Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 28

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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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28
“Someone’s putting pressure from above. Reports against Hunters are common, but it’s unheard of to suspend them before even investigating. Plus, since Lee Ji-seok clears Gates so frequently and grows so rapidly, suspending him must have seemed convenient.”
“Is clearing many Gates a crime?”
Yang President asked in disbelief.
“Of course not. But clearing dozens of times more than other Awakened—and mostly solo at that—isn’t typical. Moreover, there’s no precedent in Korean Hunter history of someone rising from F-rank skills to C-rank in just a few months. It wouldn’t have been difficult to suspend you.”
“So what should we do?”
I asked Baek Young-shin.
“First, hire a lawyer. I’ll look into it internally too. Since there’s only suspicion and no evidence, it should be resolved quickly.”
“How quickly would that be?”
“Well… I’m not sure. This is my first time dealing with something like this.”
“I know a lawyer. But I suppose I’ll need to take time off work.”
Yang President spoke with reluctance, but I caught the smile of an office worker who’d just gotten an unexpected vacation. Taking this opportunity to rest and organize my house wasn’t a bad idea.
“If you don’t want to wait, I’m going on an extermination mission tomorrow. Come with me.”
Baek Young-shin suggested.
“Can I go while my license is suspended?”
Yang President asked in surprise.
“I can’t do much about complaints or reports since they’re handled by a different department, but extermination is my responsibility, so I can pull some strings. What do you say?”
“I’ll go. President, you come too.”
When I said I was going, Yang President, who’d been planning to rest for the first time in a while, shook his head.
“Then I’ll send the details by email.”
Bae Na-young and Yang Sang-heon ended up coming too. I told Bae Na-young to rest since her mother had only recently recovered, but she insisted on coming, eager to pay off her debt quickly.
Yang Sang-heon simply said he’d come.
* * *
“I extend my sincere gratitude to all the Awakened participating in today’s extermination mission. I’m Baek Young-shin, in charge of this operation.”
Baek Young-shin stepped onto the platform and began speaking.
“This Walking Tree hunt will proceed over the next seven days. The mountains are dangerous at night, so unless you have special skills, please rest today and begin hunting from morning. The habitual spawn zones and characteristics have been posted on the status board and Hunter App for your reference.”
Baek Young-shin pointed to the large scoreboard and the map beside it.
The content was identical to what he’d said during the Hellhound extermination. It seemed he had a standard speech after doing this so many times.
“Bae Na-young, you practice your new skills with me. Yang Sang-heon, move with the Guild members and provide protection.”
Since Bae Na-young’s skills required it, Yang Sang-heon couldn’t accompany us. And we needed a Hunter to protect the Guild members we’d brought for collection from Walking Tree attacks—Yang Sang-heon was more than sufficient.
“Hyung, what’s that outfit? It’s too thin for armor, and it doesn’t look like regular clothes either.”
Yang Sang-heon asked, seeing my new armor.
“It kept tearing, so I had a new one made. Something that doesn’t tear easily.”
“It looks cool.”
Bae Na-young commented on the new armor. Now she wouldn’t have to blush seeing me without clothes anymore.
“Thanks. Shall we go?”
When I extended my hand, Bae Na-young naturally leaned into me.
“Wait? When did you two become that close?”
As I lifted Bae Na-young, Yang Sang-heon’s eyes went wide as saucers.
“Huh? What? Oh, carrying her? I’m just fast when I run.”
As I spoke, Bae Na-young’s face flushed red with embarrassment.
“No…. But you’re carrying a woman like that while running?”
“Shut it. Hunt and send me the location, then just handle the retrieval.”
Ignoring Yang Sang-heon’s words, I dashed into the forest.
Though I ran through the woods at high speed, Bae Na-young had grown accustomed by now, her eyes wide and alert as she gazed ahead.
I ran at a comfortable pace while expanding my senses in all directions.
“There.”
Found it.
Walking Trees can camouflage themselves to resemble nearby trees, making them generally difficult to locate.
Within a Gate, without a Hunter capable of tracking, distinguishing between ordinary trees and Walking Trees becomes nearly impossible. One could brute-force it by plucking leaves one by one or scraping bark with a blade, but approaching defensively like that is dangerous and consumes far too much time.
Outside the Gate, thermal imaging cameras make detection easier, though progress inevitably slows.
I needed none of that—I found it through pure sensation. As I brushed past, I felt a sticky killing intent, and I examined that area. By their scent and subtly different texture, I could recognize a Walking Tree.
One might wonder what life a tree could have, but Walking Trees aren’t trees at all. They’re merely monsters shaped like trees.
“Bae Na-young, is Corruption your skill? Is it also an area-of-effect skill?”
“Yes….”
Bae Na-young replied, lowering her head.
“Try concentrating. You should be able to use it on a single target as well.”
“Can you really do that just by concentrating?”
“It’s not easy, certainly. But there are rare cases where someone has succeeded in artificially evolving a skill. Don’t you think it’s worth attempting?”
“Really? I’ll try.”
Bae Na-young gripped her wand tightly and aimed at the tree I’d indicated. She desired skill advancement more than anyone.
“Corruption.”
As Bae Na-young whispered the skill’s name, grass withered and leaves fell in a radius around her.
The effect began reaching me as well. My body felt like it was rotting, corroding—my skin crumbling as damage poured in, yet simultaneously regenerating.
If Blind was mental exhaustion, Corruption inflicted physical deterioration.
“Imagery is crucial. Don’t imagine the curse spreading in a circle—visualize it flying in a straight line toward your target.”
After offering Bae Na-young this advice, she nodded and focused forward.
The plants, having no legs, simply withered under Bae Na-young’s curse, while small animals and insects fled from her, scattering away.
Crack.
The tree we’d been watching uprooted itself and began walking toward us. Its camouflaged face became visible.
A Walking Tree.
“Grrrrr!”
The Walking Tree convulsed in pain as Bae Na-young’s curse struck it.
Despite its tree-like appearance, the Walking Tree approached at tremendous speed.
“Focus. You can do this.”
I stood directly beside Bae Na-young and spoke.
“Yes….”
Cold sweat dripped from Bae Na-young’s forehead. A Walking Tree well over three meters tall was bearing down on her from the front, as if about to devour her.
Corruption is a fearsome skill, but it has the drawback of requiring prolonged, stationary exposure.
However, if she concentrated that vast area-of-effect range onto a single target, the attack power would surely increase.
Thwack!
The arm that resembled a branch of the Walking Tree sharpened into a spike and thrust toward Bae Na-young.
I caught it. The pointed branch of the Walking Tree stopped just one centimeter before Bae Na-young’s eyes.
“Well done. Now step back. Keep using Corruption.”
You can’t be satisfied on the first try. Yang Sang-heon had been beaten by me for over a week and only made slight progress.
Bae Na-young retreated, and I kicked the Walking Tree’s trunk, grasping and tearing off its branches.
Semi-transparent tree sap-like blood scattered across the ground.
“Krraaahhh!”
A terrible shriek erupted from the creature’s mouth, and all its branches thrust toward me.
The Walking Tree wasn’t particularly high in attack or defense power for an E-rank, but unlike other monsters with only two hands, all those branches were hands and means of attack.
Since the branches couldn’t pierce my body, I took the incoming strikes head-on while striking the trunk with a sweeping blow.
With a thwack, a portion of the trunk flew off.
“Krrgh….”
I threw another punch at the staggering creature, breaking its waist.
“Are you alright?”
After confirming the Walking Tree was dead, I turned around to look at Bae Na-young.
“I’m fine.”
She seemed startled by the pointed branch stopping right before her eyes, but she’d grown somewhat accustomed to combat by now, and her trust in me meant her fighting spirit hadn’t diminished.
“Shall we continue then?”
I spent about two hours finding Walking Trees, using Corruption, and saving Bae Na-young just before she got pierced. As she kept taking the Corruption skill and regenerating, the newly regenerated parts no longer took meaningful damage from the Corruption skill.
While training Bae Na-young, my own abilities were also clearly improving.
Finding another Walking Tree, Bae Na-young cast her skill.
“Bae Na-young….”
“Yes?”
“Look around you.”
The Corruption that had been spreading in a circle from Bae Na-young’s center was now extending like a path directly toward the Walking Tree. The range was clearly longer than when it was circular, and the damage to the Walking Tree appeared greater as well.
Since it wasn’t circular, it didn’t affect me.
“Oh… my goodness….”
Her concentration broke for a moment and the skill dissipated.
“Step back and rest for a bit.”
I stepped forward and easily dealt with the approaching Walking Tree, then returned to Bae Na-young.
“I’m sorry… I honestly wasn’t sure if this would work.”
It’s natural to have doubts. Yang Sang-heon didn’t exactly train with me brimming with confidence either.
“It’s fine. I didn’t expect to see results this quickly either.”
I’m no villain who made Hunters tremble in fear in my past life for nothing. Even I didn’t expect to see results in just two hours.
Only a rare few people awaken, and among them, only a small number see their skill levels rise after long periods of training. Yet to see results in a single day—her talent is extraordinary.
“Yes. It’s not perfect yet, but I feel like I’m grasping something. Just a little… just a little more and I think I can do it.”
Bae Na-young, who had been stressed because her curse caused harm to people, seemed to have forgotten her fatigue in the hope and exhilaration.
“Let’s go. I want to try more quickly. Now please don’t hold back until the very, very end!”
Bae Na-young, brimming with enthusiasm, stood up first and began walking.
“There’s another one over there.”
I pointed with my hand toward where the Walking Tree stood.
Bae Na-young cast her skill, and the path of Corruption extending to the Walking Tree became noticeably narrower than before.
At this rate, we might actually succeed in just one day.
“Kraaaagh~!”
The Walking Tree struck by the Corruption staggered toward us, but its speed was distinctly slower than the others as it writhed in agony.
The small branches and leaves that had sprouted as camouflage began to scatter and fall.
Sensing its impending death, it shrieked in a desperate attempt to overcome the pain as it lunged toward Bae Na-young.
Just as a branch thrust toward her eyes, she knocked it aside and shattered the Walking Tree’s trunk with a powerful kick.
“That was impressive. I didn’t expect you to improve this quickly myself.”
“More…. Let’s do more!”
“Calm down. You need to rest first. Your mana is nearly depleted, isn’t it? Your face is pale.”
“But I want to keep going while I have the momentum.”
Her face had turned ashen, yet her determination was extraordinary.
“Then at least drink this. It’s a mana recovery potion and a healing potion.”
“This…. Isn’t this expensive?”
“Your health and time are worth more, Bae Na-young. Just drink it. Consider it a gift for your skill’s progress.”
“Thank you. I’ll definitely repay you later.”
“Your happiness and well-being are reward enough for me.”
If she were to become a villain, not only would she suffer, but many others would too.
Bae Na-young’s face flushed red. She seemed to have misunderstood my words, but since my intentions weren’t malicious, it didn’t matter.

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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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