Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 244

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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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244
Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump!
The spectators drummed their hands against the barrier stones in front of their seats, and the sound reverberated throughout the Colosseum.
Just as before, Chon, Os-na, and Bae-sho occupied the three highest positions in order.
This match pitted Chon’s warriors—myself, O-gun, and eight others—against ten of Bae-sho’s warriors.
Chon and Bae-sho exchanged glances. Despite the considerable distance between them, the tension between the two was palpable.
Bae-sho’s black body was covered densely with bizarre patterns drawn in red dye, and the same held true for his warriors and spectators.
However, the degree of the patterns seemed to symbolize their status or power—the Exos closest to Bae-sho bore even more markings.
Uuuaaahhhhh!!!
“Damn it….”
O-gun, clad in armor, was huddled nervously beside me.
“Relax.”
“If only the boss had to sacrifice himself, why do we have to….”
Smack!
I struck O-gun’s head.
“Ow! Why?!”
“Why? You asking because you don’t know? And did I decide this?”
Chon had switched out Rockrel for me, and Bae-sho demanded a change in numbers just before the match. Chon accepted it as if it were nothing.
“Ugh…. Free-for-alls already have low survival rates, and now Bae-sho’s grinding his teeth—we’re all as good as dead….”
All eight of O-gun’s small eyes streamed with tears.
“Haven’t you seen me fight? Do you still have so little faith?”
“You’ve never fought Bae-sho when he’s serious, have you? He’s insane. More than the boss.”
“Well, we’ll see about that.”
Bae-sho’s subordinates emerged from the Fighter Waiting Area. Aside from the red patterns, they were indistinguishable from Chon’s warriors—all Exos.
And the one at the very back was noticeably smaller than the rest.
“I’ll take that one.”
O-gun, who had suddenly stopped complaining, licked his lips eagerly at the seemingly easy target.
“Let’s go!”
I charged forward first, wielding the greatsword I’d crafted from a Beast’s horn, and our warriors followed in my wake.
Uuuaaahhhhh!!!
They’d all complained, but these were veterans who knew that cowering meant death. Bae-sho’s warriors, by contrast, hung limply and listlessly.
One of them even collapsed to the ground before we even reached them.
“Boss! This is manageable!”
At the sight of their drug-like stupor, O-gun and his companions’ morale surged like a sudden reversal.
Then the smaller of Bae-sho’s warriors crawled up the back of one of our fallen comrades.
Rope-like hands and feet jutted out from beneath the carapace, burrowing into the fallen Exos’s back, causing the creature to writhe in agony.
The carapaces of two of Bae-sho’s warriors dissolved and merged into one, doubling in height and mass.
The merged creature approached the other Bae-sho warriors one by one, absorbing each of them.
As the creature grew into a single, massive mass, our warriors’ footsteps—which had been surging with confidence—began to slow.
“Wh… wh….”
“O-gun, what in the hells is that thing?”
“How should I know?! Run for it!”
O-gun changed direction first, and the rest of the warriors followed suit, fleeing alongside him.
It had begun in human form, but as it grew larger, its shape transformed until it became a colossal scorpion.
The two massive pincers and eight legs were no different from the scorpions I knew from Earth. However, the tail—longer than its body itself and tipped in crimson as though dripping with venom—was a stark departure. Most unnervingly, there were three of them, a feature entirely absent from Earth’s scorpions.
As the creature swelled in size, it did not slow; instead, it moved with terrifying speed, its four pairs of legs crossing in rapid succession.
“Damn it!”
The razor-sharp pincers lunged toward O-gun.
I had charged forward first from beside me, thinking the creature would be easy prey, so now that I’d changed direction, I was closest to the scorpion.
“Ugh?!”
Just as O-gun’s waist was about to be severed, I stomped down on the pincer with my foot, driving it into the ground instead.
“Thank you!”
O-gun didn’t even look back, shouting his gratitude as he bolted away to create distance.
I immediately leaped onto the scorpion’s head and brought my greatsword crashing down upon it.
Clang!
The carapace was as hard as any Exos I’d encountered.
Mindlessly striking this thick armor was pointless, so I climbed atop its head to search for a weakness.
“O-gun! Where’s its vital point?!”
“I’ve never seen one before—how would I know?!”
O-gun shouted from beyond the scorpion’s range.
The scorpion thrashed its pincers frantically, stabbing and slashing at me perched upon its head.
I hoped it might strike its own head by accident, but it proved far less foolish than I’d anticipated.
I dodged the pincers and struck its head and body several times, but to no avail.
“Damn it!”
I created distance to assess its weaknesses, and it pursued me swiftly, all eight legs churning.
It was still slower than me, so I resolved to take my time and find its vulnerability.
Scraaaaaape.
Dozens of Bae-sho’s Shamans in the stands scraped red rods inside bowls the size of a human head.
The collective sound resonated and reverberated through the arena as though a single unified tone.
Hearing that sound, the scorpion suddenly wheeled about. To us it was mere noise, but to the creature, it was a signal—a command.
“Hey! Hey! Where are you going?!”
I shouted and pursued from behind, but it merely brandished its venom-laden tails to ward me off without changing its trajectory.
“Two-mooooook! Save meeeee!”
O-gun, now the new target, screamed.
“Shut that mouth of yours!”
It was obvious his shrieking had made him the target.
“Ahhhhh! I’m dead!”
“Like a dog that won’t stop shitting….”
Still, it was fortunate O-gun had become the target. Having served as leader before I arrived in the Underground Prison, he was skilled at fleeing even while screaming.
He might have evaded it even without my protection earlier.
“Well done! Hold on just a bit longer!”
“Hurry! Boss, hurry!”
But despite O-gun’s nimble evasion, the weight class and speed difference were too great, and danger closed in.
As O-gun leaped to dodge the scorpion’s claw sweeping horizontally low, the other blade-like claw waited to strike him down.
In mid-air, O-gun had no way to escape.
“Damn it!”
For a fleeting moment I hesitated, but I made my decision.
I poured aura into my only weapon—the greatsword—and hurled it with all my might.
The greatsword I threw severed one of the scorpion’s tails and continued toward its head.
The scorpion shrieked, and its claw that had been about to strike O-gun batted away my greatsword instead.
The aura-infused greatsword still had power left after severing the tail, and it crashed with a deafening boom, creating a crack in the creature’s claw.
It must have been a considerable impact, yet the creature barely staggered, showing little reaction.
It simply dropped the cracked section of its claw as if discarding a replaceable part, and filled that spot with new carapace.
With the missing section, the claw had shrunk, and the size difference between the left and right claws became noticeably pronounced. Even its tails had been reduced from three to two.
“Boss! Thank you!”
O-gun landed safely on the ground and scrambled away quickly.
And the scorpion grasped my only weapon—the greatsword—in both its claw hands and snapped it in half.
“Damn it….”
To strike that creature bare-handed, I’d need to expend more aura, and even if I burned through all my accumulated vitality, there was no guarantee I could kill it without knowing its weakness.
While I deliberated, the scorpion continued targeting the warriors. I kept blocking at critical moments, but without a weapon, the vitality drain was far too great.
Just before the Youngest Warrior among the ten was about to be struck by the poison stinger.
I could have easily deflected the tail, but O-gun threw himself forward to save the Youngest Warrior.
“You idiot!”
Unable to anticipate his movement, I couldn’t block the tail aimed at O-gun.
I kicked the Youngest Warrior away while simultaneously grabbing O-gun and hurling him far from danger. But I myself failed to evade, and the scorpion’s venomous tail pierced my side.
“Cough….”
I felt the poison seeping into my body.
My skin began to darken and blacken from the unknown toxin.
The creature swung the tail that had impaled me and slammed me to the ground.
I weakly pushed myself up. This scorpion’s poison was different from the acidic liquid Nijir had sprayed. It was definitely poison to me as well.
But fortunately, the poison contained trace amounts of vitality. My flesh killed by the poison slowly regenerated.
“Why aren’t you running faster?!”
Seeing my fellow warriors standing and watching instead of fleeing, I shouted in frustration.
“Boss! That bastard’s too fast!”
The scorpion chasing the warriors again was still quick. Even faster than the warriors themselves.
“O-gun! Take off the carapace on your hand and give it to me!”
I needed a weapon.
“Are you insane, Boss! You want me dead?!”
“Then this is your responsibility!”
I lunged at O-gun and hooked his leg.
I also caught the Youngest Warrior’s leg from just moments before.
I now held two Exos in my hands. The grip felt terrible, but there was no choice.
“Stretch your body out!”
“What?!”
“What are you doing?!”
The Youngest Warrior and O-gun cried out.
“If you don’t want to die, stretch out!”
Startled by my roar, O-gun and the Youngest Warrior raised their fists upward and stretched their bodies taut. The hardest parts of an Exos’s body were their two fists, so they could serve as weapons.
I skillfully deflected the scorpion’s claw strike with the Youngest Warrior, then brought O-gun down hard on the scorpion’s head.
Crack!
Screeeech!!
O-gun and the Youngest Warrior writhed from the impact that reverberated through their entire bodies.
“Hey! Boss! I’m dying!”
“If we don’t take this thing down, we all die anyway! Shut your mouth!”
As I deflected the claw strikes and repeatedly bashed the scorpion’s head, cracks formed across the Youngest Warrior’s carapace.
“Ugh! Grrrrgh….”
The rope-like arm gripping the inside of the carapace was mangled, and foam bubbled from the Youngest Warrior’s mouth as he screamed.
“Tsk….”
I hurled the Youngest Warrior far away and grabbed another Warrior.
Clang clang!
“No matter how hard you are!”
“Boss! I’m the one getting hit! Why! Are you! Taking all the credit?! Huh?!”
Seeing how much O-gun talked between strikes, I could tell he still had more to give.
Clang clang!!
The sound of me pounding the scorpion.
Drrrrrr! Drrrrrr!
Bae-sho’s Shamans accelerated the pace of their incantations.
Uuuuaahhh!!
The roar of the crowd mixed together, creating a deafening noise that erupted.
“Now die already!”
I poured my life force into a boost to amplify my strength, then brought both Warriors down simultaneously on its head.
Boom!!!
The armor on the scorpion’s head shattered, and a sound so loud it felt like it would burst eardrums echoed through the arena.
The shockwave knocked several weak-willed citizens in the stands unconscious, and most others staggered.
What had been the scorpion crumbled and collapsed. Between the carapace segments, the true forms of the rope-like Exos became visible.
Uuuuaahhh!!!
“The shell-less one did it!”
“He defeated Bae-sho’s Shamans!”
“That damned Outer bastard! My money!”
The crowd’s cheers erupted.
“Phew… That was a grueling battle.”
I wiped the sweat from my brow.
“Why?! Is the boss struggling?! What?!”
While the other warriors were still gathering their wits, O-gun remained sharp and energetic.

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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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