Who comes first, the mimic or the treasure chest?
Just like the famous question of whether the chicken or the egg came first, the mimic is a similar kind of existence.
Either a treasure chest gains a sense of self, or a homeless mimic takes over a treasure chest.
In either case, the result is the same: a mimic is born.
And fundamentally, the characteristics of a mimic areā¦
“Wasting precious food! Eat it all!”
“Nine, that’s a bitā¦”
“ā¦I’m starting to feel a little scared of Nine.”
“Whoaā¦”
“Eeekā¦”
You guys have no idea how much of a honey pot mimics are!
Just like how I became a spirit beast by eating a spirit herb, if you keep feeding a mimic, the rewards inside it will increase!
I can’t guarantee that my gaming knowledge applies 100% here, but this is definitely a gamble worth taking!
I repeatedly smacked the mimic’s head with my front paw as it tried to spit out what it had eaten, and shoved the corpses of goblins and orcs inside it.
The mimic let out a sound like a dejected puppy and swallowed all the corpses.
Ah, I can hear the sound of the rewards increasing.
It’s not exactly a high-quality meal, just orcs and goblins, but if we feed it the dungeon bossā¦
“All done? Let’s go.”
Gurgle.
The mimic, which had likely never been treated like this before, made a strange noise and began crawling toward us.
“Nine, if it ends up attacking usā¦”
“Mimics are only scary because of their unexpected ambushes.”
Depending on the game, there are mimics that play soccer with humans like in some post-apocalyptic kung fu soccer game, but unfortunately, in this game, mimics are nothing more than a rare event that boosts rewards.
Their combat abilities are limited to sneak attacks, flailing around like a fish in a certain monster game, opening their mouths and begging you to come in, and closing their mouths to harden.
Once you know how to handle them, they’re actually quite adorable.
“Mimic, eat well and grow big, okay?”
“Eeekā¦”
Got it? Good boy.
I tapped the mimic’s head with my front paw and grabbed the chain connected to its body.
“Alright, let’s go. To the boss room!”
“ā¦Yes, yessā¦”
“Let’s finish this quickly and get outā¦ I’m so over this.”
“Agreed.”
We each voiced our thoughts as we blatantly headed toward the large cavern.
————
Dungeons are always barren.
Farming here is impossible, and becoming stronger through forbidden means is also out of the question.
In such a situation, the dungeon’s master, the goblin shaman, had spent decades trying to find a way out.
Setting traps to hunt students without lifting a finger, threatening students to steal useful items, and even resorting to cannibalism as a last resort.
But due to the magic cast over the entire dungeon, all his efforts came to nothing.
And now.
The shaman’s lips curled higher than ever before.
A fragrant smell!
Mana radiating from afar!
Perhaps, just perhaps!
This might be the opportunity to take things to the next level!
His hopeful gaze fixed on the entrance of the cavern.
The sound of footsteps growing closer.
The sound of something being dragged.
Before he could even identify the source of the noise, the goblin shaman raised his staff high.
No matter who it is, numbers will prevailā¦
ā¦Will they?
“Ugh?”
A whistling sound piercing through the darkness.
“Eeekā¦”
The goblin shaman’s vision was blocked by massive teeth and a sound like a dejected puppy.
That was the shaman’s last memory.
Chomp chomp.
The mimic eagerly chewed up the goblin shaman.
It wanted to live!
“Orca, you’re amazing as always.”
“ā¦I’m not sure if I should be happy about that.”
Orca scratched her cheek and averted her gaze.
While being praised for her strength was nice, it wasn’t exactly the kind of compliment a girl wanted to hear.
Nine, having caught a glimpse of Orca’s girlish side, turned his attention to the mimic, which had done its job admirably.
Now, with its mouth tightly shut and cautiously looking around, the mimic seemed quite cute to Nine.
‘Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad as a pet.
It eats anything you give it, so it’s great for leftovers, it’s kind of cute, and if you cut it open at the right time, there’s treasureā¦ Hmm.’
“Can we take that thing with us?”
“No.”
“Aw, come on.”
“I, I don’t think so either.”
‘Well, it does sound ridiculous to keep a monster as a pet.’
Realistically, it’s questionable whether we can even take it out of the dungeon.
In the game, you couldn’t take mimics with you either.
It’s more like a hidden dungeon-specific event.
Thinking about it, Nine realized how hipster this whole situation was and scratched his head with his front paw.
A golden mimic, not a golden goblin.
Anyway, it helped us, so it doesn’t really matter.
“Alright, guys, let’s head out.”
The boss room had other monsters besides the goblin shaman, but after seeing the mimic turn the shaman into a quick snack, they all froze, eyeing each other nervously.
Don’t make eye contact with those guys.
The monsters desperately avoided Nine’s gaze as he scanned the room.
‘It’s too much trouble to deal with all these guys, so let’s just leave.’
Nine ignored the monsters, who had lost the will to fight, and tugged on the mimic’s chain.
With just enough force to make it think it could resist.
But after three failed escape attempts, the mimic had long since lost any rebellious spirit.
“Eeekā¦”
The mimic, with the look of a condemned prisoner who had accepted its fate, began to follow Nine weakly.
Seeing this, Nine frowned, clearly displeased.
“I treated you so well.”
“Uhā¦ Nine, maybe whipping it would be more humane.”
“This is the first time I’ve ever felt pity for a monster.”
“W-well, I still like you, Nineā¦”
Nine, with a shameless expression, ignored the awkward reactions of his party members and led the way out of the boss room.
————-
“Sunlight!”
“Sunlight is the best. I just want to take a long nap~”
“W-we’re finally doneā¦”
“Yeah.”
So, let’s start thinking about how to dispose of this thing.
I grabbed the wildly shaking chain and pressed Orca’s calf with my paw.
Orca, picking up on my subtle signal, reluctantly approached the mimic.
“Eeek! Eeek!”
“ā¦Sorry.”
Why are you apologizing?
Now I look like the bad guy.
It’s a monster, after all.
Orca casually pried open the tightly shut mouth of the mimic and stabbed its heart with her sword.
What do you think came out?
Unfortunately, this isn’t the kind of place where you get high-quality rewards, so a decent rare item would be nice.
Or maybe some gems.
“Orca, what did you get?”
“A mana stone.”
A mana stone?
I stared intently at the mana stone Orca pulled from the chest.
A mana stone the size of a fist.
For a tutorial dungeon, this is a pretty decent haul.
Mana stones only form in the bodies of monsters that have reached a certain level.
In martial arts terms, it’s like the inner core of a spirit beast.
It’s not something you’d expect from a mere goblin shaman, so it seems my generous final feast for the mimic paid off.
“We could sell this for a good amount.”
“ā¦Couldn’t Nine eat it?”
“Hmmā¦ I’m not sure.”
Spirit beasts are obsessed with mana-infused items, butā¦ since it’s made from monsters, it feels a bit off.
If I do eat it, I should at least get some safety assurance from Selene first.
“Nine should take this.”
“That’s fair.”
“I, I think so tooā¦”
“This could sell for a decent amount.”
“If it weren’t for Nine, we wouldn’t have gotten this in the first place.”
The party’s rule is to split things equally, after all.
I finally nodded at Orca’s firm response.
“Now that the distribution’s done, let’s get out of here.”
We all walked out of the dungeon together.
And thenāwe made eye contact with Professor Ruyen, who was rushing toward us with a worried expression.
“Are you all okay!?”
“P-professor Ruyen?”
“Alice! I was so worried when something went wrong in the dungeon!”
“H-hawawaā¦”
Alice froze, letting out a strange sound as the dementia-stricken elf suddenly hugged her.
Looks like there was quite a commotion outside about the dungeon anomaly.
I turned my head to see the rescue team and stretched before hopping onto Orca’s bag.
“Orca, you know what to do.”
“Leave it to me.”
Since I don’t want my identity as a spirit beast to get out, it’s time to act like a normal cat familiar.
I curled up, taking one last look at the approaching rescue team.