Ex-Human Morphus [A Mutant Evolution Apocalypse LitRPG]
Chapter 209

Chapter 209

A bolt whizzed past his shoulder. Another thunked against an additional plate that his Adaptive Armor skill instantly created at the point of impact. Several skeleton archers continued firing their crossbows, but before turning his attention to them, he first needed to kill the undead soldiers that surrounded him from all directions.

With a swipe of his left arm sword, he took the head from the shoulders of one skeleton. With a powerful swing of his right sword, he severed another skeleton’s body in half, easily shattering its ribs. A third skeleton swung its longsword at him, but Jake quickly deflected the blow with one of his arm swords and instantly delivered a fatal strike to his undead opponent with the other.

Both his Swords and Smashfists proved equally effective against undead creatures, allowing him to use them interchangeably in battle to advance both abilities. Once he finished dealing with the soldiers, he rushed toward the archers, retracting his swords and transforming his hands into smashfists.

He punched one of the archers in the head, causing it to blow apart in an explosion of bone. With his other oversized hand, he grabbed another skeleton by the head and squeezed, easily crushing the skull in his grip.

Behind the first two archers stood two more skeletons, who had already readied their crossbows. Almost simultaneously, they fired at him. He ducked, feeling one bolt whiz past his head, while another struck his shoulder and bounced off. Despite the Fragile Body curse affecting him, his Adaptive Armor did an admirable job of protecting him from regular attacks.

Once he reached the last two archers, he dispatched them as easily as he had the previous two. He quickly spun around, scanning the area for any remaining enemies to kill, but there were none left. Just like that, another group of undead had been defeated.

Multiple enemies killed. +7,230 XP

Jake reverted his smashfists back into normal hands and headed to the spot where he had dropped his belongings before engaging the undead. As he walked down the tunnel, he took a moment to check his current experience.

XP: 100,250/101,250

He was on the verge of gaining another level. Leaning down, he picked up the ethereal battleaxe with one hand and the rune stones with the other. Straightening up, he glanced at the stones. He had two, meaning he still needed to find the last one. Clenching the battleaxe in one hand and the rune stones in the other, he continued searching.

He kept on exploring the first floor of the dungeon until he finally discovered a chamber containing the final abyssal liche. It hovered at the center of the room, looking exactly like the previous two liches he had previously defeated, except for a different rune stone hanging around its neck.

Abyssal Liche – Plague Lord – Level 90 (Elite)

Jake placed his belongings on the floor near the entrance of the chamber and charged at the liche. As expected, the skeleton immediately began to draw magical energy from the rune stone to the tip of its staff, powering it up. When the liche pointed its staff at him, Jake was ready. He leaped aside just as the liche unleashed what appeared to be acidic globs from the top of its staff.

The magical projectiles zipped through the air with astonishing speed. Jake successfully dodged several, but avoiding them all proved impossible. One glob splattered against his side, eating away at his hardened flesh. While the damage wasn’t severe, it was still excruciatingly unpleasant. Jake vowed to do everything he could to avoid getting hit again.

As soon as the staff ran out of energy drawn from the rune, Jake made a beeline for the liche. The skeleton was already channeling another surge of energy from the rune stone, but before the process was complete, Jake closed the distance to his opponent. Instead of launching an attack, however, he did something else.

With one hand, Jake grabbed the rune stone, while with the claws on the other hand, he severed the rope from which it hung. The skeleton appeared taken aback by this sudden turn of events. It attempted to snatch the rune stone from Jake’s grasp, but he retaliated by slashing at the reaching hand with his claws, serving it at the wrist. He wanted to swipe at the liche once more, but it suddenly dashed away from him, covering over a dozen yards in the blink of an eye.

The skeleton aimed its staff at Jake again, but now lacking the rune stone, it was unable to unleash its acidic projectiles. Instead, a bolt of lightning shot forward. Jake managed to dodge it while continuing his charge toward the opponent. The liche launched another bolt of lightning, and this time, Jake wasn’t able to evade it. However, being a standard magical attack, it caused minimal damage. Other than momentarily causing him to stumble, it hardly affected his speed.

When Jake reached the liche, it instantly dashed away again before he could strike. Undeterred, he continued to pursue it, expertly dodging the lightning attacks it unleashed. Now that the liche was without the rune stone and dependent solely on its own mana, Jake knew he just needed to wait until its magical energy ran out.

For several minutes, the chase continued until the liche finally exhausted the mana it had. Now unable to evade Jake’s attacks, the creature became vulnerable, and he seized the opportunity to deliver a crushing blow, causing its skull to burst apart.

Enemy killed. +2,500 XP

You have gained enough XP to level up. Your level went up from 80 to 81. You have gained 5 SP.

Realizing a shade was about to emerge from the fallen liche’s body, Jake spun around and dashed toward the exit where he had left his belongings. He dropped the stolen rune stone, which was still glowing, next to the other two, and picked up his ethereal battleaxe. By the time he turned back to face the shade, it had fully materialized from the liche’s remains.

The ghost-like enemy struck him with a serpent-like wave of energy, hitting him with remarkable precision and inflicting eight percent Ethereal Damage, which was absorbed by his medallion. By the time Jake closed in on the shade, it unleashed another attack that dealt an additional seven percent Ethereal Damage. With the medallion having only fifteen percent energy left before the fight, Jake realized that any further attacks from the shade would now affect him directly.

After swinging his battleaxe at the shade, Jake landed a solid hit, eliciting a shriek of pain from his foe. The shade quickly dashed away, countering with a wave of energy that struck him in the middle of his torso, inflicting nine percent Ethereal Damage.

The exchange of attacks continued for several more minutes. By the time Jake landed the final blow on the shade, he had lost thirty-five percent of his health—definitely less than he had feared. His Enhanced Regeneration was already kicking in, starting to heal his internal wounds.

He earned three thousand XP for defeating the shade. Having leveled up after defeating the liche, Jake took a moment to review his stats. None of his skills or abilities had yet reached 100%, and all of them were already fully upgraded. With no other options available, he decided to allocate his skill points to improve his attributes. 

Body: 72 → 75

Mind: 73 → 75

Magick: 75

Jake proceeded to examine his medallion. It was drained of energy and unable to protect him from Ethereal Damage any longer. Still, he opted to keep it slung around his neck, thinking that he might find a way to recharge it later. He then glanced at his battleaxe, wondering whether he still needed it now that the three liches were defeated and the rune stones acquired. Unsure of what lay ahead, he also decided to keep the battleaxe for the time being, just in case he encountered ghostly foes again.

He made his way back to the exit and picked up the three rune stones from the cobbled floor. The plague rune stone pulsed with an eerie light, a clear sign that it was still brimming with magical energy. In contrast, the symbols etched into the other two rune stones remained dull and lifeless. Although he doubted the depleted stones would be of much use, he decided to take them all to the portal and see what would happen when he brought them there.

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