Ex-Human Morphus [A Mutant Evolution Apocalypse LitRPG]

Chapter 260

Miller expected the morphus to emerge immediately, but it didn’t happen. The shimmering portal hovered two inches above the floor at the end of the corridor, yet the freak still hadn’t appeared. Miller stared into the portal so intently that he didn’t even dare to blink.

Expecting the morphus to emerge at any moment, he kept his gaze fixed on the portal without looking away even for a second. However, the creature hadn’t shown up yet. Almost a full minute had passed, but there was still no sign of the morphus. 

What’s taking the freak so long? he thought resentfully. 

He kept staring at the portal, but in his line of sight, he could also see his men. Like him, they were tense, weapons pointed at the portal, knuckles white. His people were growing nervous and impatient, struggling to grasp why the mutant they had come to kill still hadn’t emerged from the portal.

Two of his men exchanged glances, and Miller immediately barked at them to keep their eyes on the portal, his mech’s speakers amplifying his voice. The mutant had yet to appear, and Miller couldn’t help but wonder what was causing the delay. A thought crossed his mind: perhaps the morphus had learned about them and was preparing for a fight.

It was a troubling thought, but he almost immediately dismissed it. There was simply no way the freak could learn about them. There had to be another reason why it was still inside the dungeon. It was probably checking the rewards it had earned for completing the dungeon. Still, it shouldn’t have taken so long. At least three minutes had already passed since the portal opened.

The sudden thought of the rewards the morphus must have received sent a wave of anxiety through Miller. He hadn’t considered it before, but now that the idea crossed his mind, he couldn’t help but wonder what kind of new powers the morphus might have gained from completing the dungeon. The freak must be even more dangerous now than it had been before.

Such thoughts didn’t help his mood at all. He could feel beads of sweat forming on his brow and trickling into his eyes, but he couldn’t wipe the perspiration from his face without stepping out of his mech suit. Only he wasn’t going to open his suit and step out, no matter what. He knew that his powerful mech was the only thing that could protect him against the morphus. Without it, the freak wouldn’t have much trouble tearing him apart.

His men were quickly growing nervous as well. None of them wore a mech suit, leaving them without any protection against the morphus. Sure, some had a handful of spells at their disposal, but whether they would be of any help was anybody’s guess. After all, some of the previous teams that had been sent after the morphus had them too, but magic didn’t seem to have helped them much, seeing as they all ended up dead.

Aware of their vulnerability, his men grew more on edge with each passing second. At one point, Miller even had to bark at them to stop fidgeting. He noticed some cast angry glances in his direction. He didn’t like that they were growing defiant. He didn’t like it at all.

They were aware that he was no longer in charge of their base and clearly didn’t understand why they still had to obey him. They didn’t seem as afraid of him as they had been before. Their fear of him definitely seemed to be quickly waning.

He suspected they might even have considered leaving him behind or attacking him, had it not been for the mech suit he wore. They knew how powerful that suit was, and they understood they had no way of defeating him while he wore the mech. Their hatred for him was evident, and he felt the same in return. 

Fuck ‘em. Fuck ‘em all. He was fully aware that most of them, if not all, would surely die here anyway. That was totally fine with him. They were expendable. If they managed to distract the morphus long enough for him to deal a fatal blow, then their deaths wouldn’t be in vain.

That was all he needed from his team—simply to serve as bait. While the beast ripped through his comrades, he would seize the chance to take a clear shot at the mutant and fry its ass up with a precise shot from his energy cannon.

The morphus still hadn’t shown up, even though nearly ten minutes had passed since the portal materialized. Miller would have ordered his team to enter the portal and followed them if he hadn’t known there was no point in doing so. The portal was one-way, allowing only those inside the dungeon to return to the outside world. If he tried to step through it, he wouldn’t be teleported to the dungeon. Instead, he would simply pass through the portal as if it were nothing but mere air.

A few more minutes passed. His men exchanged glances more frequently, asking one another what was happening and why their target still hadn’t returned from the dungeon. Miller kept snapping at them to stay sharp, but they mostly ignored him now, clearly believing his bark was worse than his bite.

They had definitely become quite difficult to manage and control. He was so angry at them that he wanted to kill them all right then and there. However, he forced himself to calm down. He knew he needed them. They were going to distract the morphus, allowing him to get a clear shot at it. 

Only the freaking mutant had yet to show up. It was getting really annoying. One of his men turned his head to look at another and said something along the lines of being sick and tired of this. The other suggested they turn around and leave. They spoke quietly to avoid being overheard by their resentful boss, but Miller still heard them and almost lost it. 

He opened his mouth to bark at them to stay alert, but before he could utter a single word, a glimpse of movement from the portal caught his attention. Just as he turned his focus back to the portal, he saw the morphus emerge from it.

By that point, most of his team either had convinced themselves the morphus would never appear or had simply relaxed and dropped their guard. As a result, when the morphus finally stepped through the portal, everyone was so taken aback that they froze for a fraction of a second.

Miller was the first to regain his senses.

“Attack!” he yelled at the top of his lungs.