Jacob slowly moved toward that opening, when he was in front of that opening, he saw a huge monitor which was showing the entire lion forest with a glowing red dot.
There was a map on the wall.
'A monitoring room, is that the mutant?' Jacob's eyes narrowed when he looked at the red dot, which was now moving away from this area at an incredible speed.
After making sure that hob troll wasn't hiding anywhere, he relaxed a bit and started to search through the monitor room. He also pocketed that unfamiliar map.
Jacob just looked behind the wide monitor screen when his expression changed because there was a timer that continued counting down, and there were only fifteen seconds left until it reached zero!
"That hateful prick!" Jacob couldn't help but cursed out loud, and without waiting to see what that timer was about, he took a last glance at the monitor and ran toward the exit at full speed.
The dark blue smoke was already starting to enter the hideout, but Jacob didn't care about that. He quickly jumped around the wall like a monkey and exited the hideout into the thick blue smoke.
He quickly hid his skin and ran in the east direction without stopping.
Thereupon, a booming sound rang in the vicinity, and a tremor passed through the ground.
Jacob's eyes were deadly cold. 'Don't let me catch you!'
He knew that hob troll was behind the activation of that timer so he could destroy everything in that hideout if things goes awry, and he succeeded.
Jacob knew there was something that hob troll didn't want anyone to see, and the mutant control might be in that place as well. Now everything was gone, while that mutant might die in this smoke.
He also lost one of his short swords he threw at the hob troll and wasted titan bullets.
However, Jacob suddenly noticed the resistance of that thick smoke was getting lighter. He couldn't help but peek slightly, and the blue smoke was getting lighter and lighter with every second.
But what was different about this was, he wasn't getting out of the range of the smoke but it was now moving in a west direction at an extremely alarming rate like some vacuum was sucking it.
'Now what?' Jacob was astonished because that direction was the exact direction where the mutant fled in.
Jacob frowned slightly. It was his chance to get out of here, but he was curious about why this smoke was going in that direction.
'Here goes nothing. If this was that hob troll, I'll get rid of that prick for good, and acquire that mutant heart while at it,' He thought and followed that smoke from a safe distance while his titan sniper was in his hand.
After following the smoke for over eight hundred meters, Jacob finally saw the source, and he was shocked.
He saw a gigantic shadow in the center of the blue smoke, and all the smoke was vanishing into this shadow. But the most shocking thing was that the shadow was growing larger as the blue smoke got absorbed by it.
'That mutant is absorbing this smoke?!' Jacob had seen the mutant, and that shadow looked exactly like it, and it was already six meters tall now.
'Fuck, I can't summon Immortika anymore. Is it evolving somehow with this smoke's help?' Jacob could only guess now since he had no idea how this evolution worked.
But he could feel that the mutant was growing stronger at an alarming rate.
'This might be my chance!' Jacob's heart raced when he thought about how this disaster turned into an opportunity for him.
He quickly hid within the crown of a tree that was now filled with withered leaves and waited for that mutant to absorb the smoke completely.
On the south of the lion forest, a figure surrounded by a red transparent barrier was running while drops of blood kept falling from his cloak.
He halted when he felt the blue smoke was gone.
Without delay, he skewered his fingers into the bloody hole in his chest and groaned as he gritted his teeth. Soon he slid his fingers out, and a 16 mm black bullet head could be seen between his fingers.
He growled in hatred while clenching the bullet head. "I'll remember this!"
He then takes out a small metal flask and gulped a green liquid down completely.
'How did I exit the area of the intermediate smoke mine so quickly?'
The hob troll was confused, but when he thought about Jacob and the gun that could even break past the shield barrier, he didn't want to stay here to find out the reason behind it.
He then glanced around before he began to move again, his speed was much faster than before.
'I never thought the mission would fail in the humane kingdom without it even begun. I have to report it to the higher-ups. It seemed someone is paying attention to the uncommon region, and the letter disappearance might also have something to do with it.
'It's good that I have already connected the self-destruction trigger with this intermediate mine. Now no one will get anything out of that place.
'We had to lie low for the time being. As for that Protector, I look forward to our next meeting.' His dark green eyes were filled with killing intent as he vanished into the dark forest.
On the other side,
Jacob had no idea the hob troll was completely clueless about what was happening with the mutant right now.
The smoke was already gone, and the seven-meter-tall mutant appeared tens of meters away from him.
Its color was now purple while its humanoid body was more muscular and its long ugly face had characteristics of a Glean Gnome, except for its emotionless glowing red eyes, and the dreadful aura it was giving off.
"Howlllllll…."
It suddenly let loose a reverberating howl, which made even Jacob feel pressure.
'It has evolved!' Jacob was sure of it as his face lit up.
With a cold smile, he aimed directly toward its head and pulled the trigger!
He didn't want to fight this thing and save some bullets, it simply wasn't worth it.
'Boom…'
The titan bullet directly landed on its huge slimy head, and the impact made the huge mutant lose its balance, and it fell between trees.
However, it wasn't dead. The bullet only penetrated its thick skin. With a deafening mad cry, it quickly ran on his limb between trees.
Jacob's expression turned serious when he saw this. 'It seemed it wasn't just a mindless idiot anymore. It can tell the titan bullet can threaten its life so he's running. But you're not getting away that easily.'
Jacob's lips curled before he chased the fleeing mutant while he changed the empty magazine with his spare one while storing the empty one away.
He aimed while running and pulled the trigger.
Another sonic boom rang, and the bullet landed on the mutant's shoulder, which made it cry in pain and rage.
It twisted around and threw a punch toward the direction where that bullet had come from. But Jacob kept a fifty-meter distance from it, and the mutant did not know how far he was, so the punch only blasted a tree.
Although it was intelligent to tell the danger and fled for its life, it wasn't that intelligent to know how a gun works.
Jacob sneered and again pulled the trigger while aiming right where the bleeding hole in its head was, now it was in his view.
'Boom…'
'Bullseye!' Jacob smirked when the bullet landed on its mark.
The mutant let loose a ghastly howl, this time as it clutched his head with its claws. The bullet had pierced through the skull and his brain, and if it was someone else, they would've been dead by now.
Jacob knew it was only a matter of time before that mutant will die. So, he didn't waste more bullets and kept watching as the mutant shrill screams become powerless.
After ten minutes of struggle, the mutant hands finally turned lump, and it started to fall on its head forward.
'Boom…'
Another bullet pierced the same head wound again, which also send the mutant flying back!
It was an insurance shot by Jacob just to make sure that thing died completely.
After the mutant fell to the ground with a massive thud, Jacob still waited for ten minutes before he finally came out of his cover.
He crept toward the huge body of the mutant, which lay lump between the destroyed trees.
He had to admit that this mutant was really like a cockroach.
Jacob kicked the mutant a few times and after he was completely sure that it was dead, he attached his sniper on his back again and took out his sword.
He walked toward its chest and cut open its slimy chest.
When he saw the two feet, large blue heart, he was astonished.
Nevertheless, he took out the heart box, and the heart barely fit in it. He then had to use another box to fill it with blood. As for its meat, he would not eat it after watching it absorb that blue smoke.
Without caring about what will happen next, he left toward the Lionheart City. It's time for him to leave the uncommon region!