Level-Up Apocalypse: Surviving With The Assimilation System

Chapter 54: Hunt The Hunter

Finn exhaled as he found his lungs burning as though he breathed flames, pushing past the aching of his muscles as he slashed his dagger across the exposed chest–CLANG. Though he swore there were no scales there, his blade simply bounced off.

The stance held by the man of devoured DNA stood with a relaxed guard, as if protecting himself was unnecessary, "My skin exhibits the same toughness as a basilisk's scales and a golem's stone skin. Are you starting to understand now? I am an Apex Predator, and you're my prey. I'll eat whatever I want, whoever I desire, whenever and however."

"You talk way too damn much."

"What?--" Crow asked.

["Orcish Boost"] [4:59]

["Hydrostatic Pressure"] [0:59]

The pain was pushed through as Finn opted to launch his fist straight into the abdomen of the arrogant figure. He sank his knuckles into that hardened abdomen, not caring as he felt his own hand blister.

Utilizing the burst of strength from [Orcish Boost] and the mechanical speed of [Hydrostatic Pressure], the force and velocity turned his arm into a piston for that punch.

"Pyuh!--" A mixture of oxygen and saliva was spit out from Crow's mouth.

The hunter was knocked back, blown off his feet as the unexpected impact left him hunched over. It was only by the grace of his stolen wings did the foul man catch himself on his feet, though having to caress a bruised stomach.

"Uuegh…Nice one," Crow complimented as drool hung from his bottom lip. "I tasted that one."

On that nightfallen street with the silent monsters as the spectators, the exhausted, young man remained vigilant even as his body shook and ached. A glance at his own knuckles that had landed the blow found that they were busted, bruised and leaking blood, though he hardly felt it.

From gasping for air and drooling, the hunter displayed his seamless inhumanity as he sucked in a deep breath, puffing his chest out.

Finn didn't know what he was looking at, watching the man's chest expand to an unnatural degree. There was a faint, orange glow within the throat of Crow, beginning to place in the assassin's mind what was coming.

'Hold on–the aspect of a basilisk, then–' Finn realized.

A guess came to his mind just as he watched the man only a few meters away open his mouth with a flash of bright-orange light. All he could do was raise his right hand in front of himself in that fraction of a second–

BOOM

A great head collided with his dagger-carrying hand, expanding into a wall of flames in front of him. The force wasn't great, but the temperature was enough to leave an impact.

It faded away quickly into smoke, though the consequences were left clear in his gaze; his hand trembled in front of him, with the skin all the way up to his forearm burnt to a raw, peeled red.

Blisters stretched up his limb, with the sleeve of his uniform completely turned to ash to the same point his arm was left wounded.

It hurt to even hold his weapon, even past the adrenaline that surged within his veins. There was only a sparse amount of blood that dripped, as the flames themselves seem to have cauterized the affliction.

Crow wiped his lips of the embers, "If you want to give up, I can put you down without any further pain. I bet that really stings, just looking at it." The hunter remarked.

The offer came, though it fell upon deaf ears as Finn's concentrated gaze failed to look away from the one he resolved to kill. There was no hesitation; no mercy left–Finn knew what had to be done.

He cast away his dagger, in its place calling upon a more sinister, harrowing weapon that made the confident hunter swallow his words.

Into his hand, Finn held the bloodstained odachi, carrying that uneven, far too lengthy blade as his eyes remained on his foe.

"That…Why do you have that? How do you have it?" Crow asked, unable to look away from the weapon of his fallen kindred spirit. "Do you think something like that will make a difference? You're dead meat either way."

Finn didn't waste any breath responding, only gripping the handle with two hands, needing to wield it with that much attention.

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

["Deadly Clairvoyance"] [0:29]

With the wind swirling around his body, extending down the length of the weapon that once belonged to the thoughtless killer, Finn waited for the predator to approach.

Crow wore a clearly bothered expression as he set forth, bursting across the street with inhuman speed. That agility that made one move like a blur, flickering as fast-forwarded in a movie; Finn recognized it was the swiftness natural to a vampire from Avalon Online.

Even knowing that, what he witnessed was even faster, floating above the asphalt with a swirl that ignored the need for a foothold; the wings accompanied that vampiric speed with frightening grace.

Even so, Finn stood his ground, patiently waiting.

The air hissed against his right ear, breathing down the back of his neck, trickling down the left side of his head; repeatedly, the swift hunter circled around him, faking him out, until–

He felt the presence arrive at his left with a greater resistance to the wind that swirled around him.

Spinning himself around, he met the hunter face-to-face while bringing the overwhelmingly long sword into an upward slash. The wind helped to carry its extraordinary size, extending its length in addition.

"--Replication!" Finn yelled.

The twin slashes reached forth with a cutting wind that cleaved the asphalt and the hunter alike. Neither of the slices were aimed for the body of the man, instead targeting the wings that carried him.

"Hrgh?!" Crow clenched his teeth with a shocked expulsion.

In that single motion, the white-feathered wings were amputated by the empowered swing. The sudden removal of the avian aspect caused Crow to drop down, stumbling forth right into the assassin's reach again.

"I won't! I won't die!--" Crow spewed out saliva alongside his desperate proclamation.