Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 241

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

241
“Stop that infernal noise.”
I kicked the prison door, and a voice emerged from the darkness.
I spun around and assumed a defensive stance.
I’d thought my senses had dulled, but there was no way I wouldn’t notice someone standing right behind me.
A creature emerged from the shadows, its form resembling twisted leather.
With a slender, starfish-like body and no bones, its limbs moved with unsettling fluidity, yet its frame was a mass of muscle compressed to the breaking point.
It had no distinct head—its eyes and mouth were positioned on the upper portion of its torso, the mouth split horizontally across its face, and multiple pinprick-sized eyes clustered like a spider’s.
“That door won’t break from that.”
“…Are you one of Chon’s subordinates?”
“One of Chon’s subordinates? Hahahaha! Allow me to introduce myself. I am O-gun, Chon’s warrior, slave, and jester. An Exos stripped of freedom.”
O-gun spread his skeletal arms wide in greeting.
“Exos? You’re referring to your own species?”
“Am I alone? Those who brought you here are the same. We’ve simply been stripped of our shells.”
O-gun’s mouth drooped.
“You’re imprisoned here too—why are you stopping me from escaping?”
“If it were that easy to escape, would I still be here?”
O-gun spoke harshly.
“This place—none leave it, even in death. Soft creatures like you become useless and are devoured immediately. I’ve heard other species are considered delicacies.”
O-gun’s desiccated, tentacle-like tongue flicked out.
“Krhahaha, a jest. Merely a jest. Beings from other worlds taste foul and are discarded at once.”
O-gun laughed heartily at his own humor.
“Tsk, is it because you’re an outsider? You don’t understand Cagron’s humor.”
“Cagron?”
“The barren land of Cagron. Where Exos stake their lives fighting Beasts for resources no larger than dust.”
“…”
“Don’t worry. If you become a worthy jester, you’ll at least prolong your survival. Feeding time approaches.”
O-gun and the other prisoners emerged from the shadows, placing their hands on the ground and bowing their heads—the same gesture Rockrel had made before Chon.
“Insectoids! Feeding time!”
The Guard inserted a long tube through the door’s opening and twisted it; viscous lumps tumbled out in a cascade.
After distributing the rations, the Guard left without a backward glance.
“What is this…?”
I reached out to touch it.
“Wait.”
O-gun stopped me.
“In prison, prison rules apply. Newcomers eat last. Step back.”
“I’ll take only my share.”
Uncertain what this substance was, I could survive without eating, but acquiring more material to absorb would increase my odds of escape.
“I harbor no ill will toward you, fellow prisoner and slave alike. But if you touch the rations, you’ll pay the price.”
Though O-gun had been joking moments before, his demeanor shifted entirely when food was involved—fitting for a creature from a land known as the barren waste.
“I don’t know the rules of this world, but where I come from, touching someone’s food while they’re eating is a declaration of war.”
I set down my meal and raised both fists in front of me.
“Hmm… choosing the difficult path, I see.”
O-gun, jointless as he was, moved with the fluid grace of reeds swaying in the wind—yet his approach was devastatingly swift.
I raised my arm to block his whip-like right hand.
I intended to counterattack immediately, but that slender limb carried an unexpected weight that shattered my balance in an instant, forcing one knee to buckle beneath me.
O-gun coiled around my arm like a serpent, squeezing with intent to snap bone. The crushing force—capable of warping steel as easily as clay—made my bones creak in protest.
“I have no wish to injure you. It’s not too late to withdraw from the food supply now. Just step ba—Gack!!”
I delivered a sharp, precise strike between O-gun’s eyes and mouth, the moment he believed he had me subdued.
Then I seized both his arms wrapped around mine and pulled hard, driving my heel into his abdomen.
“Gaaaahhh!!”
“All of you, come at me!”
Slave fighters rushed at me from all directions.
I hurled O-gun away. Despite his deceptive appearance, his weight was tremendous—five fighters tumbled down in his wake—but there were still a dozen more.
Rather than block and risk capture, I slipped fluidly between their attacks, targeting only their abdomens with precise strikes.
“You… you coward… targeting only weak points….”
O-gun, the first to fall, watched as fighters flew past him one by one.
“Me? A coward? When you’re all displaying your vulnerabilities so openly?”
All the slave fighters lay sprawled across the floor.
“Well… let’s take a look at this ‘food supply’ of yours.”
I picked up one of the viscous lumps.
A murky greenish hue like thick nasal mucus, a firm gelatin-like texture, and to cap it all off, a stench that assaulted the nostrils. I could confidently declare that no human from Earth could stomach such a thing.
Rather than eat it, I decided to absorb its life force first.
Within a lump the size of my fist, the life force amounted to barely a few specks of dust.
“Damn it….”
I absorbed the meager life force and tossed the remainder to the floor.
“Ah… you’re not eating it?”
O-gun alternated his gaze between the discarded mucus gelatin and me.
“I’ve already eaten what I needed.”
“What?”
“I said I’ve already consumed what I could from it.”
O-gun picked up the mucus gelatin I had absorbed and put it in his mouth.
“Oh… ohhhhh!!!”
O-gun cried out in jubilation, crunching away at the green mucus gelatin.
“Why… why is he like that? That can’t possibly taste good….”
A fellow fighter who had collapsed and weakly struggled to his feet asked O-gun in bewilderment.
“The bitter taste is gone! And it’s become crispy!”
After O-gun spoke, the other fighters approached as well.
“Um… would it be alright if I ate some too?”
Having thoroughly beaten them all down, they now regarded me with cautious deference.
“I can’t eat, so you have it.”
“Much obliged!”
The other warriors one by one placed the green mass into their mouths.
“O-gun, is this blowhard spouting nonsense? It tastes exactly the same as always!”
The warriors who had taken a bite ground their teeth in frustration.
“No, wait…. That’s it! Try this instead!”
O-gun’s portion was accepted with a pouting mouth.
“Ooooh!”
“It’s true! It’s different!”
The other warriors each took a bite and erupted in cheers.
“The difference is….”
All eyes turned toward me.
“Would you care for some as well?”
O-gun respectfully picked up a piece of the gelatinous substance and offered it to me.
I had intended to absorb only my own portion, but if they preferred what I had already absorbed, I had no reason to refuse. Cagron’s environment was poison to me, and the things from my world—however they had come to be here—were poison to the inhabitants of Cagron.
The warriors lined up and offered their rations to me.
Each portion was minuscule, but absorbing them all together amounted to a meaningful quantity, and nourishment began circulating through my shriveled frame.
My withered muscles swelled and bulged with a creaking sound.
“Hieek….”
Several warriors let out sharp gasps at my transformation.
“Boss!”
Seeing me like this, O-gun prostrated himself flat on the ground.
“…Boss?”
“We shall serve you as our boss!”
I thought that someone who would pledge allegiance merely for food could hardly possess true loyalty, but then again, in a place where food was precious, perhaps it made sense.
“Why are you prostrating? Stand up.”
“This is the absolute submission displayed in Cagron!”
In this cursed Cagron that endlessly dragged at one’s body, it seemed one’s face could not be held higher than a superior’s.
“I’m not from here. Stand.”
“Yes!”
O-gun promptly sprang to his feet. Unexpectedly, I had gained a subordinate.

“So… how do I get out of here?”
“You can’t.”
O-gun stated it flatly.
“… Wait, there must be people who’ve escaped before, right?”
“I’ve only seen people leave by dying, and even that’s rare. When they die, they become Beast feed.”
“What about that door?”
“It’s absolutely unbreakable. No matter how strong the boss is, you can’t smash it with bare hands. Maybe three Colosseum Lords combined could break it.”
“Three Colosseum Lords?”
“Boss, you really don’t know anything, do you?”
“I was kidnapped out of nowhere—how would I know?”
“Right, of course. They’re the three powerhouses who jointly operate this Colosseum. Among them, Chon has both the greatest influence and strength. Second in rank is Os-na, and third is a man named Bae-sho.”
“What do these powerhouses gain by running something like this?”
“Money. Watching slave gladiators bleed and die is one of the few entertainments in this barren land. The Colosseum Lords line their own pockets by selling our blood.”
O-gun’s expression turned bitter.
“Is there no way to escape during a fight in the Colosseum?”
“Impossible. All three Colosseum Lords watch the matches. The moment you try to flee, you die.”
“Are they really that strong?”
“Well… even if all of us attacked together, we couldn’t land a single wound on them.”
“Like when you all rushed me earlier?”
“… That wasn’t a good example. Regardless, even the boss couldn’t defeat them.”
I was considering whether to hit O-gun one more time.
“You there! It’s time for the match!”
A Guard pointed at me with his baton.
“Boss! Please return safely!”
O-gun and the other Warriors stepped back into the shadows without even attempting to stop me from going to fight. So I was the boss—they didn’t even try to interfere.
I racked my brain for a way to escape without leaving the Prison, figuring out how to take down the Guards.
“W-wait!”
The moment I finished my calculations and moved, the Guard standing at the very back gripped the creature he’d received from Chon.
Something writhed in my head, and I screamed in agony.
“Ugh…!”
He released the creature, and the pain gradually faded.
“Will you come quietly? Or should I continue?”
I couldn’t escape without dealing with that damned creature.
I got to my feet and followed the Guard, arriving at a Waiting Room surrounded by solid walls.
“Choose your armor.”
“Armor?”
Hollow Exos shells were lined up like an armor display. They weren’t even crustaceans—they just put armor on and took it off.
“Hmm… well, you wouldn’t be able to wear it anyway.”
I didn’t need armor, but I needed a tool to break the Exos body. My physical strength had limits without even Aura or Mana.
In the corner sat a greatsword bristling with saw-like teeth. It looked like insect mandibles that had been severed, and the blade was extremely thick and sturdy.
“Hey, that’s too heavy to—”
Before the Guard could finish, I drew the serrated blade. It was as long as Exos was tall, but for me, it was roughly the length of a longsword.
However, it weighed at least several hundred kilograms, so I could barely lift it with both hands.
“Hmm… Better than I expected. I’m betting on you. Don’t lose.”
The Guard spoke as he closed the door.
Grrrrrrrrrrr!
Uooooooooo!!!
The wall opposite to where I’d entered descended with a sound like fingernails scraping a washboard, and the roar from the Colosseum flooded in.
“The Undefeated Warrior! Swift Trapix!”
“Waaaahhh!!!!”
Before I stepped out, an Exos announcer was introducing the Warrior and drawing cheers from the crowd.
When I didn’t exit the Waiting Room, someone rapped against the bars.
Through the bars, the Guard lifted a helmet slightly to show me.
“Sigh…”
I moved my heavy feet and walked outside.
“Behold this hideous creature opposing him! A monster from another world!”
“How grotesque!”
“Kyaaah!”
“No shell! No shell!”
A torrent of jeers I’d never heard before poured down endlessly. They were treating me like a monkey.
“Kill it now!”
“Kill it!”
Having finished their assessment of my appearance, the crowd now screamed for my death.
And Chon, seated in the highest spectator section of the Colosseum, rose from his seat, and all the roaring ceased as if on cue.

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