Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 264

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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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264
Since they were all close, they had generously praised each other’s work. But when Violet’s creation was revealed, everyone’s faces grew uncomfortable.
The design itself—reminiscent of a medieval European fortress—was appealing, but the color palette was dreadful. The entirely dark building made the surroundings feel like nighttime despite the blazing sun overhead.
The sharp decorative spikes on all sides laid bare Violet’s defensive psychology.
“What? What’s wrong?”
Violet, reading the expressions around her, asked.
“It’s a haunted house, that’s what.”
Bae Na-young, who had never cared for Violet, scoffed dismissively.
“…Is it strange?”
Violet turned to Green with the question.
“No, it’s not so much strange as… perhaps not quite suited for a resort.”
Violet’s expression grew increasingly rigid.
“Just looking at it gives you a refreshing feeling, doesn’t it?”
“Ah, like a horror special?”
“The design itself isn’t bad, really.”
Everyone hastily offered words of consolation.
“Tch.”
But Violet’s feelings were already hurt.
“Last place goes to~ Violet!”
The voting system favored first place, and with stakes involved, there were no sympathy votes to overturn the result.
“Well, it doesn’t matter. Can I watch the children for you?”
“…”
The mothers exchanged glances.
“We trust you.”
“Thank you so much, sister.”
The mothers, without much deliberation, left their children with Violet and rushed toward the beach.
“W-wait?! You’re really leaving the children with me?!”
One and two-year-old children gazed up at Violet with sparkling eyes.
“You kids have no fear at all, do you?! I can’t watch children!”
“I’ll help you.”
Green placed a hand on Violet’s shoulder.
Ji-ho, resembling his mother, crawled toward Violet.
“Mama~”
“I’m… not mama…”
Even as she said this, her arms embraced Ji-ho.
“So fragile…”
While Violet’s attention was briefly on Ji-ho, Ujin, the son of Yang Sang-heon and Akiko, toddled toward the beach.
“W-wait! You can’t go into the water alone!”
Violet lifted Ji-ho and the Triplets—Jae-in and Ji-hae—with telekinesis, then hurried after Ujin.
At just two years old, Ujin moved with astonishing speed, plunging headfirst into the sea.
“Kyaaah!”
The land Gaia had drawn up from the sea was lined with sandy beaches that suddenly plunged into deep water.
A dark shape rapidly approached Ujin.
“No!”
Violet cut through the seawater and pulled Jin back, but she was a moment too late—a shark the size of a man clamped its jaws around Jin’s foot.
“Ujin!”
Violet’s eyes went wide with shock as she unleashed a blade of mana that shredded the shark into pieces, blood and flesh scattering in all directions.
“Huh? My foot…?”
“Hehehehe!”
The spot where the shark had bitten was completely unharmed, and Jin, drenched in blood, was simply laughing with delight.
“How…?”
Behind him, Hyung-bin’s daughter was tearing into a venomous jellyfish.
“…”
“There’s a reason those mothers entrusted their children to you.”
The physical abilities of children born to elite Hunters were anything but ordinary.
“The only weak one among them is Ji-ho. The Triplets are a bit fragile too, but they’re sturdier than most adults. When watching our kids, what you need to worry about isn’t their safety—it’s what they might break and who they might hurt.”
Hearing my words, Violet looked at the children again.
“…The children look different somehow.”
For a moment, Violet had the illusion that the children’s eyes were glowing red.
* * *
“Finding a babysitter for our kids while the Daycare Center is closed is like plucking stars from the sky, so this works out perfectly.”
Ye-seul took a sip of her cocktail.
“Ahhh~ I can’t remember the last time I had a vacation like this.”
Akiko, who had been running nonstop for Japan’s reconstruction, was enjoying a moment of leisure in the shade I had created.
“Cannonball!”
Boom!
“Kyaaah!”
A projectile shot skyward with the sound of an explosion behind them, spinning as it fell into the sea, sending up a spray of water.
“You men! What are you doing over there?!”
Bae Na-young, startled out of her reverie, shouted.
“It’s a ride!”
“My turn next! Mine!”
A cannon-like structure from a warship stood prominently among the amusement devices Si-hwan had designed.
Yang Sang-heon came running across the sea surface from the direction the cannon had fired.
“This is more fun than I expected!”
“You can already fly at high speed, so is something like this really entertaining?”
Akiko looked at Yang Sang-heon the way one might look at a two-year-old Ujin.
“Just because you can drive a car doesn’t mean a roller coaster isn’t fun, does it?”
“Is that so?”
“That’s how it is.”
While the men played and drank like children, the women enjoyed themselves too—it was a proper vacation in every sense.
Violet unexpectedly found amusement in playing with the children.
“You missed contact with people, didn’t you?”
“…I was alone there.”
Violet had opened her heart considerably to Green.
“Aren’t my friends treating you well?”
“Hmph. On the surface, yes, but deep down they all see me as a dangerous person. Smith looks like he’d wet himself every time he sees me.”
Across the entire world, Violet was a notorious villain. Moreover, Bae Na-young frequently glared at her, claiming she was stealing Green away.
Bae Na-young could also read people’s hearts, but she had many friends thanks to the trust she’d built over time. However, most people couldn’t help but find Violet awkward—a Hunter killer who’d been exiled.
“True, children have no prejudices.”
“Right. But, little one, don’t you like the fortress I made?”
Violet asked Ji-ho.
“Like it, like it, pretty.”
Ji-ho pointed at the fortress Violet had created, his pronunciation still halting.
“See? It’s pretty, isn’t it? Even I think it’s beautiful.”
Bae Na-young watched from a distance as Violet cared for Ji-ho tenderly.
Unlike the other children, Ji-ho had no abilities, which worried Bae Na-young greatly.
“Don’t worry. Green is with him too.”
Ji-seok placed a hand on Bae Na-young’s shoulder.
“So you’ve gotten used to calling him Green now?”
“Saying ‘this body’ and ‘that body’ got confusing, you know? I was thinking of calling this one Red instead. What do you think?”
“Do as you like.”
After watching a bit longer and seeing that Violet was actually caring for the child well, Bae Na-young felt reassured and left. She too wanted to rest.
That evening, we held a hunting competition to procure food.
Everyone wagered on who’d caught the most game. I crossed into the United States and brought back cattle, while Yang Sang-heon went into the sea and caught a massive tuna.
We grilled barbecue and ate sashimi, and needless to say, bottles of alcohol rolled around that evening.
It was a vacation that truly felt like a vacation.
Until a few days later, before the heat became unbearable.
In mere days, the sunlight felt extraordinarily intense.
“Gasp… Gasp… Brother, isn’t this heat too much?”
Si-hwan complained, and the rest felt the oppressive warmth. Despite all being superhuman.
“Chairman, the perceived temperature has exceeded fifty degrees.”
The temperature rose two to three degrees each day. It was far higher than the average temperature of previous years.
“Something feels wrong.”
“Brother! Gaia is acting strange!”
At Bae Na-young’s cry, I approached Gaia, who’d been resting in the sea.
Gaia’s normally pale face had flushed a deep red.
“Cool her down immediately! Jae-in! Check the global temperature!”
At my command, Jae-in displayed the data on screen.
“The entire Earth is heating up.”
“What’s the cause?”
“The heat source is… the sun?”
“The sun? Could it be… the Spirit of Light?”
Recently, Eres had been unable to visit Earth while defending Telus from the Manager, so I suspected whether a newly born Spirit of Light had come to Earth in the meantime.
“That’s not it. If a Spirit from another world had crossed over and wielded such power, the Manager’s Gates would have multiplied first.”
“Then what is it? The sun can’t just suddenly become hotter on its own, can it?”
I rushed back to the Research Facility, and after Jae-in completed her investigation, I confirmed that my suspicion was indeed true.
“It’s not just the sun. All thermal reaction efficiency has increased by approximately 13 percent.”
“13 percent? That’s barely a rise, isn’t it?”
“A 13 percent increase in thermal efficiency is an enormous figure. The sun increased by 13%, yet Earth’s temperature has only risen this much—that’s a miracle. Though it may rise further from now on.”
“Then the same applies to the ground level?”
“Power plants seem to have dismissed it as a measurement error, but it’s certain. I’ve verified it multiple times. Power plants are producing more heat with less fuel, and vehicles are consuming less oil.”
“How could thermal reactions increase across the entire world?”
“That’s…”
Even Jae-in couldn’t figure it out.
“I can answer that for you.”
“Huh? Baldri?”
“I’ve been looking for you for a while.”
Baldri entered the Research Facility.
“…But why is everyone in swimwear?”
“Oh, we came back suddenly from vacation. But Baldri, you know the reason?”
“Yes. It’s likely the Spirits are the cause. Especially the Fire Spirits.”
Everyone’s gaze turned toward Baldri.
“The Spirits in the Spirit Realm lend their power, which is why fire, water, earth, and wind gain their strength.”
“But why suddenly? Did the Fire Spirits get angry or something?”
“I think it’s the opposite. The Fire Spirits are showing interest in this world. As a result, the power of fire has strengthened, while the power of water has weakened.”
“Alright. So how do we stop it?”
Ji-seok cracked his knuckles, burning with resolve. He’d already defeated Metatron and blocked the Manager—his confidence had reached its peak. He was certain he could blow away some Spirits in a single strike.
“…You can’t stop it.”
“What?”
“Spirits don’t exist in this dimension.”
“I can just go to the Spirit Realm, can’t I?”
“Humans cannot enter the Spirit Realm.”
“I’ve been to Heaven and the Demon Realm—why couldn’t I go to the Spirit Realm?”
“You can’t.”
Baldri was resolute.
“Then what about you?”
“If I spiritualize, I can go. But if a Spirit King-class is involved, I’m just a mere spirit mage—going there won’t solve anything.”
“So what? Are we supposed to just watch Earth boil away like this?”
Baldri pressed her lips firmly shut.
“W-water… I need…”
Gaia murmured deliriously, her consciousness slipping away from the heat. Though I had cooled her down, it was futile—the Earth itself was growing hotter, and chilling her avatar’s body accomplished little.
“Gaia. Are you alright?”
“Water… please…”
Bae Na-young offered her cold water, but Gaia didn’t seem to want to drink it.
“You need to tell us what you mean. What do you want us to do with water?”
“The Earth can’t stay like this. The temperature is rising by one degree every single day.”
“But we can’t exactly cool down the sun, can we?”
At Jae-in’s words, Bae Na-young rested her chin in her hand, lost in thought.
“What if we just block it?”
At Ji-seok’s suggestion, everyone turned to look at him.
* * *
“The chairman has such a refreshingly simple mind.”
“Jae-in, are you insulting me indirectly?”
“How could I possibly insult someone who’s spreading branches across the entire planet to create shade near the equator?”
Green’s sprawling branches twisted and intertwined with one another beyond Earth’s atmosphere.
“The shadow keeps growing!”
It was as though we’d placed a parasol over the entire Earth.
“If the temperature drops too much, I’ll widen the gaps to regulate it.”
“Chairman, this is only a temporary measure.”
“Why?”
“The sun’s reactivity is increasing. Temperatures will continue to rise, electromagnetic interference will intensify, and we can’t ignore the radiation damage either.”
Ultimately, we had to solve the Spirit Realm’s problem.
Everyone’s gaze turned to Baldri—the only one among us who held the answer.

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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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