Ex-Human Morphus [A Mutant Evolution Apocalypse LitRPG]
Chapter 204

Chapter 204

For a little while, Jake continued to explore the first floor of the dungeon, killing all the skeletons in his path and gaining XP. His hand, which had been reduced to a stump by the flame skeleton’s torrent of fire, had regenerated some time ago, allowing him to fight at full strength once more.

Every now and then, he stumbled upon sepulchers containing mana consumables. So far, he hadn’t discovered anything new, though. Since finding the iron battleaxe in one of the previous sepulchers, he had yet to come across any new weapons.

At some point, he ran into another black obelisk. Contrary to his earlier fears, these structures turned out to be quite rare, which definitely was a relief. At first, Jake wanted to bypass the magical structure, knowing it was quite difficult to destroy. However, remembering that those black obelisks had a wide effective range and were capable of reviving the undead in nearby chambers, he decided to take the time to destroy it.

He employed the same successful tactic as before: dealing with the undead that the black obelisk kept reviving while making sure he wasn’t hit by the lightning bolts it was unleashing. He waited for the magical structure to run out of energy while continuing to kill the undead it summoned. Once it was too exhausted to launch any more lightning bolts, Jake closed the distance to the obelisk and began punching it with his powerful smashfists.

He continued to deliver haymakers to the structure until it finally couldn’t withstand the onslaught and erupted in an explosion. The first time he had destroyed a black obelisk, he had earned access to the Void Temple. This time, however, nothing of the sort happened. Aside from receiving 10,000 XP for destroying the second black obelisk, nothing else noteworthy occurred—no new secrets were revealed.

After destroying the second black obelisk, Jake checked how many experience points he currently had.

XP: 40,515/101,250

He needed to gain more than double his current XP to level up. Obliterating black obelisks might be quite troublesome, but on the other hand, it rewarded him with significant amounts of XP. It made sense for him to destroy each one he came across, particularly since there weren’t too many of them around. There was little point in not trying to get as much XP as the dungeon had to offer.

Jake continued wandering through the tunnels and halls of the dungeon for some time. Eventually, he stumbled upon a fairly large room. He paused at the entrance, taking in the expansive space. Aside from round columns, there was nothing else in the room. Wall-mounted flaming torches illuminated the whole area. In contrast to the other rooms he had explored, this one had just a single entrance—the one he stood at now.

The only enemy in the room occupied its center: a skeleton mage. The creature hovered motionlessly a couple of inches above the floor. Dressed in a long, tattered robe, the skeleton had what appeared to be a rune stone, roughly the size of a human palm, dangling from its neck at chest height, secured by a piece of rope. The mysterious symbol etched into the stone glowed red. The skeleton’s left hand hung empty and at its side, while its right hand clutched a magical staff crowned with a luminous crystal ball.

The skeleton noticed Jake but made no move toward him, likely waiting for him to enter the room before launching an attack. With a thought, Jake summoned the undead’s description.

Abyssal Liche – Flame Lord – Level 90 (Elite)

This creature was undoubtedly more powerful than any he had encountered before. Perhaps, the abyssal liche was even some sort of mini-boss.

The moment Jake charged at the skeleton, it thrust the ball-topped staff in his direction. As Jake swiftly closed the distance to his target, he saw orange energy flow from the rune stone dangling from the liche’s neck toward the staff’s crystal ball, causing it to glow orange, seemingly charging it with magical energy. The light quickly grew more intense, and in the next instant, a blazing fireball shot toward him.

Jake quickly dodged to the side as the magical projectile zipped past him, trailing fire. It struck the wall behind him, exploding and sending flames everywhere. The liche had missed, but it wasn’t done yet. Its staff hurled another fireball in his direction, prompting Jake to jump aside again.

The flame lord kept unleashing fireball after fireball while Jake circled around the undead. One of the magical projectiles landed close to him. As he leaped aside to avoid the explosion, he felt the wave of heat radiating from the point of impact. He just had to hold on a little longer, as he knew the liche couldn’t keep casting fireballs indefinitely. With each attack, the crystal ball’s glow faded, slowly draining the energy the rune stone had charged it with. 

When the moment finally arrived, Jake charged straight toward the liche. The undead creature seemed no more robust than any regular skeleton, leading Jake to believe he could take it down without much trouble. But getting within striking range proved to be a different story. The liche raised its left hand toward him and unleashed a spell that affected Jake immediately.

As the slowing effect enveloped him, Jake felt his movements become sluggish. The skeleton aimed its staff at him again, and he realized that, in this slowed state, he wouldn’t be able to dodge the approaching projectile. Desperate, he opened his mouth and launched an acidic glob. He had no idea if it would do the trick, but he was out of options in his current predicament.

The acidic glob shot from his mouth, moving slowly at first, but once it cleared his jaws, it became unaffected by the slowing debuff and quickly picked up speed. At that moment, the liche fired a fireball from its staff, and the two magical projectiles collided at a midpoint between them. The impact caused the fireball to explode, but since Jake was at a safe distance, he took no damage.

Suddenly, the debuff lifted, and Jake’s speed surged back to normal. The liche couldn’t launch any more fireballs, as the last one had drained the staff’s energy. Before the skeleton could draw additional magical energy from the rune stone, Jake closed the distance. He raised his smashfist and swung a powerful haymaker at the liche.

Suddenly, the skeleton shot to the side, covering a dozen yards in the blink of an eye. It was clearly another magical spell in action.

You’ve got to be kidding me, Jake thought, realizing that getting close to his opponent wouldn’t be easy. The abyssal liche’s body appeared fragile, but actually getting within striking range was going to be challenging.

It went on like this for several minutes. The flame lord would draw energy from the rune stone to charge its staff, while Jake focused on dodging the barrage of fireballs. When the staff was out of energy, he’d rush to close the gap, only for the liche to vanish, retreating a dozen yards away with a quick spell.

Eventually, the flame lord’s mana ran out, and it lost the ability to dash. The liche was now unable to dodge Jake’s attack, and the heavy strike he delivered sent the skeleton soaring across the room, smashing into the wall.

Enemy killed. +2,500 XP

Just like that, the abyssal liche was dealt with. While the undead creature’s magical powers were impressive, it turned out to be physically frail. The rune stone suddenly stopped glowing. The moment it did, a ghostly figure seemed to emerge from the stone.

For a moment, it hovered motionlessly above the body of the fallen liche, and Jake took the opportunity to summon a description of the newly appeared ghostly creature.

Shade – Fallen Liche Lord – Level 90 (Elite)

It seemed the fight was not quite over yet. Suddenly, the shade unleashed a golden energy wave that slithered through the air like a snake, moving at lightning speed. It struck him so suddenly that he had no chance to dodge. The energy wave flowed through him, leaving no trace of injury. However, a system notification suddenly appeared in his mind.

You have been wounded for 7% by Ethereal Damage.

It was odd. While his body bore no visible injuries, his HP had indeed dropped by seven percent. The shade surged toward him, slashing with its clawed hand. Jake deftly dodged the blow and retaliated with a punch, but his smashfist simply went through the body of the wraith-like entity.

You must wield a weapon that delivers Ethereal Damage to harm this creature.

Jake parted his jaws and shot an acidic glob at the shade. Just as he had expected, the projectile passed right through its translucent form—Jake simply wanted to test it to be sure.

The shade darted away and unleashed a ranged attack once again. As before, a golden energy wave slithered through the air like a serpent, moving with such speed that he couldn’t even initiate any evasive maneuver.

You have been wounded for 9% by Ethereal Damage.

There was no point in continuing to fight the enemy with auto-aim while none of his own weapons could even hurt it. He pivoted and sprinted toward the doorway he had entered. The shade gave chase. Jake raced into the corridor and kept running.

The wall-mounted torches flared to life as he dashed by. He knew from experience that they didn’t react to the undead creatures roaming the dungeon. However, when he glanced back, he was able to clearly see the shade chasing him thanks to the soft golden glow radiating from its form. The light illuminated the area around the ghostly figure, casting reflections on the walls and floor, making the shade easy to spot in the oppressive darkness of the tunnel.

When he was about halfway down the tunnel, the shade suddenly lost interest in him. It turned in midair and flew back into the room. Jake watched it disappear from sight and made a mental note to return for a second round with the shade once he acquired a weapon capable of harming this type of enemy.