Evolution Theory of the Hunter

Evolution Theory of the Hunter (ETH)
Volume 1 Chapter 24

I approached it cautiously.

"Stay still…"

"Grrrr…"

It’s fangs were longer than the length of my palm. Its bloodshot eyes kept watching my every move. It was dangerous for me to get too close to its head. Unlike the monster that had been hit by the truck and couldn’t move properly, this one still had enegry to spare.

I needed to move in on it’s side.

Stab!

"GRAAAA!"

When I entered its hide with my b.l.o.o.d.ysword, it tried to jump up on top of me.

"Keu!"

I let go of my sword and hopped back. I had no time to think. The only thing I could see was its red eyes and sharp gleaming fangs.

When I thought I had evaded it, I saw stars. I had hit my back on something hard and I couldn’t see from the pain of it. I must have hit back into a boulder.

I hurriedly put my hand in my pocket, pulled out another pepper bomb, and threw it.

As smoke wafted out, I covered my mouth and nose and got up to run away.

The floor began to shake. The wolf must have pounced on the ground I was sitting just moments before. It could probably hear everything so I needed to be careful not to make too much noise.

I held my breath while I waited for the air to clear enough for me to see again.

1 minute? No. If I can just wait 30 more seconds, I would be able to run away.

b.u.mp. b.u.mp. b.u.mp.

The sound of my heartbeat was too loud. I wanted to run this instant. But I needed to be practical and not just follow my emotions.

The boss now had two holes pierced in its side. The wound from the stalact.i.te and the stab from my b.l.o.o.d.ysword.

Would it just faint with enough time?

There’s no way. Monsters had ridiculous recovery speeds. If I wanted to kill it, now would be my best chance. But the weapon that could pull that off was stuck in that monster’s hide.

Should I just go at him barefisted. It can’t see anything, after all. Ha. That would be suicide. Even if I got lucky and found my b.l.o.o.d.ysword, it would probably shred me to pieces before I could even pull it out.

Only thing was to run as soon as I could see. It sucks that I have to leave the b.l.o.o.d.ysword behind but not enough to risk my neck.

I could hear it whining. I can’t blame it. I’m not breathing and even my nose and neck is itching like h.e.l.l.

The vision that had blurred from the physical shock of hitting the boulder was starting to come back. I still couldn’t see because of the smoke but that was fine.

I carefully started moving. If it were outside, the smoke would have dissipated quickly but the cave have almost zero ventilation. It wasn’t flowing out anywhere.

I finally took in a deep breath. The pepper filled smoke clogged my neck, but it was nothing compared to the sweet oxygen filling my lungs.

The wolf heard me sucking in my breath and realized where I was, but it was only after I had already gotten a running start. It was chasing very close behind.

The blood that had been flowing from its wounds had already clotted.

Running for my life, it wasn’t long before I came to the crossroads.

Slam! Slam!

The wolf was running straight at me, all the while b.u.mping into the walls of the cave due to the curvy trail. Concerned about the closing gap between us, my legs tangled up on themselves.

Right before I

"Huk. Huk!"

Everything was getting dizzy. I guess I didn’t quite heal from hitting against the rock. And now I was almost out of breath. Maybe it was because I was so anxious but I was exhausted after running around the tunnel trail just one time. If I didn’t have my endurance level up, I would have collapsed long ago.

I was now about 100 meters away from the dungeon entrance. This was where it was now uphill. Would I make it?

It would be 50/50.

I should be…

Woos.h.!.+

"Kr!"

An arrow plunged itself into the wolf’s forehead.

"Over this way!"

It was Jung Sooah’s voice. When I turned my head, I could see gla.s.ses girl and Han Joonseok aiming their bows this way from the top of the hill.

I sped up and ran as fast as I could to where they were. They let two more arrows fly and both hit their marks. Well, if they missed such a huge wolf that was right in front of them, they didn’t have the right to call themselves archers.

They hit it…but it was definitely not even close to enough to kill it. Annoyed now, it reached the top of the hill in one monstrous leap. As if she were waiting for this, Sooah threw her pepper bomb.

"What…"

"Over here!"

Sooah grabbed my hand and pulled. We all ran to the dungeon’s exit.

"Mr. Cho Youngoo!"

"Yes!"

The warrior unsheathed his sword. What are they trying to do?

I quickly scanned the area around me. The pepper smoke was streaming into the cave and there was a boulder in front of Cho Youngoo. And the boulder was tied to the ceiling by a rope. I looked up at the ceiling. At that instant, the wolf burst through the smoke.

"Now!"

The boulder that was hanging by a rope fell onto the wolf’s back.

The wolf was pinned to ground. Overwhelmed by the shock of the weight, the wolf wasn’t able to focus.

"We did it!"

Everyone began to cheer. Jung Sooah yelled out.

"Now run for it!"

"Ok!"

I said it already, but a monster’s recovery ability is crazy. It might seem like it was a fatal attack but it would probably heal in a manner of minutes if not seconds.

Everyone knew this.

"Wait."

I stopped.

"SunbehOppa?"

"Party head!"

"I can kill it."

"What?…but…"

"I know. It won’t die from the boulder. It’s just in shock. But…"

I shut up and started walking to the monster. It shuddered a bit but didn’t move any more than that.

If it had been fine, I would have been dead by now.

I went to the wolf’s side, grabbed my sword by the handle, and twisted.

The wound widened and the sword began to soak it the blood. But there wasn’t much blood – just as I thought.

"Bye."

I pulled out my sword and slammed it back in – but this time into the wolf’s neck.

The wolf’s eyes rolled back for a second before closing again.

[+1000]

1000 reward points.

d.a.m.n.

"Did it die?"

Han Joonseok asked. When I nodded, he dropped his bow and collapsed to the ground. Everyone else followed suit.

"Haa…to think we really killed it…how did that happen? Why wasn’t it able to use its strength anymore?"

When Jung Sooah asked, I pointed to my b.l.o.o.d.ysword and said.

"It seems the sword had sucked up all of its blood."

"What?"

"It had two huge wounds. But weirdly, it was barely bleeding."

"So? How did that tell you anything?"

"Well, it was actually when it got hit by the arrow."

"Oh…you’re right. When it was..h.i.t with the arrow, it didn’t even bleed."

Gla.s.ses girl said. She was the one who had shot the first arrow.

"Right. That was why I figured it was almost done when it didn’t get up again. No matter how strong the monster, if it loses all its blood…"

Everyone nodded their heads.

That was how I won and ended with the b.l.o.o.d.ysword, rare ores, and reward points.

"But where is manager Kim?"

"Oh. He went out to call for help."

"Nah, he just ran away. b.a.s.t.a.r.d."

"Yeah? Well, it’s not like he would have been any help if he stayed anyway…"

It still sucked. Having a mage on such a low level team probably wouldn’t happen again.

"Who said I ran away!"

That was when we saw manager Kim walking toward us from behind a boulder. He had been hidden so well that no one had noticed he was still there.

"Wow…amazing. Were you there this whole time?"

At Jung Sooah’s words, manager Kim started yelling out.

"Do you really think I would ditch a fellow teammate and run away?"

"Yes."

Everyone answered at the same time.