Ex-Human Morphus [A Mutant Evolution Apocalypse LitRPG]
Chapter 255

Chapter 255

Jake reached the island’s edge and jumped. He soared through the air for half a second before colliding with the Magma Titan’s torso. Adhesive Secretion activated, and he began to crawl across the giant’s massive frame.

Aware that the giant could easily seize him, Jake swiftly maneuvered to its back, where it would be more challenging to grasp him. To his surprise, the giant didn’t attempt to grab him. However, Jake chose not to waste time wondering why. A few seconds later, he reached a spot on the Magma Titan’s back where he believed he was out of reach of its massive hands.

The enormous creature’s body radiated intense heat, with waves of warmth distorting the air around him. Had he been human, he wouldn’t have been able to stay so close to the blazing giant, let alone touch it. As a mutant with an incredibly damage-resilient body, he felt no discomfort at all. He figured that his recent increase in fire resistance also played a role.

Knowing his chainsaws weren’t particularly effective against armored foes, he morphed his right hand into a drill instead. Powering it up with a thought, he pressed the spinning cone to the monster’s tough exterior. It proved to be incredibly hard, and Jake had to exert nearly all his strength to drive the drill in.

Inch by inch, he pushed the drill into the Magma Titan’s body. Suddenly, he felt no more resistance as his drill reached some hollow space inside. He pulled his hand from the hole, and a gush of lava instantly erupted from the cavity he had just created.

The wound he had inflicted on the Magma Titan was small compared to the bulk of its body, but the monster still didn’t appreciate it. It didn’t like having someone drill holes in its body at all. Reaching backward with one hand, it tried to grab Jake but couldn’t quite reach him. Jake drilled several more holes, each immediately starting to spurt scorching lava.

Then he decided to crawl up the Magma Titan’s neck and onto the top of its head. He noticed the monster was still reaching for the same spot on its back where he had just been. This indicated that the monster couldn’t feel him crawling on its body. However, it clearly could feel the holes being drilled into its flesh.

Jake clung to the top of the monster’s enormous head. Revving his drill, he plunged it into the Magma Titan’s exterior. The moment he reached the hollow interior, he pulled out the drill. Instantly, lava gushed from the opening.

Suddenly, Feral Instincts warned him of danger. He quickly crawled down the monster’s neck. In the next moment, the creature slammed one of its hands onto the spot where Jake had just been. Dealing damage to the giant’s head was likely more effective than targeting its body, but it also placed him in a much more vulnerable position.

For the next several minutes, Jake crawled across the Magma Titan’s body, drilling holes into it. Occasionally, he risked moving to the back and top of its head to drill there as well. Although using this method of inflicting damage would likely take a long time to kill the monster, at least this strategy appeared to be working.

Jake was sure that having discovered a method to defeat the dungeon boss, everything else would proceed without issues. All he had to do was drill holes into the Magma Titan’s exterior, and eventually, the massive creature would succumb to its wounds. At least, that was what he thought.

As it turned out a minute later, he was wrong. The Magma Titan emitted a frustrated bellow and began to sink into the lava. Jake realized it was likely going to stay submerged for a while. He needed to hurry back to the island.

He crawled onto the monster’s head as its shoulders dipped below the lava’s surface. Jake performed a mana-infused jump and, a moment later, landed on the island. He turned toward the Magma Titan just in time to see it fully submerge into the ocean of lava.

Jake retreated to the center of the island, looking around and wondering where the monster would emerge next and when. Since the Magma Titan was comfortable in the lava, it could obviously stay submerged for as long as it needed.

A few seconds passed, but the dungeon boss still hadn’t reappeared. Jake wondered what it was planning. What if it could heal while submerged in lava? If that were the case, he would need to come up with a faster strategy to deal with it.

Suddenly, Feral Instincts kicked in, alerting him to some danger coming from right below him. Realizing what the Magma Titan had in mind, Jake sprinted away. Just as he did, the enormous monster crashed through the ground with tremendous force, shattering the island into numerous smaller pieces that floated in various directions.

Jake found himself on a segment of land about ten meters wide. He glanced around, spotting remnants of the island scattered around him. The floating pieces ranged from several dozen meters to a mere two meters in width, all drifting around the imposing Magma Titan. 

He shifted his focus to the dungeon boss and saw that the holes he had drilled into its exterior were still there. At least the monster couldn’t heal itself. The Magma Titan let out a triumphant roar, convinced it had already won the battle.

Then the monster plunged its hands into the lava, retrieved two smoldering boulders, and hurled them at Jake. He reacted instantly, jumping into the air and propelling himself toward a nearby island.

With a thought, he unleashed his grappling hook. It soared through the air before snagging onto the island’s rugged surface. With a swift tug, Jake pulled himself toward the small island, narrowly dodging one of the boulders the monster had hurled at him.

Landing on the piece of land, which was about five meters across, he regained his balance and scanned the chaotic landscape. The islands floated over the ocean of lava, varying in size and distance from one another. Without hesitation, he leaped again, aiming for another island just as the Magma Titan picked up two more boulders.

While in midair, he sent the grappling hook flying. It latched onto a jagged rock, and he yanked himself toward the island. He felt one of the boulders rush through the air behind him with a whoosh. As soon as he landed, he jumped again for another piece of land.

Airborne once more, he soared across the churning sea of fire. He felt another boulder whistling through the air behind him. Jake twisted mid-flight, barely avoiding yet another fiery projectile.

He landed on the island he aimed for and quickly steadied himself as the ground shifted slightly beneath his weight. Jake noticed one of the projectiles flying toward him, tracing a fiery arc through the air. He sidestepped sharply to the left, dodging the projectile by a hair’s breadth.

The Magma Titan kept picking up boulders and hurling them. With no time to waste, Jake launched again, using his grappling hook to navigate toward another piece of land. He was really glad he had acquired this ability before initiating the boss fight.

Without this ability, it would have been impossible for him to snag onto the constantly shifting pieces of the shattered island while also trying to avoid being hit by boulders. While in the air, he could quickly look around and latch onto another island if the one he initially aimed for shifted or if he needed to change course to avoid a flying boulder. So yeah, without Grappling Hook Arm, he would have found himself in big trouble.

The Magma Titan continued hurling boulders, but Jake was a blur of motion, soaring between islands. He was determined to outmaneuver the molten giant no matter what.

With a swift, sweeping motion of its massive arms, the monster continued scooping up enormous rocks from the bubbling surface of the magma ocean and hurling them toward Jake with great force. Each rock flew past him, narrowly missing by inches, creating sharp gusts of hot air that whipped around him. The rocks created deep craters when they struck the islands and sent fiery splashes everywhere when they plunged into the ocean of lava.

At some point, the Magma Titan’s ability wore off, but the giant immediately employed another one. Its belly opened up, and a torrent of lava erupted. Jake continued to jump between the islands, using the grappling hook to guide himself, evading the fiery stream just like he had the flying boulders a moment before.

After the Magma Titan’s second special ability wore off, it employed its third, summoning its minions. They rose on various islands, all staring at him. However, since they couldn’t jump, they couldn’t reach Jake, who stood all alone on another piece of land.

Since the magma golems couldn’t reach him, he decided not to fight them this time. Instead, he unleashed the grappling hook toward the Magma Titan, and once it latched onto it, sent himself flying toward the enormous giant with a forceful tug.

Once again, he was crawling all over the Magma Titan’s body, drilling holes in its body. At some point, he began to alternate his weapons, using smashfists and chainsaws as well. The monster’s exterior cracked in numerous places, and lava poured out. Determined to finish off the Magma Titan before it submerged into the lava again, Jake ramped up his assault, focusing entirely on dealing as much damage to the dungeon boss as possible.

The magma golems stood on various floating pieces of land, helplessly watching him destroy their master. They couldn’t jump high or far, and even if they could, they probably couldn’t stick to vertical surfaces like he could. So all they could do was watch.

Finally, the Magma Titan began to shudder. Sensing something was about to happen, Jake quickly searched for an island within reach. Spotting one, he unleashed his grappling hook and yanked, propelling himself toward the floating piece of land.

As soon as he landed, he turned toward the Magma Titan. He saw its enormous form shake violently. Then, without warning, the top half of its body blew up, sending blazing pieces of rock flying every which way and sending waves of lava splashing everywhere. What was left of the dungeon boss collapsed into the ocean of lava, completely vanishing from sight. With the death of their master, the magma golems all blew up into thousands of granite pieces as well.

Jake remained on the small piece of land floating over the ocean of bubbling lava, gently swaying beneath him. That was it. With the Magma Titan finally defeated, the dungeon was fully completed. Now, he only needed to collect the remaining rewards and return to the outside world.