Evolution Theory of the Hunter Chapter 72

Evolution Theory of the Hunter (ETH)
Volume 1 Chapter 72

This was my way of telling them that we didn’t just help with the hunt – we saved their lives.

His expression hardened. I guess he must have taken me for a chump.

It would have been best for everyone if he just backed off…but that didn’t seem to be the case.

“But…do you know that this is Ezekiel territory?”

“I’m not sure…I don’t think I’ve heard that, no.”

“All the roads leading here are supposed to be blocked…”

“So are you saying right now that you purposely blocked off roads?”

“That is. Of course because this is our territory.”

“And who made that ruling?”

The initial ruling by the government was that they would acknowledge partial ownership for parties…not ownership of everything.

Nothing in the ruling said anything about the right to occupy land that had not been granted in the first place to do what they wanted with it. And it was because of this little point that they had taken the initiative to block the roads.

“That’s obviously by the government…”

This idiot.

“So are you saying that you will stick by what you just stated and accept all the repercussions as well?”

“…what?”

“It is true that the government approved teams to raid and occupy territories. But nowhere in the rulings did they approve blocking off roads and rights to pa.s.sage.”

“I see. Well ok then.”

Kim Jaemin nodded his head and walked away.

“Hey…he’s actually backing off?”

Sooah asked.

“The monster’s still evaporating. Nothing has dropped yet so I’m pretty sure they’ll act based on what comes out. I’m sure if they see something worth a pretty penny, they’ll be more aggressive.”

“Scavengers. I hate those kinds of sc.u.m.”

“But didn’t you get along just fine with those kinds of people, Manager Kim?”

Sooah smirked.

“That was only when they gave me money. Those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds aren’t giving me a paycheck. And didn’t I say that a weasel like them stabbed me in the back and I lost my job before?”

“Haha ok ok.”

It might have been because the Splendense was so huge, but it took a really long time for it to evaporate. It was only after 20 minutes that an item finally dropped.

“Hm…this….”

“Wow.”

I had been a porter for a long time and, short as it may be, my time as a hunter was spent in lots of raids.

In that time, I had killed a great number of monsters and seen plenty of items before too.

But this was really…I don’t know how to put it into words.

Ruff!

A dog barked and wagged its tail furiously as it stared at us.

h.e.l.lkeeper Cerberus (0)

Special Abilities: Eats items to grow. The higher the level, the more it grows. Cannot die.

“Cerberus….?”

“Cerberus?”

Bae Yeonkyoung hugged the dog and asked.

Surprised at the drop, everyone came together to look at her b.r.e.a.s.t.s.

No, I mean, the dog she was holding to her breast.

What the h.e.l.l am I saying.

“It seems that this dog here grows by eating items. It might look like a regular dog, but it might turn into a 3 headed monster later.”

Even the cheapest item is valued at over 100,000 dollars. To feed something like that to a dog. Not something for the light of heart. But one thing caught my eye.

‘Cannot die.’

There is no way the manual would have false information. That meant this was 100% fact.

If we could have this Cerberus as our ally, it could really be worth feeding the dog some items.

The only problem was, we didn’t know just how many items needed to feed it for it to be useful to us.

There was no point in investing expensive items in a dog that needed hundreds to grow a small amount.

“But there’s no way such a cute little dog can transform into a monster like that.”

Bae Yeonkyoung purred as she cuddled the dog a bit harder.

I couldn’t tell what kind of dog it was.

“I think this is ‘your’ item again.”

Han Joonseok spoke.

There was no point in leaking information they didn’t need to know in front of team Ezekiel. Park Hanb.u.m, who was still new, looked at me with curious eyes.

“‘Your’ item? What does that mean…?”

“We’ll explain later. Anyway, since the monster has evaporated, we should go on our way. There’s no reason for us to waste any more time here. And that dog, can you…”

“Ok…be careful.”

Bae Yeonkyoung pa.s.sed over the small Cerberus to me.

I held the dog by the gruff of its neck with one hand and put it into my manual.

It easily disappeared into storage.

Even if it was a living thing, it was still an item, so I guess there was no problem doing this. Anyway, this made it easier to take around.

Seeing Yeonkyoung look at me with sad and worried eyes, I brought out the dog again and handed it over to her.

Park Hanb.u.m’s expression was one for the books. It was a face that wanted to know so bad that it was almost comical to look at.

“Did something come out?”

Kim Jaemin came up to us and started poking his nose around. I shrugged and shook my head.

“Sadly nothing dropped.”

“But I thought I heard something just now…”

He might have noticed we were crowded together for a moment and gotten suspicious but…there’s no way he would have though Cerberus was an item.

“We just saw a dog come out of nowhere so we were just all petting it a bit.”

“Dog?”

I pointed to the small black dog that Yeonkyoung was lightly bouncing up and down in her arms.

Its whole body was covered in shiny black fur while the eyebrow-like fur above its eyes were flat grey ovals.

“Then we’ll be taking off.”

“Please stop right there.”

There was a bit of steel in Kim Jaemin’s voice.

Was he really trying to do something?

Even if he had a healer, it’s not as if his remaining men were in any shape to fight us.

They only looked like they had about 15 men who could put up any type of fight. But even if they had double that, they wouldn’t be able to beat me.

Fighting against people was easier than fighting against monsters in one aspect. If you just showed them how much more powerful you were, most would just turn tail and run.

“If you think you can stop us, go ahead.”

“I’m trying to say that I heard something. Didn’t you hear it?”

“What…?”

Vrooom~!

I looked where Kim Jaemin was squinting at and saw a vehicle coming our way. It was still a ways off but it looked like it would reach us in less than a minute.

And soon, a 2.5 ton truck pulled up while a bunch of people jumped out of it.

All of them had at least level 2 equipment with some who had level 3 equipment on them.

There seemed to be about 20 in number.

Kim Jaemin shook his cellphone at us.

“Now are you ready to talk?”

“Well…now that you finally did something underhanded, I feel more at peace. I was wondering when it would come.”

35 of them circled all around us – 15 unhurt men from earlier and the 20 reinforcements.

It seemed they were trying to intimidate by outnumbering.

But just then, another truck pulled up on the scene. It didn’t look to be from team Ezekiel. Because the flag attached to it was unfamiliar.

Screech.

“They look like Ezekiel b.a.s.t.a.r.ds. Should we help?”

This was the first time being lent a hand by complete strangers. It felt weird, to be honest.

This evened up the score.

But my favorite part was this – how Kim Jaemin’s face crumpled up from a smile to a scowl.

“Now, what will you do?”

I just wanted all this to be over and for everyone to leave. I didn’t want to hurt anyone when it was unnecessary.

Kim Jaemin’s face suddenly brightened up again.

When I followed his gaze, another truck that seemed to be theirs was heading this way.

The vehicle stopped and a gruff voice yelled out from within.

“What are you doing here?!”

“We’re taking care of some men who have broken through the barricade.”

I guess this person was higher up in the ranks than Kim Jaemin.

“Well, if you take care of all of them, maybe things will settle down a bit.”

Hm. This one seemed strong. I could see that he had level 4 equipment.

“Why don’t you try?”

“I was going to even before you asked. Everyone! Prepare for battle!”

“Yes!”

37 of them all took up their weapons.

Jesus. But then another truck was ambling their way.

I thought it was another Ezekiel truck, but Han Joonseok spoke.

“They’re regular hunters. How…”

“We made a call to some people we know…they came faster than I expected.”

An unfamiliar man said as he stepped off his truck.

Things were getting out of control.

“s.h.i.t. What the h.e.l.l…?”

The head honcho looking guy started to curse to himself.

He was about 170cm. A bit on the short side but I could see that he had a strong build.

I checked him out using my manual.

Name: Jang Taesoo

Skill: Agility (4), Increases response rate by 200%

Additional skills: None

Proficiency: 6

Equipment: Smash Sword (4), North Sea Armor (3), Shock Absorbing Glove (1), Quick Shoe (1)

As expected of a level 4 skill, the Agility skill raised his response rate significantly.

But it was still nothing compared to the reflexes my effort skill gave me.

The only thing that I had to watch out for was his Smash Sword.

That sword had an additional option – the sword’s strikes would deal critical damage to monsters at random.

But other than those random hits, it was no different from a no name level 4 sword.

Nothing to sweat over.

And we outnumbered them now – 6 to 4.

Even if they had a level 4 hunter, it was game over if the rest of his team is wiped out. Additionally, his armor can’t protect every part of him. If my archers just shot him in the eye – bye bye.

“You were saying you would show us something…”

“Keu keu keu….”

Jang Taesoo started to give out an evil laugh.

“I don’t think I said anything funny.”

“Take this time to bask in that happiness of your right now. As soon as the rest of our reinforcements get here, not a single one of you will leave alive.”

“Hm. Is that so? How long do you think it’ll take for them to get here? 10 minutes? 20 minutes? If I had to guess, I’d say it would take them over an hour?”

He didn’t say anything, but I could tell from his expression.

“It seems you guys had a bunch of your team sprinkled here and there to prevent other from hunting. But you guys were too greedy. Even if you brought every one of your party members here, you’ll have what…300? Are you saying that you’ll take over the entire Southern wetlands with so few men? We have no intention of letting you do that.”

“Shut up! You b.a.s.t.a.r.d! I’ll rip apart that loud mouth of yours!”

“Like I said. If you think you can, go ahead.”

“s.h.i.t!”