Ex-Human Morphus [A Mutant Evolution Apocalypse LitRPG]
Chapter 200

Chapter 200

The elite flame skeleton charged at Jake, brandishing a colossal double-bladed battleaxe. Its skeletal structure now belonged to some kind of hellish two-legged beast. The undead creature was clearly much more powerful than before, but Jake was more concerned about the magical abilities it might possess now. Its eyes glowed with an intense orange light, and long flames licked out from its gaping jaws.

He didn’t have time to summon a detailed description of the skeleton, as it was already upon him. The undead soldier loomed over Jake, wielding the two-bladed axe flickering with flames in one hand. Just as the skeleton lunged toward him, Jake darted aside, simultaneously smashing his right smashfist into the side of the undead’s ribcage. Such a powerful blow would have easily crushed the ribs of a regular skeleton, but the elite undead before him barely reacted to the strike.

The elite skeleton soldier swung its flaming axe at him in a horizontal arc so swiftly that Jake barely managed to leap back in time. Undeterred, the undead swiped its weapon at him again, this time from above. Jake jumped to the side and immediately delivered a powerful blow to his opponent’s skull. His right smashfist connected with the side of the skeleton’s head, causing it to tremble. The skeleton took a step backward, stunned. Well, at least the elite undead wasn’t completely invulnerable after all.

His claws were perfect for tearing and rupturing flesh, but Jake doubted they would be of any use against the elite skeleton, so he morphed his left hand into a smashfist as well. However, his opponent recovered from the last blow faster than Jake had hoped it would, and before he could follow up his successful first strike with another, the skeleton launched another attack. It lunged at him, swinging its flaming axe in a downward diagonal arc. The undead was surprisingly fast, and Jake barely managed to dart aside.

He fully expected his opponent to immediately throw another strike and prepared to dart out of the way again. However, the skeleton suddenly halted its offensive and did something else instead. It leaned in, opening its jaws wide, and in the next instant, a torrent of liquid fire erupted from its mouth. Jake quickly darted aside to avoid being burned.

Even with his speed and quick reflexes, he wasn’t able to fully evade the torrent of fire. A wave of intense heat washed over him, prompting him to instinctively lift his left hand to shield his head. Because of this, it was his large left smashfist that bore the brunt of the flames. Jake didn’t experience any pain, but the unpleasant sensation in his left hand made it clear that it had sustained significant damage. He could feel his flesh melt and disintegrate with alarming speed.

You have been wounded for 14% by Fire Damage.

The torrent of fire ceased just as suddenly as it had begun. When Jake looked at his left hand, he realized there was little left—merely a stump. He knew his hand would eventually regenerate, but it would take time. What concerned him more was that deflecting enemy attacks and attacking with only one hand would put him at a significant disadvantage.

The elite skeleton lunged forward, swinging its flaming axe with astonishing speed. Jake barely had time to jump back and avoid the blow. Before he could counter, the skeleton swept its axe at him again and again. Jake used all his agility to dodge each strike, steadily retreating as the skeleton pressed its attack.

Jake was sure the elite skeleton had just used a Flurry of Swings, or a similar ability. From his experience battling elite ex-humans with similar abilities, he knew there was little he could do at the moment other than dodge the skeleton’s attacks and bide his time until its ability ran out of juice.

At one moment, the axe buried itself with a dull thud into his right shoulder. He was fortunate enough to leap to the side, which kept the blade from embedding too deeply in his flesh. Had he not jumped aside, that vicious blade could have easily severed his arm. The cut was still deep, and Jake could sense mana leaking from the wound.

The skeleton continued its relentless assault, swinging the battleaxe wildly, showing no indication of when its ability might wear off. Jake realized he needed to do something because simply dodging wouldn’t be enough. Eventually, the skeleton would land another blow, and the next hit could cost him an arm—or worse, his head.

As Jake dodged and leaped aside, he sprouted three bladed tentacles from his back, lashing out at the skeleton. One tentacle was instantly severed, caught by the swing of the battleaxe. The other two struck the skeleton’s bones and skull, but they only glanced off the surprisingly hard surface, dealing no noticeable damage to the undead creature.

Realizing the bladed tentacles were useless against the elite skeleton, Jake opened his jaws and fired an acidic glob toward the creature. He aimed at its skull but missed, and the projectile sailed past the skeleton’s shoulder. Determined, he attempted the attack again but missed yet again. Hitting his target wasn’t all that easy while constantly dodging the relentless swings of the skeleton. 

His next shot found its mark, splattering acid across the side of the skeleton’s skull. Smoke curled upward as the acid ate through the bone, but the corrosive effect quickly ceased, having done little harm to his foe. It was incredibly frustrating. None of his abilities had the power to inflict significant damage on the elite skeleton.

Suddenly, the undead creature ceased its relentless attack. Jake wasted no time in delivering a powerful strike to its head, creating a crack that spread across the center of its face where he had hit it. Using one of his two remaining tentacles, he swept the legs out from under the skeleton, sending the undead creature crashing to the ground. Just as it started to rise, Jake delivered a powerful kick to its head. He hoped such a powerful kick would tear the head right off, but it didn’t happen. Instead, a new crack formed along the skeleton’s skull, leaving the undead opponent otherwise unscathed.

Jake could see several beams of light emanating from the sharp tip of the black obelisk, bathing the other undead creatures in an eerie glow. A few were close to completing their transformation. He urgently needed to find a way to eliminate the elite skeleton soldier before the rest of the undead joined the battle.

Then an idea struck him. As the skeleton started to rise once more, he executed a Gravity Leap, soaring close to the high ceiling. At the peak of his jump, he activated an upgrade that let him plummet down with great speed. He descended like a missile, and just before the elite skeleton soldier could regain its footing, Jake delivered an incredibly powerful blow to its head with his right smashfist. This time, the skeleton’s skull blew apart in an explosion of thousands of tiny shards.

The elite skeleton soldier was finally dead, but Jake received no XP for defeating it. Even though the skeleton had been upgraded to elite, the dungeon still didn’t bother to reward him, because he had already defeated it before. It was truly frustrating. However, Jake didn’t have time to fuss about that, as his Feral Instincts suddenly alerted him to a danger. He dodged, and in the next heartbeat, an arrow whizzed past his shoulder, trailing millions of sparkling particles behind it.

Jake turned toward the black obelisk and saw another skeleton that had just finished undergoing the transformation to elite. He appraised it with a mental command.

Awakened Dead – Frost Skeleton Archer – Level 80 (Elite)

Unlike the previous skeleton, this one was infused with frost magic. Various other undead creatures floated above the ground, surrounded by glowing auras of different colors. Some radiated orange, signaling they would harness fire magic, while others shimmered with a bluish hue, indicating they were being infused with frost magic like the skeleton archer before him. A few were shrouded in a greenish glow, which hinted they would likely gain poisonous or acidic magical powers.

Jake knew that if he allowed them to fully transform into elites, he would have a really hard time dealing with all of them at once. But before he could think of a way to interrupt the transformation, he first needed to deal with the frost skeleton archer. The undead being was already nocking another arrow, and Jake didn’t want to find out what would happen if an arrow imbued with frost magic hit him. With a sudden idea in mind, he lunged toward the undead creature.

Directly behind the skeleton archer loomed the black obelisk, still in a frenzy, firing dozens of lightning bolts every second that struck the surrounding area. Jake sprinted toward the skeleton archer at full speed. Just as the archer lifted the crossbow it was armed with, Jake rammed into the skeleton, sending it flying backward. The undead creature lost its balance and sprawled on the floor right in front of the black obelisk.

Before the skeleton could get up, it was struck by several lightning bolts at the same time. One of its arms disintegrated in an instant. Its ribcage got shattered. Half its skull blew up. The lightning bolts continued to relentlessly attack the skeleton, finishing it off in less than two seconds.

Now that the elite skeleton archer was defeated, Jake turned his attention to the other undead creatures undergoing transformation into elite versions of themselves. He needed to find a way to disrupt the process, but the idea of stepping into the glowing beams surrounding the skeletons didn’t seem wise. Who knew what could happen to him? However, he saw no other way to disrupt the process than trying to physically draw the skeletons away from the beams shining at them.

However, before Jake could decide whether to take the risk, the black obelisk suddenly ceased launching lightning bolts, drawing his attention to the magical structure. He immediately noticed something intriguing: most of the symbols etched into its sides had lost their glow, leaving only those related to the skeleton transformations pulsating with light. Jake realized that after employing so many of its magical abilities one after another, the black obelisk was finally low on energy. It could now focus merely on transforming the skeletons.

Now that the black obelisk was defenseless, Jake realized it might be his chance to destroy the structure. Wasting no time, he jumped toward it and immediately struck it with his only smashfist. Just as he had expected, he wasn’t counterattacked like the last time. Encouraged by this, he continued to strike the black obelisk, putting tremendous power behind each blow.

Initially, nothing occurred, leading Jake to question his ability to destroy the obelisk. Then, as he struck one side again, a spiderweb of cracks radiated from the point of impact. Motivated by this progress, Jake pressed on with his attack. Each blow he delivered resulted in more and more cracks spreading across the obelisk’s surface.

Then the magical structure suddenly began to tremble, the intensity increasing with each passing moment. All the cracks elongated and widened, covering every inch of its surface. Brilliant light burst forth from each crack, quickly growing brighter and brighter.

Sensing impending danger, Jake stepped back from the quaking, radiant structure. In an instant, it exploded, scattering black fragments of the shattered structure everywhere. The force of the blast knocked Jake off his feet and sent the skeletons, which had been trapped in the beams just moments earlier, flying in all directions.

Black Obelisk destroyed. +10,000 XP

Jake remained on his back, gazing at the vacant spot where the black obelisk had once stood. He did it! He really did it! At one time, he had questioned his decision to try to destroy the obelisk, pondering whether it was even possible. Now, he was relieved to have been proven wrong, elated to have succeeded, and pleased to receive a substantial amount of XP as a reward for his effort. 

As he began to rise to his feet, a magical rift gate suddenly tore open in the very spot where the black obelisk had just stood.

You have just been granted access to The Void Temple.

For a moment, Jake gazed at the shimmering portal that radiated a bluish glow. A thought crossed his mind that perhaps the black obelisk was never meant to be destroyed, given its incredible power and resilience. By actually managing to obliterate it, he seemed to have found a hidden secret. Intrigued, he stepped into the portal.