawn Aither’s attention, Bae Na-young had broken Eres’s seal.
“Eres!”
Aither spun and extended his hand toward Eres, unleashing light, but she raised her hand effortlessly to block it as though it were nothing more than a child’s play.
“Aither, why did you make such a foolish choice?”
“For you! To bring you back! Return to your seal at once!”
Aither lashed out, unleashing blindingly brilliant light. Yet Eres’s darkness swallowed it whole as though it were insignificant.
“When did I ever ask for such a thing?”
Sorrow flickered across Eres’s eyes.
The darkness seeping through the rift was drawn toward Eres, pulled by her will.
“When you are reborn, make a wiser choice.”
Darkness coiled around Aither’s ankles and crept upward.
“No… this cannot be!”
Aither’s body dissolved into the darkness like prey consumed by slime. It was not a seal. The darkness was erasing his very existence.
Aither was completely consumed, and within the dense darkness, light flashed several times.
When the light within ceased to shine, the darkness dispersed like mist, leaving nothing behind.
Eres glanced toward the rift.
“You did well to consider transferring my darkness through the Gate.”
My concern for Bae Na-young made it difficult to hear Eres’s words clearly.
I regenerated my physical body from my spiritual form and approached Bae Na-young, who stumbled toward me and collapsed into my embrace.
Bae Na-young had ceased drawing power from the Blue Dragon’s Heart, yet her injuries were so severe that it would be no surprise if her body shattered at any moment.
I absorbed life force from the Core she held and converted it, channeling it into her.
Bae Na-young’s wounds closed, color returned to her face, and my body recovered as well.
“Brother… are you alright?”
Bae Na-young noticed my pallid complexion and grew concerned.
“Yeah. I’m fine.”
I said it, but it wasn’t true. My physical body had recovered, but my spiritual form was healing far too slowly.
“You’re in quite a state.”
“You could’ve woken up a bit earlier….”
“My apologies. Take my power.”
Eres extended her hand.
“Are you sure?”
“A mere fraction absorbed by someone like you poses no problem.”
I grasped Eres’s confident hand and absorbed her spiritual essence.
My faint spiritual form felt replenished and overflowing. Absorbing the spiritual essence of a high-ranking incarnation wasn’t merely filling a void—I could feel my spiritual form growing denser and more resilient. I wanted more of this power, more and more.
Eres’s initially composed expression began to distort as I greedily drew in her spiritual essence.
“That’s enough. You’ve already recovered—how much more do you intend to take?”
She yanked her hand free and shook it vigorously.
“Absorbing spiritual essence requires caution unless absolutely necessary. If you take too much, the fundamental form of your soul could become warped.”
“I’ll be careful. But what will you do now?”
“About the Destruction God and the Administrator? If they’ve picked a fight, we must see it through to the end, mustn’t we?”
Anger flickered across Eres’s face. She’d mentioned that Aither was her child—this rage stemmed from being forced to kill him with her own hands.
“Do you have a way?”
“Of course. Who do you think I am?”
“Yet Aither still captured you.”
Eres glared at me sharply, so I averted my gaze.
“Your point is valid. It was my oversight.”
Eres exhaled deeply and readily admitted her mistake.
“I hadn’t anticipated that the incarnations of fire and electricity sent by the Administrator would lend their power to Aither. In the distant past, Aither went berserk and separated fire from light, but I never imagined that incarnations from another world would come and complete it anew.”
“But even if all three of them attacked you at Darkness Origin, they wouldn’t stand a chance, would they?”
“…It was a mistake to follow them into Light Origin to reveal their true identities.”
So excessive confidence had led to her capture. I finally understood why someone as formidable as Eres had fallen.
“You talk too much. For now, focus on fully recovering your body. I’ll summon you within days.”
As Eres spoke, the Light Nest around us trembled.
“I must leave. This space cannot be maintained much longer.”
Eres departed through the rift first, and I hurried after her.
Once we emerged outside, Eres swept her hand downward. At her gesture, the darkness pouring from the Gate stopped abruptly, as if a faucet had been shut off.
Then, with another downward sweep, the rift leading to the Light Nest sealed closed.
After closing the rift, Eres turned and discovered Rondi and the other Dark Temple monks.
“The Dark Temple monks manipulated the darkness and thrust it into Aither’s Origin. Without them, I couldn’t have entered.”
Bae Na-young answered on behalf of the monks.
“Could it be…. Is this person…?”
“Yes. This is Eres.”
At Bae Na-young’s words, Rondi and the monks knelt. Their skin was completely scorched from being struck directly by the light at this place where light was strongest across all of Telus.
“M-Mother…”
Rondi collapsed to the ground, tears streaming down his face.
“You’ve endured well.”
The darkness Eres unleashed enveloped Rondi’s body. Though it was the same darkness that had melted Aither’s form, the Dark Temple monks absorbed it as though it were an elixir, their bodies recovering with each breath.
“Ooooh…”
The Dark Temple monks were moved even more deeply by Eres’s power.
“Excuse me, where is Goldi?”
One of the Temple of Light’s priests asked.
‘The Temple of Light people didn’t know the details?’
I glanced at Bae Na-young and thought to myself.
‘If I’d told them, they wouldn’t have helped.’
‘That makes sense. So, the others besides Nella still don’t know that the Spirit of Light was the problem?’
‘Right. I only told them we needed to gather more power and had to borrow the Darkness Spirit’s strength.’
‘And Jae-in didn’t mention anything else while Bae Na-young was inside?’
Bae Na-young extended her telepathy to Jae-in and conveyed what had just been said.
‘That’s exactly what Bae Na-young said. What happened in there?’
‘Let me sort things out here first, then I’ll explain.’
Since everyone possessed superhuman cognitive abilities, this entire conversation took less than a second.
I cleared my throat and addressed the Temple of Light’s believers.
“Goldi worked alongside the Spirit of Light, Aither, to create the scorching heat and defeat the malevolent spirits that had brought suffering upon Telus. Now that heat shall fade.”
“Ooooh…”
“Aither was so moved by Goldi’s dedication that she has chosen to keep her close. When Goldi completes all the tasks the Spirit of Light has entrusted to her, will she not return to your side someday?”
The Temple of Light priests held pendants that seemed to be their symbol and bowed their heads in prayer.
“Your tongue is quite well-oiled, isn’t it?”
Eres shot me a sidelong glance.
“Either help or stay quiet!”
“Tsk.”
Nella, who had not been present until now, came up after hearing news of our arrival.
“King of Newus, you’ve succeeded. I can already feel the sunlight weakening.”
Given the open structure of the spire, the sunlight had struck directly before, but it was certainly weaker now than when we’d entered.
“Yes. It’s all thanks to the blessings bestowed by the Spirit of Light and the Spirit of Darkness.”
I glanced around at everyone present as I spoke.
“…I see.”
For whatever reason, Nella sensed that I didn’t want to discuss the details in front of so many people.
“We’ve incurred another debt. The light has grown so bright that it will be difficult for us to repay.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“How could I not? I will certainly repay this. Why don’t you rest here for a while? I’ll prepare a place for you.”
“No, I need to return to the kingdom now. Let’s talk again later. What about you, Eres?”
“I shall return to my Origin for a time. I will summon you within days.”
Eres wrapped the Dark Temple priests in darkness and stepped into the Gate.
We exchanged brief greetings and opened a Gate to return to Derham, the capital of Newus.
* * *
At last, the relentless heat wave had finally ended. Temperatures dropped and rain began to fall, making it seem as though all our problems were solved—but unfortunately, the crisis was far from over.
Until now, the intense heat had confined rainfall to only the northernmost and southernmost regions of Telus, but as temperatures plummeted, the water vapor that had accumulated high in the sky descended across the entire continent in torrential downpours.
Though the land had been parched by drought, the deluge fell like a waterfall, and flooding ravaged countless areas.
“That damned Aither—even in death, he continues to bring suffering.”
The heavy rain was so thick I couldn’t see even an inch beyond the window, and the curses spilled from my lips unbidden.
“Did you send Aqua?”
I asked Alex.
“Yes. I gave her thorough instructions before she departed.”
Aqua was also a Master created and brainwashed by the Emperor.
There were many such individuals, and the brainwashing had left them with a troubling tendency toward simplistic, violent behavior.
For these Masters, Bae Na-young had touched their minds again, suppressing their violent inclinations and erasing their loyalty to the Emperor.
Now, with common sense restored to them, they felt guilt and self-loathing for their past actions. They would require extensive psychological therapy going forward.
Rehabilitation would take time, but the flooding damage was too severe to delay, so I sent them out into the field alongside Bae Na-young.
“Where next?”
“A rescue request has come from Beria.”
“We leave now. Open a Gate for us.”
I couldn’t afford to rest. Rescue requests poured in from across the Allied Nations, and I moved ceaselessly to answer them.

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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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