Level-Up Apocalypse: Surviving With The Assimilation System

Chapter 8: The Second Impact

As he jumped up to his feet, he watched as the room that his partner was ducking into suffered the same fate—CRASH.

"Ghh!—" Damian winced, staying low as the wall of the bathroom was blasted through.

It was like an unseen bomb triggering from the other side of the house. Both the men stayed low as the drills of wind burrowed through the now busted walls.

Each time a blast came from the monstrous entity, the whirring sound brought a ringing to Finn's ears. He could feel each and every one of the compressions of air vibrate his body, even if he remained untouched.

"Damian—it's taking away our cover! We have to attack now!" Finn shouted from the decimated kitchen.

"I know! But how?! This thing won't let us get close, will it?!" Damian asked, using his axe as a shield against the flying rubble.

"Use Earthen Slam! Then I'll close the gap!" Finn shouted, having to speak over another roar of wind that came down the corridor.

Damian's eyes seemed to be opened at the instruction, standing himself up as he flexed his arms, "—Right!"

["Earthen Slam"] [3:59]

With a lift of his axe, it was brought down with a tremendous force, slamming down against the ground with a thunderous impact.

The force sent a ripple through the floor, tunneling through the tiles. Such a monstrous slam was enough to send a veil of debris towards the entity, blocking its view.

At the same time, Finn slipped out from the kitchen, using the hole formed through the wall to get through.

'Quickly now!' Finn thought.

The blast of debris from the warrior's attack had taken the Nachtalb's attention towards the bathroom, letting Finn get close.

Coming out from the kitchen brought him to the right side of the living room, bringing him just a few meters to the white-eyed entity's left.

He had the jump, finding the sharp-eared, malicious being not yet noticing him. A quick dash brought him within striking distance.

His sights were set on its exposed jugular, bringing his dagger towards it with vicious precision.

'—There!' He thought as a feeling of vengeance swelled in his body, knowing full well that the entity before him was the one responsible for his loss.

It made contact with the humanoid's accursed flesh, yet—

"What?—"

Instead of finding the dagger plunged into the being's neck, it was stabbed through the palm of its hand, stopped short of a killing blow.

Now he found it staring right at him with its luminescent gaze, holding an unmoving expression as if pain wasn't a concept to it.

'It caught it?! It wasn't even looking my way before—the hell are these reflexes?!' He questioned, attempting to pull his blade out.

It was a struggle to retrieve his weapon from its hand, not that it even gripped the dagger. He felt the muscles in its palm squeezing around the blade, not allowing it to move. The Nachtalb slowly brought its fingers around the young man's hand, grabbing hold of it.

SNAP

With a jarring motion, the sharp-eared entity twisted its own wrist, forcing the same open upon Finn's own wrist as it snapped out of place.

"Nngh!" Finn let out, wincing as sweat left his body.

The other hand of the unblinking predator slowly reached out to him, inching towards his abdomen.

A chill ran down his spine as he naturally imagined what horrific fate would await if that hand touched him before—

"Hraaah!"

With a cross between bravery and recklessness, the encouraging yell came from the warrior. Damian ran in from behind, taking the distracted Nachtalb's back.

It removed its hand from the dagger, spinning itself around as it moved its other arm to intercept the warrior.

A bad move; Damian already swung his axe, cleaving straight through the entity's thin arm.

"Now, Finn!" Damian yelled.

Just then, the Nachtalb reached out with its other arm, not touching the warrior but the air itself as a blast struck the sturdy man.

"Gaah!" Damian yelled as he was thrown across the room by the force.

In that moment, being released from the monster's hold only because of his companion's bravery, he forgot his own pain. He dropped his dagger from his damaged wrist, catching it in his other hand as he stepped forward.

Against an enemy undeniably stronger than him, he called upon any source of strength he could, flexing his body–

["Orcish Boost"] [4:59]

He felt his muscles coil with newfound, but fleeting power, existing only for a sparse few moments. Still, it allowed him to move quicker and swing harder, granting him enough strength to surely rend the flesh of the monster before him.

Finn didn't hesitate, not having the luxury to do so as he brought his blade to the emotionless being's neck:

["Assassin's Strike"] [2:29]

A clean, perfect cut made its way across its throat. Even if for a moment, the distraction caused the attack to be recognized as an assassination, leading to such an effective assault.

["Nachtalb defeated."] ["Anarc Coin x25 obtained]

[Experience points gained: +1200]

[Level Seven reached] [450/2000]

[Assimilated ability from [Nachtalb]: "Touch Burst" 1 / 5]

[New Skill(s) Obtained: "Blink Slash"]

As all of his rewards for slaying the creature were displayed to him, he caught his breath as he watched it slump over.

He looked up, realizing his partner was still hit by it, "Damian! Are you—"

Just as he showed concern, he realized it was misplaced as he found the brawny-built man picking himself up. Though the wall had been cracked and dust fell, Damian only brushed himself off.

"Damn, that hurt...You got it?" Damian asked.

"Yeah, it's dead," Finn said, holding his wrist as he found it to be returned to its unbroken form. "Did you level up from that?"

"Yeah, I think so," Damian confirmed.

That confirmed it for Finn; that reaching a new level freed one of all of their current wounds, mystically healing all injuries. A relieving discovery, though merely a small respite in the depraved condition of the world.

As the adrenaline settled from the encounter, Finn caught his breath, looking at the desolate state of his childhood home; the walls fallen, blood painted on the couch. It was a sight enough to draw tears from his eyes, bringing forth the emotion he tried to restrain.

"Shit...I was too late," Finn said, seeing that bloodstain. "I was too late." He repeated.

Damian placed his hand on the grieving one's shoulder, shaking his head, "Don't do that. With the way the world is right now, if you blame yourself for not being able to save someone, you'll just end up doing that forever."

"But, I should've–I should've been here," Finn said, finding the tears leaving abundantly as he tried not to imagine what his parent felt in such terrifying last moments. "What kind of son am I?"

"One that came here to look for his mother, even if it meant walking through hell," Damian told him. "Listen, Finn. Before I ran into you, there's a lot of people I tried helping. I failed–each and every single time. Of course, I blamed myself, but I realized...if I kept doing that, I'd just stop trying."

It was difficult to let the man's words of reason determine how he felt, as the pain that welled up in his chest was not one so easily cast away. Perhaps it would never fade, though maybe that wasn't such a bad thing.

"Just hold onto that," Damian told him lightly. "I'm sure there's people out there, still trying. The world only ends when we stop fighting. We just have to endure."

Finn wiped his own tears, forcing an exhale as he straightened himself out, "Yeah."

One last look was taken at the house before they began to take their leave through the back entrance. As they walked through the decimated corridor, approaching the exit, Damian looked confused by something.

"That fight was pretty loud, wasn't it? Now that I think about it, I'm surprised we aren't getting swarmed by goblins," Damian wondered.

"Yeah, it is odd," Finn said, looking towards the back door as something caught his eye.

Just outside, there was an odd shine; like sunlight, only of an emerald glow. The curious light brought both men to step back out of the house, looking up at the sky.

["...At that moment, that's when the second impact hit..."]

It was a sight that left both silent, entranced and bewildered by it; the ocean of the air was completely consumed by a verdant radiance as if a star itself was colliding with the world.

"What the hell is that?" Finn finally spoke, feeling all too small at what he saw as he stepped forward.

Damian stood still as the blades of grass danced at the stirring winds, "It's just like when all of this started–that red glow. A second one?"

The emerald impact shook the great expanse, founding winds that chanted across the surface. It was hard to tell if that all-encompassing glow was bringing the end of the world, or something else.

All they could do was stare, as was the same for those across the world that had survived thus far; the "Second Impact" was witnessed as the world's crust rumbled in its wake.

The air flexed, inducing a hum that pulsed through the world like a siren beckoning what arrived.

As they watched it, the radiance amplified, completely blinding them with its shine as all they could was close their eyes in that moment. It settled, though something else increased; the rumbling intensified.

"Finn! Look!" Damian shouted.

Opening his eyes, the young man witnessed what the shine brought. From the great blue yonder, they descended; colossal towers of marble came down, implanting into the world's surface.

In addition to the structures, vast chunks of land hung in the sky, of colorful, fantastical biomes, visible even from so far below.

"What the hell are those?!" Damian asked, completely perplexed by the sight.

"Towers, floating islands–the world is changing," Finn realized, feeling his heart pumping with an increased rapidity.

["The First Impact brought the monsters of fantasy to our world, bringing ruin and chaos to its streets. It was the Second Impact that changed the world on a more fundamental level–the landscape was forever altered; towers descended, islands hung in the skies, dungeons permeated through the crust.

The world we knew was gone, and on the first day, seventy percent of humanity with it."]