Level-Up Apocalypse: Surviving With The Assimilation System

Chapter 19: Across The World

Burning streets, filled with the agonized screams of humanity; monsters no different from demonspawn ran rampant, defiling the world and those that inhabited it. He fought, endlessly swinging his dagger as he killed the fiends by the dozens, while being cut into himself along the way.

–A nightmare, though one he experienced as reality before.

"Hah–"

His eyes shot open as he found himself sweating, sitting up as he caught his breath. The unpleasant dream left his heart wildly thumping in his chest.

As he composed himself, he looked around at the neatly-kept, lavish room. It almost felt wrong for him to be in such a place, finding himself stinking of blood and worn of battle.

\'...Guess I should use this opportunity for a bath,\' he decided.

He did just that, visiting the marble bathroom as he sank himself into the hot bath. All of the dirt and exhaustion washed away as he laid there, almost falling asleep again.

It was a luxury he didn\'t know how much he missed until it was gone.

\'An inn like this existing during the world\'s end...It really does feel like this is all some game from some messed up god,\' he thought.

After sitting in there long enough, he got out and dried off, slipping his uniform back on. He didn\'t want to remain out of his equipment for any longer than needed, always ready if something popped up.

"Let\'s see...What\'s this?" He wondered, finding a menu on the wooden drawer across from the bed.

It appeared to be a listing of different entrees, all served by the otherworldly inn. There was just about everything he could think of, from all varieties of cultures of food.

He had a toothbrush in one hand, brushing while reading the menu.

\'...They\'ve got everything here, huh? It really is like an escape from all the bullshit out there, all for a hundred coins per day. Funny,\'

he thought.

After surviving off of stale popcorn and candy bars—less than fulfilling food—he chose to treat himself to something.

What he decided to go with was a reliable meal that he never tired of through his youth: black-pepper salmon with a side of garlic mashed potatoes.

All it took was him tapping the listing on the menu for it to glow with a cobalt shine.

["Order confirmed."]

"That\'s it?" He wondered, setting the menu down as he looked around.

It didn\'t take more than a few seconds before the sound of a bell chimed in front of him—DING. The noise beckoned the arrival of the meal he ordered, fresh and steaming, as if conjured by a snap of magic.

He didn\'t question it before scarfing it down in one sitting, finding the taste of a cooked dish to be more needed than he thought.

"That hit the spot," he sighed after finishing it up.

As he was left alone in his room, he decided that it was the perfect time to test something out that had been on his mind. While there was no threat of monsters for the time being, it was a great opportunity as he picked himself up to his feet, choosing the spot in the room with the most space.

He called upon his ebon dagger, holding it in his right hand, "Alright, let\'s see if this works–Replication."

Using the word of invocation that he remembered from the man he fought, a sensation akin to static twitched at his fingertips. He found in his other hand was a duplicate of his weapon; a perfect replication of it.

He flipped the twin daggers around, getting a feel for having one in each hand. It felt as if his whole world had been opened up, finding an entirely new lens to look through in terms of combat.

\'This can work–I can adjust with this,\' he thought.

Rather than spending the rest of the time allotted in the room to rest, he used it to train with his new skills. If a fight came, he needed to be acutely aware of the capabilities of each one.

[...Eight Hours Later...]

In the lobby of the Bazaar, he found the girl of silken, blue hair like a waterfall waiting, leaning against the wall.

"Have you been waiting here awhile?" Finn asked, greeting her as he adjusted his gloves.

Charlotte softly shook her head, "Just a bit. It\'s not like there was much else to do."

He decided to wait beside her, leaning his back against the marble-made wall as he folded his arms, "I bet that big oaf is still asleep. Even when the world is how it is, I still struggle to wake that guy up sometimes—he sleeps through everything."

"Isn\'t that nice, though?" Charlotte asked with a smile.

"Is it? It\'s a pain to me," Finn responded.

"I wish I could sleep that soundly still," she said.

Finn was silent for a moment before agreeing, "Yeah, I guess I do too."

It wasn\'t until a few minutes had passed that footsteps came from the corridor leading out of the inn.

"Guess he\'s finally awake—" Finn remarked, looking over.

Expecting the sight of the brawny friend of his, he was surprised to find a different person entirely walking into the Bazaar.

A thin man of messy, gray hair stepped out with a yawn, wearing a baggy uniform strapped with belts. The unknown man had eyes like a cat, carrying a pair of blades on his back as he strolled right past the two.

\'Another person? I guess she did say Towers can connect with one another, so the inn here must\'ve had others, too,\' he recalled.

Still, it felt odd to so casually see another person, without so much as a word exchanged before the man descended the steps to the floor below.

"Do Towers all connect into one? If that\'s the case—" Finn asked.

"I don\'t think so. I believe only a few intersect at once. Otherwise there\'d be hordes of people sharing one bazaar," Charlotte answered.

"Right. I hope that\'s the right answer," Finn said.

It wasn\'t long after that another pair of footsteps came from the corridor, this time bringing the sight of the yawning warrior into view.

"Ahhh...Mornin\'," the tired greeting came from the man of black-and-white hair.

"Did you really just wake up?" Finn asked as the warrior walked up to them.

Damian laughed a bit, "C\'mon—that bed was immaculate, can you blame me? You think it was too, right?"

"I guess so," Finn said, not wanting to admit just how divine the bed had felt. "How do we leave this place, anyway? Do we have to go back through the first dungeon?"

"No, that staircase just leads back to the initial entrance," Charlotte answered, pointing to the steps used by the man seen earlier.

Using Charlotte\'s guidance, Finn decided to see for himself as he led the way down. Though the steps were the ones taken when ascending from the dungeon he went through before, he found them instead leading down into the base floor of the tower.

"Ah...it really is here," Finn remarked, finding it a bit perplexing as he could see the light from the entrance at the bottom.

Damian groaned, rubbing his head, "This place is so confusing—! It\'s like a damn shifting labyrinth!"

As they reached the bottom of the steps, entering the lobby of carvings along the walls that seemed to depict many different eras of civilization, the door of light was approached.

"When we step through here, we\'ll be in a random place, wherever in the world?" Finn asked, staring at the doorway.

"Yes," Charlotte answered.

There were equal parts of Finn that were curious of what laid beyond and anxious of what it could be. Nonetheless, he took the first step out—

"—"

The light from the tower\'s entrance blinded him for a moment as he passed through.

"Where the hell?" Finn let out as he blinked, finding himself in a new environment.

It was right smack in the middle of another cityscape, though completely different from the one he knew.

As he heard his companions walk out behind him, he climbed up the shallow crater, stepping into the street of the unknown city.

Damian followed behind him, looking around, "Wherever we are, it was hit just as hard..."

The skyscrapers were gripped by overgrowth, with one with a busted, digital screen pierced by a crashed airplane.

It was easy to tell they were in an entirely different continent by the language displayed on the signs, though it took a minute for Finn to decipher just where they were.

"Any idea where this is?" Charlotte asked, brushing a bit of dirt from her leggings after climbing out of the tower\'s crater.

Finn pointed out to the large, once neon sign that presented a shattered cafe next to them, "This is South Korea."

"Korea?! Are you kidding me?!" Damian asked in shock, spinning around.

The complete change in scenery was jarring to say the least. Even so, it didn\'t change the fundamental rule of reality now—the city was now ruled by monsters.