Ex-Human Morphus [A Mutant Evolution Apocalypse LitRPG]
Chapter 177

Chapter 177

Ned fought to keep his eyes open. He stood next to the door to the security control room, leaning against the wall behind him. The HQ was very quiet, and nothing was happening. There was literally nothing to do except stand in the same spot and stare at the wall across the corridor. In his peripheral vision, he could see Klaus standing at one end of the corridor. However, as Ned had learned some time ago, that guy wasn’t much of a talker.

Just my luck, Ned thought with frustration.

On the first floor, there were at least several guys instead of just two like on the second floor. And he was stuck with the one who hardly ever talked. Klaus never said anything if there was nothing to say. He usually responded only when asked a direct question, and his answers were very brief, often consisting of just a few words or, depending on the question, with a single-word reply like “Yes” or “No.”

That’s probably exactly why Miller chose him to stand guard on the second floor, Ned thought.

Besides his three closest subordinates, Miller permitted only a handful of hand-picked soldiers into the HQ. Ned was among them. He, along with a few other people, was responsible for guarding the most important building of the base. Of these select few, Ned had been given the most crucial duty: to keep watch over the security control room and make sure that no one without access attempted to break in.

Ned should probably have felt proud to be the person entrusted with such an important job by the leader of the gang. Only he didn’t. The reason was simple—this job was incredibly boring. Most of the time, all he had to do was fight to stay awake on his feet. Klaus, at least, had the advantage of sneaking up to the roof for a smoke every now and then. Apparently, the base leaders either didn’t notice him doing so or simply didn’t care.

Unlike Klaus, Ned couldn’t risk leaving his position. He knew his job was more important than Klaus’s. If he left his post, even for a minute, and the leaders found out, he would definitely get in trouble. Sure, he could sneak up to the roof for a quick breath of fresh air, but with his luck, he was certain that the leaders would choose that very moment to show up at the HQ. Ned didn’t even want to think about the punishment that awaited him if he were found absent from his post.

Besides, he didn’t know what to make of Klaus. Since he hardly ever spoke, it was hard to tell what was on his mind. What if Klaus ratted him out for leaving his post? Sure, Klaus went up to the roof for a smoke all the time, but Ned’s job was definitely much more important than his.

He shook his head to clear his head of all those annoying thoughts. This guard duty was driving him crazy, that was for damn sure. He would much rather hang out with the guys outside the HQ. At least they got to roam the base, enjoy fresh air, and occasionally bark at the workers simply to entertain themselves and keep boredom at bay.

He snapped out of his thoughts when the door to the security control room suddenly slid open with a soft hiss. 

What the fuck? Ned thought, taken aback as he stared at the door in astonishment.

His boredom vanished in an instant. He unglued himself from the wall and half-turned toward the open door. The three sub-bosses—Dominic, Minh, and Patrick—had left the security control room just a few minutes earlier. There shouldn’t have been anyone inside!

Still, the door had just slid open for some reason. Had someone managed to slip into the room? But that was impossible! Nobody should have been able to get past him. He was bored out of his mind, but he wasn’t actually asleep, was he?

Ned continued to stare at the opening, fully expecting someone to step out of the security control room, but no one did. This made total sense, as there shouldn’t be anyone inside. The door must have simply malfunctioned. It had never happened before on his watch, but there’s always a first time for everything, right?

Still, Ned knew he had to check to make sure there was nobody inside. In his peripheral vision, he could see Klaus watching him intently from one end of the corridor. Klaus had surely noticed the door sliding open as well. He was visibly tense, gripping his assault rifle tightly in his hands. Ned gave him a small nod and stepped toward the door.

He stopped at the threshold. The security control room was quite small, so he immediately saw that it was empty. There was nowhere for someone to hide. Ned leaned back, craning his neck around the door frame to look at Klaus, who remained in the corridor.

“There’s nobody here,” Ned called to him. “The door must’ve acted up, that’s all.”

True to himself, Klaus didn’t say anything. He simply nodded and stepped back to the end of the corridor, relaxing once again. Ned stepped into the security control room and turned to look at the touchpad to see what might be wrong. He leaned in for a better look, but there didn’t seem to be anything amiss. Just as he had told Klaus, the door must have simply malfunctioned. Shrugging to himself, he straightened up.

He was about to step out of the security control room when he suddenly noticed some movement out of the corner of his eye. It looked like a tentacle undulating through the air from above.

“What the—” Ned muttered, just before he felt something grab him and effortlessly lift him off the floor.

He felt multiple long tentacles wrap around his arms and upper torso, keeping him firmly restrained as they lifted him closer to the ceiling of the room. When Ned looked up, he saw a hellish face with large bluish eyes and a wide mouth filled with jagged, pointed teeth.

He had never encountered such a terrifying creature in this world or even in his darkest nightmares. The monster was completely black, except for its greenish-blue eyes, which matched the color of the magical energy found in various mana consumables. The creature hung upside down from the ceiling, gripping it with hands and feet that must have been sticky, allowing them to adhere to the surface.

Numerous long tentacles protruded from the back of the creature, a nightmarish entity that had clearly crawled from the depths of hell. Several of its tentacles were coiled tightly around Ned’s body. He squirmed and strained against his restraints but was unable to free himself.

The creature lifted him even closer, widening its jaws as if preparing to take a bite out of him. Ned was now so near to the monster that all he could see was its nightmarish face, dominated by the unblinking, menacing eyes and huge triangular teeth. That was when Ned lost it. Panic overwhelmed him, and he opened his mouth to scream in sheer terror.

However, he wasn’t able to let out any sound, because the moment he opened his mouth, the monster shoved multiple tendrils deep into his oral cavity. He could even feel some of them slither down his throat, suffocating him. Completely overwhelmed by terror and half out of his mind by that point, Ned attempted to scream, but only a muffled moan escaped his stuffed mouth.

At that moment, a strange thought flashed through his mind: if the monster wanted to silence his screams, why hadn’t it simply wrapped its tentacles around his throat?

The horrifying answer to his question came to him almost immediately. As it turned out, the monster needed his throat exposed for what it was going to do next. Ned watched as a particularly strong-looking tentacle emerged from the writhing mass of smaller tendrils, slithering through the air toward him. Its tip bore a menacing double-edged blade.

Ned knew he was going to die, but there was nothing he could do to prevent it. The long tendrils constricted around his body even tighter, restricting his ability to move. Then the bladed tentacle with surgical precision slashed across his exposed throat, tearing it open and causing a torrent of blood to gush from the wound right into the monster’s face.

Ned continued to wriggle his body, trying to free himself, but his efforts were becoming weaker as life drained from him. Despite the grave injury he had just sustained, he knew he wouldn’t die too quickly, as all the skill points he had invested in the Constitution attribute significantly strengthened his body.

The creature carefully, almost gently, lowered him to the floor and then unwrapped its tendrils from his body. Even though he was no longer restrained, Ned didn’t try to escape. He simply couldn’t muster the strength—the blood he had lost left him weakened and barely able to move.

The world before him was gradually plunging into darkness. He knew he had just a few seconds left. He wanted to do something to warn his comrades of the lethal threat lurking in the HQ. If only he could grab his gun and fire a single shot to alert them! However, his limbs wouldn’t respond to his brain’s signals. Merely holding onto life was draining every ounce of his strength.

He saw the obsidian-black monstrosity with multiple tendrils and bladed tentacles extending from its back drop from the ceiling. It twisted midair and landed gracefully on its feet, bending its knees to absorb the impact, causing no sound at all. Ned couldn’t help but notice that while the monster was terrifying, it moved with the elegance of a dancer, albeit one from the depths of hell.

The last thing Ned saw before his life finally left his body was the monster gliding out of the security control room, moving with an eerie silence and fluidity, like a ghost slipping through the shadows.