Ex-Human Morphus [A Mutant Evolution Apocalypse LitRPG]
Chapter 146

Chapter 146

Jake slashed the claws on his left hand across a chaser’s throat, tearing it open and causing a fountain of blood to pour out. The skinless mutant took a couple of steps toward him before collapsing to the forest floor, dead. Even before it hit the ground, Jake was already dealing with another mutant, which was a slasher.

With his right hand, which was transformed into a smashfist, he blocked the mutant’s blade before immediately striking back. His huge fist easily broke through the ex-human’s chest, killing the mutant instantly. Jake spun around, looking for more mutants to kill, but there were none. The forest floor around him was scattered with the numerous bodies of various ex-humans he had just defeated.

Multiple enemies killed. +1150 XP

It was the next day after he examined the requirements for evolving into Stage III. The day before, after he learned he wasn’t all that far from reaching the point of evolving into the next form, he had decided to level up as fast as possible. He couldn’t wait to meet all the requirements and evolve into Stage III: “Apex Manifestation”.

As always, he spent the morning hours hunting mutants in the sewers. He hadn’t bothered buying the Increased XP booster because he wanted to conserve his MP and purchase some of the skills and abilities from the second section of the Genetic Development Interface a little later. While he hadn’t leveled up yet, he was pretty close to gaining another level.

After clearing the sewers, he returned to street level. Instead of climbing to the roofs, he decided to roam the streets instead because he wanted to find some challenges or quests to complete, which could usually be found at street level. Challenges and quests were the fastest way to gain XP and MP, as well as obtain other rewards like unlocking new skills and abilities.

After wandering the city streets for a couple of hours, Jake came upon the city park. It had become so overgrown with vegetation that it now resembled a dense forest. The last time Jake had been there, he had encountered the Dark Void anomaly that had drawn him in and transformed him into the morphus.

He couldn’t help but wonder if the mysterious anomaly was still there. He doubted it because every time the System reset the world, everything changed—items and mutants respawned, quests and missions were replaced with others, and so on. The same applied to magical anomalies. With every world reset, they either shifted to new locations, got replaced, or vanished entirely.

Still, out of curiosity, Jake decided to enter the jungle the city park had become and see for himself if the Dark Void was still there. He wasn’t sure what he would do if it was still present, though, but he figured he would decide once he actually found it. So he ventured into the deep foliage, and that’s where he received the hunt quest he was currently undertaking. Not long after stepping into the heavily overgrown city park, he came across a tree lying on the ground, looking as if it had been wrenched from the earth by some colossal creature.

As Jake moved in for a better look, he was suddenly offered a hunt quest. The objective was to track down an elite mutant called a wood golem. The difficulty level was rated as Hard, but fortunately, there was no time limit, which was a relief. Jake wasn’t a fan of time-sensitive quests and challenges. The reward for this quest was quite impressive—10,000 XP and an Epic ability called Ground Strike. This was the second Epic ability he had encountered, the first one being Morph Disguise.

If he successfully completed the hunt quest, he would have two Epic abilities in the third section of the Genetic Development Interface, which was really exciting. Jake now wanted to evolve into the next form even more than before. However, he didn’t let his excitement cloud his judgment. He needed to concentrate on the quest. If he failed it, he wouldn’t gain the ability.

For the next several minutes, Jake navigated through the vegetation-choked city park, battling every group of ex-humans he encountered along the way. Tracking the elite creature turned out to be a very easy task. The wood golem he needed to slay had to be quite big because the tracks it left in the ground were large and easily noticeable. Here and there, Jake also found large broken branches and, at times, even entire uprooted trees scattered across the ground, violently torn from the earth. The wood golem had to be incredibly strong.

All the tracks led toward the center of the city park. Jake followed them until the trees opened into a large clearing. He immediately recognized the area—it was the same spot where he had encountered the Dark Void during his time as a human. However, there was no sign of the anomaly now, which wasn’t all that surprising.

In the middle of the clearing, where the Dark Void anomaly had once existed, now stood a massive creature. Jake took a moment to examine it. The mutant resembled a gorilla in posture, standing on all fours. Its arms were much longer and thicker than its legs, huge and powerful—almost as thick as tree trunks. The creature’s skin appeared to be made of wood bark, and here and there, small branches with green leaves sprouted from its body in various places.

Whatever this creature was, it didn’t resemble an ex-human mutant at all. It looked more like some kind of magical being, as if plucked straight out of a fantasy video game. The creature faced him, its glowing red eyes locked onto his. It could definitely see him but made no effort to charge. Its mouth was slightly open, revealing jagged, pointed teeth. While these sharp facial appendages resembled teeth, they were more like extensions of the creature’s body itself than actual teeth in the traditional sense, much like his own.

Jake then summoned the description of the creature.

Wood Golem – Level 65 (Elite)

Special abilities:

Minion Summoning – The mutant can summon several minions to its aid.

Pursuit – The mutant selects a target and pursues it relentlessly for some time, disregarding any other distractions.

Earthquake – The mutant can stomp the ground with great force, causing a small earthquake.

He also used his Enemy Appraisal perk on the Wood Golem to identify its weaknesses.

Wood Golem – Level 65 (Elite)

Body: 75

Mind: 65

Magick: 70

Elemental weaknesses: Fire, Explosive

Unfortunately, he lacked any means to deal fire or explosive damage. So, Jake figured he would have to rely on his claws and other weapons to inflict as much damage on the golem as possible until it was finally defeated.

He jogged across the clearing, quickly closing in on the wood creature. It observed him without moving for a little while. Then, as he reached the midpoint of the clearing, the golem suddenly opened its jaws wide and let out a deafening bellow right before charging at him.

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