Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

The Iron Maiden groaned. Metal bent. Jack and Brock took a step to steady themselves while Elder Boatman gazed outside the window. Finally, he relaxed. “What are you sitting around for?” he asked Jack. “Go out there and kill that thing.”

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me. You should hurry, too, or it will damage our ship.”

More sounds of creaking metal. Something gave way. A piece of the hull was torn apart. Jack cursed out loud, then teleported outside the starship, staring at it from a distance. He also stared at the space monster.

It was a monstrosity. A large, bright pink mass of flesh with eight thrashing limbs, one of which was wrapped around their starship. The monster was significantly larger than the ship, over three hundred feet from end to end, and it used its tentacle to bring the ship closer to its single eye, inspecting it carefully. Jack saw the Elder waving.

“Fuck me,” he muttered. This was an octopus. He had traveled to a different galaxy to fight an octopus.

Despite its small body compared to other space monsters, the octopus contained a vast amount of energy. It felt more like a natural disaster than a creature. Every inch of its body was saturated, hinting at extreme physical power. The fact that the starship hadn’t instantly imploded in its grasp meant there were Dao protections at play.

Unlike lower-rank space monsters, which relied solely on their physical superiority to crush their opponents, this octopus comprehended the Dao as well. It had reached into a deep layer of space to pull them out of their teleportation, something Jack hadn’t even known was possible. Spacetime fluctuated around it like the surface of the sea in a storm, creating an area of danger several thousand miles wide. If a C-Grade cultivator was placed in this range, they would be immediately torn apart. Thankfully, Jack also cultivated the Dao of Space, so he could resist with little effort.

At least, this space monster wasn’t of the intelligent variety. Jack wasn’t sure how that worked, but he knew that starting from the D-Grade, more and more space monsters were intelligent. He guessed some species were more bestial than others.

This was outside System space, so he couldn’t just inspect the creature. He could, however, use his experience to estimate its strength from the Dao fluctuations it emitted. The result made his heart clench. This octopus creature possessed strength squarely at the early A-Grade.

“What the fuck?” he muttered. Elder Boatman had mentioned this galaxy being overrun with powerful space monsters, but randomly bumping into an A-Grade was just too much. Too coincidental. There couldn’t be more than a couple of them across the entire galaxy. Had the Elder driven them here on purpose so Jack could fight the giant octopus?

The monster opened its beaked mouth—what the fuck?—and screamed at the starship. Spacetime rumbled. Jack reinforced the spacetime around him in a bubble so he wouldn’t be affected. The starship shook but held—it was absolutely fine. Elder Boatman was on the case.

Two flashes arrived beside Jack. One was Brock, calmly floating in space surrounded by a golden sphere. He didn’t comprehend spacetime, but he could use raw power to protect himself. Starhair did comprehend spacetime. His hair formed into six thick strands, each glowing like a river of stars. They swirled above his head like an entire galaxy, and they released a discreet aura which kept the octopus’s area attacks at bay.

“This is an A-Grade space monster specializing in spacetime,” Starhair said quickly, offering no new information. “I know you’re stupid, but follow my instructions. We need to work together.”

Jack and Brock exchanged a glance. Brock brought his hands together, pulling the Goldenwood Staff out of his space ring and twirling it once. A golden aura spread over Jack, enhancing him.

Jack released his Dao. Power surged from his inner world, filling him to the brim. Every cell in his body activated. Purple aura erupted from his body, almost corporeal, dying the world. It was quickly joined by lightning sparks as he activated Thunder Body. He flashed forward, his aura trailing behind him, and every movement released new strands of purple.

“I didn’t order you to attack!” Starhair exclaimed.

The octopus had noticed them from the start, but it ignored them. In its eyes, they weren’t worth bothering. Only Elder Boatman’s early A-Grade clone, still inside the starship, was its real opponent. Even when Jack charged at the octopus, it just swiped a tentacle at him without even looking.

But Jack wasn’t your average early B-Grade.

He grinned. The octopus used the Dao of Spacetime, but so did he. He charged up a massive punch. The fabric of reality was wrestled from the octopus’s control. Every aspect of the universe and every Dao particle was sucked into Jack’s punch, compressed to the extreme. The world around him turned to void.

The tentacle swiped, but Jack forcefully bent spacetime and teleported out of the way. He appeared over the octopus’s head, fist already coming down. He grinned. “Supernova!”

It felt like a mortal punching a wooden wall. Jack’s hand barely held. A massive explosion followed, showering the world in white and purple light. The void disintegrated for ten thousand miles. The octopus screamed, sent flying downward as it let go of the starship, which spun away. A powerful shockwave still spread, disturbing the surrounding space. The light persisted for a few moments, and the heat was enough to disintegrate metal.

When the explosion receded, Jack gazed at his bloodied hand which had already regenerated. He chuckled. “Tough motherfucker.”

The octopus screeched. It had been thrown a long distance away, but it just teleported back. It no longer ignored him. A crater was formed on its head, with milky, almost transparent blood flowing out. The octopus glared at Jack, and space coagulated around him. The pressure intensified. He could no longer move.

It swept two tentacles at him from different directions. They moved at almost the speed of light. Jack turned towards one of them, clenched his fist, and shot it out. The second tentacle came for his back. Brock appeared at the last moment, holding out a palm. A thousand golden brorillas overlapped with him, copying the motion. The tentacle slapped against his palm, which shone golden. Brock was forced a few feet backward, and his arm creaked ominously, but he held.

Jack punched his own tentacle away.

“Now, Ass-Kisser Bro!” Brock shouted.

“What did you call me!?” A scream came from above, where Starhair appeared and fell onto the octopus. His six strands of starry hair spun like a saw, each elongating to resemble a blade. They hacked into the octopus’s head where Jack had hit it. The monster screamed in pain.

“That’s not my fucking name!” Starhair shouted as he retreated next to Jack and Brock. “I’m the leader here! You follow my commands! Listen well: Jack and I will—”

“Too late, ass-kisser,” Jack interrupted him. “Here it comes.”

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The monster was utterly enraged now. A pulse emanated from its body, locking down spacetime. Even Jack couldn’t teleport. At the same time, all eight of its tentacles elongated, growing from a hundred feet to several miles long. Only its head remained at its former size, making it resemble a weird-ass kind of jellyfish. It opened its beak mouth to screech—and then all eight tentacles shot forward at once, moving at the speed of light, eviscerating the distance.

“Brock!” Jack shouted.

The brorilla shone golden. He brought his hands together, facing the storm of tentacles. “Good bros are everywhere!” he shouted. A hundred illusory, golden brorillas shot out of his body, spreading in all directions. Their bodies warped. From golden brorillas, they transformed into Brock, Jack, and Starhair, hiding the real ones in a sea of illusions. Even their Dao signatures were almost identical to the originals.

The octopus didn’t care. Its tentacles slapped forward, tearing through the illusions. A dozen cultivators disappeared every instant. Brock’s defenses would last less than a second—but that was enough.

The real Jack swam between the tentacles, flying at extreme speed. He didn’t just have to avoid their tips; the entire length of the tentacles danced wildly, striking from every direction without warning, tearing apart the void. The closer Jack approached to the main body, the tighter they were packed. He shot under a tentacle, dodged the random swipe of another, then pressed against it with his feet and launched off. The locked spacetime shivered as he passed. A river of starry purple was left behind him. Sparks rose from his body, further increasing his power as he sailed closer to the main body of the octopus.

The illusions were mostly gone by now, and Jack was too eye-catching. He was also too close. The octopus screeched and coiled one of its tentacles, attempting to swipe him out of the air. Jack ignored it. “Starhair!” he shouted.

The other man was attempting a similar plan, but he was being much more discreet about it. He still hadn’t been noticed. Unfortunately for him, he also happened to be right between Jack and the swinging tentacle. His eyes widened. “Goddamnit!” he screamed. “I’m not your shield, Jack Rust!”

He could have tried to dodge. To his credit, he went with Jack’s plan and used all six of his hair strands to block the tentacle. There was a wet, slapping sound. Jack rushed through. Starhair remained tangled with that one tentacle, his hair wrapped around it and seething in rage. Brock also rushed through, following Jack and shouting, “Good job, Ass-Kisser Bro!”

“That’s not my fucking name!”

The octopus hadn’t expected its attack to be blocked by someone else. It had no more time to react. Jack was upon it, almost face-to-face with its main body. The single eye of the octopus widened as it saw his fist approach. It abruptly rotated its body, and Jack was now facing not its soft eye, but the beak it had for a mouth, surrounded by the roots of all eight tentacles.

He rushed into it regardless. He pulled back a fist. The beak opened to bite down on him, revealing a gaping darkness.

Jack reached the mouth. At the last moment, he abandoned his punch. A new pulse of power erupted from his body. He straightened himself. As the beak clamped down, ready to tear him apart, he stepped on its bottom half and grabbed the top one with his hands. For a single, terrible moment, he thought he’d miscalculated. The beak pushed itself closed with terrible force, and Jack’s body was bending under the pressure. His arms and legs were shaking. He pulled more and more power out of his inner world, flooding his body, using everything he had to keep the beak open.

Space monsters specialized in physicality, but so did Jack, and he had an effective twenty thousand Strength. It was about damn time he put it to use!

A moment later, the closing beak slowed. Its momentum faltered, and the pressure reduced. Jack was left in the monster’s beak, holding it open with all his strength. He felt like Atlas holding up the sky. His entire body was on the verge of breaking, but he possessed enough strength, just as he suspected.

He was stuck. Any moment now, the monster would wrap a tentacle around him and squish him to death. However, he’d temporarily kept the beak open. That was enough.

“Staff Bro, I choose you!” a shout came from behind him. A golden arrow flew by his head—the Goldenwood Staff, overcharged with the Dao of Brohood. It flew right into the octopus’s open mouth. Golden light illuminated the darkness, revealing a vast emptiness. As it turned out, the octopus’s head was hollow. But not for long.

The golden aura around the staff erupted. A hundred brorillas appeared, wielding various weapons, and they started attacking the octopus from within. Transparent blood flew everywhere.

This space monster possessed extreme durability, but so what? Its insides were naturally softer than its outsides, not to mention that the brorillas could attack it freely. Even if the damage they inflicted with each strike was minimal, it quickly added up. The octopus screamed and thrashed, growing more panicked by the second. It even released Jack, who managed to slip out of its mouth, his limbs still trembling by the effort.

He and Brock remained nearby. Whilst being torn apart from the inside, it couldn’t focus on them. Its attacks were wild and predictable. Both of them could easily dodge, pelting the space monster with their own attacks to expedite its fall. Starhair also assisted—his strands of starry hair possessed great offensive power.

The octopus weakened with every passing moment. Soon, it completely lost all power to resist, and then it was over.

A massive body lay across this ravaged part of space. Spacetime was returning to order as a sea of milky, transparent blood slowly spread out. “Good fight,” Brock said, grinning. “Nice teamwork, Ass-Kisser Bro.”

“How many times do I need to tell you? Stop calling me that!”

“Man, fighting in the B-Grade is so fun,” Jack said, clenching and unclenching his fist. He had so much power at his disposal. He could sense himself growing stronger. There was an addictive element to this progression—an almost euphoric sense of improvement.

“That was stupid, by the way,” Starhair said. “Going into its beak like that? It’s a space monster. They’re supposed to be strong. You’re lucky to be alive.”

Jack winked at him. “I knew what I was doing. The monster was very fast and extremely durable, but when it struck me at the start, I could tell that its strength was lacking. As for me, I specialize in Physical. I was pretty sure I could overpower its beak. Even if I couldn’t, I’m also durable—I wouldn’t die.”

Starhair snorted, looking away. A flash came between them all. Elder Boatman appeared, calm and collected. “Good work, everyone,” he said. “I’m glad I didn’t have to help.”

“Did you bring us to this monster on purpose?” Jack asked.

“Of course. It is known to inhabit this territory of space, so we took a little detour. It was a good opportunity for you to practice fighting together.”

“Why would we need that?” Jack asked, eyeing Starhair.

“Because we’re all part of the same faction. We’re an army at war. All battles are group battles, and the faster you get used to that, the better.” He swiped a pale hand. The body of the octopus and its sea of blood disappeared, leaving only Brock’s staff hovering in the middle. There was also a little pink ball. Like a miniature version of the octopus, except fist-sized, perfectly smooth, and without tentacles. Elder Boatman opened his hand, and the ball flew to him.

“What’s that?” Jack asked.

Boatman gave him a look. “Have you never killed a space monster outside System space?”

“It’s not as common as you make it sound.”

The Elder smirked. “This is the monster’s core,” he said, raising the ball so Jack and Brock could take a better look. “The condensed energy source of a space monster. Very useful for cultivation. If you kill a space monster in System space, the System automatically disperses this core and grants you its energy as levels. That process, and space monster cores, are what the entire leveling aspect of the System is based on Here, you have to do it manually, but it’s the same thing.”

“Oh,” Jack exclaimed.

“Since Brock delivered most of the damage, this core belongs to him,” Boatman said, tossing it over to the brorilla. “It should have enough energy to give you a dozen levels. Use it wisely.”

“Thanks, Master Grandpa Dead. I will share with my bros.”

Boatman nodded. “However,” he said, “I am not pleased with how you two acted. As the one with the highest cultivation, Starhair is automatically in charge. You should have followed his orders.”

“He would have given dumbass orders,” Jack said. “He’s not familiar with us and our fighting styles, plus he’s less intelligent than the octopus.”

“You may have your differences, but Starhair is an elite peak B-Grade with thousands of years of experience. You, on the other hand, have been cultivators for less than a decade. It would do you good to practice some humility.”

Jack and Brock deflated. They made fun of Starhair, but they had to admit Boatman had a point. “Yes, Master,” Jack said. Next time, he would wait for the stupid orders to actually arrive before disobeying them, so nobody could complain.

Starhair puffed up. “Serves you right, younglings.” He ignored their glares.

“Now, let’s get going,” Boatman said. “We’re only halfway there, and we don’t want to leave the Arch Priestess waiting.”

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