Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 170

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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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170
“Director Baek Young-shin! Japan and several other nations have begun relocating to the Ark!”
The World Hunter Association’s aide burst through the door.
“What?! Didn’t we agree not to send refugees?!”
“Director, this isn’t refugee-level migration. It’s a national relocation to the Ark.”
“How can a migration of that scale happen so suddenly?!”
Japan’s population had declined sharply since the Gate incident, but this was on an entirely different scale than thousands of people relocating.
“They must have begun immediately after the meeting ended. Numerous Gates have already opened, and many Japanese citizens have crossed through. Here’s footage from the scene.”
The aide’s screen showed various locations across Japan. People and massive vehicles lined up, streaming through Gates that had opened everywhere.
“What could possibly make those people trust that path…?”
Baek Young-shin pressed his temples repeatedly. While becoming Director of the World Hunter Association had granted him immense power, it came with stress of an entirely different magnitude than when he’d served as the Awakening Bureau’s Director.
“Director, there’s more. The Ark has begun extracting resources.”
On the screen the aide indicated, a colossal vortex swallowed seawater. Nearby helicopters appeared as specks against it, revealing just how massive the chasm truly was.
“…How many migrants are we talking about?”
“Including Japan and Middle Eastern nations, we estimate approximately 5% of Earth’s population. Currently, about 0.7% have crossed through the Gates.”
“They’re taking 5% of Earth’s resources? I can’t even imagine what happens if 5% of the ocean vanishes. Assemble the Hunters immediately.”
* * *
Upon hearing the news, I flew alone to the nearest Gate.
The Ark wasn’t just drawing seawater. Beneath the metallic sphere floating in the sky, an enormous black Gate descended, absorbing everything on the ground. Nothing remained where the Gate had passed.
The Gate burrowed into the earth, devouring all in its path.
Due to its immense size, it looked less like a hole and more like the ground itself was collapsing wholesale. Since it connected to the ocean, once seawater filled it, the sea level would undoubtedly drop further.
“Stop!”
I shouted at the Giant Guard protecting the Gate—the same one who’d appeared during my communication with the Ark.
“Lee Ji-seok, what brings you here?”
“Stop the extraction immediately.”
“Most Japanese have already boarded the Ark.”
“I’m not stopping that. But I won’t allow you to take resources.”
“These are necessary resources for them to survive on the Ark.”
“You show no consideration for the remaining people of Earth—why should I show any toward the Ark or the Japanese?”
“…We will take the resources.”
“I knew you wouldn’t listen to reason.”
I launched myself toward the sphere hovering above the Gate. I could sense through the flow of mana that it was what opened the Gate.
“No!”
The Giant Guard leaped to intercept me, but couldn’t match my speed.
Just as I neared the sphere, the Gate consuming the earth halted its descent, and humanoid golems poured forth from the black Gate.
True to the Gate’s diameter of several kilometers, thousands of golems erupted simultaneously.
I shattered the skull of a golem wielding a weapon, but countless more swarmed me like ants crawling over candy, relentless and overwhelming.
There were more of them than when I’d fought the Angelic Forces, and while those beings at least harbored twisted emotions, these creatures attacked without feeling, trampling over fallen golems in their advance.
I wrapped an aura around my body in a spiral and spun it like a vortex. It resembled Bae Na-young’s mana needles, except magnified to my own size.
The red aura vortex ground the golems blocking me to dust, and I flew directly toward the Gate generator.
“How dare a mere human disrespect Exbog of the Giant race!”
The Giant Guard who had blocked my path—Exbog—expanded his body and reached toward me.
His hand, which had swollen to dozens of meters in an instant, seized my whirling aura with ferocious force.
His hand tore slightly against my aura, but he grasped me without sustaining any serious wounds.
Gigantification amplified strength, but since it was merely inflating the body, power didn’t scale proportionally with size. However, Exbog wasn’t a small being who had enlarged himself—he had broken his original seal instead. As his body expanded, the grip he held me with grew continuously stronger.
“You’re not the only one who can grow.”
I too expanded my body. As I gigantified, I seized Exbog’s thumb and index finger as he grasped me.
He had already swollen to over fifty meters, but I inflated myself to about ten meters. My hands dug into his log-like fingers.
Exbog clenched his fist to crush me while enduring the pain, but it was nothing compared to my strength, which wielded both physical and spiritual movements simultaneously.
I tore his fingers clean off.
“Krraaaagh!!”
Exbog released his hand, now missing fingers, and swung his other hand at me.
I drew a blade from the back of my hand and concentrated my aura and spiritual form upon it. When I used only aura, it resembled crimson flames, but now it approached a purer red light.
I pierced through his palm and soared toward his massive neck.
Just before the blade could sink into his neck, Brixel appeared before me, and my drawn blade pierced through his chest.
“I must say, it’s admirable that a human would stand against the Giant race.”
Brixel spoke calmly, as if his chest hadn’t just been pierced.
“You’re still being formal?”
His courteous demeanor irritated me instead. I withdrew my blade and created distance between us.
No blood clung to the blade, and the hole in his chest sealed itself immediately.
“Formality has become a habit of mine, you see. But why do you attack us?”
“You know why, so why ask?”
“Hmm. We have already accepted a great many refugees. Without resources, they cannot survive on the Ark.”
“So you’ll kill them?”
“I’m merely stating facts. The original inhabitants of the Ark cannot sacrifice themselves for Earthlings with whom we have no prior connection.”
“I knew you’d say that.”
“Then, you won’t interfere anymore?”
“No. Do as you wish—kill them or spare them.”
“What?”
“You said formality was comfortable, didn’t you?”
“…”
“I can’t endanger the entire Earth to protect those who chose to follow of their own volition.”
“Keke… kekekeke… Playing the guardian of Earth while not caring if Earth’s lifeforms die. No wonder the Administrator hasn’t conquered it yet.”
“What do you know about the Administrator?”
“Why would I tell you? I didn’t want to stand out and use my power, but since it’s come to this, I’ll slaughter all who interfere and absorb the entire Earth. I even look forward to imagining the Administrator’s rage. Exbog, you worthless fool… You may leave now.”
Exbog bowed his head in frustration and hurled himself toward the Gate.
As Brixel’s body expanded, grotesque pustules erupted across his form.
Without need to hesitate, I fired an aura beam at his head.
Anticlimactically, Brixel’s head burst apart with ease.
But a new head sprouted from that very spot like a pustule.
I fired another barrage of aura beams at its head, then sliced vertically through its torso.
Brixel’s head, now larger than Exbog’s, had a hole punched through it that sealed itself shut, while the torso was too bloated for the beam to penetrate.
As its body expanded, grotesque boils erupted endlessly across its skin. The pustules swelled larger than a human and burst, spraying pus everywhere.
From each ruptured boil, gargoyle-like monsters erupted. The sight—as if corpses had been stitched together—made my stomach turn.
“Why not go all out?”
Though not as massive as Brixel, I too had enlarged myself and was drawing power from my core.
With overflowing vitality, I wrapped my body in a spiraling aura once more.
I spun like a drill and charged at Brixel. The massive aura vortex ground through gargoyles, golems, and Brixel’s torso alike.
I passed through Brixel’s body multiple times in sweeping arcs. Its flesh was harder than ordinary living matter, but offered no more resistance than a low-tier monster. It was like cutting through water.
I bored holes over ten meters in diameter through it, but flesh filled the gaps instantly.
I intensified the aura vortex and cleaved its body in half.
The severed halves reattached immediately.
“Wh…. at…. is…. this…?”
Brixel’s grotesque face continued its deformed proliferation, leaving it unable to form coherent words.
“This…. is…. what…. you…. brought…. upon…. yourselves….”
Tumors burst continuously from its body, hundreds of gargoyles spreading in all directions while golems poured from the Gate.
Those gargoyles were monsters I could easily crush, but their hardened bodies and toxins meant even A-rank hunters would struggle against them. They kept pouring out, descending upon the few remaining hunters and evacuees in Japan.
“Everyone down!”
I roared and unleashed aura in all directions from my entire body. Hundreds of beams spread outward, piercing through Brixel, the gargoyles, and the golems.
I eliminated most of the spreading gargoyles and golems. The stragglers could be left to the hunters.
I concentrated my aura and unleashed an unprecedentedly powerful beam upon its body. My form blazed like a living sun, and beams several meters thick erupted from my entire being. It was an attack only possible by drawing every ounce of power from my core.
Brixel’s destruction began to outpace its regeneration.
“…. Impressive…. But….”
Though its body charred and burned away, I detected neither pain nor tension in its voice.
Brixel’s flesh multiplied with explosive force.
I flew backward, evading the grasping masses of flesh while firing beams to destroy them, but its proliferation rate far exceeded my own.
“Is there no limit to this?!”
While I enjoyed overwhelming numbers myself, it was clear this creature possessed something beyond even my capabilities.
“Chairman, get out of the way!”
Jae-in’s voice came from the sky, and bombs rained down like precipitation.
The first bomb struck Brixel’s body and detonated. Mixed with magic stone powder, the explosion tore away a massive portion of Brixel’s form in an instant. It was by far the most powerful explosion I’d witnessed.

“Jae-in! You’ll pay for this!”
I burrowed deep into the earth to escape the hundreds of bombs raining down from above. I could have transformed into a spirit form, but attacks infused with mana stones dealt damage even to spirit forms, and with the core lodged in my chest, I couldn’t risk that transformation anyway.
I dug deep into the ground, and soon a deafening roar and violent tremors engulfed me.
I’d come to prevent Japan’s land from being taken, but it looked like Jae-in’s bombs were going to obliterate it all.
As the tremors subsided, I climbed back up. I’d dug quite deep on the way down, but with the surface completely destroyed, I reached ground level in no time.
The surface had been consumed by the Gate and ravaged by bombs—the terrain was utterly transformed.
The bombardment had worked. The massive Gate had vanished, and Brixel was nowhere to be seen.
“Wow, you really blew it to pieces cleanly.”
Jae-in leaped from the fighter jet hovering in place.
“Jae-in…”
I clenched my teeth and glared at her.
“I thought an explosion of this magnitude would be nothing to Earth’s greatest hunter, the magnificent King of Newus, and the Chairman of Rigen.”
Jae-in spoke with a sly grin.
I grabbed Jae-in by the collar.
Jae-in’s eyes widened at my unexpected action.

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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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