Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

Jack and the rock bear kept dancing through the forest, tearing it apart. Trees, bushes, and rocks flew. So did a fox.

After ten minutes, Jack’s arms were heavy. The ecstasy violence brought was dying down. His mind was getting slower. His dodges were sloppy, his strikes missed. More than once, he only dodged by a hair’s breadth. He felt dizzy, exhausted, and the world was swimming in his eyes.

The bear was equally troubled. It had slowed down considerably. Its strikes came forced, with clear intervals between them. It was also panting, and one time, it even lost its footing and fell to the ground before rising back up. Its rage hadn’t abated, but there was a limit to how much its body could endure, especially after being pummeled by a man with 44 Strength for ten minutes straight.

Jack, too, had his limits.

The human body placed many limiters on itself. The muscles could only operate at 30% efficiency, and the brain kept its processes low. Under extraordinary circumstances, these limiters were removed; that was how women lifted cars to save their babies, or how grown men could fight wolves.

If pushed to its limit, the human body was strong, even before the System’s arrival. Humans were one of the strongest animals in their weight category, even stronger than most monkey species, and they could only decisively lose to gorillas or big wolves.

When push came to shove, they could release incredible strength and feel no exhaustion. Humans could punch fast, hard, and inexhaustibly.

However, these limiters existed for a reason. To unleash such power, the human body destroyed itself, and it could only last for a small amount of time. Ten minutes was already beyond it.

Jack could feel his entire body burn, and not in the good way. His muscles were in pain, ready to snap. His mind felt muddled, overheated, and overworked. He could sense his conscious control over himself slipping away, diving into slumber, and he only acted on instinct now.

Punch, dodge, weave, punch. Duck, slide, punch. Punch. Duck.

The bear was in pain with every step it took. Jack had felt many of its bones breaking under his fists, and many of its organs faltering, but it still stood. It refused to fall. It was slow but relentless.

Jack, too, kept going, but he was running dry. He had thrown everything he had at the bear, and his soul was bleeding as he forced himself to draw even more energy.

Retreat was impossible. One of them would kill the other.

The next five minutes passed in a blur. Jack wasn’t sure what was happening. The bear was still standing, that much he knew. It still swiped at him occasionally, still threw its body over. He dodged by the skin of his teeth, mustered all his energy to throw himself aside. He could only keep going because the bear had slowed down tremendously.

He even fell down thrice, tripping in his attempt to dodge. Every time, the sweet release of sleep almost took him; and every time, he forced his eyes open, forced his body to stand through the pain and keep going. Jack refused to die. He refused to lose.

He was even injured at several parts of his body. Scratches ran over his bare chest and back, and three long gashes covered the right side of his ribs. He didn’t remember if he’d been hit. His gums were bleeding from all the gritting, and he had lost all feeling in his hands. He didn’t even know how they remained clenched; they were probably stuck.

There was no pain in Jack’s mind, only limitless exhaustion, but it was worse than any pain he’d felt throughout his life. Only the goblin shaman’s fire came close to this, but that had only lasted for a moment, while Jack’s present torment stretched to infinity.

They weren’t even moving anymore. Both enemies were stationary, striking each other whenever they found the strength.

The bear growled low. It bled internally, from many places, and its bones were cracked. It could no longer stand; only its arms still moved, and it threw them out like stones to hit the human before it, its greatest enemy. It tried its best.

In a flash of lucidity, Jack’s eyes met the bear’s. He saw anger, hatred, exhaustion. The bear wanted to lay down and sleep, and so did he, but none of them did. In the bear’s eyes, Jack found understanding and recognition, and so did the bear in his. They acknowledged each other’s pain and resolve.

They silently agreed to give it their all until either died. They didn’t know who would win.

Jack’s mind became a haze. His movements were so slight they weren’t proper dodges, but the bear missed by itself. It could no longer aim, and after another punch in its face, it couldn’t see either.

Move. Duck. Punch. Dodge. Punch. Punch.

Jack couldn’t see either. His vision was hazy. When he dodged, he was following the patterns engraved in his body, not reacting to any of the bear’s attacks.

Punch. Punch. Punch. Move. Duck. Mo—

Jack slipped, fell, and stayed there. He no longer had the strength to stand. He didn’t have the will, either; every part of his being had bled dry already.

He could only wait there, laying face-down on the ground, for death to come. As his consciousness dissipated, Jack didn’t blame himself, nor did he regret anything. He’d tried his best. It simply wasn’t enough.

***

Jack woke up by an oink beside his ear.

“Ohh…” He groaned. The little boar next to him, scared, ran away.

With strained, pained movements, Jack forced himself to roll over. He opened his eyes and found the rock bear’s muzzle over him, staring, debating which part of him to eat first.

“Cra—” He tried to roll away, but his body wasn’t obeying. He belatedly realized he was in massive pain and released another groan, this one louder. He balled up on the ground and hoped for this to end fast. A whisper from the back of his head said that bears started with the legs or entrails—a gruesome death, in any case. Jack hoped magic bears were more efficient.

However, though he waited, no jaws closed around his body. He looked back again.

The bear was there, but it wasn’t moving. It was dead, sprawled on the ground and bleeding from many places. The stones on its fur had been broken, and its menacing yellow eyes were still open.

Did I…kill it?

Jack heaved a massive sigh of relief, then grimaced as his chest rose in pain. When he’d fallen, the bear had already been dead. Maybe it had died a long time ago. Who knows how long he’d spent fighting alone?

A blue exclamation mark blinked in the corner of his vision, and Jack willed it open.

Level Up! You have reached Level 18.

Level Up! You have reached Level 19.

Level Up! You have reached Level 20.

Level Up! You have reached Level 21.

Level Up! You have reached Level 22.

Earth Bear Boss defeated! Would you like to despawn the group? Y/N

There was one more screen, but Jack willed it away for now. He sighed again. This was a lot to take in, but he could go slowly.

First, he split all extra points—there were a lot of them—equally among his physical stats, as he’d been doing so far. For the first time in a while, the increase was noticeable. He felt his muscles repair themselves and grow tougher like iron strings. He felt his limbs get lighter, bending easily to his will. He felt his entire body harden, his skin tightening—a quite chilling sensation.

Finally, he felt the skin regrow on his rubbed-off knuckles, and this time, they felt as if made of metal. Despite the pain, he grinned. This was nice.

Without thinking, he turned and punched a nearby tree. The bark exploded at the point of impact, and the softer tissue behind it erupted out by the power of Drill.

Jack’s grin widened even further before he winced. His injuries had been aggravated just now. That was stupid—but he was also too excited to not try out his power. It was amazing how he kept growing beyond what his mind indicated was the limit.

Now, he was strong.

The extra points hadn’t healed him magically, but they’d helped recover his energy a bit. With energy came thought, and with thought, Jack realized he needed to get the hell out of here. Bears were attracted to the smell of blood; and, given his luck, so were Dungeon Bosses who liked to snack on Jacks.

Actually, that was rather unfair on his part. Jack had many things to complain about, but luck wasn’t one of them.

He forced his body to stand before inspecting the status screen.

Earth Bear Boss defeated! Would you like to despawn the group? Y/N

He almost replied yes on reflex. Then, he almost replied no on reflex, before finally willing the screen away again.

He didn’t want to despawn the bears, as the wolf boss needed something to feed on while he got stronger. However, saying no right now wasn’t good, either; what if he met a bear on the way back? He couldn’t possibly fight in his current condition. He needed to get to the ice pond as soon as possible.

Since the System gave him no time limit, he simply ignored the screen. If a bear came after him, he’d have to despawn them.

However, why weren’t any bears here already?

The sun was already falling towards the horizon, meaning that Jack had slept for an hour at most. Maybe the bears hadn’t dared approach the leader’s den yet, but they would. He needed to get out of here.

There was one last blue screen to check. It was the greatest reward he got from the fight, probably, but Jack decided it could wait. He had already delayed long enough.

Amidst groans and panting, Jack dragged himself away. His left hand held his right ribs, where the bear had grazed him with its claws. Every step was painful; there was probably something cracked in there, if not broken.

The trip back was painful. Not agony, as the fight itself had been, but painful nonetheless. He had to stop several times to rest, always fearing that a wolf, bear, or even monkey would assault him out of nowhere. His battle with the rock bear hadn’t been discreet; who knew what was heading his way.

Eventually, however, he made it to his cave without incident. He forced himself through the narrow passage, gritting his teeth to avoid screaming, then quickly dove into the ice pond.

The pond offered healing, but everything had its price; in this case, the price was excruciating pain. Jack’s ribs went so cold he thought his soul would freeze over. It felt like needles were sewing his bones together, as if his skin was burnt away and new one grew in its place.

Ten minutes later, Jack crawled out of the pond and lay on the hard rock, more grateful than ever for its even temperature. He almost drifted asleep before remembering he had one last thing to do—for good measure.

He opened the last status screen, the one he’d put away for later. His greatest reward from the battle.

Congratulations! Level 20 reached. New Class Skill acquired.