Level-Up Apocalypse: Surviving With The Assimilation System
Chapter 134: The Old Kingdom

As he flipped himself around, the three-headed knight swept its swords through a multitude of the plunged blades, bisecting the old steel without any regard as it continued its relentless assault.

Finding an opening was like replaceing a needle in a haystack; the countless arms, the limitless stamina, and the deathly strength of the undead–a single failure would spell the end.

Even as he knew that–

SQUELCH

After dodging one blade that swept down towards him, as he centered his feet, another sword came down from above, dragging against his chest in a downwards motion. It was merely a graze, though enough to leave a harrowing cut.

Before further blood could spill, he clenched his body–

["Unbleeding"] [9:59]

The skill taken from the lesser deity of leeches halted the loss of blood, even if only a temporary fix. It was enough to let him move forward in spite of the laceration, using it as an opening as he pressed his palm against the knight's middle helmet:

["Touch of Rot"]

He had to reach up just to bring his fingertips to the dragon-shaped helmet, quickly decaying the old, black steel as it cracked all over.

"Watch out!" Charlotte shouted from her bound position.

Without needing to look, Finn could feel the wind change behind him, being closed in on from every angle by the many blades of the undead.

["Hollow Disengage"] [4:59]

He relinquished himself to the shadows just as the blades swept in, passing straight through his fleeting, incorporeal form before he returned just a few meters away. A quick exhale left his lips at the intense dance of life-and-death, not given a moment to breathe as the knight was already fast on his heels.

'I weakened the center helmet…I can break it away now,' he planned, looking at the cracked helm.

An opening was needed again; a single moment, just enough not to be turned to mincemeat by the swarm of steel. Just as the three-headed knight came within a couple meters of him, he held his ground, stomping his boot down with an intense force:

["Wind Upheaval"] [4:59]

A torrent rose around him, swirling intensely as the ashen soil was cast away. The eruption of wind was enough to push back against the beast-helmed warrior, staggering the undead. He was thankful for the skill assimilated from the Storm Knight in that moment, tossing his blade right above the height of the grafted one in that same moment.

["Blade Warp"] [Mana: -100] [2900/3000]

["Orcish Boost"] [4:59]

Right above the heads of the risen knight, he warped amidst a flip, bringing his leg around in a devastating spinning kick that slammed right down against the cracked, middle helmet–SHATTER.

What was revealed beneath the steel that broke like brittle glass was a fractured skull, completely devoid of any semblance of life.

"Boom!" Jasper shouted in encouragement.

"Get 'em!" Nova yelled, though more so supporting in hopes of being freed from the grotesque bindings.

Just as he landed on his feet, he was faced down by the exposed, hollow eyes of the three-headed knight. The risen warrior lifted its many weapons as the putrid force wrapped itself around each blade like a foul air.

"Don't get pissed because I exposed that ugly mug," Finn muttered, readying himself. "Replication."

The mass of abyssal fluid separated itself from him, though he found himself confronted by the knight's swarm of miasmic blades quickly.

["Deadly Clairvoyance"] [0:29]

Using the limited foresight, he could see where each of the limbs intended to swing a partial millisecond ahead, though it strained his eyes to witness each line. Though only a partial insight to the enemy's movements, it was more than enough to guide him as he conroted his body like an acrobat to avoid the foul-infused weapons.

Perhaps at one point in time, he would've frozen up when facing such an imposing foe, though his accumulated experiences led him to move freely without fear.

'Any day now–!' He hurriedly thought while evading.

The relentless swings from every direction continued as he jumped, flipped, spun himself around, ducked down–performing every action as though in a dance as well. Each miss brought the blades of hollow infusion to crash down against the soil with shrieks of the undead.

He was completely caught in the spider's web, having a dozen blades closing in all at once. Perhaps he could avoid most of them, though nonetheless, it would only take one to snuff out his life–

"Hurry it up!" Finn shouted.

As the blades closed in, they suddenly stopped as the three-headed knight froze up. The exposed skull from the risen warrior was promptly crushed by the dagger of the one who had climbed up its back.

The doppelganger of the assassin successfully assassinated the many-armed figure, bringing its limbs to fall limp before the body shrouded in old armor slumped over. Just as the knight faded into the ashen soil, the replication was dismissed.

["Undead Martial Knight defeated."] ["Anarch Coin x2500 obtained."]

[Experience Points: +10000] [26100/80000]

[Assimilated ability from ["Undead Martial Knight"]: "Shadow Grafting"]

With the being vanquished, the ensnaring bones crumbled as well, freeing those that were held captive as Nova looked a moment from puking.

Before Finn could even release a breath of relief, he was pounced on by the bard who hugged him as though he were her hero.

"Thank you! Thank you!" Nova repeated.

Finn was taken aback by the gesture, softly grabbing the small girl's soldiers before moving her off, "--You're welcome? Let's try not to get captured that easily next time, all of you, I mean."

"Hey, mate, we don't all have those cat-like reflexes," Jasper said, giving him a pat on the shoulder.

"Sorry," Charlotte instead apologized.

Finn felt bad after his comment, taking it back as he continued marching forward, "I was just kidding. I almost got caught, too–it was mostly luck."

The idea of facing more undead that lurked in the soil of the past war was not a fun thought, bringing nobody to drag their feet on moving onward. It was across what felt like a few more miles of the barren landscape before the region dipped down into a new part.

"Whoa–look at that," Jasper pointed out.

Finn stood at the edge of it that seemed to run on for miles in each direction: a colossal crater that dipped into the world's crust. In the center of the massive hole of ash and dirt sat ruins of a kingdom, built of old, gray stone weathered by countless years.

"Well, this has to be what gramps was talking about," Finn pointed out.

"Yeah, but I didn't expect it to be…this big," Charlotte said.

What was expected to be a single structure was a vast city, or at least, the remnants of it. Finn slid down the slope of the crater, immediately replaceing the air to be much more brisk when approaching the corpse of the old kingdom. Enjoy reading at m vl|em,pyr

As they each came down, there was a complete lack of coordination from Nova, who practically stumbled her way down to the base of the crater, "Waah–made it." The girl exhaled, brushing the dirt off her knees.

There were still towers left standing, though deprived of half their mass as debris laid, partially submerged into the soil.

"I wonder how it all ended up like this," Charlotte wondered.

"Looks like a single bad breeze could bring this place down," Jasper remarked.

Finn carefully strolled through the ruins, replaceing a carriage that had begun serving as the base of a tree, engulfed in roots.

"It's hard to remember that sometimes this world might even be older than ours. With a history of its own. It's all going to crumble away soon enough, though," Finn mentioned with a somber tone as he brushed his hand against the remnants of the root-grasped, wooden carriage.

"Seems like this place has had to deal with monsters its whole life, though–I guess we can count ourselves lucky we're only just now experiencing that," Jasper remarked, gazing up at the remnants of a clock tower afflicted with charred stone.

"It's totally giving me the jeebies," Nova shuddered, hugging herself as she nervously looked around.

Charlotte seemed to agree as she stood by the bard, "I get where you're coming from…I don't like the air around this place at all."

It wasn't far off for Finn, either–he felt the same, odd atmosphere that lingered around the ruins inhabiting the ominous crater. The thought of exploring the ruinous structures was brought with hesitance as he carefully stepped past the threshold of what appeared to be an old church.

He was cautious as not to have the remnants of the building come crumbling down on top of him, though he found it was still intact.

"Look at that, mate. I think I'd call that a divine miracle," Jasper said, stepping in right behind him as he looked up.

Finn tilted his head, seeing what the knight pointed at as he found the entire ceiling had long since fallen, all except for a chunk of the roof that held paintings of a golden figure. Only by a single pillar did it remain standing, though a single kick might bring it down.

"Divine miracles are just the opposite nowadays," Finn remarked, continuing to explore the religious grounds.