Evolution Theory of the Hunter (ETH)
Volume 1 Chapter 74
[TN: Hey guys…don’t know what to write here. So…ruff ruff?]
“Kelby.”
Wiggle.
Its ear twiched. Hm. It seemed to recognize its name.
But does it understand anything beyong that?
“Kelby, attack that guy.”
“Arf!”
Surprisingly, Kelby jumped from the ground and ran toward Kim Jaemin.
A pet that can understand the human language?
Wow. It seems I had far underestimated this item.
“Ahhhh!”
After swinging his sword a couple of times to no avail, Kim Jaemin started to turn tail and run from Kelby.
As soon as both Kim Jaemin and Kelby departed the scene, the battle resumed again.
“Where are you looking with your enemy right in front of you!”
Woosh!
Out of nowhere, someone had creeped up on me to yell before swinging his weapon at me.
I love these idiots who give out warnings before attacking.
Slam!
Instead of thanking him for his thoughtful idiocy, I hit him hard enough to send him flying away.
Since the power of the Honcheon sword was proportionate to the power of the wielder, the level 2 armors broke into pieces with every explosive strike.
The thought that I was wasting perfectly good items in this way briefly flitted in and out of my mind.
“Ahhh!”
Slam!
And after taking care of that last man, I saw that there weren’t any more hunters blocking my way.
“Don’t stop!”
“Shit! Where the hell is Jaemin!”
Thanks to Kelby and me, the Ezekiel team was slowly starting to get pushed back.
“I guess I just need to get that one to end this.”
I looked at the back of Kim Jaemin, who was still running away from Kelby.
He was running toward his vehicle.
Kelby was still chasing after him but, compared to its big size, the dog was on the slower side. Since it was still a puppy, I couldn’t expect it to run any faster yet.
But I could finally see who the winner would be. Kelby was still running with its tongue out, jolly as ever, while Kim Jaemin was steadily losing speed. And just as Kelby caught up, it bit out Jaemin’s throat.
And that was the end.
Not long after Kim Jaemin lost his life, all the other Ezekiel hunters started dropping one by one.
We were victorious. While everyone on the Ezekiel team had perished, only two on our side had died. Though two deaths were still not a light burden, it was far better than the deal our enemies had gotten.
Han Joonseok came up to me and whispered,
“Party head, the dead bodies will soon begin to evaporate.”
“Let’s pile them all in one place and burn the bodies.”
This was so that we could hide the fact that they evaporate. Though digging a hole and burying them is also a good idea, it would take too long – we couldn’t take that risk.
Luckily, we were able to move them all into a pile fairly quickly. We poured gasoline all over the bodies, lit them on fire, and took care that the fire didn’t go out.
“What will we do with the dead from our side?”
Han Joonseok asked this time.
“We can just leave them. They won’t evaporate.”
There was a reason why I was so sure.
As the manual had upgraded, there were a few new pieces of information that came with it – and one of them was information on the evaporation system.
This means that those who are affected by the level 0 skill are affected by the new system – meaning everyone in our party since they receive Sooah’s friendship buff.
We began to gather up the still in tact equipment left behind by the Ezekiel team to divvy up between the other hunters and my party.
There were a total of about 30 items. This was a very low number of items since about 40 of them had died.
“Hm…a lot fewer than I had expected.”
“There are a bunch that I broke while fighting. And Kelby ate quite a few…So you may take all of these items here.”
I used my manual to check Kelby’s stats. Its proficiency was at 13, a far larger number than the count of items it had eaten. But reflecting on that, I realized it was because Kelby had eaten the items I had broken during the fight.
What a fatass.
“You don’t need to do that…”
They began to refuse. Well, since the fight was pretty much won by me and Kelby, I’m sure they didn’t feel right taking everything.
But I was planning on taking all the item drops for my team so I didn’t care.
“Just take the items you would give to us, sell them, and give the earnings to the families of the men who have passed. I feel that would help us rest easier.”
These were men who had joined a battle that was not theirs to begin with. I had to do something for them. It was only right.
“But that monster…”
“It is an item. I don’t think it’ll cause any problems for us, but I hope you would keep this between us.”
“Certainly. I will try.”
They had already seen Kelby in action. I couldn’t hide it or what it can do. News would spread fast. The least I could do is ask that they not volunteer the information if possible.
After those hunters had departed, we put out the fire and collected all the items from the evaporated bodies.
Among some of the items were a some that looked like the Escape scrolls.
“Huh? These didn’t burn?”
“You think an item would burn? Items are hard to damage by conventional means. They can only truly get damaged by skills or other items.”
“But you can rip them.”
“That’s because they’re made for ripping. Now that you’re officially a hunter, you should study the basics at least.”
“Yes! Yes sir! Yes teacher!”
“I’m teacher now?”
“Well I heard that men like it when girls call them that. It’s supposed to be romantic or cute?”
“That’s only if the person saying it is wearing a schoolgirl uniform.”
“Ooh…uniform you say?”
Let me just ignore her. If I take this conversation any further, she just might show up one day dressed in a schoolgirl uniform. She would not look good in that. A giant in a uniform?
“Let’s go.”
I put all the items into storage and we left. There was no good that could come from staying here any longer.
***
Splash!
“Puahh!”
Wearing only pants, I dove into the water. Since I had brought several changes of clothes, I figured I’d just throw this one away.
We had arrived at a nearby river to rest for the day. The fight had sapped us of our energy. We needed to rest and refuel.
I washed my body under the water as I flitted through my manual.
Not including the items we got from the fight before, we only came up with 2 this last battle. And 12 ores in all.
Though the drop percentage was a bit low, I had nothing to complain about since we got some crazy items.
While I was checking my manual like this, I heard a rustling behind the boulder upon which I had laid out my clothes.
I tiptoed on over.
“What are you doing?”
Sooah, who had been trying to steal my clothes, began to laugh like a pervert.
“Heh heh….I wanted to do a live action play of the Fairy and the Woodcutter…”
“Don’t touch my underwear.”
“Can I touch everything else?”
“I’ll report you to the police.”
“I know you won’t”
“Whew. Now I really feel like doing it.”
I sighed lightly. I’m afraid she might really become some kind of pervert soon.
“Anyway, I’m still a bit worried..do you think everything is going to be alright?”
“What do you mean?”
“Ezekiel. We killed about 40 of them. The police might even decide to step in, no?”
“All of their men evaporated so we have nothing to worry about.”
“Do you think it’ll really be that easy?”
“Unless there is concrete evidence, they don’t interfere with hunters’ business.”
Han Joonseok, who had been soaking in the water with me asked,
“And why is that?”
“Because this job has a high mortality rate to start with. The police can only do so much. They don’t have the resources to check on every death. So, instead, they take on cases selectively. This, of course, means that hunter incidents are almost always excluded from priority investigations.”
This didn’t just apply to deaths but to disappearances as well. There were tons of monsters similar to the predatory toad that can swallow a person whole – leading to many disappearances. And when something like this happens, and the dungeon resets, a body is never found. For this reason, there is less incentive to do any serious hunter investigations. But in cases where there is conclusive evidence of a hunter doing something against the law, there are harsh penalties enforced to show the public that they are doing something about it.
But it is all a show that the government puts on to give the public the illusion of control over powerful hunters that they don’t really have in reality.
“Then we really don’t have to worry?”
“We’re fine. At least for now. Plus Team Ezekiel is known for their high mortality rates. Since this land is still fairly new, there is very low chance that anyone would really care what happened.”
This was pretty much why I did whatever I wanted in the end. I wouldn’t have wiped them out otherwise. I’m not an idiot.
And considering how they acted toward us, it’s indicative that they acted in much the same manner to other hunters. We wouldn’t be singled out as a suspect.
“Anyway, let’s just try our best to steer clear of those guys. Let’s consider todays’ events as a sort of lesson.”
“That even if we see Ezekiel guys in danger, we should just let them get eaten?”
“Honestly, I didn’t think they’d be such bastards. But that just goes to show you that I am still too naive.”
“But I like that about you.”
“Thanks. That one comment made all the dirtiness of today seem to fade away.”
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