Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 254

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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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254
Inside the cocoon that had fallen from the sky, the sleeping figure bore slightly different features, yet it was unmistakably Bae Na-young.
“That person… is that me?”
Bae Na-young, thinking she’d been called, approached the cocoon and peered inside before our eyes met.
“Could you be from another dimension?”
Given that Jae-in B, now called Smith, existed, the appearance of an identical person from another dimension wasn’t entirely shocking.
“Your body and soul are both severely weakened. Let’s start with treatment.”
I hastily restored the life force of Bae Na-young B inside the cocoon.
“… The soul is the bigger problem. For some reason, it’s not properly attached to the body. Let’s go to the Research Facility.”
I moved Bae Na-young B from the cocoon to the Research Facility.
“Bae Na-young, can you reattach it?”
While I could directly see and touch souls, the more complex manipulations were better handled by Bae Na-young and the Research Facility staff.
“Yes. But… will it be okay?”
“Why?”
“We don’t know if this person is good or bad. Besides, it looks like she’s delved deeply into dark magic. Will it really be safe to just restore her?”
“She’s you, isn’t she? It’ll be fine.”
I didn’t have a bad feeling about Bae Na-young B.
Bae Na-young herself was originally destined to become a villain who killed Hunters, but she changed after meeting me. I wanted to trust in the fundamental nature of Bae Na-young as a person.
Besides, she was sent by my other self, so trusting Bae Na-young was simultaneously trusting myself.
At the Research Facility, Bae Na-young and Jae-in’s group began designing the magical circle to anchor Bae Na-young B’s soul, but it kept trying to separate.
“Brother!”
I created a domain of life force and directly grasped the soul, pushing it back into the body. It was a crude method, but the only one I could employ.
“Bae Na-young, are you ready?!”
At Jae-in’s words, Bae Na-young stood in the center of the magical circle and activated the spell.
Bae Na-young lifted the necklace resting on the circle’s floor with her wand, and the massive magical circle compressed and inscribed itself onto the necklace.
Bae Na-young, having successfully completed the difficult magic, wiped the cold sweat from her brow.
“It’s done now. This necklace will bind the soul, and over time, it will become completely attached.”
Bae Na-young placed the necklace around Bae Na-young B’s neck.
“Hmm… However, her vitals are extremely weak. Like an animal in hibernation.”
Jae-in examined Bae Na-young B’s body through her monocle.
“Hmm… Wait a moment.”
Bae Na-young placed her hand on the head of the sleeping Bae Na-young B. Everyone held their breath, watching the somewhat eerie sight.
“She put herself to sleep using mind control. Was she trying to die? If it were anyone else, I could never wake them.”
“But you can, right?”
“Yes. It’s a method I would use.”
Bae Na-young closed her eyes and concentrated. It didn’t take long to undo Bae Na-young B’s mind control.
“Wake up.”
“Mm…”
At Bae Na-young’s gentle voice, Bae Na-young B opened her eyes.
Though Bae Na-young B had recovered completely in both spirit and body, the very aura she emanated was dark. In contrast, Bae Na-young, who had grown alongside me, radiated such a benevolent presence that a stranger glancing at them would mistake them for different people.
Bae Na-young B rose to her feet and gazed at Bae Na-young.
“You…”
“It’s you. From a different dimension.”
“Is this the world where Ji-seok lives?”
“That’s right.”
“And you’re his wife?”
Bae Na-young nodded.
“I’m sorry. Because of me.”
“Sorry about what?”
At the sound of my voice, Bae Na-young B turned her head toward me, her eyes widening as if they might burst from their sockets.
“You?! You weren’t dead?!”
“Calm down. What you saw was something like my avatar.”
“Ah… you did say you had another body on Earth.”
Bae Na-young B was delighted to see me, but when I didn’t recognize her, she realized I wasn’t the Ji-seok she knew, and her expression quickly fell.
“But what about Vito? Is he dead?”
“Vito? That wretch died long ago.”
“That wretch? Vito?”
Bae Na-young B briefly recounted to us what had transpired in the place called Cargron.
“So Vito’s ability restriction was borrowing power from a completely different world.”
Everyone fell silent at the magnitude of this revelation.
“Ah, you entrusted this to me.”
“Hmm?”
Bae Na-young B extended her hand, and within it lay a seed.
“A seed of the World Tree?”
“Yes. You gave it to me before you sacrificed yourself to protect me.”
Bae Na-young B’s expression grew somber.
“Hmm?”
The seed I received was unlike any ordinary World Tree seed. I could sense my own vital essence flowing densely within it.
“Brother, what’s wrong?”
Bae Na-young approached me as I gazed quietly at the seed.
“This is alive.”
I cupped the seed in both hands and infused it with life force.
“Alive?”
Bae Na-young B also rose and watched my hands.
“Hmm. At this level of vitality, there’s no response? Perhaps I should pour in more this time.”
Since I no longer sent life force to my other body, I had an abundance of power now. As I gathered my vitality and poured it into the seed, it swelled and bulged, sprouting delicate shoots and roots.
I set the seed gently on the ground so it could take root comfortably and continued to replenish its life force, though I soon found I didn’t need to keep supplying it.
From somewhere hidden within that tiny seed, life force and spirit bloomed like flowers, flowing forth as it grew of its own accord.
“Everyone, step back.”
Though it didn’t appear dangerous, I ushered the others back at the sight of this unfamiliar phenomenon.
Soft wooden stems bundled together, forming the shape of a person, then transforming into my likeness.
“Ugh….”
The moment my face took complete shape on the unknown entity, an enormous flood of information crashed into my mind.
Conversely, information drained from my head as well, creating a mutual exchange of data between that body and mine.
I’d exchanged vitality and spiritual essence before, but never pure information like this.
We stood face to face—both of us clutching our heads in agony.
“You…. You…. How are you alive?! Did you know this would happen?!”
Bae Na-young B embraced the wooden version of me. The skin had become so smooth now that you wouldn’t think it was made of wood at all.
However, as expected, the characteristics of my fusion with the World Tree weren’t shared with the other body.
“I’m glad you arrived safely. I wasn’t sure it would work either.”
“I was worried!”
Bae Na-young B patted the wooden me—Lee Ji-seok B—on the chest.
“Wait. What are you doing to someone else’s husband?”
Bae Na-young grabbed Bae Na-young B’s shoulder.
“What? Your husband is right there.”
Bae Na-young B released Lee Ji-seok B. It was understandable to be confused when there were two of me standing there.
“They’re both mine. Two bodies, but one mind.”
“Must be nice living comfortably in a peaceful world. Your greed knows no bounds.”
A violet aura crackled between them.
Bae Na-young, who grew rapidly with generous support from Earth. Meanwhile, Bae Na-young B, who was exiled from Earth and spent centuries honing her skills in a world without mana. Who would be stronger?
“I never knew mana could taste this sweet.”
Bae Na-young B rapidly absorbed the surrounding mana.
Between the swirling vortex of mana, my two bodies launched themselves forward, each blocking one of the Bae Na-youngs.
“Both of you, calm down….”
“You stay out of it.”
“You stay out of it.”
“Fine.”
Even when just one of them glared at me, I flinched. Having both of them stare at me was unbearable.
I scooped up Ji-ho, and my two bodies were amicably kicked out of the house.
Sitting on a branch of the World Tree, I could hear them fighting behind me, but I figured—what did it matter?
We returned home.
* * *
Fortunately, it ended as a light argument, and I had time to talk with Bae Na-young B.
“This Manager character was the mastermind behind the Gate incident, and he came here?”
In the middle of recounting what happened on Earth, Bae Na-young asked tensely.
“Yeah. He came.”
“Then why are you so calm? Is he just a puppet master pulling strings from the shadows—actually weak?”
“No way. If that were true, we wouldn’t have struggled so much. He blocked us in ways that I, Bae Na-young, and Park Jae-in never anticipated.”
“! Park Jae-in—that guy is here too?”
“That guy? Park Jae-in. Yeah, he’s here. You saw him, didn’t you?”
“Me?”
“Yeah. The person wearing one-eyed glasses at the Research Facility when you woke up.”
“That was Park Jae-in?!”
Smith and Jae-in looked quite different in appearance. Their clothing, hairstyle, and the fact that Jae-in had no legs and wore mechanical ones instead.
“That’s right. Why? Did you have some connection in the previous dimension?”
“I did. He’s the one who banished me.”
“…But didn’t you say you’d committed many crimes?”
“Yeah. But I hold no grudge. That damned ignorant fool only acted righteous based on fragmented information. He didn’t even know what kind of creatures I killed!”
Mana spread around Bae Na-young B, and the grass leaves nearby shattered into pieces.
“Mana’s leaking. Control it.”
“Huff….”
Bae Na-young took a deep breath and reined in the escaping mana.
“You don’t seem to hold no grudge at all.”
“So how did you stop that Manager?”
Bae Na-young changed the subject.
“Ah, the Manager is a spiritual entity.”
“No physical form?”
“He had a body at his place, but what came to Earth this time was a clone.”
* * *
It was an ordinary day without anything special.
The clone I sent to Vito hadn’t died yet, but I had no idea where it was. I knew it was alive since I was sending a massive amount of life force 24/7, but since I couldn’t share consciousness with it, I had no idea if it was doing well or what it was doing.
“Hmm. Since Vito hasn’t come yet, I can at least assume my clone is holding him back.”
There was no point in thinking negatively. I brushed myself off and headed home.
Then a Gate opening above Earth was detected, and I turned my gaze back to the sky.
[Chairman! An abnormal Gate has opened!]
Jae-in’s transmission came immediately. It wasn’t a Gate where monsters emerged. Someone with will had pierced through the defensive barrier that Gaia, Earth’s incarnation, had deployed.
“I felt it too. I’m going ahead.”
I flew through the sky at supersonic speed, the air bursting behind me. Since it wasn’t far, I spotted the mysterious figure in an instant.
“Vito!”
The figure visible from afar was Vito. The fact that he was alive meant my clone had failed.
I immediately released an aura of life force. Thanks to my power multiplying several times on Earth, I was overflowing with strength.
My aura, erupting like a volcano, swept over Vito.
But instead of shattering or burning, Vito’s body scattered like mist.
“Where are you!”
I deployed a domain spanning several kilometers in radius. The density and scale of the domain unfolded on Earth was utterly overwhelming.
Any entity hostile to me would burn merely by existing within the domain.
“Quite a harsh greeting.”
In the domain I’d deployed to a level that even Eres and Gapra couldn’t ignore, Vito floated without any concern.
“Who are you?”
Though the face was Vito’s, this hazy-bodied creature was neither human nor even a spirit.
“My names are many, but you called me the Manager before.”
The Manager wearing Vito’s face regarded me with an expressionless gaze.

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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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