Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 95

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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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95
“Damn it! Early S-rank, my ass! He’s perfectly fine?!”
Gabrion, who had returned home after his ambush on Lee Ji-seok failed, struck an innocent wall in frustration.
“Boss, I think we were deceived by that bastard Jose.”
Domingo, his subordinate, glanced at the hole Gabrion had punched through the wall.
“Damn it… What do we do?”
“Boss, there’s no need to worry. You’re S-rank, and among the best at that, aren’t you? That bastard clearly just got lucky and escaped. This time, let’s set up an ambush beforehand and blow his head off when he arrives. I’ve already gathered all the men.”
Domingo always knew how to say the right things, which made him Gabrion’s most treasured subordinate. Gabrion knew it was flattery, yet he couldn’t let him go—and in truth, things had never gone wrong when he followed Domingo’s advice.
“Yeah, damn it, I’m not inferior to that bastard. He just became S-rank, didn’t he? And no matter who that son of a bitch is, he couldn’t have come out unscathed, right?”
“That’s right.”
Domingo poured Gabrion’s favorite whiskey into a glass.
“Yeah, that’s it.”
Gabrion nodded repeatedly, as if shaking off his anxiety, and gulped down the drink.
Thud.
Gabrion’s legs gave out, and he grabbed the edge of the desk to keep from falling.
“What… What is this?”
“What else? Poison. Finding something that works on S-rank hunters was quite the hassle.”
“Domingo… You? Why?”
“Why? That madman will come seeking revenge, and there’s no reason we all have to die together, is there?”
“You… You said attacking was a good idea?”
Gabrion glared at Domingo with eyes bursting with bloodshot veins.
“I thought he’d die. I never imagined he’d survive an ambush from another S-rank, especially one specialized in ranged attacks. But he did survive? So be it—I’ll offer you as a sacrifice and keep my head down.”
“Damn it…”
Boom.
Gabrion collapsed.
“Sacrifice yourself for the organization.”
Crash!
As Domingo walked toward the fallen Gabrion, the wall shattered and two figures burst through.
* * *
Carrying Bae Na-young, I smashed through the wall of Gabrion’s mansion and entered. Inside, one man lay on the floor, and beside him stood a large, muscular man.
“You?”
I set Bae Na-young down, and she fixed her gaze on the muscular man.
“Huh?”
“It’s you, isn’t it?”
“N-No! This man is Gabrion! He’s the boss! I subdued him!”
The muscular man pointed to Gabrion lying on the floor. Though Gabrion was paralyzed from some drug, his mind remained intact—his eyes wide and bloodshot, pupils darting back and forth between us and the muscular man.
Bae Na-young stared quietly at the muscular man’s excuses.
“No, it’s you. You ordered everything. He’s just a puppet.”
I could tell from his face and gestures that he was lying, but Bae Na-young had discerned the truth by interfering with his mind.
“I’m just a subordinate! Really!”
Taho had lied through his teeth.
“Come on, a man just wants to spend some quality time with his girlfriend after so long, and you’re shooting at him?”
Violet mana surged chaotically around Bae Na-young.
“I’m telling you it wasn’t me?!”
Bae Na-young didn’t listen and advanced step by step. Sweat dripped from Taho’s forehead.
“Damn it! Come out! Attack!”
Taho screamed, but nothing happened, and Bae Na-young continued closing in one step at a time.
“What are you doing? You bastards! Attack!”
Even as he backpedaled and shouted until his throat tore, no one came.
“What’s going on….”
When I opened Gabrion’s door, what I saw were his subordinates scattered across the hallway, already subdued by Bae Na-young.
“How…. How is this possible?”
Taho stared at Bae Na-young with terror in his eyes. Violet mana spheres floated around her.
One of the round mana spheres elongated and sharpened into a needle-like shape—pointed at both ends, thick like a spike.
“Ugh!”
It shot forward like a bullet, piercing through Taho’s thigh and drilling a hole in the floor.
“W-Wait! Money! I’ll give you money! There’s cash in the safe over there! Ugh!!!”
He pointed at the safe and screamed, but Bae Na-young ignored him and fired a mana needle into his other thigh.
“Ahhhhh!!! P-Please! I’m sorry! Please forgive me just this once!”
He collapsed on the floor, whimpering and begging.
But the mana needles showed no mercy, piercing into his shoulder.
“Ugh! You crazy bitch! My organization will take revenge! Your family in Korea will all be….”
Thud.
My aura shot forward, shattering Taho’s head. Gabrion’s eyes widened at the sight.
“Why?”
Bae Na-young asked without looking at me.
“Don’t dirty your hands. I’ll handle this kind of thing.”
“Only your hands get dirty? Aren’t we doing this together?”
Bae Na-young crouched in front of Gabrion.
Gabrion’s reddened eyes filled with terror. Bae Na-young reached out her hand toward his head.
* * *
“…”
Taho stared at my face silently.
“Why?”
“Are you trying to help our country or destroy it?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Killing two of the only four S-rank Hunters in Mexico makes it look like you’re trying to destroy us…. Yet you’re throwing money at citizens and making investments?”
“If you don’t touch me first, I won’t touch you.”
“Hmm…. The four remaining Cartels in the Northwestern Region already contacted me about a peace treaty. They must’ve gotten scared seeing two of them fall so quickly.”
“Well, as long as it doesn’t cause damage on this side.”
After that, the Factory’s progress ran smoothly as if riding favorable winds. The Northwestern Region Cartel had intercepted trucks coming down from the United States and demanded money, so Taho had paid bribes to smooth things over—and with those obstacles removed, supplies arrived even faster.
Moreover, after crushing the Lika Cartel, which was larger in scale than Jackson’s organization, money poured in, and the investment funds that had been dwindling actually grew larger than before.
I carved out some time and spent a few days sightseeing with Bae Na-young without interruption.
Everything was flowing smoothly. All that remained was to complete the remaining schedule and return to Korea.
* * *
While I was leisurely going about my work, a disaster alert text message chimed.
“Hmm?”
It was a disaster alert from a Korean number.
Before I could even read the message, my phone rang.
“Director Baek. What’s the matter…?”
“Hunter Lee Ji-seok, where are you right now?”
Urgency resonated in Director Baek Young-shin’s voice.
“I’m in Mexico.”
“As I thought… Have you seen the news?”
“No. What’s happened?”
“A tree is growing on Baekdu Mountain.”
“A tree… Well, trees grow. It’s a mountain.”
“The problem is its size and speed. It’s already grown over hundreds of meters, and the speed at which it’s driving roots into the ground is estimated to be even faster. Because it’s burrowing so deeply and thickly, it’s already caused several small earthquakes by shaking the bedrock.”
As I listened to Director Baek Young-shin’s explanation, I pulled up news footage on my computer.
Abnormally rapid growth rate. If I hadn’t heard about it beforehand, I would have thought it was computer-generated imagery or time-lapse footage—the roots were tearing through the earth at such a speed. Branches were stretching in all directions, reaching skyward without limit.
Soldiers at a distance fired artillery shells that snapped off branches the size of houses, but other branches quickly filled those gaps.
Even as soldiers unleashed incendiary rounds and mages rained down flame magic, it had no effect. The tree wouldn’t catch fire as if it were soaked with water, and even when it burned slightly or broke, it only slowed its growth marginally.
“I’m departing immediately.”
“Please hurry. If that tree touches the ley lines beneath Baekdu Mountain, we could face a catastrophic eruption along with a massive earthquake.”
I hung up and called everyone together.
“Taho, you can handle things here, right? I’m leaving Yang President and the engineers behind.”
“No problem. It’s only natural to address our homeland’s crisis first.”
“Everyone, pack your things. We’re taking off within the hour.”
I boarded the plane with everyone. At maximum speed, it would take six hours to arrive, but those hours felt unbearably long.
As we entered North Korean airspace and still had considerable distance to cover, I could already see the tree. Growing several kilometers east of Baekdu Mountain, it was sprouting from the border between Korea and China.
Perhaps because it had started growing in such elevated terrain, it seemed to pierce through the clouds, and even now it writhed and continued expanding.
“No time to land. We’re jumping.”
Going all the way to a runway to land, then getting back in a vehicle to reach the site, would be a waste of time.
“What?”
Everyone stared at me with wide, startled eyes.
“I’ll lower the altitude and reduce speed as much as possible, so don’t worry.”
I pulled out emergency parachutes and handed one to Yang Sang-heon.
“Now… we’re jumping from the sky too?”
“Hunter Lee Ji-seok, I… I have a fear of heights…”
The others half-resignedly accepted, but Hyung-bin, who suffered from acrophobia, went deathly pale.
“Then let’s head back. We can’t turn the plane around for one person. We’ll regroup later.”
Ye-seul fastened her parachute and took Hyung-bin’s hand, clearly intending to jump as well.
“It’s fine if you come later.”
Hyung-bin squeezed his eyes shut.
“I… I’m coming too.”
He apparently couldn’t bear the thought of staying behind while his girlfriend jumped out of a plane.
After finishing preparations, the co-pilot emerged and checked everyone’s parachutes, explaining how to operate them.
Since the aircraft wasn’t originally designed for high-altitude jumps, we opened the emergency hatch at the rear underside of the fuselage.
Whoooosh!!!
Even with the reduced speed, everyone’s hair whipped wildly in the wind of the fast-moving aircraft.
“Good luck!”
The co-pilot, who had stepped back after opening the hatch, gave us a thumbs up.
“Let’s go.”
I jumped first, and Bae Na-young followed right behind me. Neither of us actually needed parachutes.
Bae Na-young created a mana shield to protect her face, while I wrapped my armor around my entire body to shield myself from the wind’s effects.
The rest of the group donned goggles and leaped from the sky.
Being heavy and not decelerating, I fell the fastest. As I approached the ground, I released aura from my feet to slow my descent. I didn’t feel the need to fully decelerate, so I landed at high speed, sending a shockwave rippling across the ground.
Bae Na-young descended gracefully, using the levitation magic of her cloak.
Looking up at the sky, the rest of the group deployed their parachutes one by one. Hyung-bin’s face had gone pale, but he managed to open his parachute in time.
“Huh? Yang Sang-heon isn’t deploying his?”
“His expression doesn’t look scared, so what’s going on?”
As he drew closer, I was wondering if I should go catch him, when Yang Sang-heon created a round disc in his hand and threw it downward. He kicked the disc as it curved back like a boomerang, reducing his falling speed. He threw dozens of discs this way, kicking each one to gradually decelerate. His ability to create and control the discs was impressive, and his footwork in kicking them to slow his descent was excellent.
Thud.
It seemed he hadn’t decelerated enough—Yang Sang-heon’s face contorted in pain as he landed.
“Is that a new technique?”
“It’s a skill called Light Sorcerer. I can create discs of light to throw or use as platforms. I used it in Mexico last time too, but you didn’t see it because you’d already entered the Gate.”
“But then why did you bring a parachute?”
“It’s scary…”
While I was talking with Yang Sang-heon about his skill, the others landed one by one.
“Phew…”
“Follow me slowly.”
I didn’t have time to wait for everyone to compose themselves, so I picked up Bae Na-young and ran.
“Hahaha, this vacation just never ends.”
Yang Sang-heon laughed helplessly. We’d gone on vacation to Mexico, dealt with a Gate Break, done construction work, and now here we were at Baekdu Mountain to deal with the Twisted Tree. It was understandable.

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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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