Ex-Human Morphus [A Mutant Evolution Apocalypse LitRPG]

Chapter 261

A fraction of a second before his men opened fire on the morphus, it jumped aside, barely avoiding the barrage of bullets. Still, while the corridor was quite wide, it couldn’t provide much room for the mutant to maneuver.

The morphus jumped from side to side, but even with its speed and agility, it couldn’t dodge every bullet. Now and then, a round struck its armored body, exploding on impact. Most of the ammo his men used was magically enhanced to detonate upon impact.

Their enchanted bullets were designed to deal devastating damage to whatever targets they hit, and they usually did when striking regular armor, other mutants, or concrete walls. However, the few rounds that slammed into the morphus, exploding on impact, left barely any visible marks on its body.

Miller couldn’t believe his eyes. Just how powerful was that freaking mutant?!

His men kept firing at the morphus, which dashed from side to side, struggling to track it with their gun muzzles. They unleashed a hail of bullets on full auto, quickly running out of bullets in their guns.

As for the morphus, it still hadn’t attacked any of his men yet. Miller suspected it was biding its time, waiting for their weapons to run dry. Once they started swapping magazines, it would launch itself at them.

That’s when Miller planned to fire his energy cannon at the morphus. One well-aimed shot from his weapon should, if not kill the morphus, at least hurt it real good. Or bad, if you looked at it from the mutant’s perspective.

He knew from experience that shots from his energy cannon could easily burn through regular mutants’ bodies, leaving gaping holes. And that was prior to upgrading his mech. Now that it was even more powerful than before, he could only speculate about the kind of damage it could inflict.

Though now that he had witnessed what little damage his men’s explosive bullets did to the morphus, he was starting to have second thoughts about his weapon’s ability to kill the mutant quickly. Maybe one well-placed shot wouldn’t be able to take care of the morphus after all. Two or three hits should do the trick, though, as he seriously doubted the morphus could shrug off three direct blasts from his energy cannon.

At one point, he saw the pitch-black mutant leap onto a wall, sticking to it with its fingertips and feet. As the morphus crawled toward the ceiling like a giant insect, moving with surprising speed and agility, it suddenly became invisible. It had clearly employed one of its annoying abilities.

It wasn’t completely invisible, though. As it climbed the wall and crawled across the ceiling, it created visible distortions in the air. However, not all of his men noticed them. Several of the idiots kept firing at the wall where they had last seen the morphus. The bullets exploded upon impact, gouging large craters into the wall and sending shards of stone hurtling through the air like shrapnel.

“No, you idiots,” Miller shouted at them in rage. “Aim higher! It’s on the ceiling!”

The few who had been firing at the wall stopped and looked up, struggling to spot the invisible enemy. While Miller didn’t have a favorable opinion of his men, he had to admit that detecting the fast-moving mutant was challenging, even with the air distortions its movements caused.

Because of that, he decided to switch to one of the vision modes available on his mech suit. It had several options, and Miller chose Heat Signature Mode. This mode displayed infrared radiation emitted by objects, allowing him to see the heat signatures of living beings and machinery. Predators and hidden enemies became visible against colder backgrounds, making this mode ideal for search-and-destroy missions.

He expected to spot the unmistakable silhouette of the morphus crawling across the ceiling. However, that didn’t happen. The warmth of his people’s bodies glowed like embers against the cool backdrop, but the morphus remained hidden from view. He reasoned that its body temperature must be extremely low, preventing this mode from detecting it.

He quickly switched to another vision mode but achieved the same nil result. He even tried Sonar and Biometric Modes, but to no avail. 

The Sonar Mode was designed to detect sound waves to visualize objects in the surroundings, akin to a bat’s echolocation. It identified obstacles or movements in total darkness. As he activated it, pulses of sound painted a clearer picture of his environment. However, since the morphus hardly made any sound, the mode failed to detect it. 

Biometric Mode was designed to analyze biological data of nearby entities, identifying species, health status, or potential threats. While the biometrics sensed movement across the ceiling, the exact position of the morphus remained elusive.

Annoyed, Miller cycled through several other vision modes, but none were able to detect the creature. He could hardly believe it. How was this possible? Did that creature truly possess a special ability to evade detection by advanced technology? 

Just as Miller switched back to Standard Mode, the morphus dropped from the ceiling onto one of his men, causing the assault rifle to slip from his grip. Miller noticed the distortion in the air right above the supine form of the man. While he couldn’t see the mutant, it was clear the creature had pinned the man’s arms to the floor, making it impossible for him to reach his weapon.

In the next instant, the throat of the trapped man opened up. The morphus must have slashed at it with its claws, causing a torrent of blood to gush from the wound. Now that the whereabouts of the target were obvious, the rest of the team pointed their weapons at the enemy.

However, the morphus was already on the move. It leaped up and dashed to the side, leaving the wounded man to drown in his own blood. Explosive bullets tore through the empty spot where the morphus had just been.

Unlike his men, Miller was much more attentive, remaining sharp and focused. In the fraction of a second that the morphus dashed to the side, he predicted its movement direction. Adjusting the angle of his energy cannon, he fired the weapon.

The energy projectile zipped through the air, trailing a bluish light behind it. It was a perfectly placed and well-timed shot, and Miller anticipated a direct hit on the morphus. While the mutant might catch sight of it in its peripheral vision, it shouldn’t be able to dodge due to its dash.

Just as Miller predicted, the morphus spotted the shot rushing toward it at high speed. Contrary to Miller’s expectations, however, the mutant was able to twist in mid-air to avoid a direct hit. But it wasn’t able to completely evade the projectile. The energy projectile grazed its armored side, carving a long trench across it.

“Dammit,” Miller muttered in frustration. The morphus exhibited extraordinary agility and reflexes—there was no doubt about it.

Just as he lined up another shot at the mutant, something surprising happened. Out of nowhere, a cloud of pitch-black darkness erupted, completely shrouding this section of the corridor in less than a second.

“What the hell is going on?” he whispered, straining to see anything through the suffocating darkness. 

Even though it happened so quickly, he managed to notice that the cloud of darkness had originated from the morphus. Was it another of its abilities? He had never heard of it before, though. Had the freak acquired this power in the dungeon? 

There was no time to think about it, though, because terrified screams from his men suddenly pierced the air. Although he couldn’t see anything, it was clear they were being picked off one by one. Unlike them, the freak had no trouble seeing through the supernatural darkness.

Miller switched on Night Vision mode. The world around him should have transformed into a ghostly green landscape, but it didn’t. Strangely, he wasn’t surprised. By now, he had grown accustomed to the morphus’s overpowered abilities. He switched back to Standard Mode.

He fired randomly in various directions, hoping a lucky shot would hit the freak. There seemed to be nothing else he could do. He began to back up, blindly firing energy projectiles ahead of him, not caring if they hit some of his men. Their agonized screams echoed as they suffered horrible deaths at the hands—claws—of the morphus. 

Just as suddenly as the darkness had appeared, it dissipated, allowing Miller to see again. What he saw was so shocking that he froze, halting both his movement and shooting.

Before the darkness engulfed the corridor, there had been a single moprhus, but now there were several!