Infinite Evolution: My Idle Evolution System

The numerous A-Rank, B-Rank, and below Hunters were working extremely hard to prevent something as disastrous as mass Gate Outbreaks from being realized. However, there was an undeniable limit to how effective they'd be up against the Monsters from High-Red and Purple-rank Gates.

It was for these reasons, and the ones concerning the danger of following Cassius, that the Japanese S-Rank Hunters assisted in the Gate defense efforts. If anything, they had to buy enough time to see if Cassius could clear the anomaly that was the World's End Gate.

In the possible scenario where Cassius was unable to successfully clear the Gold-ranked Gate, well… at that point, all hope would be lost for humanity's continued survival. Therefore, nothing they did would've made a difference anyway.

But they had to try…

As the last few S-Rank Hunters in the world, they owed it to themselves to do what they originally became Hunters for in the first place.

To protect.

— Meanwhile, within the Gold-ranked Gate, World's End, at the very top of the Abyssal Bowl —

"So I have to descend, huh?" Cassius mused while looking down at the pit that seemed to stretch downward forever. "How fun."

The pit in question was known as the Abyssal Bowl. It was the whole Gate and was essentially a downward-spiraling, layer-by-layer Monster trap. The further down one went, the stronger the Monsters became.

It was unknown what was at the very bottom of the Abyssal Bowl, but Cassius was sure as hell determined to find out.

"Yimin has never seen anything this big before!" Yimin said from the side, interrupting Cassius's resolve. "There are so many tasty-looking Monsters here as well! Can Yimin eat shome!? Can she!? Can she!?"

"Uhmm… Cassius," Viola muttered while staring at the happy-go-lucky dragonoid woman. "How did she get here? And… will she be with us the entire time??"

Cassius—just as confused as Viola was—stared blankly at his silver-haired pet dragon.

"I'd like to know the same thing," he said, wondering why his Perception Stat didn't pick up on their little stowaway. "Do tell us, Yimin, why are you here?"

"Because!" Yimin beamed. "Yimin doesn't want to be apart from the Master! Hihi~!"

As the beautiful, busty dragon chick snuggled up to Cassius, twitches formed all over his face.

"And how did you tag along without my knowing?" he asked, all smiles. "Did I not tell you to stay back and keep the other girls safe? Are you ignoring my orders now?"

Yimin furiously shook her head. "No, no, no, never, Master!" she said hurriedly. "Yimin would never even dream of doing such a thing! Yimin is a good girl!"

"So why did you come, then?" Cassius asked, trying to maintain his composure. "Even if you're strong, you haven't matured or eaten enough pellets to be able to carelessly enter a Gate ranked two tiers above a Purple Gate. Protecting one person was going to be hard enough, but now with you here—"

"E-Egyptian lady told Yimin to come!" Yimin sputtered out of fear that Cassius would get mad at her. "She helped Yimin do the hidings and also promised to watch the bishes in my stead…"

"Hmm?" Cassius's brows raised in interest. Though, that was when he recalled what Hellion told him about their connection a while back.

'It must be related to my Demon King Bloodline. She did mention something about her acquiring more symbiotic abilities the further I progressed the Bloodline. But with more than half a century having passed since she said that, the specifics are hazy…'

In fact, everything before entering the White Space had become hazy. It was to the point that if he had not returned to his family when he did, he could've forgotten all about them.

Like they never even existed…

Sharply inhaling, Cassius shifted his attention back toward the anxiously jittery dragon girl. He gave her a couple of pats, which did well to alleviate most of her anxiety.

"Although you did something you shouldn't have, you did it with good intentions," he said with a small smile. "Just don't let it happen again, okay? Only follow orders given by me unless otherwise instructed to do the opposite."

Yimin bobbed her head, crystalline teardrops falling from her silvery eyes. "Yimin promises only to follow the Master's orders from now on! Not that stupid Egyptian Lady, bleh! Meanie got Yimin in trouble! Should eat her!"

Cassius sighed in resignation. "No eating people unless they're enemies."

"Egyptian Lady is enemy! Got Yimin in trouble! Grrrr!!"

"You silly dragon…" Cassius shook his head before fixating on the confused purple-haired Guild Leader. "Remember what I asked of you before we came into this Gate? Keep that gem close; the Necklace I gave you as well. Although we've yet to be forcefully separated, anything can happen in unknown lands."

Viola conveyed her understanding with a slight nod. "I don't really know what the relationship is like between you and the Silver Bullet Blur, but seeing as you two seem to have figured things out already, does that mean we're beginning this Gate exploration?"

Cassius chuckled, finding her impatience a bit funny. "You're right. Let's get this Gate exploration started, why don't we?" he said before beginning his descent down the Abyssal Bowl.

The Abyssal Bowl was split up into dozens of different sections, with each section possessing a very wide, flat surface area. To reach the sections, you had to descend from the one that came before. The distance between each section, however, spanned upwards of whole light-years—and consisted of anything from terrifying Monsters to biomes like a forest or a desert.

From the four Sections that Cassius could sense with his current Magic Sense, each one had an insurmountably large area space. Furthermore, there were several presences on these Sections that felt a league more powerful than those in between each Section. The one on the first Section felt to be around the SS- - Rank, whereas the one on the second Section was roughly of the SS- Rank.

This pattern continued for the next two Sections, with the fourth one having a single Monster sitting at the SS+ Rank.

Cassius found this way of doing things quite to his liking. And after slaughtering his way through millions of miles of varying terrain, he ultimately arrived at the location where the Boss Monster of the fourth Section was staying.

"ROOOAAARGGHHH!!!"