Ex-Human Morphus [A Mutant Evolution Apocalypse LitRPG]
Chapter 138

Chapter 138

Jake wasn’t sure how much they knew about him, but they clearly hadn’t expected him to suddenly use one of their own weapons against them. Some of the bandits stopped firing and ducked, trying to hide deeper inside the large vehicle. Through the tremendous roar of gunfire, Jake heard one of the Demons shout to the driver to get them out of there. Unfortunately for them, the shouter didn’t know the driver was already dead by that point—Jake had targeted him first.

The first several bullets he fired struck the driver’s door but caused no damage at all because the SUV was protected by wards. Sigils glowed at the points of contact, disintegrating the bullets into mere dust and not leaving a mark on the metal. Jake quickly adjusted his aim, walking the line of bullets upward until he hit the driver. The first bullet drilled into his shoulder. The second one, which was enchanted, bit into his neck and detonated, tearing out a large chunk of flesh and causing a fountain of blood to gush from the nasty wound. The third one was a regular bullet, and it turned half the driver’s face into a gory mess.

Jake then swung his fire to the right, unleashing a barrage of bullets into the car’s interior through the open windows. By that point, none of the gangsters remained near the windows as they had all ducked deeper into the vehicle, hoping the wards placed on the car body would shield them. Jake released a long burst of fire into the back of the car through one of the windows and saw a red mist erupt outward. Someone inside the large vehicle had been hit, but it was hard to tell if they were still alive or not.

The gangster manning the machine gun mounted on the roof was now the only one firing back at Jake. However, he seemed to struggle to take aim, likely overwhelmed by panic. Jake, on the other hand, was as cold as stone, his aim steady. Completely ignoring the rounds zipping past him, he walked his fire up the side of the vehicle and across the upper body of the Demon operating the machine gun. Red blossomed across his chest, and the limp body of the now-dead bandit slipped through the roof hatch into the vehicle.

Jake eased his finger off the trigger. No one was firing back at him anymore. After the tremendous roar of gunfire, the ensuing silence felt eerie. He released the machine gun and jumped from the truck bed to the ground. Running out of the building, he approached the SUV. A glance through the windows revealed the carnage inside the large vehicle. Mutilated bodies were piled on top of each other, and the inside of the car was splattered with blood.

Not all of them were dead, however. Upon spotting Jake’s terrifying face, with large unblinking eyes and a mouth full of jagged, pointed teeth, one gangster let out a panicked scream and scrambled to disentangle himself from the dead bodies surrounding him. He crawled to the far side of the vehicle, trying to distance himself from Jake as much as he could within the confined space of the car. Once he reached the door, he blindly groped for the handle, his gaze never leaving Jake’s frightening eyes staring back at him.

Before the man could open the door, Jake sprouted three long tentacles from his back. With lightning speed, he maneuvered one into the vehicle through the window, and the moment the Demon saw it, he let out a terrified scream.

“No,” he screamed just before the pointed, razor-sharp tip of the tentacle lunged forward, stabbing him in the eye and drilling deep into his brain.

Jake yanked his tentacle back, and the bandit’s lifeless body slid from the backseat onto the floorboard. He quickly scanned the other bodies to check for any signs of life. Suddenly, the passenger door of the cab swung open, revealing that the man in the shotgun seat was still alive. As soon as he burst out of the car, Jake straightened up and ran to the front of the vehicle.

The man was wounded in one leg and struggled to run quickly. He glanced over his shoulder and let out a panicked scream upon seeing Jake with three long tentacles writhing behind him. The Demon raised a large pistol he held in one hand and popped off a few hasty shots at him. Jake didn’t even flinch. One bullet whizzed past his head, missing by an inch, while another punched into his shoulder, inflicting minimal damage.

Jake didn’t bother to chase after the bandit. Instead, he used one of his three tentacles, launching it toward the fleeing man and extending it to its full length. The blade at the tip of the tentacle stabbed into the man’s back, throwing him off balance and sending him crashing to the ground. The three tentacles reached the end of their lifespan and detached. The bandit was still alive, however, crawling across the asphalt toward where his pistol had flown from his hand when he fell.

Jake was about to leap toward the bandit to deliver the final blow when he suddenly became aware of someone’s presence nearby. He looked to the right and saw her. She was atop her futuristic-looking motorcycle, over a hundred yards down the street, looking in his direction. Jake immediately recognized the woman, whose name was Catalina.

The first time he had seen her was on a rainy night when he stood atop a ten-story building, watching her chase a group of survivors into a trap on her bike. Her accomplices appeared in front of the fleeing survivors, capturing them and driving them away in one of their vehicles. Just before Catalina followed her companions, she caught sight of him standing on the roof.

So it was their second encounter. Catalina remained seated on her motorcycle, making no move to ride toward him. Her hood was down this time, exposing her short black hair that barely brushed her shoulders. A red bandana covered the lower half of her face, leaving only her keen eyes visible and concealing the rest of her features.

Jake wasn’t sure how long she had been there, watching him. She might have witnessed the entire scene: the other gangsters chasing him into the building and then him firing at the SUV from inside before exiting the building. He couldn’t tell if she worked with the gangsters in the SUV and the pickup truck to hunt him down or if she had merely stumbled upon him by chance. Knowing that various groups within Los Demonios now worked together to hunt him down, Jake leaned toward the former. Besides, the city was enormous, so the odds that she had accidentally crossed paths with him again were slim to none.

However, she made no move toward him. She must have been smarter than that. After witnessing what he was capable of, she likely decided to keep her distance. With a thought, Jake summoned her stats, which instantly appeared in his mind. He already knew her name, so he was mostly interested only in her level. It turned out to be eighty-five, which was thirty-one higher than his own. But that wouldn’t matter much if she decided to attack him. Jake already knew he was a force to be reckoned with, capable of handling opponents that surpassed him by more than a dozen levels without any trouble at all.

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out, and a bullet whizzed past him. Jake jerked his head to the side and saw that the guy he had wounded in the back with a tentacle just a minute before was now lying on his back and aiming his large pistol at him, holding it with both hands. Just as the gangster fired another shot and missed again, Jake vaulted over the SUV’s hood and reached the Demon in a single leap.

Before the bandit could pull the trigger a third time, Jake extended a blade from his right wrist and swung it down, slicing through the guy’s wrists. They dropped to the ground, the pistol still held in them, and dark blood poured from the cut ends of his arms. The bandit opened his mouth to scream, but before a sound could come out, Jake struck out again, the tip of his sword plunging into the guy’s open mouth. The blade sliced through his skull to burst from the back of his head in a shower of gore.

The roar of an engine prompted Jake to swiftly pull his sword free and wheel to face a new threat. He saw Catalina driving toward him, quickly gaining speed. So maybe she wasn’t as smart as he’d thought after all. Jake extended a blade from his left wrist as well and waited for her to draw closer.