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The Apocalypse Grinder - Chapter 26
🕑 Added 2025-06-18 09:28:01 +0000 UTC<< Chapter 25 | Index | Chapter 27 >>
With an incoherent scream the goblin swung its broadsword through the air. The blade sung a song of unrelenting fury. Ronan cursed.
He was already focused on evading the whirling axes of the other goblin berserker, unable to split his attention. He tried to twist his torso, but instead of avoiding the slash he ended up taking hits from both beasts.
Sharp metal carved furrows in his flesh, leaving glistening red valleys in his chest and sides. Blood dripped from his wounds, reflected in his rapidly draining health points.
A mana bolt exploded against the side of one berserker’s face. It left half the goblin’s skin melted and charred, but the insane fucker kept swinging its sword as if nothing had happened.
Ronan actually admired their stubborn dedication to slaughtering him. It reminded him of himself. Minus the loss of brain cells and at least… two degrees more handsome.
He wanted to max out his pugilist mastery so he’d held off on using weapons, but if he didn’t do anything he might die. A glance at his health didn’t help his confidence.
Health: 72/180
Stamina: 146/210
Mana: 108/120
Just over a third of his total health pool. That didn’t sound so bad, until you realised that he was bleeding for almost 20 points per second. The situation was dire.
An axe ripped through the air towards his neck. He grimaced, already tussling with the other goblin’s sword.
Would he have to give flesh to break bone once again? When the situation seemed dire, an unexpected ally came to his rescue.
A pebble clattered against the side of the goblin’s skull, leaving nothing more than a tiny indent. However, its gaze flicked to the side, where Keith was shaking in his boots and winding up another pebble.
It was… admirable. It had taken him quite a lot longer this time around but it seemed the chubby office manager had finally found his guts. Ronan grinned.
The man hadn’t done shit for damage, but that brief distraction opened the path to survival. Three seconds to live.
Ronan pulled the shaman’s bone staff from his inventory. He couldn’t use the axe yet, but he was familiar with the heavy, gnarled club.
His palm burned, the edge of the broadsword biting deeper with every moment. He grunted, letting adrenaline take the edge off as he summoned every scrap of strength he possessed and shoved the green bastard’s blade backwards.
Not expecting such a suicidal move, the goblin staggered. He stepped into range, avoiding the descending axe. There wasn’t room for a full swing, but he didn’t need it.
His arm tingled with the rush of mana as he levered his arm back.
Using the staff like a spear he jabbed it into the soft flesh between the berserker’s throat and chin. The effect was devastating.
The thick joint at the end of the staff split skin as the creature gasped for air, clutching at its throat with one hand. Then the mana exploded outwards, shredding its spine. It dropped like a sack of potatoes.
Ronan screamed as something cut into his shoulder. He staggered to the side as his shoulder erupted in fiery agony.
You have been hit by [Goblin Berserker Lv.17]!
-14 Health [Smashing]
-36 Health [Piercing]
You are [Bleeding]!
-8 Health / second
He didn’t even have time to check how bad his situation was. Everything went red. He roared in the green bastard’s face, giving in to his primal instincts.
“Ronan, wake up,” he heard someone saying.
Another person was shaking him.
“Is he dead?” Jackson said. The boy’s nasal whine was easy to pick out.
He heard a soft slap. “Don’t be daft, boy,” Terry scolded.
His eyes snapped open and he gasped. Somehow he was still alive. What the hell had happened?
“You remember anything?” Dana asked, her face centimetres from his. Her eyes were a sparkling emerald green, piercing his soul.
“A little. I killed that one berserker and then I felt… I’m not sure what I felt. Everything’s just a red blur after that,” he replied.
“Ha! You went wild, big guy. Roared at the little shit like you were some kind of monster yourself before pounding the crap out of it as if you were kneading a rebellious chunk of dough,” Dana cackled, standing up and sighing.
“It’s only been a minute or so. You weren’t out that long,” Terry explained, helping him to his feet. “Can’t hear any more goblins, but Jackson scouted ahead and said there’s a few wooden doors set in the stone. Seems like the next stage of whatever this is,” he added, waving around the dimly lit tunnel.
The dancing shadows on the walls reminded Ronan of the last tutorial stage. When they got back to Earth he might spend his first few days sleeping under the sun. The real sun.
He took a moment to look over the system messages flashing in his vision. He wasn’t bleeding health, which meant he must’ve leveled up at least once.
You have killed [Goblin Berserker Lv.17]!
+38 Copper Credits
+1 [Pugilist] Mastery
+2 [Staff] Mastery
+2 [Mana] Mastery
+Goblin Toes (Common)
You have leveled up to Lv.13!
You have been restored!
+2 Strength
+1 Agility
+1 Vitality
+1 Endurance
+2 Free Stat Points
You have killed [Goblin Berserker Lv.19]!
+46 Copper Credits
+3 [Pugilist] Mastery
+1 [Staff] Mastery
+1 [Pain] Mastery
+Goblin Toes (Common)
You have leveled up to Lv.14!
You have been restored!
+2 Strength
+1 Agility
+1 Vitality
+1 Endurance
+2 Free Stat Points
That was a lot to read. He wondered if there was a way the system could just compress notifications and give him some kind of summary. He could imagine how tedious it might get reading through dozens of these in future.
The moment he said that, the two notifications merged into a single one, displaying the same info but in half the space. You’re like a toxic girlfriend, system. One moment you give me everything I want and the next it’s the silent treatment… he sighed internally.
Ronan realised that trying to keep a 1:1 balance between his strength and agility would be impossible unless he dumped all the free points he received into the latter. He didn’t want to keep doing that.
He wasn’t sure he needed a perfect ratio though, so he just put 2 points into agility, 1 into tenacity and then thought about what to do with the last one. He thought back to the last battle.
The thrill of the fight. The bloodlust. The chaos. The desire to cast off the shackles of… control. He hadn’t enjoyed losing control.
The whole point of a fight was to take down the other guy methodically. To prove you were the better fighter, not that you were able to care less about how much pain you took.
With that in mind, Ronan invested a point into acuity for the first time. He still wasn’t sure of the exact definition or what the stat did, but it should improve the sharpness of his thoughts. That might help him keep a handle on his rage in future.
A glance at Keith showed that just for throwing that pebble the fella had earned himself a whole level. Not bad. Maybe we’ll make a man of you, yet.
He pulled up his status, marvelling at how fast he’d grown in this dingy tunnel. It had to be the level disparity. Plus, even with four teammates he was still doing plenty of work himself.
[Status]
Name: Ronan Steele
Race: Human (G)
Heritage: @#^?-
Level: 14 (8)
Class: Fighter (Common)
Fortune: 587 Copper Credits (349c)
[Stats (1.008)]
Health: 200/200
Stamina: 230/230
Mana: 87/120
Vitality: 20
Endurance: 23
Wisdom: 8 (+4)
Regeneration: 3
Resistance: 6
Strength: 18
Agility: 16
Intelligence: 8
Dexterity: 5
Acuity: 8
Tenacity: 14
Luck: 2
Charisma: 4 (+1)
Available Points: 0
[Traits]
Personal: Inevitable (Epic)
[Skills]
Unified Language Adaptation (Universal)
Relentless Training (Common)
Magic Strike (Common)
Swift Strike (Common) (Class)
[Mastery]
Pugilist 51/100
Mana 13/100
Staff 10/100
Shield 6/100
Anti-Magic 1/100
Pain 3/100
[Cultivation]
Mind: None
Body: None
Energy: None
Soul: None
He had plenty of credits, too. Almost six hundred. He wasn’t sure what they were even used for, but he was sure the system had plans. For now he’d keep amassing wealth. It was inevitable at the rate they were slaughtering monsters.
Pugilist mastery had advanced in great strides, now halfway to reaching the cap. Ronan was excited to see what happened when it reached one hundred.
Pain mastery was a new one. It had interesting implications, too. Would increasing it mean he took less pain? Or would it only let him tune it out better?
Either one would let him fight like an unstoppable beast. Oh, I forgot about my new class skill! he suddenly realised, cursing his stupidity.
It didn’t even cost mana to use, but stamina. He vowed to test it out on the next group of goblins they met.
Ronan turned to the group. “Alright, let’s see what’s hiding behind those mysterious wooden doors.”
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Comments
Hermit Purple
Man this guy just can't dodge no skill whatsoever.
