Infinite Evolution Hunter [NOVEL] - Chapter 17

I tried to straighten up, and blood gushed from my mouth. I was regenerating my body in real time, but with my regeneration still at E rank, there was no way to instantly recover wounds like these.

The moment I pushed myself back up on shaky legs, the beast charged me.

Forcing my hardly moving body to respond, I rolled across the ground and barely avoided its forepaw by a hair’s breadth.

I tried to recover as much as I could while rolling, but it had no intention of giving me that time. It turned its head sideways, jaws gaping to bite me.

My battered body reacted too slowly, and I couldn’t avoid its mouth.

I caught its upper and lower fangs and held on, but its bite force surpassed my Strength.

I was pushed back bit by bit, and it finally clamped down on my side. Its teeth sank deep into my body, but I used both arms to keep its jaws from fully closing. If not for Hardened Body, I would have been torn in half at once.

When it failed to chew me in one go, it started shaking me like a chew toy. With every shake, its teeth sank deeper into my flesh.

[Regeneration has increased from E to D.] [Hardened Body has increased from F to D.] [Strength has increased by 5.]

Just as it felt like my waist would be torn apart, the notifications popped up.

I felt strength surging into the arms gripping its fangs. Slowly, its jaws began to open, and at the same time my wounds regenerated, fresh flesh knitting together. The newly regenerated skin and muscle were tougher than before.

With my reinforced hide, its teeth could no longer burrow deeper. My body kept regenerating and forcing the bite back, and before long its jaws were pried fully open.

Bewilderment filled its eyes.

With me still locked on its mouth, fire flickered in its throat.

I hastily brought my hands together to shut its mouth, then twisted my body and wrapped its snout with both arms, squeezing tight.

The monster’s head was so huge that my arms couldn’t fully encircle it for leverage. But now that Regeneration had reached D rank, it no longer mattered.

[Regeneration (D): You can modulate your body’s regeneration.]

At this rank, I could alter my body within the limits of what I could visualize. The possibilities for combat would explode from here.

Focusing on the boundary of my body and picturing it larger, my bones and muscles creaked as my body began to grow. I didn’t have much energy and my mastery was still low, so I only gained about forty centimeters in height, but my arms lengthened enough to fully clamp around its snout.

Startled that I’d grown, it thrashed like mad, shaking its head to fling me off. Dangling from it, I poured strength into my arms as if to crush its jaws.

In agony, it tried everything—grinding its muzzle against the ground, slamming its head into trees and rocks—to rip me free. But Hardened Body, having jumped two ranks at once, showed defense on a different level even without me having reshaped my whole body yet. On top of that, enlarging myself increased muscle mass and strength, letting me hold its body even more firmly.

Perhaps trusting their leader, the other hellhounds that had only been watching now charged to protect it, biting all over me until there was hardly a spot uncovered. But their attacks no longer worked on my body.

When the leader began to tire, I wedged its snout between my left arm and side, freeing my right fist to hammer its skull.

There were resounding thuds, but unlike the small fry, its head didn’t shatter in one blow.

Smaller hellhounds dangled from me like ornaments, but I ignored them and kept pounding the biggest one’s head.

[Level up.]

Soon its body sagged. I’d lost a lot of blood and felt exhausted, but the level-up made me feel a touch lighter.

I then yanked off the ones clinging to me one by one and hurled or punched them away. When this cull started, I couldn’t finish off the ones attached to me just by punching; now, with my Strength far higher than back then, it wasn’t hard to deal with them.

With the fight this one-sided, you’d expect the survivors to flee, but they didn’t—they kept coming.

To make matters worse, drawn by the earlier howling, hellhounds were gathering without end.

But with the leader down and Hardened Body ranked up, they were no match for me anymore.

I hurled myself at the charging beasts.

—

“Good heavens….”

Only at dawn did the Retrieval Team from the Awakened Management Bureau arrive in response to my request. Picking their way carefully through what must have been hundreds of hellhound corpses, they approached me.

“You did this alone?”

A civil servant, face gone pale, asked the question as I sat there, drenched in blood, catching my breath.

“Yes. I can head down now, right?”

“Ah, yes. We’ll handle the collection.”

With the threat from the pack gone, retrieval operations seemed to be resuming. I was tired and hungry, and I wanted to return quickly.

Too lazy to walk, I rode back in the Bureau’s small mountain vehicle.

After a wash, I headed to the dining hall and started eating.

“Hyung! You’re okay, right? You weren’t at the return assembly spot last night, so I was worried.”

Sangheon hurried over, concern written all over his face as I ate.

“Yeah. I grabbed a few more and just got back.”

“Then that’s a relief.”

As we were eating together, Section Chief Baek Young-shin approached with a bright expression.

“Sorry to intrude while you’re eating. May I sit?”

He asked politely, and I gestured to the chair across from me.

“You stayed behind alone and held them off. We set up a defensive line at the resort, but if they’d spread in all directions, nearby villages might have been hit. Thanks to you drawing and stopping them mid-route, major damage was avoided. The hunters dispersed in the mountains also returned safely because of your efforts. Thank you.”

He bowed his head to me. Looked like the fleeing hunters had made it back okay.

“It was nothing.”

“A giant specimen was found as well. We suspect it acted as a focal point drawing the packs together. Its existence is something the Bureau should have identified—we apologize for the oversight.”

He bowed again.

“We’ll provide as much support as we can going forward. The supplementary bounty we originally said we’d pay at half—we’ll pay it in full. You’re F rank currently, correct? We’ll process your promotion to E rank immediately. I’d like to make it D, frankly, but the time since your Awakening is too short—the rules won’t allow it.”

I hadn’t expected them to go this far; clearly preventing what could have been severe casualties had weighed heavily in my favor.

“Thank you. In that case, I’ll head back out to hunt.”

I shoveled the remaining food into my mouth and stood up.

“Pardon? Again?!”

Chief Baek sprang up, startled.

“Since we’ve come this far, shouldn’t I take first place?”

“If that’s what you mean, the tally’s already finished. The original plan was to go until noon today, but with so many injuries we judged it unwise to continue. Everyone’s been recalled and the cull is concluded.”

“Oh, really? What place did I get?”

“Even with many of your takedowns not yet recovered, you’re overwhelmingly first. Congratulations.”

I had killed a lot. Seemed it would take time just to collect them all.

“Thank you. In that case, I’ll eat a bit more.”

Chief Baek glanced over the stack of plates I’d already finished and wore a look that said, “More?”

“Haha… then please, help yourself. We’ll see you at the closing ceremony this afternoon.”

Wiping cold sweat, he took his leave.

But right now, I could eat everything here and still be hungry. With Hardened Body leaping two ranks at once, my cells were constantly regenerating into more advanced tissue.

At this point, short of a direct hit, I could withstand rifle rounds and most fires.

And my Strength stat had surpassed 40. The higher the stat, the slower it climbs, and a single point early on is not the same as a single point at higher values. Now I could lift a car.

“Hyung, you said you took ‘a few’—how many was that, exactly?”

Sangheon, who’d quietly listened to my and Chief Baek’s conversation, asked with a dazed expression.

“Oh, just a few.”

As we chatted and ate, I spotted Choi Cheol-min passing in the distance.

“Hey, Cheol-min.”

He flinched when he realized he’d been noticed and turned toward us.

“You owe me money, right?”

I held out my hand.

“How could a bastard like you have killed that many?”

Grudgingly approaching, he spoke through a twisted expression, bandages wrapped around his body and head.

“Well, turns out if you work hard at it, it happens.”

“Bullshit! You got three on day one—now you expect me to believe you took down hundreds on the last day, alone, without a party?!”

Just like when he first picked a fight, he pounded the table and yelled.

“If you lost, you should keep quiet. What do you think you’re doing.”

Sangheon stood, blocking him.

“Who are these nobodies to keep mouthing off? Do I look like a joke to you?”

Choi ground his teeth.

“You look like a joke because you’re acting like one. Don’t regret it later—just transfer the money.”

I spoke from my seat.

“You F-rank punks think you can look down on me?”

“Man, anyone would think an S-rank just walked in. You’re E-rank too, aren’t you? Oh, and I’m E-rank now as well. I got promoted.”

“W—what?! How so fast? Ah, did you bribe someone? You bribed them and faked your numbers, didn’t you!”

Watching him write his own fanfiction, I sighed.

“Low Intelligence, huh? If I hunted and killed more, that means I’m stronger than you—yet you still rush me like this? And let’s say I’m weak. If I’ve got the connections to rig ranks and cull results inside the Bureau, maybe you should be careful. Didn’t think that far, did you?”

Sangheon snorted, barely suppressing a laugh.

“You laughing at me?!”

At a loss for words and trembling with rage, he heard that stifled laugh and swung at Sangheon without warning. Throwing a punch here—maybe his Intelligence really is low?

Even if it was, as a known E-rank he was faster than Sangheon. Startled, Sangheon tried to dodge, but Choi’s fist was faster. Sangheon took the hit and went down.

“You okay?”

With a sigh, I stood, lifted Sangheon up.

“That bastard!”

He sprang up to go at Choi again, but I pressed his shoulder and stopped him. He froze, incredulous that he couldn’t budge an inch in my grip.

Forcing him to calm down, I stepped up to Choi and faced him head-on.