Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse
Chapter 104: Boss Fight

Jack stood slowly. Though he had been smacked hard, it was nothing but a scratch to his new, iron-like body. The true loss was the energy he’d expended so far. Going into the boss fight weakened was a terrible idea, but what could he do?

“Sure,” he replied, dusting himself off. “Are you sure you’re ready, though? I can wait another hour.”

“Silence, weakling.” Rufus paused for a moment before continuing. “I admit I miscalculated. I thought I could finish the breakthrough in time, even without the Rainbow Dao Pill…but in the end, I underestimated my own superiority. Something truly perfect takes time.”

“Is that what you tell yourself to feel better? I don’t know, man. I started my breakthrough after you and still finished first.”

“That has nothing to do with your strength.” Rufus frowned. “You simply ignored all security guidelines. You went at it like a monkey, heedless of failure’s consequences.”

“I did not intend to fail. If you needed failsafes, maybe you just aren’t as superior as you like to think.”

“We will see about that.” Rufus’s eyes sharpened at every word that left Jack’s mouth. His heavy aura circled his body, striking Jack with its majesty. Perhaps taunting an angry lion was not a good idea.

“Our battle will prove who is superior,” the leonine declared loudly, speaking to the world. “We have both just broken through to the E-Grade. We are at the same Level, both with perfect Dao Seeds. Our titles give us the exact same benefits. We have both drunk the Immortality Serum. The victor between us will be decided by pure skill.”

Jack actually counted the +50 from the Immortality Serum as a huge advantage. He had forgotten that, as the second place winner of the tournament, Rufus also got one of those.

Who am I kidding? He would have gotten it anyway. Who knows what else he has.

“Enough talking, Rufus. Let’s fight,” he said, bumping his fists together. Over the last month, this had slowly developed into his pre-fight ritual.

He couldn’t deny his excitement. Despite all the stakes riding on his back, he had been really looking forward to this battle ever since the tournament began. Rufus Emberheart was the biggest, baddest guy around…and Jack was about to punch his face in.

“Of course,” Rufus replied. “Shall we give our battle the attention it deserves by moving to the main stage?”

Jack gazed at the sands. The stage was filled with debris, as well as Gan Salin’s unconscious body and his guardian robot. He also spotted Edgar’s legs peeking out from under a bunch of fallen seats. Worry gripped his heart, but he didn’t have that luxury right now.

“No need,” he said, turning back to Rufus. “Here is good enough.”

The leonine frowned. “Then prepare yourself. I shall let the whole world see the consequences of challenging a king.”

“The only king here is your mo—”

Before Jack could finish his words, Rufus appeared before him. There was no warning, no sound, no time to respond. One moment, he stood twenty feet away, and the next he was right up Jack’s nose, an open paw already hurtling at his chest. Jack clenched on reflex.

The paw smacked him head-on, sending him flying into the stage. He smashed hard into the sand and the rock below, skipping over the ground twice before rolling to a stop. His head was wobbly as he stood, and he had trouble breathing for a moment.

“What’s the matter?” Rufus asked, landing softly in the stage. “I thought you wanted to stay in the stands.”

“You didn’t give me a choice, dipshit.”

That wasn’t the right response, apparently. Rufus disappeared again. This time, Jack saw how he did it. He caught a glimpse of his foot tapping the ground right before he teleported. It was a movement Skill, like Jack’s, except he wasn’t used to the speed of E-Grade fighting. It was simply on a whole new level.

Unfortunately, glimpsing at something and stopping it were two entirely different concepts. Jack ducked by pure instinct, but the paw still smashed the top of his head and sent him flying. He crashed into the wall, forming a web of cracks behind him, then landed on his feet and stumbled.

“Perhaps all that waiting got you rusty,” Rufus said, laughing. “Let me bring you up to speed.”

The guy was a sucker for posturing. Be it against Li Xiang, Dorman, or Jack, he always tried to win in the most overbearing fashion.

That made Jack angry. Rufus could be as fast as he wanted, but Jack would be damned if he just stood there and let himself take a beating.

He had a movement skill, too.

He shot out. His fists clenched. Rufus disappeared, moving with that incredible speed again, but Jack activated Ghost Step to the side, too. When Rufus appeared, he was facing empty air. When Jack appeared, he was facing Rufus.

“Think again, dickhead,” he said, smashing out a punch. A blue shield appeared around Rufus, but it didn’t affect Jack much. It was like punching through slightly denser air. Their Daos were on the same level.

His fist landed clean on Rufus’s cheek, sending the leonine tumbling away. He shot back to his feet. His eyes were filled with indignation as if Jack touching him was some sort of blasphemy.

Jack, meanwhile, just stood there and looked at Rufus in incomprehension.

I…got him? he wondered, glancing at his own fist. It was that easy?

Throughout the tournament and during their fight so far, Rufus had been an untouchable existence. He had asserted his dominance so many times that, unconsciously, Jack regarded him very highly. He intended to fight, he even yearned for it, but his heart was always clenched by deep fear.

And now…he had just struck Rufus.

Jack looked between his fist and the leonine. He saw the truth. Rufus wasn’t invincible; he wasn’t always ten moves ahead. He was just a dude with a knack for posturing. A dude who could mess up like everyone else, who could get hit and feel anger or pain.

The only difference between Rufus and all of Jack’s previous opponents was that Rufus was slightly stronger. That’s it. He just played it cool.

Jack raised his gaze. He met the leonine’s eyes, bursting with confidence and arrogance, but he knew that this confidence was only a prop. Rufus was just a guy.

He grinned. Once again, he smashed his fists together, and this time, he was full of spirit.

“You fucking liar,” he said. “What king? You’re just a dude; a dude who’s about to get his face caved in.”

Rufus’s eyes flickered. He roared, and he charged.

The sand flew under his feet. The distance evaporated. He stood before Jack in the next instant, but this time, Jack was ready. He ghost-stepped to the side, dodging a blow and striking his own. Rufus turned and met it.

Fist and paw clashed in mid-air, one carrying brutal violence and the other unyielding supremacy. The air exploded around them. Sand flew away from the point of impact. Jack and Rufus withdrew their hands at the same time—neither had been pushed back—and struck again.

They fell into a melee. Blue phantom paws disintegrated into hard fists. Meteors smashed into a golden mane. Jack roared and Rufus growled as they tore into each other, neither giving up. Blood drops splattered everywhere, dying the sand red.

Jack clenched his fist. A purple aura surrounded it, transforming it into a falling meteor. Rufus drew his paw back. A blue phantom of itself superimposed the paw, cladding it in undeniable supremacy. The air shook as both blows flew forward, and they collided frontally at full force.

Jack and Rufus were both pushed back, tumbling and rising to their feet. Jack’s fist was trembling. Even with the Iron Fiend Body and all his new stats, this had fucking hurt.

Rufus’s paw was not trembling.

“Inevitable Charge!” Rufus roared. His feet kicked against the hard ground, and he flickered to a new position—not close to Jack. He did it again, and again, and again, and Jack’s surroundings were filled with afterimages of a pissed super-warrior.

Jack wasn’t an idiot to put himself on the back foot. He used Ghost Step as well, flickering unpredictably along the sand. He no longer cared about conserving energy. His eyes caught a glimpse of Rufus’s.

At the next moment, both stopped simultaneously and punched at each other. A phantom paw flew out of Rufus, and a meteor was launched by Jack, impacting between them with an explosion that neutralized both attacks. Rufus charged again, and Jack met him fist-first, once again moving into a brawl.

However, Jack’s mind wasn’t entirely there. He kept an eye on their positioning, making sure they wouldn’t accidentally throw an attack where Edgar lay. At this point, a stray punch could kill the wizard.

His worries left him open. Attempting to face Rufus without his full attention was a fool’s errand.

A paw snuck past his guard, smashing into his abdomen. Jack bent, and a phantom tore up into his nose, sending him flying. Jack opened his eyes mid-air and saw Rufus disappeared. Reflexively, he shot a Meteor Punch to the right, using the momentum to push himself out of the way as Rufus fell from above and landed with enough force to crack the arena.

Jack somersaulted and landed on his feet. He still struggled to breathe, and his nose was broken. His regeneration had slowed to a snail’s pace. That was expected; starting at the E-Grade, when the body was infused with the Dao, all sorts of healing got exponentially harder. Before that, it was easy as pie. That was why the djinn healers had been able to heal practically anything the F-Grade tournament participants suffered.

“You surprise me,” Rufus declared. Though Jack had gotten a couple hits in, Rufus looked no worse for wear. His back was straight, his chain mail armor unblemished, and his eyes still held that arrogant spark inside them. Only his nose was bloodied. “If you hadn’t picked the wrong side, you would have made a fine ally. It is a shame.”

Jack, on the contrary, sported several shallow cuts, as well as an equally broken nose. “Is it too late?” he asked. He was trying to buy some time so he could think of a way to draw the battle outside the arena. Could he run?

However, Rufus only smiled sadly. “Yes,” he replied. He charged again.

Jack barely managed to react in time. He took a punch and flew back, then landed, turned, and charged back in. All the while, his mind whirled. What was the best way to disengage?

***

Dorman roared like an animal as he charged forth, daggers held at the ready. “Right,” a voice rang in his mind, and he sidestepped just as an ice spike flew past.

He, the Sage, brother Tao, Vanderdecken, along with Vivi and what remained of the Flame River—only half their original number—were clashing against Alexander Petrovic and his four Ice Peak members. Jack Rust was battling Rufus Emberheart in the arena below, but that wasn’t their battle. This was.

Dorman charged again. Lightning flew over his skin as he tore through the Ice Peak defenses, but a new wall of ice appeared to block his path. He cursed as he jumped backward.

Though they were more, the fighters of Ice Peak could work together to block them. Especially Dorman—for the second time lately, he found himself countered by his opponents. It was even more infuriating this time because he was sure he could beat Alexander if they fought one-on-one.

Vivi was injured, but she stood behind the front line and did what she could to help.

The battle was balanced for now. Dorman was confident they would win eventually…as long as Jack didn’t lose to Rufus.

Lightning crawled over his skin again. He charged.

***

“Ooh…” Gan Salin grabbed his head. “What happened?”

His ears were filled with explosions. His eyes snapped open, taking in a field of destruction. Two forms flickered in and out of his sight, fiercely tearing into each other: Rufus Emberheart and Jack Rust.

Gan Salin had lost to both of them before, but now, they weren’t even on the same level as him. Their arms moved so fast he couldn’t track them. Their forms blurred in his eyes. They seemed to exchange more than one hit at the same time, and every punch or paw landed with a colossal impact that could easily blast Gan Salin apart. And these madmen were throwing dozens of these hits like it was nothing.

Like berserk immortals.

I must be dreaming, Gan Salin concluded. He closed his eyes, counted to four, then opened them again. Crap. I am not dreaming.

A stray meteor flew his way. Before Gan could even consider fleeing, his robot bodyguard got in the way, bracing its shield. It was instantly sent flying, darting past Salin to land on the wall behind him. It recovered, but its shield was now dented.

Gan Salin couldn’t dent that shield if he struck it for a day and a night.

Alrighty, he thought, standing and dusting himself off. Time to go.

His entire body was in pain, his clothes were so tattered they barely protected his dignity, and he bled from several places, including a shallow, bloody hole in his chest where at least one bone was broken. At least, he had a regeneration Skill.

He was lucky to be alive.

The pain was terrible, but he’d gone through worse. The Dao of Insanity was a bitch to cultivate.

While Rufus and Jack went at it, trying to smash each other into paste, Gan Salin tiptoed to the arena exit and passed through, his robot in tow.

He then climbed the stairs and reached the stands, from where he could watch the fight in relative safety. There was another fight going on, but he didn’t care about it; only Rufus’s was important. He was very curious to see who would win. No, that wasn’t entirely true; he knew that Rufus would win. He hadn’t even used his King Form yet.

The question was, how far would Jack Rust push him?

If Gan Salin was being honest, he kinda liked Jack. He made fun things happen. Too bad he’ll die today, but oh well. Enemies get stitches. No, wait—was it graves? Frenemies?

He laughed. It didn’t really matter. Most things didn’t.