He heard nothing and sensed nothing, but there were enemies here.
As a few more inches of vision opened up through his continued Assimilation, he was able to see the creature that had silently skewered him.
It pulsed with imnse heaviness at THE Surface Depth, but it felt many tis more powerful than him despite operating at theoretically the sa level of distinction. The thing before him was a writhing mass of half-ford features that should not have been able to coexist on the sa form.
Faces that never finished developing erged from its surface at random angles, mouths open in silent screams that would never be heard in this place of absolute quiet. Limbs sprouted from locations that made no anatomical sense, ending in fractal impossibilities.
Its body was obsidian and pulsing with collapsed Existence, hardened into sothing that looked like it would reject any attempt to affect it through conventional ans. Eyes that held no intelligence but endless hunger fixed upon him from multiple locations across its writhing form.
And its single strike was unfathomably heavy and painful. His whole being was grievously injured, the appendage still lodged through his chest and preventing any attempt to heal or regenerate while it remained in place. The creature was not sitting still either, roaring soundlessly toward Achilles while moving another limb to finish tearing him apart entirely.
Booming prompts cascaded through his awareness with information about what he faced!
|You have encountered a Malford Collapsed Existence (First Tier) (THE Surface Dept)|
|These creatures are born from distorted Existence and those who failed attempts to cross the Cavern. Entities whose Existences collapsed during trials and reford into predatory abominations.|
|They appear as writhing masses of half-ford features, faces that never finished developing, limbs that end in fractal impossibilities.|
|They carry terrifying weight of resistance that makes them difficult to damage through conventional ans. Their collapsed nature has hardened into sothing that rejects external influence.|
|They hunt through vibration and Existential resonance, drawn to any organized consciousness like sharks to blood.|
|If one remains stationary for more than brief monts, they begin swarming from all directions as more and more are drawn to the presence.|
|They do not communicate or coordinate but instinctively converge on targets through shared predatory drive.|
|Killing them is possible but costly, and for every one destroyed, the disturbance attracts others from greater distances.|
|Warning: You are currently impaled and immobilized. Additional Malford are likely converging on your position.|
...!
What the fuck was this?
Achilles’s gaze was livid with pain and fury as he processed the situation. Against such a monstrous thing, against this creature that had ambushed him in absolute darkness and now sought to finish what it had started, why did conventional concerns matter?
For causing him such pain, for daring to treat him as prey when he had consud THE manifestations and achieved distinction through impossible ans, there was only one appropriate response.
He grasped onto the limb piercing through his chest with both hands, feeling the obsidian surface pulse against his palms with collapsed Existence that seed to reject his very touch.
"Assimilate!"
His roar erged with conviction that transcended the silence swallowing all sound, his Way responding to his will with desperate intensity born from genuine threat to his survival.
And...
And...!
...!
His eyes opened wide with shock.
The creature remained right where it was. An obsidian light flashed over its form as sothing was torn away from its Existence, so fragnt of its accumulated power ripped free and drawn into Achilles’s being. Its ferocious eyes, all dozen of them scattered across its writhing mass, beca enraged with fury that exceeded its previous predatory hunger.
But it had not been consud. It had not collapsed into his Way like so many others before it!
Prompts blood before his awareness.
|The Malford Collapsed Existence resists your Assimilation due to its profound distorted Way and Civilization.|
|Only 5% of its imnsity has been Assimilated.|
|It has sensed this violation of its being and is now remarkably enraged.|
...!
Five percent.
He had only managed to consu five percent of this creature despite direct contact and desperate intent. His Way of Assimilation, which had devoured THE manifestations and Principles of Existence and everything else he had ever attempted to consu, had been largely rejected!
Even though he was only able to Assimilate five percent of this being with his initial attempt, the boons were heavy beyond what that percentage suggested. He felt his Weight shooting upwards again as if he had just eaten a really heavy snack, the creature’s accumulated Depth far exceeding his own!
Five percent of sothing three tis denser than himself was still substantial nourishnt.
And what he had to do at such a ti was obvious.
"Assimilate!"
His Existence roared out again as he targeted this being for a second ti, his Way of Assimilation latching onto the collapsed creature with desperate hunger that refused to acknowledge the resistance it encountered. Another fragnt of obsidian power tore free from the Malford and flowed into his being, perhaps another four percent given the creature’s heightened resistance to repeated consumption.
The thing’s countless eyes blazed with fury that transcended its previous predatory hunger.
"Assimilate!"
A third ti his voice rang out with conviction that the silence could not swallow, and another portion of the creature’s imnsity ripped away from its collapsed form to join with his own rapidly growing Depth.
ROAAR!
The creature kept feeling its Depth being depleted with each successive consumption, and it roared with brutality that expressed itself through vibration rather than sound. It grabbed Achilles’s right side with limbs that ended in fractal impossibilities, gripping flesh and Existence alike as it pulled from the point where it had impaled him.
Achilles felt his very body and Existence being torn apart by the motion!
The appendage lodged through his chest twisted and widened the wound as the creature attempted to rip him in half through sheer physical force and Malford Assertions!
Pain beyond anything he had experienced since his transformation into Malford Abomination flooded his consciousness.
But so what?
"Assimilate."
He uttered out again, and he reached an impasse of brutality with this creature that could only end with one of them ceasing to exist. He stayed in contact with this being despite the agony, despite the way its grip was literally tearing him apart, because he felt like the closer he was, the more he could Assimilate its terrifying Depth.
Distance mattered. Proximity amplified consumption. And right now, impaled on the creature’s appendage and held in its fractal grip, he was as close as physically possible.
So he got closer.
Achilles grabbed onto the Malford head of this creature with both hands, his fingers sinking into half-ford features that writhed beneath his grip. The motion impaled him even further on the appendage through his chest!
Blood that shone with purple-gold luminescence poured from wounds that should have been instantly fatal. His Civilization scread with damage that threatened to collapse everything he had built. His vision, already limited to re feet of vague impression, flickered with darkness that had nothing to do with the environnt.
But his grip on the creature’s head remained absolute, and his voice remained steady despite everything.
"Assimilate!"
Others used swords to cut down their enemies. Others called upon fire or lightning or cosmic forces to destroy what opposed them. Others developed skills and abilities and techniques that represented eons of accumulated martial wisdom.
He simply needed to devour.
The creature thrashed with desperation that grew more frantic as it felt its Existence being consud piece by piece. It tore at him with every limb it possessed, ripping chunks from his body that regenerated slower than they were removed. It tried to pull away, to disengage from this enemy that had transford from prey into predator through sheer refusal to die.
But Achilles’s grip was absolute, and his consumption was relentless.
"Assimilate."
Another portion of collapsed Depth flowed into him.
"Assimilate."
The creature’s form began shrinking as its accumulated imnsity drained away.
"Assimilate."
Its thrashing grew weaker, its resistance less effective, its rage transforming into sothing that might have been fear if such creatures were capable of that emotion.
"Assimilate."
Achilles’s wounds began closing even as new ones were inflicted, his healing finally outpacing the damage as the creature’s strength faded.
"Assimilate."
The Malford Collapsed Existence was half the size it had been when this brutal exchange began, its obsidian form compressed and diminished as everything that made it powerful flowed into the being it had attempted to kill.
"Assimilate."
It stopped thrashing. Its limbs fell limp. Its countless eyes dimd as the hunger that had driven it for eons finally encountered sothing hungrier than itself.
"Assimilate."
The creature’s form began dissolving entirely!
"Assimilate!"
The last fragnts of the Malford Collapsed Existence disappeared into Achilles’s being, leaving nothing behind except the gaping wound through his chest and the obsidian light now blazing in his eyes.
He fell to whatever passed for ground in this place of absolute darkness. The hole through his chest showed everything behind him through its terrible diater, organs and structures that should have been hidden from view exposed to the oppressive atmosphere.
But he was alive, and the creature was not, and his eyes flashed with terrifying obsidian light that had not been there before this brutal exchange!
A THE Surface Depth entity was fully swallowed!
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