Ex-Human Morphus [A Mutant Evolution Apocalypse LitRPG]
Chapter 280

Chapter 280

It took him little time to track down his target. The scent led Jake to another high-rise building. Entering from the roof, he descended all the way to the first floor, stepping into a vast room that had once been a lobby. Before fully entering, Jake paused at the doorway to take in his surroundings. 

The room was mostly empty, with several piles of debris scattered around. A single enemy occupied the center of the space. The huge mutant was an eyesore, towering over six feet with an enormous, muscular frame. Its bulging legs and arms were as thick as tree trunks, and it had three disproportionately small heads. The mutant’s hunched form made it appear as if its heads emerged directly from its body, lacking any necks. 

The monster’s most striking feature was its cyborg nature. Most of its body was covered by armored plates, which fused seamlessly with its flesh. Both lower arms were artificial, made from metal and powered by servomotors. Its right hand had three long, razor-sharp fingers resembling blades. The left hand was replaced with a massive, nasty-looking chainsaw featuring large, jagged teeth.

The monster noticed Jake but held back, waiting for him to make the first move. Before launching an attack, Jake wanted to examine its description. He summoned it with a thought. 

The Armored Brawler - Level 180 (Elite)

Special abilities:

1. Vortex Grapple: The Armored Brawler can launch its reinforced right hand outward to latch onto enemies.
2. Triple Threat Roar: The Armored Brawler’s three heads can emit a deafening roar, disorienting nearby enemies with sonic waves. This ability not only stuns opponents but also lowers their resistance to the Pierce damage for a brief period of time.
3. Earthshaker Slam: The Armored Brawler can create shockwaves capable of knocking down all nearby enemies.

He also checked the Brawler’s weaknesses and discovered it was vulnerable to explosive and acidic types of damage. Currently, Jake couldn’t deal any elemental damage except for acidic. However, he had a stash of various gemstones in the Void Temple, including several ambers that could grant temporal explosive damage.

For a moment, he contemplated visiting the Void Temple. Knowing he would be rewarded with a mana orb only if he killed the monster quickly, he wanted to engage the Armored Brawler as soon as possible. However, even though the fight hadn’t started yet, he could already tell his opponent was extremely tough and wouldn’t go down easily.

Granting his weapons the ability to deal explosive damage would surely compensate for the time lost on the trip to the Void Temple. The journey wouldn’t take long—likely under a minute—and the benefits were impossible to ignore.

So he decided to go. He opened the portal to the Void Temple and stepped through. He raced down the hall to the opposite side, where the statue of two human figures was positioned. On the floor next to it lay various items—shards of charms, relics, and gemstones. Jake leaned over to pick up an amber gemstone, then turned and stepped toward the central shaft of light.

He then placed his left hand, with the amber gemstone resting on his palm, inside the shaft of light and issued a mental command to consume the gemstone. Instantly, it merged with his flesh, vanishing into his palm. Now, any of his attacks would have a 25% chance of inflicting explosive damage.

Jake longed for the ability to absorb gemstones for temporal buffs whenever he wanted, no matter where he was, without needing to return to the Void Temple. It was troublesome because he could only visit the temple once every twenty-four hours.

He was glad he hadn’t visited the temple in the past twenty-four hours; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to do so now. He hoped for a future opportunity to consume gemstones anytime and anywhere. If that became possible, he could easily carry various gemstones in his Inventory and choose one with a specific elemental damage type before engaging in a fight with a tough enemy vulnerable to that type of damage. It would definitely make his life much easier.

There was no time to ponder it any longer. He raced back to the opposite side of the temple where the portal was located. He stepped through and was instantly teleported back to the lobby of the high-rise building. The Armored Brawler remained in the same spot, showing no reaction to Jake’s sudden disappearance and reappearance.

Jake assessed his opponent one last time, then morphed his hands into smashfists and charged at the massive enemy. Instantly, one of the monster’s heads let out a roar and the Brawler burst into a run toward him. Its enormous chainsaw roared to life, swinging fiercely at Jake. He dodged the strike and countered, hammering his smashfist into the mutant’s armored body.

The monster didn’t even flinch. It attempted to grab Jake with its right three-fingered hand, but he deftly danced aside, immediately attacking the monster again. His next punch caused a small explosion upon impact with the monster’s body. The Brawler staggered back from the blast. The explosive strike clearly hurt the monster, despite there being no visible damage to its body.

For the next several minutes, they exchanged blows, with Jake skillfully dodging the attacks aimed at him while successfully landing his own. He was confident he could defeat this mutant without much trouble, but he wasn’t sure if he could do so in less than twenty minutes. Although his explosive punches did hurt the Brawler, it was clear the monster could take a significant amount of damage before finally going down.

At some point, he sensed the Brawler was about to unleash one of its special abilities and immediately jumped backward. When he saw all three heads of the monster open their mouths, he realized it was about to unleash its Triple Threat Roar.

He performed a Gravity Leap, soaring vertically up just as the Brawler unleashed a sonic wave. The wave rippled through the air below him, but Jake was already too high to be affected.

Just as he landed, the monster began to stamp its legs, using another of its special abilities: Earthshaker Slam. The ground shook violently beneath his feet. He swayed but managed to keep his balance.

However, because Jake was momentarily staggered, he wasn’t ready for what happened next.

As it turned out, the Brawler’s three-fingered right hand was detachable, and the monster launched it toward Jake. It flew through the air like a missile, trailing a long metal chain. Still struggling to regain his balance, Jake couldn’t dodge the incoming hand.

Its three enormous fingers wrapped tightly around his body, pinning one of his arms to his side. With a powerful yank, the Brawler retracted the hand, pulling the chain it was attached to back into its arm. Having lost his balance, Jake was dragged across the floor toward the massive monster.

A couple of seconds later, the Brawler’s cybernetic hand settled back into place at the wrist. The monster lifted Jake off the floor, easily raising him high into the air. For a moment, three pairs of eyes stared at him triumphantly.

Then the monster’s chainsaw roared to life. Realizing he was in big trouble, Jake jerked his body, but the grip around him was too tight. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t escape. The spinning blade inched closer and closer, and Jake could only angle his body so far away from it.

In a second, the spinning teeth of the chainsaw tore into his right shoulder. Sure enough, Jake felt no pain, but he could tell that the damage dealt to his body was immense. The muscles in the Brawler’s arm bulged as it used every ounce of strength to drive the chainsaw even deeper.

Jake’s tough body seemed to be harder than rock, yet the chainsaw was gradually and relentlessly burrowing deeper and deeper into his flesh. He was going to be cut diagonally in half, but no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn’t break free from the Armored Brawler’s grasp!