Level-Up Apocalypse: Surviving With The Assimilation System

The giant collapsed face first as he plucked its dagger out, immediately flipping back as he felt its kin seeking revenge. Its fist passed right beneath him as his back was to the ground, twisting himself around in the air while discarding his dagger in favor of a more favorable weapon.

["Bone-Forged Cleaver"]

The repulsive blade was manifested as he turned, landing his feet on the outstretched arm of the titan before sprinting up before it had the time to move. As it sought to move, he swept the visceral edge through its neck, ignoring the sturdiness of its shell altogether.

In that moment, he disregarded the disgust he held for the weapon; he didn't let him stop him, as all he wanted in that moment was something capable of eviscerating the tough exterior of the monster–and he had that.

["Mineral Titan defeated."] ["Anarch Coin x2000 obtained."]

[Experience Points: +5000] [31010/60000]

[Assimilated ability from [Mineral Titan]: "Summon: Boulder" 3 / 5]

He didn't stop as he used the now plummeting, headless titan's body as a platform to leap over to the next source of experience. The titan hoisted a massive chunk of stone from the pit of geodes, heaving it towards him.

As he watched the boulder close in on him like a colossal softball, he tossed the cleaver around with a quick motion–a gamble born from the freedom of fear in that moment.

["Blade Warp"] [Mana: -100] [2550/2750]

He was unable to see where the cleaver had gone in its path, instead met with a surprise sight as he warped to its location, brought to the right hip of the titan.

"--Replication," he expelled the invocation quietly and with focus.

A second copy of the vile cleaver manifested into his left hand just as he swung the original, taking out the leg planted right in front of him. With flawless sharpness, the titan crashed down while bringing its fist down upon him.

Finn met it halfway, using the replicated cleaver to slash right down the middle of the hulking, stone fist, parting its limb down the middle. A grumble left the rocky creature's mouth as its arm was rejected, leaving it completely open to the assassin's strike now.

Before the giant could use its only functional limb to attack, he dragged both of the cleavers through its body, eviscerating stone and flesh in a long swipe. The brutal motion turned the titan into three sections, splitting it onto the quarry.

["Mineral Titan defeated."] ["Anarch Coin x2000 obtained."]

[Experience Points: +5000] [36010/60000]

[Assimilated ability from [Mineral Titan]: "Mineral Armor" 4 / 5]

An exhale escaped his lips as he discarded the foul cleavers, calling back his dagger as he looked at the results of following the crusher's impulsiveness. The field of rocks was left scattered with the remnants of the stone giants, split and crushed. Exclusive tales from m v lemp-yr

While he caught his breath, he watched Seung land in front of him without a sweat broken, yet still holding that gleeful smile.

"Nice moves! Never seen cleavers like that, though–pretty gnarly. Looks like you get the idea now," Seung remarked. "How're you feeling? Pretty damn good, right?"

"--I can see the benefits in this," Finn gave a partial answer, not wanting to indulge the wild figure.

A laugh poured from Seung, as if proud of himself in the effectiveness of his methods before giving the assassin a slap on the shoulder, "It's only been a few minutes, and look at how much you've accumulated. Imagine going at it for hours now, days. Just gotta stop worrying about all this shit and bring the fight to 'em."

Finn didn't exactly know how to feel about that method, imagining that one bad day is all it would take to end up in a grave, stumbling upon the wrong grouping of monsters. He looked up at the sky, seeing the reversed region above being a mirror image of the flat, plain quarry.

"Heads up–feel that?" Seung asked him with an excited smirk.

There was a hum coming from the ground, incurring a crescendo from the subtle rumbling to an intense vibration, bringing the pebbles atop the flat surface to tremble.

"Yeah. That wasn't the last of them, was it?" Finn questioned as he brought his daggers out.

Seung crashed his knuckles together with a laugh, "'Course not! This is the best part–we woke up the big baddy!"

The intense rumbling peaked as cracks formed along the quarry, culminating into the crack in the center ahead that opened up. What came up from beneath the surface brought such an earthquake that its size would be nothing short of mountainous, yet–

Finn witnessed a figure rise from the crack in the ground that was no larger than the mineral titans, if not slightly smaller. It shared the same, pink flesh as the others, devoid of any features other than a muscular body covered in veins that held a silver glow within.

'It doesn't have a shell exterior? By all means, it looks weaker, but…No, that couldn't be further from the case,' he recognized.

["Sleuth Status"]

[...Assessing information about [???]...]

[BOSS Identified: "Arbiter of Stone"] [Level: 40]

"Hell yeah! We hit the jackpot!" Seung celebrated, grinding the knuckles of his gauntlets together in delighted anticipation.

Finn didn't quite share the same excitement, remaining wary in the presence of the humanoid giant of featureless flesh and muscle.

It hovered just a few inches off the ground, slowly raising its hands as the dormant pebbles and shattered rock left of the fallen titans began to levitate as well, slowly orbiting around the enigmatic entity.

While Seung dashed forward, Finn jumped back instead, though both were forced to evade as a hailstorm of stone collided with the quarry and shot past. The air whistled and flexed, finding the projectiles traveling at speeds breaking through the sound barrier as his boots slid across the surface.

"It can manipulate the rocks! Watch out!" Finn shouted at the crusher.

Seung didn't hesitate for a moment, continuing to rush towards the levitating figure, "Yeah, yeah! I'll just grind them to dust–doesn't matter!"

While he was more focused on evading the storm of high-speed pebbles shooting towards him, he watched Seung approach the Arbiter of Stone without stopping for a moment.

With a raise of its hand, flicking its wrist, the lord of the quarry summoned perfect spheres from the ground, launching the colossal boulders right at the crusher.

Seung brought his fist back before thrusting it in front of him just as the first projectile arrived, bringing a tenfold projection of his gauntlet to punch right through the boulder. A laugh emitted from the crusher's lips as if partaking in a game, running right through the fragments of the crushed sphere as he jumped up, pushing his fist through the other.

"C'mon! That's not gonna stop…me?" The confidence in Seung's voice evaporated as a shadow cast itself over him when rushing through the second boulder.

What awaited the reckless crusher was a sphere that more so resembled a small mountain, rolling right towards him with frightening momentum.

Finn tossed his dagger right in front of the crusher, with only a few meters between the man and the village-crushing boulder–

["Blade Warp"] [Mana: -100] [2450/2750]

["Phantom Flow"]

Without even taking a moment to adjust as he teleported to his blade, he grabbed onto his unlikely ally's arm while sliding across the stone. In that split-second, the sheer weight and the momentum behind the massive sphere made the left side of his body tingle, being closest to it.

It was only by mere inches that the colossal boulder rolled by.

"--Close," Finn exhaled.

Seung immediately tugged his arm away with a huff, "The hell was that?! I had that handled!"

"Really? Looked more like I was saving your ass!" Finn contested.

"Hah! I was going to smash right through it–get it right!" Seung reminded him.

"Whatever," Finn brushed off, knowing it was an unwinnable argument with the prideful brawler, turning his attention back to the levitating manipulator of minerals. "Let's just take that guy out."

"At least you've got that right," Seung agreed, clashing his gauntlets again.

Without moving a single inch from the position it rose from, the pink-fleshed figure raised its hand once more. Hundreds of fragments of stone, feeble pebbles, rose into the air before shooting towards both men.

["Shell Barrier"] [1:59]

Finn raised his hand, using the turtle-like shield in front of himself as he sprinted towards the Arbiter of Stone. It felt like running through a hailstorm, feeling countless impacts against the shield, each with lethal velocity behind them.

A glance to his left showed Seung running with no regard for protecting his body, as the minuscule pebbles simply shattered and bounced right off his tough skin.

"Keep moving! Keep moving!" Seung shouted with a bundle of joy, grinning as he let the stone bullets pelt his body with laughter. "Don't stop for a second, or I'll pound you into the ground—! Ha-ha!"

The ultimatum given to him by the crusher was hardly motivating, though he didn't plan on letting up as he continued moving forward despite the difficulties.

TAP. TAP. TAP.

—As he drew closer to the fleshy being, the intensity of the storm of rocks heightened. He felt himself being pushed back as the shield was relentlessly struck by projectiles. A few pieces made it past the barrier, barely grazing his leg and side, though cutting right through his flesh.

"Ngh!" He winced, continuing to move forward.

Enduring the hailstorm of the quarry boss, it made it all the more clear to him what kind of strength was possessed by Seung, who looked as though he was simply traversing a gentle rain.

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