Road to Mastery: A LitRPG Apocalypse
Chapter 205: The Last Formation Falls

Jack pocketed the experience ball—jewel, actually—and waited.

Not much later, Lady Priya approached him. “Hello,” she said, greeting both Jack and the Barren High people. She smiled. “Congratulations, Jack. The Elder has confirmed my previous words. As long as nothing goes wrong, you will be accepted at our faction after Trial Planet. However, the protection of your planet will be decided at the end of its grace period. Is that fine with you?”

Jack nodded somberly. Until the Exploding Sun actually promised to protect Earth, he would treat them as unreliable. Too many things could go wrong in the following months. Besides, there was the problem of leaving Trial Planet. The Hand of God was still scanning everyone that exited. If they discovered his connection to the Ancient ruins, who knew what would happen.

“Sure,” he replied. “Does that make us allies now?”

“Not yet. For the duration of the Garden Assault, we will remain unrelated, as the rules dictate. Please don’t attempt to help me later, or we will both be put into an awkward spot.”

“Understood.” Jack nodded again. He wasn’t going to help her. The exact opposite, in fact. Since they were unrelated, he wouldn’t feel bad about going after the Top Treasure himself.

Priya narrowed her eyes. “In any case, I didn’t mean to intrude. I will see you after the Assault, Jack. Stay safe.”

“I will try my best.” He smiled slightly. He didn’t mean to be cold; it just happened. Considering they were going to be opponents soon, that wasn’t a bad thing. “Thank you for your concern, Priya. I’ll be sure to repay it after exiting Trial Planet.”

She gazed deep into his eyes. She felt there was something more, but in the end, she didn’t manage to see through his words. “Sure thing,” she replied, then walked away.

Jack watched her leave with a sad smile. The Exploding Sun’s administration had sold him out once, but their people had been nice to him. Master Shol, Priya, and her team had all been friendly and helpful. Good people.

If this was a couple months ago, he would have hesitated to go directly against them for the Top Treasure. Now, however, he understood how things worked in the galaxy. Kindness wasn’t the foundation of relationships. Strength was. As long as he didn’t kill anyone, going head-on against the Exploding Sun wouldn’t lower their opinion of him. If anything, they would pursue him even harder, since he would have proven his strength.

“You’ve grown, Jack,” the Sage commented from the side. Jack felt the rare emotion in his voice.

“I had to,” he replied. Sighing, he dropped his head back, gazing at the swirling mists above. His voice was sad as he spoke. It carried a hard edge. “But I guess…this isn’t too bad. What better environment than a battlefield for a fist to thrive?”

The Sage smiled without responding. Dorman looked at Jack with new eyes, inspecting him again.

A few moments later, the formation masters were agitated. They were discussing animatedly while pointing at the magic symbols on the ground. Kareena and another formation master—the merfolk guide—seemed to disagree on something. Finally, she and the third formation master took a few steps back, while the merfolk reached down to touch the symbols.

A terrifying explosion shook the garden. Flames shot high. The heat was scalding. A shockwave rolled over the ground, wiping the previous formations out of existence and impacting the resting cultivators, tossing them back into the mist.

Jack had no time to react. He was thrown back like everyone else, consumed by the chilling mist that quickly rose in temperature as it absorbed the explosion’s heat. Thankfully, he was at the edge of the blast. He had only been knocked away a hundred feet and felt the flames lick his skin.

After making sure he was fine, he rushed back to the core area. Most of the flames had already dissipated when he emerged into the mist-less space—they had nothing to burn. The Sage and Dorman, who had been resting beside him, were also fine. More people were returning, having suffered mild to no injuries.

There were three exceptions, however. Kareena and the other formation master that had retreated sported heavy burns. Their skin was red and bubbly where the explosion had crashed into them head-on, and their screams replaced the previous eerie silence. As for the final formation master, the merfolk that had been right next to the exploding formation… Only a pile of ash and burned scales remained where he used to stand. Not even his clothes had survived. He was already dead.

Kareena flared with green power as her wounds began to recover. Slowly, her burnt skin was shed, and new, rosy one grew in its place. She had survived the worst. She would recover.

The other formation master—the draconic woman—was treated by the dryad that accompanied Lady Minerva. She, too, would survive.

“What the hell just happened?” Jack asked.

“These formations are no joke,” the Sage replied from the side. His clothes and hair were disheveled, but he looked completely uninjured. “At point-blank, even immortals would be burned to death. We are lucky the previous five were resolved successfully.”

“Say that again…”

This garden as a whole was no joke. They had started with eighteen people. By now, three had died, and one had lost an arm. Even with the addition of the Barren High team bringing them up to seventeen, they had a fifteen percent death rate, and the Garden Assault wasn’t over yet.

Even for Jack himself, this was the third time he came close to death. First with the animal tile trap, then with the imprisoned devil, and now this explosion. He didn’t even count the cave in which they were sealed for a while.

And all those happened despite him being very close to the apex of power for E-Grades. Trial Planet really pushed people to the limits—it was like a second Integration.

The remaining cultivators recovered quickly from the shock. One person took the fallen formation master’s remains to bury beyond the mist. The others settled back down to meditate, while Kareena and the other formation master, despite their shaking, approached the final formation shielding the scrawny tree and the Dao Sprouting Pill.

“Are deaths so common?” Jack wondered aloud, noticing how little people seemed to mind.

“Trial Garden is a very dangerous place,” the Sage explained. “Even entire groups like our Garden Assault have disappeared in the past. A few deaths here and there are nothing.”

Jack hadn’t known that. After everything he’d seen so far, he didn’t struggle to believe it, either. If it had been the first formation that exploded, the one that reached almost to the edge of the empty area, their entire group would have been decimated.

Then again, if all formations were this dangerous, they would have camped farther away.

Finally, however, only one formation remained. It was a milky white barrier that radiated a Dao of Softness—but Jack knew better than to underestimate its lethality. The moment that formation fell, an all-out brawl between the three Lords and their teams would commence. They would tear each other apart to reach the Top Treasure first. Even killing each other wasn’t unexpected.

Jack inspected them. Longsword was sitting cross-legged with his sword on his lap, but his eyes were open. He was taking deep breaths, sharpening his edge. The ice witch and Bocor flanked him, ready to pounce at any moment.

Priya was standing, closing and opening her hands. Every time she opened them, blue flames would flicker on her palms. Chotu, the jovial fat man, was bouncing from foot to foot beside her with a wild smile on his face. As for Kareena, she was one of the two formation masters working on the formation.

Lady Minerva had an entire side of the core area for herself. She had already summoned her three beasts—the wolf, the turtle, and the sparrow—each of which was an Elite at the peak of the E-Grade. The dryad had finished treating the other formation master and stood beside her Lady, with arms crossed and eyes glowing green. Vocrich also stood by Lady Minerva, his dark suit flickering like it was made of shadows. He caught Jack’s gaze and winked with a cocky grin, ever the charmer.

Every treasure hunter had retreated to the very edge of the area, where they would be safe. They were Jack, the Barren High people, and five other treasure hunters.

The tension was mounting. Nobody was speaking. The Lords were preparing for battle. Even surrounded by a blanket of mist, you could hear a pin drop.

Jack had his mind on the experience jewel. As soon as the time was ripe, he would crush it and erupt with power, hopefully reaching the level of a Lord or at least close. At the same time, he kept an eye on the Black Hole Church team. Though they’d helped him, they remained unfathomably enigmatic. It wouldn’t surprise him if the Sage or Dorman had Lord-level power.

“You aren’t going to fight, are you?” he whispered low enough that only the Sage could hear.

“If we were, we wouldn’t have helped you.”

“Good. Can I have two of you guys as helpers? The Lords all have some.”

The Sage smiled. “No.”

“I thought so.” Jack laughed, drawing a few odd looks, but he was beyond caring.

“Nervous, Longsword?” Priya said out loud, eyeing the swordsman. “I can see you shaking.”

“In your dreams,” he replied, laughing freely. “The pill is mine. Just make sure your unskilled formation master doesn’t die by herself. She already fucked up once.”

“On the contrary—she never did.”

Sparks were flying. The three Lords were removing their metaphorical gloves, jousting at each other with words. They no longer cared about etiquette. Any pretense of friendship was gone, leaving only enmity.

“Are you both so scared that you need to talk?” Lady Minerva asked.

Longsword laughed again. “Are you so scared that you want to shut up?”

“She just knows she’s too stupid to debate,” Priya added.

Minerva laughed. All of them were smiling, actually, doing their best to project confidence. After all, the more confident the lord, the harder their followers would fight. “Everybody knows who’s the strongest Lord,” Minerva said. “And if they don’t, I’ll just prove it.”

“You? The strongest?” Longsword retorted. “That’s a big word for someone who needed two attempts to reach the E-Grade.”

Minerva’s eyes narrowed. A hint of her fighting spirit leaked out, making her three beasts look up aggressively. “Wait and see, failure of the Wide Swirls. That’s what they used to call you, right?”

Longsword’s brows fell. His hand slowly moved to his sword handle.

“Losing your composure so early?” Priya mocked him. “No wonder your mother is so embarrassed of you. I heard she didn’t even accompany you here herself.”

“At least I have two parents.”

Priya went white as a sheet. Her hands snapped open, the flames in them flaring. She did not retort, and the other two lords didn’t continue speaking, either. Their resolve was clear. They would kill each other, no holds barred.

Jack watched the exchange with raised brows. The battle hadn’t even started yet, but he could sense its brutality. These guys didn’t even hold back with words—when they fought, someone was bound to get massacred.

The minutes crawled by. Jack focused on the sound of his breathing.

At some point, Kareena and the other formation master exchanged a few words. They nodded at each other, seemingly agreeing on something. Then, Kareena stood up and walked to Priya’s side, preparing to battle. Her silver hair glowed faintly. Her eyes turned deeper.

The Lords glared at each other, affirming their resolve. Nobody spared a glance for the treasure hunters. They didn’t even register anymore. They weren’t supposed to participate in what was going to happen.

Then again, why are they so certain? Jack wondered. Anyone else could be planning to steal the Top Treasure, too.

Before he could advance this thought further, the other formation master stood up. She looked around her, realizing she was standing at what would soon be the epicenter of a massive conflict. She gulped.

Then, without any fanfare whatsoever, she pointed a finger at the mystical symbols. The formation trembled. For a moment, everyone held their breaths. Would it explode?

The formation fell. The tree of the Dao Sprouting Pill was laid bare. And the Lords, all at the same time, sprang into action.