Ex-Human Morphus [A Mutant Evolution Apocalypse LitRPG]
Chapter 196

Chapter 196

Jake found himself standing at a four-way tunnel intersection. He glanced behind him and saw that the portal he had just stepped through was nowhere to be seen. Looking around, he noticed that wherever he had been teleported to, the interior had a medieval style. The walls were composed of sturdy bricks, and the floor was laid with cobblestones. As he had already noticed, he stood at the center of the juncture where four tunnels branched off in various directions. Small alcoves, spaced at regular intervals along the walls of each tunnel, housed flaming torches that illuminated the area with a warm orange glow.

So he had four options to choose from. Which direction should he pick? Each looked identical, and an unsettling silence enveloped him, with not a single sound breaking the stillness. Jake peered into each of the four tunnels, stretching out in different directions. Only a few torches were lit in each tunnel, while the others remained extinguished for some unknown reason. As a result, each passageway was illuminated only a dozen meters in, with the remainder cloaked in darkness that even Jake’s keen eyesight couldn’t penetrate.

He had no choice but to choose a direction at random. He picked a tunnel that looked identical to the other three and began to sneak along the corridor, his form slightly hunched and his senses alert for any sign of trouble. The tunnel was wide, several meters across, with a very high ceiling. As he approached the last wall-mounted torches that were lit, he instinctively slowed down. The glow from the torches pushed back the darkness a couple of meters in front of him, beyond which there were only shadows.

He slowed down even more, nearing the point of stopping altogether. His vision allowed him to see just a few meters into the darkness, where the tunnel seemed to stretch endlessly, and he had no idea where it might lead. Jake couldn’t shake off the sense of unease that washed over him. Usually, darkness posed no challenge for him, as his exceptional night vision allowed him to navigate even the darkest of environments with ease. However, the darkness here felt different, possessing a supernatural quality that rendered his perfect sight ineffective.

He continued to sneak along the corridor, moving silently and gracefully like a predator stalking its prey. He knew he was a force to be reckoned with, but that didn’t mean he had to be reckless. So he proceeded slowly and carefully, every instinct on high alert, prepared to spring into action at the first hint of danger. So far, he hadn’t heard the slightest sound, but he was certain there had to be plenty of enemies to deal with. What kind of monsters could be lurking in a place like this was anyone’s guess.

He passed the last flickering torches and ventured deeper into the unlit section of the tunnel. The further he moved away from the flames, the darker his surroundings became, the shadows thickening around him with each step. He realized he would soon find himself enveloped in total darkness. He contemplated what he would do then but had no clear answer. He figured he would just keep moving forward, yet he couldn’t shake the nagging thought that if an enemy ambushed him in this pitch-black abyss, fighting it would be anything but easy.

And then he heard it—a sound, faint and not easily recognizable. It echoed from deeper parts of the tunnel, which were shrouded in total darkness. Jake paused, straining to hear, anticipating an enemy to burst from the engulfing blackness that lay just ahead. However, that moment never came. To his surprise, as he took another step forward, the two wall-mounted torches positioned just ahead and directly across from each other suddenly flared to life, casting a warm glow over the walls and illuminating the next several meters of the corridor.

Jake froze. Something made him glance over his shoulder and take a look at the section of the corridor he had already traveled. Something didn’t add up, but for a second he couldn’t put his finger on what it was. Then it struck him: he should have been able to see the four-way intersection, but it was obscured. The two torches at the tunnel’s entrance—the ones now farthest away from him—must have extinguished the moment the torches nearest to him flared to life.

Jake pressed onward through the corridor. Each time he neared a new pair of torches, they flared to life, while the last set on the opposite side behind him snuffed out. So as long as the torches he approached kept igniting to illuminate his path, he wouldn’t find himself in total darkness. That was a relief. He certainly didn’t want to confront enemies in pitch-black conditions.

He pressed forward through the tunnel, watching as the torches ahead continued to light up before him. He quickened his pace, every sense heightened and ready for any sign of trouble. Suddenly, the sound he’d heard before returned, louder and nearer. Jake peered into the darkness but still couldn’t identify the source of the sound. He waited for a moment in the heavy silence, but the sound did not return, so he ultimately decided to push onward.

For the next several minutes, he moved down the tunnel. From time to time, the sounds repeated, growing louder as Jake got closer. Eventually, he identified them: the flapping of wings. Winged creatures occasionally flew from one spot to another, yet he still couldn’t see them. He pressed on through the corridor, peering into the darkness ahead. Whatever those creatures were, they hadn’t noticed him yet.

As he stealthily moved down the tunnel, Jake morphed his right hand into a smashfist and his left into claws. He made no sound as he crept down the corridor, but the winged creatures suddenly became aware of his presence. A flurry of sounds erupted as numerous wings beat fiercely in the air. The noise grew louder, and Jake halted, staring ahead and waiting for the unknown enemy to reveal itself.

A moment later, several winged creatures burst from the darkness of the tunnel. They resembled monstrous bats, each the size of a domestic cat, with large leathery wings and huge mouths filled with pointed teeth. Their sinister red eyes locked onto him as they swooped through the air. All of the creatures looked identical, and Jake summoned the stats of one. He discovered they were simply called bats, each at Level 65. They lacked any special abilities, and their teeth appeared to be their only weapon.

The first bat to reach Jake lunged at him with surprising speed, its teeth aimed at his face. He jumped aside, but the bat still managed to clamp its teeth onto his shoulder. Fortunately, it failed to penetrate his hardened body and inflict any damage. Jake grabbed the bat with his right hand and tore it away from his body. The creature hissed in protest, flapping its wings furiously, yet it remained firmly trapped in his grip.

Jake squeezed the bat tightly in his fist, then opened his hand to let its shattered body with broken bones tumble onto the cobbled floor.

Enemy killed. +200 XP

Gaining two hundred experience points from a creature that presented little threat and could be killed in a second wasn’t bad at all.

The remaining creatures swooped in, flapping chaotically above him, just out of reach. Whenever one dove at him, he would either seize it with his right hand or slash with the claws of his left. On one occasion, he even sprouted bladed tentacles from his back and lashed out, slaying several bats. Given how easy these oversized bats were to kill, Jake opted not to use advanced abilities like Acidic Spit, choosing to conserve his mana instead.

It didn’t take him long to deal with all the bats.

Multiple enemies killed. +2,600 XP

Jake glanced at his experience bar and saw that he needed a little over three thousand XP to hit level 80. It seemed he would be able to level up many times while exploring the dungeon.

Having dealt with the first batch of enemies the dungeon had to offer, he continued down the tunnel. He was certain that the difficulty would only increase as he ventured deeper. Although the oversized bats hadn’t given him much trouble, he figured they could have posed a significant challenge to ordinary survivors. They flew quickly and erratically, suddenly swooping down and then just as suddenly darting away. He imagined it would be difficult for survivors to track their unpredictable movements with their guns while trying to shoot them. For him, however, those bats posed no threat at all.

For the next several minutes, he continued down the tunnel. Each pair of the torches he approached magically flared up, casting light that stretched several meters ahead. He pressed on, feeling more confident with each step. Now that he knew what to expect, he picked up his pace. There were no more oversized bats to attack him, and the silence enveloped him, with no sound of flapping wings echoing through the darkness.

Jake pressed onward until, at last, he spotted the tunnel’s end in the distance. Eager to discover what lay beyond, he quickened his pace even more.