Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 42

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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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42
In my past life, I had never seen the submarine in question, so I couldn’t tell if this was the right one or not.
Then there was only one option: drive every submarine out of the Accident Waters. This might draw more warships and submarines, but at least they wouldn’t be able to conduct secret experiments that way.
I approached the submarine slowly.
To the submarine’s detection system, I would appear as nothing more than a fish.
I clung to the underside of the submarine and tapped it gently with my fist, careful not to use too much force.
Thump. Thump.
I tapped in a regular pattern at first, then switched to an irregular one. Before long, I heard frantic activity from inside.
The submarine emitted a powerful high-frequency sonar so piercing it made my ears ache as it enhanced its search. Yet even so, the submarine failed to detect me.
Unable to find the source, the submarine began to surface slowly.
I swam in the same direction to avoid the propeller, then veered to the side.
I hoped this would frighten them enough that they wouldn’t come back this way again.
* * *
I returned to the Resort, but the sun still hadn’t risen. I showered first and waited for Bae Na-young to wake up.
“Hyung, why are you up so early?”
Yang Sang-heon emerged first, his face haggard—apparently yesterday’s alcohol hadn’t worn off yet.
“I don’t sleep much. I ordered coffee, so go wash up and come out.”
The smell of alcohol radiated from Yang Sang-heon as he drank water. With my heightened senses, this was unpleasant.
Jae-in also came out of her room at the sound of our conversation, looking no better than Yang Sang-heon.
Yang Sang-heon and Jae-in drank only water before heading to shower.
A short while later, after the two finished showering and were drinking coffee, Bae Na-young emerged from her room. Unlike the two who had stumbled out like zombies, she had freshened up and looked pristine.
“Did you sleep well?”
“Yes.”
Her face flushed with embarrassment as she lowered her head.
“Let’s go eat.”
I stood and took Bae Na-young’s hand, leading her forward.
“Huh? Just the two of you? What’s going on? Did you two… gack.”
“Let’s go quietly.”
I lightly pressed Yang Sang-heon’s throat as he came over to tease us.
The Cafeteria was filled with fresh seafood and premium dishes from early morning.
“If it weren’t for Ji-seok, all of this would have gone to waste.”
Na-young’s Mother marveled as she watched me eat. She said it never ceased to amaze her.
Though we were only six people, the food was enough for dozens. Still, since I consumed it all, nothing went to waste.
During the day, we ate delicious food and played in the sea. At night, I ventured into the ocean to conduct my search while enjoying the vacation. With my relationship with Bae Na-young growing closer, the vacation became even more enjoyable.
Our mothers, noticing how close Bae Na-young and I had become, were the happiest of all, watching over us. To let them relax comfortably, I purchased packages of massages and nail care services. The mothers, having their manicures and pedicures done for the first time in ages, were delighted like schoolgirls.
Several days passed, and fortunately, the submarine didn’t appear in the Accident Waters after that day.
I checked near the Accident Waters, but the sea was so vast that I couldn’t verify the entire East Coast.
I was beginning to let my guard down when the incident erupted on the last day of vacation.
I ventured out for a final search with a light heart, and near the Accident Waters, I sensed the Japanese Fleet gathered on the surface.
With an ominous feeling, I examined the seabed beneath the fleet.
As expected, a submarine lay sunken at a depth of approximately two thousand meters. A submarine that typically operated at depths of only a few hundred meters had been crushed and ruptured under the water pressure of two thousand meters.
However, seeing water bubbling from the stern of the wrecked submarine made it clear that the Mana Stone Engine—the source of this catastrophe—was still active.
I had driven it away days ago, but it stubbornly returned and continued its experiments before sinking, just as it had in my previous life. The sinking point seemed slightly different from my previous life, but there was no guarantee that an explosion here wouldn’t trigger an earthquake.
In this situation, I had no choice but to shut down the engine. If it was a Mana Stone Engine, I could absorb it myself.
I looked upward, but due to the submarine’s depth, the Japanese Fleet vessels above could only hover motionless without taking any action. If there was no interference, that worked in my favor.
As I drew closer to the submarine, the water temperature grew hotter.
From the stern of the submarine, seawater was boiling with terrifying intensity, churning and frothing.
At a depth of two thousand meters, the water pressure reaches two hundred times that of the surface. For water to boil under such extreme pressure requires an even higher temperature. Seeing it boil so violently made it clear that the engine had spiraled out of control to thousands of degrees, far exceeding hundreds.
The fact that such an intensely hot engine hadn’t yet exploded was perhaps because the frigid seawater of the Deep Sea was cooling it down.
Around it floated the wreckage of the submarine and corpses. Most of the bodies were Oriental, but there were quite a few foreigners as well. It was clearly a joint project between Japan and other nations.
I entered the submarine. My skin repeatedly burned and regenerated from the heat radiating from the engine.
Only after clearing away the obstructing metal plates and corpses did I finally discover the engine. It was already in tatters. Most of the mechanical components had fallen away, and intense light burst forth in all directions.
There were many complex-looking devices, but the actual engine core was surprisingly small. Since it was experimental, they probably hadn’t built it large from the start.
Yet this small core had caused a massive explosion and triggered an earthquake.
As I approached within arm’s reach, my body went beyond burning—it ignited and regenerated repeatedly. I shielded my face with my arm to prevent my eyes from burning.
Since my Regeneration skill had advanced to B-rank, my life force absorption rate per second had increased several times over. Moreover, I could absorb from a distance, but the efficiency dropped, so I reached toward the core for direct absorption.
My hand burned faster than it could regenerate, exposing bone as I grasped the core. Then I began absorbing.
Destruction and regeneration of my hand occurred rapidly.
Despite possessing an indomitable spirit, I felt as though the pain would make me lose consciousness. This was pain I had never experienced in either my previous life or this one. Likely no one on Earth had ever endured such pain—they would die the moment exposed to it.
My mind turned white from the extreme agony, unable to form any coherent thoughts. I simply held the core and endured the pain.
[Stamina increased by 1.]
[Indomitable Spirit skill level increased from B to A.]
[Solid Body skill level increased from B to A.]
[Stamina increased by 1.]
[Stamina increased by 1.]
My skill levels and stats surged upward as I experienced unprecedented bodily damage and pain.
For a while, the core’s runaway and my regenerative power fought in a tense standoff, but soon the scales tipped in my favor. As the Mana Stone Engine was drained of energy, its light dimmed and temperature dropped, and thanks to the absorbed life force and skill level increases, my hand fully regenerated.
I have no idea how much time passed. Due to the extreme pain, it felt subjectively like hours had elapsed.
Now the pain had largely subsided.
Yet even as I continuously absorbed life force without end, the Mana Stone Engine’s core still radiated heat.
I had already reached the limit of life force I could store.
With life force exceeding my capacity, blood vessels bulged across my entire body and I felt like a balloon about to burst, but I endured. If I gave up now, the engine might reactivate and explode.
To consume the excessive life force that had entered me, my body underwent one more evolution. I radiated heat from my entire body to expend the incoming life force.
Heat burst from my back. While not quite boiling, it felt like several hundred degrees, creating currents in the seawater.
After a few more minutes, I finally absorbed all the life force from the Mana Stone. The core’s light and heat completely vanished, leaving only a cold, cooled lump of metal.
Mana Stones vary—some contain abundant life force, others abundant mana. Fortunately, this core was the former. Had it been the latter, I would have had to throw away the remainder, but thankfully that wasn’t necessary.
Curious about how it was made, I decided to take it with me.
I hadn’t prevented the sinking as originally planned, but I had prevented the explosion. Now I just needed to return.
I had been down there too long. I surfaced to breathe.
As I ascended rapidly, I detected a school of fish heading toward me.
I initially thought it was nothing serious, but suddenly my senses sharpened. Were there really fish swimming this fast at such depths?
To be certain, I turned my head toward the dark waters and snapped my fingers repeatedly, sending out more sound waves.
My senses didn’t deceive me. I felt dozens of fish approaching from my direction—moving faster than a submarine.
These were absolutely not ordinary fish.
At this rate, we would collide before I reached the surface. I stopped ascending and braced myself for combat, staring into the dark Deep Sea.
Then something larger than my own body came into view—not a fish, but a monster. It resembled a hybrid of a shark and a manta ray.
Its massive yet streamlined body moved with terrifying speed as it rushed toward me.
I had believed myself capable of swimming faster than any creature in the ocean, but I never imagined monsters like this existed.
Escape was pointless. I shoved the reactor into my suit’s pocket and threw a punch at the creature’s head as it charged toward me.
The impact created distance between us. Since this creature was from the Deep Sea, its body was incredibly hard and barely flinched from the blow. And without anything to brace my feet against, I couldn’t put much force behind my attacks.
In that moment, other monsters lunged at me with gaping jaws.
This time, I channeled my aura into my fist and struck its nose.
Boom!
Even underwater, the sound was deafening, and a shockwave rippled outward. The creature that took the hit had its head explode.
Though one died, the remaining monsters attacked me even more ferociously.
As they passed, they slashed me with wing-like appendages and bit with shark-like teeth. Of course, neither cut nor pierced me. They were hard, but I was far harder.
Still, their numbers were extremely troublesome.
Under normal circumstances, I would dispatch them slowly, but now I needed oxygen.
Deliberating my options, I poured aura into both fists with maximum intensity. Thanks to the mana engine absorbing beyond its limits, I had more than enough vitality to spare.
When the creatures drew close, I slammed both fists together with all my strength.
A shockwave incomparably more devastating than when I struck the sea monster’s nose erupted outward.
The shockwave was so powerful that my own head snapped backward. I had never attempted this before, and the destructive force exceeded my expectations. My eardrums ruptured from the impact, but they regenerated immediately.
The creatures’ bodies flipped and they went still. Whether they were unconscious or dead, I couldn’t tell, but breathing came first.
The moment I resumed ascending, another monster was detected.
I concentrated my senses, wondering if one had remained conscious, but the size was different. The creatures I had just encountered were roughly my size, but this approaching one seemed to be roughly twenty meters long—ten times larger. Its body mass was proportionally greater as well.
Was this the parent of the one I had defeated? Or did these creatures simply grow to this size?
I shelved the question. I stopped ascending and turned to face the direction of the approaching monster. As it drew near, I readied my fist with aura, but the creature’s body revealed itself to be impossibly massive. Its gaping maw was two or three times my height. The teeth jutting savagely between its jaws were each thicker and longer than my arm.
I had expended too much vitality with the previous shockwave. With the power I had gathered now, I couldn’t kill this colossal monster in one strike. I abandoned the aura in my fists and swam backward rapidly.
But the creature, despite its size, pursued me at incredible speed. I entered its gaping maw, and its jaws snapped shut like a guillotine, swallowing me whole.

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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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