Chapter 320
Skullface’s “scalpel” arrived in the city early in the morning. It was a team consisting of several people. What made them truly dangerous, setting them apart from the regular soldiers in the organization, was the power suits they wore.
The power suits were high-tech, skin-tight garments crafted from advanced leather that combined flexibility with superior damage resistance. Each suit covered the wearer from toe to head, offering complete protection. Lightweight armor plating was strategically placed at critical points for optimal maneuverability and strength.
Distinctive visors adorned each suit, featuring various designs and technological enhancements tailored to the suit’s purpose. These visors provided functionalities such as night vision, augmented reality displays, and advanced targeting systems, ensuring the wearers were always equipped for any situation.
The aesthetic of the suits varied dramatically, with different color schemes and patterns reflecting their individual themes like stealth, damage output, and agility. Each suit embodied power, increasing the wearer’s strength, jump height, and agility while providing incredible damage resilience.
Skullface and his team devoted several days to gathering rare resources to create these power suits. They were then briefly tested in action, and Skullface was truly impressed by their capabilities. Now, the real challenge awaited: confronting the morphus. Five of the most skilled members of Skullface’s team were equipped with the power suits and assigned the mission to eliminate the morphus.
They were currently driving through the city in their massive black SUV. Ethan, the leader of the group, was behind the wheel, while Lila rode shotgun. In the backseat were Tessa, Julian, and Ava. All five operatives, as Skullface liked to call them to distinguish them from regular soldiers, wore power suits.
Lila held her PDA in her hands, giving Ethan directions to the current location of the morphus. They all knew the mutant could turn invisible, becoming undetectable even by special means. However, since their mission was sanctioned by the System, it provided them with the precise location of the mutant.
The red dot on the map displayed on Lila’s PDA indicated that the mutant was currently in the middle of the city. Usually, the morphus dashed around chaotically, which had made it difficult for previous groups tasked with killing the mutant to keep up. However, right now, the red dot barely moved. The team of five operatives couldn’t help but wonder why the morphus was currently so still.
They pulled up half a block from their target’s current position to traverse the rest of the way on foot. Their power suits had three abilities: active, passive, and ultimate. Each of the five operatives was armed with different weapons to complement the abilities of the power suit they wore.
Ethan’s power suit was called Titan. It boasted rich navy blue leather, textured for added resilience. The armor elements resembled a knight’s armor, offering full coverage with segmented plates for maneuverability. As for his weapon, Ethan carried a huge mini-gun, with its belt running from the heavy ammo pack on his back into the gun.
The active ability of Ethan’s Titan was called Armor Overload. Its function was to temporarily increase armor rating, reducing damage taken by a significant percentage. The passive ability, Fortified Resolve, granted Ethan immunity to various status effects such as stuns, immobilizations, slow-downs, and more. As for the ultimate ability, called Shockwave Charge, it allowed him to rush forward and send out a powerful, destructive shockwave that could knock back enemies.
The power suit that Lila wore was called Phantom. It featured sleek, matte black leather that hugged the curves of her body perfectly. The armor plating integrated flexible, high-density polymers for damage resistance. The visor was a dark, reflective surface that covered her eyes and wrapped around her temples. She was armed with two shortswords sheathed on her back and a sidearm holstered at her hip.
The active ability of her suit was called Shadow Step. It allowed her to teleport a short distance. Her passive ability, called Evasive Reflexes, allowed her to automatically dodge the first incoming strike every 5 seconds, leaving behind an afterimage to confuse her opponents. And her ultimate ability, Spectral Mirage, allowed her to teleport right behind an enemy to deliver an extremely powerful mana-infused strike.
Julian’s power suit was called Flanker. It was made of deep red leather and accented with gold lining that created an illusion of flames licking around his arms and legs. Reinforced with composite materials at critical points, it provided both flexibility and strength. As for his weapon of choice, Julian was armed with a couple of submachine guns.
The active ability of his power suit rendered him temporarily invisible, making him completely undetectable by any means, whether technological or magical. Hence, the name of the ability: Invisibility. Its passive ability, Speed Boost, constantly increased Julian’s movement speed while significantly reducing the noise created by his movements. The ultimate ability, called Shadow Strike, created multiple illusions to confuse enemies.
The power suit that Tessa wore was called Guardian. This suit was a vibrant electric blue, with silver lightning bolt designs running along its limbs. The leather was highly durable, featuring armor-plating sections for enhanced impact resistance. Tessa’s main weapon was a powerful combat shotgun.
The active ability of her suit was called Defensive Stance. It allowed Tessa to phase out of material space for a short duration of time, rendering her completely immune to attacks. While she couldn’t attack in this state, she could still use her ultimate ability. Tessa’s passive ability, Tactical Awareness, revealed hidden enemies and magical traps in her immediate vicinity. Thanks to her ultimate ability, Guardian Protocol, Tessa could deploy a powerful energy barrier around each of her teammates, absorbing all incoming damage and providing a short window for healing and recovery.
The last but not the least member of the team, Ava, wore a power suit that was called Hawkeye. Enhanced with a snake-scale pattern, this suit combined green and black leather for a unique look. It was designed for agility, featuring lightweight armor and flex joints at the elbows and knees. She was armed with a powerful .50 caliber sniper rifle. The weapon was incredibly heavy, but thanks to the enhanced strength provided by her power suit, Ava handled the rifle almost as easily as a plastic toy.
The active ability of her suit was called Airborne Escape. It allowed her to briefly levitate and avoid ground-based attacks. The passive ability, Zero Wind, automatically nullified environmental effects like wind or rain that could affect shot trajectory, greatly improving the accuracy of her long-distance shots. As for the ultimate ability, Nightfall, it created an area of darkness, reducing enemy visibility while highlighting enemy positions for Ava and her teammates.
At last, the team of five operatives arrived at a small diner where, according to Lila’s PDA, the morphus was holed up. They were surprised to discover that their target still hadn’t moved from the spot.
They had no idea why the morphus remained in the same spot for so long, barely making any movements. They guessed it might be sleeping. They weren’t sure if the morphus actually needed to sleep, but they couldn’t think of another explanation.
Ethan, the leader of the group, instructed Lila, the Phantom, and Julian, the Flanker, to enter the diner. Upon entering, they discovered that the corridor leading to the back was blocked by a piece of the roof hanging down. While the power suits they wore made them extremely strong and able to push the debris aside easily, Ethan instructed them not to do so. He didn’t want to ruin the element of surprise they currently had.
The group leader instructed Ava, the Hawkeye, to look for another entry. She activated her active ability, leaping high over the diner and hovering motionlessly in the air. The Airborne Escape was an incredible ability that allowed her to defy the laws of gravity.
She spotted a hole in the roof and informed Ethan. He positioned himself near the diner’s entrance and directed Tessa, the Guardian, to take up a position some distance from him. He then instructed Ava to find a good vantage point for a clear view of the diner.
Still in the air, Ava dashed across the air toward the building opposite the diner. She climbed into a window on the second floor. After ensuring there were no mutants in the room, she unslung her powerful sniper rifle and aimed it at the diner, resting the weapon against the window frame.
When Ava reported over the comms that she had reached her position, Ethan directed Lila and Julian to infiltrate the diner from the rooftop. Performing powerful jumps, they easily reached the roof, landing with almost no sound. The two of them then entered the diner through the hole in the roof, finding themselves in a short corridor, the other end of which was blocked by the piece of roof they had discovered earlier.
Lila and Julian located two doors opposite each other: one led to the toilets, and the other to a storage area. The latter had a hatch door that supposedly led to a basement area. Consulting the map on her PDA, Lila realized the morphus had to be down there. She didn’t need to tell Ethan what they had found because the team leader was receiving feeds from their visors directly to his HUD.
Ethan gave Tessa an order to join Ava and Julian. Without making a sound, she entered the diner through the roof and, moments later, was in the storage area with Lila and Julian. Ethan instructed her to use her Tactical Awareness ability to check for any magical traps that might be inside the basement. Moments later, barely making a sound, she reported back that there were no magical traps detected, but she did sense a powerful source of magic located deep within the basement.
For a moment, Ethan pondered what to do. He didn’t want to send both Lila and Julian into the basement. Lila’s active ability, Shadow Step, allowed her to teleport short distances, but she could only teleport to places she could see. If he sent her into the basement, she might struggle to get out quickly, as the only way out was likely the hatch door.
Julian’s passive ability, Speed Boost, on the other hand, allowed him to move quickly. With the natural speed enhancement of a power suit combined with his passive ability, Julian could move incredibly fast. So Ethan instructed Lila and Tessa to get back outside. Once they emerged from the diner and were positioned at some distance from him, he directed Julian to enter the basement.
“Engage the tango to draw its attention, then head outside immediately,” Ethan said. “We need to flush it out into the open.”
“Understood,” Julian replied in a low voice.
He crouched and carefully lifted the hatch door a bit. Below, the basement’s walls and floor were coated in some repulsive black goo. He also noticed a blue glow emanating from somewhere deeper in the basement. From his position, he could see neither the source of the blue light nor the morphus.
“Heading in,” he whispered just above a breath, then lifted the hatch door fully and leaped down into the basement.