Evolution Theory of the Hunter

“Stop over there. Just stop.”

As soon as I spoke, everyone looked at me.

“Huh? Aren’t you Jeon Sangmin?”

“Eum….how did you know my name…?”

“How could we not? Weren’t you the one who allowed all of us to pass through that barricade?”

“I guess but…”

It seemed my name was becoming quite famous. But that also meant I was infamous now to team Ezekiel.

It didn’t matter. Fame had a tendency to bring in negative attention as well as positive. I could handle that much at least.

It wouldn’t have been possible to pierce through the barricade all on our own. At least bringing everyone else over allowed us to not only come through easily but also have a whole slew of people as a sort of ally.

“Anyway, there’s no point in causing unnecessary trouble here. It’s better to just not fight and step away. Same with you guys from Ezekiel.”

I Looked pointedly at the other guys.

“What are you saying! This is our land! We even got confirmation from the government!”

“Shut up. Isn’t that only after you’ve cleared the entire land of monsters? It makes no sense for you to claim the land like this when we see monsters crawling all over it.”

“I love that way you put it. You’re 100% correct.”

He said as he clapped me on the back. Ezekiel’s side was now grinding their teeth, but I paid them no mind.

They were the minority right now and, short of losing their mind, they wouldn’t try and fight now.

“Don’t pick any fights and just focus on hunting. That would be the smartest move right now.”

“No. Was it us who picked the fight first? They were the ones who blocked our way first. We had half a mind to just push past them forcefully with our trucks before deciding to try and settle it out peacefully by getting out and trying to talk.”

The person who looked to be the party leader explained.

“We…..we!”

“Don’t make me say the same thing twice and just leave. If you don’t want to die, that is.”

“Keuk…”

I spoke a bit more roughly than I meant to.

Was this because of my memories from the Baeksapyoung Dungeon? The faces of all the unnecessarily slaughtered men and the melted faces of the survivors came to mind.

Finally the Ezekiel group moved aside. That was their only option.

The truck party’s leader came toward me and said.

“I had wanted to use some force against them but I will let it be only because of you. Thenuntil we meet again.”

All of them loaded back into the truck and disappeared into the horizon.

And then the Ezekiel group looked to me and said.

“You said you’re Jeon Sangmin…? You were the cause of all of this?”

“Whatever. Watch yourself. From now on, there will be plenty of other people not as forgiving as them.”

I turned around after saying my piece.

It would have been nice if they just left it at that.

“Stop!”

“What?”

“You didn’t think we would just let you go after you did all this shit?”

“No. I just saved you guys from getting killed, so what the hell are you talking about?”

“Save us? Like hell! You’re looking down on us!”

“Looking down on you? If that means saving your lifethen yehI’m looking down on you.”

“What?!”

“Oh. I’m sorry if my speech is a bit rough, but I’m not wrong.”

“This bastard! Just know today is your funeral.”

Shwing.

The sword he had sheathed just a moment ago was drawn again.

I made a sigh and said.

“Don’t do thisreally.”

“I will make you regret letting those guys pass.”

“It’s nice that you have so much confidence butthink of it from the other side. Why do you think they left us like that?”

“Partyhead!”

The doors to our car opened and both Han Joonseok and Jong Sawon got out. When everyone else looked ready to get out too, I raised my hand to stop them.

“Just wait on stand by. I’m enough to handle these guys by myself.”

“Nice bluffI’ll give you that much.”

The biggest of them all, wielding a Bastard Sword, stomped his way toward me.

Glancing at his equipment, he had level 2 equipment and a level 3 sword.

Hm. Not bad.

But even if he had a level 3 skill, he was still no match for my effort skill.

“Keu keu. I will make you rue the moment you had your friends stay back.”

“Sorry. What did you say?”

“Heuk?”

I piledrived right into his chest in a split second.

Sqeeze.

The moment I gave a good hard squeeze to the hand holding the sword, he released his weapon and let it fall to the ground.

“Heuuuuk?”

The moment he stepped back in surprise, I stepped on the sword and put it into storage.

“This bastard! Doing a surprise attack!”

“Whatever. Just go. I don’t want to fight.”

“Waitwhere’s my sword?”

“What are you talking about? What sword?”

“The sword you just ook…”

I raised up both hands to show that I had nothing in them. His face froze. Even a non name level 3 sword sold for about 600,000 dollars.

He must have felt like crying from losing something like that.

“Waitwait….reallymy sword.”

“Stop whining. If you want to fight then just hurry it up.”

Pft.

I could hear Sooah trying to stop from laughing behind me

His face kept getting redder and redder.

“Shit! I’m sure it’ll turn up somewhere. Everyone attack!”

He yelled confidently, but no one behind him moved.

Unless they were idiots, they would have been able to assess our power.

It should have struck them as odd that a bunch of hunters left just on my word alone.

It meant that they acknowledged my power enough that they would not only listen to me, but trust that I would be safe even after they left.

Only this one idiot didn’t understand all of this.

“What are you guys doing! I said to kill the bastard!”

“I meanhe looks pretty strong. And it’s not like we have to fight him. I’m sure someone higher up will do something about him.”

Everyone started to walk away.

Only the guy who had his weapon stolen was still mad. But he couldn’t fight aloneand weaponless at thatso he followed everyone else.

“Shit! You just watch!”

“So there are idiots who say cliche things like that.”

“Keeeeuek!!!!”

He let out a final frustrated yell at my nonchalant words before running at me.

It wasn’t hard to fight off a foe who didn’t even have a weapon.

Slam!

I punched him in the face.

“You use this.”

I passed the level 3 no name sword to Sooah.

“Are you just passing things out now?”

“Return what you had instead.”

“Ok.”

She passed back the level 2 sword she had strapped to her hip.

After scattering team Ezekiel, we made a small change in course. There was no need to unnecessarily go on a course they knew so that they could find us again to fight.

Our aim was to fight monstersnot people.

Of course the items we gained from fighting people were very very nice, but not enough to kill.

We arrived at a piece of land that didn’t overlap with any other parties’ hunting grounds.

Park Hanbum spoke.

“How many do you think we can kill?”

“If they’re level 2 monsters, I’m sure we can easily do about 20 at one time?”

Armed with level 3 equipment now, we were far stronger than we had been at the Baeksapyoung dungeons.

But it was better not to overwhelm ourselves since we were fighting on a more open landscape.

“Then I’ll be right back.”

Vroom!

Park Hanbum revved his bike and sped away.

After a few moments,

Vroooom!

We heard his bike again and saw close to 25 monsters chasing after him.

What was interesting was that he was riding his bike in large arcs instead of driving straight.

“what the hell is he doing?”

“I think….he’s testing out his new item.”

Han Joonseok responded as he slitted his eyes to try and look closer. It seemed he was able to assess the situation better thanks to the Optical Ruby ring allowing him better vision.

Whe Park Hanbum got a bit closer, we were finally able to see what was going on.

He was shooting his bow while speeding on his bike at the same time. Since he had both hands off the handles every time he shot his bow, the bike would swerve here and there.

“What theis that even possible…?”

On a road that wasn’t even asphaltand one that was a bit wet at thathe was using sheer hip movements to stabilize his bike.

“I can see why he wanted that bow.”

Han Joonseok added. Just being able to ride a bike like that could be as helpful as having a skill. No, it might actually be due to the aid of a skill that he’s able to ride like that.

“Get ready for battle.”

Struck momentarily by Park Hanbum’s riding skills, the monsters had drawn every closer in mere moments.

And in that time, the monsters had gone from 25 to 23.

We were already in position.

Jong Sawon, Cho Youngoo, and I were in a triangle as the ranged damage dealers (ADC).

It was Sooah’s job to back us up.

Vroom!

The bike sped roared as it sped past me. I could hear the wheels grinding against the ground.

Paht!

Park Hanbum shot out an arrow and another monster fell to the ground.

That was a level 3 item for you the damage it inflicted was no laughing matter.

Our opponents consisted of 10 Predatory Toads, 6 Striped Alligators, and 6 Fanged Earwigs. 22 in total.

Seeing a standing target, they switched their attention to me and started running in my direction.

Shwing.

Honcheon sword in my right, Level 2 no name in my left hand.

And I had been wearing my armor for a while now.

Squeeze.

Sqeezing my swords in both hands, I made a dash towards them.

Jong Sawon and Cho Youngoo followed suit and ran forward as well.

Manager Kim started to cast his spell while Han Joonseok, Bae Yeonkyoung, and Park Hanbum readied their bows.

Quickly reaching the monsters, I struck out with my sword horizontally. No matter how sharp the blade is on a sword, it is hard to kill a large monster with one swipe.

The key was to attack their weak spot.

Flap.

One predatory toad struck out its tongue in my direction. I could see the poison dripping off its thick tongue as it came ever closer.

Swipe!

Flap!

As soon as I cut it off, almost three more struck at me.

Too slow.

Swipe! Slash! Slash!

Even before they can feel the pain of my blade, I stepped atop the first toad’s head.

“Croak?”

Stab!

I struck down with my Honcheon sword straight into its head.

[+200]

I jumped off the now dead toad towards my next monster.

The predatory toad I had aimed for raised its head and opened its mouth.

Huge.

It could easily swallow me whole.

“Haaahhht!”

I yelled out and swiped my Honcheon sword straight up and down.

The large gaping mouth split into two and transparent fluid splattered everywhere.

But even with its mouth split apart, the toad remained its mouth open.

And I fell right into its throat.

Shit.

Splat.

The sticky saliva clung all over my body. It smelled putrid.

“Sunbeh Oppa!”

I could hear Sooah yelling out.

The toads esophagus started to pulled my body in. If I just stayed still, I might get digested.

I hurried stored all my weapons into storage and brought out the bloody sword.

This might hurt a bit.

Shwing!

“Crooak!”

The toad started to jump about after I cut it.

Now I could feel what was left of its tongue pushing at me and its muscles trying ever harder to digest me.

I tried in earnest to stab at its throat. Luckily I was able to do this much since its tongue was already gone meaning I wasn’t paralized.

Stab! Stab!

“Just die! Die why don’t you!”

Staab!

Unable to take any more, it finally spit me back out.

“Croak! Croak!”

The monster started croaking and coughing as if it had something stuck in its throat. I’m sure it wasn’t feeling 100% since I had left my bloody sword stuck in its throat before being spit back out.

Ah, my clothes were covered in the toads juices, and I was unbearable smelly and sticky.

I did bring a change of clothes but there was nowhere for me to shower. I guess I would need to look for some running water after this fight was over.

“Partyhead!”

Han Joonseok yelled out. Another toad jumped to where I was standing.

I hurriedly hopped back.

Slam!

The ground shook at the impact of the large monster.

I equipped myself with a sword in either hand again.

Tap.

I hit the ground running. The nasty toad revealed its little stub of a tongue as it raised its forelegs.

Unlike normal toads, these toads had incredibly large feet.

Slam!

“Euk.”

I dodged its attack and ran to its side.

Swipe!

I struck at its hip and all its intestines spilled out of the gaping hole.

Ah, are those eggs over there? Looks like this one is female.

Slam! Slam!

It started to jump after meeven with its intestines and eggs trailing after it.

[+200]

Reward points..where did that come from?

Looking up, I saw that the toad that had swallowed me whole had finally collapsed.

It seemed as if my bloodysword had finally done its work and drank all its blood.

“Croak!”

During the short time I was preoccupied by that toad, the zombie toad had closed the distance.

Shwing!

An arrow had lodged itself in the toad’s forehead. It flinched, but the damage wasn’t enough to kill it.

But more arrows flew outand one of them hit its eye.

“Croak!”

It let out another croak and started to flail its body.

And then I jumped atop the miserable toad to jam my Honcheon sword straight down.

[+200]

After ridding of three toads in that way and looking around, I saw Jong Sawon and Cho Youngoo engaged in a bloody fight against the Striped Alligators.

There were 6 dead toads.

The remaining 4 toads were fast asleep.

The striped alligators were much easier to deal with than the Predatory Toads.

The striped alligators were only fearsome when they were hidden in shallow streams when they were exposed above ground like they were now all you had to do was avoid getting bitten.

Cho Youngoo raised his shield and blocked the attacks of the 3 meter long Stiped Alligators.

Jong Sawon parried attacks at my right.

They couldn’t do reckless close combat fighting like I could do.

I was only able to do such attacks because of the high level abilities thanks to my effort skill.

Because even if they were level 3 hunters, if they got caught in the level 2 toad’s mouths they would not be able to get back out.

Most humans fought while depending on their weapons and equipment and not relying on their physical abilities. The same went for dealing with the alligators. I was just the exception.

Humans could not move as quickly as the monsters’ jaws could.

One wrong move, and they could lose an arm or leg to the alligators’ mouths.