Level-Up Apocalypse: Surviving With The Assimilation System
Chapter 137: Exiled Foe

'What? Did it sense me?--' Finn thought.

It was only then that he realized a miscalculation; the being that had its only eye stitched, not reliant on its sight, likely possessed a superior sense of hearing and feeling. There was only a millisecond to decide whether to gamble on a killing strike, or to evade.

As a chill ran across his body, replaceing the giant moving with such haste, he instinctively made his choice–

["Hollow Disengage"] [4:59]

He retreated into the shadows just as the cyclops' leg swung by, slamming its foot into the steel.

As he landed several meters away, emerging from the darkness, sweat left his pores as his heart thumped. For a brief moment while that close to the cyclops, his own body had believed it was about to die.

With its focus on him in that moment, a crackle of thunder echoed through the hollow chamber of chains–THWOOM.

An impact struck the distracted cyclops from behind before Charlotte passed right by it, flicking her blade that had a coiling cloud around it. Before the sightless giant could try and retaliate, a single step brought it to be struck by the follow-up of electricity.

"Nice one–!" Finn shouted to the spellblade, bringing himself back in.

"Mm, it's not enough though!" Charlotte responded.

"It's a damn good start, mate!" Jasper added in, coming by as he sent a slash of cobalt light at the cyclop's side.

Against its tough skin, the knight's illuminated blade didn't carve through its flesh, though it left a bleeding wound nonetheless while it was shocked. Finn approached with the intent of following up with a strike of his own, though found the cyclops moving just as he got close.

"Watch out!" Charlotte warned.

The assassin stopped his approach just as the bleeding giant opened its mouth for the first time, not speaking any discernible words, but unleashing a bellowing roar that caused the air to quake.

He could feel the ground vibrating beneath his feet as the cyclops expelled not frustration from the pain it felt, no, this was different–it was its pride.

The yell brought them all to a halt for a moment; the sheer volume of it made his bones ache and his muscles to throb momentarily as his body stiffened up. As it settled down, the cyclops turned quiet once again, reaching towards its own eye.

"What is it doing…?" Jasper questioned.

"Nothing good," Finn answered.

The exiled being tugged at the black threads that sealed its eye, gripping the stitches with its fingernails without any care before violently tugging them out. It made a repulsive sound, like paper being torn.

"He tore them out…?" Charlotte carefully observed.

The once stitched eyelids now parted, revealing a singular, large eye of a black sclera and a deep-purple iris that subtly shined.

Nova didn't waste any time repositioning herself to be behind all of them, not wanting any part in directly facing the chained giant, "Go get it! Go get it!" She cheered, half nervously.

The first step taken was by Finn, replaceing himself intercepted as the cyclop's illuminant eye honed right onto him. Its shine increased as a hum filled the stagnant air, bringing his body to urge him to move without knowing what was coming.

He dropped down to the ground on instinct just as a beam in the shade of sangria shot right above him. The cyclops turned its head to the side, carving the eye-beam through the chamber as the purple light hissed with burning intensity.

"Get down!" Finn shouted to the others.

They each dropped onto their stomachs as well while the beam was dragged horizontally, leaving a trail of melted stone against the back wall.

"Hot! Hot! Hot!" Nova called out, clutching her head and shutting her eyes while the release of energy passed above her.

Finn watched it move in a straight line across before picking himself up, taking note of the path the beam had moved in while the others stood up as well. Making it halfway through the room, the cyclops' release came to an end as its eyeball was left sizzling, shutting it for a moment as it grumbled.

In that moment of opportunity, Finn dashed while the giant clutched his heated eye. There was no way to get to its vitals with the way it clutched itself, leaving him to leave a passing gift closed in:

["Magnificent Blade"] [Mana: -600] [2100/3000] [2:59]

With the unison of fire and lightning, he brought both daggers across its abdomen in an "X" slash, spurring a reaction as the dual elements roared against the giant's coal flesh. The impact blew the cyclops back as it roared out, stumbling as it forced its eye open again.

An "X" shaped wound was left on the Exiled Cyclop's body as blood leaked from its stomach, even bringing its breathing to seem uneven now.

"Good hit, mate! He's feeling that one!" Jasper shouted.

Finn quickly moved back with the others, "I don't think it can see while it uses that eye-beam attack. It could've easily just turned its head down to get me, but it didn't." He presumed.

The spellblade kept her blade empowered with another infusion of lightning, staying ready as she watched the enemy across the chamber, adding what she saw, "It couldn't move after, either. Doing that must strain its eye a whole lot."

"Not a very good ultimate move then, is it–waaah!"

Amidst Jasper's snide remark towards the cyclops, a chain came in like a lunging snake, wrapping around the knight's wrist before he was pulled right off of his feet and into the air.

"Jasper!--" Finn shouted.

As watched his friend be tossed around in the air by the chain, he suddenly felt something wrap around his ankle. Looking down, he found the chain tightly holding onto his leg.

"Shit–!"

Before he could even attempt to break it, the cyclops tugged on the chain, yanking him off his feet as he was swung up into the air as well. It was a sheer display of strength and finesse from the cyclops, who swung around the grown men on the ends of the chains as though they were merely parts of the whips.

"I'm…gonna…hurl, mate!" Jasper gasped out before smacking right against the wall. "Ghh!"

"Dammit…!" Finn pushed out through gritted teeth, trying to reach for the chain around his ankle, though the g-forces from being swung so swiftly kept changing him from being upside-down or facing sideways.

They were being used as human nunchucks, at least that's how it felt; utterly unable to move amidst the giant's dance with the chains.

A stomach-churning predicament, though, quickly turned to one more painful as he found the wall quickly approaching as he was swung around again. Using all of his focus, he pointed his hand against the upcoming, rigid stone–

["Shell Barrer"] [1:59]

The ethereal shield manifested just as he would've been sent right into the wall, acting as a cushion as he pressed against it, allowing his shoulder to glide against the shield.

"Hold on!" Charlotte shouted, trying to close in.

Though he heard the spellblade's reassuring words, he could briefly make out amidst his rampant rollercoaster that the cyclops unleashed another burst from its eye, forcing Charlotte to get down.

Keep the adventure going with m|vl-em|p-yr

"Jasper…!" Finn shouted, replaceing it hard to fill his lungs with air in the chaotic spinning. "Can you cut your chain!?"

The knight was left groaning still, mostly limp as he was still swung around with blood leaking from the gap in his helmet, "No…no way, mate. I can't…focus for a second…like this!"

While it would be simple enough to warp away, the problem was that the chain around his ankle forbade him from doing so. As he racked his brain for a solution, he was suddenly tugged down, completely reversing his momentum as he found his back suddenly being pulled towards the ground.

"Finn!" Charlotte shouted, picking herself just as the beam dispersed.

While he heard her voice, it did nothing to help as he was brought down in unison with the knight, slammed with such intensity that all of the wind was knocked from his lungs. Not just air, but saliva and blood was spat out of his mouth from the crash, feeling the steel flooring right up against his back.

He yelped in pain, sharing the same experience as the knight from their sudden downfall. A silver lining came in the cyclop's brief stint of exhaustion after using his eye, keeling over as the chains were released.

"Hey! Hey…! Please get up!" Charlotte urged with clear worry in her voice.

Finn found Charlotte at his side, carefully helping him up, though just the act of standing was a painful experience as his entire body was left throbbing.

It wasn't just his back, but his head that hurt, replaceing a migraine now from the impact, "Urgh…"

All things considered, he was grateful to be unbroken, though undeniably concussed as blood leaked from his nose. The impact would've assuredly turned a normal person into tomato sauce, almost frightening to him that his bones were left unshattered, even if only barely.

As he looked over, the bard helped Jasper to his feet, though the knight hardly looked any better.

"Finn, we should get out of here–we still can," Charlotte suggested urgently.

He straightened himself out, not leaning on the spellblade as he breathed out, wiping the blood from his lip, "No. It'll chase us down, and we don't exactly have anywhere to run outside, remember?"

"Right…" Charlotte accepted. "But, still, you're hurt. You can't fight like that–"

"I can. I've managed through worse," Finn assured her, wearing a smile as he stood straight, though hiding from her just how dizzy he felt as the room spun.