Level-Up Apocalypse: Surviving With The Assimilation System

"I'm guessing you have access to the Dragon's Breath and Lost Sanctuary skills, right?" Finn asked the cannoneer.

"That's right," Magnus nodded while confirming. "I haven't had much of a chance to fight in a group yet, though. So, my timing might be off."

"That'll be fine. Just use Lost Sanctuary when I call it out, alright?" Finn requested.

"Mm," Magnus seemed disgruntled to be ordered around, though gave in. "Alright. If you have a plan."

Finn sat there in thought, nodding his head, "Charlotte, have you fought anybody else before?"

"Yeah, but not at this level," Charlotte answered.

"Alright. Well, Crow is likely going to summon a doppelganger of somebody else when he comes here. That person wields a giant blade and uses slashing abilities. They're lengthy and fast. Can you handle that?" Finn asked.

"I can do it," Charlotte assured him.

Dividing up the attention of the two-fronted hunter was an important part of success, though Finn didn't know how comfortable he was leaving handling the fake of Raven to the spellblade. Still, all he could do was trust that she'd be fine.

"I'll confront Crow head-on," Finn said.

"You'll have my supporting fire, but are you sure you can handle him? It looks like he really messed you up earlier by the sounds of it," Magnus asked sincerely. "This guy is no joke, right?"

"Yeah, he's tough and even more so tricky. I was caught off-guard before, though. I can do this–we can," Finn assured them.

Slowly, dragging along, minutes passed as hours crawled on with nightfall bringing darkness over the city. Finn remained alert, constantly watching the front while having to smell the smoke puffed by the man sitting just a few feet away.

Magnus pulled the cigarette from his lips with an exhale, "It doesn't seem like your guy is coming. What kind of idiot would attack three people alone, anyway? Perhaps he realized that."

While the presence of the threat had yet to make itself known amidst the silence, Finn remained focused, not speaking up until–

Knock.

"Did you hear that?" Finn asked, perking up at the subtle, yet distinct sound.

It was directly ahead, undoubtedly coming from the front door. Such a specific noise could only be attributed to one thing. The room fell silent as he slowly stood himself up, with the other two following suit without exchanging a word.

A rumble met the ears of the aware assassin as he looked around, as did the others.

"What's that?" Charlotte asked.

"I don't know–" Magnus responded.

Finn felt the hairs on his arm stand just as he realized where the increasingly loud rumbling was coming from, looking towards the leftmost wall of the dim library.

CRASH

–The wall burst through as chunks of the reinforced concrete flew in every direction. Bulldozing in was a bipedal beast with the body of a man and the head of a bull, towering with an imposing height and physique as steam exuded from its nostrils.

It was the embodiment of thoughtless, physical dominance; the black-furred, half-man, half-bull layered in scars with its curved horns stomped in without any warning.

'A minotaur?!' He recognized, though confused by its sudden appearance.

Finn jumped out of the way while watching the horned creature rush forth with reckless abandon. While Charlotte managed to move back to distance herself from its destructive path, the cannoneer was not so fortunate.

"Nrgh!--" Magnus winced, using his cannon as a shield as the beast's horns slammed right against it, carrying him back with its rush.

Before anybody could even register what was happening, the minotaur slammed the cannoneer straight through multiple shelves, bursting into another section of the library.

"Magnus!" Finn called out.

There wasn't so much as a chance to help his companion as he found something quickly closing in from the corner of his eye; a silver glint that primed itself for his head.

He ducked down, witnessing a cleaver pass right above his head as it rotated. Before it could pass by, the one it belonged to appeared right there, catching the weapon in his hand.

"Nice place you got here," the snowy-haired, daunting figure remarked coldly before swinging the cleaver downward.

"You--" Finn called out, forced to block the strike with his dagger.

As their clash was broken up, he jumped back as the hunter did the same, granting them space for just a moment amidst the scattered pages from the decimated books around.

"I tamed that musclehead just for situations like this. You know, people sure do like bunkering down when they're scared," Crow remarked, adjusting his hair. "They're always surprised when I send that muscle-for-brains beast in, crushing all their pretty, little walls."

The sound of blades clashing from behind brought Finn to glance back for a moment, seeing that the doppelganger of Raven had already met the spellblade, slashing towards Charlotte, who was on the defensive.

Though Finn wanted to help, he found his hands full already as he turned his focus forward again. The advantage that was once held felt nullified already before the overwhelmingly sinister figure.

"You talked to that knight, didn't you? I threw him off my trail, so don't expect his help," Crow said, flipping the cleaver between his fingers.

"I wasn't counting on it. You're way too cocky for somebody that got lucky with a surprise attack earlier," Finn said, replicating his dagger into his other hand. "You don't have that now."

"Maybe not, but I don't need it," Crow said, dragging his tongue across his own bottom lip. "I'll cut you and your friends up. It'll be a feast."