Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

Chapter 321: Helpless

Galicia floated in space donning white armor, gauntlets of light, and a starry helmet over her face. Six wings spread from her back. This was exactly the same battleform Maximus Lonihor had used, except with two more wings and a sense of greater mastery.

Her power was so dense it was suffocating.

Jack set his jaw. He clenched his four fists. Instantly, Galicia disappeared. Next thing Jack knew, a gauntlet was buried in his abdomen, shooting all air out of him. He flew back like a missile, but the leonine was there again. She kicked at the back of his head, then elbowed his back as he bent forward.

Jack struggled to even realize what had happened. Her speed had been great before, but this was on a whole new level!

So was her power. Her first punch had shattered his ribcage and ruptured his stomach. The second had cracked his skull, and the third had broken his spine. All those were with Neutron Star Body operating at full force, making him extremely dense and durable. Any mountain would have been blasted to smithereens.

The Life Drop siphoned green energy into his body. His ribcage was repaired, his skull reformed, and his spine was knit back together. The injuries healed instantly, but it changed little.

What frightening regeneration, Galicia muttered, hovering proudly in space. If you had reached the C-Grade, even I would strugglebut, thankfully, you were too impatient to face me.

Heh, Jack muttered through his pain. Its not like I had a choice.

There is always a choice, Jack Rust. You just made the inferior one.

She disappeared again. Jack guarded on instinct, receiving her punch with his two right forearms. They snapped like matches. He was flung away like a ragdoll, once again getting manhandled by the planetary overseer. She showed little mercy as she rained blows on him. His bones broke. His limbs bent wrongly. His face was brutalized, and his organs were destroyed. Blocking the most lethal strikes to avoid dying instantly was the best he could do.

Yet, his regeneration persevered. It healed him, repaired him. The Life Drop supplied seemingly infinite energy, and his Neutron Star Body used it to repair itself. But that didnt spare him the pain. Every time she broke him, he felt it all. He sensed his innards getting ravaged and his bones shattered. Every crack was a new hell. It felt like a madman had taken a hammer and went to town on his body.

Jack screamed in pain.

Through it all, however, he remained conscious and wary. He isolated the pain in a corner of his mind and did his best not to pay attention. He tried to block and parry, to reduce the strength of Galicias blows. Her speed toed the line between being slightly too much and being absolutely impossible to dodge. He could see her movesnot in time to react, but in time to realize he would be struck an instant before she connected.

He was getting absolutely bullied.

Whats wrong? Galicia mocked him, kneeing him in the stomach and sending him flying. I thought you were strong enough to fight me. Are you still holding back, or are you just weak?

Jack was not holding back at all. He was going all-out, yet he remained completely unable to touch her.

Damn it! he roared inside his mind. Does she specialize in speed? How unlucky can I be!?

Jack himself focused on strength and endurance, which was the only reason he wasnt killed instantly by her attacks. Generally speaking, speedy opponents countered him.

This wasnt a battle he could win. Unfortunately, he had no choice. Nobody would save him. The Sage had made it clear that the Church would prevent anyone from interfering, but they wouldnt interfere either. He also couldnt escape, as everyone he knew was behind his back. Even if they werent, there was no way he could outrun her.

No; there was no retreat. He would either win this battle or die fighting.

What can I do? he thought, gritting his teeth as he watched Galicia close in. What straw can I grasp at? What has even a tiny chance of working?

She reached and smacked him. He tried to block, but her first attack was a feint; the second was a kick that landed on his chest, once again shattering his bones and catapulting him away. It was hard to gauge distance or speed in the vacuum, but he suspected he was going faster than a jet plane.

Stamina! he realized through gritted teeth. If I can last long enoughshe will run out of energy!

But that was easier said than done. Galicia didnt seem the slightest bit worried about it. Who knew how long she could last.

Suddenly, she teleported behind him and grabbed his neck. Jack felt as helpless as a baby chicken. Let me show you a trick, Jack Rust: long-range teleportation, she said, then space warped intensely around them. Next thing he knew, he remained in space, but a gray planet stretched below him. No, it wasnt a planetit was the moon!

What? he blurted out, only to be smacked in the face and sent flying again.

You have shown the world a false image of the Animal Kingdom, Galicia said, gesturing in the distance, where a projection stone hoveredshed taken it along in her teleportation. Since you want to project this battle so much, let me help you. But the vacuum of space is not the best battleground. We can make your defeat more impressive. If people think that the Animal Kingdom is not a powerful factionI shall demonstrate the strength of just one Elder, and show the world that before us, they are just a bunch of ants.

What are you Jack stopped speaking and blocked. He managed to withstand the strike this time without his arms snappingbut he was flung backward, downward, towards the moon. He crash-landed like a comet, creating a huge crater. He opened his mouth and spat out blood, watching it fall more slowly than usual.

He was on the moon. The moon. This would have been dreamy if he wasnt isolated on an entire fucking satellite with a god determined to kill him.

Galicia fell foot-first, and Jack barely managed to get up and fly away before she reached the ground. A second crater, even larger than the first, appeared where she struck. She bounded after him. Jack flew close to the ground, hoping for something, anything, but there was nothing besides craters, hills, and soft gray rocks. There wasnt even any air.

Galicia charged him. He managed to parry one strike, but she then grabbed his face and flew down. She pressed his head into the ground and charged ahead, dragging him across the surface of the moon. His head carved a long line on it. She used him to break through rocks and hills. Jacks vision was filled with gray stone.

When he finally managed to escape her grasp, the world was spinning, and the top of his head felt like it was on fire.

Galicia laughed. Do you surrender already, Jack Rust? Should I put you out of your misery?

There is no way I can do this, Jack thought. At least shes not trying to kill me yet, but she will never tire out. I must beat herbut how!?

As he did not respond, she charged again. She punched and kicked him with abandon. Any damage she inflicted was immediately repaired by his seemingly endless regeneration, but the pain was equally endless. It was the only instance that came close to the soul-splitting pain of when he ingested the Life Drop. It was so terrible he almost lost himself, but his will to fight was unbroken. He had mastered calmness in despair when Sapasun broke all his limbs on Hell. He would never give up; if there was a way out, no matter how tiny, he would find it. If a single opportunity appeared, he would not miss it.

But there was nothing. Galicia went all-out. She punched him through mountains, nailed him into the ground, shot him in the sky and then back down. The surface of the moon was ravaged. C-Grades had the power to destroy continents, and she was going all out. This empty satellite was her playground.

Jack crashed into the ground, shattering it for many miles around him. He immediately flew away and punched where he thought she would appear. He got her, but she had time to block, and she then slapped him into a tall mountain, demolishing it. He flew out through the debris on the other side, but she was already there, nailing him into the ground again.

He coughed out red blood, the only color in an empty terrain. In the sky, a blue and green planet dominated the stars. Everyone he knew was thereand it was so, so far away.

He was alone.

Back on Earth, everyone watched silently. Their hero, their only hope of escaping the Animal Kingdom, was getting beat up. He seemed completely helpless. The projection stone followed Galicia and transmitted everything, making everyones stomach churn. They saw Jacks body being used to crumble mountains and shatter valleys.

How is he even still alive? Nauja muttered.

Vivi covered her mouth with her hand. The professor watched the screen completely silently, but tears rolled down her cheeks. Edgar was in stunned disbelief, while Gan Salin was trying to crack up jokes to lighten the atmosphere. Only Brock watched with faithhis belief in Jack was unshakable.

You can do it, big bro he muttered under his breath.

Similar scenes played out all across Earth. The people sighed and shook their heads in disappointment. Others marveled at the strength of C-Grades. They really were like gods.

It was foolish to think we had a chance an old man muttered, shaking his head. I told you. When oppressors come, all we can do is bow our heads and hope they show mercy. That is the way of the world.

Even across the galaxy, people watched in stunned silence as the most famous D-Grade was getting beaten senseless. Even after revealing that four-armed battleform, the gap to the C-Grade was just too wide.

At the same time, every disciple of a B-Grade force looked at their Elders with different eyes. They had never seen them fight, but most were even stronger than Galicia. Seeing the destruction she could so casually create gave new meaning to the power of the C-Grade.

Jacks world was a mix of pain, spinning, and futility. He still fought his hardest. Every time Galicia charged him, he tried to block or punch back. His four fists blasted out meteors. He also shattered everything around him, but it was just too little. She was on a different level. Her speed was just outside the range of what he could handle.

But he refused to give up. All extraneous thoughts had fled his mind. Even his fear was only a faint reminder.

How do I win? was all he asked himself. Only two things came to mindthe snorting turtle in his soul, and the Supernova skill that he still hadnt mastered.

A tiny part of himself dove into his soul world.

Are we going to die? Copy Jack asked, but Jack ignored him. He reached for the door on his Dao Tree and tried to yank it open, but to no avail. This time, it acted exactly like bark.

Damn it! he roared. Let me in!

The door remained unresponsive. The turtle ignored him completelyif it could even hear him. He would not receive any help here.

Gnashing his teeth, Jack tried to forcefully enter a meditative state and use the despair he felt to push for the Supernova skill. Unfortunately, no matter how he tried, it was impossible. Just like every other time, the skill felt too foreign, like it wasnt meant for him. He had the insights but no way to use them.

Both attempts had failed him. He could come up with nothing else. He carried no treasures, his Dao was nowhere near breaking through, and his skills had no way forward that he saw. The Life Drop couldnt augment him any further eitherall it could do was regenerate him constantly.

In this fight, he only had his current selfand he had to find a way to make do.

Returning his complete attention to the real world, where he was receiving a sound beating, Jack focused fully on the planetary overseer. His eyes sharpened to the extreme. He watched every move, every tiny tell, every detail. He looked for some pattern or anything to capitalize on, but he came up short. After all, the overseer had sharpened her battle skills for millenniahow could she show easy patterns?

As if that wasnt enough, the seemingly limitless energy of the Life Drop was beginning to thin. It wasnt that the Drop itself was running out of power. That ocean remained as bottomless as ever, but the amount it was willing to give Jack was approaching its limit. His regeneration had already slowed down. It was imperceptible to others, even to the overseer, but Jack himself could sense it.

Soon, it would grow even slower, and then, it would not be able to keep up with the overseers damage. He would die.

He needed to do something.

The pain kept coming; it was a dark abyss he could never escape from, a deep trap where he was alone and dying.

But not all was dark. As time went by and the overseer refused to land a killing blow, making a point out of his execution, Jack grew more accustomed to her extreme speed. It was slow going, and it felt like his mind was pushed beyond what it could consistently handle, but he was getting flashes of insight now. He could read her a tiny bit, have an extra tiny moment to respond. It was like he entered overdrive.

At the same time, due to his full attention on the overseer, he detected small changes. Her eyes sharpened a tiny bit. Her strikes became a bit harder, aiming to kill more than to maim. It felt like she was getting more serious, but he perceived no change in her power.

Was he growing stronger in tandem? Or, maybeshe was growing weaker?

Jacks eyes widened. Shes getting tired! he realized. After all this timeits finally getting to her!

And of course it was. She had been ragdolling Jack for a few minutes now, releasing terrible power with every strike. That had to take its toll. She just pretended it hadntand, probably, she never expected Jack to last this long.

His bloodied mouth revealed a grin. She saw itand hatred entered her eyes. Die already, she said simply, amplifying her power. She poured more strength into her strikes, aiming to completely destroy Jacks body, but everything had a price. As her attacks grew stronger, they also grew slowerand Jack had already gotten slightly accustomed to her previous speed.

She pushed out a gauntlet surrounded by radiant divine light. Space itself cracked where it passed. It aimed for Jacks faceyet, at the last moment, he raised his palm and caught it. The world shook. The hill behind him shattered into a thousand pieces. Dao erupted in a wide radius, white and purple intertwined.

But Jack had caught her fist.

He grinned widely, a crazed look in his eyes and blood on his teeth. Got you, he said, then punched back.

It met her helmet.

Galicia was blown back. For the first time since the battle started, she lost an exchange.

***

Vivi clasped her hands before her chest. He did it! she exclaimed. He punched her!

Beside her, Brock snorted. Of course, he said. Big Bro is Big Bro. He win.

***

Everyone watching the battle transmission blinked in surprise. All those people who had been acting arrogant because of her dominance paled.

It cant be an Elder of the Dragon Valley muttered.

She grew tired, another replied, snorting. Of course she did. What an idiot. If she went all-out from the very start, there is no way that boy would have lasted. But now Now, she has to actually try.

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