Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 268

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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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268
“The chairman’s intimidation worked.”
Since Ji-seok attended the last meeting, the pollution emissions had decreased noticeably.
“Jae-in, isn’t ‘intimidation’ a harsh word for what happened?”
“It worked out, so that’s what matters. Good work.”
“You always make me out to be the villain. Wouldn’t it be better if you just cooperated from the start?”
“Change isn’t easy. There’s been considerable resistance in various regions. Everyone has their established way of doing things, and suddenly having to change it all at once isn’t simple.”
“I don’t like being coercive either, but Earth is literally burning up, so we have no choice. We’re providing maximum support to areas experiencing business disruptions, and we’re funding the entire transition to renewable energy.”
“Yes, we have more than enough funds extracted from developed nations.”
After the last meeting, governments and corporations worldwide had to secure massive compensation funds for the pollution they’d created.
Following Jae-in’s report came the reports from each division of Rigen and the briefings from the Korean Government’s staff.
“We’ll conclude today’s meeting here.”
People streamed out of the conference room, leaving only Ji-seok behind.
“Amy, Baldri—did this help?”
Ji-seok gazed upward, thinking of the two of them in the Spirit Realm.
* * *
Amy had created an opening leading to the Fire Realm, and the Water Spirits hurled themselves through it.
“Hey, you idiots!”
The Water Spirits threw themselves boldly through the narrow opening, but because they rushed in haphazardly, they burned up as soon as they entered.
Amy couldn’t help but curse in frustration. When she’d been playing around with Marbas during the last race, had the American people felt like this?
“We need to block their ranged attacks first!”
If the Fire Spirits had been as foolish as the Water Spirits, they would have suffered immediate counterattacks.
“Ugh!”
Amy gave up trying to communicate with the Water Spirits. She waited for the opening to grow large enough, then threw herself toward the Fire Cavern, prioritizing the snakes launching ranged attacks.
As the opening expanded, the Fire Spirits and Water Spirits clashed more violently, and with Amy’s precise support, water gradually gained the upper hand in the battle.
The color of the Fire Cavern shifted from crimson to increasingly blue.
“…I really should pay attention to military training when I go back.”
Amy reflected on her past self, who had ignored all military drills and commander education.
Whoooosh!
The Water Realm, which had been expanding gradually, suddenly spread as rapidly as a faucet turned wide open.
“What?! What’s happening?! What’s happening?!”
[Your friends are purifying the water. Fire is weakening on Earth, and the power of water is growing stronger.]
Even from a distance, Arnabel could send telepathy to anyone within the Water Realm. Every existence within the Water Realm was like something resting in the palm of his hand.
“I knew it! I knew asking Ji-seok would work!”
With the strengthened power of water, the battle was quickly resolved.
The Spirit Realm, tangled intricately at the center of the World Tree, had critical junctures, and the place they’d just captured was one of them.
“How many places are left?”
[There are still many remaining.]
“Really?”
[We were pushed back significantly before you arrived.]
“Phew… Let me push forward to the next sector.”
Amy had no time to rest. While saving her homeland was the objective, I desperately wanted to rescue Baldri as soon as possible.
In the Spirit Realm, where most inhabitants were lower-tier spirits, Amy was alone yet not alone. Countless spirits fought alongside her, and I unleashed my power wherever it mattered most.
“How are things now?”
After another battle concluded, Amy turned to Arnabel with the question.
[No significant change.]
“That can’t be right! We’ve conquered dozens of territories by now?!”
[And we’ve lost just as many. The Flame Dragon has been moving.]
“The Flame Dragon?”
[Belphar, the Flame Dragon. A direct subordinate of Ignis, the Fire Spirit King. He holds the same position as Kurban.]
“Who is Kurban?”
[Me.]
Dolphin appeared and spoke.
“Oh.”
I’d been calling him Dolphin so often that I never learned his actual name.
“You said the same position? Then Kurban can’t win?”
[Kurban is a Water Spirit specialized in command abilities. Because of that, his combat prowess isn’t exceptional. Belphar, the Flame Dragon, on the other hand, possesses nothing but raw combat power and destructive instinct.]
“I’ll go.”
[Why rush so?]
“I need to save Baldri. My situation is different from hers—she might be struggling right now. And my friends are waiting for me on Earth.”
[Do as you wish. I don’t know where the Flame Dragon will appear. But when it does, I’ll inform you.]
“Understood.”
Amy ventured onto the battlefield and clashed with enemies dozens upon dozens of times. Fighting continuously without rest until exhaustion set in, I would retreat to Arnabel’s Heart Chamber to recover.
The orbs Arnabel created enhanced recovery; within them, wounds healed and mana was swiftly replenished.
“Aren’t you worried at all, Spirit King?”
Unlike Amy’s concern, Arnabel showed no particular reaction to the current situation.
[Worried about what?]
“You said if the Fire Spirits win, they’ll destroy everything.”
[True. Everything will be destroyed.]
“And that’s acceptable?”
[It will only be temporary. From the ashes left after the fire burns out, life will grow anew.]
“So even if all dimensions collapse, it doesn’t matter?”
[I do not desire that outcome. That is why I fight. But if that is fate, my will is irrelevant.]
“We think differently. I have to win. For my survival and for my friends to live.”
[I won’t stop you. Rather, I’m grateful for your cooperation.]
As always, Amy attacked the boundary points of the realm, creating openings through which the Water Spirits surged forward.
“You never change, do you!”
Whether water or fire, all they knew was assault.
Moving at high speed, Amy dispatched numerous Fire Spirits in rapid succession.
For some reason, the Fire Spirit side’s resistance was minimal here, and the Fire Realm began crumbling swiftly.
“Alright! This place too, now….”
The cavern wall, already transformed to the color of water, bulged inward like a balloon, and the space thinned as I glimpsed the gleaming eyes of the massive creature beyond.
“Uh…. You guys, what is that?”
Amy asked the fish-shaped spirit beside her, but received no answer—only a slow retreat backward.
The Water Spirits, who threw themselves into the Fire Cavern without fear of death, trembled in terror at the presence beyond the wall.
“…A flame dragon!”
At their reaction, Amy sensed the enemy’s presence.
The flame dragon tore through the water wall with raw force and came crashing through—like a villain bursting through the curtain of a stage.
It had the form of a dragon, but like the other spirits, its body held no substance—it was pure flame itself.
The flame dragon’s mouth, blazing with inferno, gaped wide open.
“Everyone, scatter!”
For the first time, Amy’s words reached the Water Spirits. Or rather, they instinctively fled from the flame dragon.
Through the gap where the Water Spirits split apart, a torrent of flame poured from the dragon’s maw.
Not mere fire, but liquid magma cascaded forth. The water erupted violently, boiling from an attack far hotter than any Fire Spirit assault I’d faced before.
“Why is the water exploding!”
The flames ignited and detonated like time-bombs after a delay—so I zigzagged desperately to evade.
The inferno from the flame dragon’s breath cleaved the Water Cavern in two in an instant. This junction was both the enemy’s weakness and my own. If I lost this position, victory would slip further away.
“Ah…. No! Hold the territory! Charge!”
Though Amy shouted, the terrified Water Spirits only trembled helplessly.
“Ugh!”
With Baldri and Earth at stake, I couldn’t afford to lose even a single junction. To win this territorial war between fire and earth, I had to settle things with the flame dragon.
I shaped my fingers like a gun and aimed at the flame dragon’s eyes.
Discharge-type attacks consumed enormous energy, so I’d wanted to avoid them, but the heat made it impossible to approach the flame dragon directly.
A bolt of electricity shot from my fingertips, piercing through the flame dragon’s eye.
“Huh? Its defense is weaker than I thought?”
But the hole that had opened in the flame dragon’s eye sealed shut in an instant.
Though the damage was minimal, the dragon’s rage intensified—its gaze now fixed on me.
“Kyaaaah!”
I tried to approach while dodging the inferno the flame dragon unleashed, but even brushing against its flames would cook my body—I couldn’t get close.
Unleashing electrical bolts consumed considerable energy, leaving me unable to fire many more.
“You really won’t help me at all?!”
Though I cried out, the Water Spirits trembled from the overwhelming difference in power, while the Fire Spirits crossed over into the Water Realm one by one.
“Kerrrk.”
The moment Salamander stepped forward before the flame dragon, the flame dragon swallowed Salamander whole.
“…What? An ally?!”
And the flame dragon’s inferno grew more intense after absorbing the flames. This was why enemies were scarce in this region. The flame dragon had been devouring other spirits to expand its own body.
“That!! That!! Foul play! Foul play!”
The Water Cavern’s final section was on the verge of being consumed right up to the junction. If that point broke, this entire territory would fall to them.
“Ah…. No!!”
With nowhere left to retreat, I stopped dodging and expanded my aura even larger.
It seemed impossible to stop it, but if I couldn’t capture the Flame Dragon, I wouldn’t be able to return before the situation on Earth grew worse.
“Aaaaaaahhhhh!!!”
Amy unleashed a torrent of electricity from her entire body, hurling it at the Flame Dragon.
When the Fire Spirits in front of the Flame Dragon were scattered by the electrical discharge, the dragon itself breathed flames toward Amy.
The flames and electricity collided, but Amy’s electrical power was far too weak compared to the Flame Dragon’s breath, and she was steadily pushed backward.
Amy was overextending herself—her arms crackled as her electrical transformation began to unravel.
Amy racked her mind for a solution, but none came. This was a desperate situation with no escape route left.
Then hundreds of small water projectiles struck the Flame Dragon’s cheek, cutting off its breath attack.
[He’s here. Better late than never.]
Kurban and the reinforcements had arrived.
“…At least you made it.”
Part of me wanted to curse them out, but relief overwhelmed that impulse.
[Attack.]
It was a simple command, yet Kurban’s words enabled the Water Spirits to overcome their fear of the Flame Dragon.
Kurban skillfully organized the spirits in formation and launched their assault on the dragon.
The Flame Dragon, as if annoyed by a child’s play, opened its maw wide and unleashed a torrent of flames. The Water Spirits caught in the inferno burst apart in rapid succession—pop, pop, pop—explosions echoing one after another.
“They’re too weak! Don’t you have any stronger spirits?!”
[Water heals. Fire destroys.]
“Ah! I see!”
Amy continued targeting the dragon’s eyes with electrical bolts. She was more useful than the Water Spirits who couldn’t evade—the real problem was that her electrical transformation was nearly exhausted.
“Spirit King! Help me!”
Amy called out to Arnabel, who was watching from the Heart Chamber.

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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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