Infinite Evolution Hunter [NOVEL] - chapter 21
The tattered clothes were bothering me, so I tore off both sleeves. The fabric was stretchy enough that I didn’t end up half-naked, but the outfit had been ripped here and there in the previous fight, and the remaining parts were stretched tight to fit my enlarged body.
I hadn’t cared much when I was alone or with Sangheon, but partnering with a woman made me self-conscious about walking around half-undressed.
That said, wearing normal armor wouldn’t help my stat growth. Most armor underperformed compared to my body anyway, and if it broke I’d have to repair it—whereas my body heals on its own, so the cost-performance isn’t even close.
Another problem was weight. As my stored energy increased, my body weight kept going up. Extra mass was useful in combat, but it got in the way when traveling.
I knew an item that fit my situation perfectly, so once we cleared this gate I’d go find the famous craftsman from my previous life.
“But I don’t see any ogres. At this rate, this is going to take forever…”
Either we were unlucky, or something else—but Nayoung and I walked and chatted for thirty minutes without seeing a single ogre.
“I’m sorry. My movement speed is slow.”
I’d spoken without thinking, and she apologized when she heard it.
In truth, she wasn’t slow. Her stats were typical for a ranged hunter, and she kept up without a word of complaint. It’s just that I usually blitzed through gates like I was flying, so our hunting pace felt slow by comparison.
“No, it’s me. I’m just impatient. So, uh… mind if I carry you and run?”
“W-what? Carry me?”
She jumped, startled.
“If we clear a gate of this size at this speed, we’ll have to camp in here. It could take a day, maybe two.”
Older gates had partial maps, which helped, but most were based on hazy hunter memory—“it’s about this big”—so they were often wrong. This one deviated quite a bit from the info the Administration had passed along.
Monster distribution and numbers were random, so clear times changed with each reset. Hunters had to prepare as much as possible before entering.
If another party came in and hunted while moving around, we could finish faster, but that was pure luck.
“I’m heavy…”
Her face flushed. She stood about 170 centimeters—not short—and was slim enough that she wouldn’t be heavy at all. Women always think they’re heavy.
“I’m strong. You saw me take down an ogre, right? It’s your call—camp here, or let me carry you.”
“T-then please… But if I get too heavy, put me down. I’ll walk faster.”
After a moment’s hesitation, she answered, face bright red.
“Don’t worry.”
There was already a height difference between us, but while enlarged I ended up holding her like a child.
The plates of her protective gear were set around the chest, so her body didn’t press directly against my torso, but the softness in my arms did momentarily scatter my focus.
“Ahem… I’m running now.”
“Okay.”
I started walking slowly, then gradually picked up speed until I was sprinting flat out. With Agility over 30, my speed matched a car’s.
“Kyaaah!”
When I broke past 100 km/h, she screamed. I eased off and asked,
“You okay?”
“Y-yes… You startled me. I’m okay. You can go fast again.”
With permission granted, I accelerated back to full speed.
A car has a windshield, and a motorcycle at least has a helmet. Taking a hundred kilometers per hour to the bare face without any cover induces indescribable fear.
Even without vibration it’d be scary; running meant inevitable up-and-down motion that doubled it.
Still, we had to do it for a faster hunt.
Nayoung squeezed her eyes shut and burrowed into my arms.
“Found one.”
Thanks to Keen Senses and sharpened vision, I picked out an ogre hundreds of meters away.
She didn’t answer—maybe she couldn’t hear me. I set her down behind a rock where the ogre couldn’t see us and checked her complexion; she’d gone pale.
I gently patted her back as she panted with her heart thudding.
“You okay? Do you need to throw up?”
“…I’m okay. Just give me a moment.”
I let her rest and pulled field rations from my pack. I offered her some, but she shook her head, still nauseous.
After about five minutes, some color returned to her face.
“Then, like before, please.”
She nodded.
We walked into the ogre’s range together and laid on the curse. The ogre’s eyesight was snatched away and it looked around; in that opening I came in from the side.
I kicked its knee first to break its balance, then hammered its lowered head.
KWAANG!
There was a boom and a jolt, but it immediately swung its arm to find what had hit it. Still, the damage from my enlarged punch sapped its strength—the swings were weak and wildly off-target.
I punched its arm up as it swept toward my torso, then peppered its exposed face with blows until it crashed to the ground.
With the rhythm down, it was even easier than before.
After that, it was carry-run, set down, curse, and kill on repeat. With the speed up, there wasn’t much time to chat.
[Level has risen.]
Fighting monsters a tier above me made levels come easy.
We hunted for hours, and just as I thought we’d take a longer break after one last kill—
Three ogres were charging us from afar. Three bodies… but four heads. The one in the middle was a Twin-Headed Ogre. Rare in D-rank gates, it’s classified as a C-rank monster—a D-rank party has to risk their lives to face it.
I snapped the neck of the one I’d been holding and sprang into the line between the Twin-Headed Ogre and Nayoung.
“Nayoung, don’t lift the curse! Dropping it now is more dangerous!”
She nodded.
The two single-headed ogres that entered the radius faltered as expected, but the Twin Head narrowed its eyes and walked straight toward us. A strong monster—and while Nayoung’s skill ranks were high, her level and Intelligence were still low, so the curse seemed weak against it.
Up close, the Twin Head stood at least a meter taller than other ogres, its bulk so massive it looked like a different species altogether.
It hefted a club taller than I was onto its shoulder, strode up, and stood before me.
It snorted derisively and brought the two-handed club straight down.
The trajectory was obvious, but the speed was vicious; even dodging it left cold sweat on my brow.
Bigger than the rest, and noticeably faster.
I slipped past the descending club and drove a fist into its flank. The impact rippled across its hide, but it swung the club again and again like it hadn’t felt a thing.
The club kept getting faster, and so did I.
Maybe thanks to Nayoung’s curse, its eyes were narrowed and its expression was full of irritation. It lost track of me here and there—so it really couldn’t see well.
We went into a stalemate of hit-and-run.
I would normally prefer to take hits while I hit back, but the gap was too big. If that ridiculous club knocked me out, Nayoung would die, and I had no idea what would happen to me—so I dodged for dear life.
“Ku-ugh! Kraahk! Du ga! Fruu-draa~!”
The right head barked something unintelligible, and the two accompanying ogres turned toward Nayoung.
It must have signaled her position to its underlings. If this continued, Nayoung would be in danger.
While dodging the Twin Head’s swing, I spun like a wheel and snatched a stone from the ground, then threw it in a single, flowing motion.
My Strength was over 50 and Agility nearly 40; enlarged, my Strength climbed higher. With my power, spring, and the body control learned in my past life, the stone flew like a tank shell and smashed into an ogre’s head. The rock shattered—and so did its skull—as it collapsed.
“Grrrr!”
The left head of the Twin Head roared with rage. The sound was so deafening my body locked up for an instant.
There was a hunter who used Lion’s Roar; this felt like taking that head-on.
Frozen, I took the club blow to the body.
My ribs snapped as I was sent flying.
I twisted to land in a roll, grabbed another stone as I tumbled, rose, and hurled it full-force at the remaining ogre.
THUD!
The other ogre’s skull broke and it crashed down.
The Twin Head batted me away and immediately charged. As I threw, it swung—and its club smashed my shoulder.
Focused on the throw, I failed to evade; I heard a horrible crack as bone snapped.
Taking two hits that would have killed most hunters on the spot left me woozy.
Thanks to Hardened Body, it didn’t become a fatal blow. Gritting through the pain, I stepped in and crowded it.
If one hit won’t do, then ten or a hundred—driven by that thought, I swung fists and feet.
Without even pausing to breathe, I weaved through the club and hammered the same spots—the solar plexus, knees, and ribs—over and over. My bones had already knit back together mid-fight, but the ogre was tiring and its injuries were piling up.
It flung the now-useless club aside and reached to seize me with both hands.
I ducked under its grasp, climbed onto its back, and wrapped both necks in a choke.
Alone, I’d have dragged this into a long endurance match, but I worried about Nayoung’s mana. If it broke free of the curse, the momentum I’d clawed back could flip again.
As I tightened, it pounded my head with its fists and clawed wildly.
I pulled my head back as far as I could to avoid the punches and squeezed with everything I had. My arm muscles swelled to the point of bursting.
It suddenly leapt and fell backward to crush me, and the shock knocked the wind from my lungs.
Now it was a question of who would black out first.
[Strength has increased by 3.]
The urgency—choke it out now or die—pushed my Strength up, and power I hadn’t had a moment before surged into my forearms.
“Guuhh…”
Its arms, on the other hand, lost strength; the hands swiping for my head wafted uselessly through the air and then flopped to the ground.
[Level has risen.]
My level rose, and the light announcing the gate’s clear swept across the sky.