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The Apocalypse Grinder - Chapter 258
🕑 Added 2025-09-30 15:28:39 +0000 UTC<< Chapter 257 | Index | Chapter 259 >>
Ronan learned a lot from his brief conversation with Freddie. A lot, and not much at all. This was another version of Earth. This time, the disaster that had taken hold was nuclear war and its terrifying aftermath. Humanity had fled underground into a strange tunnel network-nuclear shelter hybrid.
Apparently there had been a lot of chaos and violence in the early days. In fact, it had been almost fifty years since the war that had pushed humanity underground in this scenario, yet none of them dared to venture to the surface. This small community only survived by hunting underground rodents and burning whatever they could.
Not that it was particularly cold in these tunnels. Being in the bowels of the earth was comforting, but sometimes there were windstorms that tore through the tunnels, bringing a chill that bit to the bone.
That was all interesting, but not particularly useful to Ronan. He had wanted information regarding the shapeshifters, but even Freddie had been tight lipped.
From what he could glean, that hadn’t been the first gorzerk this particular group of survivors had encountered, but it was the first that hadn’t slaughtered more than a dozen people before being found and killed. That was thanks to Ronan.
In any case, all he knew was that the next stage was probably going to be underground again and that he was going to be dealing with a lot of shapeshifters, and probably even more terrified people than he had to wrangle here. Then again, their fear of him was doing most of the wrangling as they did their utmost to avoid Ronan.
It was kind of disheartening seeing his own people turn from him that way, but it was the consequence of his path. He needed to be strong and scary to beat the crap out of everything that threatened his home and humanity. His real home, not whatever facsimile of Earth’s history this tutorial scenario was.
“Well, it was nice knowing you, Freddie. Keep these fuckers safe.” Ronan smiled at the confused man as the countdown ended and the world shifted around him.
Good luck, challenger!
When the shifting void spat him out, Ronan found himself in another underground tunnel. This one was far larger than even the hollowed-out cave that the survivors’ encampment had been built in during stage 1. There were lights here, too. And not from torches, but actual fluorescent, electricity-powered lights.
The tunnel was unnaturally bright because of them. They also allowed Ronan an unfettered view of what stage 2 was likely going to involve.
Down the tunnel, about two hundred metres away, there was a white wall made of some kind of metal. It had a door set into it, large enough to let three people walk through comfortably. He had to strain his eyes to see it, but there was also a black screen on the right of the door. A computer screen. That’s interesting. I thought Earth technology was incompatible with the system.
He wanted to walk over to the screen to inspect it and see if it actually still worked—the lights did, so there wasn’t any reason why it shouldn’t—when he felt a hand grabbing his shoulder from behind. He pulled away from the grip and leapt backwards, conjuring a shortsword to his hand as he moved.
Ronan raised the blade and pointed it at the person who had grabbed him, who promptly threw their hands up in surrender. “Easy there, big fella. I don’t mean you any harm. Just… who are you? Where in the nine sundered continents did you come from? This tunnel is sealed.” The speaker gently lowered their hands as they addressed him.
What the hell do I tell him? Ronan looked around as he weighed his options. As his gaze passed over the rough-hewn rock of the ceiling, which had been carved directly from the earth itself, he spotted a small hole. A small hole that was just about wide enough for a big fucker like himself to have fallen through.
Ronan painted a sheepish expression on his face as he looked back at the speaker. Then he pointed at the hole and cleared his throat. “I may have gotten a little lost while exploring. I—” He tried to convey as much false embarrassment as possible. “—Fell through the hole. Now I’m here.”
The man stared at Ronan for a few seconds. His face cycled through a few expressions. Disbelief, then suspicion, a bit of worry that faded when he saw Ronan was uninjured, and then finally he settled on amusement. He barked out a short laugh before clearing his throat. “Sorry, I shouldn’t laugh. It’s just… Well, I’ve never heard of someone falling through a tunnel like that. You’re one sturdy son of a gun. What’s your name, big fella?”
Ronan wasn’t sure whether to be offended or complimented. He decided to go with the flow. “Ronan.”
“Talkative, aren’t you? Well, I suppose you’re my responsibility now, given that you’ve somehow fallen into my tunnels. Though it does make me wonder about where you came from. That you are here means there is another set of tunnels connected to ours. I thought we were sealed off entirely. We—” A mournful look crossed his face, but he quickly suppressed it.
“Well, that’s history. Ah! Where are my manners? Nice to meet you Ronan, I’m Beom Seok.” The man held out his hand for Ronan to shake, and he obliged.
“Fucking firm grip, too. You’ll be useful, I can already see it. Anyway, follow me. Let’s get you settled in before we talk about how you can contribute. What did you do for your—” He shook his head. “No, I’m getting carried away again. I’ll find you somewhere to stay and then once you’ve had some rest we can talk.”
Beom Seok was a very talkative fellow. Sharp mind, too, but clearly overactive based on the sheer quantity of verbal diarrhea Ronan was exposed to while the man led him back to their camp.
When they arrived, Ronan realised that calling it a camp was an insult. This was a full-blown fortress. There was another white metal wall serving as the entrance, but the door to this one was half-open. There was a woman standing guard beside the door. She seemed pleased when she spotted Beom Seok, but then reached for a weapon when her gaze fell onto Ronan.
Her hand hovered on the club’s handle, but she didn’t draw it. Ronan observed her actions and realised that she trusted Beom Seok implicitly. She was also Korean, judging from her features. Or whatever passed for Korea in this version of Earth.
“Ronan, this is Ji-yoo. She’s a feisty one, but more battle-hardened than anyone else in this place. Killed two of the shapeshifting fuckers just last week.” A shiver came over the man as he spoke of the gorzerks.
And there it is. Bloody shapeshifters again. I guess I need to root them all out of this fortress without getting myself killed? Can any of these people even kill me? He glanced at the tags above the two other peoples’ heads.
[Jang Beom Seok - Human Abbot Lv.16]
[Han Ji-yoo - Human Fighter Lv.18]
The guard was a higher level than the guy leading Ronan. He seemed to be in a position of higher authority based on the interaction between the two. That confused Ronan. The system forced the rule of the strong onto the world, so a lower leveled person being in charge of a higher leveled one didn’t seem to make sense to him.
Ji-yoo didn’t speak to Ronan. She only grunted when he was introduced and watched him like a hawk as Beom Seok led him into the fortress. Where the outside was imposing and devoid of emotion, the inside was sterile, yet beautiful.
Ronan hadn’t seen architecture like it before in his life, except in a sci-fi movie. The buildings were all made from the same white metal as the walls, built in sleek and pleasing geometric shapes. Efficiency of space and function seemed to be the name of the game here. Everywhere he looked there were people doing… things.
“Damn, this place is impressive.” Beom Seok looked at Ronan with confusion when he made the remark.
“It is? To be honest I don’t think we’ve done the best we could have with the resources at our disposal, but a lot of the systems went down when the integration happened.” The man looked to the ceiling briefly. “The system takes and gives in… Well, a rather unequal measure. I can’t say I enjoy this new way of life, but we already fucked things up for ourselves way before it arrived on Earth.”
Ronan chuckled at that. “You can say that again. I mean it though, this is seriously impressive.” He leaned on the information from stage 1 to support his lie. “The place I came from was barely more than a camp. We didn’t have all this stuff that you lot clearly had. I mean fuck, the last shapeshifter that came through our place took out fifteen people before I killed it.”
Beom Seok nodded and placed a hand on Ronan’s shoulder. “I am sorry for your loss. Though it is impressive you killed one of them while being at such a low level. You must be a great warrior.”
Ronan barked another laugh. “Something like that. Anyway, I’m excited to see where I’ll be sleeping now. This is a huge upgrade in terms of comfort. I wish I could show the others.”
Beom Seok gripped Ronan’s shoulder tighter, his expression telling everything that Ronan needed to know. He had successfully socially manipulated the man into feeling pity for him. All he needed to do now was figure out who the shapeshifters were and cut them to pieces.
Yeah, this will be easy. More violence please, system. No more trauma.
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