Level-Up Apocalypse: Surviving With The Assimilation System

The lever was found by the front gate, allowing him to simply pull it as the wooden entrance slowly opened itself up with a loud rumble. As it was opened up, he stood there, waving his hand towards the treeline of the forest.

"It's clear!" He shouted.

Not a second later did he find the sight of his comrades emerging from behind the bushes, making their way over with a quick jog.

"You're alright? Nothing happened?" Charlotte asked, stepping a bit into the assassin's personal space to inspect him for any wounds.

Finn let her check as he wore a smile, "Yeah, I'm fine. There's nothing in here, I'm pretty sure."

"A ghost town, then. Wonderful," Magnus remarked, stepping through the gate.

The cannoneer and knight didn't waste any time entering the walled-off area as they both inspected the charred homes.

As Finn turned around to go back into the fallen settlement, he found his sleeve grabbed from behind.

"Are you sure you're fine? You look tired," Charlotte pressed the assassin again.

"I told you, I'm completely okay—" He assured her again.

As he claimed so, he stopped as he felt a warm sliding down from his nose, trickling over his lip. He touched the wet spot on his face, finding blackened blood leaking from his nostril.

"Finn? You're bleeding…!" Charlotte said worriedly.

"Ah—? This is…" He tried to explain, not knowing an explanation himself as a dizziness set in.

There was a buzzing in his ears, deafening the voice of his worried friend out as he stared at that blood on his hand.

As he looked up, past the moving lips of Charlotte, he could see that figure standing at the edge of the forest.

The greyscale man.

He blinked only once and the transient figure was gone, as was the ringing in his ears and the dizziness that came with it.

"—Finn? Are you hearing me?" Charlotte asked.

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He nodded his head, wiping off the blood onto his coat, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bit lightheaded there for a moment."

Charlotte didn't seem to completely buy it, though begrudgingly accepted, "…If you say so. You know, if you're tired or hurting, you can let me know, right?"

"I know. Thank you," Finn said with a small smile.

While the hesitant girl entered the settlement with him following right behind, he held his head for a moment in thought.

'Am I losing it? I don't know anymore,' he wondered.

The remnants of the old town left behind nothing, finding himself inspecting a house with only ash left for belongings.

From the unending rainfall, the petrichor was all that could be smelled in the lost settlement. He entered a house without a roof, walking on the wooden floorboards that sank in beneath his step, being pushed apart like dough.

"I wonder how long it's been like this," Charlotte wondered, looking around the remnants of the home.

"That guide said this world is "fading", right? I guess it's in no better shape than ours," Finn remarked, poking his finger against a wall as it simply pierced right through the brittle plank.

"It's worse off, I think," Charlotte said.

"Hard to say, it's just…different. This world is going to be our home for a while, so we better get used to it," Finn reasoned, though found himself mostly agreeing.

There was nothing to be found from exploring the homes, he discovered, leaving the charred remnants of the house as he found Magnus inspecting the ground.

"What's up?" Finn asked as he walked over to the knelt cannoneer.

Magnus remained looking down at the weathered cobblestone before standing up, pointing down, "I don't know if I'm going crazy, but…you see that, right? It's everywhere, all across the streets."

He looked down as Charlotte did the same, seeing just what it was that had the cannoneer troubled. It only looked like burnt pieces of the stone road before, though upon closer inspection, he found it to be too particular of shapes; it was outlines of bodies, burnt into the street.

"This is terrible…" Charlotte quietly said.

"Whatever it is, I doubt it happened recently," Magnus assured in his own way of trying to provide some relief.

Finn looked around at the rain-decayed town, "Where's Jasper?" He asked.

"I believe he went further down–" Magnus said.

An answer came in the form of a yell coming from up ahead; an indistinct scream that didn't sound in pain, though one made out of shock.

"Jasper?!" Finn shouted, quickly sprinting over.

"Shit," Magnus pushed an exhale out while following behind alongside the spellblade.

The yell of the aussie came from up ahead; a dilapidated manor that looked to be a nobleman's home of some kind by its sheer size, preceded by a court yard overtaken by nature. Just as Finn stepped foot onto the courtyard, he watched the front entrance to the mansion be ruptured–

"Waaooooh!"

Flung out from the stone exterior was the knight, flipping himself around as he landed on his feet. It didn't look as though he simply smashed his way out of the entrance, but was rather thrown out.

"Jasper? What's going on?--" Finn asked.

The helmed man caught himself, stumbling a bit before straightening out, "Ah…There was something big and mean in there–it's coming!

From the hole made in the entrance of the town's mansion, a larger one was forged from what tore its way out of the building. It stomped out with a broad, stocky body of charred-black skin with fire and smoke exuding from the cracks in its burnt flesh.

Each downfall of the burnt monster's feet caused the entire courtyard to rumble, standing as tall as the pillars that held up the front of the manor.

"What the hell…is that?" Magnus asked.

"It's an ogre, at least I think?" Finn answered while calling upon his weapon, finding the odd, charred state of the creature to be perplexing.

"Mean sucker, that one is! I was just peeking around and it bulldozed through the back of the house! Lucky I had my shield raised," Jasper said as an imprint of the burning knuckles of the ogre left steam exuded from the aegis.

With the rain befalling the fiend's heated body, a coat of vapor oozed off of it as it brought itself into the middle of the courtyard. Its eyes and mouth held only flames within it, bordering on more of an elemental existence rather than one of corporeal form.

"Hey, do you think that this thing is responsible for the state of this place?" Finn asked the cannoneer beside him.

Magnus kept his cannon ready, quietly answering, "I'd say it's like catching one with a bloody knife at a stabbing."

"Look–it's doing something!" Charlotte called out.

Sure enough, the fire-born ogre puffed out its chest as the cracks in its charred body ignited with flames that shone from an orange to a frightening shade of blue. As it leaned forward, opening its mouth with the glow of the azure blaze seen in its maw, it became clear what was coming–

"Incoming!" Jasper shouted, raising his shield.

["Stance: Walls of The Iridescent Castle"]

In front of the knight's shield, an ethereal manifestation of thick, fortified walls were created, spanning multiple meters with enough reach to cover the others.

The flames breathed from the ogre's mouth crashed against the grandiose barrier, creating a bright-blue wave like that of a burning ocean.

"This better hold!" Magnus shouted from beside the knight.

"Just shut up and lemme focus!" Jasper retorted.

As the imposing ogre expelled the bright-blue flames, it moved closer one stomp at a time.

The ethereal walls began to crack and melt, bringing Jasper to shake as he tried to stay stable, "I can't hold it…!"

"Just a bit more!" Magnus shouted.

It didn't seem as though the ogre planned on stopping its relentless breath of fire anytime soon, marching closer as the pressure of the heat laid on.

Finn could see the knight struggling as his boots slid across the cobblestone desperately to maintain his ground.

'Shit…alright!' He decided.

He ran to the side, hopping up on a desecrated carriage by the manor gates, using it as a foothold to jump higher. Bringing himself high enough to see over the defensive walls of the knight, he threw his dagger towards the charred barbarian.

"Finn?!" Charlotte watched.

["Blade Warp"] [Mana: -100] [2400/2500]

He crossed through the wall and behind the left shoulder of the smoldering monster, catching his dagger in the instant movement.

The warp brought him to land right on its shoulder, feeling as though he was standing on burning coals.

Its head was as large as his body, covered in tough, rocky skin. He decided not to try and use his blade on such a durable target, instead opting in that moment to use blunt force.

["Orcish Boost"] [4:59]

A sharp kick was delivered to the side of the fire-breathing ogre's head. The impact barely moved its neck, though brought an end to its blazing belch.

He hopped off of its shoulder, though stumbling for a moment as he placed weight on the foot he used to knock its head.

'Shit—that hurt me more than it, from the looks of it…' Finn thought.