Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 63

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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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63
The Axe Wielder, having lost one arm and shattered a leg, rolled across the floor.
“There won’t be a second chance. I’ll kill you and ask your subordinate instead.”
I pointed at the Technician trembling behind the Axe Wielder. There was no way that brute could operate such a complex machine—the Technician must have assisted him.
“Where’s the Elixir?”
“H-here….”
He pulled out an inferior-grade Elixir he’d hidden in his chest. I’d suspected he had one after seeing him carefully preserve his arm while fleeing. Had he gone to a Doctor or Healer, he could have used it immediately, but he’d wasted time using bombs against me instead. Even if it were a superior-grade Elixir, an inferior one wouldn’t regenerate severed limbs like it would for me.
I seized his Elixir, verified it wasn’t poison by letting a drop touch my lips, then fed it to Bae Na-young.
“I… I surrender. I won’t resist.”
He raised his remaining hand.
“Turn me over to the Korean Government! I’ll even help you control New North Korea.”
I wasn’t sure how New North Korea operated, but killing the Supreme Leader would certainly provoke resistance from some quarters.
The Korean Government would want him alive.
But.
“You should have known your limits.”
I planted my foot on his chest.
“Wait!! If you kill me, my subordinates will—!”
Crack.
I drove my weight down, crushing his ribcage.
[Level increased.]
“Ugh….”
When I turned around, the Technician averted his gaze.
I left the Bunker and headed toward the Korean military positions to confirm Bae Na-young was fully recovered despite the Elixir.
* * *
Director Baek Young-shin greeted a man in a Chinese PLA uniform. Unlike the crisp military garb, the figure wearing it possessed an enormous frame that suggested he’d never exercised in his life.
“Welcome.”
Director Baek Young-shin’s words were conveyed to the Chinese Diplomat through an interpreter, and vice versa.
“I’m busy. Let’s finish this quickly.”
Without walking far, he sat down breathlessly, offering no proper greeting. His attitude even at a state-level negotiation revealed China’s view of Korea. No matter how much China had weakened compared to before, its military power still exceeded Korea’s.
“Ahem… Last week, three Gate Breaks occurred in Korea. While Korean Hunters desperately resisted, terrorist acts targeting Korean Hunters took place. Today, I’ve requested this meeting to discuss the responsibility of one Chinese Hunter among those terrorists.”
Though speaking calmly, veins bulged across Director Baek Young-shin’s forehead at the rudeness.
“Director, you should speak more clearly, yes? First, we committed no terrorism. Second, isn’t that North Korean Territory? Not Korean territory.”
The Chinese Diplomat leaned back in his chair, responding with an arrogant expression as if the matter had nothing to do with him.
“Wasn’t the agreement to recognize North Korean Territory as Korean already concluded ten years ago?”
“Circumstances ten years ago and now are different, are they not?”
“Are you breaking the agreement?”
“Why speak of such frightening things? The agreement was made to suit conditions at that time, and since circumstances have changed, naturally we must discuss it again. And do you have proof our Hunter did this?”
“Among Easterners, is there another S-rank Hunter who uses a long bow besides Tian Fei?”
“Anyone can use items, can’t they? You’re doing this based solely on one Hunter’s testimony of seeing a face? Can you handle the fallout from this?”
“Evidence… yes, evidence. We have it.”
“Pardon?”
Behind the Chinese Diplomat, whose small eyes had widened above his fleshy cheeks, Director Baek Young-shin displayed the video feed. The image quality wasn’t pristine, but clear enough to identify faces without difficulty.
[So, what do you want?]
The Axe Wielder asked Tian Fei.
[I want nothing. Simply prevent Korea’s advance. We cooperate to achieve that.]
The interpreter beside the Axe Wielder translated Tian Fei’s words, spoken in Chinese.
Chinese subtitles ran across the video, allowing the diplomat to understand their conversation. One could sense how much Director Baek Young-shin had ground his teeth preparing for this moment.
[You’ll help us without any compensation?]
[Sometimes it’s not about gaining compensation—it’s about preventing loss. Korea’s northward expansion is a loss for China. Do you need further reason?]
[No need. Kkhkhkh.]
“I… where’s the proof that’s actually Tian Fei?! The footage could be manipulated! It could be any hunter from another Chinese-speaking nation, couldn’t it?”
The diplomat, whose feet had begun to itch, suddenly bellowed with shameless audacity.
“Beyond the CCTV footage, fingerprints and DNA were recovered from the cup Tian Fei drank from.”
Director Baek Young-shin placed the pre-prepared evidence on the table.
“Ah, and these items have already been verified by the World Hunter Alliance. Let’s stop the excuses.”
“Kkhkhm… if you had evidence, you should have mentioned it before coming…”
The Chinese Diplomat’s arrogant posture straightened slightly. The Awakener Management Bureau and the Korean Government had kept the information classified until the final moment. Revealing it prematurely would have allowed China to prepare a response or fabricate excuses.
“Well then, shall we discuss compensation? Including what you just tried to deny.”
The Director’s face was full of smiles while the Chinese Diplomat sweated profusely.
No matter how much China overwhelmed Korea in military might and hunter numbers, they couldn’t afford to antagonize the World Hunter Alliance. Being viewed unfavorably by the Alliance meant China might not receive aid in times of crisis, so the diplomat had no choice but to swallow his tears and accede to Korea’s demands.
* * *
I heard the Korean Government had extracted massive compensation from China. Apparently, high-ranking officials spent days in lengthy negotiations for this, but that’s none of my concern. I despise headaches, so I attended only the minimum required meetings.
“Chairman, did you receive a commendation?”
As I entered the Rigen Office, Jae-in asked.
“Yes. They scolded me for acting on my own, but after squeezing substantial funds from China, they gave me a commendation certificate and some money.”
“Some? They gave you quite a lot. How stingy.”
“Yes. I’ve allocated it as research funding, so I can use it freely.”
“… Is that the 5 billion that came in as research funding just now?”
“Yes.”
“Is that ‘some,’ Chairman?”
Working with such large sums at Rigen had dulled my sense of money. Besides, I don’t spend much anyway. I barely have time, and there’s little I need to do.
“My financial sense seems to be getting strange lately.”
Jae-in shook her head.
“Jae-in, have you finished analyzing the material I gave you last time?”
I asked about what mattered, since the money issue was irrelevant.
“Oh, the Mana Stone Engine Core? Yes. Mana Stone remains the primary material, and we’ve completed component analysis on the catalysts used. I’ve formulated hypotheses about the failures and prepared several alternative versions, so now we just need to run experiments.”
“The facilities are ready?”
“Set up exactly as you specified. But… are you really going to do it that way?”
“Yes. Once everything’s prepared, we start immediately.”
“I have no idea what will happen…”
* * *
A few days later, Jae-in completed her preparations, and we made our way to the experimental facility she’d set up on the West Coast.
“I’m ready.”
I spoke from inside the iron tank.
[Chairman, are you really going through with this? Seriously?]
Jae-in’s voice came through the speaker. She was positioned behind multiple layers of reinforced firewall, watching the interior of the tank through a camera.
“You worry too much. Let’s get started.”
I looked toward the camera and spoke.
Before me sat the first prototype of the mana engine Jae-in had created. To prepare for any contingency, I’d wrapped my entire body in armor and layered an aura over it to maximize my defensive capabilities.
[Sigh… I’m not sure about this either…]
Along with Jae-in’s sigh, the countdown began.
[…4, 3, 2, 1 ignition!]
A white liquid catalyst dripped into the core containing the molten crimson mana stone, mixing in, and the previously crimson mana stone solution blazed with brilliant light.
“How is it?”
[Stable so far. Currently at 5 percent of maximum projected output. I’ll increase it to 10 percent over 30 seconds.]
A humming sound accompanied the brightening glow of the mana stone, and I felt a wave of heat. Water drawn up by the pump circulated around the core, and I could hear the turbine spinning rapidly above.
[10 percent. Stable. Continuing.]
I increased the catalyst quantity, gradually raising the output.
[50 percent output achieved! Success! At this rate, we can produce electricity overwhelmingly cheaper relative to the energy and cost invested!]
“Excellent work, Jae-in…”
[Uh…? Uh…? The output is…]
I was about to congratulate her on the success when Jae-in’s voice sounded strange. Sure enough, the core blazed with blinding brilliance, the coolant boiled frantically, and the turbine spun as if it would tear itself apart.
[The output keeps rising…! 65…! 80! Executing emergency shutdown!]
Jae-in cut off the catalyst supply, but the light only grew brighter.
[Output exceeded 150 percent of projections! Still climbing! Director, get out! It’s going to explode!]
“If I leave, Jae-in dies.”
I wouldn’t die, but if this detonated, Jae-in and the other researchers outside wouldn’t survive. An explosion from a mana stone engine with output exceeding expectations would obliterate that flimsy firewall. I’d entered here specifically to prevent that.
I brought my hands to either side of the core. The sides of the core were deliberately made extremely thin so I could absorb the mana stone. With my Regeneration advancing to S-rank, my absorption efficiency had improved dramatically—the machinery between my hands and the core might as well not exist.
As I absorbed the mana stone’s energy, I felt my body flooding with vitality. The problem was, just like with the submarine, the energy poured in endlessly.
My capacity for absorbing vitality had nearly doubled compared to the submarine incident, yet it filled instantly.
“Jae-in! Cooling!”
[Fine, whatever!]
Jae-in pressed the button, and water cascaded down like a waterfall from above.
I released heat from my entire body. As my temperature climbed higher and higher, the blackened armor glowed red-hot.
The water boiled violently, obscuring my vision, but the intense light from the mana stone pierced through the bubbles.
[Director, the output is dropping! 50…! 40…! 30!]
The core stabilized, and the water drained through the outlet.
“It’s completely stable now?”
[I… think so. Still, just in case, I’ll keep collecting data.]
For the next several hours, I sat in the tank testing various core combinations. And we repeated the cycle—runaway, then stabilize, runaway, then stabilize.
[It’s successful! I can’t believe we’ve gathered this much data! Normally, the facility would have been destroyed several times over.]
Out of the dozen cores we prepared in various combinations, not a single one failed to go haywire, yet Jae-in seemed to count it as a success.
“So, is the development finished now?”
[Not that quickly… The catalyst is extremely unstable. It’s a time bomb, but we don’t know when it will detonate.]
“Then, can’t we use it as an attack bomb?”
[A bomb only makes sense if you know when it will detonate. If it explodes before you throw it, or if it doesn’t detonate long after the target time, the enemy can just throw it back at you.]
“That’s true. But what about the bomb that detonated in the bank robbery incident?”
[Boss, if this succeeds, this is a major invention worthy of at least two or three Nobel Prize categories. The power and efficiency are hundreds or thousands of times greater than those cheap mana stone bombs. There’s no comparison. This isn’t an experiment that will finish in a day or two. We’ve gathered precious data today, so we need to conduct further research to investigate where the explosion threshold is and find the optimal catalyst composition and ratio.]
“Then, let’s detonate it once.”
[Pardon?]
“You said we need to know the threshold, right? We should see how and when it detonates, shouldn’t we?”
Experiments like this are meant to end in detonation, whether by accident or on purpose.

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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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