Tap. Tap. Tap.

Rapid footsteps of foot soles against the stone echo in one of the many hallways on the sixth floor of the newly discovered dungeon. With a single Illumination Dome, the members of the heroes’ party track their previous path in order to escape from that dangerous special monster.

"Get out of the way!"

While running, David draws his bow and fires a powerful arrow to the head of a draconic monster called a lesser drake and instantly kills it on the spot. Along the way, the four members of the party have slain a couple of monsters blocking their way. Geoffrey is still on Bashel’s shoulder.

Since the mimic was busy fighting earlier, the monsters on this floor started to spawn after the floor-wide massacre the mimic committed before the expedition group of Geoffrey reached this floor. Jumping, via teleportation, from spawn point to spawn point, the mimic had been spawn-camping on this floor.

"Icicle Lance!"

"On the left!"

Agatha fires a lance of ice at a red-skinned flying monster, a pryodactyl, and pierces its torso. At the same time, David quickly reloads his bow and bursts the head of a ten-foot-tall arthropod monster called a mega mantis.

"How’s Geoffrey, Shirley?"

"He almost dried out his mana for that move, so he won’t be able to move properly for some time. I already healed his broken fingers from the drawback of hitting the floor."

"That’s good to hear."

Shirley responds to Bashel’s question as she holds the hero’s sword. After taking a sharp turn in the maze, the unconscious hero wakes up and sees Shirley following Bashel from behind.

"Geoffrey! We are retreating now!"

"It’s useless... It can teleport..." Geoffrey forces himself to speak. "Please leave me here... I will fight it alone to buy you enough time to escape..."

"We can’t do that!"

"Please... before it’s too late."

Suddenly, a magic circle appears a hundred meters ahead, which forces the party to stop advancing. Shortly after, the mimic is now standing before them, and it is about to deliver its retribution. In the middle of the heroes’ party’s escape, the mimic teleports ahead of them and blocks their way.

Taking a close look at the mimic, which is still in its silvery body, they find out that the wound that Geoffrey inflicted earlier is still visible, yet not as deep as before.

"Just leave me here...! I am the only one who can damage it."

"No, Geoffrey!" Bashel abruptly objects to the hero’s words. "We will get out of here together."

Thud. Thud.

Upon arriving, the mimic hops forward. Probably aware of Geoffrey’s weakened state and incapability to fight at the moment, the monster reverts its skin back into the deep red dragon scales to minimize the magic damage it will receive.

That change effectively makes Agatha less significant in the upcoming fight. Being one of the remaining two physical damage dealers in the party, Bashel gently lays Geoffrey on the floor before turning to Shirley.

"Continue to alleviate his body, Shirley, and keep him safe."

"I know," Shirley responds with a nod.

Bashel then steps forward and stands in front of David, facing the approaching mimic. As he is drawing his bow, David turns his face to Agatha behind him.

"Since we know that magic won’t be effective against it right now, please use your magic to support and protect us instead."

"I understand." Agatha nods as she holds her staff. "Greater Area Bless Defense Boost. Greater Area Bless Resistance Boost. Greater Area Bless Physical Boost. Greater Area Bless Armor Pierce..."

The bodies of Bashel and David repeatedly glow up as layers of buffs and blessings have been granted upon them. Although Agatha is not mainly a support, her high magic power can almost be as effective as that of Shirley’s. But since her mana reservoir is not as huge as their support, the effects will last for a shorter time. Nevertheless, it is better than nothing in this case.

As soon as Bashel and David have been massively enhanced, the mimic conjures a magic circle and rapidly fires two advanced-tier magic spells, Fire Lance, at Bashel and David.

"Rock Wall."

Agatha casts an advanced earth magic spell, and a five-meter-wide hard wall is quickly deployed before Bashel, successfully extinguishing the flames. Almost immediately, Bashel jumps over the rock wall and swings his poleaxe vertically at the monster.

"Hmrph!"

He has enhanced his poleaxe with Multiply Mass, an advanced-tier, non-elemental magic enhancement, which temporarily and magically increases the mass of an article. In this case, he manages to make his poleaxe three times heavier.

Clink!

The mimic is able to react to the powerful blow and immediately hops back to avoid it. The poleaxe hit the floor, creating a loud, dull sound.

After that, the mimic senses an arrow flying fast to exactly where it is supposed to land. The arrow comes from David, who is standing on the rock wall and is currently reloading his bow. However, since it is not as powerful as his shot before, the monster just let it land a hit on its lid. Expectedly, the arrow just snaps like dry twigs.

"You are quite nimble for a mimic. Take this!"

Bashel swings his weapon diagonally, but the mimic just turns its body and easily avoids the attack. Bashel keeps swinging, but none of these attacks hit the mimic.

For some reason, Bashel has a feeling that the monster is just playing with him. If it weren’t, the monster would have taken any chances between the heavy and predictable swings to attack, but it did not.

David fires another arrow, but this time, it is endowed with a paper-like magical item called a talisman. When the arrow hits the mimic, the talisman is instantly triggered and explodes.

BOOM!

"Frost Field!"

From the top of her rock wall, Agatha casts a large magic circle below the monster, and her magic activates. Almost immediately, thick ice begins to form in the area within the magic circle. Distracted by the explosion, the mimic does not realize that about a foot of his lower half has been covered in ice, rendering it unable to move.

The monster attempts to struggle to get itself out of the thick ice, but it would not budge. Bashel moves in front of it and raises his poleaxe overhead. He then amplifies the Multiply Mass enhancement on his weapon before swinging it down.

"Die—!"

However, before Bashel can bring his poleaxe down, the mimic quickly opens its mouth, and then something pointed quickly comes out from the inside. It is the mimic’s slender tongue, and it moves at a tremendous speed that no one is able to perceive.

Before Bashel realizes it, his chest has been pierced by its tongue, penetrating through his armor, flesh, and bones. His heart is punctured but conveniently misses his magic crystal. Blood soaks his undergarments, and his body gradually loses strength. His weapon drops on the floor just like his life.

After killing Bashel, the mimic tosses his body aside. In its long, tentacle-like tongue is his magic crystal. It is yellow in color and the size of a thumb. The mimic retracts its tongue back together with the magic crystal.

"Bashel!"

Seeing the horror before them, David and Agatha shout at the top of their lungs. Without a second thought, both of them quickly jump from the wall to help Bashel. However, the moment they land on the icy floor, a huge spike of ice quickly protrudes from the surface and impales David in the chest, lifting his body off the ground.

"Guh—!"

"David!"

Shatter.

Shortly after, the mimic successfully frees itself from the icy bind and turns to Agatha. A magic circle appears beneath her and activates so soon that Agatha is not able to react to it. Before she can perceive it, her whole body has been encased in solid ice.

At that exact moment, the only thing that illuminates the hallway, Agatha’s magic, disappears and the place falls into darkness. In panic, Shirley reflexively cast an Illumination Dome to give light to Geoffrey and herself.

In a matter of seconds, the monster takes out three members of the heroes’ party. That quick series of execution is witnessed by the two remaining members of the party. It happens so suddenly they are still trying to comprehend. Later on, Geoffrey’s eyes widen in rage and shoot daggers at the culprit.

"You monster! I will kill you!"

Witnessing the deaths of his friends, Geoffrey lunges towards the mimic and swings his blade out of extreme rage. The mimic quickly changes its body to that of mithrill and Geoffrey’s sword bounces off its lid.

Ignoring the numbness, Geoffrey quickly uses his ability and wraps his blade with hot and dense whitish flames before slashing it diagonally. Learning from it, the mimic immediately moves fast to avoid getting hit by the blade.

Geoffrey keeps swinging his sword while the monster keeps avoiding each deadly blow. Since the hero has been burning his mana fast in addition to the massive use earlier, Geoffrey’s moves are more sluggish than usual. In order to preserve his mana, Geoffrey reduces the power of his Magic Armsmanship.

While Geoffrey is fighting, Shirley is constantly supporting the hero through blessings, buffs, and healings. With her support, Geoffrey is able to continue fighting the monster for longer. Also, without Agatha’s light, Shirley has been illuminating the path of Geoffrey.

When the mimic gains enough distance from the hero, it quickly casts advanced-tier magic Gale Winds, a spell that knocks back targets in a line. Geoffrey just effortlessly rotates his upper body and avoids the winds. In spite of the fact that he is not in his full condition, he is still the hero.

Geoffrey dashes forward and thrusts his blade, attempting to stab the mimic. In response, the monster cast a Rock Wall to intercept the attack. The sword easily crumbles the wall, and pieces of big and small rocks fly in all directions.

However, Geoffrey does not know that there is someone on that wall. When he passes through it, something weird touches his armor. He feels like they are slimy ropes, and they are sticking too well. Before he notices it, that sticky rope has wrapped around his body, and his movements have been restricted.

"Ugh—!"

Geoffrey falls to the floor facedown with his arms bound to his body. He let go of his sword in the process, and its flame gradually vanished. When he takes a look at his body, he sees that a web of rope-thick spider silk has rendered him immobile.

"Fuck! Damn it! Ack—!"

Geoffrey expects it to finish him; however, the mimic has other plans. After immobilizing the hero, the silvery monster just walks past him, hopping its way to Shirley. The monster is going after her.

"No, stop! Shirley! Run!"

"But, Geoffrey—!"

"Just run!"

Shirley takes glances between Geoffrey and the approaching monster. She shakes her head and ultimately makes her decision.

"I’m so sorry, Geoffrey."

Bidding her farewell to her loved one, Shirley runs fast in the direction of the exit and passes the mimic and then the hero. The mimic surprisingly does not mind her passing its way and just turns around, following her run.

As he sees her escape, Geoffrey is a bit relieved that the monster just ignores her. Suddenly, Geoffrey looks up as he senses something fast past him overhead. When he looks at Shirley again, his eyes instantly become bloodshot.

Thud.

With a dull sound, Shirley collapses to the floor with a spike of ice impaled in her back. The vast hallway loses its light once again.

"Shirley!!!"

Geoffrey struggles so hard to get out of the bind, but the spider silk is just so thick and flexible. He then heard the hopping sounds of the mimic getting closer and closer to him. He tries to roll his body despite the silk sticking to the floor. With force, he manages to turn his body and hears the heavy hops of mimic approaching him.

Thud. Thud.

"Stay away from me!" Geoffrey’s desperate yells are heard by no one from the monster.

The mimic opens its mouth and extends its slender and tentacle-like tongue before wrapping it around Geoffrey’s legs. After that, the monster pulls its tongue, dragging the hero to its mouth. In the end, Geoffrey has nothing to do but let the mimic devour his body completely.

Slurp.

After devouring the hero, the mimic seems to be changing again. Its body suddenly shrinks, and it begins to become more slender. It lost a large percentage of its mass and is slowly getting out of form like that of a humanoid.

The torso, limbs, head, and extremities begin to take form. Next, human skin starts to cover its entire body before red hair sprouts on the top. Finally, the face has been constructed, and the first expression it wears is a sinister smile.

"Finally, a decent body to copy. I greatly appreciate your sacrifices, hero."