"How did it reach there?!"

"Did it just appear out of nowhere?"

Out of everyone, only one has an idea of what just happened. She just witnessed something that requires complex understanding to comprehend.

"No way. Teleportation magic?!"

Agatha could not believe her eyes. She just witnessed a very rare and complex branch of arcane magic being cast for the first time. However, she just shrugs off her thoughts, as it is not the right time to be amazed. She then prepares herself for a possible battle.

Right after arriving, the mimic quickly cast another magic circle before the frightened humans. Judging from the size of the magic circle, the magic is going to be a huge one. Without wasting a second, the mimic unleashes hell on the dungeon invaders.

VRRSHHH!

All of a sudden, a powerful torrent of flames gushes forth from the magic circle with a wide range; the flames almost cover the width of the spacious hallway. Fully knowing that they cannot outrun the fire, they just stand on their spots, and at the same time, they quickly come out of anything they could do to protect themselves.

The devastating magic that the mimic just cast is called Hell’s Gate. It is categorized as supreme-tier magic, a level top-class mages can execute. This level of magic is so powerful and complex that only a handful of individuals can cast a single spell. In the kingdom, the humans know that only the Great Sorceress can reach this level.

The once dark and long hallway suddenly lights up from the intense flames. Every human on the floor is completely engulfed by it. Every sound of their agony is easily overshadowed by the flickering flames.

No one should be able to survive from it. Unless that is what the monster should have thought.

The supreme-tier magic spell, Hell’s Gate, is unleashed on the sixth floor of the newly discovered dungeon. In addition to the vastness of its scale, its temperature is a lot higher than most of the known fire magic spells. True to its name, its sheer and destructive power can be described as if a gate were directly opened from hell.

The magic only goes around for merely five seconds. When the flames finally stop, the aftermath of the magic suspensefully comes to view. Completely charred, scorched, and stiffened bodies scatter on the floor. Obviously, those bodies no longer have a heartbeat.

The dungeon is supposed to be dark, but their eyes can still see the casualties. That is because a single Illumination Dome is still hovering in the air. The one who cast it is one of the remaining survivors of the attack. Out of all the dozens of brave warriors, only five of them survived. Those people are the members of the heroes’ party.

"Hah. Hah. Hah."

The three members of the heroes’ party are breathing heavily behind something like a translucent, semidoned barrier. As if they have exhausted her strength for exerting something big; because it is.

As soon as Hell’s Gate was cast earlier, Bashel jumped forward and deployed Fortress, a high-tier magic, barely protecting the party from the flames. Agatha then reinforced the barrier by deploying Reinforced Rock Wall, another high-level magic, in front of Bashel’s Fortress to sustain the majority of the flames.

To further strengthen the defense, Shirley continuously blessed them with layers of buffs and enhancements. The rock wall was easily crumbled by the flames, so Agatha had to repeatedly cast it.

In the end, they were able to block the deadly flames and managed to survive. Unfortunately, since they had to reduce the area of the defenses to thicken its durability, they were only able to cover for their party alone.

"Ahh!!! Why do they have to die?!"

Tightly gripping his sword, Geoffrey’s face distorts as he shouts his frustration at the monster while pointing his blade at it. The other members of the party are bearing their rage at the mimic, obviously, gnashing their teeth as they point their hostility at the monster.

Thud. Thud.

However, the mimic does not seem to care and bounces its whole body forward. But then suddenly, it does a thing that sends shivers to their spines.

"E DPS, SEPHIS, VEPL, NEHI, E TAQQUSV. XJEV OT VJOT, E MOBA TEAM?"

"Wait, it can talk?!" Shirley cried.

Out of nowhere, the mimic lets out what seems like a sentence that echoes in the hallway. Its voice is deep and rough, but it is clear to the heroes’ party that it just spoke in a language they cannot understand.

"You, monster!!! You’ll pay for this!!"

Whoosh!

"Geoffrey!"

Unable to contain his composure anymore, Geoffrey dashes forward at an incredible speed, so fast that it looks like he just teleported behind the mimic. He immediately swings his sword down to the monster, exerting all his strength on that blow. With layers of self-buffs and enhancements, that swing has attained enough power to cut through even that of a greater dragon’s scales.

Clink!

"Gah—!"

Geoffrey’s blade clearly and audibly hit the monster, but it just bounced off the mimic’s skin, only leaving a small mark. The contact causes so much vibration that it numbs Geoffrey’s hands and arms. When he glances at the mimic, its skin has changed from deep red scales to shiny silvery metal.

The mimic seems to be intentionally ignoring the hero. While Geoffrey is still recovering his strength, the mimic casts another magic circle and aims it at the four members of the party. In less than a second, the silver monster rapidly fires three Rock Lances, an advanced-tier magic spell.

"It can rapid-cast?!"

As Agatha’s mind is being blown away again, Bashel deploys his Fortress to block the fast-flying rocks. The barrier manages to take the first two lances but ultimately shatters at the third one.

While it happens, David has drawn his bow to its max draw weight and shoots the arrow that is greatly enhanced with magic. The arrow flies faster than the speed of sound and is buffed by the Greater Armor Pierce magic enhancement that increases its penetration power.

Clink.

The arrow reaches the mimic in a matter of milliseconds. Whatever the material the mimic has turned to, David’s most powerful attack just leaves a single scratch. A small spark is created from the collision. "Damn it!" He swears.

On the other hand, Agatha is panicking inside and does not know what to do. She witnessed the monster cast the least studied spacial magic and entirely change its physiology to neutralize their attacks, and then it was just casually doing rapid casting, a feat that Agatha is yet to achieve.

Her most powerful magic was deemed useless earlier, and she has lost her will to fight. The fact that it can speak means that Agatha knows that this monster has some level of intelligence, which worsens their situation.

Nevertheless, that quick exchange gives Geoffrey a small time to recover, and he is able to swing his sword again. Learning from his mistake of attacking mindlessly, Geoffrey is going to use his sword properly.

Holding his sword with both hands, Geoffrey channels a large amount of his mana to the sword. The blade suddenly lights up, and then flickering blue flames begin to wrap around it. The flames grow so intensively hot that they surpass the temperature of Agatha’s concentrated Flame Blast and the mimic’s Hell’s Gate.

Actually, Geoffrey just executes his awakened ability. This move seems to pique the mimic’s attention and turn its body around. It shows subtle changes in its behavior. Geoffrey is about to show why he is the kingdom’s hero.

Every person in this world can utilize their own mana through magic. Magic is a spectrum, and magic spells can be very weak or extremely overpowered. Outside of magic, there is one type of power that is considered the rarest and potentially the most powerful of all: the awakened abilities.

Awakened abilities are fundamentally different from most known magic and do not always follow the rules of magic and other laws of nature. It can be acquired through many means, such as being born with it or through intensive effort. There are a few instances of individuals awakening their unique abilities from intensive trauma or during life-and-death situations.

The power of an awakened ability varies from holder to holder. It can be utterly useless or outright broken. There are only a handful of known individuals who possess this uniqueness of power.

One notable holder is the Great Sorceress of the Roheazul Kingdom. Although she just only claims it and never executes it in public, her unnatural proficiency with magic supports the idea that she has one. Also in the same kingdom, Geoffrey is one of its very few awakeners. His special ability is what he called Magic Armsmanship.

It is the ability to imbue magical attributes to any weapons he wields without damaging the weapon or deteriorating its quality. In this attack against the mimic, Geoffrey turns his blade into a flaming sword.

In order to maximize the output, he condenses all the heat produced into the blade and concentrates it in an area less than a centimeter from the surface of the metal. Its hue changes from blue to bluish-white.

With all the heat compressed into the blade, the convection in the air has gone, so it does not burn Geoffrey anymore. The blade of his longsword has turned into a weapon of obliteration filled with pure energy akin to plasma.

"Die, you evil monster!"

With his unique abilities in effect, Geoffrey brings down his blade to the enemy. This is the first time Geoffrey exerts his full power, and it effectively sucks out more than half of his mana. Currently, this is the most powerful single attack in the kingdom’s history, even surpassing that of the Great Sorceress and the heroes in the legends.

For the first time, the mimic shows something like fear upon seeing the blade coming fast at it. In a split second, the monster reflexively tries to leap back. However, the mimic cannot outrun the sword, and the blade manages to hit the monster’s silvery body.

Clink!

A loud and sharp sound rings out in the dim hallway. Not from the contact between the blade and the monster, but from the collision of the sword and the black floor. The sword hits the floor so hard that a huge spark is ignited and then followed by a shockwave.

"GWHH!!"

The mimic is seemingly writhing in pain. Its agonizing scream is beastly and loud. The monster finally sustains painful damage, and it is frantically bouncing around.

When the members of the heroes’ party catch a glimpse at the front side of the monster, they find out that there is a deep mark that stretches across its upper and lower parts. It is also notable that the mimic leaves a drop of liquid on the floor every time it runs.

Those drops of liquid are not blood; they are actually molten silvery metals that immediately solidify as soon as they touch the floor. In conclusion, Geoffrey’s blade is so extremely hot that it melts the mimics’ incredibly tough mithrill skin.

"Geoffrey actually injures the monster," David states. "But it leaves him weak as a result of exerting that much power. Bashel, carry him. Let’s retreat while the monster is still occupied."

"I got it."

Following David’s judgment, the members of the heroes’ party rush towards Geoffrey, who has fallen on his knees. Bashel quickly grabs him, as well as his sword, and carries him on his shoulder. They take a last glance at their fallen comrades before the party begins to run through the hallway.