Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 184

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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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184
“Can I do it? I am the King of Demons, the harvester of souls. Soul bindings mean nothing to me.”
From the arrogant Gaff emanated an oppressive presence that belied his childlike appearance.
“However, the price is no joke. I’ll collect it later.”
“Tsk. That bastard will pay for it.”
Eres pointed her chin toward Ji-seok.
“W-wait. Eres…?!”
Director Baek Young-shin’s face went pale. He couldn’t afford to lose Ji-seok.
“Be quiet. I know what I’m doing.”
Baek Young-shin had much he wanted to say to Eres, but he trusted her and held his tongue. Besides, with Ji-seok absent, no one could control Eres anyway.
“Well then, since the prince is sleeping in his dreams, we should go wake him, shouldn’t we?”
“You’re going to enter his soul?”
“I can’t. If a demon directly touches a human’s soul, Gaia won’t stand for it. Eres, you can’t either. You’re too massive. Your head is already bursting at the seams—if a colossal consciousness like you entered the prince’s mind… Kaboom!”
Gaff made an exaggerated explosion gesture with both hands, but no one laughed.
“Tch, the audience is rather dull.”
“Send me.”
Jung Min-gi stepped forward.
“Oh, not bad for a human. But it won’t work. You’re too old. To enter a dream, the soul must be malleable, but that doesn’t happen with age.”
Having stepped forward with resolve, Jung Min-gi quietly retreated upon hearing he was too old.
“Age matters, but we also don’t know what might happen inside, so high potential is necessary. Humans with high soul potential are strong in the soul realm too. Let me see…”
Gaff surveyed the people in the room.
“You, the one who said you’d give me your soul, and that girl stripping over there, and that bulky one… and finally that sneaky-looking bastard.”
Gaff pointed to Yang Sang-heon, Jang Mi, Hyung-bin, and Si-hwan.
“I’m not stripping!”
Jang Mi’s face flushed crimson as she shrieked. She wore a bikini-style armor to allow mana to flow freely. Jung Min-gi, mortified, covered his face with his hands.
“But… me… me?”
Si-hwan looked confused as to why he was being pointed out in a discussion of potential. Compared to himself, who could barely manage sonic attacks, Yang Sang-heon would soon reach S-rank, and Jang Mi would too eventually. And Hyung-bin showed significantly higher tanking ability when with Ye-seul.
“So who’s going?”
Gaff asked without responding to Si-hwan’s words, and all four stepped forward.
“You seemed like you wouldn’t go?”
“I was merely surprised to learn I possessed such talent. How could I stand idle when fate calls?”
At Hyung-bin’s words, Si-hwan straightened his shoulders and spoke.
“You’re truly pure-hearted.”
Gaff regarded Si-hwan.
“Pardon?”
“It’s not easy to live so thoughtlessly. Thanks to that, your soul is remarkably pure. Beings like you are easy for me to color with my essence.”
“…”
Si-hwan had thought they were discussing combat potential, but hearing that his soul was transparent because he was thoughtless deflated him entirely.
“Everyone, lie down with your heads close to the prince.”
The four lay down around Ji-seok, who was positioned on the floor, their heads turned inward.
“Have a safe trip.”
“Brother, be careful.”
Akiko and Ye-seul saw their respective lovers off.
“No one knows what the interior looks like. It changes according to that prince’s mental landscape. Inside, you’ll need to deal with whatever is binding his soul.”
Gaff explained what needed to be done inside.
“Alright then, let’s go~ Don’t die. If you die in there, you really die.”
“What…. What?!”
Without regard for the shocked reactions around him, Gaff waved his hand, and the souls of four people were extracted from their bodies and sucked into Ji-seok’s form.
* * *
“Jang Mi! Hyung-bin! Si-hwan!”
When Yang Sang-heon regained consciousness, no one was around him.
Everything was shrouded in darkness. Looking up at the sky, the sun hung there, but black, murky fog obscured its light.
As I surveyed my surroundings, I spotted a swarm of black dust approaching from the distance.
“What kind of dream is this person having….”
Realizing the black dust swarm was a horde of ogres, I tensed and gripped my hand firmly. I discovered the sword I usually wielded in my hand and armor covering my body.
Behind the ogre horde stood a massive Gate on a distant hill, and beyond it lay nothing but barren wasteland.
“That must be the destination…. Good.”
I gripped my sword tightly and ran forward.
I scattered Light Sorcery ahead like stepping stones and flew over the ogre horde.
There was no need to face all these creatures individually.
The ogres threw weapons and attacked me as I flew overhead, but I evaded them all with swift movements.
The monsters’ levels were low, so my expression was confident. However, my face hardened at their seemingly endless numbers.
Moreover, as I drew closer to the Gate, increasingly powerful individuals began to appear.
“Damn it!”
Until now they were ordinary ogres, but now under the command of the Ogre Lord, Ogre Mages and Twin-Headed Ogres launched their attacks. Both the number and power of incoming attacks differed from the beginning.
Realizing I could no longer escape by flying, I descended to the ground.
I stepped on the underside of Light Sorcery and was propelled downward.
As I fell, the ogres attacked, and I deflected their incoming strikes with my sword before slashing through the Ogre Lord’s neck.
“This reminds me of the old days.”
It was the same when the Gate opened in Mexico. Ogres pouring out endlessly.
I was surrounded by ogres rushing from all directions, and I unleashed attacks in every direction as light radiated from my blade.
“When I first awakened, I didn’t know I’d grow this strong. Is this thanks to you too, brother…. I’ll beat you awake. Let’s go back together.”
With my resolve set, I rampaged among the countless ogres, light bursting forth.
I carved through the ogres and advanced toward the Gate, and as I pierced through the horde, the ogres behind me vanished like mist.
“What is this….”
Then undead creatures rose from the ground ahead.
“Is this a defense game? Am I supposed to clear them in order?”
Fortunately, the undead were easy opponents for me, who wielded light attributes.
I swiftly cut down ghouls and skeletons, wraiths, and banshees, when B-rank monsters—Dullahans—burst forth in droves. As if that wasn’t enough, Medusas appeared, whose gaze could petrify the body.
“What is this?! A monster encyclopedia?!”
To avoid meeting Medusa’s gaze, I deliberately kept my eyes fixed downward or upward while attacking, but blocking Duran’s relentless assaults became increasingly difficult.
Attempting to solo a monster that required a full party was draining my strength rapidly.
“Uuuaaahhh!!!”
The enlarged Hyung-bin roared and drove the Duran horde backward with his shield.
Whoosh!
Behind him, Jang Mi, wreathed in flames like a garment, attacked both Medusa and Duran. Her kicks flowed in an unbroken chain, striking the monsters without touching the ground, each blow following seamlessly after the last.
“Jang Mi! Don’t look at their eyes!”
“I know!”
Jang Mi answered Yang Sang-heon’s warning with her eyes closed. Rather than relying on sight, she was sensing her surroundings by spreading her mana in all directions.
“You can do it! Push through! You can do it!”
Si-hwan, outmatched against monsters of this caliber, cheered enthusiastically from behind.
“That bastard… I could’ve left him behind…”
Yang Sang-heon felt a surge of irritation at Si-hwan’s encouragement rather than strength, but eliminating the undead before him took priority.
With the two reinforcements, Yang Sang-heon dispatched all the Medusas first, then swiftly cleared out the Durans.
“Where were you?”
Yang Sang-heon shook the blood from his blade.
“A pack of orcs appeared, so I dealt with them. After that, I ended up here.”
Jang Mi answered Yang Sang-heon’s question. The flames vanished, and she returned to her bikini armor form.
“Orcs? I faced an Ogre Lord and his entire horde.”
“…If I’d gone there, I would’ve died.”
No matter how talented Jang Mi was, she wasn’t yet capable of solo-defeating an entire Ogre horde under an Ogre Lord’s command.
“I encountered Lizardmen.”
Hyung-bin spoke up.
“Does the difficulty of monsters scale with individual strength?”
“…”
“What about you, Si-hwan?”
“…Slimes.”
“…You had it rough, Si-hwan.”
Hyung-bin gave Si-hwan’s shoulder a light pat.
“Please don’t, hyung.”
“No time for jokes. Everyone agrees that’s our destination, right?”
Yang Sang-heon pointed to the Gate atop the hill, and everyone nodded. As the most skilled Hunter with the highest rank, Yang Sang-heon naturally assumed leadership, and the group advanced forward.
As the four moved ahead, they discovered monsters identical to themselves blocking their path.
“Doppelgangers?”
Doppelgangers were B-rank monsters capable of reaching near A-rank power depending on their target. Conversely, copying a weak opponent would make them weaker instead.
“Hmm…”
Without wasting time, Yang Sang-heon swung his blade, targeting Jang Mi’s doppelganger.
Yang Sang-heon’s doppelganger protected Jang Mi’s doppelganger.
And the doppelgangers of Si-hwan and Hyung-bin fell to Yang Sang-heon’s blade.
“In situations like this, it’s easier to eliminate the weak ones first.”
“…Yang Sang-heon, isn’t that a bit too merciless?”
Watching the doppelgänger with an identical face hit the ground, Si-hwan touched his own neck nervously.
“Quiet. The three of you go help capture Jang Mi. I’ll handle this one.”
I had thought facing Jang Mi’s doppelgänger three-on-one wouldn’t be difficult, but the monstrous version of Jang Mi was far stronger than the original. The attacks targeting the three’s vital points without a shred of hesitation were something the real Jang Mi would never do.
Moreover, while the real Jang Mi only wielded fire, the doppelgänger wielded both fire and wind simultaneously, amplifying its speed and destructive power.
Meanwhile, whenever the three tried to attack the doppelgänger that looked identical to Jang Mi, their bodies unconsciously froze, and the doppelgänger never missed those openings.
Slash!
A white line carved across the doppelgänger’s neck, and its head fell.
“What are you doing…?”
“Brother, this thing is too strong!”
“The abilities are the same as Jang Mi’s. The difference is how they’re used. Once I finish with Ji-seok, I’ll have to put all three of you through special training. Be prepared.”
“… Yang Sang-heon is looking really cool today.”
“Yang Sang-heon isn’t a weak person. He just hasn’t shone because he’s been surrounded by people who are too strong.”
“Hmm, that’s similar to me. I’m strong, but the people around me are just too strong.”
Si-hwan nodded in agreement.
“Si-hwan, that’s different.”
We continued forward without any additional monster attacks.
When we were nearly at the Gate.
“What is that?”
“A Death Knight…right?”
The Death Knight, an A-rank undead monster, had no special abilities, but it possessed incredible speed, attack power, and defense. Normally a monster that radiated magical energy carelessly, but seeing it wrapped in a solid aura across its entire body, it appeared far more formidable than an ordinary Death Knight.
“It’s already strong as is… A Death Knight that uses aura? Have you ever heard of one?”
“No, I haven’t.”
Everyone shook their heads.
“Does Ji-seok have some kind of grudge against Death Knights…?”
I drew my sword and stepped forward.

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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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