Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 238

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

238
“What’s your brother’s name?”
I stopped in my tracks and asked her.
“It’s Vito. Are you his friend?”
I had a hunch that the Commander’s name would be Vito.
“…Yes, that’s right. Vito told me to come visit, so I just showed up without thinking, but it looks like he’s not here now?”
“Ah, I see! You gave me quite a fright!”
She immediately relaxed upon hearing I was Vito’s friend.
“My brother isn’t home right now. He said he’d be back soon, but he’s running late. What’s your name?”
“Jin.”
I gave her the alias that Eres had given me back in Telus.
“So you’re Jin. But are you really my brother’s friend? Everyone else spoke casually to me.”
“I can’t speak casually to someone I’m meeting for the first time.”
“Oh, come on, it’s fine.”
“Then I’ll relax too.”
“Yes! Wait just a moment. I’ll bring you something to eat while you wait for my brother.”
“No… there’s no need…”
“If you’re my brother’s friend, you’re my brother too!”
Before I could protest, she disappeared into the kitchen.
Vito’s younger sister was outgoing and unafraid of strangers.
She brought out a generous helping of rich stew, bread, and fruit for someone she’d just met.
Given my healthy appetite, I accepted everything she offered without hesitation. Her cooking skills were quite impressive.
“The way you eat, you’re definitely my brother’s friend!”
“…Your name is?”
“My brother didn’t even tell you my name?”
“I didn’t even know he had a younger sister. Vito isn’t exactly talkative, you know?”
“That’s so like him! And here he has such a beautiful younger sister! I’m Rachel.”
“Rachel, nice to meet you. By the way, where did Vito go?”
“You know he works as a knight in the City? He went there.”
A knight? Him? But Rachel believed it wholeheartedly.
“I understand he’s working hard to become a knight, but I worry…”
The Commander had defeated Jung Min-gi, Earth’s strongest swordsman. He was already far beyond the level of a mere city knight.
“Could we wait a little longer? He said he’d definitely come today.”
“Sure.”
If Vito was coming here, there was no need to wander elsewhere. And if I could extract information from Rachel, that would be beneficial too.
After that, Rachel shared trivial, inconsequential stories with me for quite some time.
“It’s strange… it feels like it’s been forever since we’ve had a visitor.”
The way she laughed at my responses to her mundane tales made her seem like someone who had been trapped on a deserted island.
As our conversation continued, the magically-crafted sun set over the artificially constructed city, and darkness descended.
“Oh no, what should we do? It looks like he won’t be coming today.”
“Well then, I’ll be heading out. I’ll meet up with Vito later.”
I’d conversed more than necessary, but there was nothing left to extract from Rachel.
“Oh, it’s getting late. Where are you going~ Stay and sleep! Since you didn’t come today, you’ll definitely come tomorrow morning.”
Rachel spoke to me as though she’d barely encountered another person on a deserted island.
“…Should I?”
Her desperate expression as she tried to keep me from leaving made it difficult to refuse.
Since I wasn’t planning to leave the city anyway, spending a bit more time here was acceptable.
Rachel laid out a well-maintained blanket on the worn bed, and I lay down.
“What exactly is this place…?”
Lying down, I extended my spiritual perception to scan the surroundings.
A place where all souls were exhausted. No mana, no powerful spirits, yet powerful magical formations were constantly active here.
I couldn’t discern its nature.
Without much thought, I expanded my perception and spent time monitoring the area around the house while keeping watch in all directions.
Then, when the city was completely shrouded in darkness, light emanating from the center of a magical formation spread across the entire city.
“Hmm?”
The light swept across my body, but thanks to my magical resistance, it had no effect on me.
“Maybe I should study magic more…”
Though it had no effect, I couldn’t even determine what had been done.
My knowledge of magic was merely theoretical; my practical application was severely lacking. Lately, Yang Sang-heon had been having Hee-chul study various subjects, but both Hee-chul and I were the type to rely on physical prowess rather than intellect, so whenever we tried to study, our bodies would ache.
I stopped thinking and explored the surroundings until daybreak.
Sensing Rachel stirring awake, I rose from the bed and headed to the kitchen.
“W-who are you!”
Rachel, having just woken, saw me emerge from the room and her face went pale with shock.
“Huh? Rachel, it’s me. Vito’s friend, Jin. You came yesterday and asked me to stay and sleep…”
“I…did?”
Rachel’s face was filled with bewilderment.
“Yeah…it seems like I did. Oh my. What’s wrong with me?”
Though her expression showed she didn’t remember at all, Rachel’s eyes glazed over as she accepted the information I’d provided at face value.
It was like the wife who had silently watched her husband being taken away by the Security Force yesterday.
“Rachel, I’ll come back in the afternoon, so get some rest.”
“Ah…yes…”
I left Rachel sitting there, unable to gather her wits, and looked around outside.
From the hilltop, I surveyed the city. It was as lively as it had been yesterday.
However, I could see one of the people who’d been taken away yesterday casually doing business in the same spot.
“What’s going on?”
The man who’d fought him fiercely was laughing and chatting with him.
“Black boar ribs, ten pounds for one gold, what a bargain!”
“Ten pounds is too much. Can I just buy five pounds?”
“Of course! Thank you!”
The merchants repeated the same dialogue, and children played with a ball beside them.
The villages were repeating what had happened yesterday.
The magic circles seemed to be accepting information given by others as truth, and the memory loss appeared to stem from magic that had spread the previous evening.
As I turned to leave, the Commander’s house caught my eye.
I thought of Rachel, who had cared for me like an older brother yesterday, and I felt reluctant to leave her in such poor condition.
I quietly pocketed a few fruits from the market and returned to the house.
“Feeling better now?”
“Yes, I am.”
The confusion had vanished from Rachel’s face.
“What was I thinking? It’s time to make lunch.”
Rachel, having regained her composure, began cooking. It was stew, bread, and fruit. Somehow, all the ingredients were already prepared.
“…I’ll help.”
“Really?! My brother never helps with this!”
I could conduct the search at night before the magic circles activated.
Crash!
The door burst open violently while we were preparing the food.
“Huff… huff…”
A man entered with the right side of his face covered in scars—melted and hardened by fire. My gaze was momentarily drawn to the scars, but his left face matched perfectly with the sketch Alice had described. This was the Commander, Vito.
“Were you targeting my house while I was gone?”
Vito ground his teeth.
“You were the one who targeted empty houses first.”
“Brother!! What happened?! Your face! Your face!”
Rachel’s face went pale as she grabbed him and cried out.
Vito glanced at me, then turned a gentle expression toward Rachel.
“Rachel, it’s fine. Remember? Last time, I told you I got hurt at the City? This is an old wound. It doesn’t hurt at all.”
Rachel touched Vito’s scar.
It looked like it came from the bomb Jae-in had detonated. Wounds exposed to strong mana sometimes don’t heal no matter how many potions or elixirs are used. But I can regenerate.
“Oh? Yes… that’s right…”
Rachel’s eyes lost their light again for a moment, and she accepted Vito’s words as they were.
“Let’s go.”
“Yeah.”
Leaving Rachel behind like someone brainwashed, Vito and I stepped outside.
We climbed up to a hilltop some distance away.
“So. You’ve finally made it here.”
“Did you not expect this after rummaging through someone else’s house?”
“I didn’t. Spending eons as the Administrator’s slave, there was never anyone like you. So are you going to kill me?”
“Who?”
“Everyone here?”
“What crime did the others commit? The sin of living as your slaves?”
“Don’t run your mouth if you don’t even know.”
“Why? Am I wrong?”
“If not for me, they’d all be dead already. I’ve kept them alive this long by making a deal with that cursed bastard.”
“A life they never wanted?”
“What do you know?”
“I can see it. At your level, you’d understand too, wouldn’t you? Or are you just pretending not to?”
Vito’s gaze turned toward Rachel.
“How long have you been doing this?”
“Who knows… All I know is it’s been far too long.”
“These are people who should have died already. Their souls have worn away to nothing.”
Vito had magically restored the bodies of the city’s inhabitants, erased their memories, and forced them to live the same days over and over.
But they had exceeded the limits of what a soul could endure. That’s why some had begun to deviate from their prescribed routines, losing control of themselves and unable to manage their anger. Like the fruit merchant and customer who had quarreled yesterday.
“I understand. I do. But if you were in my position—if you were me—could you let go of your mother? Your wife? Your children?”
“…I couldn’t.”
When Jae-in died, I followed her all the way to heaven.
“Then turn a blind eye. Leave. I’ll spare you and your family. You can even live here with me.”
“And let Earth be destroyed by you?”
“What have the people of Earth ever done for you? They burdened you with Earth’s weight and drove you into a corner?”
“Are you talking about yourself?”
“…”
“What happens to them is none of my concern. You attacked me, and I’m simply counterattacking.”
“One of us has to die for this to end.”
Vito and I glared at each other.
A subtle wind born of magic rustled the grass in the verdant meadow.
Then Vito deployed his domain. A white expanse spread outward, the landscape vanishing, even the grass beneath our feet disappearing.
I deployed my own domain of vitality.
A domain is the manifestation of one’s power. Since forces collide, even if I couldn’t consume his domain, I could at least protect my own body.
“It’s useless.”
But my domain of vitality was consumed by his domain far too helplessly. Like cotton candy dissolving in water.
“!”
Caught off guard by the overwhelming force, I stepped back and wrapped armor around myself.
“…”
But the armor crumbled and fell away before it could fully form.
“Didn’t your allies tell you? My domain nullifies all abilities. But my own power remains intact.”
They hadn’t told me. Jae-in’s memories were from a previous backup, so only Jung Min-gi had witnessed the Commander’s ability and survived—and he was still unconscious.
“Ha… So you came without a plan? I’ve picked up something troublesome.”
True, I didn’t know about his ability, but he also didn’t know about my clones.
Though the connection between my clones was severed now and only this body moved independently, the fact that my domain was consumed was also known to my body on Earth. And once this domain ended, information about his power would be shared with me again.
“Plans emerge as you fight.”
I extended both hands forward with fingers relaxed, lowering my stance to respond to any attack that might come.
“You should have accepted the offer.”
“Stop talking and come at me.”
The newly grasped swordsman spun his blade in dizzying circles before leaning his body forward, approaching at blinding speed as if his entire frame were stretching and elongating.
Before I could even register my shock, he swept his sword horizontally with devastating velocity.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————