Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 262

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

262
Compared to my domain, which blazed like a raging inferno, Gaia’s cyan-blue barrier appeared infinitely fragile, yet it expanded rapidly and enveloped the entire Earth.
“This pathetic… ugh…”
The Manager’s spirit body resisted against Gaia’s barrier, but the gently spreading force pushed it upward, inch by inch.
As it was driven further beyond Earth’s bounds, the Manager’s face hardened into a rigid mask.
“…Don’t think this is the end.”
“What, are you some third-rate villain?”
“You will all die eventually…”
“Thanks for the concern, but we’ll handle our own affairs. Now, begone.”
Gaia expanded her power, and the Manager’s spirit body, driven back by her barrier, scattered and vanished just like before.
Gaia’s barrier extended beyond Earth, reaching across the orbits of the Moon and Mars.
“Gaia, is it really over?”
“Yes. I can no longer sense the Manager’s power.”
Gaia, who had been gazing upward, now turned her attention back to the ground below.
“I’ll seal the Break Gates as well.”
Gaia no longer needed to expend power hunting down the Manager’s avatars. She redirected the strength she had been using to seal the spirit body, methodically constricting and erasing the proliferated Gates one by one.
“Gaia, did you close all the Gates?”
“No, that’s impossible. The Manager’s power has weakened, but I can still feel it trying to pierce through Earth.”
“That’s unfortunate. But still, it’s enough.”
With the Break Gates eliminated, I no longer needed to maintain my domain at every Gate’s entrance.
I kept the defensive network rooted across the entire planet intact. There was no telling what might happen next.
[Chairman, is it really over?]
Jae-in’s transmission came through.
“Yes. But what happened with the race?”
[Oh, that’s right!]
I was curious about the race’s outcome as well, so I headed to the Control Center with Gaia and Bae Na-young.
Jae-in switched the screen to Mars.
Most of the population, unaware of the Break due to media suppression, continued watching the competition.
The athletes I had infused with life force surged forward like crushers, pulverizing the weakened monsters.
As Gaia sealed the Gates, the monster count dwindled further.
“Now’s the moment! Alex! Run!”
“If we lose here, we go home and die! For the people!”
As the monster numbers plummeted, the athletes charged forward with frenzied intensity.
The ground before the final Checkpoint Gate on Mars bulged upward.
“What?! What is that?! A monster?!”
The leading athletes subtly reduced their pace.
“Victory shall be mine!”
Baldri, transformed into a stone serpent using the power of the earth spirit, burst forth from the ground.
The moment she emerged, she shifted into a fire steed and galloped toward the Gate.
The spectators had no time to cheer or jeer at the sudden turn of events.
Baldri returned to Earth first and passed through the goal prepared at the World Tree.
“The race is over! The winner is Baldri Naephanar from Luna City!”
“Ah! Sang-heon came in second, and Alex took third. Where is Amy?”
Jang Mi had rushed to the Gate to fight, then hurried back to the broadcast booth. Since the Gate Break incident hadn’t been broadcast, viewers still didn’t know why she’d left her seat.
“Ah, because Amy kept getting distracted and going elsewhere, American viewers grew frustrated and turned off their televisions, so she didn’t receive much support from the cheering crowds.”
“Amy is going to get scolded later.”
“Still, it was an exciting match! A competition where people from all over the world could participate! It doesn’t seem like it will end with just one! Well then, we’ll see you at the next match. Benjamin.”
“It’s Jang Mi. Thank you~”
With both of their closing remarks, all the matches came to an end.
* * *
“We managed to stop both the Manager’s astral clone and the Gate Break without major damage, but the fundamental problem remains unsolved.”
“He’ll come again, won’t he?”
Director Baek Young-shin asked.
“He won’t give up. I’ve been thinking about why his true body hasn’t come, and it’s possible he can’t leave his own planet.”
My body, now connected to the World Tree, and Green have both taken root across the entire Earth. The moment Green leaves Earth, all those roots will rot away. In exchange for building a powerful defense system over time, I’ve become unable to leave Earth easily.
The Manager might have a similar reason binding him.
“If that’s the case, destroying his planet entirely would end the Manager. At the very least, we could drastically weaken his power.”
“Will you go yourself?”
“If another attack like this comes, there’s no way we can stop it without casualties. I need to deal with it beforehand. Just like with Vito, I’ll go.”
“Lee Ji-seok’s debt keeps growing.”
“This is something I’m choosing to do.”
“I’ll make the preparations.”
* * *
“…You’re going? Send Green instead!”
Bae Na-young pointed at Green. Violet was clinging tightly to Green.
“Na-young… you know we share the same body, so why are you doing this?”
Because Violet kept insisting that Green was hers and clung to him, Bae Na-young had started feeling the same way.
“Then, what about leaving behind a seed like Green did before?”
“Ah, that was only possible because Green had accumulated a lot of soul power in Cagron. I can’t resurrect now. If this body dies, it’s over.”
“What?! No! Don’t go!”
“Na-young, even though my body is two, my spirit is one. Both are me.”
“I don’t care about that! Green won’t let go of him!”
I barely managed to convince the sulking Bae Na-young and finished the preparations for departure.
Before opening the Gate, I mobilized every elite force on Earth to guard against the Manager crossing over in reverse.
Bae Na-young, Violet, Sang-heon, Amy, and countless other Hunters, along with Marbas.
In the sky, the US Military’s prized magical fleet and Luna City’s Spirit Mage Corps were positioned around the Gate.
I thought that even if the Manager came through, we could probably take him down with this much force.
“I’ll be back. If this goes well, everything will be over.”
I said my final goodbye to Bae Na-young.
“I should come with you too…”
Bae Na-young tried to step forward with me.
“We already discussed this. You need to stay here and protect Ji-ho. Besides, I’m not going alone, am I?”
I tapped the Infinite Pouch hanging from my waist.
“Having more people to protect would only complicate things.”
I reassured Bae Na-young.
I’d considered bringing all these forces to assault the Administrator’s Planet together, but going alone and returning with just his head would minimize casualties. If we all attacked together, even in victory, the losses would be substantial.
I said my final farewells to my family.
I met Jae-in’s eyes, and she nodded.
“If anything goes wrong, I’ll open a Gate.”
Jae-in pulled the lever, and a Gate opened before me. To prevent him from crossing over in reverse, instead of going directly to the Administrator’s Planet, I’d arranged for dozens of randomly positioned Gates to create a convoluted return path.
“Phew!”
I exhaled sharply to shake off the tension and threw myself through the Gate.
As I passed through the successive Gates inscribed with defensive magic, my body stretched and compressed repeatedly, like taffy being pulled and folded.
Finally, light appeared at the end, and I emerged.
“…You’re back already?”
Jae-in was there.
“Huh?”
Not only that, but everyone who had seen me off was present.
“You’re the Chairman, right?”
The Hunters, suspecting I might be an enemy wearing my appearance, regarded me warily.
“It’s really me.”
I stood still, allowing them to verify my biometric signature and soul.
“Did you perhaps engage in an epic battle? No time has passed on our end.”
“No, I went in and came right back out, so it should be the same time here, right?”
“What’s going on…?”
Jae-in rechecked the Gate coordinates.
“The coordinates are correct. Just a moment. Let me verify something.”
While Jae-in and the Research Facility staff busily analyzed the data, I stood quietly.
“Hmm…”
Having departed with such gravitas, I felt the awkwardness of everyone’s stares.
“I wish I hadn’t gone at all.”
Bae Na-young came over and embraced me from behind.
“Chairman! We figured it out!”
Everyone’s attention turned to Jae-in.
“It’s blocked.”
“Blocked?”
“Yes. It appears the dimension itself has been severed. We can’t even access it from this side. Because of the safety mechanism, you were automatically returned to your departure point.”
“The Destruction God didn’t consume it?”
After all, those called Managers manage the world by having other dimensions consumed instead of themselves—they were always afraid of being devoured. Since I’d destroyed a significant portion of their military, perhaps they could no longer use another dimension as bait.
“No. There’s definitely something at those coordinates, but the Gate simply won’t open. It’s similar to how Gaia blocks intruders. We’ll need to research this further, so you can retire for today.”
In the end, everything unfolded exactly as Bae Na-young had wished. The assembled forces, their momentum broken, began to disperse.
“We can take them one at a time now. Let’s go.”
Violet, satisfied with how things were progressing, interlaced her fingers with Green’s hand and pulled him along.
“Wait, where are you going?!”
Bae Na-young grabbed Violet’s arm.
“…Let go of this.”
Violet’s gaze toward Bae Na-young flickered with lethal intent. Until now, Violet had been somewhat lenient with Bae Na-young, but her patience was finally wearing thin.
Though she had become considerably more rounded and gentle during her time with me on Cagron, she was still someone who had been exiled after slaughtering countless Hunters in her previous world, then spent centuries in banishment on Cagron. Her viciousness ran deeper than most.
While Bae Na-young could be frightening when angry, a not-yet-thirty-year-old girl was no match for a truly enraged Violet.
“Ugh….”
Bae Na-young, frustrated, refused to release her grip despite all her effort.
“Fine, I suppose we do need to establish the hierarchy….”
Just as Violet was about to unleash her mana.
Someone seized Violet’s hand.
“What?!”
Violet turned around irritably to find.
“Bae Na-young.”
Bae Na-young’s Mother stood there.
“…I’m not your daughter.”
Violet’s fierce gaze wavered for a moment.
“What are you saying? You’re all my daughters. You’ve been through so much, haven’t you? I’m sorry I couldn’t be by your side.”
Having learned of Violet’s mother’s death from illness in Violet’s world, Bae Na-young’s Mother felt profound compassion and guilt toward her.
If Bae Na-young’s Mother had died, perhaps Bae Na-young would have walked the same path as Violet.
“I’m sorry….”
Bae Na-young’s Mother apologized again and embraced Violet.
“Mom! Why are you hugging her?!”
Bae Na-young cried out to her mother.
“Don’t be like that. She’s you too. Don’t fight each other—come along together.”
Before Violet could protest, Bae Na-young’s Mother seized both Bae Na-youngs’ hands and pulled them away.
“A beautiful sight.”
The two of them were far too powerful to be dragged by force, yet they followed quickly, unwilling to risk their mother-in-law’s safety.
“Son-in-law, bring the grandchildren by later.”
Bae Na-young’s Mother paused mid-stride and spoke to me.
“Yes, of course!”
In that instant, the hierarchy was established. In the Land of Eastern Courtesy, the strongest could only ever be one’s parents.

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