Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 186

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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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186
The four of them blocked my path with this transparent barrier, which seemed impervious to destruction—I had struck it multiple times with my aura-infused blade, yet it didn’t budge an inch.
Still, Yang Sang-heon drew his sword again. Si-hwan had tried to help me even in this situation, but he had given up too quickly.
Limits are something we set for ourselves. I had always broken through the impossible and grown stronger.
“Haa….”
Yang Sang-heon steadied his breathing, gripped his sword firmly, and took a deep breath.
I wasn’t the only one who had trained Yang Sang-heon. He had poured everything he learned from Jung Min-gi and everything he gained through battle into this blade.
Even Si-hwan fell silent in that moment, and all three of them watched Yang Sang-heon intently.
Yang Sang-heon brought his sword down against the transparent wall, infused with luminous aura. The speed was neither fast nor slow, but perfectly unwavering.
As the blade passed through, a sharp crack echoed moments later, and a thin fissure appeared in the transparent barrier.
“Oh! It cracked!”
“Oppa, one more time!”
Si-hwan and Jang Mi erupted in excitement, but Yang Sang-heon remained composed and gripped his sword again.
“Brother…. We’ll grow stronger too. Don’t bear this alone!”
Yang Sang-heon cried out as he brought his blade down.
The sound of glass shattering against the floor echoed as the wall crumbled completely.
Beyond the shattered barrier, scorching heat and toxic miasma poured forth. On the other side of the wall, they had no idea what conditions awaited them. I was fighting the Destruction God alone in such an environment.
“Let’s go!”
The four of them rushed toward the Destruction God without hesitation.
The Destruction God’s breath poured down upon the four who had broken through the Gate, and I stepped forward with my body to shield them.
My eyes were unfocused, my face etched with nothing but pain and despair, yet I threw myself into the flames without a moment’s hesitation to protect my comrades.
“You fool, trust us a little!”
Yang Sang-heon unleashed a burst of luminous aura from his blade, firing it at the Destruction God’s breath. The attack power was far too weak to cancel it out, but the trajectory twisted slightly and the force diminished somewhat.
Yet even that was enough. My body, which had been burning to ash each time, this time was merely scorched—my form remained intact.
“Chairman! Hang in there! Stronger! Faster! Smash that Destruction God to pieces!”
Encouraged by Si-hwan’s cheers, my body regenerated even more rapidly.
“Mister! I’ll help too! So stop imagining Dad dying!”
While the Destruction God focused on me, Jang Mi threw herself between its legs and attacked.
“Uuuaaahhhhh!!!”
“Hyung-bin! Hang tough! Your wife and baby are waiting for you!”
Encouraged by Si-hwan’s words, Hyung-bin took the Destruction God’s attack with his shield and body. Though it resembled a whip-like tail, given the Destruction God’s massive frame, the tail’s thickness was that of a house.
It was an attack no mere B-rank Hunter like Hyung-bin should have been able to withstand. Yet with Si-hwan’s buff, his defense skyrocketed, and in this Mental World, he drew upon his mental fortitude and latent potential to endure one tail’s worth of the assault.
Yang Sang-heon deflected another tail, dispersing the attacks.
Jang Mi boldly weaved beneath the Destruction God’s feet, attacking from all angles and confusing its senses.
“Look! Don’t go alone! Let’s go together, brother! Don’t make that agonized face!”
Yang Sang-heon gritted his teeth and grabbed my collar.
The anguished expression faded slightly from my face, and I looked around.
“Ugh….”
Hyung-bin, who had been deflecting the tail well, took a direct hit from part of the breath. Struck by an attack far beyond his capabilities, Hyung-bin’s entire body burned with pain as he fell to his knees.
And then he felt something warm and familiar.
“Is that… Ye-seul’s healing?”
Hyung-bin’s head snapped around at the familiar sensation of healing he’d always received.
The Hunters who had been cowering behind Ji-seok or hiding in weakness moments before came pouring out en masse.
“That’s it! Come on out! Get out here!”
Earth’s S-rank Hunters—Bae Na-young, Jung Min-gi, Hong Long, Emily, and Akiko—along with Tellus’s masters like Nella, Sono Rim, Blitz, and Aqua all joined the fray.
“You have comrades! Don’t shoulder this alone!”
Yang Sang-heon’s voice strained with intensity.
At the sound of Yang Sang-heon’s voice, crimson vitality blazed from my body. The sun floating in the sky burned brighter, pushing back the black fog.
“Let’s go!”
Led by Yang Sang-heon, all the Hunters charged at the Destruction God.
With skin as hard as steel, the Destruction God seemed impossible to defeat even against dozens of S-rank Hunters attacking simultaneously.
But they didn’t stop.
I watched them quietly from behind.
“Fighting without any chance of winning?”
I spoke for the first time within the Mental World.
“Didn’t you tell us never to give up without trying, Chairman?!”
Hyung-bin shouted as he blocked attacks with his shield.
“You said that to me too!”
Si-hwan screamed so hard his neck bulged and blood sprayed from his mouth.
“Act like my mentor should!”
Jang Mi continued her assault while crawling up the Destruction God’s body.
“Snap out of it, hyung! Bae Na-young is waiting for you!”
Yang Sang-heon slashed the Destruction God’s body with invisible speed.
But the Destruction God was formidable. No matter how many attacks they unleashed, nothing penetrated, while a single counterattack sent our Hunters reeling backward with grievous wounds.
“Ranged Hunters target the head! Tanks protect the ranged dealers! Melee dealers spread left and right and attack!”
Yang Sang-heon issued commands with seasoned expertise, and the imagined Hunters under my mind obeyed, charging the Destruction God.
“I’m sorry. Sorry for not trusting you. I trust you now.”
I stepped toward the Destruction God. My body grew increasingly massive, and the world grew ever brighter.
“The Chairman has arrived! You disgusting bastard!”
With Si-hwan’s cheer, I—now grown to match the Destruction God’s size—drove my fist upward into its jaw.
“Roooaaarrr!!!”
The dealers’ magic struck the exposed throat of the Destruction God, and for the first time, we heard its anguished roar.
The Destruction God lowered its head and unleashed another breath attack; I countered with a torrent of freezing energy.
The other Hunters pressed their assault without pause.
“That’s it! Push just a little harder!”
The Destruction God, which had seemed invincible, took its first step backward.
This Destruction God isn’t real. It’s merely something I imagined.
The Manager interfered with my mind, forcing me to imagine an enemy I could never defeat.
But with Yang Sang-heon and my comrades’ intervention, attacks that treated the Destruction God as a beatable enemy began to land.
Each time the Destruction God showed weakness, my momentum and my comrades’ grew stronger, while the Destruction God’s body crumbled and shrank.
“It’s done!”
Si-hwan threw both arms skyward with a triumphant shout.
And finally, the Destruction God had been pulverized into mush, leaving only a black mass on the ground.
[To cast me off… you continue to produce unexpected results.]
The Manager’s voice emanated from the black mass.
“That just means you’re only worth that much.”
[How arrogant, resisting a fragmented consciousness reduced to mere dust. Soon my true body will find you.]
“I look forward to it. Now get out of my head.”
Ji-seok stomped on the black mass and crushed it.
“Thank you all.”
Ji-seok turned to address the four others. The rest of his companions had already vanished, leaving only five of them.
“Aw, don’t mention it.”
“Hehehehe.”
“I’m relieved you’re safe, sir.”
Jang Mi, Si-hwan, and Hyung-bin were overjoyed above all else that Ji-seok had survived.
“Brother, let’s talk outside.”
However, Yang Sang-heon had more than a few things weighing on his mind.
Ji-seok’s Mental World space transformed into light and began to collapse.
“Yeah, let’s head out and talk.”
* * *
“He’s awake!”
“Hunter Lee Ji-seok, are you conscious?!”
“Chairman!”
I woke from sleep with a heavy head, but the people around me spoke frantically all at once.
“Why is everyone making such a fuss? Please, calm down.”
I pushed the people away and sat up.
“Chairman! You’ve been asleep for a year!”
“…? A year? I was only there for ten days…”
“You returned to this side a month ago. After that, you’ve been sleeping continuously. It seems the time difference is about thirty times.”
Jae-in explained the situation.
“It’s my fault…”
Seeing Alice, who had grown considerably over the year, made the passage of time feel real. Yet I didn’t like seeing that pretty face twisted in sadness.
“It’s not your fault. I chose to go. And I’ve returned alive like this. Thanks to you, I’ve gained so much.”
I stroked Alice’s head.
“You’re awake?”
Eres, who had learned of my awakening, entered the room.
“It was you who pulled me out, wasn’t it, Eres? Thank you.”
If it hadn’t been for that black hand back then, I might have been captured by the Manager and spent my entire life reading books. Thinking about it now gave me chills. The studying and research in the Tower had been so fascinating—the Manager must have certainly been manipulating me.

“That’s all you need to know.”
“But… why is Gaff grinning like that over there?”
“I borrowed his power to awaken you.”
“Gaff, thank you. The King of the Demon Realm must be busy, right? Go on.”
“Hahaha, did you really think you could brush past me that easily?”
“Sigh… what do you want?”
“Come to the Demon Realm sometime.”
“…Me? Why?”
“I’ll need to borrow some of your power.”
“…”
“I apologize. Without him, you would still be asleep.”
“It’s a contract guaranteed by Eres. Break it and things won’t end well for you, you know~?”
Gaff grinned wickedly.
“But not now.”
“You said later, didn’t you? Then, take care.”
Gaff transformed into black smoke without hesitation and returned to the Demon Realm.
“Thank you all.”
I greeted Yang Sang-heon and the others as they stirred awake.
“Chairman, you should leave right away.”
“Yes, thank you.”
At Hyung-bin’s urging, I left the room. There was one place I needed to go first.
After walking a bit, my stiffened body began to loosen.
“I’m home.”
I had finally returned to Lee Ji-seok’s House.
“…You’re back.”
Mother held me quietly, tears streaming down her face.
“I believed in you. I knew my son would do it.”
At the sound of Mother’s sobbing voice, my Mother-in-law emerged from the room.
“Son-in-law… I’m sorry… because of our daughter…”
“Please don’t say such things.”
I comforted my Mother-in-law for a moment as she wept, then entered the room.
Though it felt like an eternity had passed, Bae Na-young remained exactly as she was.
“I’m sorry it took so long. I lost track of time reading books. Me, a book—isn’t that funny? I’m serious, really.”
I brushed her cold cheek.
“I’ll wake you up soon now.”
Suppressing the desire to stay longer, I rose and headed to the Research Facility.
“I’ll input the books I’ve read, so please research the sealing method right away.”
I sat before the Research Facility’s computer, grasped the keyboard, and began typing. My mind held the method to save Bae Na-young and the clues to fight the Manager.

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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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