Ex-Human Morphus [A Mutant Evolution Apocalypse LitRPG]
Chapter 235

Chapter 235

Since the four elite spiders had just used their first special ability, it would be a little while before they could use it again. This was his chance to launch a counterattack. Still, he knew he shouldn’t forget about the other two abilities each of them possessed. As he drew nearer to one of the elite spiders—the Acid one—it employed its second ability, the Flurry of Stabs. Jake dodged one of its front legs as it speared through the air toward him. He evaded another piercing blow and then jumped up at a slight angle toward the spider, using Gravity Leap to climb higher in the air.

The four spiders just stared up at him, unable to reach him even with their long legs. He activated one of the ability’s upgrades, dropping down with greatly increased speed. As he approached the Acid Orbed Crawler, he aimed for the creature and pierced it with his claws, leaving four long gashes across its abdomen as he fell. He landed on his feet, bending his knees to cushion the impact. The elite spider, with four long cuts across its abdomen, shuddered violently. Sensing that something bad was about to happen, Jake turned and darted away from the convulsing creature. In the next instant, its abdomen blew up, sending pulpy pieces of flesh flying every which way. The dead creature’s body crumpled to the floor, its legs still twitching. One elite spider down, three more to go.

The death of one of them seemed to aggravate the other Orbed Crawlers. They lurched at him all at once, stabbing with their front legs. He ducked and weaved, darting from one spot to another as the pointed legs sliced through the air all around him, barely missing his body. There weren’t many smaller spiders left by that point, but some were still alive and itching for a fight. One of them shot a glob of webbing from its spinneret. Since Jake was too busy dodging the stabbing strikes, he failed to evade the projectile, and the sticky substance hit him in the legs, gluing him to the floor.

Not again, he thought as he pulled his feet frantically and with all his strength. This time, he tore through the webbing almost immediately. The three Orbed Crawlers were still using their Flurry of Stabs ability, so Jake decided to use Gravity Leap again. Just as he soared up through the air, the Shock Orbed Crawler chose that exact moment to launch a bolt of lightning at him. While airborne, he couldn’t dodge it. Instead, he employed the upgrade to drop down again, but it worked a split second too late. The lightning struck him directly in the chest, sending him hurtling through the air until he crashed against the cave wall.

When he looked up, he was dismayed to see that the three remaining Orbed Crawlers were linked by a wave of energy once again, gearing up to unleash another elemental storm. He hadn’t expected them to use this ability so soon after the last time. Just as he leaped to his feet, the Orbed Crawlers began to unleash their elemental powers. However, with only three of them instead of four, the elemental storm wasn’t as powerful as it had been before. Jake dashed around the cavern, doing his best to avoid being struck by any of the elemental attacks.

As soon as the storm calmed down, he executed a mana-infused leap toward the three Orbed Crawlers. He dug his claws into the abdomen of one of the Crawlers and pressed his feet against its body. However, as it turned out, Adhesive Secretion wasn’t able to make him stick to this creature, so he had to cling on with just his claws. Since his right arm hadn’t grown back yet, Jake sprouted three bladed tentacles to assist him. He lashed out with them, stabbing and slicing the creature’s abdomen. When it began to shudder, Jake quickly detached from the spider and darted away. A moment later, the creature exploded. Two down, two to go.

The remaining two Orbed Crawlers—the Shock and Frost ones—employed the first ability again, linking to each other with a wave of energy. However, with only two of them remaining, the elemental storm wasn’t nearly as powerful as the original one, and it was also very short-lived. As soon as it ended, Jake charged at the two Orbed Crawlers. By this point, there were no more smaller spiders left, so he fully focused on battling the two elite ones. He employed the successful tactics he had used to take down the previous two elite creatures, killing the Shock Orbed Crawler first before turning his attention to the Frost one. Finally, the battle was over.

Multiple enemies killed. +85,750 XP

You have gained enough XP to level up. Your level went up from 95 to 96. You have gained 5 SP.

Right after that, another system message appeared in his mind. 

As a reward for defeating a secret mini-boss, you may increase three of your Resistances by 25%.

Jake did a double-take at the message. He hadn’t realized that the elite spiders he had just defeated were considered a single secret mini-boss. He had simply stumbled upon them while casually exploring the dungeon. Now it was obvious that defeating the four Orbed Crawlers hadn’t been mandatory for completing this floor and getting access to the next one. He was glad he had taken them down, though, as he was rewarded with a fantastic bonus.

So he could select three of his resistances to increase each by 25%, which was a significant improvement. Since his Pierce resistance was affected by the Fragile Body curse, making his body much more vulnerable to this type of damage, he decided to choose this one. However, when he attempted to do so, a system message appeared in his mind.

You cannot improve your Pierce resistance at this time because it is currently affected by the Fragile Body cure.

That sucked. Well, he needed to select something else then. Remembering that many members of Los Demonios used explosive ammunition in their guns, he decided to boost his resistance to this type of damage. After all, he planned to take on the gang as soon as he cleared the dungeon. After finishing it, he would be much more powerful than he had been before venturing in, so he was confident he would be ready to start a full-blown war against Los Demonios. And reducing damage from their explosive weapons would be immensely helpful when dealing with the gang.

He was allowed to select two additional resistances to enhance. He gave the list of his resistances a thoughtful look. Some of them, like Ethereal, Chaos, Stun, and Mind Control, were currently at 0%. On the previous floors, he had encountered enemies that could deal either Ethereal or Chaos damage. While he hadn’t seen such foes on this floor yet, he still might. Plus, there was one more floor, the fourth, he needed to clear, where there could be more enemies capable of dealing both types of damage.

So he decided to increase each of these two resistances by 25%. Once that was done, he took a moment to review his current stats. 

Elemental Resistances:

    Fire: 10% (+25% from Fire Protective amulet) 

    Frost: 10%

    Shock: 10%

    Explosive: 35%

    Corrosive: 30%

    Radiation: 10%

Other Resistances:

    Pierce: -30% (affected by the Fragile Body curse)

    Poison: 30%

    Mana Bleeding: 31%

    Mind Control: 0%

    Stun: 0%

    Chaos: 25%

    Ethereal: 25%

After that, Jake turned his attention to his attributes. This time, he decided to invest all five of his skill points into Body instead of Magick, aiming to boost his physical damage resilience.

Body: 90 → 95

Mind: 85

Magick: 118

He then searched the cavern for any treasures. Against one of the walls sat a quality chest. Inside, he found a few mana items and several various gemstones. He first siphoned the mana from the consumables. He then wanted to stash the gems in his Inventory, but there were no more available slots. So he spent 25,000 MP to unlock five additional slots. He now had a total of twenty slots in his Inventory. After that, the price of unlocking five additional slots increased to 50,000 mana points.

Once he had stored the gemstones in his Inventory, Jake retrieved the final item from the chest: an oval stone covered in arcane symbols. He immediately recognized it as the key meant for the indentation on the pedestal in the cavern adorned with wall drawings. Gripping the key in his hand, Jake rose to his feet and made his way toward the exit. It was time to find out what would happen when he activated the pedestal.

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