Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 58

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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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58
“Are you heading to Seoul again today, Goddess?”
Yang Sang-heon bowed playfully to Bae Na-young.
“That doesn’t suit you at all, Yang Sang-heon.”
Bae Na-young pouted her lips.
These days, Bae Na-young frequently traveled to Seoul to treat severe mana addiction patients. The Insurance Corporation and hospitals paid generously for her services, and the work was fulfilling—she had no reason to refuse. She still participated in subjugation missions when time allowed, but her focus had shifted heavily toward treatment.
Other Hunters worldwide possessed skills like Mana Drain, but none could absorb the microscopic mana that had seeped into the body the way Bae Na-young could.
The fact that we faced only a “person of interest” designation after defying orders and smuggling people out of North Korean Territory was largely due to Bae Na-young’s value. The government didn’t want to displease her—if she emigrated, it would be catastrophic.
“I’ll see you in a few days, oppa.”
Bae Na-young kissed my cheek.
“Have a safe trip.”
She departed in an escort vehicle sent by the Awakener Management Bureau.
“All right, let’s move out.”
“Yes, sir!”
Oh’s Group responded in unison, unusually disciplined and formal.
“…Why are you all so fired up?”
“We were moved watching you save those people.”
Yang Sang-heon answered on behalf of Oh’s Group.
“Is that so? What’s there to be moved about?”
“No, sir! Next time we’ll work even harder to be more helpful!”
“Really? You’ll work harder?”
I grinned widely.
Oh’s Group stood rigid, sweat beading on their foreheads.
“Good. Since everyone’s motivated, you’re graduating from ants and goblins. Let’s raise the difficulty.”
I tossed a box toward them.
“Whoa! This is heavy. What is it?”
“Armor that expands with your gigantification.”
The deep blue armor connected seamlessly from neck to ankle. It was constructed from interlocking rings like chainmail, but each ring was smaller than typical chain links. The rings fit snugly in their normal state, then stretched proportionally when the wearer enlarged.
“Oh… Oh wow!!”
“Keep in mind—it’s heavy even as it stretches, and when you gigantify, the gaps between rings widen, reducing defense. Be careful about that.”
It would feel heavy at first, but that was part of the training.
“Thank you!”
“Don’t thank me—it’s coming from Yu President’s earnings anyway. That stuff’s expensive.”
“Yes, sir…”
“The other four of you are getting equipment upgrades too.”
Jae-in distributed the items she’d brought, and everyone accepted their upgraded gear like children receiving birthday presents.
After equipping ourselves, we headed to today’s hunting ground. This time we’d been assigned to a mountain that Hunters typically avoided—I sensed a note of restraint in the Awakener Management Bureau’s directive. Still, mountains were better for training anyway, so I had no major complaints.
“This is a zone where canine-type monsters appear.”
“Hellhounds?”
“No, different from Hellhounds. We initially classified them as a different monster species from the Gates, but based on what Hee-chul told me, it’s highly probable that wild animals evolved after consuming monster corpses or mana-contaminated food.”
“Don’t the authorities handle monster corpses? Where would wild animals find monsters to eat?”
Yu President asked.
“You wouldn’t know since you didn’t attend the Academy. When North Korea was devastated by consecutive breakthroughs, tens of thousands of monsters poured out from the Gates. They dropped so many bombs that the terrain itself changed, all to prevent them from spreading into Korea and China. So you could say monster corpses were scattered across all of North Korean Territory.”
“Ah, so they evolved by consuming those corpses?”
“Exactly. Most likely, the majority died from mana poisoning, some adapted to mana without change, and a tiny fraction of animals actually evolved. And when animals and plants that died from mana poisoning are consumed, the same process repeats. Animals with massive populations like ants have an even easier time with this evolution. If just one out of ten thousand adapts and then reproduces, the numbers explode exponentially.”
“That makes sense for North Korea. At least Korea handles it well, so we’re fortunate.”
Yang Sang-heon nodded in agreement.
“Well, thinking about it now, incineration isn’t a perfect solution either. Where does the burned material go? Since mana doesn’t completely combust, it disperses into the air. There’s a reason mana poisoning patients increase every year. As long as Gates exist, the spread of mana across Earth is an inescapable fate.”
The monster that attacked me in the sea might have grown so large by consuming monsters that drifted into the ocean or contaminated prey.
Humanity might face extinction unless we evolve to adapt to mana. Fortunately, the rate at which victims increase isn’t that rapid, so if we slowly adapt to mana over several generations, we can minimize the damage.
Everyone fell silent, lost in thought. Had I frightened them too much?
“Worrying won’t change anything. Let’s focus on our work.”
I clapped my hands to gather everyone’s attention.
“The wolves we’re hunting today are dangerous animals even in their wild state. Needless to say, the monsterified ones are far more dangerous. Keep that in mind—today’s hunt proceeds under Yang Sang-heon’s command.”
I stepped back and watched as Yang Sang-heon and Oh Brothers conducted the hunt.
“Drive them more toward the center! Don’t let them surround us!”
For a C-rank Hunter like Yang Sang-heon, E-rank wolves were easy prey, but commanding Oh Brothers meant he had much more to manage than fighting alone. His movements seemed more frantic because of it. The beginning was a bit rough, but Yang Sang-heon’s excellent leadership and frontline positioning quickly stabilized their formation. I plan to entrust him with leadership roles like this often. The gap between Oh Brothers and me is simply too vast for me to carry them.
Now I need to do my part. With so much I’ll need to prevent in the future, I can’t afford to be held back by the Axe Wielder, who would’ve died in a few years anyway if left alone.
I need to grow stronger.
I ventured deeper into the Mountain Range, searching for something as powerful as a Drake.
The large Hellhound I’d defeated before was deep in the mountains too, so there might be something here as well.
In Gangwon Province’s treacherous Mountain Range, there wasn’t a trace of human presence.
“Did Korea have trees this massive?”
Korea had far fewer large trees compared to the West, but North Korea’s Forest was filled with ancient giants so thick I couldn’t wrap my arms around them and towering dozens of meters high.
The ecosystem was being completely overturned by mana’s influence.
While admiring the trees, I searched the Forest but found no large monsters—only small ones scattered about.
A sudden thought struck me: there probably wouldn’t be small fry near a powerful creature. I opened the app and checked the markers I’d placed so far, then moved in the direction where monsters were sparse rather than abundant.
Scritch-scritch! Scritch-scritch!
Something was scratching against a tree. Hearing a sound I’d never encountered before, I approached it.
A tiger stood on its hind legs, clawing at the tree trunk.
The creature sensed my presence and whipped its head around.
“A bear?”
I’d thought it was a tiger because of the yellow stripes, but its appearance was unmistakably that of a bear.
Scattered around were fragments of Giant Ants, so I suspected it had grown so massive by consuming ants or these abnormally gigantic tree fruits.
“Is it… a hybrid of something?”
Its build was more agile than a normal bear, but its size was already far beyond that of an ordinary one. When it stood against the tree, it was at least six meters tall.
Roooarrr!
“The roar is definitely a bear’s.”
Despite its weight class surpassing bears, it moved as fluidly as a tiger, bounding between trees and approaching rapidly. Of course, it was slower than a Drake’s charge.
“Let’s see what you’ve got!”
Seeing the bear charge at me, I enlarged myself as well. It stood on its hind legs and swung its front paws, while I wrapped armor around my arms and threw a hook at its head.
I wasn’t certain the armor would manifest when I enlarged, but fortunately it did. Still, it was disappointing that only my arms could be covered.
My fist and its front paw crossed paths. Its massive claws raked across my face. For these claws to scratch my skin, which could even stop bullets—they were no ordinary talons. To destroy a body infused with mana, one needed something infused with mana.
The moment the claws passed, the wounds on my face regenerated. The speed of regeneration was so fast that to the bear, it would appear as though I hadn’t been wounded at all.
Meanwhile, the bear’s face rippled like water from the impact. But true to its massive frame, it immediately lashed out with its other front paw at my face.
I didn’t mind this straightforward kind of fight. I lowered my center of gravity and locked my lower body firmly in place. Rather than dodging the bear’s incoming paw, I met it head-on while throwing my own punch. Each time it swung its paw, I swung my armor-clad fist in return.
Boom, boom—the sounds rang out fast and rhythmically across the mountain. After exchanging five punches, the bear staggered and collapsed to the ground.
“Tsk… So this is only C-rank level?”
I hadn’t even infused aura into my fists yet.
The bear shook its head to regain its senses and charged at me again.
I infused aura into the armor, wrapping the fist section thinly. The life force wrapped around the armor was much thinner than before, but I could instinctively feel that this newly acquired armor, having absorbed the aura without waste, was far more powerful.
I drove my fist straight into the bear’s head, and it exploded, vanishing without a trace.
The power had definitely increased compared to before, but to test the exact extent of that power, I’d have no choice but to fight a similar opponent again.
I absorbed the fallen creature’s life force to replenish what I’d expended, mined the mana stone, and left a marker. Those sharp claws would fetch a good price, and they’d certainly be useful for ecological research. Recovery would be difficult in these deep mountains, but that was the Awakener Management Bureau’s problem to handle.
While searching for monsters on the level of Drakes and tiger-striped bears, I received a call from the Awakener Management Bureau’s command center.
“Yes, this is Lee Ji-seok.”
[Lee Ji-seok, we’d like to request emergency support. Do you have time right now?]
“Go ahead.”
[We have missing persons and need a search. The Director recommended you.]
“Understood. I’ll head to the scene right away. Please send me the details.”
I opened the file sent from the Awakener Management Bureau.
D-rank Hunters had gone out to hunt Mad Bulls and never returned.
A Mad Bull is a bovine monster about four meters long with two pairs of horns. Despite its size and strength, it only uses simple, linear attacks, so it’s classified as E-rank.
The hunting method is straightforward. A fast-footed Hunter draws its attention and runs in a large circle. Then distant allies attack with ranged attacks. Until it dies, the Mad Bull only chases the person it initially targeted—as long as they remain in sight.
For such an easy opponent to take down a D-rank Hunter party seemed odd.
I confirmed the coordinates and arrived at the target location, dealing with monsters I encountered along the way.
I tracked the GPS signal using the app. The Awakener Management Bureau distributed GPS trackers to all Hunters participating in extermination operations—useful devices that allow location tracking and can send distress signals when a button is pressed in emergencies.
After following the GPS signal for a while, I stopped. The smell—it was the smell of human blood.
Following the scent, I quickly found traces of the Hunters.
Their bodies were severely mutilated, as if devoured by monsters, and some were in pieces. Unable to identify their faces, I searched through their equipment.
A spear, a bow, and a wand—all broken. This was definitely the three-person Hunter party I was looking for. There had been no other reports of missing parties with this combination.
I examined the surrounding area further.
Mad Bull footprints were scattered everywhere, so I knew they’d hunted the Mad Bull. But could they have been overwhelmed by it? The number of tracks suggested multiple Mad Bulls. If they were uncertain, why provoke them in the first place? D-rank Hunters aren’t strong, but they’ve moved past the beginner stage. They don’t make the basic mistake of misjudging their opponent’s or their own abilities.
Moreover, they couldn’t even send a distress signal, and all three were taken down simultaneously? Something’s wrong here.

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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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