Evolution Theory of the Hunter Chapter 99

Evolution Theory of the Hunter (ETH)

[TN: Sorry it’s so late. I was sick yesterday so I spent most of the day at the hospital…but I hope you enjoy!]

I pulled out the Toyul Hammer and held it up.

“Did, did I say something wrong?”

“Ah, it’s not that. I just wanted to smash some trees right now.”

I pointed to the tree that Han Joonseok had burned up during our battle.

“Oh my, did you get scared Manager Kim?”

“Scared, who me?”

“Everyone can tell you got scared just now.”

“Shut it, you wench.”

“Ohhh…wench….you. Old. man. Should I give you a shoulder massage? I know I haven’t given you one in a long time.”

“I take it back! I take it back. AHhhhhhaahk! I said I take it bacck!”

Slam!

The burned up tree that had been barely clinging on fell down in a heap of ash and splinters.

Sooah carefully walked up to it. Checking behind her, I saw Manager Kim mewling as he gingerly touched his shoulders.

It might seem like painful retribution, but her massages were actually very good at loosening up knots and muscles. There was a reason Manager Kim allowed her to perform her massages even though he was vocally against it.

“But what are you doing right now?”

“I’m checking for something…if what we’re thinking is really right or not. Let’s just wait one hour.”

The plants that grew immediately even after we cut them down time and time again in the Baeksapyoung Dungeon…I wanted to see if the same thing would happen here in the forest.

If I could just confirm this, then that would support our theory about China.

“I’m starting to get a bit scared….is it okay for us to get involved in something like this?”

“It’s fine isn’t it? Didn’t you want to do this? Become a hunter…and a famous one at that?”

“I mean…yeah. But this would mean our opponents would be an entire country instead of just monsters…”

Kyyyyaaaa!

Suddenly we heard a monster’s cry coming from a distance. A red glow bled into the western sky as the sun began to set.

And I spied the small plant that began to grow from the very spot I had hacked down the burned up tree.

I checked the time. It had only been 50 minutes since the first tree had fallen. If I were to count the time since Han Joonseok had actually killed the tree by burning it…it would have been approximately one hour.

“If a new plant is growing after just an hour…that’s pretty fast.”

“It’s definitely not normal.”

“Since we confirmed what we wanted to confirm, we should head back.”

Sooah tied up Wang Ze Ming in a cocoon of webs and tied him to the back of the ATV.

He did end up being dragged on the ground behind the vehicle during our ride, but since he was safe inside the cocoon…he should be safe from harm – other than the occasional turbulence. We were able to collect two ores from the two dead bodies.

I put them both into the manual and headed towards the truck.

“Shit.”

The truck was gone. I cursed a bit before walking to where the truck and Ezekiel’s truck should have been.

“What should we do now?”

Han Joonseok asked. Though he was asking me, it was obvious from his tone that he didn’t want to just turn back to the city.

And, shit. I didn’t want to leave now either.

“Inside the truck….are all the items that would have dropped from the dead bodies. We can’t just let them have it like that.”

“Ah, you’re right. All of them added up will be quite a big loss.”

We had collected 15 corpses onto the truck. Since we were in a hurry, we weren’t even able to check if they were evaporating or not…but there should have been at least 2-3 items.

No way we were going to let them have that.

More than that though, the items that would have dropped would have been from the new system. Even if those items were low level items, I can’t let new system items fall into anyone else’s hands.

“Let’s follow the trail.”

I released Kelby and had him follow the trail ahead of us. He would be able to track them better. But more than that, he would be able to alert us of any dangers faster than any human.

It was nice that he had the senses of a dog – it came in very handy.

So then we rode our ATVs and started out tracking our missing truck. We did see some monsters on the way, but we just ignored them.

We did kill the ones who decided to chase after us, but there were far more monsters who let us be.

It was only after continuing on our trail in this way for about 30 minutes that we finally spied some makeshift shelters built high in the treetops.

It looked like something straight out of a children’s’ book.

“What in the world…”

Was the only words that slipped out of Sooah’s mouth. The houses were built about 10 meters apart from one another in the treetops.

“Do you think there are elves in there?”

“Elves…I don’t think so.”

Elves are monsters that look very similar to humans aside from their large ears and pale skin.They are usually extremely thin, which is probably one of the reasons why they are able to move so quickly from tree to tree.

Another characteristic of the elves was that they had red eyes.

Since they lacked melanin, they preferred living in dark places like the woods or caves.

Though they didn’t die immediately from exposure to sunlight like vampires do, but too much sun did impact their health in the long run so you wouldn’t expect them to wander around in the daylight.

“But there aren’t any monsters besides elves that would build shelter in the trees.”

“That’s true…but it doesn’t look like something made by elves.”

The houses looked too makeshift to be the works of elves. I’ve never seen elven homes look anything as roughly made as that.

I would believe it if I were told that orks had made them. But orks do not build houses in this manner – instead they live in tents made of animal skin.

“You’re right. Elves wouldn’t have made their homes like that.”

Han Joonseok nodded his head in agreement.

Stories about elves are usually spun in a more positive light because, unlike orks and goblins, they more closely resemble humankind.

Of course, in reality, they are not blindingly beautiful and charming as they are portrayed in the movies.

If you were to see them in real life, it would feel as if you were only watching mannequins made out of wood in motion.

This was because you do not feel the different emotions and feelings you get from humans from these elves.

It was true that elves resembled humans the most out of all monsters, but that was where the similarities ended. They were still monsters, and they considered us their enemies – their prey.

They moved without making any noise so they were a real danger you had to watch out for in forests.

“Then what are they? Why are there houses high up in the…”

“This is what I think. That they weren’t initially built in the trees.”

Sooah made an even more confused face at what I said.

“There isn’t anywhere in the forest with an open area big enough to build a house. So they probably cut down a bunch of trees and built some houses on top of the new space. But since plants here grow extremely quickly…doesn’t it make sense that the trees probably started growing under the new houses?”

“Wow….that sounds improbable…but seeing it myself…I can’t say it’s impossible.”
Sooah muttered as she stared at one house that had a tree running straight through the middle of it. That very house was the reason I came to that conclusion.

“The trees below the houses definitely look like they didn’t grow properly. If they have built the houses on top of the trees initially, they would not look like that. Anyway, wouldn’t that mean those houses were built by humans then? So does that mean they were built by the Chinese hunters?”

“That’s what I think.”

Cho Youngoo murmured as Han Joonseok nodded his head.

Chapter end