Evolution Theory of the Hunter Chapter 59

Evolution Theory of the Hunter (ETH)
Volume 1 Chapter 59
 

As soon as the magician fell to the ground, any illusion that they might win shattered as well. The only reason they had continued fighting even as their comrades were dying left and right was because they had trusted in the power of Ban Shihyung and the magician.

But, not only did we have zero damages on our side, they now only had 5 people standing on theirs – Ban Shihyung, 2 archers, and 2 warriors.

The rest were either dead or fast asleep.

“Eu….what the h.e.l.l…this doesn’t even make sense…how can something like this…”

Despair was etched all over Ban Shihyung’s weasely face.

I slowly walked toward them.

Two of the cowards started to grovel.

“Please…please spare us.”

“We only did it because that b.a.s.t.a.r.d made us….!”

Slice!!

[+100]

[+200]

I struck out in one clean cut with my sword and sliced both their necks.

There was no way we could let anyone out of this alive. It would be a ma.s.sacre.

“Heuk??”

The two archers behind them dropped their weapons and started to run away.

Jong Sawon chased after them.

Han Joonseok and Bae Yeongyoung aimed their arrows at the fleeing backs as well. Now we only had the one b.a.s.t.a.r.d and the sleeping fools to deal with.

The despair bled out of from his eyes and was quickly replaced with anger.

“Do you have any last words?”

“Eff off. You think I’d go down that easy!”

He threw something to the ground.

It was a smoke grenade.

As the grenade continued to spin and spew out smoke, it not only messed with my vision, but it also covered any sounds I could rely on.

But that was the same for him too.

I started to swing all around me with my Honcheon sword.

Slam!

I felt something hit the end of my blade at last.

“Keuk!”

Ban Shihyung was b.u.mped right out of the cover of smoke from my explosive hit.

Seeing that his armor was just fine, it was probably a level 3 equipment.

But he probably still felt the explosive impact of my weapon. He held the side of his waist in obvious discomfort and started to cough uncontrollably.

“Cough. Cough!”

“I have something I want to ask you.”

“Keuk….you want to say you have something you’re curious about now?…after all this…??”

“Why did you decide to attack us?”

“What? Weren’t you ready to attack us too?”

“I was just prepared for any eventuality. I knew you were trash, but I didn’t think you would really go through so much trouble to come after us like this.”

“Keukeukeu…b.a.s.t.a.r.d. Then you should have just died quietly.”

“Seriously? That’s not my style.”

Ban Shihyung stared at the ground for a long time. Then said.

“If I tell you something…will you let me live?”

“No.”

“Keuk….b.a.s.t.a.r.d. I like that you’re honest. Cough.”

I might have effed up something inside because he started to cough up blood as he said.

“…We originally had over 30 people in our party.”

“So what happened to the rest?”

“They all died. Because of the hunter b.a.s.t.a.r.ds.”

“Hunters?”

“Yeah. The first day that the West Sea appeared. There was a group that entered the land first. They had hunted the monsters here and ma.s.sed together a much of equipment. That’s when they realized. That this land was a gold mine. How many people do you think would want to share such a gold mine with others?”

“You’re saying they killed other hunters for that reason?”

“They had another reason too. Even if you kill someone on this land and they have the equipment on them…the equipment doesn’t disappear.”

We left no one alive.

We all gathered in front of the bonfire as we waited for the bodies to evaporate.

“Seems things are worse than we imagined.”

“But it’s no surprise. Since uncouth things were happening even in the dungeons that were ‘overseen’ by the operators and officials…it’s no surprise that things like this would happen on land where no one is monitoring anything.”

Han Joonseok said thoughtfully – and everyone nodded their heads.

Our biggest threat were not just the monsters anymore. Anyone they potentially meet on this land could now all be enemies.

“What do you think of just entering level 3 dungeons for now?”

“It would be fine if we just fought against the normal level 3 monsters there….but it would be hard if we ran into any irregulars.”

I guessed that the irregulars that would appear in a level 3 dungeon would be at least level 4…and there was the chance we could find ourselves faced against a level 5 irregular…

With our current equipment and skill, it might be too much for us right now.

And it didn’t make too much sense for us to leave all the level 1 monsters we could hunt to try hunting after level 3 monsters.

“Let’s think about it some more tonight before we make a final decision on how to move forward.”

Everyone nodded their heads.

Once all the bodies evaporated, we started to inspect what was left behind and the items that dropped.

It was a bit easier now to understand why Ban Shihyung had attacked us.

“This is all….”

Cho Youngoo’s mouth was wide open in wonder.

There was a small hill of items in front of us.

About 30 items left behind by the 15 now evaporated enemies, 3 items dropped from the evaporation, and 3 ores.

There was no way we would be able to put carry this entire haul in the car. After wondering what we would be able to do with it all, I remembered the upgrade on my manual.

I had invested 98 ores into the manual upgrade option so far. If I just invested two of the ores that we just got today, I would have enough for the 100 ores required to do the upgrade.

“I’m going to go do something real quick and come back.”

-Would you like to initiate manual upgrade?

As soon as I nodded my head, millions of numbers started to rain down. It was very similar to when I had booted the manual for the first time.

It was like a green shower of numbers in the darkness. I waited in the midst of it all until the upgrade was complete.

-80…..90…..99….100 percent. Upgrade complete. Changes have been applied.

-Item storage has been expanded to 100. In the case of similar items, you may store up to 99 of them in one slot.

-You may also store an additional skill for a total of two.

-You may perform Item Fusions within the manual

“Ha….”

I had my mouth open without realizing it.

I had only been expecting to be able to add more items to storage. But I have an additional skill slot now? And all I did was invest 100 ores…

I tried to calm my fast beating hard to no avail.

There was no way I could remain calm.

“SunbehOppa. What are you doing over there by yourself?”

“Ah…”

“You’re not doing something perverted right? Everyone’s waiting for you. Hurry up and finish and come back.”

“You want to die?”

As soon as she showed up, I was finally able to regain some sort of control on my emotions. I guess she is useful at times.

As soon as I returned to the bonfire, everyone looked my way.

It seems they had tried to organize all the items into groups while I was gone.

But there was no one who knew the value of any of them.

Even if there were items here that were not rare or part of the new system, there was no one here who memorized them all as I have.

But….there were so many.

I simply regrouped the items and distributed them to whoever they were best suited for and put the rest into my manual.

As the many items started disappearing seemingly  into thin air, they seemed to be surprised.

With this, it would be impossible for me to argue that I was storing them simply into a common transparent backpack. It was time to do some explaining.