Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 75

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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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75
The woman whom Demon Gaff called Darkness deliberated over how to treat me.
“My apologies. I shall correct it.”
I didn’t know where this place was or what that woman’s true nature might be, but I understood well enough that I couldn’t afford to displease her.
“Is that so? How?”
I’d promised to fix it, but the original space was so devastated that I couldn’t even recall its former shape. If not for the tangled roots hanging down, it would have collapsed entirely. These weren’t ordinary roots to have withstood such an explosion.
“Because you damaged the roots, purification cannot proceed. The roots will regrow in time—you shall purify it in the meanwhile.”
Following her gaze, I saw a mass of something repulsive undulating and forming a black swamp.
“How am I supposed to….”
“You can absorb and release life force, can you not?”
“Yes….”
I had no idea how she knew that. Had she sensed it when she examined me earlier?
“Absorb the life force until only dregs remain.”
Darkness gestured with her chin toward the swamp teeming with filth.
“All of that…. Must I consume it all?”
The swamp seemed to stretch endlessly.
“Very well. I could simply kill you….”
“Shall I begin immediately?”
“….Yes, do so.”
I ignored Darkness’s gaze and approached the swamp’s edge.
When I plunged my hand into the swamp, it felt squishy, but something foreign within pricked my skin repeatedly. I doubted even a toilet would feel this unpleasant. It wasn’t merely filthy—there was something viscerally repulsive about it.
Still, feeling Darkness’s gaze upon me from behind, I attempted to absorb life force as instructed. But there was nothing to absorb. Even corpses and seawater contained life force, yet this was like trying to extract vitality from desert sand.
I racked my brain for how to avoid offending her.
“Stop thinking and absorb.”
“….There is nothing to absorb, however….”
“What? There’s so much here. What are you talking about?”
When Darkness extended her hand, small crimson granules were drawn from the swamp into her palm. Though each granule’s life force was faint, countless numbers streamed from the vast swamp, and the dim cavern suddenly blazed with light.
The gathered granules coalesced into a sphere the size of a fist above her hand. As Darkness raised it, the floating red sphere was absorbed by the roots hanging down from the cavern ceiling.
“Can you not do it this way?”
“I cannot.”
Even a hundred years of cultivation seemed unlikely to achieve such a feat.
“A hundred years? Is that so?”
“You read my….”
“Shall we wager whether it takes a hundred years or not?”
“I do not have that much time. Let me return for now, and I shall offer you proper compensation later….”
“Return where? Finish the cleaning first.”
This conversation was going nowhere.
“What do you mean? Where else will you find someone as easy to talk to as me?”
“…”
I tried my best to empty my mind.
As Darkness reached toward me, my life force was drained away.
I tried to contain my life force within my body, but it was futile. I had imagined my life force as being held in a sturdy iron vessel, but now as Darkness pulled it from me, it felt like a sieve with countless holes punched through it.
“If you don’t replenish yourself in The Swamp, you will die.”
“Ugh….”
I tried to flee, but formless energy pressed down on me from three sides. The only opening was toward The Swamp.
I had no choice but to plunge my hand back into The Swamp.
I focused my mind to absorb, but the sensation of my life force being drained in real time made concentration impossible.
I collapsed forward, my head sinking into The Swamp, and lost consciousness.
* * *
When I came to, I felt my body floating above The Swamp.
“You’re awake.”
I had only opened my eyes without making any sound, yet Darkness sensed it with eerie precision.
“P-please… wait!”
I reached my hand forward and spoke, but she drained my life force without hesitation.
My life force was being pulled away at a faster rate than when I had lost consciousness before.
Since my entire body was submerged in The Swamp, I should have been able to absorb more effectively, yet I still felt nothing from it.
“J-just… a moment….”
Before I could resist or say anything else, I lost consciousness again.
This cycle of waking and losing consciousness repeated endlessly.
[Your level has increased.]
[Your stamina has increased by 1.]
As my life force was continuously drained, my stamina and level rose. If not for my robust mental fortitude skill, I might have already gone mad from the agony.
[Poison Resistance skill has risen from D to C.]
[Poison Resistance skill has risen from C to B.]
As I remained submerged in this mysterious Swamp, my Poison Resistance skill climbed steadily.
I lost consciousness dozens, hundreds of times over. My body, unwilling to die, finally began absorbing life force from The Swamp. The amount was minuscule, but it was a beginning.
“You’re a slow learner. Finally managing it. But you’re far too weak. Do it faster.”
What was being taken from me flowed like a thick stream, while what I absorbed was like dust, so there was little difference in the rate at which I lost consciousness. But after grasping the technique and practicing several times, the amount of life force I absorbed grew slightly larger, and the range expanded from just my skin to several centimeters, then several meters away.
And finally, I reached a point where I could absorb from The Swamp at the same rate my life force was being drained, preventing me from losing consciousness.
“Now you’re becoming somewhat useful. Continue on your own. Once you’ve purified it all, I’ll release you.”
“…. All of this?”
The Swamp was vast. And from countless holes puncturing the cavern ceiling above, thick, sludgy masses fell continuously, filling The Swamp.
“Wouldn’t you finish faster if you started instead of wasting time talking?”
With those words, Darkness withdrew from The Swamp.
I looked around, considering escape.
“If you’re caught trying to flee, there won’t be a second chance.”
Darkness’s voice reached me clearly from a distance.
I had no choice but to submerge myself in The Swamp again.
Now that I had adapted, my body no longer felt the stinging sensation.
After absorbing the life force, the sludgy paste of The Swamp turned to dust and sank to the bottom.
Thanks to this, the water level in The Swamp grew lower with each absorption. Of course, the amount was so negligible that at first I didn’t even notice the decline.
Despite absorbing all day, I managed only half of what Darkness had absorbed in an instant on the first day.
“Didn’t you say you had no time? At this rate, even if you continued until death, it would only keep increasing.”
She complained without lifting a finger to help.
“If I could do it myself, why would I make you do it? You’re quite the complainer, aren’t you?”
“Could you please stop reading my mind?”
“Can you stop living? Can you manage that? I’m the same way. What can I do about what I hear?”
“Could I… perhaps rest for a moment?”
Between the successive losses of consciousness and spending long hours absorbing life force from The Swamp, my body and mind were in shambles.
“Fine. Sleep.”
Darkness extended her finger toward me, and I lost consciousness instantly.
* * *
When I came to, I was lying on a bed with fresh clothes on.
“Now that you’re awake, get back to work.”
“Did you… change my clothes?”
“Why are you embarrassed?”
“…”
“Because my appearance looks feminine, you perceive me as a woman. How devious of you. This is merely a form—nothing more.”
“Just who exactly are you?”
“I am Darkness.”
“I don’t understand what you mean by that.”
That’s hardly an explanation.
“Insolent creature. I am a primordial being. When Tellus was created, our existence was born alongside it. Because Tellus exists, I exist; because I exist, Tellus exists.”
“Then… are you a god?”
“The definition of god varies from person to person, but there are those who revere me as one.”
“Then why don’t you stop the Gate—the Destruction God? You seem more than capable.”
“…. You need not concern yourself with that. Simply work.”
Darkness cut the conversation short.
“Why are you making me do this?”
“It seems I’ve grown comfortable. Your increased chattiness tells me so.”
“If you meant to kill me, you would have done so long ago. You even replenished my life force when I lost consciousness. Would someone like that really kill me over a few questions?”
“Hmph…. Presumptuous creature. I find this place filthy and detestable.”
“Pardon?”
“The Swamp. It’s foul and reeking, is it not?”
“…. Just for that reason? More importantly, why are you absorbing it?”
“This is the End of the World. All things that have died living in this world, all that has crumbled, flows here. And once purified, it returns to the world anew as fresh life.”
“It’s a cycle?”
“Without circulation, the world cannot sustain itself.”
“But I cannot release it….”
I can fire it out as aura, but I cannot gently absorb it into something else the way Darkness does.
“Truly, you are utterly useless.”
Darkness furrowed her brow.
“Take my hand.”
“Y-yes….”
I reluctantly grasped her hand.
“Try to infuse your life force into me.”
“…I understand.”
I thought it might hurt, but she was not a being I needed to worry about.
Though I tried to release only pure life force, it refused to leave my body.
And if I compressed it, it would become an attack instead.
“Slowly dissolve the boundary between you and me. Think of it as becoming one.”
“Haa….”
I took a deep breath and imagined Darkness’s hand as my own hand, as if my body had extended.
I felt my life force writhing in my palm.
Soon after, my life force transferred into Darkness’s hand. The beginning was difficult, but now it was easy. I had become able to send my life force freely.

“Now go and work.”
Darkness vanished as if she had no further business with me.
“Sigh….”
Now that I knew the Swamp’s true nature was the world’s filth, I had no desire to enter it either. But my power had not yet grown enough to absorb such small life forces from a distance like Darkness could.
I submerged myself in the Swamp up to my waist and began absorbing.
After days and days of absorption, I could not stop worrying. My Mother, Bae Na-young, and my comrades must all be concerned about my sudden disappearance.
“Your speed has slowed because you’re thinking of your lover. How cunning.”
“No…. I wasn’t thinking anything indecent—I was just worried.”
“Your words have grown shorter.”
“I was merely concerned….”
“Hmph, do as you please. I care not for such human formalities and pretense. If you wish to see your lover, you would do well to hurry. It seems a great mass is about to come pouring down soon.”
The moment Darkness finished speaking, what had been trickling down in drops until now suddenly cascaded like a waterfall, bursting through the ceiling’s opening. It was twice as much as everything I had absorbed so far.
“What is this?”
“It seems a previous life has ended. When that happens, death comes in greater abundance.”
Darkness’s expression was naturally languid and indifferent to all things, yet for a moment, a subtle sadness flickered across her face.
“Would it not end faster if you helped me?”
“I refuse.”
She vanished again. It was no wonder Demon Gaff called her Lazy Darkness.
“Damn it….”
A curse escaped my lips, but I continued absorbing, hoping that Darkness’s promise to send me back was not a lie.

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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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