Level-Up Apocalypse: Surviving With The Assimilation System

There wasn't any time to think as Finn immediately found himself being confronted by one of the alien beings.

'Right now, I need to conserve my mana. I'd like to keep myself from using any cooldowns if possible as well. I'll need everything for the Moon–that's for sure,' he planned. Continue reading on empire

The first of the strange life forms arrived, leaping right for him. Its pale body morphed; the arm of the creature unraveled into tendrils that whipped around before piercing downward as snow-white spears.

Finn flipped back as the spiked limbs stabbed into the asphalt, glancing behind him as he found another of the faceless life forms attempting to cut him off.

Its arm took the form of a man-sized cleaver, fully intent on bisecting him—

["Phantom Retreat"]

—Backwards into a mist of shadows, he emerged right behind the entity that had tried to flank him. He immediately plunged his dagger into the back of its head, or at least, he tried.

The pale creature's head split down the middle, parting like dough being melded by hands. It's head became covered in razor sharp spikes like teeth, clamping down around his hand.

He quickly pulled his hand away as the life form's halved head regrouped, narrowly missing losing it.

'Close,' he thought.

There wasn't a moment to breathe as he immediately ducked down, finding another of the pale beings attempting a flank. Its arm took the form of a colorless shark, snapping its jaws just above his body.

Evading the malleable jaws, he pressed his palms against the coarse asphalt, delivering a sharp kick upward at the pale form's chin. Even sending his boot sharply against its head, it only caused its snow-white flesh to ripple like dough, denting it only briefly before it filled its chin back in.

'Nothing?' Finn observed, jumping back to his feet.

"These things–! It's like trying to cut water!" Arnold's desperate voice emitted from the Radegast, firing off bullets at the life forms that sprinted across the building surfaces.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

While standing over ten meters in height, the Radegast moved like an Olympic sprinter, with the nimbleness of an acrobat. A pair of blades scaled for the robotic suit were released from hidden compartments, unfolding as the Radegast slashed at the pursuing life forms.

Seeing it in combat, Finn was left in awe, as though witnessing a part of his childhood materialized before his eyes.

"Holy shit—look at it go," Finn mumbled, casually ducking a stray whip-arm from one of the Moon-born fiends.

The street rumbled beneath the quick steps of the agile giant of steel, felt vibrating beneath his own feet. With a single motion of its arm, the piloted Radegast carved through the middle of a produce store, bisecting a trio of the alien life forms in the process.

Watching it move with such finesse despite its size, it distracted him briefly, nearly allowing him to be caught by a duo of the peculiar creature before he flipped out of the way. One swiped at him with an arm turned to an axe, while the other morphed one of its legs into a lunging tiger.

'Is there any limit to what they can change their bodies to? It's becoming impossible to predict,' he thought.

["Spring Foot"] [0:29]

Connecting right into his evasive movement, he immediately sprung towards one of the moon-born life forms, stabbing his dagger into its chest. Mere inches from piercing, the blade failed to make contact as the entity's torso parted like a donut hole.

'Again?--' He thought.

Without pulling his arm away, he immediately followed up with another attempt–

["Blink Slash"]

He instantly adjusted, moving slightly forward, slashing at the throat of the life form without any gap in time allowed for it to react.

The feedback felt wrong; it wasn't a "cut" so much as it felt like pushing something with his blade.

'Nope. No good,' he observed, immediately spinning around, sliding back as he ducked his head.

The malleable entity retaliated, lashing its arm out as a bundle of mouths that took on the form of predators—wolves, tigers, lions, even a bear.

A dance needed to be performed to evade the snapping jaws of the fake beasts, flipping onto his hands before hopping back up.

["Greater Gale Blessing"] [4:59] ["Supercharge"]

Around his daggers, the ferocious winds were amplified before he slashed in the direction of the group of aliens.

The enchantment of wind extended his range, producing an onslaught of air blades that sliced through the beings like a thousand knives.

To his surprise, as the visceral wind made contact with the trio of alien's bodies, they burst into thousands of square, white chunks.

"Ah—?" He let out with a raised eyebrow.

With the sliding wind settling down, he watched the disembodied chunks quickly converge again. It only took a few seconds before the squared pieces of malleable flesh returned to their original form, rebuilt as though nothing had happened.

"Seriously?" He muttered, watching the life forms turn towards him with their unharmed bodies.

The same fate was left for the beings cut by the Radegast's blade, reconnecting like puddles of water forming back together.

"Finn!" Arnold shouted from the cockpit. "These things can't be hurt by normal means! Nothing's working!"

"Yeah, I know!" Finn yelled in response, hopping over a street-side bench just as it was cut apart by a transformed, sharp limb.

It simply felt futile to try and counter with any attack: they morphed around his daggers, reforming from any blunt strikes.

'Fighting these feels like a video game, practicing against a training dummy where they recover to one-hundred percent HP instantly,' he observed.

["Shell Barrier"]

"Replication."

["Shell Barrier"]

In front and behind him, he formed two ethereal shields just as the life forms attempted to assault him from both sides. The mantis-like limbs of the front entity was stopped, while the one behind attempted to break through with a body morphed like a triceratops.

As both of the barriers cracked, beginning to give, he lifted his right foot—

["Commanding Stomp"]

"Replication!—"

["Commanding Stomp"]

As he slammed his boot down, two shock waves were produced, rippling the asphalt as the life forms were blown away. The force was enough to twist and cave in the bodies of the moon-born entities, though they quickly jumped back up without harm.

It was becoming clear to him it was only wasting time, glancing back to see the small planet in the distance producing another ominous hum.

"Finn! Get out of the way—!"

The command suddenly came from the pilot of the Radegast down the block. Finn looked over, finding the mechanical giant standing still as the life forms crawled up its legs.

"What? What're you doing—?!" Finn shouted.

The Radegast began producing a violent hum, increasing in volume as a shine produced throughout its structure.

Arnold's voice emitted, "—I'm initiating this unit's self-destruct protocol! It'll be the only way to put these creepy bastards down…I think!"

"You think?! I think that's something you have to be certain with!" Finn yelled back, quickly kicking one of the fiends away.

"Don't worry! I'll eject before it blows—just get outta here!" Arnold warned. "Get cover!—"