Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 78

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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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78
“Ahem… My lady, my Attendant has committed an offense.”
“The offense is yours. Begone.”
Truly consistent.
“Kugh…! Do you know who I am?! I deigned to speak to you because you looked passably attractive, and you dare show such arrogance?!”
“Now, now, calm yourself and go enjoy the Hot Spring.”
I rose and positioned myself between the approaching man and Eres.
“Oho, so you have something to rely upon?”
He raked his eyes across my frame. Tall and muscular beyond the ordinary—he must have mistaken me for a bodyguard.
“Move aside, you wretch!”
Bread Head struck my cheek as he had his own Attendant, but I was not one to flinch at such a blow.
“Ugh!”
Rather, it was his hand that suffered, and he cried out while clutching it.
“You!”
No mere swordsman, he was a mage—flames erupted from his right hand.
I twisted my body to slip past the inferno, seized his flame-wreathed wrist, and wrenched it.
“Aaaaagh! You… do you truly believe you’ll escape unscathed?! Wait! I shall annihilate your entire bloodline!”
Bread Head retreated with his threadbare threats. Had Eres intervened, this wretch would have become dust in an instant—I’d stepped in out of pity, but that compassion was swiftly evaporating.
“This will grow noisy. Shall we retire?”
“Why should I? I’m quite comfortable here.”
So be it.
I sank back into the Hot Spring. Perhaps—though I’d said otherwise—Bread Head would simply give up…
“Those accursed wretches!”
He hadn’t. Or had he surrendered his life instead? The commotion sent nearby patrons scrambling from the area.
I exhaled deeply and rose once more.
“Attack!”
Before I could speak, several knights drew their blades. They were at least B-rank; their momentum was formidable.
With armor only on my hands, I deflected the incoming steel and distributed measured blows to each knight’s abdomen, emptying their lungs.
“Tch… Pathetically. Can’t you do this cleanly?”
“…My apologies.”
Eres spoke lightly, yet her gaze pressed upon me with such intensity that I found myself apologizing unbidden. It wasn’t as though I’d committed some grave transgression, but there was no point in resisting when I lacked the strength.
“Kugh…! Guards! Guards!”
Bread Head, undeterred, summoned additional security. Knights and mages flooded in. I had no desire to kill over such a trivial matter, yet subduing this many without serious injury was harder than delivering fatal blows.
“Will you not assist?”
“I do not meddle in human affairs.”
“Yet you scatter coin and enjoy the Hot Spring without hesitation?”
Where was the logic in such arbitrary rules?
“Do you wish to return to The Swamp?”
“No, I do not.”
I had no choice. I would hold the line until Eres was satisfied.
I deflected the incoming knights’ attacks and magic to keep them away from Eres, and covered my entire body in armor since I was taking hits as well.
“D-… Is that a Dragon Knight?! Call the Master!”
I had no idea what a Dragon Knight was, but it was obvious that things would get complicated if the Master arrived.
While I grabbed the neck of the one running to fetch the Master and knocked him unconscious, Bread Head seized the opportunity to grab Eres by the hair.
“No!”
I quickly changed direction, but it was too late. There were too many of them, and I couldn’t stop the one sneaking toward Eres.
Just as Bread Head’s fingers were about to touch Eres’s hair.
The whites of Eres’s eyes turned black. Though the sun hung in the sky, darkness descended as if its light couldn’t reach the ground, and everything around us froze as if time itself had stopped. I couldn’t move either, and with each passing second, my life force was draining away.
After several seconds in that state, the pressure released, and the knights and mages around me collapsed like puppets with their strings cut.
“He’s… dead?”
The others had merely lost consciousness, but Bread Head, who had been closest to Eres, had his heart stop.
“…”
“I thought you said you wouldn’t interfere in the human world?”
“…This much is acceptable. The death of such a vermin won’t have any great impact on the world. Ahem, we’ve had enough fun here. Let’s go.”
“But… you’ve made such a mess of things?”
“If we head up soon, we should be able to reach the Spring of Fate.”
Truth be told, I had no objection to leaving quickly. Staying here would only make matters worse. The tourists had already disappeared, and all the attackers were unconscious, so no one would know where we went.
Since there was nothing to pack, I immediately called for Maron and we boarded the carriage, heading toward the Spring of Fate.
“It’s not quite time yet, but…”
Eres threw a gold coin.
“Open the gate!”
The iron gates opened left and right, creating a path for the carriage to enter.
“From here, you’ll have to walk.”
After passing through the iron gates and driving the carriage slowly for about five minutes, another staff member was guarding the path ahead.
Getting down from the carriage and walking along the path toward the spring, I could see several other groups also heading toward it.
“Tsk… quite crowded, isn’t it.”
“If we cut in line here, we’ll only cause more trouble. Let’s wait patiently.”
Besides, there was no sign of anyone pursuing us.
“Hmph.”
Eres unexpectedly complied.
Following the crowd as we moved slowly, a small clearing surrounded by forest trees came into view. It appeared to be a naturally formed space, yet there was an uncanny sense of artificiality about it.
And in the very center stood only a tilted rock—the spring was nowhere to be found.
“Watch carefully.”
At Eres’s words, I watched as a young noblewoman whose turn it was walked toward the rock. She then placed her hand beneath it.
Lowering my posture to see better, I noticed water pooling beneath the rock. Yet it clung to the underside of the rock as if gravity were reversed, and its form resembled a small spring.
“How is that possible?”
“You have nothing like this in your world?”
“We don’t.”
“Just watch.”
The noblewoman placed her hand into the spring. The air near the spring seemed to become isolated, and a humming sound emanated from within it.
[You shall soon marry the man you love. You will bear three children together, and all of them shall hold positions of great importance within the Empire.]
“Hmm? Does it speak to me directly like this?”
“Can you hear it?”
“Yes.”
I, who had once navigated the ocean floor using echolocation to map terrain and obstacles, could perceive the faint tremors in the air. Though not completely severed, the vibrations were subtle enough that I could still comprehend the words.
“A useless talent to possess.”
Regardless of what Eres said, I continued listening to the voice.
[Your investments shall flourish manifold. In every place where the Empire’s wealth gathers, your name shall be spoken.]
[You shall become a Master. Beginning as Vice Commander of the Empire Knight Order, you shall rise to become Commander of the First Knight Order.]
Surely not only extraordinary people gathered in this place, yet everyone spoke only words of praise.
When my turn came, I placed my hand into the spring.
[You shall prevent ruin. Though hardship awaits, the fruits of that hardship shall be sweet. What you truly desire—peaceful days with those you love—draws near.]
I withdrew my hand and turned back to Eres.
“You knew, didn’t you?”
“Kekeke….”
Eres laughed mischievously.
“Sigh… I’ve simply wasted time.”
“How did you discern it?”
“I experienced something similar once before with a Demon Sword. Is this a monster or a spirit? It tells people what they wish to hear, doesn’t it?”
“Indeed. An ancient spirit it is. Do not resent it. It is merely a benevolent spirit that seeks to uplift the hearts of mortals. Word of this place has already spread among those who come here, so they arrive without expecting miracles. Yet those who have heard this spirit’s words have largely achieved success, even if not in the exact manner foretold.”
“Well, when such a voice guarantees success, one naturally gains confidence.”
Though the divination had exhausted me, that voice possessed a mysterious power—something that made one believe all would surely turn out well.
“May we depart now?”

“Let’s go.”
I returned to the carriage with Eres and departed from Fountain of Fate Village. I’d worried that Bread Head and his companions might come after us, but no pursuit materialized.
“Hmm… I’m uneasy about this. Things have never gone so smoothly before…”
“You’re a timid one.”
We continued onward by carriage.
Passing through desolate scenery, we stopped briefly at a small Cafeteria in a modest village to grab a quick bite.
“Have you heard that story?”
“About The Witch? Is there anyone who doesn’t know about it these days?”
As I ordered food and waited in the Cafeteria, I overheard conversations from the surrounding patrons.
“They say she captures Empire soldiers and tortures them?”
“From what I’ve heard, she was the wife of a general executed by the Emperor. The story goes she became The Witch out of resentment.”
“Do witches actually exist?”
I asked Eres.
“There is no such race as witches. However, humans tend to call women who use a great deal of dark magic ‘witches.'”
“…”
“Can’t you avert your gaze? Insolent fool. I am Darkness itself—I am Darkness.”
“But it seems the damage is quite severe? Everyone in this Cafeteria is talking about nothing but that.”
“So what?”
“It’s just… that’s all.”
“Your help would be meaningless anyway. The Empire is vast, and such incidents occur without number.”
A bitter expression flickered across Eres’s face before vanishing.
She was right. I had no time to run about for the sake of citizens of an enemy nation. My priority was to return to Earth as quickly as possible.
I finished a simple meal, gathered extra provisions, and left the Cafeteria.
We continued westward by carriage.
“How much longer will it take at this pace?”
I asked the coachman Maron.
“We must travel for at least two more days.”
The carriage was not the crude contraption of Earth’s medieval era—its wheels and undercarriage were well-constructed, allowing it to traverse the paved road at considerable speed. Still, running would naturally be faster.
Though my heart urged haste, Eres reclined comfortably in the carriage, eating dried fruit with an air of complete leisure.
“Sigh…”
I had no choice but to calm myself and gaze out the window.
“Maron, stop for a moment.”
As I gazed out the window, I spotted a carriage overturned on its side in the distance.
“Head over there.”
“Over there, sir? There’s nothing there. There’s no path…”
Maron squinted in the direction I indicated, but it was too far away for him to see clearly.
“Just go.”
“It won’t change anything anyway.”
Eres spoke curtly.
“I’ll only stop for a moment.”
As I drew closer, the gruesome sight came into view.
The carriage lay overturned on its side, half-destroyed, while the horses had fled and were nowhere to be seen. The carriage was fitted with bars on all sides, making it appear less a passenger conveyance and more a transport vessel for prisoners. Scattered around it lay the brutally slaughtered bodies of knights.
“Hmm…. What is this?”
Examining the wounds on the knights, something felt… familiar.

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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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