Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 74

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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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74
I lunged at Franklin, whose guard was wide open as he scraped blood from his face. I drove my fist into his abdomen, attempting to channel my aura inward, but it rebounded against the demonic creature’s hardened exterior without penetrating.
“Die!”
My attack snapped him back to awareness. The arm he swung had transformed into something monstrous—a grotesque claw the size of a colossal beast’s hand—and it came crashing down at me.
Three others behind him unleashed their attacks, yet he fixated solely on me. Perhaps that was fortunate. While my strikes might not land effectively, his attacks were equally failing to inflict genuine damage upon me.
I was now enveloped in a dense aura that rendered fatal wounds impossible. Minor injuries were healed instantly by drawing upon the seemingly boundless vitality flowing from my core.
Franklin and I grappled, exchanging blows until I seized his arm and threw him over. In that brief moment of his body’s descent, he unleashed a barrage of punches at my head and torso.
I slammed him to the ground and rained fists upon him, yet even as he lay pinned, he continued attacking with his enlarged monstrous hand.
Seizing the opening, I sprayed my venom directly into his face. He possessed considerable resistance to poison, but sustained toxification would still accumulate—and there was an even greater bonus to this tactic.
“Krraaagh! Not the face again!”
He charged at me with singular murderous intent, his mind consumed by rage. I met him head-on without evasion, and the moment our palms collided, I unleashed my venom once more.
“Gaaaah! You lowborn wretch! Street vermin! Spitting on my face! Your filthy blood!”
He abandoned the fight to claw frantically at his face.
Though the outer shell protected his body and prevented direct contact, the psychological shock caused the exoskeleton to ripple visibly.
Thwip.
A blade erupted from his solar plexus.
“Huh?”
He stopped scratching and looked down at his abdomen.
“Did you forget about me?”
Jung Min-gi had driven his sword through Franklin’s back.
“Wait… he pierced through my body?”
“Long-range attacks aren’t really my specialty. And your distraction from the venom—or whatever that was—made all the difference.”
“It’s not saliva.”
I brushed the dust from my body. My defensive capabilities might surpass his, yet I still couldn’t match Jung Min-gi’s singular piercing strike. The aura coating his blade was seamless and stable, as though it had been forged as one with the steel from the beginning.
“That damned creature’s tears or rain—whatever it was—kept me from getting close. This took far too long.”
“Cough…”
“Now, be done with this.”
Shing!
The blade withdrew from his abdomen.
“Dodge!”
Sono Rim’s shout coincided with Jung Min-gi creating distance.
“Sharp instincts.”
“What…”
His flank had already regenerated, and vicious claws extended from Franklin’s hand. Had Jung Min-gi remained close, he might have fallen to that unexpected strike.
“I have harvested thousands of souls. Did you truly believe a punctured abdomen would kill me? Though I suppose my reluctance to expend those souls was my own folly. I’ll grant you this—for vermin, you’re surprisingly competent.”
He released his transformation.
A Devil’s Tear materialized in his palm—but unlike the ping-pong ball-sized ones from before, this one continued expanding relentlessly.
“What do you think happens when this detonates?”
He smiled with chilling malice, gazing at the Devil’s Tear in his hand.
A single one had detonated with devastating force; if this monstrosity erupted, everything in the vicinity would be obliterated.
“Farewell.”
A Devil’s Tear roughly a meter in diameter slipped from his grasp and drifted slowly upward into the sky.
“Everyone, gather! Sono Rim! Barrier!”
I enlarged myself to shield them with my body, while Jung Min-gi’s hunter ability, his full power, and Sono Rim’s spatial distortion barrier and mana barrier formed overlapping defenses.
Then came a soft whooshing sound from above, and the air trembled slightly. And then—
KABOOOOOM!
The impact shattered my eardrums.
Seeing the shockwave reach even my back meant the barriers had been obliterated entirely, leaving only me. I wrapped my back in aura and concentrated my life force to regenerate.
The tremors and impacts from the prolonged explosion finally ceased.
When the dust settled, I saw Franklin smiling. But the smile didn’t last long.
“You… blocked that?”
My body was ravaged inside, but I’d drawn upon my core’s life force to recover, so outwardly I appeared unscathed. I’d drawn far too heavily from the core’s seemingly endless reserves, making its output feel unstable—but he didn’t know that. Just as I didn’t know where his limits lay.
“How are you even…?”
He looked at me as though I were a monster.
“Is that all?”
The surroundings had become ruins, and the other three had lost consciousness. They seemed gravely wounded from the massive impact, but their breath remained—I could deal with them later.
“…Remarkable. Very well, I acknowledge you. You are different from the other vermin. Come to the Empire. I shall grant you the rank of Count.”
“Count, my ass. You won’t come? Fine then. I will.”
As I took a step forward, he flinched.
“…You’ve exhausted yourself completely, haven’t you, spirit?”
“…”
He fell silent. Perhaps he hadn’t expected me to endure even this.
“Demon Lord! Return me to the Empire, I beseech you!”
He stretched both hands toward the sky and summoned a geometric magic circle into the void.
Clouds swirled in a perfect spiral above his palms.
I rushed forward at the ominous sensation, but the black clouds enveloping him blocked my path. Despite their cloud-like appearance, they possessed tremendous repulsive force—I couldn’t break through.
A colossal demon with enormous horns thrust its face down from the sky. Its face alone measured several meters across, making the true size of its body unfathomable.
[What is your price?]
“I… I will offer this wretch’s life!”
Franklin pointed at me.
[This one is not yours to give. If you wish to offer a sacrifice, you must take his life yourself.]
I was horrified at the thought of death being claimed so casually. If it came to that, I would truly be invincible.
“Then… then perhaps… the territory! I will offer the lives of the Empire’s subjects!”
[Their lives are not yours to give either.]
“Then what do you demand!”
[When you die, I shall claim your soul.]
“…I accept.”
Franklin gritted his teeth as he answered. He spared no expense with others’ lives, yet he clung to his own soul.
[The bargain is struck.]
A massive hand of the demon god emerged from the void and, with a flick of its index fingernail, pierced the air—and the Gate opened.
[Go.]
“…Thank you.”
“Where are you going!”
If that creature escaped and returned, it would never underestimate us or grow complacent like before. It would replenish its Devil’s Tears and meticulously plan our destruction—that much was obvious.
As I lunged forward, the creature hurled itself toward the Gate with startling speed.
The moment I seized its ankle, my eyes locked with the Evil God’s. The Evil God showed no emotion about my pursuit. Was it not protecting its servant?
Before I could resolve the question, my body was already sucked through the Gate.
On the other side lay a vast Underground Cavern. Tree roots sprawled across the ceiling and walls, spreading in all directions.
“Die!”
While I surveyed my surroundings, the creature launched a surprise attack using the few remaining Devil’s Tears.
This level was no longer beyond my capacity to block. The moment I tried to draw power from my Core, it shuddered violently.
Energy was being released far faster than I could absorb it. My Core was expelling everything it had left.
Had I pushed it too hard?
I abandoned any thought of defense and focused entirely on stabilizing my Core.
“That’s… that’s right! There’s no way someone like you created a Dragon Heart!”
Elated, the creature wielded the few remaining Devil’s Tears like iron spheres, striking me without detonating them. Unsatisfied, it unleashed flame magic—something it hadn’t used before—in a torrent.
I formed a defensive barrier with aura using the absorbed energy, but the influx of life force was overwhelming in both speed and volume. My body couldn’t endure it.
“Die!”
Oblivious to my struggle, the creature fired a Devil’s Tear sharpened to a needle’s point at the space between my brows.
Unable to move, I concentrated aura on my forehead, but the violent impact snapped my head back. In that brief moment of lost focus, my Core spiraled completely out of control.
Feeling my chest burn, I tore the Core from my body and hurled it toward Franklin.
“What?”
The creature’s face went slack as it stared at the Mana Core that had fallen at its feet.
Kuwakwakwakwaboom!
The ground and ceiling convulsed violently, and I lost all sense amid the cascading soil, tree roots, and stone.
I thought I was being buried alive, but somehow the space held. I pushed the debris from my body and rose, brushing myself clean.

And from the darkness beyond, a woman emerged. Tall and beautiful, with black hair cascading to her waist, eyes so deeply black they seemed devoid of light, and skin pale as porcelain.
She wore gossamer nightclothes that revealed her slender frame. Yet despite her fragile appearance, the aura she radiated was unlike anything I had ever encountered. Could a hundred S-rank Hunters even hope to defeat her? It would be like a hundred ants trying to topple an elephant.
“You’ve made quite a mess of someone else’s home.”
My body felt compressed. The gravity around me had multiplied dozens, hundreds of times over.
“What shall I do with you…?”
I tried to flee while she deliberated my fate, but my body wouldn’t budge.
“Tsk….”
Her black eyes, which had been fixed on me, shifted upward.
Clouds swirled at the cavern ceiling where her gaze directed, and the demon who had made a deal with Franklin poked his head through.
[Long time no see, Lazy Darkness.]
“Gaff… have you lost your mind? Setting foot in this place?”
[Calm yourself. I’ve only come to collect what is owed to me.]
As Gaff waved his hand, a black orb rose from where Franklin had exploded, entering Gaff’s grasp.
“Hmph… I’ve never seen a soul so thoroughly corrupted before.”
[It took considerable time to craft it this way.]
The demon had no intention of waiting. Whether I killed Franklin or this entity called Darkness did, the result was the same.
“You still engage in filthy deeds. Because of you, the Western Continent and Eastern Continent remain fractured even now.”
[I thought you didn’t concern yourself with human affairs?]
“Hmph. I’m merely irritated that you’ve caused such a commotion.”
[Krrkrkrk.]
An unpleasant laugh, like phlegm rattling in a throat, echoed out.
[Until we meet again, Lazy Darkness.]
Gaff disappeared into the swirling vortex, and it dissipated.
“So then… what shall I do with you?”
Her deep black eyes fixed upon me. She studied me slowly from the crown of my head to the tips of my toes.
Then she drew close, her gaze piercing into mine. Her black, fathomless eyes seemed to pull my consciousness inward. And simultaneously, it felt as though she was excavating every corner of my inner self.
She ceased her examination of me.
“You’ve destroyed someone else’s home. Surely you’re prepared for the consequences?”
Her expression was devoid of emotion, appearing languid, yet the pressure she exuded was terrifying.

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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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