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The Apocalypse Grinder - Chapter 162
🕑 Added 2025-08-12 22:40:55 +0000 UTC<< Chapter 161 | Index | Chapter 163 >>
Arriving on the rocky outcrop went about the same as it always did. Ronan landed, caught himself on a nearby tree, while watching Keith stumble and fall. He was ready to step in if the man tumbled towards the cliff’s edge, but things never got that dangerous.
Terry and Jackson appeared shortly after, followed by Dana. Terry was as friendly and imposing as usual, his massive muscles making him seem more like a teddy bear than a terrifying monster of a man, now that Ronan knew his personality. Dana was as fierce and fiery as ever.
After sharing some pleasantries and basics about how they fought, the group made their way into the cave to begin cleansing goblins. The battles were easy. With Ronan ahead and the others not far behind, supporting him with might and magic, there were no enemies that could block their path.
At one point Dana questioned why his level was hidden from them in his tag, but he simply brushed it off and claimed not to know. She was suspicious of him from that point on, but there wasn’t much he could do about it.
With his prodigious stat gain, Ronan was basically killing every goblin that crossed his path in a single blow. Whether with his bare fists, or using a conjured weapon, none of the flimsy green goblins could stand up to him.
He knew that the others were growing more wary of his strength, but provided he didn’t show any hostility, they seemed to be in an uncomfortable equilibrium. That wouldn’t change, unfortunately, so he just kept doing what had to be done.
When they reached the final room, they decimated the horde of goblins in record time. It was certainly the fastest he had ever cleared the normal difficulty tutorial. As usual, he warned the others when Magriz’al approached. They gave him strange looks, but trusted his firm tone.
As soon as the towering hobgoblin burst through the ground, Ronan launched a mana bolt into its twisted maw. The bullet of compressed mana exploded against Magriz’al’s jaw, bursting its flesh and shattering bone in an impressive opening strike. A second mana bolt followed the first, shooting straight into the boss’ mouth as it roared its anger into the dungeon.
A sparkling flare of mana burst out of the bleeding jaw. Magriz’al’s palate had been seared, the flesh burnt beyond recognition. The lower jaw was hanging from the upper by strained sinews, teeth cracked and broken from the consecutive spell strikes.
Ronan was far from finished. As the boss stamped its feet against the stone tiles, he conjured a dagger in both hands and rushed towards the towering hobgoblin. In three deft, striding leaps, he vaulted from the ground, onto the boss’ knee, up to its shoulder, and then plunged both daggers into the hideous bastard’s neck.
One dagger on either side of its neck, plunging through its thick green hide until they struck the spine. Magriz’al let out an ear-piercing screech, garbled by the fact that half of its jaw was missing.
The boss began to convulse. Ronan’s combo would have obliterated a lesser foe, but the hobgoblin champion was a tenacious bastard. It struggled against its impending death, arms thrashing as they tried and failed to swat the pestilence from its shoulders.
Tearing the magic blades out, two jets of goblin blood spurted into the sky. Ronan allowed the daggers to fade once their job was done, summoning a shortsword in their place. He clutched the handle in both hands, wrapping his legs around the monster’s thick neck. His footing secured, Ronan plunged the blade downwards, aiming for the gap between vertebrae at the base of the boss’ neck.
The sword slipped through the tough flesh with ease, supported by Ronan’s prodigious strength, and empowered into a critical hit by virtue of it being his fifth unbroken strike against the same opponent. As it struck the sturdy bone, it halted. A breath later, the bone gave way, shattering under Ronan’s might.
The moment the death knoll sounded, Magriz’al’s entire body went limp. It started to fall backwards, no longer functioning. Ronan was about to be crushed under the corpse, but he managed to throw himself to one side just in time to avoid the tragic fate.
As he rolled to mitigate the damage from falling and clambered back to his feet, he caught the other four staring at him with wide eyes and slack jaws. “What? A man can’t take down an ugly goblin without catching heat?” he quipped, holding his hands up in mock surrender.
“What the hell was that!?” Keith exclaimed. “I knew you were strong after the last stage, but that… That thing was level 40! A boss! How the hell did you kill it?”
Jackson stepped in front of Keith. “There’s no way you’re the same level as us. That was sick, Ronan! Were you like… some kind of SAS soldier before this?”
Keith snorted. “As if! That lazy fucker barely got his work done on time, how could he possibly be in the SAS?”
Ronan rolled his eyes. “You’re one to talk, Keith. But to answer all of your questions, spoken and unspoken, I’m a lot higher level than you all. I… can’t really talk about how, but just know I don’t mean you any harm. All’s well that ends well, eh? The boss is dead and you get to go back… home.”
“Yeah, and pigs can fly,” Dana muttered. “There’s no way what’s waiting for us back on Earth is going to be any better than this shithole. You owe me an explanation Ronan. Not right now, but if I see you again on the other side, you’re going to tell me everything.”
“Agreed. Same deal for us,” Terry added, throwing Ronan a glare that he could only interpret as a stern, fatherly attempt at intimidating him. It didn’t work, but it was cute.
While none of the others would remember this moment after this iteration ended, Ronan decided that he would make sure to. “I promise,” he replied. And he meant it. No matter how many iterations it took for him to leave the tutorial behind for good and start making things better back on their home planet, he would find a way to explain all this… crap… to the people who mattered. The stronger he became, the harder it was to connect with others.
“That’s good enough for me. For now.” Dana tapped her whip as she spoke. Ronan wasn’t sure if it was an absent-minded habit or an unspoken threat.
He knew it was hard to keep things normal with how much his strength had grown, but there was no real way to explain things without sounding crazy. Maybe one iteration he would try, just to see what the others’ reactions would be.
“In that case, why don’t we spend the rest of our time checking out the sweet loot we just got for killing that big ass goblin. I’m sure levels and items will cheer you all up.” That actually earned him a few laughs, mostly from Jackson, but Terry and Dana were mollified.
Everyone turned to their notifications to see what they had earned for the defeat of Magriz’al and the completion of the tutorial. Ronan wondered if he would earn his class evolution before even returning to New Earth. Now that would be a wild achievement.
You have killed [Magriz’al the Crazed — BOSS][Lv.40 Hobgoblin Champion]!
Experience has been split among your party members!
Party Experience Bonus has been applied!
Enemy killed with a critical hit, 1.5x Experience gained!
+8 Bronze Credits
+391 Copper Credits
+14 [Mana III] Mastery
+12 [Stamina III] Mastery
+9 [Dagger] Mastery
+11 [Critical] Mastery
+7 [Sword II] Mastery
+Hobgoblin Fingers (Uncommon)
+Bone Charm Lv.40 (Uncommon)
+Boss Shard Lv.40 (Body)
You have leveled up to Lv.41!
You have leveled up to Lv.42!
You have leveled up to Lv.43!
You have leveled up to Lv.44!
You have leveled up to Lv.45!
You have leveled up to Lv.46!
You have leveled up to Lv.47!
You have leveled up to Lv.48!
You have leveled up to Lv.49!
You have been restored x9!
+9 Vitality
+9 Endurance
+18 Wisdom
+18 Intelligence
+27 Acuity
+738 Free Stat Points
Congratulations, you have cleared Stage 4 of the tutorial!
All basic system functions have been unlocked! Access will be restored once you exit the tutorial.
+4 Bronze Credits
+117 Copper Credits
+Myriad Skills Tome (Common)
+Endless Treasury Token (Rare)
Congratulations challenger, you have completed all stages of the tutorial! Your accomplishments ring out through the reaches of the system and you have been deemed worthy.
Tutorial Assessment — [Ronan Steele]:
Difficulty: Normal
Kill Rating: A+
Speed Rating: A
Boss Rating: A+
Accomplishment Rating: A+
Overall Rating: A+
For clearing the tutorial at [Normal] difficulty with a [A+] rating, you receive the following rewards:
+20 Free Stat Points
+10 Bronze Credits
+Endless Treasury Token (Common) x2
+Endless Treasury Token (Uncommon)
+Rift Key (Common)
Please stand by for transport back to Planet 2.48e11E…
Transport will begin in 60 seconds!
60…
It was the greatest tutorial completion rating he’d ever received, yet the rewards were only marginally better than before. The free stat points that it granted, which had seemed so incredible the first time he’d earned them, were now barely a quarter of what he earned every time he leveled up.
Nonetheless, it was satisfying to improve, even if it was only a superficial increase at this point. Perhaps the extra treasury token might give him some more fruits, translating into permanent stat increases.
With about forty-five seconds left on the transport timer, there was plenty of time to find out what he might receive. Thankfully, Ronan had invested plenty of his free stat points into luck, as well as his combat stats. He was hoping for a favourable drop, especially as this iteration he planned to take on the sector boss.
He quickly assigned the 700 new free stat points he’d just earned, again mostly in combat attributes, but with a significant portion going to luck as he was about to use it. Once that was confirmed, he took out all four of his endless treasury tokens, ranging from common to rare, and activated them simultaneously.
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Comments
Zolti
Why does feel she is owed an explanation? Because she is curious? From her perspective she barely knows him.
IdolTrust
Just a level away from 2nd tier class.
