Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse

Chapter 440: Emerging

The strongest Ancestor of the Animal Kingdom was Mure Emberheart—a middle B-Grade leonine. This millennium was his shift of watching over the Animal Abyss.

Generally speaking, such a shift was a highly boring duty. He couldn’t leave without reason, so all he did every day was cultivate in isolation. Every hundred years, he would venture into the Abyss to see if he could find anything, and that was the sole break in his routine.

When the chase for Jack Rust ended up on his doorstep a year ago, that had been a pleasant change of pace for Mure, but even that excitement only lasted briefly. Before he knew it, he was alone again, cultivating in darkness.

Mure sighed. If not for the Animal Kingdom founders specifically ordering for B-Grades to guard this place, he would have delegated the duty long ago.

On this day, Mure was cultivating as usual when something changed. An almost imperceptible ripple ran through space. His eyes shot open. What was that? His Dao spread outward, covering a massive range and finding nothing out of the ordinary.

Did it come from inside the Abyss?

The Animal Abyss could not be scanned with one’s perception. A Dao ripple there could only indicate the emergence of a supreme treasure—Mure’s eyes were instantly filled with lust. He was the only one here. If some great treasure on the level of Thunder Body or Heaven Return appeared, he could just take it. No one would know. Instead of sharing with the other Ancestors, he could cultivate it in secret for a few years and then emerge strong enough to dominate everyone. He could become the King of the Animal Kingdom!

Most factions had a faction master. In the Animal Kingdom, the holder of that position was called King instead, but the throne had been empty for a hundred thousand years. The Lonihor and Emberheart families ran the Kingdom together, so a King appearing from either family would ruin the balance and cause the Kingdom to fracture. That would be unwise. Therefore, the two families had sworn a mutual agreement to keep the position of King empty unless someone appeared who was strong enough to lead the Kingdom into a new era.

Mure Emberheart was already close to the strongest cultivator of the Kingdom. With a supreme treasure in his hands…he would rise!!

Such thoughts of grandeur filled Mure’s mind. He was no longer paying attention to the Animal Abyss, and why would he? Nothing had changed about it for the past million years. The only exception was the appearance of treasures, which could only be a good thing.

Mure rose to his feet and prepared to dive into the Abyss. Suddenly, he frowned. A new ripple escaped the Animal Abyss, stronger than the previous one. Something was wrong.

Astral winds picked up. The void stretched and contorted like an accordion. Stars twinkled in the distance. Mure’s robes fluttered wildly, and though his Dao kept him safe, he was not calm at all. This place was the lifeblood of his Kingdom. If something happened…

What is it?

he thought frantically. What could be happening!?

But, no matter what, this was greater than him. It was not something he could stop.

The vacuum of space compressed around him. The Abyss itself warped. Spatial storms tore free, shooting off in random directions and annihilating the void. Some sank into the fabric of space to reach the interdimensional sea—others, the weakest ones, wrought havoc as they were blasted into deep space.

The Animal Kingdom had set up two formations around the Abyss, at a thousand and a million miles respectively. These formations represented the labor of their ancestors, thousands of years of effort for multiple B-Grade cultivators. They were the Kingdom’s pride.

Now, those formations were pierced through by space storms like sheets of paper. Holes appeared, leaking energy. Space warped around the Abyss, folding in on itself, and the formations cracked and shattered like glass. The formation cores next to Mure exploded one by one, turning into dust.

Millennia of effort, gone in the blink of an eye.

Mure was already breathless. This had occurred too quickly, too suddenly. He had no idea what was going on. The Animal Abyss had remained silent for a million years. Why now? Why on his shift!?

The Hand of God! he thought. Jack Rust! Those people must have done something—it’s their fault!

He roared in impotent fury. There was nothing he could do. He was floating a hundred miles away from the Abyss, and the spatial undulations here were already horrifying. Moreover, he didn’t specialize in the Dao of Space—if he went any closer, he could perish.

It’s growing stronger! he realized. I must escape!

Mure released his Dao and flew away at top speed. Yet, even that was difficult. Space was rugged and volatile. It was spinning around the Animal Abyss as if it was a whirlpool, similar to the water of a bathtub when one unplugged the drain. Such a phenomenon was something that Mure had never experienced in his life—the sheer energy involved was indescribable, the mysteries of space deep beyond belief.

He tried to comprehend what was happening, but it was impossible for him. He had no idea why the world would behave like this—what sort of force was capable of such a thing. The only explanation he could come up with was that the core of the Animal Abyss, that inactive black hole, had finally awoken, and a real black hole was something that even A-Grades could only run away from.

Mure Emberheart spared a glance backward. What he saw chilled his heart. The sphere of darkness which was the Animal Abyss had fractured, turning into spirals which wildly spun around its center. Even those spirals were quickly diminishing. All the energy of space, all the spatial storms remaining were sucked into the core of the Abyss, vanishing without a trace. As tremendous amounts of energy fell into the black hole, the surrounding space began to unexpectedly calm down.

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Mure hesitated. His caution told him to run away—but his greed whispered about opportunities. If this really was a black hole awakening, space should only be getting rougher, not smoother. Maybe it was just an energy eruption. Such a colossal event would surely be felt all the way to Hell—the other Ancestors might rush over soon, and when that happened, he wouldn’t be able to enjoy this opportunity alone.

He flew to a respectable distance away and waited. Astral winds tugged at his robes, and his white leonine mane fluttered, but his eyes were filled with excitement. This was the event of a lifetime. Whatever treasure was being born, it would surely dwarf anything the Abyss had produced before—and it would belong to no one else but him!

Mure watched as the event died down. Endless flows of energy came from deep space and flew by him, diving into the Animal Abyss. He felt like a mortal before a storm, an ant observing a majestic process entire worlds above him. His heart was filled with awe and wonder, surpassed only by his greed.

The darkness receded. Little by little, hints of the situation inside were revealed. Mure saw the stars on the other side of the Abyss.

And then, through the dissipating darkness, he glimpsed at other things. Fluttering gray. Bronze skin corded with muscles. Short dark hair, shining eyes, and fists which seemed to contain the world.

Mure was speechless. His previous awe was crushing his heart. The darkness dissipated entirely, and in the emptiness of space, he could make out a man—nay, a titan. He wore only a pair of brown shorts and a fluttering gray cape which hugged his shoulders. His bare chest rose and fell as if he breathed pure power. Every inch of his body was perfect, radiating robustness and making Mure feel like he was staring at a block of divine iron. His back was straight, his head held high. His brown eyes seemed to contain the world—flashing not only with power, but also with depth, like a god reborn.

And his fists… Every tiny movement was reflected in Mure’s eyes as if his very instinct commanded him to pay extreme attention to those fists. They seemed larger than space, older than time. They were like divine bells from the ancient past, ready to crash down and annihilate everything below them. If those fists could be cut off and made into weapons, they would be worthy for a god to wield.

That was what Mure saw. Then, as his surprise passed, all those impressions were dispersed as illusions, letting Mure recognize this person.

“Jack Rust!” he exclaimed, unable to believe what he was seeing. “You… How!?”

But Mure’s surprise was far from over. Jack didn’t spare him a glance. The darkness had dissipated, but the spatial storms still went strong, all focused around a point in space right in front of Jack. The energy density around him was horrifying—yet, Jack casually stood there, only his cloak fluttering a little as if these terrifying astral winds were a gentle breeze.

Mure could only watch frozen. All that energy gathered together, eventually declining to the degree where he could make out what lay at its center. It was a single orb, colored darker than black. Everything that approached would be sucked in—that was the impression Mure got.

Space quietened abruptly. Everything stopped. Mure could only watch from afar as Jack Rust floated next to what could only be the true form of the Animal Abyss, the core of the Animal Kingdom’s greatest inheritance.

Without saying a word, Jack grabbed the bead and stashed it into his space ring. Only then did he turn to glance at Mure.

“You!” Mure exclaimed, fuming with rage. “That’s… That’s our Abyss! Give it back!”

“Spoils to the winner,” Jack replied calmly. A faint taunting smile played on his lips. “If you want it, come and take it.”

Mure felt like someone had invaded his home, slept with his wife, befriended his dog, then stolen his most precious treasures from right beneath his nose. The range of emotions he’d gone through, from fear to greed to awe to…whatever this was…was indescribable.

“How can you be alive?” he asked, barely restraining himself. “You should have died a year ago. They all said so!”

“And yet, here I am.”

Jack began walking through space. His every step was calm, slow, and deliberate, as if he was taking a stroll through his own backyard. Yet, Mure was surprised to discover that Jack was moving a hundred miles with every step. He had no idea how this was happening—he couldn’t see any spatial fluctuations or signs of teleporting. Jack’s spatial mastery had already surpassed his scope of understanding.

A hint of fear emerged in Mure’s heart. Yet, as he scanned Jack and saw he was still Level 303, he was enraged at himself. He was a mighty, middle B-Grade leonine, one of the strongest people in his constellation. Trillions of cultivators worshiped him. He’d lived for seventy thousand years, carved his name into the galaxy.

Since when could he be intimidated by a little human who wasn’t even fifty years old!?

By the time Mure could think this far, Jack had already approached. The leonine snorted coldly. “I don’t know who you think you are,” he growled in a low voice, “but you made a mistake by appearing before me.”

“Oh yeah?” Jack replied. “How about you give me a lesson then?”

“That’s exactly what I plan on doing. Call out your backers. Let’s see what capital you have to contend with me.”

Now that he could think clearly, Mure was not afraid of Jack himself. There was no world in which a middle C-Grade could match a middle B-Grade. If Jack dared to approach, he must have someone guarding him from the shadows. That was the person Mure was really afraid of.

Yet, facing his question, Jack only smiled. “There is no one else,” he said. “For trash like you, I am more than enough.”

“You are courting death!” Mure’s eyes widened. He had already been intimidated once—now, Jack’s taunting grated against Mure’s pride, making him want to attack. He quickly considered things. If someone was here, hidden so well that Mure couldn’t detect them, he was probably dead anyway. But why hadn’t they acted yet?

On the other hand, if Jack Rust really was alone…

Mure’s eyes flashed. Speed wasn’t his strong suit. He had no illusions of catching up to Jack if he decided to run away, but since he was this close, he couldn’t possibly react in time. If he could cripple him in one strike, he would win everything. Not just the Animal Abyss which Jack had just pocketed, but every other treasure on his body. This was the greatest genius Mure had ever seen. His secrets should be world-shattering—maybe even enough for an old man like him to make another breakthrough!

Mure’s breathing turned shallow. He decided to act fast and without warning. Power gathered around him, endless layers of supremacy. The universe bowed to its master. Mure’s fist shot out, obliterating space wherever it passed, trying to strike Jack before he could run away. This was the fastest attack Mure could unleash. Surely, it would annihilate this little ant who thought himself a god.

Mure was already grinning, imagining his bright future. His fist crashed into something impossibly hard. A backlash traveled through his body, making him cough out blood.

“What!?”

Another fist had risen at some point, clashing squarely against his. Jack had moved in time. He’d grown larger, somehow, and two new arms had appeared on his body, crossed against his chest. He remained relaxed; that taunting smile was still on his lips, tinged with a hint of pity.

Mure’s mind flashed with panic. How!?

“Is this all a middle B-Grade can do?” Jack asked. “How disappointing.”