Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 208

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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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208
“You there, swordsman. Try striking me.”
Marbas spread his arms wide and opened his chest fully. His posture was an invitation—attack without fear of retaliation.
“What?”
“A blade that has split dragon’s breath. If you have confidence, then strike down even a Demon Lord.”
“…Do you find humans so amusing?”
“Amusing indeed. Watching such feeble creatures struggle is quite entertaining.”
Marbas gazed down arrogantly at Jung Min-gi, who was smaller than himself.
“Very well. Take this.”
Jung Min-gi clenched his teeth and drew his blade back.
[Ah! Demon Lord Marbas! Are you really going to take one hit?]
[Jung Min-gi’s pride has been ignited. No matter how much of a Demon Lord he is, whether he can withstand that single strike remains to be seen….]
For a moment, fury consumed me, but as I entered my focus, my expression grew cold and still.
My eyes darkened to their depths, all light draining from them. In this state, I had abandoned both sight and sensation.
The Demon Lord before me, Amy and Nella, Sono Rim fighting behind me and shattering the field—none of it existed.
I poured everything into the forward slash. In this moment, it was as though I alone stood in a different space.
“Oho….”
[Demon Lord Marbas has wrapped a dense demonic aura around the damage counter—something we didn’t see in the previous match! He’s not taking this lightly!]
[If it were me, I would have fled already. That’s not an attack one can defend against.]
Hong Long broke into a cold sweat. How many could stand before that blade without fleeing?
Jung Min-gi now wielded a concentration so absolute that even if Marbas attacked him in this instant, he would not notice.
Yet Marbas allowed him this time to focus.
Though his concentration lasted less than two seconds, in the battles of those who transcend humanity, even a hundredth of a second stretches into eternity. In real combat, such a thing could never occur.
And finally, Jung Min-gi moved his blade.
Whether from the stillness that surrounded him or the beauty of its arc, the sword seemed to move in slow motion.
The distance was such that the blade should never reach Marbas.
“UUUOOOOAAHHH!!”
Marbas roared and released his demonic aura forward, crossing his arms.
A slash—
In stark contrast to the overwhelming demonic aura, the beam of light that shot from Jung Min-gi’s blade was impossibly thin and delicate, precise enough to cleave a falling leaf.
[Wait… did the attack connect?]
Benjamin pressed his face close to the monitor.
[… Jung Min-gi has broken through another wall.]
Marbas’s demonic aura cracked and scattered.
And behind the aura, Marbas’s two crossed arms were severed, falling to the ground.
“Marbas!”
Amy rushed toward Marbas.
The counter on Marbas’s chest was also split in half and fell away, and his chest split wide open.
“No!”
Yet Marbas’s face seemed delighted.
“I like it!”
“What?”
Amy had thought Marbas was gravely injured, but when he laughed and shouted, she couldn’t keep up with the situation.
Where Marbas’s two hands had vanished, just below his elbows, demonic energy coalesced to reform hands identical to the originals, which he then wielded as he lunged at Jung Min-gi.
Jung Min-gi, snapping out of his trance state, hastily retreated backward, but his trembling legs made it clear he’d already expended far too much stamina.
With weakened legs, he attempted a counterattack, but such a feeble strike proved ineffective against Marbas.
[Marbas! That’s a foul! The count has already been called!]
“Kahahaha!!!”
Marbas, completely forgetting this was an exhibition match, grew wild with excitement.
“There are so many like Lee Ji-seok in this dimension! I love this world!”
Marbas had no time to savor the Demon King’s acknowledgment of his strength—Jung Min-gi was relentlessly pummeled by an onslaught of demonic fists.
That wasn’t all. His severed arm began regenerating from the bone outward, and with the addition of solid bone, his offensive power increased even further.
“Sono Rim! Stop him!”
Nella unleashed arrows, and though Marbas’s back was seared by the luminous projectiles, the rampaging demon didn’t pause.
Sono Rim tore open the ground, and Marbas’s body was sucked downward into the chasm.
“Hmph!”
With both arms wreathed in demonic energy, he struck the earth below as if a bomb had detonated in water, sending soil erupting outward.
Marbas leaped from the pit where he’d been driven.
In the opening Sono Rim and Nella had created, Jung Min-gi, regaining his senses, moved his sword in wild, desperate arcs.
But he’d already allowed too many attacks to land—his blade lacked any force.
Marbas didn’t evade Jung Min-gi’s feeble aura strike; instead, he shattered through it with his body and charged, battering Jung Min-gi relentlessly.
Neither Sono Rim’s tempest nor Nella’s arrows could stop him.
“Stop!”
Amy climbed onto Marbas’s back and unleashed a torrent of electricity into his head.
Even as electricity poured from his face and mouth, Marbas didn’t cease his barrage of punches.
“Marbas!”
Amy ceased the electrical discharge and wrapped her arms around Marbas’s head.
Whether he heard her or not, the fist Marbas had been driving toward Jung Min-gi’s face finally stopped.
“Hmm….”
Marbas, his senses returning, glanced around.
“Get down.”
Marbas lowered Amy to the ground with one hand.
“Didn’t you say you weren’t fighting today?”
Then he saw Lee Ji-seok, who had descended onto the field.
“I don’t want to fight today. So calm yourself.”
Marbas gazed at Jung Min-gi, now a pulped mess.
“Well… that was fun.”
Marbas turned and left the field.
Jae-in, arriving belatedly with a rooster in a cage, rushed onto the field.
“I’m… I’m so sorry. I’m late.”
Ji-seok poured his life force into Jung Min-gi, restoring him to consciousness.
[… That was a breathtaking match! Fortunately, the worst tragedy didn’t occur! Due to Marbas’s foul play, victory goes to Jung Min-gi’s team, but they don’t look like winners….]
[Now that Lee Ji-seok has arrived, Jung Min-gi will be back on his feet in no time.
[Indeed! With that, we’ll conclude this exchange tournament. I’m not sure when we’ll meet again, but I look forward to it!]
Benjamin hastily delivered his closing remarks and ended the broadcast.
Though the final match didn’t conclude normally, the fans were even more enthusiastic, and the exchange tournament was overall a success.
The Otherworldly Street created by Yang Chul-hyun wasn’t a one-time event but was maintained long-term, becoming a landmark of the World Tree.
* * *
“If you’re going to act like that again, go back to the Demon Realm.”
I sparred with Marbas and knocked him down.
“Why are you making a fuss over a little beating? The real problem is that guy over there isn’t saying anything.”
Marbas quickly dusted himself off and stood up, gesturing with his chin toward Jung Min-gi. True to Marbas’s words, Jung Min-gi sat in seiza position without a word, completely absorbed in his training.
“Marbas….”
“Tch. Fine.”
Marbas seemed to have taken a liking to life on Earth, answering without resistance.
Boom, boom, boom, boom…
“What was that?”
The ground trembled in the distance. It wasn’t a massive vibration, but we were all superhumans and felt it clearly.
Amy, Jung Min-gi, and I exchanged glances and ran toward the direction of the tremor.
“Hey! Are you leaving now?!”
Marbas shouted after us as we departed.
“What could it be?”
“It doesn’t seem like an explosion~”
“It was a single occurrence, and it felt different from combat.”
Amy and Jung Min-gi answered my question.
Rushing to the scene, we found a massive black hole torn into the ground. The diameter seemed to be nearly a hundred meters, but as we approached, we realized the depth was equally considerable.
“A sinkhole? I’ll go down and check it out.”
I floated to the center of the sinkhole and descended slowly. The hole plunged straight down to an impressive depth.
After descending several kilometers, I finally reached the bottom, but it was covered in dirt and soil from the collapse—nothing was recognizable.
However, beyond the pile of earth, I sensed the souls of two Metalim moving away.
“Sigh…. Can’t I ever have peace?”
Since being buried by Ridi, I’d been training in earth excavation as well. Now was the time to demonstrate that skill.
I kicked off against the air and drove my body into the ground.
I swung my arms at high speed, excavating the earth as I moved forward. It was similar to swimming and also resembled a tunnel-boring machine.
When I showed this technique, Sang-heon shook his head as if to say it was typical of me, but if it works, it works.
Unlike them, who made their bodies slender to move, I charged toward them with thunderous noise and vibrations.
Their souls seemed to tremble in panic. Unlike last time, they hadn’t pre-drilled tunnels with magic, so their movement speed was extremely slow.
As the distance continued to close, they changed direction and ascended toward the surface.
I watched as their elongated forms from squeezing through the earth became round on the surface, then transformed back into humanoid shapes. Unlike humans with souls concentrated in their chests, Metalim have souls spread throughout their entire bodies, so I could see their forms clearly even through the earth.
As I emerged onto the surface, the Metalim sharpened their hands into blade-like shapes and pointed them at me.
“Don’t come any closer!”
He thrust his pointed hand toward me, but his expression betrayed anxiety, and his body was in terrible condition.
“Why has the ground become like this?”
“We did nothing wrong!”
As I trudged forward, Metalim convulsed and jabbed his sharp hand at me in a frenzy. His expression was consumed by terror rather than murderous intent, and as a non-combatant, he possessed virtually no strength.
A dull thud.
I had no intention of taking the blow, so I seized his hand and twisted it. I barely applied any force, yet it snapped limply.
“Gaaaah….”
“Pascal!”
“Paren…. You should flee too….”
“Pascal and Paren? If you run, you both die. Stay put.”
Whether they believed my warning or not, neither fled, instead gazing up at me with anxious eyes.
“The sinkhole—you created it, didn’t you?”
“It was an accident….”
“An accident?”
“We disturbed the water vein, and the soil was swept away.”
“Didn’t I tell you to be careful?”
“Everything was fine before you interfered! You made unreasonable demands and forced us to rush, which is why this happened!”
“Then tell the Royal Family, not us. And couldn’t you just earn money and buy what you need? I would have told anyone who wanted to work to come up to the surface.”
“The Royal Family dislikes lower laborers ascending to the surface.”
“I see. I’ll hear the details from the Royal Family. Whoever is responsible must answer for this incident.”
I apprehended them and brought them to the World Tree Research Institute, then placed them in a containment box.
“Alice, summon Elchai and Director Baek Young-shin. And check whether there have been any unusual seismic activities reported worldwide.”
I made the request to Alice, who was at the research institute. When Jae-in was busy, Alice could handle most matters.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Alice made the calls, and Director Baek Young-shin arrived first.
“A sinkhole, you say?”
“That’s right. It was the work of Metalim.”
“Hmm….”
“Your Majesty, sinkhole occurrences have increased several times recently. And volcanic activity has also risen. Perhaps as they dig holes throughout the underground, they’ve disturbed something?”
“That could be it. Where’s Elchai?”
“I’ve contacted him. He’s on his way now.”
As Director Baek Young-shin and I waited briefly, Bourbon arrived instead of Elchai.
“Elchai didn’t come?”
“He’s not idle enough to come running the moment someone calls.”
“I see. How are you planning to resolve this?”
Since I spoke casually to Director Baek Young-shin, Bourbon’s forehead twitched.

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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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