Infinite Evolution Hunter [NOVEL] - Chapter 10
“Stop right there!”
As if anyone in the world actually stops just because you shout “stop.”
I ignored Choi Miran’s shout and ran; a mana bolt flew from behind.
I weaved in a zigzag to dodge and open as much distance as possible. The poison made me slower than usual, but with every moment the toxin was being neutralized and my speed picked up.
“Damn it!”
Miran chased, firing mana bolts, then glanced back and forth between me and the collapsed Park Sangjun and Yang Sangheon, torn.
In the end, realizing she couldn’t catch someone faster than herself, she gave up and turned back.
After confirming she was heading back, I crept closer again.
Watching for an opening, I rushed in again when she started rifling through their packs.
“What are you?! Why are you back?!”
She snapped and burst another cloud of poison, but I already had some resistance; it only tingled and didn’t hinder my movement.
She shot a mana bolt as I charged through the miasma. At her current level, so long as it didn’t hit me head-on, it couldn’t deal a critical blow.
Swaying my upper body side to side, I slipped past the bolts, batted away what I couldn’t, closed right in, and sank a hook into her ribs.
A heavy bang resounded—it felt like punching a wall.
She had thrown up a defensive skill at the last moment.
She hadn’t shown this all day—saving it for exactly now? As my blow struck the translucent barrier, the tension left her face.
“Now just go down already!”
Keeping the shield up with the wand in her left hand, she pulled a bead of a different color from her pouch with her right and tossed it to the ground.
As it burst, she sprang back to widen the gap.
Pale blue smoke spread from the bead.
The green smoke’s main effect had been paralysis; when the blue touched my body, pain like knives stabbing every cell flared throughout me.
I collapsed from the pain, and in the distance Miran wiped sweat from her brow.
“Phew. What a hassle. This poison is expensive! Thanks to you I’m taking a total loss!”
Scowling, she kicked me several times, then, apparently convinced it would finish me, strolled back to loot.
There wasn’t a single place on my body that didn’t hurt. Every cell felt like it was being pierced by a red-hot awl. Cold sweat ran; my vision went milky; I felt my consciousness slipping—but I clenched my teeth and held on.
[Poison Resistance skill has risen from F to E.]
[Iron Will skill has risen from F to E.]
Miran was stronger than I expected, but with Poison Resistance and Iron Will both up, this was no longer a problem.
I felt the poison and pain ebbing, my mind clearing. I charged her again as she picked through our packs.
“H-How?!”
She hadn’t imagined I’d overcome even the blue toxin. She fired more mana bolts to keep me at bay, but those had never been much of a threat.
I closed the distance in a blink and threw a punch—but another bang; my fist was stopped again, and a twisted smile curled her lips.
“Your attacks don’t work on me! This time I’ll dose you with something that can kill an elephant!”
As she triumphantly reached for more poison, I hammered both fists against the barrier in rapid succession. Cracks began to spider across it after several strikes.
“I’ll break it first!”
Startled, she yanked her hand back from the pouch, gripped her wand with both hands, and poured more power into the shield.
The cracks slowly knit themselves closed, but I answered by speeding up my barrage. A barrier is made from the user’s mana. It isn’t infinite, and it isn’t invincible. Hit it long enough and it breaks.
“Kyaa!”
After dozens of blows, the barrier shattered. The shock launched Miran backward and she screamed.
As I paused to catch my breath from the burst of speed, she bolted.
I raced after her. She ran and, while fleeing, hurled blue and green poison beads wildly behind her.
Wet thumps—each burst spread dense poison across my path, but I didn’t dodge. I took the miasma full-on and sprinted straight through.
The high concentration hit my body hard; with my current resistance I couldn’t neutralize it instantly. Numbness and pain surged; my pace faltered.
“Oh? Did it work?”
When I slowed, Miran turned, relief flickering over her face as if the poison had finally taken hold.
But within seconds the toxic haze weakened, and I pushed past the pain and numbness with Iron Will. I kicked back into the chase.
“What even are you?!”
She blanched and ran again. For a mage she was fast, but there was no outrunning someone with Agility and Vitality both around twenty.
Each time I closed the gap, she lobbed more beads and used the moment I flinched to open distance again. After repeating this a couple more times, her poison plumes no longer affected me at all.
The Gate’s exit shimmered in the distance. If I lost her here, it’d be a mess. I dug deep and kicked into a final sprint.
[Vitality has increased by 1.]
Sucking down poison while running set my lungs and thighs on fire, but I kept pushing; a point of Vitality ticked up, and my body felt the tiniest bit lighter.
Faster than ever, I leapt and drop-kicked her square in the back. She shrieked and sprawled on the ground.
We were barely ten meters from the Gate.
I yanked her pouch away.
“Which one’s the antidote?”
“…Green bottle.”
She glared up at me, defiant.
“Yeah?”
I pulled out a green bottle, grabbed her jaw, and poured it into her mouth.
“No!—Kyaa!—Ugh!”
She foamed and writhed in agony. So that was the raw poison.
“Knew it. That was way too cooperative.”
I dabbed each bottle to my tongue and watched my body’s reactions to pick out the real antidote.
I trickled a bit into her mouth as well, then bound her hands and feet. Hoisting her onto my shoulder, I returned to Park and Yang and gave both of them generous doses of the antidote.
While I waited for them to come around, I chewed on the jerky I’d brought.
Yang Sangheon woke first, groaning.
“What… what happened?”
His face was still foggy—paralysis not fully gone.
“Remember the green smoke? She tried to paralyze us with poison and steal our items and cores. Without timely antidotes, we’d all be dead.”
I jerked my chin toward Miran, unconscious. Even ‘just’ paralysis or pain toxins, taken in heavy doses over time, can stop a heart or trigger fatal shock.
Yang stared, incredulous, then shook his head.
“Why would someone who looks so normal do that…? And we came in through the official Awakeners app—did she think she wouldn’t get caught?”
“Who understands a criminal’s mind? And I doubt ‘Choi Miran’ is her real name.”
If you keep killing inside Gates, the death logs of your parties pile up; there’s no way you keep getting entry approvals. In my past life’s news, she’d used forged IDs.
“Thank you. You saved our lives.”
Once he’d gathered himself, Yang bowed deeply.
“Don’t mention it.”
While we were talking, Park came to as well. After I explained, he flew into a rage and tried to lunge at Miran; I barely stopped him.
We exited the Gate and, for the third time, explained everything to an Administration officer as we handed Miran over. The three of us then went to the bureau to file statements. Her identity turned out to be fake, just as expected, and with the poison beads and antidote submitted as evidence, there was no way she could wriggle out.
I did hand over the beads and the antidote—but I quietly kept the raw toxin. High-grade concentrate is hard to make and harder to obtain. Using it to raise Poison Resistance made today’s trouble feel worth it.
“Thank you so much for today. I’ll repay you somehow.”
Yang bowed again, earnest as ever.
“Really—no need.”
If I hadn’t recognized her face and stepped in, the two of them would be dead, but I also got what I wanted, so there was no need to brag.
Park, on the other hand, vanished without so much as a thank-you. I hadn’t done it for thanks, but the contrast with Yang was stark. I hadn’t liked him since he started flirting with Miran; with any luck, I won’t see him again.
—
I’d been busy for weeks since my regression, but the university was finally heading into vacation—and it was time for me to go home. Time to see my mother at last. I’d thought about visiting her first, but walking around this world with a soft, untrained body felt awkward and unsafe; I wanted to get myself to a minimum condition before seeing her.
I hadn’t bought a car yet, so I took a taxi. I’d called often since coming back, but the thought of seeing my mother—whom I’d believed gone forever—made my heart pound.
The taxi stopped in front of a worn-down apartment building. I was home after years away.
I rode the elevator up and tapped in the keypad code.
“Son~ you’re here?”
Mom came from the kitchen, wiping her hands, and greeted me.
“Yes, Mom. I’m home.”
Home—from the future.
“Oh my, did you get taller? You look sturdier.”
Her eyes went round at the sight of the new me.
“Hurry in. Dinner’s almost done.”
She hugged me tight, then went back into the kitchen.
“Okay.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat, went in, and set the fruit box I’d bought on the table.
“You didn’t have to buy anything. Where would you get money, anyway?”
Back then I was basically living off her money; she could’ve scolded me for wasting it on fruit. But perhaps because it was a gift from her son, she was simply happy—though her face also showed worry that I might be short on cash.
“Mom, I awakened. I’m a Hunter now.”
Her hands, putting fruit into the fridge, paused.
“I see.”
She wasn’t happy. Even with academies and better gear, Hunters were infamous for the highest mortality. People dying in Gates to catch monsters had become such a routine part of the news that their names were just a formality at the end.
Even before, Mom had wanted me to get a regular job at a company rather than make money as a Hunter.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be careful. I won’t go anywhere dangerous.”
Of course I would go dangerous places, and “being careful” wouldn’t keep danger away. But I did everything I could to reassure her.
“All right. You’ve wanted to be a Hunter for a while. Congratulations, son.”
She congratulated me, but there was no strength in her voice.
“Mom, let’s move. And you don’t have to work anymore.”
“No. I like it here. And I’ll keep working.”
“No, I’m making good money now. You don’t have to suffer.”
“I won’t sit around living off money my son risks his life to earn.”
Her firm tone rang in my skull; she was usually so gentle. I’d thought I could finally be a good son—but she was that worried about me being a Hunter.