Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 38

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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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38
A breach alert had appeared on the Hunter App for a Gate that had never experienced a breach in my previous life. The year before my death in that life was plagued by constant breaches—hazy and indistinct—but this period I remember with crystalline clarity.
I don’t know the cause, but right now, the cause isn’t what matters. First, I need to contain it.
“Bae Na-young, let’s go.”
I fitted an earpiece to one ear, synced with the Hunter App. Through it, the Hunters deployed to stop the breach could communicate with each other and receive instructions from the Control Center.
“Yes.”
Bae Na-young, who understood the severity of a breach, nodded with a grave expression.
Yang Sang-heon, who wasn’t with us today, had agreed to join us at the scene.
“We’ll run there.”
“Pardon?”
“Vehicles won’t help much in a breach situation. It’s not far—we’ll run.”
I wrapped the suit around my body and scooped Bae Na-young into my arms. Then I hurled myself toward the direction of the breach.
I cut through the wind, weaving between the densely packed cars on the roads. To reach the scene in a straight line, I vaulted across building rooftops and crossed mountains.
After about fifteen minutes of wind-cutting sprints, I began hearing screams. Unfortunately, the Gate that had ruptured was not far from the Urban Area.
“Damn it….”
Fifteen minutes after the alert, and already countless monsters had poured out.
I saw a civilian about to be attacked by an Orc. Without breaking stride, I kicked the Orc’s head, sending it flying. Then I continued toward the Gate.
“Lee Ji-seok, what about those people?!”
As I rushed past the fleeing civilians toward the Gate, Bae Na-young called out.
“Blocking the Gate entrance is the priority! If I just hunt monsters here, they’ll keep pouring in endlessly!”
If I hunted monsters while running around, they’d continue flowing in and spreading in all directions—pointless. That’s why I had to first seal the Gate entrance to prevent additional monsters from entering.
And finally, a twenty-meter crimson Gate came into view. The Gate, its surroundings stained red even in the sky above, flaunted its eerie magnificence. To those unfamiliar with it, it might appear beautiful, but to anyone who’d experienced it even once, it was nothing but a nightmare.
Hundreds of monsters were pouring out before it. Unlike Gates that typically held only one or two monster types, a diverse array of creatures—from F-rank Goblins to C-rank Cerberuses—was surging forth.
At the front lines, a Hunter wielding twin blades was holding back the onslaught with his entire body. His movements were swift, but struggling against a C-rank Cerberus suggested he was at best C-rank himself.
It would have been better with party members, but the nearby Hunters were struggling against Ogres and couldn’t provide support.
Several military helicopters unleashed machine gun fire and missiles at the Gate, obliterating low-tier monsters like Goblins and Werewolves, but the number of monsters pouring from the Gate far exceeded those killed. And modern weapons had little effect against large monsters of Ogre-class and above.
Even a single A-rank Hunter would help tremendously, but unfortunately, none had arrived yet.
“Attention, Commander! I’m deploying a wide-area control spell directly in front of the Gate entrance! I’ll hold the front, so please coordinate Hunter support accordingly!”
I pressed the earpiece button and sent the message. When the operator at the Gate Management Bureau’s Control Center receives messages from Hunters, they relay only what’s relevant to the field situation to the Commander. Now it depends on the Commander and the operator.
“Bae Na-young! Wide-area Blind right at the Gate entrance!”
I set Bae Na-young on top of a building.
“Yes… yes!”
The Blind spread wide before the Gate, blinding the emerging monsters’ eyes. The numerous creatures tangled and collided with each other, some even attacking other monsters—chaos ensued. While the Blind didn’t cover the entire vast battlefield, blocking the area directly before the Gate provided tremendous assistance.
“Stay here, Bae Na-young!”
I set her down and grasped a magic stone, absorbing its energy. Using the absorbed power, I enlarged myself to five meters and charged into the monster horde. It was the largest I’d ever grown. My suit couldn’t fully contain my five-meter frame—my shoulders and arms remained exposed.
I landed while trampling monsters beneath my feet, immediately hurling an Ogre before me flying.
I left the small fry for other Hunters and soldiers to handle, targeting only mid-sized monsters of D-rank and above. The monsters in my path to the mid-tier creatures were crushed by my charge—needless to say.
I spotted the dual-wielding Hunter struggling at the front. I leaped high, smashing an Ogre beside him from above, then kicked a Cerberus next to it, sending it flying.
[Lee Dong-bin! From now on, take the left side relative to the Gate. Lee Ji-seok, who’s just enlarged and charged in, will handle the right.]
“Yes, understood!”
Lee Dong-bin, the dual-blade Hunter, answered with vigor. His expression, which had grown weary at my arrival, brightened considerably.
I cleared the large monsters surrounding Lee Dong-bin and moved to seek the next objective.
“Commander, I don’t need healing! Have the Healer support the other Hunters!”
Healing energy flowed into me as well, which I relayed to the commander through the in-ear communicator.
Under the Control Center’s direction, we finally established a defensive line before the Gate. Now that monsters couldn’t escape, all that remained was to maintain the blockade and eliminate any that slipped through.
“We can do this!”
Hope surged through the Hunters who had believed they would die here.
A Gate Break would eventually end after a certain duration. More Hunters would continue arriving, so I believed we could hold the line.
“…What…. What is that….”
A Hunter casting spells from behind the defensive line pointed upward at the Gate with a trembling finger.
A colossal head emerged from a height of approximately ten meters.
It towered far above where Bae Na-young’s Blind had been cast.
“…A…. A Troll!”
The Troll, a ten-meter colossus dragging a massive club, noticed the smaller monsters milling about beneath it in confusion. Tilting its head, it kicked them with its foot, hurling them beyond Bae Na-young’s Blind zone.
The smaller monsters were crushed, but many others were propelled outside the Blind’s area of effect.
A helicopter unleashed missiles upon the Troll.
“Roooaarrr!”
Modern weaponry proved ineffective against the B-rank Troll, though it certainly provoked its rage.
The Troll swept the ground, scooping up a handful of small monsters and earth, then hurled them toward the helicopter.
The helicopter couldn’t evade the scattered Goblins, earth, and stones. As Goblins and rocks collided with the rotors, they shattered. The helicopter lost control and plummeted among the monsters.
“Damn it….”
The defensive line we’d barely established was about to be breached by a single Troll.
The Control Center recognized the gravity of the situation. They mobilized all available mages to concentrate their spells on this threat above all others. C-rank magic left only shallow wounds on the Troll’s resilient hide, and even those healed rapidly.
To the creature, even I—enlarged to over five meters—appeared insignificant. It paid me no mind, instead charging straight toward the Temporary Command Post where Hunters and soldiers clustered together.
If I allowed this, our forces would be annihilated. I shoved aside the obstructing smaller monsters with my shoulders like a tank and pursued the Troll from behind.
I kicked off the ground and leaped onto its neck, clinging to it like a child hanging from an adult’s back.
“Krrgh?”
The creature turned to look behind, sensing the weight.
I formed a blade from the crimson aura of vitality in my fist and drove it into the Troll’s neck.
“Kraaahhh!”
The Troll thrashed in agony. However, I couldn’t generate a blade large enough to sever its thick neck completely. My vitality reserves remained insufficient.
I pulled my fist back to strike again.
With speed belying its massive frame, the Troll’s hand seized me and slammed me against the ground, crushing the monsters beneath me.
Before I could rise, the Troll’s foot came down, trampling me and the surrounding monsters. Enraged, it stomped repeatedly, as if determined to bury me in the earth.
In the chaos, the stomping suddenly ceased.
“Krooooaaahhh!!”
And the Troll’s anguished cry pierced the air.
As I pushed myself up from the ground, I saw the Troll convulsing in pain.
Watching the skin peel away from the Troll’s face, I recognized it as Bae Na-young’s Corruption. Though the Troll’s face had been afflicted by the curse, the creature—a living embodiment of vitality—regenerated the facial wound in an instant. It located Bae Na-young, who had cursed it, and charged toward her with a fury incomparable to its rage at the helicopter’s missiles.
The troll’s face had been corrupted as well, but trolls, the very embodiment of vitality, recovered from facial wounds in an instant. And it had found Bae Na-young, who had cursed it. The creature, enraged far beyond what it had been when hit by the helicopter’s missiles, charged at Bae Na-young.
“No!”
I pushed myself up, channeling aura into my fist as I drove it hard into the creature’s knee. If I couldn’t pierce through its body, I’d send the energy inward to destroy it from within. But projecting energy consumed far more than shaping it into a blade. I’d already burned through considerable vitality, yet this was no time for hesitation.
The creature’s knee bent in a direction nature never intended, and it crashed to the ground.
“We… we got it!”
One of the Hunters jumped to a hasty conclusion.
But the creature wasn’t dead. Still kneeling, it brought down a massive fist toward me.
I sidestepped the enormous blow and dove into close range. Dropping low as it knelt, I swung an aura-wrapped fist at its nose.
Its nose shattered, snapping its head backward. I’d hoped that would finish it, but I didn’t yet possess the raw power to kill a B-rank monster in a single blow.
The creature whipped its head forward again, its jaws gaping wide.
I leaped upward to evade, spinning my body in mid-air before driving my heel—wrapped in aura—down onto its skull.
Its head cracked open, slamming into the ground.
[Level increased.]
There was no time to celebrate the level-up. The enemies were still far too numerous.
I thrust my fingers into the fallen creature’s neck and drained its vitality. Defeating it was one thing, but the cost had been steep.
“This time we really got it! We won!”
The same Hunter who’d jumped to conclusions before shouted again.
And at that exact moment, Trolls began pouring out of the Gate in succession.
“Shut your mouth!”
The surrounding Hunters cursed at him in unison.
One creature had nearly exhausted us, and now five more emerged. Worse, there was no guarantee these five were the last.
I’d raised my level considerably in less than a year, but had it been enough? The regret of not pushing further gnawed at me.
But I couldn’t afford to surrender. I continued draining vitality, preparing myself for the battles ahead.
The Trolls emerging from the Gate quickly spotted their fallen companion and me standing beside it.
The horde of Trolls charging toward me with their clubs raised emanated a pressure I’d never felt even in my previous life.
“All right. Let’s see this through to the end.”
I stopped the absorption and charged toward the Troll horde myself.
The lead Troll raised its club overhead. Before it could fall, I kicked off the ground and launched myself upward, delivering a drop kick to its face.
Despite being smaller than them, I was heavy enough and far faster. The Troll reeled backward from the impact.
The next Troll swung its club at me as I stood atop the fallen one.
I rolled away quickly, and the club came down on the Troll beneath me instead.
“Grraahhh!”
The Troll, its chest caved in by a blow from its own kind, let out an agonized roar. I’d have preferred it dead, but with such grievous wounds, recovery would take time.
The remaining four Trolls fixed me with murderous intent, closing in to surround me.
Being in this awkwardly enlarged form made me an easy target. I released the transformation and weaved between their legs, kicking out with aura-infused feet at their ankles. One Troll’s leg shattered, and it fell.
When there was only one, it might have been easier to catch me. But with four trying to grab something small and fast, they only tangled themselves up.
The chaos the Trolls created caused monsters emerging from the Gate to get crushed in the process.
I managed to prevent the Trolls from reaching the Control Center, but I couldn’t land a finishing blow. To make matters worse, one of the fallen creatures got back up, bringing the count back to five.
“Damn it…”
A curse escaped my lips.
In that instant, light flashed, and a thin crack appeared across one Troll’s neck.

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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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