It seemed like my hunters had finally come, so I broke out into a dash. I headed in the direction of the boss room, but since it seemed like they were coming with a smaller team, I decided to start with plan B.
Oh, sorry—I didn’t actually have a plan A, only a plan B and C.
I ran full speed, turned a corner, and lay in wait. Yep, plan B was just an ambush! Though I expected them to know where I was, I wasn’t sure how accurately they’d be able to pin down my position. That was the first thing I needed to test out.
“Ge he he he he! D’ye really think ye can hide like that?!” I heard a man’s incredibly crude voice coming closer.
So they really do know where I am—I should’ve booked it before they saw me. The plan is still to wait, though. Actually, wait...aren’t they just broadcasting their positions by shouting like this? What’re they, idiots?
The footsteps drew closer. From the sound of it, there was only one of them. If they had all come at me together, I would’ve been able to sweep them all at once with explosions. They’d probably taken that into account already.
So they’re going to go for 1v1s, huh? Well, that’s fine by me—I just need to pick them off as they come, then. Oh, he’s almost here!
*Badump, badump!*
The man finally rounded the corner and revealed himself. He hid his face behind a cloth, and in general his appearance and demeanor just screamed “Thief!”
“Wha—?!”
He froze in shock. Why? Because countless treasure chests currently filled the corridor. There was one here, one there, another over there, a few behind there, and, oh yeah—more over that way. Yep, they were everywhere.
Of course, I’d withdrawn my limbs so I could hide amongst them. I called it, “Operation if a treasure chest is gonna hide, it’s gotta be among a bunch of treasure chests!” I won’t apologize for making the title so long and obvious!
Anyway, this was something I’d come up with when I was considering how to make full use of everything on the first floor.
“Dammit! Which one’s the mimic?!”
I had a vague hunch that he wouldn’t have been able to pinpoint me. Since the dungeon was made by blocks, I figured that monster tracking would also be done by blocks. In other words, packing an area full of treasure chests made it impossible to tell which one the mimic was at first glance!
“Wait...if I look at its status, then—”
“Mimic Missile!”
“Gwhhbooarrgh!”
Instantly, I grew my arms and legs and shot forwards like a bullet. The thief-like man, who was caught between me and the wall, groaned miserably.
I backed up, and the man slumped limply to the floor.
“Hellooo?” I called out.
He didn’t even twitch.
Yep. He’s gotta be dead! Welp, that’s the first one taken care of! Now then, what should I do? Just keep going like this? But it seems like I’ll be discovered right away if the person’s able to assess the situation calmly, unlike the thief. I did mix in some extra mimics, though, just to be safe.
“Um, Miss Harumi? What should I do?” Yoshio, the mimic, seemed nervous.
“Just sit still!”
You’ll get found out if you move! For now, I guess I’ll just wait and see.
Unfortunately, I almost immediately regretted that choice.
*Boom!*
Suddenly, a fierce tempest of flames blew my way.
“Gyaarrgh!” Yoshio screamed as he caught on fire.
S-So hot! What’s going on?! Is the entire passage burning up?!
“Ho ho ho ho ho! It doesn’t matter how many of you there are, I just have to burn everything away!” a grandpa, who stood at the end of the corridor, exclaimed.
Incredible flames streamed out of the staff he had pointed my way, dyeing the entire hallway in crimson and orange hues.
Crap! What a heartless old geezer, burning that thief friend of his too!
The passage was now a true burning hell. Everything around me was red-hot as a storm of fire blazed its way through.
What is this?! It’s so hot! It burns, burns! If this keeps going on, I’ll be roaste—wait, huh? It’s actually not that bad. I mean, it’s hot for sure, but like, I can kind of just...deal with it? Well then...
“Mimic Meteor!”
I kicked off the floor as hard as I could, bounced off the ceiling, and attacked the geezer from above.
“Bhhgyaarrghh!”
The corner of my treasure chest body pierced his head, which gave way under the force. He fell, and the staff left his hands. The fire finally stopped.
Of course, there wasn’t even a skeleton left of the thief-like man.
“Yoshio, I avenged you!” I cried out as I teared up.
Okay, so some people might’ve had a problem with that, but look...dead men tell no tales!
Let’s move to the next spot.
After I’d walked ahead a bit, I was suddenly overcome by a bad feeling. I turned around; I thought I saw the old geezer twitch.
No way. Absolutely no way. He’s dead, isn’t he? I totally crushed his head!
However, as I stared at him in shock, his upper body sat right up before he got back on his feet.
“Huuuh?! What?! Why?!”
“Ho ho ho ho ho, don’t think I’ll be killed so easi—”
“Mimic Missile!”
“Bwoargh!”
I slammed myself right into his stomach.
I crushed his head, so how is he speaking? I thought, but I quickly found out the answer.
Thanks to my tackle, I was currently on top of him. I could feel something moving, as if trying to speak, under me. Suddenly interested, I lifted the old bastard’s shirt.
It was his gut—there was a face there, just as wrinkled as the one that used to be on his head.
What is wrong with this guy?! Gross!
“Ho ho ho ho ho, it’s useless! I am Norton, the Polar Star! This will not kill me! Take this—my ultimate magic move, Meteor!”
“What?! That sounds bad! Explosive Legs!”
I stood up and kicked—well, more like stomped—the geezer’s face.
“Drgwha! W-Wait, Meteor takes some time to cast...”
Who’d wait in this situation?!
I swiftly made some distance.
*Kaboom!*
And the old weirdo exploded grandly. I hadn’t been using the skill until now because Yoshio had been here, but now that there was no one left I didn’t have to hold back.
Now then, on to the next one.
*Bawoom!*
Just as I was thinking about going to the next target, the dungeon started to shake heavily.
Hmm? Ahh, could that be the meteor? Wait, why’d he think a meteor from the sky would do anything in here...? What was that wrinkly old fart even trying to do? Anywaaay... I don’t have anything left here, so let’s get a move on.
I had one more treasure chest zone prepared, and I needed to get there quick. Just as I was looking forward to pretending to be a treasure chest again, I noticed a man in front of me.
“I-It’s a pervert!”
The man, who was a bulging mass of muscle, wore nothing but a black banana hammock. He immediately started breaking every single treasure chest.
“H-Help me!” a voice cried out from among them.
“Masashiii!”
It seemed that the super-jacked man had scoped out the location where the monster—Masashi the mimic, in this case—had been placed. And just like all the other treasure chests, the muscle-bound man’s powerful stomp had crushed Masashi completely.
“You fiend! First Yoshio, and now Masashi?! I won’t forgive you!”
“Ohh! To think I was after a mimic with limbs!” The macho man stopped his wanton destruction of treasure chests to look at me with interest.
Dammit! This is for Masashi!
“Mimic Missile!”
I kicked off the floor into the air.
You can die vomiting blood onto the floor!
“Hrnggh!”
*Thud!*
Wha—?
The macho man easily caught me. Then, after flipping me upside down, he raised me up into the air.
Wait, I can’t move?!
I tried flailing around, but he had a solid grip on me and I couldn’t budge an inch.
“Power Bomb!”
*Ker-thud!*
The macho man slammed me into the floor, keeping his grip on me the entire time.