The Mimics didn't move. That was a given, as none of the five party members would dare go near them, knowing that they just might be a trap.
Jack and the three other players however knew at least one or two of those chests were actually chests, rather than mimics. The question was, which ones would they be? And even if they found out which ones they were, they still had to take care of the Mimics...
One of the three wolves thrusts its two heads to the side, snarling as it heard Vivi trying to escape through the stone doors. Without hesitation, it began to lunge towards the group. Confident in itself, too confident. Its eyes would glow a deep red, filled with the lust and hunger of a true beast empowered by the magic of the Dungeon itself.
"I don't think so," Jack brought his staff up at the ready, his knees bending as he sprung himself forward into its path.
The Wolf raised one of its legs to swat him aside, as its paw was as big as a human head, it wanted the little elf! Nothing, nothing was allowed to get in its way of tasting her despair...
That's what the Wolf thought however, only for a slight stinging sensation running through its leg. Crashing and skidding along the stone floor, the Wolf's two heads lifelessly gazed forward. Their tongues wetting the floor with saliva.
Jack stood there, glancing over his shoulder towards the six tailed two headed wolf. After a few seconds the monster's body vanished in a poof of black smoke. In its place was a medium sized brown wooden box. Since it was a level sixty monster, it had a much larger set of loot.
"Just like the game..." Jack uttered quietly as he turned his head to look forward. Perhaps only in the dungeons do this monsters leave items behind.
His head then turned to face Vivi who was glowing a light golden color, which quickly faded after a few seconds. Using 『Character Appraisal』Jack could see that she had gained five levels after a single death of an enemy monster.
That was normal, due to the level of the monster, and how low leveled she was.
In the game it only got harder to level up once one got to level twenty. Even then, as his eyes looked to the other party members, he could see they each leveled up at least twice.
That is, if they even existed outside the Dungeon at all, as the monsters out there could be completely different. His tongue picked at the back of his mouth in curiosity.
The two other Wolves turned and looked towards the direction their pack mate had gone in. Then froze for a second, their eyes looking at a box that wasn't there before as well as a group of humanoids.
Jack's wings would spread at full wingspan, immediately pulling the attention off of the others and onto him.
Vivian was now s taring at her hands, then looking up from them over towards the wolves. She felt stronger, strangely enough. All of her new points having been allocated evenly across her stats.
"Start covering fire!" Jack ordered, docking as a set of six tails went swiping overhead.
Kokei and Runa dashed towards separate corners of the room. Aiming at the same target, the closest wolf to Jack and began releasing bolts of ice and fire towards the monster's
Howling in response, it turned its head towards Runa, then jerked its head in the direction of Kokei. Anger filled its lustful eyes. Without much more thought, it turned its entire body towards Runa and as it went to launch itself in her direction Jack sprung up from behind it into the air. His spear above his head, he brought the small bladed end heavily into its spine.
Letting out a single yelp before laying with all fours spread out, the wolf would vanish into a poof of smoke, just like the last one. Leaving a single box in the center of the room.
Vivi leveled up once again, this time being level twenty-one. The other two leveled up twice again, being level twenty-four.
Jack only gained excess Experience Points in exchange for killing these monsters.
Then there was the last wolf, it was snarling.
Nakajima stood there with his hand on the hilt of his weapon, just as the monster went to snap at him, he drew the weapon. Slashing at its eyes. Black liquid spurred out from the soft point, staining the floors.
"Hah! Pathetic! This is a Level Sixty?!" Confidence boomed from the male as the monster went to swipe out him with its head sized paws.
He easily jumped back, dodging, but as he was distracted by the paw, a set of tails smacked the swordsman across the room.
WAM! Right into the stone wall he went, crashing to the ground shortly after slipping down a few inches. Nakajima had been knocked out cold, his health having greatly been reduced.
"Hm," Jack hummed quietly to himself as he observed this before walking casually towards the Wolf.
It was closing on him too.
Jack was beginning to wonder. Would this resurrection magic used by the dungeon actually work? Or would Nakajima actually die here? Squinting his eyes, he came to a halt and watched as the two headed wolf continued its approach.
"Jack?" Runa asked as she rushed over towards Vivi, "What are you waiting for!?"
"I'm curious, would Nakajima come back? Or will the Dungeon fail to resurrect him?" Jack's head cocked to the side, similar to that of an owl.
"Now's not the time to experiment!" Runa almost screamed, raising her staff.
Jack simply looked over at her, "What're you doing? At your level, you won't even cause a single bit of damage against its armored fur."
Runa groaned and lowered her staff, scowling towards Jack. "Are you really going to let them eat him!? Aren't you supposed to be a good mentor or something? Be responsible!"
Jack let out a light sigh, "Fine, fine. What a bother," he continued to walk after the two headed wolf. The look of disinterest in his eyes. He didn't even feel like being flashy at all.
So just as the monster was looming over Nakajima, about to go for the kill, Jack quite literally just poked the Wolf in the side with the spear in his hand. Within less than a second, the Wolf keeled over as soon as its flesh was cut by the blade.
"Happy?" Jack turned his head towards Runa, his eyes then drifting over towards Vivi.
The Princess was walking towards him, her fingers caressing her forearms as she did so. She wasn't saying anything though as her eyes trailed along the surface of the living chests which were all that surrounded him now.
The dead wolf would then poof into black smoke like the others before it. Everyone except for Jack leveled up once again. This time making the Princess level twenty-two and the others only gaining one level. It was likely killing these mimics would level them all up to thirty.
Nakajima would slowly raise to his feet, having regenerated the moment he leveled up. "Ow..." He muttered as he rubbed the side of his head with one hand, while sheathing his weapon.
Jack glanced own at the Princess after having a good look over Nakajima. She was shivering, cold. It was clear that hemp robe wasn't enough for her.
He motioned for her to follow him as he went over to one of the crates. Kicking the wooden box, the crate would break open, look spilling out onto the floor.
A black Hooded Long-Sleeved Mage Gambeson with silvery trim, a padded defensive jacket which skirted the sides of those who wore it, with a pair of slacks, Iron belt of Resistence and black boots. The Jacket was of rare quality, being enchanted against physical and magical attacks. It was also insulated against the cold. The slacks were not uncommon, allowing the wearer to carry twenty five more pounds than usual. Then the boots were common, allowing the wearer to move one point five percent faster. These items were useless to Jack due to his robes being of Legendary grade.
"Put those on," Jack pointed at the items, "they're warmer."
Vivi blinked a few times when she was offered the loot of the Dungeon and stared at the items. They looked to big for her, but when she did squat down and pick up the jacket, it automatically became her size. Her eyes widened and she quickly pulled it over her tunic.
"Hehe..." A half suppressed laugh escaped her lips as she quickly snatched up the slacks and pulled them up her scrawny legs, followed by the boots which became thigh length.
Slowly standing up, she looked over herself before looking up at Jack with a wide smile across her face, tears already welling up in her eyes. She looked useful, she looked like a Mage Knight.
Pulling the hood over her head, the blue elf looked over towards Runa and the other two party members who were running away from a Mimic. The constant sound of wood clashing with the stone ground, made her cringe.
"Did you three really try to take on a level sixty Mimic?" He watched as they continued to run, ignoring the leader. Personally, he saw this as entertaining, remembering the cartoons he used to watch with a cat chasing a mouse… And oddly enough in a comedy the mouse would be chasing the cat. This was just like that, so for the first time he seemed to grin genuinely.
"Jack! Help!"
Vivi placed both of her hands on top of her hood, shifting her feet as her body followed them in the circle they ran in. "Uh… Jack… What're you doin'?" Her malachite orbs darted on over to him, tracing that oddly natural smile on his lips. "Your friends are in trouble..."
"Hm, Acquaintances that I'm responsible for." His smile vanished as he turned his attention back to Vivi. "Go break the other boxes, see if they have a weapon or items you can use."
Nodding, Vivi continued to cautiously watch the Mimic which was chasing the other party members before stepping in front of the box in the center of the room. Stomping on it with her foot, she hardly dented it. Pursing her lips she knelt down in front of the crate and began pulling at one of the loose wooden panels.
Jack would just walk along on an intercept path, directly in front of the mimic, as the other players would run past him.
The mimic who didn't see him right away, tried to stop its advance. It was intelligent unlikes the wolves, but it wasn't fast enough. Jack immediately slashed the monster, causing it to instantly turn into a poof of black smoke.
The room was illuminated even further as the other party members present began to glow, leveling up.
Where the mimic once was, there was only a mere potion in its place. A Self-Polymorphic Potion, which allows the temporary guise of one's appearance for up to seven hours.
It was likely worth a large amount of coinage, so he knelt down and picked it up, popping it into his inventory before turning his head to look at the other members who were in the corner panting.
A chuckle resonated in his throat before he turned his head to look at the other Mimics in the room.
Casting the spell known as『Odin's Summit』, a spell which intoxicates hostiles within six meters of the caster, all of the mimic's mouths would pop open. Their prehensile tongues sticking out of their open bodies. Their teeth clearly visible, and their polymorphic arms twitching on the cold floor.
"Oi… Couldn't you have done that from the beginning!?" Nakajima screeched, ready to pull the blade on the man who had let them run around in circles for god knows how long before helping.
Jack gave him this sadistic glance, before tapping his spear on the ground as he cast another spell called 『Artemis's Hunt』, this particular spell targets multiple hostiles and eliminates them in a hail of magic arrows.
With his spear held forward, a ball of blue light would form at the tip. Growing until it was about the size of a basket ball before exploding in all directions. Like rain these bolts of magic energy assaulted the mimics all around the room. The room temporarily filling with black smoke as over ten of these things died outright, leaving only one unopened chest in the far corner of the room.
The three just stood there staring, while Vivi was bouncing up and down by an open crate, her hands clasped together. No longer distracted and after seeing the demonstration of Jack's strength first hand with her eyes, she was for the first time in a long time since leaving the Imperium… Becoming excited.
Once where there were mimics, were brown loot bags.
Vivi however was paying more attention to the crate she had finally gotten open. Inside was a few loafs of bread, a glowing golden apple, a vial of blue liquid and a silver sapphire ring made in the semblance of two intertwined snake-like wolf heads with two cut sapphires displayed in their mouths.
The accessory was known as the Ring of the Serpent Wolf, a ring that memorizes the wearer's fighting patterns and automatically executes spells in their stead, eliminating hesitation and delayed casting.
After slipping the item onto her ring finger, she admired it for while before looking over the other loot in the crate. Reaching in she would pick up one of the bread loafs and sniffed it.
"It's okay to Eat," Jack pat her shoulder lightly, causing her to jump at his sudden appearance. His eyes grazing over the ring on her finger before reaching down and taking the Golden Apple.
Looking it over, he wiped it on his robes before tucking it into his inventory.
Vivi watched as he went over towards the last box, before glancing over at the other party members who were getting monster parts in the loot bags. "Ew..."
Though the only one bothered by the fact that they didn't get actual items, was Nakajima, since out of all of them… They weren't primarily a mage class.
With the last monster dead, the stone doors opened for them to go into the next room.
Jack would break open the last crate with the heel of his boot, causing the items to spill out onto the floor much like before. His eyes resting on a single golden key, which he knelt down and fetched.
The empty bags and broken loot crates vanished after the players and party members were done with them. All that was left in that particular room of the dungeon was that one chest.
Jack walked towards it, with the key swinging on his finger.
The other four watched from across the room as he went over to the chest and squatted down in front of it.
Vivi would pad on over to him and stand behind him, watching as he opened the chest with bright eyes and soft smile across her lips. While she still had no spells or skills to fight with, she could feel the magic energy flowing through her even more prominently than before. It was as if something laying dormant inside of her was coming alive.