Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

The rock bear’s steps were slow and heavy as it trudged through the forest, heading for the depths of its territory. Jack now knew the entire bear area belonged to it; the earth bears were only renting small parts.

As they dove deeper into the forest, bear first and Jack second, the scenery didn’t change much. The trees remained normal, pre-System varieties, the chirping of birds filled the air, and uneaten corpses still littered the ground, proof of these bears’ monstrosity.

Their path crossed another bear, a stunning Level 20 variety, but it reverently made way for the rock bear, which didn’t even look at it. An hour later, the rock bear reached a small lake in the middle of a clearing, from where a stream left to head for the northwestern end of the reserve.

This lake hadn’t been here before the System; Jack was certain.

A rock outcropping stretched over the lake, and the bear stopped there. Its enormous body—it must have weighed at least a ton—splayed fully on the rock, which held without a problem. It rested, but Jack could still see the clouds in its mind. It was clearly distraught; the black wolf was killing its kin, and there was nothing the rock bear could do about it besides assisted suicide.

Of course, the fact that they’d walked an hour to get here sent chills down Jack’s spine. The rock bear had arrived at the site of battle less than a minute after it was over. It had clearly been in the area already, looking for whomever was killing its kind like flies. It had been on his trail.

If the wolf hadn’t shown up, and Jack had been the one to attack the Level 18 bear, it was very probable that the rock bear would have caught up before the battle was over. Jack would be pincer-attacked, and there was no way he was getting out of that alive.

The black wolf had accidentally saved him. Jack, unfortunately, would have to do the exact opposite.

For now, he stayed hidden in a distant bush, observing the rock bear’s lair. The small lake—more a pond than a lake—was placed in a clearing where the only notable feature was the rock outcropping that stretched over one quarter of the pond’s area like a pier.

This area was beautiful; Jack could see why the bear had taken it as its lair.

Fortunately, it was also pretty handy for an ambush. The bear was currently resting on its rock outcropping, so, when it left, it would probably head for the nearby edge of the clearing, where the first trees stood. One of those trees had thick enough foliage for Jack to hide in. There, he would have a good shot at success.

Without leaving himself more time to consider his actions, he made a big circle around the clearing to arrive at its back side. He then moved slowly to his chosen tree, less than fifty feet away from the bear. It wasn’t a short distance, but Jack knew better than to underestimate an animal’s senses—especially a magical one’s.

His high stats made it easy to climb the tree quietly, and before long, Jack lay on a branch ten feet off the ground, completely still and with his ears stretched. A bug climbed on his back, and he let it. Another paraded before his nose, and he gently blew it away.

He felt the ridiculousness of it all. He, Jack Rust, was trying to ambush a van-sized magical bear and kill it with his bare hands. He’d been in a laboratory only a week ago, doing boring things for boring people, and he was excited to catch a rare caterpillar six days ago, when the System descended.

No, not descended—integrated. That was the proper terminology, according to the blue screens.

What was the world like right now? How did people react, when they weren’t trapped by themselves in a deadly dungeon? What happened to society and politics? Was there resistance? People had guns and nuclear weapons, there was bound to be resistance, but then again, the System seemed quite omnipotent so far. Nuclear weapons might only be a tickle to an alien starcraft.

He remembered the announcement from the B-Grade Animal Kingdom, whatever it was. B-Grade sounded strong.

He also remembered the announcement warning them about an Integration Tournament in fifteen days, which sounded extremely important. Jack didn’t know what it was, but if it included punching stuff, could he maybe join? This dungeon was bound to put him way ahead of the curve if he could survive.

Of course, killing the wolf came first, and he doubted his chances of success. Maybe they were similar to an earthen government resisting the Animal Kingdom. What would happen to the world?

Jack let his mind travel to forget his tension. He saw scenarios of revolutions, of white collar tyranny and uprisings of battle-hardy nations. He pictured some people like the orcs in movies, ready to go to war and give everything for strength and honor. He saw dozens getting Classes as he had, probably in a streamlined way of human ingenuity, and new, strength-based hierarchies springing up from the ground.

What Level would it take to catch a bullet? How strong were wizards?

All these beautiful thoughts dispersed like smoke when a tired growl echoed from the clearing. Jack dared peek through the leaves and saw the rock bear standing. It made its way from the pond with slow steps befitting its stature, approaching Jack’s hiding spot.

He realized his ambush would work, and he panicked. He’d hoped the bear would choose another way.

What am I doing? Maybe I should just stay hidden. The strongest creature I’ve killed so far was Level 17, and this bear is 30. Who knows what hidden weapons it has? What hidden abilities and magic? I don’t even have my stone hammer. This is suicide.

The bear inched closer, mockingly slow.

No, this is the right way. The chances are with me, and I must risk to survive. I can and will kill this bear.

The bear approached more. Its form kept growing in his eyes.

I will stay hidden. There’s no way I can take it.

It disappeared, too close to his branch to see through the leaves.

I will fight.

A muzzle entered his field of vision, parading below him as if daring him to attack. It was a large muzzle on a long body. It felt like watching a train go by.

I will stay.

The bear entered his sight fully. It hadn’t noticed him. Its head came right below his branch, completely exposed from above. He could even see the individual hairs on its fur. It was the perfect opportunity. Jack steeled his heart. He knew he had to.

I will fight.

He let himself fall, using everything he had to strike the bear’s head with enough strength to pulverize it. The bear, like all of its kind, looked up just in time to meet his punch with its nose.

The moment Jack crossed eyes with the rock bear, from only a couple feet away, he suspected he’d fucked up.

His punch met the bear’s nose so hard, so violently, that a bell-like sound echoed alongside the crack of bones. Jack’s body almost stopped in mid-air from the recoil.

He saw the bear’s eyes flickering, almost passing out, and he felt the inside of its head rock hard. Blood dripped from its ears, and its nose was almost entirely broken. Its brain threatened to turn into mush, or it partially did. The bear wobbled and almost fell—but almost was the key word here.

It was the perfect ambush, but it wasn’t enough. And so began Jack’s punching marathon against the rock bear. On one side stood a tall, bare-chested man with finely chiseled muscles; on the other, the king of bears.

The rock bear was a tremendous creature. Seeing it from up-close, with nothing between you and a gruesome death, was quite the experience. When Jack rolled on the ground and stood across it, he gulped. He’d gotten used to earth bears, but this was no earth bear; it was far bigger, stronger, and nastier.

From up-close, he could see that its face was the size of his torso. Stone plates slid on its brown fur as bulging muscles swam underneath, and its sharp jaws released a stench so visceral that he struggled not to gag.

This was a majestic, fearsome beast—and one that was currently injured. Blood dripped from its orifices, and its furious gaze hid clear pain. Its movements were slow, not much faster than an earth bear’s.

I can take it, Jack thought and raised his punches. The very next moment, he felt like an idiot. He was tiny.

The bear roared and attacked him. Clawed paws whooshed through the air, each strong enough to uproot a tree. Jaws snapped shut before him, and they would easily crush his entire skeleton into mush. The bear’s humongous body fell after Jack, and getting caught by that thing, even in the slightest, could spell his doom.

Fight or flight? asked his mind.

Fight, Jack responded, and his entire being complied.

All thoughts left his mind. There was no hesitation, no fear. His body was fire and his mind ice. The world slowed down as his mind raced at incredible speeds, calculating and telegraphing everything. Facing the primordial fear of a bear, his mind was faster than any other time, so fast that he could glimpse at the million little calculations and adjustments that always happened in the background.

He could feel how his muscles contracted to step back, sense the trajectories his fingers followed to form a fist. When his eyes took in the bear’s incoming paw, Jack saw the options his mind instinctively discarded before dodging to the right.

It was a unique feeling, and one that could not be understood until one has felt it.

The bear’s attacks came like an avalanche, and its body plowed through the ground like a truck, but Jack weaved between them. At this moment, he wasn’t a human, but a fly, and he dodged all attacks heading his way. No matter how fast the bear struck, or how many times, it couldn’t catch him.

A fist met the bear’s hind leg, buckling it a bit. Jack’s power could penetrate its defenses but not quite harm it. The damage was minimal. Jack wasn’t a fly, but a wasp, darting around the bear and pelting it with annoying stings.

But so what if his strikes were weak? They were getting through. The damage was there, just not immediately visible. And, since the bear couldn’t catch him, he refused to believe that he’d fall from exhaustion before it.

Roars came after roars, strikes after strikes. As Jack and the bear danced around each other, their battle moved through the clearing’s edges, tearing trees and bushes apart. Jack had to dodge these obstacles too, making things a bit harder, but the bear also took some time to uproot or break them.

Jack dodged, bobbed, and weaved. He was a leaf in a storm, a wasp stubbornly facing an enemy much larger than itself. Yet, he persisted.

One minute turned into many, and the moments dragged on. Jack’s body was growing slightly heavier, his mind imperceptibly slower, but his strikes were slowly accumulating. After the first five minutes, he’d struck the bear at least a hundred times, if not more.

His knuckles were already flayed from striking stone and hard fur. There was no skin there anymore, only bone that held strong. The pain was great, but his adrenaline-filled brain shut it out.

Sensing the damage, and with its fury continuously mounting, the bear redoubled its efforts. It roared and hit harder, abandoning all defense to catch this vicious little creature. Jack accelerated, too; his body turned into a blur, his punches faster than a blink.

Jack and the rock bear were a maelstrom of violence ripping the forest apart. Where they passed, only destruction followed. Animals were running away in all directions, and all birds had long left the area. In the back of his mind, Jack worried that more bears might arrive, but there was nothing he could do about that.

He ducked under a flying bush and took a branch to the chest, ignoring it. It could only scratch his skin. Another bush flew into the bear’s face, blinding it. It raised a claw to rip it away, and as it did, Jack found the opportunity to nail a hard straight into its belly, shaking its insides. He felt something give way.

The bear growled deeply and pounced again. Jack dodged around it, moving to the back and punching again. A leg flew back to meet him, but he was no longer there. The bear jumped to the side, and he barely dodged before darting back.

Jack was undoubtedly much weaker than the bear. He shouldn’t be able to take it in a straight fight, regardless of the ice pond bonuses or his Class.

However, he countered it perfectly. His speed was enough to dodge everything as long as he made no mistakes. His skills perfectly countered the bear’s hard defenses. Its enormous strength was useless if it couldn’t catch him.

Plus, the ambush he’d landed at the start had clearly been effective; even now, the bear still bled from its muzzle, its eyes were bleary, and it occasionally stumbled for no reason. It had internal injuries, not just dizziness. Jack was glad for that.

The only question was, could he last long enough without making a single mistake?