Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 9

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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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9
After leveling up, the Goblin Gate became far easier to clear. I pushed through them at a rapid pace to earn my promotion points.
For the goblins, there was no escaping their doom.
After clearing one Gate, I changed into fresh clothes I’d prepared beforehand and moved on to the next one.
This time, it was another F-rank Goblin Gate, but the interior was significantly larger—a massive Gate. Because large Gates had more space, they contained far more monsters, which meant higher point rewards for promotion.
Gates could accommodate multiple parties entering simultaneously or at staggered intervals, as long as the capacity limit wasn’t exceeded. However, no one inside could leave before the Gate was cleared.
Naturally, large Gates also had higher entry capacity limits.
“A Goblin Gate with a twenty-person entry limit? The interior must be incredibly vast.”
I read the Gate information on my phone during the taxi ride, and we arrived shortly after.
As I approached the Gate, I spotted a party waiting to enter—two men and one woman.
Wait… that woman?
The two men were unfamiliar faces, but the brown-haired beauty with cat-like features holding a wand—I remembered seeing her before.
I recalled seeing a news report in my previous life about an incident where she lured a man into a Gate, used paralysis poison to steal his items and magic stones, then killed him. The criminal’s face had become a hot topic because it was more beautiful than the news anchor reporting it.
She was one of several villains I’d seen from the future. The fortunate part was that unlike Bae Na-young, whom I’d met recently, she wasn’t a major player.
“Hello there~ If you don’t have a party, would you like to join us?”
While lost in thought, she approached me and asked sweetly in a nasal voice. Wearing a tight dress and smiling with her eyes, if I hadn’t known her true nature, I might have fallen for her charms completely.
Part of me wanted to strike her down immediately, but without evidence, I couldn’t report her, and attacking recklessly could result in my own arrest.
Moreover, there was a possibility that the crime I’d seen in the news wasn’t real, and the future events might unfold differently than what I’d experienced. This wasn’t something I could brush off with an “Oops, I killed the wrong person” excuse.
To be certain, I needed to catch her at the crime scene. Joining her party and going along seemed like a good way to do that. Plus, if I used her paralysis poison to level up my poison resistance skill, it would be killing two birds with one stone.
According to the news report I’d seen in my previous life, the victims died long after being paralyzed. With poison of that caliber, it wouldn’t be a problem for me, who had already acquired a poison resistance skill.
“Mi-ran, someone with no weapons like that won’t be helpful.”
As Choi Mi-ran made her proposal to me, the man holding a sword and shield interjected. He looked at me with obvious displeasure, scanning me from head to toe.
He seemed dissatisfied because I had no weapons and was wearing cheap, thin protective gear. But by that logic, wasn’t Choi Mi-ran’s outfit even worse? Even for a rear-guard, her clothing offered virtually no defensive capability.
Besides, this man seemed to want alone time with Choi Mi-ran and didn’t like the idea of another man joining.
“Come on~ You were planning to go in alone anyway, so you can handle your own share, right?”
Her tone was full of nasal inflection.
“I’m a martial artist, so I don’t need special equipment. Let’s go together.”
Once I agreed, the shield-bearer’s expression crumpled, but I ignored it. He had no idea that I’d be saving his life today.
“That’s great~”
The murderer from my previous life smiled with her eyes curved like crescents. She brushed my arm slightly while speaking, which was unpleasant, but I didn’t show it and endured.
“A large Gate like this would take forever with just three people~”
Once you entered a Gate, you had to stay inside until it was cleared, which could take days. While there was the merit of obtaining far more magic stones than from small or medium Gates if you killed all the monsters, the extended duration made it physically exhausting.
“I’m Choi Mi-ran. As you can see, I’m a mage.”
Choi Mi-ran lifted her wand slightly as she spoke.
“Lee Ji-seok. I’m a martial artist.”
I greeted all three of them in return.
“Yang Sang-heon. I’m a swordsman.”
The man with the sword bowed his head as he introduced himself. He had a kind expression and an attractive face.
“Park Sang-jun.”
The man with the shield introduced himself with a reluctant expression. He clearly didn’t like me joining their group.
“Then, let’s head in right away.”
Park Sang-jun led the way into the Gate, and we followed suit. Unlike the Goblin Gate and caves we’d visited before, the interior of this Gate was a quiet forest.
From the moment we entered, Park Sang-jun had been clinging to Choi Mi-ran, flirting shamelessly.
“Want to grab a drink after we clear the Gate? There’s a Wine Bar nearby that I’m a regular at.”
Park Sang-jun walked right beside Choi Mi-ran as he spoke.
“That sounds nice~ Though I’m not very good with alcohol~”
How could someone possibly add such a nasal twang to their voice?
After walking for a while, roughly thirty goblins appeared ahead. Park Sang-jun and Choi Mi-ran stopped their flirting and took combat positions.
“I’ll hold the center, so you two take the flanks, and Mi-ran, please provide support.”
Park Sang-jun issued instructions naturally, and we nodded, taking our positions. Since we’d all hunted goblins extensively, there was no particular tension in the battle.
Park Sang-jun’s skill was better than I expected. He blocked the goblins’ attacks with his shield while striking their necks and sides—his movements were fluid and unbroken.
Yang Sang-heon wrapped his sword in light using a skill. Someone unfamiliar might mistake it for an aura, but it was actually just a skill that increased light-attribute damage. The damage itself didn’t seem much different from a regular sword strike. Still, the flickering light was enough to intimidate the goblins.
I charged in to do my part, smashing goblin skulls.
Before coming here, I’d leveled up to 5 by clearing Gates solo and earned additional stat bonuses along the way, bringing my strength, stamina, and agility to 19, 20, and 17 respectively—E-rank Hunter level. Goblins were easy prey now.
Still, with so many goblins, some tried to slip past the three of us in the front to reach Choi Mi-ran.
For a moment, I hesitated whether to stop them or let Choi Mi-ran deal with them, but a white mana bullet shot from her wand struck the goblin’s head.
If she lacked skill, she wouldn’t have been able to eliminate fellow Awakeners and steal their items.
The three of us in the front cut down goblins while Choi Mi-ran provided support with mana bullets, dispatching all thirty in an instant.
“Better than expected… You’re quite skilled. You should have mentioned it beforehand.”
Park Sang-jun said this because I’d killed as many or more goblins than he had. When did he ever give me a chance to tell him?
“Right~ Ji-seok, you’re really strong without even a weapon~~ Are you really F-rank~?”
Choi Mi-ran approached with that nasal tone.
“You’re too kind. You’re all quite skilled yourselves.”
Her proximity made my skin crawl, so I stepped back while responding.
“Hand-to-hand combatants are rare, and I’ve never seen someone who doesn’t even use gauntlets or knuckles. Your fists okay?”
Yang Sang-heon asked me. He seemed fascinated by how I fought.
“They’re well-conditioned, so they’re fine.”
I held out my fist to show him. My knuckles had hardened so much that I could now punch goblins barehanded without even a scratch.
“Sang-heon, you’re amazing too~ I thought you were using an aura~~ Hehe~”
“Ha… It’s just added light damage.”
As Mi-ran stroked Sang-heon’s arm while praising him, his face flushed red. So this was how she gained favor, lowered their guard, and made them dependent on her.
“Ahem! Let’s move on. We’re running out of time.”
Park Sang-jun clapped his hands to draw attention, apparently disliking how close Mi-ran was getting to Sang-heon and me.
“Yes~ Let’s go~”
Choi Mi-ran scurried over to stand beside Park Sang-jun.
Hunting with a party was far easier than hunting alone, but the reduced rewards and experience bothered me. Still, since today’s purpose wasn’t money or ordinary experience, I continued exploring the Gate with them.
As we moved searching for goblins, the party split into two groups: Choi Mi-ran and Park Sang-jun ahead, with Yang Sang-heon and me following behind.
“Were you already in a party with Park Sang-jun?”
When we’d put some distance between ourselves and the front two, I asked Yang Sang-heon.
“No, we all just met today. I wanted to tackle a large Gate, but it takes too long and is too dangerous alone, so I looked for a party. Though I didn’t expect the group to be this small.”
We continued our exploration, and since each individual’s level was significantly higher than the goblins’, our progress accelerated. Park Sang-jun seemed eager to impress Choi Mi-ran—or perhaps driven by competitive instinct against me—as he took the lead in hunting.
He even volunteered to harvest mana stones for both himself and Choi Mi-ran.
“Thanks, oppa~ My grip is so weak, I’m not good at that sort of thing.”
At some point, she’d started calling him oppa. Though realistically, no Hunter would have grip strength so feeble they couldn’t harvest mana stones.
“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it all.”
Park Sang-jun simply smiled at the transparent lie and continued harvesting the stones.
Since it was a large Gate, the four of us cycled through combat and rest for eight grueling hours before we finally glimpsed the light of clearance.
I found myself wondering why Choi Mi-ran hadn’t attacked yet. Was today not the day? Or had the future changed? As I pondered this and looked toward her, Choi Mi-ran withdrew a sphere from the pouch at her waist.
I was about to ask what it was when our eyes met. Choi Mi-ran smiled with obvious displeasure and hurled it to the ground.
The sphere burst, releasing emerald smoke that billowed outward in all directions.
I reflexively leaped backward, but whether due to the sphere’s special nature, the smoke spread with unnaturally terrifying speed.
I held my breath before being engulfed, but the poison was absorbed through my skin, causing my entire body to tingle violently. Before even a second had passed, I collapsed to the ground.
Startled by the poison’s unexpected potency, I watched as Choi Mi-ran pressed her foot down on Park Sang-jun’s head with a look of disgust.
“Pathetic little pest. How dare something like you presume to rival me.”
Choi Mi-ran’s face twisted with revulsion as she ground her heel against Park Sang-jun’s head. Her voice had lost all its earlier sweetness entirely—she seemed like a completely different person from the one who’d been flirting moments before.
Thanks to my poison resistance skill, I could feel the toxin gradually neutralizing. While Choi Mi-ran rifled through Park Sang-jun and Yang Sang-heon’s belongings, I lay motionless on the ground, waiting for my body to fully recover.
Once I could move adequately, I sprang to my feet and charged toward Choi Mi-ran.
“What?! How is this possible?!”
As I rushed at her, Choi Mi-ran withdrew poison spheres from her pouch and scattered them between us. The spheres struck the ground with a wet splatter and burst, enveloping the area in toxic smoke.
Even one had been potent, but multiple detonating simultaneously created a poison concentration far more intense than I’d anticipated. Though I’d grown somewhat accustomed to this toxin by now, exposure to this density began to paralyze my limbs.
To avoid becoming completely incapacitated, I retreated from the poisonous haze.

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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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