Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 86

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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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86
Hyung-bin was kicked by the assailant and struck across the face, his legs trembling and his teeth rattling loose.
“Get your hands off her!”
But to protect Ye-seul, he forced strength into his legs, pushed his collapsing body upright, and threw himself at the assailant.
However, Hyung-bin, who had only recently reached E-rank, was no match for the assailant. The man was at least C-rank Hunter level, and he hadn’t even drawn the machete at his waist.
The assailant leaped back lightly, evading Hyung-bin’s attack before throwing a punch.
“Heal!”
“Hngh!”
Hyung-bin continued his assault while receiving Ye-seul’s healing. Having been stabbed countless times by blades during training with Ji-seok, Hyung-bin could endure mere fists well enough with her healing, despite the man being far stronger.
“Huh? A Healer? They’d fetch a higher price.”
Realizing their true intent, Hyung-bin pressed his assault with renewed desperation.
“Hyung-bin!”
“Ye-seul! Run!”
“Think you can?”
Four of the man’s accomplices blocked Ye-seul’s escape route.
Hyung-bin felt panic rising. Beyond this overwhelmingly powerful man, four more assailants stood watching. He cursed himself for thoughtlessly bringing Ye-seul so far from the city without even a weapon.
“Graaaah!”
Despite taking blow after blow, Hyung-bin couldn’t surrender, hurling himself at the assailant again and again.
“This is like bullfighting, isn’t it?”
The man retreated leisurely, driving his fist toward Hyung-bin’s jaw.
Thud.
The protective barrier Ye-seul had cast blocked the assailant’s punch. Without a staff, she couldn’t generate tremendous force, but it was enough to stop a bare fist.
Unprepared for his fist to be blocked, the assailant’s feet tangled beneath him.
“Ugh!”
The man gasped as his chest collided with Hyung-bin’s shoulder.
“Boss!”
Two of the four men blocking the rear rushed to intercept Hyung-bin.
“Ye-seul! Get out of here!”
Hyung-bin shouted, but Ye-seul couldn’t flee. Two more assailants still surrounded her, and besides, she had no intention of abandoning Hyung-bin.
“Tch… these bastards…”
The man who had collided with Hyung-bin rose to his feet, dusted himself off, and drew the machete at his hip, slashing diagonally across Hyung-bin’s body.
Without a staff, the barrier shattered like thin glass, and a long gash opened across Hyung-bin’s chest.
Splash!
Blood sprayed from the deep wound.
“I was trying to keep this civil, but you had to make me draw blood.”
Ye-seul rushed to cast her healing spell.
“Damn it, are you just watching? Grab her!”
At his command, the two men who had been blocking Ye-seul seized her from behind and slammed her to the ground.
“Let… let go!”
Ye-seul screamed.
Hyung-bin’s chest was slashed and his knees buckled, blood loss draining the strength from his limbs.
“Ye-seul…”
I resented my own powerlessness with a burning intensity.
I didn’t need to match Ji-seok’s strength—but why was I weaker than any other Hunter? Normally I avoided dwelling on this truth, yet now it consumed me entirely. I cursed the god who had awakened me with such inadequacy, and I cursed myself for never striving hard enough.
“Please…”
As consciousness slipped away, only one thought remained: I didn’t care what happened to me. I had to protect Ye-seul.
Ding.
A translucent status window materialized before me.
“Huh?”
[Your class has changed from Warrior to Guardian.]
“Guard… ian?”
I had no idea what was happening.
Then the wound across my chest sealed itself rapidly. Turning, I saw Ye-seul with her face pressed into the sand, her arm extended as she cast Heal on me—but the potency was incomparably stronger than before.
And a power I’d never felt before surged from deep within my body. A sensation that I could do anything. It was like the countless weights that had hung from my entire frame, rendering me helpless, had suddenly shattered and fallen away.
[You have a target to protect. Strength increases significantly.]
[You have a target to protect. Agility increases significantly.]
[You have a target to protect. Stamina increases significantly.]
“Tch.”
The assailant brought the flat of the machete down toward my head.
Clang.
“What?”
I rose and caught the blade before it could fall.
Then I drove my fist into the assailant’s face.
The assailant arched his back, narrowly evading the punch, but couldn’t dodge completely—the fist connected and sent him flying backward.
Twice as fast as before, I charged at the two assailants pinning Ye-seul down.
“What?? What the—??”
The two assailants’ eyes widened in shock, their reactions fatally slow.
As I rushed forward, my body enlarged, and I struck both of them with my fists, hurling them away.
“Ye-seul!”
I lifted her to her feet and cradled her like a princess, then bolted.
“Damn it, getting hit by that bastard… this is bullshit…”
The assailant I’d struck first rose to his feet. Even with my newfound strength, it wasn’t enough to bridge the rank gap.
He drew a gun from his waistband and fired at us as we fled.
Not bullets—a round, thick grenade arced through the air.
“Shield!”
The grenade struck Ye-seul’s shield and detonated, dispersing white powder in all directions.
We both held our breath against the sudden cloud, but traces seeped into our eyes and nose. That was enough.
Ye-seul and I collapsed to the ground. Even as I fell, I twisted my body to shield her from impact.
I couldn’t move. The pain that had plagued my body—wounds I hadn’t fully healed from—vanished entirely. More than the absence of pain, a strange comfort washed over me, as if I were floating on clouds.
I hated that comfort. I had to get up.
“Ye-seul….”
Hyung-bin, sprawled on the ground, called out to Ye-seul collapsed beside him. Her eyes had lost all focus, and she gave no answer, no response whatsoever.
In that moment, all concern for Ye-seul drained from Hyung-bin’s mind, and every thought dissolved into nothing. It felt like drifting aimlessly on a vast, empty lake.
“Damn bastards, making such a mess. Load them in the car.”
The masked assailants pulled the cloth they’d wrapped around their necks—meant to shield them from the powder—up over their faces like masks. Then they hoisted both bodies into the vehicle and departed.
* * *
“Ugh…. Water….”
Yang Sang-heon emerged looking like a zombie.
“Tsk, tsk…. Do you always end up like this?”
“You didn’t get drunk, hyung?”
“Ah, I had some Dwarf liquor and got a bit tipsy.”
“There’s alcohol strong enough to get you drunk, hyung?”
“Yeah. I tried it at Tellus. My insides felt like they were melting.”
“….Is that even a drink?”
“Hunter, have you seen my older brother?”
Si-hwan emerged with a disheveled face and asked.
“Isn’t he in his room?”
“No.”
“Oppa, Ye-seul unnie isn’t here either.”
“Did they go out yesterday and not come back?”
“Oh, the two of them went out?”
Si-hwan asked excitedly.
Everyone laughed and chattered about how quickly their relationship was progressing as they ate breakfast. They’d expected Western cuisine, but the Mexican seafood soup was remarkably similar to spicy fish stew, so everyone used it to cure their hangovers.
Ye-seul and Hyung-bin were both grown adults, so no one worried. But as an hour or two passed without contact, concern began to creep in.
“Oppa, there’s no reason they wouldn’t contact us by this hour, right?”
“Hyung, neither of them are answering their phones.”
“I’ll go search for them. You all stay together and don’t scatter. And contact Pablo.”
I set out alone to find the two of them. Though time had passed, the private beach was devoid of other people, so footprints were sparse and scattered.
Following the tracks, I found signs of combat and bloodstains.
And an unfamiliar smell. I picked up some white powder from the ground along with the sand and sniffed it. My nose stung, and my nerves felt numb. Poison.
I continued following the trail of footprints.
The two had been dragged away by five masked assailants and loaded into a vehicle.
I reached the road, but could find no further traces.
“Damn it….”
I returned to the Resort.
“I’m going to search further out for any leads. You all stay here quietly and keep watch. Stay alert at all times.”
“What’s happened?”
“Someone’s kidnapped the two of them.”
“What? Your brother and Ye-seul? Why?”
Si-hwan jumped to his feet in shock.
“I don’t know myself right now. So for the moment, I’m being cautious.”
I warned everyone once more before venturing into the City Center alone.
I couldn’t say what it had been like before, but Cancun’s City Center now felt like the aftermath of an apocalypse. Whether no one bothered with repairs or money was simply absent, more than half the buildings lay in ruins.
Countless people lay sprawled across the streets, intoxicated by drugs.
Despite their uncomfortable positions on the pavement, their expressions remained utterly serene.
A few shops remained open, though they resembled street stalls more than proper establishments. Every vendor was armed. In a place like this, you couldn’t conduct business without the strength to protect your goods.
“How much?”
I pointed at the jerky being sold at the street stall and asked.
“Ten dollars.”
The vendor looked me over once before answering.
Ten dollars for shriveled meat of indeterminate origin—an insane price. The cost probably varied depending on the customer.
I pulled out my wallet and handed over ten dollars, deliberately taking my time to reveal that I carried substantial cash.
The street fell silent for a moment. I’d already drawn attention as an obvious outsider since entering, but the moment I opened my wallet, greed flickered across everyone’s eyes.
I walked through the streets chewing the unidentifiable meat. Surprisingly, it was savory and didn’t taste bad.
Like the Pied Piper, people began following me from behind.
The instant I deliberately turned into a narrow alley, a blade came flying from behind.
The knife thrust forward with the singular intent to sever my spine naturally failed to pierce my skin.
I wanted to blow the robber’s head clean off in my current mood, but the one trying to kill me was merely a boy of about ten years old. The hilt of the small dagger looked far too large in his hands.
I flicked the boy’s forehead with my middle finger.
Despite the light flick, the boy tumbled backward and lost consciousness.
Even if he was just a child, hoping to stab someone and face no consequences was a miscalculation.
I continued walking through the streets.
Having witnessed me block a child’s blade barehanded and drop him with a single finger flick, most of those following me fell away.
“Wallet.”
When I entered an alley, a group appeared, surrounding me from front and back. Four ahead, three behind.
From the two in front, I sensed vitality beyond that of ordinary people. Hunters.
I stared at them coldly.
“Wallet!”
The one who appeared to be a Hunter approached closer, a machete in hand. Those who weren’t Hunters were all armed with assault rifles, grenades, and body armor. So the state had truly collapsed—common street thugs carried such weapons in broad daylight.
“My friend was kidnapped. Where would I find people capable of doing something like that around here?”
“…Hahahaha.”
Ignoring what he said and speaking only my mind, the man glanced at his companions and laughed, and they laughed along.
Then he swung the machete hard. The blade stopped just before reaching my neck.
“Wallet.”
“Any suspicious characters around?”
“Don’t you see this blade?”
I reached out, snatched the knife, and hurled it at the wall.
Crash!
The blade pierced through the wall and erupted in a cloud of dust. From the moment I took the knife to when I threw it, less than 0.1 seconds elapsed—none of them could even react.
As the knife suddenly vanished from his hand and an explosion sounded behind him, the man grasped just how strong I was and the magnitude of the gap between us.
He said nothing, sweat streaming down his face as he averted his gaze.
“So, where are those guys?”

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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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