The smoke of torchlight rose to the stone ceiling, crawling through eroded cracks of ancient times. We stood together and watched as Selara’s body disintegrated into blue particles that joined the wisps of smog above.
“She’s gone…” muttered Gadaan.
“Not yet. She has a chance to still live,” Taro said.
Briar’s light-brown ears pinned back, “But she’ll have to kill someone.”
Just like Taro before, a red notification from the [System] alerted me that she was [Disbanded] from our party. A knot twisted itself into my stomach when I imagined what her brothers were thinking, but I had more pressing issues to tend to. Her killer was still here.
I held taut to my sickle, “We’ll suffer the same fate if we aren’t careful.”
“Aye!” Ethan and Mell shouted.
We stood behind the backs of the chests that once encircled the elf. Made of hardy timber and sturdy steel, all five looked like any ordinary treasure chest from a fantasy tale.
“Gadaan, do you have mimics in this world?” I asked, looming behind the containers.
“I’ve heard not of a ‘mimic’ but I’ve heard tales from the dwarves of a creature called ‘thorsoks.’ Carnivorous creatures who shape themselves as treasure and gold.”
Sounds like a classic mimic to me. But how do they behave in this world? And which one is it? Ethan and Mell wanted to rush ahead and bash all the chests with lanterns and torches but I advised against it. Briar hid behind Gadaan while Taro and I treaded carefully. I scraped my wretched sickle along the stone in search of a reaction from the mimics, but all I was able to discern from it was that the noise made the beast-people flinch and cover their pointed ears.
Fine, if I can’t bait you the easy way… “Gadaan and Briar, raise your swords. Taro, prep a bolt of whatever you can muster that isn’t ice. Ethan, toss me your torch. Mell, your lantern.” The orcs groaned but lobbed them both to me. After an ungraceful catch, I shaved the sides of the torch handle, sprinkled the kindling between the chests, and poured a meager amount of oil where Selara’s blood once covered.
“You’re gonna burn the loot inside!” Ethan exclaimed.
“It’ll survive if we kill the mimic fast enough and smother it. Now, ready yourself.”
The role of the leader in this encounter wasn’t chosen by me, but fell in my lap. I wasn’t naturally this outgoing on Earth, but I bore witness to enough of my party member’s taken by the gods to want to prevent it from happening ever again. I wished for this world’s demise. Even if that means stomping on any of the vile creatures spawned by the Creator.
You’re the best firemaker in the realm, right? Turn it all to ash and cinder. To ash and cinder. To ash and… I sucked in my breath and drew my arm across the stone with the sickle’s steel, producing a vile screech and throwing an ember into the center of the chests. It turned into a blaze. Like the depths of Hell, I cast us into an inferno of flickering shadows and dripping sweat. The heat of the desert above was not enough to match the flames below.
I heard the chests begin to crack and collapse. The metal singed and screamed with a vibrant orange glow. My party grew worrisome of the treasure held within but I knew of the monster hidden amidst. I knew not if the quivering heat from the fires made the chests dance or if they were doing it themselves. All five shook and rattled as if under some sorcerer's curse.
We held our ground with weapons raised when the chests screamed in a unified fury and stood on two legs. Over eight feet tall, their bodies were grotesque, limber, and made of rotten timber. With chests for heads and lids lined with sharpened teeth, they transformed themselves into a cacophony of amorphous shapes that burned away and forced them to stay in their original gangling form. They ran wild and swung at each other as if blinded by the blaze.
Taro launched a bolt of hardened sand at one that struck through its torso. Like a chameleon, it took on the color and texture of the red sand for a moment before it returned to its original charred flesh. It dripped black ichor like squid ink with every step.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
I knew not if the monster sensed where the bolt came from or heard the rattling of Taro’s armor, but it charged after him. With limbs hard as bone and claws sharp as glass, the mimic slashed away his sword and gorged down on half of his body. Rows of mangled teeth pierced his steel and crushed his sternum. I saw his [Health] dip lower and lower: 10/10, 9/10, 8/10, eventually falling to 4/10 [HP] until Ethan and Mell slammed against the monster before it could tear him apart or swallow him whole. I believed that Taro would’ve been chewed in half like Selara was if he didn’t have that armor equipped.
The twins killed the beast with bare fists and scolding torches to its sweltering flesh. Mell was the first to earn the kill after bearing her tusks into the creature’s throat. Her ink-stained maw smiled with joy while her brother voiced his complaints and the mimic contorted along the ground.
Briar and Gadaan dealt with their own manic bipedal chest while I dealt with mine. Three of them were still on fire with the screaming singes of metallic hinges. A wild slash from a mimic caught the young beast’s shoulder while another’s kick met the back of Gadaan. In the corner of my eye, Briar’s [Health] dropped to 14 points. If not for the natural fortitude of the beast bloodline, they would’ve been near death. The leader of this expedition snarled and bore his fangs after failing to protect the hybrid-pup. He thrusted his sword through the back of one of the mimic’s and charged it to the stone floor. Gadaan twisted and skewered the monstrosity even as the flames seared his fur.
With no sword in hand and so little [Health], Taro was out of commission and clung to the back walls. I and the rest of the party diligently targeted the trio of mimics when they weren't near one another. We stood ready as they shapeshifted and contorted into a variety of bulbous sizes and formless shapes. They would turn as orange as the flame surrounding them or gray like the stone beneath. Ethan and Mell managed to bring another down after I narrowly dodged its grasp. I was able to tell which one the siblings earned the kill after Ethan bellowed with joy.
“Now we’re even!” he shouted over the cries of the remaining mimic. It charged me with its song of terror and reached to take hold of me. Briar came to my aid and shoved me aside. The fur-beast slit the palms of the mimic. In its fury, the creature gripped the shoulders of Briar and moved to devour the young adventurer as the other tried to do with Taro.
Crooked rows of teeth dug deep into the beast’s skin, staining their orange fur a dark crimson. I regained my footing and lunged at the heinous abomination. Slashes from my sickle peeled away its scorched flesh and left it kneeling in a puddle of blackened blood. My hands dug deep into its maw to pry its teeth from the beast. I could feel the ivory daggers enter my skin but I didn’t release until I saw Briar fall from the mimic’s mouth. I stood atop the creature’s seared back, prying the top lid of its treasure-chest-mouth until I heard the wood splinter and the metal crack on its hinges. All witnessed the loud snap of its jaw that fell the remaining foe. Its limp body threw me to the stone below in a tumble, but it was vanquished.
Attribute Leveled-Up!
[Strength] — LVL 1 -> LVL 2
* * *
I later awoke in a daze against the chilling stone walls. Bodies of the mimics smoldered before me, breathing only the life of a fire that once consumed them. I could feel that same flame upon my hands, inside my gut, and suffocating my mind. This bloodthirsty fervor in my mind, whether caused by my orc bloodline or the waning adrenaline in my body, left me exhausted.
Looking top-left, I was happy to see the other four hybrids still alive. With the four mimics put to the sword… or fist in the twins’ case, we were able to rest and recover. All of our [Stamina] was drained but our [Health] however, was worse for wear.
Ethan Hilldoc
Health: 19/30
Monsters Slain: 1
Mell Hilldoc
Health: 24/30
Monsters Slain: 1
Briar Montrove
Health: 8/20
Monsters Slain: 1
Taro Matsuno
Health: 4/10
Monsters Slain: 1
I noticed me and Taro had the same amount of [Health]. I envied his armor now. If I had sustained the same attack that he did, I would’ve been sent to the scorching sun of the Arena. The party shuffled in their own pockets of the room and checked on one another.
“You okay?” Briar asked.
Gadaan grimaced his canid fangs when wrapping his wounds. “Aye, I’ll live, pup.” He ruffled between Briar’s dingo-like ears. From the corner of my eye I could see both their tails wagging while I limped to the mimic’s bodies. You can’t be shaped like a treasure chest and not contain any loot now, can you?
With sickle in hand and in search of the corpse’s treasures, it was only a matter of time before my [System] gave me a notification once I began to slice.
Skill Level-Up!
[Butchering] — LVL 1 -> LVL 2