Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 20

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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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20
My keen senses warned me to evade Bae Na-young’s curse, but I stood my ground and took the Blind head-on.
In an instant, my vision plunged into absolute darkness as if heavy curtains had been drawn, and my skin felt numb and dull. Even sound and smell were reduced to mere fractions of their normal acuity. This diminished sensation was only because Indomitable Spirit weakened the effect; any other hunter would have lost all five senses entirely and been rendered helpless.
The skill’s power exceeded my expectations. In my past life, I’d used this to blind people’s eyes before striking with attack skills, but now I lacked powerful offensive abilities and my mana reserves were insufficient for solo hunting.
I tried to concentrate on my senses and perceive my surroundings, but it proved difficult.
“Bae Na-young, please shoot your mana ball at me.”
I spoke while barely making out her silhouette through the haze.
With most of my senses blocked, I could tell she was saying something, but her voice came through so faintly that I couldn’t understand her words.
“I can’t hear what you’re saying. Just shoot.”
When I pressed her again, Bae Na-young lifted the Blind.
“Even if my mana ball is only E-rank, you’ll be seriously injured if it hits you.”
Bae Na-young’s expression showed concern mixed with confusion about why I would ask such a thing.
“Don’t worry. You remember our contract terms, don’t you? You must follow my instructions. Please.”
“Understood.”
When I invoked the contract, Bae Na-young reluctantly cast Blind again. Moments later, my instincts warned me and I dodged slightly, but my reaction came too late—the mana ball grazed my leg. I thought I was facing her direction, but somehow my body had turned, and the attack struck the side of my leg instead.
“Are you alright?!”
Bae Na-young lifted the Blind and rushed toward me in alarm.
“I’m fine. Look—see? Not a scratch.”
I extended my leg to show her. The cheap protective gear’s lower half had torn slightly, but the skin beneath remained unharmed.
“I knew your body was tough, but I didn’t realize it was this resilient. And that was an E-rank skill.”
Bae Na-young examined my leg closely and spoke.
“Now don’t stop. Keep shooting until your mana runs dry.”
Both Sang-hun and Bae Na-young were such good people that even the inconvenient aspects felt manageable.
Bae Na-young cast Blind again. Moments later, I sensed the incoming mana ball through my instincts and attempted to dodge, but I failed and took the hit to my abdomen. I’d thought I’d adapted to blindness through training with Sang-hun, but losing hearing and touch as well meant relying solely on instinct—making evasion far more difficult.
Moreover, being stripped of my senses amplified the mental stress of combat significantly.
I focused intently to dodge the barrage of incoming mana balls, but I successfully evaded only a few. If I ran around wildly, it would be harder for Bae Na-young to land hits, but then my training would be pointless. I always tried to dodge at the last possible moment.
Suddenly, my keen senses sent a sharp warning, but the mental fatigue from the curse caused me to lose focus for a critical instant.
My reaction was too slow, and the mana ball struck my face directly.
[Indomitable Spirit skill level has risen from E to D.]
The moment my head snapped backward, the skill leveled up.
“Kyaa! Are you okay?! What do I do!”
The Blind lifted and Bae Na-young rushed toward me.
Unable to hide my joy at the skill increase, I smiled broadly.
“Eek!”
Bae Na-young stopped in her tracks when she saw me grinning with blood streaming from my nose.
“A-are you… really okay?”
“Excellent. Let’s continue. You still have plenty of mana, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
Her shoulders sagged as she trudged back to her original position.
“Is this some kind of strange fetish? But for Mother’s sake, I can endure this much.”
Bae Na-young muttered under her breath, but I heard every word clearly. A pervert? I was just training.
“Blind!”
When Bae Na-young’s Blind skill washed over me this time, the sensation felt different. My five senses dulled, but unlike before, it wasn’t pitch black. If I concentrated, I could still perceive sound and touch to some degree.
I could track the incoming mana balls far better than before the skill leveled up, and the mental strain from the curse was significantly reduced. I dodged the first few shots, but as I grew accustomed to it, I managed to evade every mana ball.
“My goodness… how did you manage that?”
“I told you. I adapt. I’ve practiced enough now. I’ve got the hang of it. Let’s try hunting monsters while using Blind.”
The Orc Gate was no longer a real threat—honestly, hunting without Blind would naturally be easier. This was training for venturing into a D-rank Gate together.
After spotting a pack of orcs, I approached without attacking. If I wiped them out alone, it wouldn’t serve as practice.
The orcs spotted us and charged forward.
“Blind!”
As they entered the skill’s range, Bae Na-young’s Blind expanded outward, and the orcs froze or stumbled. I’d grown accustomed to this sensation by now, but for them, the loss of their five senses and the terror it brought seemed overwhelming—all their movements ceased.
The effect is incredible. Truly a B-rank skill.
It would be ideal if there were party members who could attack right now, but anyone in close-range combat would be caught in the curse’s radius. They could attack from outside the curse range, but Bae Na-young would be at the center of Blind, unprotected from the monsters and vulnerable to blind attacks.
Of course, if one thought it through, solutions existed. But it seemed that because the Supporter job and the Blind skill itself naturally repelled people, no one had ever bothered to strategize with her about it.
I moved about, sweeping the orcs’ legs, shoving them, and throwing punches at their faces. They thrashed about and counterattacked, but their strikes were wildly off-target, and some collapsed from losing their balance.
Of course, since orcs were E-rank monsters, this worked. But the higher-ranked the monster, the greater its resistance to such curses. Complete darkness like this would probably only work up to D-rank.
Thinking I’d experimented enough, I began finishing them off.
I dispatched each defenseless orc with a single blow. Once all of them had fallen, Bae Na-young lifted the Blind. As my five senses, which had been severely restricted, suddenly returned in full, I felt a lightness—like removing a weighted vest.
After that, I continued hunting rapidly while using Blind. Though hunting without it was faster, it was important for me to grow accustomed to the curse and for Bae Na-young to level up, so I deliberately kept using it.
The hunting pace was swift, and I cleared the Gate in no time.
“How’s your stamina today? Do you think you’re ready for a D-rank Gate?”
“Yes. I can do it.”
Now that her skill had proven useful, it seemed she’d recovered some of the self-esteem that had plummeted to the depths.
I requested retrieval from Manager Yang and moved toward the D-rank Ogre Gate.
“An Ogre Gate? Will we be alright?”
Standing before the D-rank Ogre Gate, Bae Na-young gripped her wand tightly and spoke with evident tension. Though I’d demonstrated my combat ability, it was only natural for an F-rank Hunter like her to feel anxious about entering a Gate one rank higher with just me.
“We’ll be fine. Let’s go.”
I reassured Bae Na-young and entered the Gate. This wasn’t baseless confidence. I’d run through the E-rank Orc Gate countless times and maxed out every stat I could raise. There was nothing left to gain from E-rank. I’d prepared for everything possible through special training with Sang-heon and practice with Bae Na-young.
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Name: Lee Ji-seok
Job: Unemployed
Level: 15
Strength 49, Stamina 43, Agility 37, Intelligence 20, Vitality 390, Mana 158
Skills: Regeneration D, Sturdy Body D, Resilient Mind D, Poison Resistance E, Keen Senses B
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I checked my status window before entering, and just looking at it filled me with satisfaction.
Ogres, overconfident in their own strength, often act alone. I found one wandering by itself not long after entering the Gate.
“Bae Na-young, it’s just one. Don’t be nervous—do it like before.”
Bae Na-young nodded and activated Blind. Darkness spread outward, and the ogre flinched, glancing around nervously and rubbing its eyes.
Though my five senses were somewhat restricted, I’d also leveled up Resilient Mind in the Orc Gate and had adapted. Locating the ogre’s position was not difficult.
I closed the distance and threw a punch. The creature stood nearly three meters tall, so my extended fist struck squarely into its abdomen.
It staggered, but that was all. Its hide was remarkably thick and its very essence far more resilient than an orc’s. It earned its D-rank classification for good reason.
The moment it took the hit, it immediately began swinging the club it held with reckless abandon. Calling it a club was generous—it looked like an entire tree trunk, crudely hewn and shaped, boasting a brutish size.
I retreated to evade the creature’s wild swings, but something caught my heel and I lost my balance. Without the curse’s influence, I would never have made such a mistake.
As my balance faltered, the club came flying, striking the arm I’d raised to guard.
I caught the club as it came down in a diagonal arc and held firm through sheer strength.
The ogre, having located my position, began swinging its club with even greater ferocity.
I planted my feet firmly and stood my ground against the creature. My recent weight gain had made my lower body solid as if rooted to the earth.
My entire skeleton and musculature creaked and groaned as my body began to expand. This was the power of the D-rank Regeneration skill I’d acquired from hunting the Hellhound.
During my battle with the Hellhound, I’d grown about forty centimeters, but my level had risen since then, and today I had more stored energy, so I’d grown roughly fifty centimeters. My strength increased proportionally with my muscle mass. However, in this state, my stamina and agility actually declined.
I countered while taking the club’s strikes. By pressing in close, the distance between us shortened, diminishing the club’s impact while my attacks landed unobstructed.
The ogre continued to take hits and retreated, while I pressed forward relentlessly, targeting its torso.
The ogre abandoned its club and tried to grab me as I pressed in.
Before it could seize me, I pulled my fist back, twisted my body to gather power, and unleashed a full-force punch.
The ogre’s body ruptured as it flew backward.
Bae Na-young dispelled the curse and approached.
“Are you alright…? Your height?”
She’d been too far away to notice earlier, but now that she was close, Bae Na-young asked the question.
“It’s one of my skills. I can enlarge my body.”
“A growth skill?”
“Something like that.”
I could transform and reinforce my body in multiple ways, making it far more versatile than simple gigantification. The drawback was that it only worked through simple visualization, so I couldn’t perform complex transformations like changing my face.
“You have so many skills. That’s incredible. And you’re only a D-rank hunter, yet you defeated an ogre alone.”
“I only managed it so easily because of your curse, Bae Na-young.”
Defeating an opponent that couldn’t see and was panicking was naturally far easier. Otherwise, I would have expended far more energy trading blows and spent considerably more time.
“But if you’re that strong, couldn’t you hunt them alone?”
“I could, but building curse resistance and increasing my hunting speed benefits me. Your skills and level will rise too, so it’s a win-win-win situation.”
“Then I’m relieved.”
“Shall we continue?”
I began walking to search for the next ogre.

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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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