Evolution Theory of the Hunter - Chapter 73

Evolution Theory of the Hunter (ETH)
Volume 1 Chapter 73
 

Slam!

Jang Taesoo hit the ground running. I had suspected he would fight, but I didn’t expect him to make his move so soon.

He must have been pretty sure of himself.

In his mind, since he had a level 4 skill that increases his response rate by 200%, he would have expected he could bring me down before I could do anything. But, including Sooah’s buff, mine was at 360%.

To think he could overcome me with just 200% was folly.

Slap!

I grabbed his wrist.

Did I surprise you?

Craack.

“Ahhh!”

I gave it a bit of a squeeze (ok more than a squeeze) and he screamed as he dropped his sword.

I picked up the item and put it in my manual before slamming into him with my shoulder.

Slam!

Crack!

The satisfying crunch of his ribs breaking.

When I let go of his wrist, Jang Taesoo collapsed in a lifeless heap.

I looked toward Kim Jaemin, whose mouth was open wide in disbelief, and said,

“Do you want more?”

“That…that’s….”

I hoped this was enough to convince them they were no match.

I’m not a killer. I know that if there is no reason for violence, it is best to avoid it.

“Keukeukeu…you thought it would end like this?”

Jang Taesoo snickered while on the ground. Surprising. He should have had a hard time breathing let alone talk. Stubborn bastard.

I looked down at him and said,

“I think it would be best for both sides if we stopped right now.”

“How naive.”

“What?”

“That’s not how a fight works. You see..once you start…”

Spit!

Jang Taesoo spit at me.

Of course I dodged it but, in that time, he got up and made a dash for me while yelling at the top of his lungs.

“Everyone attack! Don’t hold back! We’ll get every one of these bastards!”

Before he could grab my legs, I knocked him out, but things took a turn for the worse.

The men who were ready to turn back just a moment ago, were now fired up again.

And Kim Jaemin took up his sword as calmly said.

“Kill them all.”

“Waaaaaah!”

All of them started running.

“Kill them! Shit!”

“That girl is mine!”

Shwiing!

Ping!

Slam!

Magic and arrows flew through the air and weapons clashed.

“Ahhk!”

“Mother!”

Slam!

“Keuk!”

I could see deaths unfolding all around me.

Usually when there is a battle of 100 vs 100, 10 people at most fight like crazy while the rest look around more focused on defense.

But Ezekiel’s men were different.

They were weak as individuals, but I could see that they were fighting as a group.

Not one of them backed down. Each and every one of them were fighting with all they had.

The ones who had fallen into panic instead were the men who had decided to help us. Because this was still unfamiliar territory to them.

And it seemed I wasn’t the only one who saw this.

“These bastards…they look like they’ve done this a time or two.”

Han Joonseok spoke. And I only nodded.

Now that things had gone south, there was no reason for us to hold back either.

I could forgive their folly once…but not a second time – especially after I’d given them numerous chances to pull back.

“I will trust you all to play your roles!”

I yelled out simply and jumped into the middle of battle. Since we were being pressured, I had to do something.

Right now, Ezekiel was our enemy, and we didn’t have the kind of room to show them any leniency.

“Kyak! Die!”

I turned to see a man charging at me with his sword and swung with my Honcheon sword.

He had been wearing a sturdy armor, but the explosive attack of my weapon easily broke through.

Pow!

[+200]

His body blew to pieces with a small explosion.

“Ahht!”

“What is that! A bomb?”

“Focus and attack!”

Kim Jaemin yelled out quickly, but it didn’t soothe the panic I had created with my sword. And in that same moment, I made a dash for where Kim Jaemin was standing.

Slam! Slam!

As soon as I killed two more on the way, I could feel the confidence from the Ezekiel slide slowly slip away. But that was only in my general area.

All of the others from Ezekiel were still fighting full force everywhere else.

In order to end this as quickly as possible, I had to get rid of the inciter and leader first.

“Block him!”

Realizing he was my target, he quickly gave his order.

Men of level 2 and level 3 started to make a human barricade in front of me.

I move my head this way and that as I yelled out,

“Come and get it!”

“Ahhhh!”

Three attacks came at me. Two swords and one spear.

The speed of the spear was fast.

Tap!

I grabbed the spear between my arm and hip before I gave a good yank. The man holding onto the other end easily followed suit and came between me and the two swords.

“Keuk?”

“Jongsoo!”

“This piece of shit!”

After killing one of their own by accident, they were hopping mad.

-[+200]

Hm. I get points for killing someone indirectly too?

Ping!

An arrow whistled toward me. Raising my sword up, the arrow bounced off my blade to hit the man trying to attack me from behind.

“Keuk!”

-[+200]

Even after killing their comrades so easily, the attacks didn’t stop.

“Die!”

One man yelled out with steel in his voice as he ran for me.

Maybe it was because he was so desperate to kill, but he left himself wide open. There was no point in blocking or even dodging. I just swung down with my sword.

Slam!

His armor crumbled and he was catapulted away. He rolled into another of his comrades and started to violently cough up blood.

I guess he didn’t die from that but it looked like he would be hard pressed to keep fighting.

Gulp!

Maybe I was finally able to knock some fear into these fools because the remaining two Ezekiel members stood their ground instead of attacking.

Then I guess it’s my turn to take the initiative?

Swoop!

It was then that something black passed me at an incredible speed.

Cerberus.

“Keh, Kelby!”

Yeonkyoung’s shrieking voice.

Kelby? Did she already give it a name?

But what is that dog trying to do?

Cerberus started to eat a dagger that was dropped on the ground.

It was a level 2 stealth dagger.

“What, what the?”

An Ezekiel hunter that had seen this started to back away. It was understandable since a normal looking dog started to eat a dagger out of nowhere.

Gnash. Gansh!

After gobbling up the dagger in mere moments, Cerberus spied a fallen shield and started running towards that as well.

I hurriedly pulled up my manual to check its stats: 2.

His level had gone up one point.

Hm..kind of a waste.

“This little shit…!”

One of the hunters that had backed up just moments before kicked his foot.

Pat.

Cerberus disappeared. And the man, just kicking at air, started to look around wildly.

“Where the hell did that shit go…”

Gnash!

“Aaaaak!”

Just as quickly as it had disappeared, Cerberus reappeared and chomped on the hunter’s offending leg.

It had bit down so hard that I could see the white of his bone.

Leaving the hunter to roll around on the the ground in misery, Cerberus focused again on running toward the shield.

Flooop! Floop!

Even with my eyes, it seemed as if Cerberus was disappearing and reappearing again and again.

While wondering how it was doing that, the item it had gobbled up came to mind.

Level 2 stealth dagger.

It was a weapon that gave the wielder the option of concealing him/herself a second at a time.

“This….stupid dog!”

A hunter raised his sword, blade down, and plunged it where Cerberus was.

Pat!

Instead of the sound of sword plunging into the dog, I heard the sound of something more like a leather drum being hit.

“This…this?”

Pat pat!

He kept stabbing at Cerberus, but the dog ignored the idiot and gobbled up the shield after reaching it.

Gulp!

As soon as it swallowed the shield up whole.

Woosh!

It suddenly grew as big as a small calf.

It looked exactly the same – just bigger.

“Heuk?”

Even if it looked like a dog, I’m sure it couldn’t have looked cute to the men attacked by it – and the Ezekiel hunter slowly started to back away.

I tried to think back on what Cerberus had just eaten. It was a round shield that covered a diameter of the forearm with a pattern as if the shield was cut into four pizza slices…

Aegis shield.

It had the option of reflecting the damage made to the shield.

Standing between me and the other Ezekiel hunters, Cerberus slowly turned around to look for other items.

But seeing there weren’t anymore lying on the ground, the big dog looked back at the hunters.

It was looking at the level 2 items they were holding.

“What are you doing! Kill it!”

Kim Jaemin screeched. Obeying order, the two hunters slowly walked towards Cerberus holding their swords.

Slam!

Gnash!

Cerberus plowed into one while biting into the other.

The sword the hunter had been holding easily snapped in Cerberus’ jaws – leaving only the hilt.

Gnash gnash.

Without a care, Cerberus pawed at the other sword, held it between both paws before plopping down to gobbling it up.

It looked like the very picture of a child chewing up his lollipop.

“That…that dog…”

The last hunter still with his sword raised it into the air.

“Keung!”

“Heuk?”

At Cerberus’ yelp, the hunter jumped back in surprise.

Since it had grown in size, its yelps had amplified loudly as well.

Everyone looked toward us.

“What is that…?”

“Monster?”

“I think it’s a dog?”

“How can a dog be so big?”

“What is it eating?”

“It looks like a sword…?”

“You’re saying it’s eating an item?”

“Crazy. You’re right. Is several hundreds of thousands of dollars a dog’s chew thing?”

So surprised by this new scene, the battle had seemingly paused.

Gulp!

Cerberus started to stretch out before it let out a nice big burp.

I can’t believe it was able to eat and digest that…

“But isn’t that a monster? Don’t we have to kill it?”

Someone asked – to which Bae Yeonkyoung screamed out loud.

“Kelby is not a monster! It’s a pet!”

“How the hell is there a pet that eats items…?”

Ping!

And an arrow shot out somewhere from Ezekiel’s group.

Its target was Cerberus.

Pat!

But the arrow just bounced off Cerberus’ thick skin like a toy.

“Keuk!”

And the archer who had shot the arrow, let out a pained yell. The damage had reflected right back to him.

Cerberus was able to absorb the abilities of the items he ate.

I looked at Cerberus and shouted an order.

“Cerberus! Attack!”

I raised my hand to point at Kim Jaemin. But it just looked at me curiously before plopping right down onto the ground.

“Sunbuh Oppa. I think you were just ignored.”

“I know ok?”

“Call it Kelby.”

Yeonkyoung whispered to me. Hm…can’t hurt right?