Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 53

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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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53
A reptilian eye, split vertically by a vivid green iris, fixed upon me for but a moment before the Drake launched itself forward, all four limbs driving against the earth. The creature’s tonnage—easily several tons—hurtled toward me at a velocity that defied the laws of physics I had known.
The instant its claws tore at the ground, I enlarged myself. Channeling aura into my fist, I drove an uppercut toward its jaw. The recoil of my sudden growth and the force of my punch lifted the creature’s upper body, yet to my surprise, the impact seemed negligible. Those thick scales remained unbroken beneath my assault.
As its head descended, its maw opened wide.
Seeing the razor-sharp teeth bearing down on me, I retreated, creating distance. A memory surfaced—the whale that had swallowed me whole.
As I fell back, the Drake’s massive tail swept toward me. The thickest portion of that tail exceeded two meters in diameter. It whipped through the air with the speed of a lash.
I caught the incoming tail with my entire body, absorbing its momentum, but the impact sent me sliding backward. Soil and small trees collided with me as I was driven down, yet I refused to release my grip.
When I finally came to a halt, I seized the tail with crushing force and, as if performing a throw, drove it downward against the earth with all my might.
Boom!
The impact was so tremendous the mountain itself trembled.
Still the creature’s tail thrashed. I grasped it and struck left and right repeatedly, shaking off dust as one might from a cloth, before channeling my full power into one final slam against the ground.
The Drake did not rise immediately from the impact, yet it was not dead, and those scales remained pristine and unmarred.
“What kind of absurdly durable creature is this?”
It was no B-rank monster for nothing. While Trolls were renowned for their regenerative prowess, this beast simply refused to take damage.
It shook its head, regaining its senses, and charged at me once more.
Again I infused my fist with aura—this time far more than before, channeling forty percent of my maximum life force into the blow. Such power demanded considerable reserves, making it a technique I could not employ repeatedly. I drove my fist into its snout and released the accumulated life force into its body.
Thud!
With a heavy sound, the Drake’s nose caved inward as the aura projectile tore through its internal organs. Yet even so, those scales bore no significant wound. I had never encountered anything so impervious. Those scales and hide were truly covetable.
Expending my life force so recklessly had drained me. I released my enlarged form and, approaching the Drake’s limp body, flipped it over to extract the mana stone.
“Hmm?”
Four Hunters burst from the forest. All bore the marks of having traversed the woods for some time—their appearance was disheveled. These unknown Hunters alternated their gaze between the Drake and me.
From among them, one who appeared to be their leader stepped forward. He was in better condition than the others. Broad-shouldered with dark skin, his sharp features conveyed an aura distinctly different from his three companions. He wielded axes with slightly elongated handles in both hands—weapons that appeared to be at least A-rank.
“That creature is ours. We’ve already claimed it. Step back and leave quietly.”
The Axe Wielder extended one of his axes toward me as he spoke. His accent was peculiar—like a rural person attempting to speak Seoul dialect.
“Are you a surviving North Korean resident?”
“And you—are you from South Korea? What brings you this far north?”
“You didn’t know? South Korea is currently mobilizing a massive operation to reclaim North Korean Territory.”
“…Who gave you the right to claim this land?”
“We were unaware of your existence. If you wish, I can connect you with the Korean Government.”
“Why would we? Aren’t you just trying to steal what’s ours?”
“I’m not a government official, so I don’t know the details. The choice is yours—negotiate, flee, or fight.”
He did not back down, his gaze fixed upon me.
“Today, we’ll take our prey and withdraw.”
He sheathed his axe at his waist.
“I’ll give you the mana stone, but leave the byproducts behind.”
Without knowing how far the Korean military and Hunters had advanced, he would not wish to fight a Hunter who had dispatched a Drake they had failed to kill. Besides, he had not witnessed how I defeated it.
“Tch… Fine.”
Though he ground his teeth in frustration, I considered giving up the mana stone a considerable concession on my part.
His companions drew their swords and attempted to cut open the Drake’s belly, but the scales were so impervious the blades could not penetrate.
“Tsk. Move aside.”
The leader who had been watching approached and poured aura into the axe. Then compressed it. The refined crimson aura wrapped around the blade with sharp precision—a power greater than my own aura, crudely forged from raw life force.

Whether he used a skill or not, he alternated between the two axes, slashing the same point repeatedly. The speed accelerated, and after striking the same spot dozens of times in succession, the scales on the chest cracked open, revealing red flesh beneath.
Normally, the belly of such monsters is softer, but even with refined aura-wrapped axes striking dozens of times, the scales only now split. The more I look at those scales, the more I covet them. Could a hunter like Jung Min-gi split them in one stroke?
The Axe Wielder seemed poorly matched against a drake with such solid armor, but judging by that speed and aura, he would certainly be formidable against humans or other monsters. The fact that he wielded aura itself meant he had entered S-rank.
Of course, he would be at the lower end of S-rank. Beyond S-rank, it becomes difficult to distinguish grades further, so they’re all simply called S-rank, but even among the same S-rank, there are differences in ability.
Helen was also classified as S-rank because of her unique skill, but judging purely by combat power and physical ability, she too was at the lower end of S-rank, bordering on A-rank.
“You’ll need to make a decision quickly.”
I told them as they struggled to extract the large magic stone through the narrow gap. They left without answering, disappearing into the forest.
Once their presence faded beyond perception, I enlarged myself, hoisted the drake onto my shoulder, and returned to Base Camp.
“You… caught that?”
Bae Na-young asked, looking at the drake I had brought back.
“I did.”
“What about the others?”
“Didn’t catch many. Around three hundred?”
“Wow! I won!”
“How many did you catch?”
“I reached a thousand.”
“…That’s impressive.”
If Bae Na-young spent just one month roaming around, couldn’t she wipe out all the common monsters in North Korean Territory?
“I deliberately chose areas with only weak ones. I’ll grant you a wish later.”
“Alright. What kind of wish?”
“Let me think about it.”
As I discussed hunting results with Bae Na-young, Yang Sang-heon and Oh Brothers returned. They had gone out on a small mountain ATV and motorcycle, and judging by their disheveled appearance, they’d had quite the ordeal.
“What is that?”
Yang Sang-heon pointed at the drake without even looking surprised.
“My spoils. How many did you two catch combined?”
“Well… you’ll be quite shocked. We caught four hundred!”
Yang Sang-heon and Oh Brothers spoke proudly, puffing out their chests. Seeing ant fluid smeared on their clothes, it seemed they had desperately hunted only the easy ants. So they wanted tomorrow off that badly?
“Good work. You caught more than me.”
“More than you?”
“Yeah. Bae Na-young caught a thousand.”
Yang Sang-heon and Oh Brothers dropped to their knees on the ground.
“Look forward to tomorrow’s training.”
Then Yang Sang-heon and Oh Brothers collapsed onto the ground as if their strength had drained away.
* * *
While Bae Na-young prepared dinner, I called Director.
“A North Korean hunter?”
“That’s what it seemed like. I’ll send you the coordinates where we encountered them. I’m not sure if they came down to hunt or if they have a residence nearby.”
I relayed to Director the appearance and abilities of those I had seen.
“Hmm… I hope there won’t be any conflicts. Understood. Thank you for the report. I’ll send people shortly.”
* * *
Training began on the third day.
Yang Sang-heon handled the mornings, drilling the Oh Brothers, while I took over the afternoons. As a result, mornings were just warm-ups, and afternoons were hellish training. I considered letting Bae Na-young take a turn, but she sometimes loses control and might push things too far, so I decided against it.
“Today, you don’t rest until you accumulate 500 points. F-rank monsters give 1 point, E-rank give 2 points, D-rank give 5 points. Now, let’s go.”
I watched the Oh Brothers hunt from a distance, firing aura with my fingers. I compressed and refined it further, imagining how the Axe Wielder had used aura yesterday. I needed to reduce waste.
Even while hunting the Drake, I’d wasted too much life force. I’d put on a strong front, but if I’d fought the Axe Wielder yesterday, I wouldn’t have been able to engage in proper combat.
The Oh Brothers were surrounded by dozens of goblins, and by now they’d all skillfully found their positions. Protecting Chang-hee, the ranged dealer, while herding the goblins wasn’t entirely unsatisfactory.
However, the excitement from their abilities developing slightly with each level didn’t last long. Exhaustion from lack of stamina and mana, combined with consecutive days of combat, slowed their hunting pace.
“At this rate, you won’t finish even by tomorrow.”
Today’s quota was five hundred, but they’d only managed two hundred. The sun was already nearly setting.
“Ugh!”
Yu President was repeatedly stabbed in the gaps of his armor by the goblins. One advantage of gigantification was that enemy weapons felt relatively small. The goblins’ short swords, already tiny, were now barely the size of a silver-decorated sword to Yu President. Yet the pain was no less, so his screams continued unabated.
Later, I’d prepare armor designed for gigantification warriors. I deliberately didn’t give items from the start because relying on equipment from the beginning would prevent their own abilities from developing.
Yu President tried to shake off the goblins clinging to his body, but there were too many, and his stamina was reaching its limit.
Si-hwan and Min-woo rushed in to save Yu President. Because of that, it became even harder for Chang-hee to provide covering fire. No matter how accustomed he’d become to shooting monsters with curved bullets, he didn’t have the nerve to fire when his brothers were tangled together.
Jin-hyung had completely collapsed.
I had no choice but to fire aura in rapid succession, eliminating half the goblin horde, and the rest fled.
“Drink potions and recover. Rest, then we’ll start again.”
The Oh Brothers didn’t even have the energy to respond.
I continued this training daily. Normally, people don’t fight this intensely. They die. But since I watched from behind and rescued them whenever their lives were in danger, and they drank potions like water during combat, they barely managed to continue fighting.
After several days, the Oh Brothers’ combat sense finally improved somewhat, and their levels rose further. Now they could handle goblin hordes without much difficulty as a group of five, barely earning the title of F-rank Hunters.
The disappointing part was that their ability growth wasn’t as dramatic as the first day. Well, I hadn’t expected it to be that easy anyway. This mission period was quite long, so I’d gradually train them, raise their levels, and with them nearly dying multiple times a day, they’d improve. Or perhaps… they’d at least develop some grit.
After finishing training today, I returned to Base Camp.
Shortly after, Jae-in, whom I’d called, arrived at Base Camp.
“Chairman, who are these people?”
“People training with me. Thank you for coming such a long way.”
“No problem. I came comfortably in the Hwagok Collection Guild vehicle. But what’s this about?”
“Would you like to see this?”
I showed her the Drake corpse.
“Wow! A Drake! So I can make items from this?!”
Since it was such a rare monster, and I’d obtained an entire one, Jae-in’s eyes gleamed.

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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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