“Mimic Missile!”
“Bwoaarrggh!”
I landed a hit right into the novice warrior’s gut. It was just a tackle, though! Well...sure, you could say my skill was just a charge, but I did it at amazing super-fast speeds. It was actually really powerful!
“Wh-What?!”
The adventurers were flustered by my sudden attack.
I see, so it’s a standard six-person party. Let’s just get rid of the front line first.
“Mimic Pinball!”
I charged towards the walls and ceiling and began to ricochet all over the place. Yep, in other words, I was going berserk and causing a big mess. This was another move that seemed like I was just thoughtlessly flailing about, but it was actually extremely effective.
The warriors on the front line were turned into ground meat in the blink of an eye.
There’re two mages and a priest in the back. Looks like they’re totally scared.
“Hey, hey! Shoot some magic at me, I dare you!”
I motioned with my hand, taunting them to come at me. Though we couldn’t communicate with words, my gestures should’ve still gotten through.
“Y-Yoouuu! Fireball!”
One of the mages started to invoke magic, and soon a flaming orb manifested on the tip of their staff. After a beat, it flew at me.
*KaFWOOM!*
A direct hit!
I see... I get that all magic needs a chant, and that it appears from the staves, but it moves so fast that it’s almost impossible to evade. Well, it’s not like it’s super dangerous to me, or anything, so whatever.
Yep, I’d taken that hit because I’d wanted to test whether or not I could withstand magic.
“No way!” the mage cried with an expression of utter disbelief.
Okay, now you can all become my exp!
“Explosive Legs!”
I rushed right in and kicked. The attack itself wasn’t terribly strong; even the mage could withstand it. Unfortunately for them...
*Kaboom!*
Five seconds later, the mage exploded, and the party was totally wiped out.
That was easy peasy. I’m a little nervous since I’m basically relying on equipment, but why not use what I’ve got? Okay, what level am I now? Oh, level 11. Cool! Let’s continue the hunt for adventurers!
✦ ✦ ✦
“Drive-by Explosive Legs!”
*Kaboom!*
I performed a jump kick on some adventurers I happened to pass by.
My hapless victims might’ve wanted me to face them a bit more earnestly, but I had neither the time nor the desire to do so. The newbie adventurers on the first underground floor were total small fry to me now.
You all can just become my experience fodder! All righty, what level am I now?
I checked my stats; I was level 12.
Hmmm, I leveled up a while ago. My exp isn’t going up at all. But I’ve beaten a bunch of adventurers... Is this just the limit for destroying newbies? Well, there’s also the fact that I’m just not finding many adventurers anymore, no matter how much I look. What should I do? Oh, right...
After I walked around the first floor for a while, I found that the size of the floor was only about 20x20 blocks. Each block was five meters squared, so it was about a hundred meters in all directions.
Well, if the enemies here aren’t worth it, I guess the only option is to go down, isn’t it? Let’s start looking for the stairs!
Yep, even after all this time, I still hadn’t found the stairs down. It was probably to the east—the direction I’d been avoiding ever since I’d found the dungeon’s entrance.
It’s kinda concerning that there were so many adventurers around the entrance, but oh well. It should all work out.
I walked along and arrived near block E0N0.
Once again, I peeked into the square from the northern side. The entrance was a set of stairs on block E0N0, and around it was a 4x4 block square. There were stalls lined up all around the perimeter of the square selling a variety of things.
Looks like there are a lot of food stalls. I wonder if there’re other tools and stuff adventurers need as well.
It seemed like all the adventurers there were concentrating on prepping for the dungeon; they were checking equipment, confirming strategies, and following through with other final assurances.
It was like they all took the safety of the square for granted. There were a few guys on watch around the perimeter, but they all seemed completely relaxed... Probably because the occasional monster that dared to approach was always some first-floor weakling.
What is this? They’ve gone soft, haven’t they? Things’ve gotten too peaceful here. Then the only way to fix that is to butt in, isn’t it? Butt in, peace out!
True, I might’ve been suffering from delusions of grandeur, thinking that my power was my own, rather than from my high-level equipment. But I was a monster—a monster with instincts that thirsted for battle.
Even if I couldn’t defeat all of them, I still wanted to wreak as much havoc as I could and put a roadblock in the adventurers’ progress.
Well, if I don’t stand a chance at all, there’s no point in fighting. I’ll just run in that case.
Anyway...
“Mimic Missile!”
To start off, I charged in full force.
“Drive-by Explosive Legs!”
Then, I jump-kicked one of the watchmen at the entrance of the square before heading straight inside.
“Explosive Legs!”
I kicked a nearby adventurer. They didn’t seem to be ready for battle, but that was their fault.
You guys underestimating the dungeon?
“Explosive Legs! Explosive Legs! Explosive Legs!”
Dash and kick! Dash and kick! Dash and kick!
I need to get as many as I can before they regroup!
I just lashed out at anything I could. After I’d kicked up a storm, I ducked into the eastern passage.
*KABOOBOOBOOBOOBOOOOOM!*
I could hear the thundering of multiple blasts going off behind me.
Well, I did kick a lot of them. I bet all the explosions are overlapping each other.
I turned around to find that the square had been dyed completely crimson.
Yeah... I have no idea how strong they were, but I guess this was an easy—hm?
Something was wriggling in the bloodred mess.
Something survived? What should I do? Run?
No, it seems weak. Let’s get closer and see what’s going on.
*Clack, clack.*
It was an older warrior. His right half was in complete tatters, to say nothing of the lower half of his body—it’d been blown clean off. At least most of his left side remained intact, and his head was unscathed.
His shield and helmet were probably super tough. Still, I don’t really get how defense works... Like, the defense bonus from my shoes extends to my whole body. So wouldn’t that apply to everyone?
“Dammit... What the hell...are you?” the warrior groaned.
“A mimic that just happened to pass by. So what?”
Not that he can understand me, though.
“I need healing...no, I should teleport first...”
Huh? Teleport?
Something shiny appeared in the old man’s left hand. A jewel? I thought, but I was immediately interrupted by a brilliant flash of light.
“Woargh! Too bright!”
I was blinded. As my sight recovered, I noticed that the old man was gone.
Ahh, so things can still be too bright, even without real eyes. I guess that means smokescreens and stuff would still work on me, huh? I need to be careful... Wait, no! He ran away! Oh, right—he teleported away. So I guess stuff like that exists... Oh well. It’s not like genocide was my goal, so whatever, I guess. Now then...
I looked around. None of the stalls had been affected, so I approached one and looked over the merchandise.
“Eep!”
The lady behind the counter was stiff, her face frozen in fear.
She doesn’t look like an adventurer... Don’t think she’d be worth any exp even if I killed her.
Her stall offered some kind of food that looked like a long piece of meat stuck between a piece of bread.
I wonder if I can eat this? That was when the question finally popped into my head—what exactly was I supposed to eat?
I hadn’t consumed anything up until now, and I hadn’t even felt hungry. Even though I wanted to defeat humans, I never felt like devouring them.
Hmm, well... Wardogs and orcs seem like they eat like normal creatures, but I’m a mimic... If someone said that I didn’t need to eat, then I’d be inclined to trust them.
“It’s worth a try. Gimme one of these.”
Oh right, they can’t understand me.
I extended my hand and took one of the pieces of bread. I had the feeling that tossing it inside me would just count as storing it, so I opted to open my lid and munch on it instead.