Ex-Human Morphus [A Mutant Evolution Apocalypse LitRPG]
Chapter 203

Chapter 203

After picking a random direction, Jake ventured down yet another corridor that looked identical to the previous ones. Wall-mounted torches magically ignited as he passed, illuminating a few yards ahead of him. However, the end of the corridor remained shrouded in darkness. The towering ceiling was wrapped in thick shadows, prompting Jake to remain vigilant for any bat-like creatures that could be lurking above.

As it turned out, there were no enemies in the corridor, and Jake arrived at its end without incident. He paused at the entrance, taking in the vast hall that the corridor opened into. Columns lined the length of the room, each adorned with flaming torches. At the far end of the expansive hall, another exit led into a different corridor. Along both long walls, sepulchers lined the entire length of the room, positioned at regular intervals.

Jake then shifted his gaze to a group of undead creatures wandering around the vast hall. Before he could examine the sepulchers further, he knew he needed to handle the immediate threat first. The enemies in the hall were the same types he had faced before in the dungeon: festering zombies and awakened skeletons, armed with various melee and ranged weapons, as well as magical staves.

The undead wandered aimlessly around the room, their feet dragging on the stone floor. Some of them caught sight of him standing at the entrance. They halted and turned in his direction. However, they didn’t approach. Instead, they seemed to bide their time, as if waiting for him to enter the room before launching an attack.

Jake chose to stay where he was for the time being. There weren’t too many undead in the hall, so he figured he could deal with them in just a couple of minutes. However, he was acutely aware that black obelisks had the power to revive them. He had already destroyed one, but he had no doubt that more of them lurked in the shadows of the dungeon.

For the next several seconds, Jake stayed rooted in place, reaching out with his senses. He detected no humming sounds and felt no vibrations beneath his feet. The air lacked that familiar static charge. This indicated one of two possibilities: either there was no other black obelisk nearby, or the one present was currently dormant. If the latter were true, it might activate after he dispatched the undead, bringing them back to life.

Jake really wished that if there were indeed more black obelisks in the dungeon—something he was fairly convinced of—they would be sufficiently spaced apart. If they were positioned too closely, it would mean that any group of undead he managed to eliminate would be revived almost instantly, turning the whole situation into a frustrating ordeal.

When he entered the hall, the undead immediately began to move toward him, raising their weapons. Jake charged at them, crashing into one of the skeletons with tremendous force. The powerful blow he delivered with his right smashfist caused the skeleton’s ribcage to blow apart in an explosion of bones.

While he fought the other undead, he kept a close eye on the first skeleton he had just killed. It lay unmoving where it had fallen, showing no signs of being revived. This suggested that there might not be a black obelisk nearby after all, which was certainly a relief.

He continued to fight the rest of the undead, successfully evading each enemy attack. Since he wasn’t hit even once during the fight, he couldn’t gauge how much damage he might take now that he was afflicted by the Fragile Body curse.

For a brief moment, Jake contemplated the idea of letting one of the skeleton soldiers score a hit with a bladed weapon, but he quickly dismissed it. He knew that eventually, one of his future opponents would be able to land a hit anyway. The thought of deliberately allowing a foe to strike him felt fundamentally wrong and went against all his instincts.

Even though his damaged hand hadn’t regenerated back yet, he had little trouble dealing with the undead one-handed. It didn’t take him long to defeat all of them.

Multiple enemies killed. +6,350 XP

All the undead lay where they had fallen, and there were no telltale signs of powerful magic at play. Satisfied that there weren’t any black obelisks nearby to resurrect the undead he had just killed, Jake turned his attention to the sepulchers he had noticed earlier. A dozen of them lined each wall of the long hall, each rectangular and capped with a thick, flat lid.

Jake closed his eyes and activated Mana Vision. He turned his head this way and that, noticing several blue glowing lights around him. Some of the sepulchers contained mana consumables, which was excellent news for him. Having drained some of this magical energy since entering the dungeon, he welcomed the opportunity to replenish his mana reserves.

He opened his eyes and approached one of the sepulchers. The granite lid that covered it was incredibly heavy, but it posed no challenge to Jake’s inhuman strength. He pushed the slab aside using one hand only, causing the lid to drop into the gap between the sepulcher and the wall with a resonant thud.

Jake leaned in to peer inside and spotted a skeleton dressed in tattered clothes. The interior of the sepulcher was bathed in the blue glow of a large mana consumable. For a brief moment, however, he found himself staring at the skeleton, half-expecting it to spring to life and attack. But it never happened, and he redirected his attention to the large mana item.

It was a crystal containing 5,000 MP, which was a fantastic find. He crushed the crystal in his hand, extracting the mana from it. Then, he inspected the rest of the sepulchers that contained mana consumables. Although he didn’t find any more crystals, he did locate a couple of chunks, each containing 1,000 MP, as well as several shards holding 500 MP each.

After that, Jake glanced at the rest of the closed sepulchers. The only valuable items for him were mana consumables, but out of curiosity, he decided to check them anyway. Most of the sepulchers held no treasures—only inanimate skeletons, some debris, frayed, weathered scraps of fabric, or sometimes nothing at all.

In one of the sepulchers, he spotted a splintered piece of metal emblem about the size of his palm. Since it was only a fragment of the whole, with the rest of the emblem missing, it was difficult to determine its original shape. Nevertheless, Jake couldn’t shake the impression that it resembled a triangular shield. He attempted to summon its description, but nothing happened. He dropped the shard back inside and continued exploring the hall.

When he checked another sepulcher, a few bat-like monsters suddenly erupted from within and immediately attacked him. Reacting swiftly, he dodged their strikes without sustaining any injuries. He fought back and quickly dealt with them. With the threat neutralized, he resumed his exploration of the remaining sepulchers.

When he pushed the slab off another sepulcher, magical symbols suddenly flared up on its sides. Sensing the imminent danger, he quickly leaped back. However, he was a split second too late. A magical explosion erupted from within the sepulcher, and searing flames grazed him, inflicting some fire damage to his skin. Luckily, the harm wasn’t too severe, as he had jumped away in time, successfully increasing the distance between himself and the sepulcher.

When he approached the sepulcher and peered inside, he found it empty. Despite having been protected by a magical trap, there was absolutely nothing of value inside. He pressed on. Now aware that some sepulchers could be safeguarded by wards, he began to reach out with his senses to detect magical traps before opening any of them.

These wards became visible only when activated, and in their dormant state, they were very hard to detect. He had to push his senses to their limits to catch the almost undetectable hum that emanated from a sepulcher protected by wards.

As it turned out, not all the magically protected sepulchers were secured by fire traps. When triggered, one of them caused a frost explosion instead of a fiery burst, sending icy clouds filled with thousands of sparkling particles swirling in every direction. Jake managed to jump back just in time, narrowly avoiding the frost cloud’s effects. It spread several yards outward before dissipating and vanishing completely.

A different warded sepulcher detonated with an acidic explosion, unleashing a green cloud that billowed outward. Jake was able to avoid being hit by it as well. Thanks to detecting the traps beforehand, he was now always prepared to perform a mana-fused jump to escape a trap’s effective range.

The noxious cloud lingered in the air for a while before gradually dissipating. The sepulcher held nothing of value, though. Funny enough, most of the sepulchers protected by magical traps contained hardly anything of interest within them.

In one of the other sepulchers, he finally found something interesting. It was a weapon, a one-handed, two-bladed axe with a wooden handle. It didn’t look like much, though. Jake tried to summon its description and was mildly surprised when the details actually popped up in his mind.

Name: Iron Battleaxe

Rarity: Common

Primary effects: None

Temporary effects: None

Enchantments: None

Slots: None

This weapon actually possessed stats like those found in a typical fantasy role-playing game. Jake shouldn’t have been surprised, though, considering this was a medieval-style dungeon. For a moment, he even contemplated taking the battleaxe with him to test it out in battle.

On the other hand, his claws, smashfists, and other weapons in his arsenal were already incredibly powerful. The iron battleaxe was merely a common weapon without any unique traits, making Jake skeptical that it would outperform the effectiveness of his own arsenal.

The iron battleaxe was clearly meant for use by human survivors in close-range combat. Most of his weapons were already tailored for melee fighting, so he saw no reason to carry a weapon—at least, one of common rarity. Perhaps later on, he would find a weapon of higher rarity—epic, or if he was lucky, even legendary. Should he find such a weapon, he would certainly be inclined to take it with him.

He examined the rest of the sepulchers, using his senses to detect any potential magical traps. Having mastered the technique of avoiding them, he pushed a slab aside and quickly jumped back, each time successfully evading the effects of whatever ward a sepulcher was protected with.

At one point, he contemplated trying an alternative approach: using his tentacles to push the slab off a sepulcher from a safe distance. However, opting for that protective measure seemed unnecessary, particularly since each time he grew his tentacles, it consumed a certain amount of his mana.

After inspecting the remaining sepulchers and discovering nothing useful, he proceeded to the far end of the long hall and entered the next tunnel, continuing his exploration of the dungeon.

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