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“Hey, Sandy… it’s my turn.” A girl drowsily sat up, checking her Dungeonco timepiece. “Eh? You’re still up?”
She stood up and looked around the camp. The fire had fallen to embers and sitting next to it, but facing away from the camp was the back of a pink-haired girl.
“Don’t tell me you’ve fallen asleep again!” The girl stood up and walked over to the pink-haired girl, grabbing her shoulder and shaking her. “Oi, Sandy!”
The pink-haired girl jumped and then turned around. She smiled apologetically and then ran over to her covers and jumped into them. The other girl frowned, but when the pink-haired girl remained in her covers, she took her place and started bringing back the fire. She probably did nap a little and was too embarrassed to say anything. Once she took over her watch, I left the body of the girl and returned to my core room, where Diamond was waiting.
“So, you call it a…”
“A mimic. They can take the form of anything they consume. Isn’t it neat? I’m surprised you didn’t notice such a creature before.”
“I did…” I responded awkwardly. “However, the mimics I know about just take the form of treasure chests.”
The mimic wasn’t cheap either, they were 3,000 points. However, that wasn’t an issue because the first thing the mimic was tasked with doing was eating the pink-haired girl. Initially, the mimic looked like a slime, although it wasn’t nearly as structured as a normal slime and didn’t seem to have the ability to move. It was just like a pile of silver sludge. We had to toss her unconscious body on the slime, and that’s when it suddenly formed teeth and a mouth rose and swallowed her whole. The girl’s death was instant and painless.
A short moment later, the silver blood shimmered and then turned into a perfect replica of the girl, although her bindings were all gone and she had a vague and distant look in her eyes. We quickly dressed her up in her armor, although because I had cut it off earlier, I had to jerry-rig it a bit. Still, if no one looked at her too closely they wouldn’t be able to tell anything was wrong.
“Quick, get her back to the party. It’s already passed their guard switch time.”
“Mimic, go to level 1 and stand guard over the party.” After I made my order, the mimic stared at me blankly.
“Idiot, mimics aren’t intelligent. They only work on instinct. That’s not a problem because you can control her, right?”
“Why don’t you do it?” I offered, not wanting to take over the body of another woman after what happened last time.
“Why? So, you can inhabit my body again!” She covered her chest. “Not a chance in hell!”
I sighed, but I ended up inhabiting her and then going up to the first floor. I took away my senses so that I couldn’t feel anything in this body. That should be enough. I arrived just in time for the next person to wake up. Diamond had told me laughably little about this body, but I quickly realized that she couldn’t speak. As she approached me, I was worried she’d notice something, so I jumped right into the spare sheets. Thankfully, she seemed to buy it and I was able to leave the body. To them, she just looked like she was asleep, but in truth, she was just waiting.
“Treasure chests are common,” Diamond explained. “After all, mimics can’t speak, and they don’t move until they have a target.”
“Sandy won’t attack them in the middle of the night, will she?”
“Sandy?”
“That’s what they called her!”
“That was the name of the girl who died. This mimic is just a monster.” Diamond explained. “You did order it to be dormant, right? We don’t want it attacking the other girls. Its strength is rather weak. It depends on the element of surprise, but if found out it can be killed rather easily.”
“I’m not an idiot!” I shot back. “Sandy won’t attack them. What are we going to do until morning?”
She waved her hands dismissively. “I’ll possess the body in the morning. If it was you, you’d reveal her right away. As for me, I’ll make sure they get deeper into the dungeon and then lose another.”
“So, you can inhabit her! Wait, mimics are only three thousand while your undead raise was four thousand. I could have just bought a mimic and had it eat your body, right? I’d have saved a thousand points.”
“Tcht… you cheap miser. The mimic could only replicate my dead body!” She shot back. “Plus, even if I can make the miser walk, I couldn’t speak anymore.”
“Isn’t that a win?”
“Fuck you. A mimic is considered a rank D monster, although that’s only because it’s difficult for Rank Fs to detect them. Its body is really rank F with its mimicry making it a little more difficult. As for my body, it’s a rank C body, and with my ghost, I’m the strength I used to be… no… stronger, because now I’m immune to poison, resistant to physical damage, and can heal extremely quickly. If I fought Misty again in my current body, I might even win without a sneak attack.”
“Fine, whatever, is there anything else I need to know about mimics?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’ve heard a thing or two. A few rich people put mimics in their treasuries to kill off thieves. Their upkeep is pretty high. You have to feed them a goblin a week. Oh, and if you keep any other monsters around, they may eat them, especially if you don’t feed them regularly.”
“Damn, I was hoping to make a mimic army, but it seems like they do have too many setbacks,” I muttered. “Wait, a goblin a week? I have to feed my monsters?”
“No, you probably pay upkeep. Based on some of your descriptions, a dungeon likely functions similar to a wizard’s tower.”
“Upkeep?”
“Wait… please don’t tell me you don’t know what upkeep is.” She looked at me incredulously.
“Of course, I do! It’s the cost of maintenance!” I coughed. “You’re saying that every creature I buy has an upkeep cost, and I likely have to spend mana to maintain them. This is why most small dungeons depend on traps with no upkeep, right?”
“Hmm… maybe you’re not a complete lost cause…” She responded snobbishly.
I let out a breath. I had played plenty of games, so how could I not pick up on the contextual clues? Upkeep likely meant that the more monsters I had, the more expensive it would be. The dungeon points I earned would be earned less slowly. I looked at the counter, and it was hard to say.
On the one hand, I still had three people in my dungeon so I was gaining points far quicker than I was used to. On the other hand, I had just lost one of those girls, so a speed drop was expected. It was too difficult to say how much the mimic costs me say compared to the rat king. At least, I wouldn’t need to feed it.
“How are your points doing anyway?” She asked.
“Huh? Oh, yeah…” I had been so caught up in everything, I hadn’t paid attention. When I saw the amount, I couldn’t help but wince. “8,649.”
“That little, huh?” She responded thoughtfully.
“When you died, you netted me 10,000 points, but she only gave me around 2,000. She didn’t even pay for the mimic replacing her!” I spoke helplessly. “What gives?”
Diamond sneered. “Did you think some middling F-ranker would be worth the same as me? The more powerful your opponent, the more you gain.”
“I see…” I responded thoughtfully, “No wonder the four of them have only increased my DP production slightly higher than either you or Misty did on your own.”
“Hm!” She responded, crossing her arms. “Why else do you think we’re trying to keep them in the dungeon as long as possible? If you killed them now, you’d only get 8,000 points, but if you keep them here for a few days, you’d be making that much again!”
Diamond did know what she was talking about. I had been thinking about things far too narrowly. It was best to delay their deaths as long as possible. It was even regretful we had to get rid of one of them, but then again, it seemed Diamond had a plan for that too. I decided to watch for a bit and let things play out.
Eight hours passed by and every two hours the watchguard swapped out. They made a total of ten hours, allowing each girl to get a full eight hours of sleep. It still wouldn’t have been enough for me as a human. I’d have needed to sleep another four hours at least. Still, that time passed and none of them realized that their party member had been swapped out with a mimic. Of course, I also kept quiet, giving them no reason to suspect that anything was amiss. I just watched as my points steadily went up.
Shortly before the morning, Diamond left and hid her body. She made me enter the goblin and close off all my senses before she did it as if I’d hunt down her body. I was tempted to defile her with the goblin. Maybe she’d act a bit humbler after waking up covered in goblin jizz. In the end, I suppressed my desire for punishment. I depended on her abilities too much at the moment. Until the threat that was Misty was taken care of, I couldn’t risk angering her. It was fine though. I was a patient being. I could wait for my time. I’d eventually humiliate her for every insulting word she leveled my way.
“I’m going to the mimic now.” Her spirit declared, causing me to jump. “Possession is something I can only do a few times a day. It requires a great deal of energy. Not everyone can freely jump in and out of creatures like you, and my control is dependent on the intelligence of the body I’m inhabiting. At my current strength, I’m not even confident I could possess the rat king.”
The rat king squeaked defiantly as if it understood what she said and wasn’t happy she suggested it. We were all on the 2nd floor, at the base of the stairway leading up to the first floor and their camp. I had been watching them the entire night, despite Diamond saying it wasn’t necessary. I didn’t need to sleep anymore, so this kind of thing didn’t bother me all that much. I glanced down at the rat king.
“You, go get into your proper position!” I ordered him.
“Squeak!” His sounds gave off a certain level of respect, and his body posture looked like if he had hands he might have saluted.
Hey, the rat king wasn’t bad. This guy was going places.
“That thing is useless without rats.” She snorted.
I looked back to Diamond who had an ugly expression. If only she had some respect.
“You said your current strength. You can get stronger? How?” I asked.
“You don’t know?” She asked, looking a bit annoyed.
I had a thought, so I looked through the dungeon store. That’s where I saw it. There was a rank-up ability. It was next to the naming ability. It seemed like there were various ways to modify mobs, although most of them were currently locked. The available ones were expensive… like more expensive than the gains of doing it.
“Monsters absorb mana and level over time.” She continued when I didn’t respond. “I’d suppose you’d need to give your monsters more mana to make them level.”
“Yeah, I figured that out.” I coughed. “Well, I’ll let you do your thing.”
“Hmph, just watch a master.” She floated upstairs.
I was worried she’d be seen by the current guard, but she quite easily managed to slipper her view and enter Sandy. A few minutes later, the girl watching everyone called out.
“Oi! Ladies! Get your cunts up. It’s time to keep going.”
There were several groans as some of the girls resisted their leader’s call, but they all ended up getting up after another minute or so. They quickly reapplied their armor which had only been partially taken off just in case they were attacked in the middle of the night. They also pulled out some dried food and ate it. It didn’t look very appetizing to me. It was stale bread and dried meat, and the meat wasn’t fresh and oily like jerky, but just dry and salty-looking.
“It’s been a while since I’ve eaten anything.” I considered.
I didn’t get hungry in my current body, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t get cravings. I spent my whole life nervous about eating, so I felt a little regretful that after all of my encounters, I didn’t get any of the food from a heroine. Maybe Diamond had some in the storage ring, but I didn’t know how to look in it and she reclaimed it before I could figure it out. I’d ask her, but knowing her, she probably wouldn’t let me try any. It was probably the same as the other heroine food I had seen Misty and these girls eat. It was very unappealing but probably convenient.
The four women, the possessed Sandy included, headed down to the next floor. Sandy had acted animatedly, making use of grunts and nods to appear as if she could speak, and so far no one had noticed. I had some doubt’s Diamond could pull it off. In particular, I figured her bad attitude and way of looking down on others would quickly get her caught. However, she was acting sweet and all smiles, which told me she knew the normal way her face looked was awful.
It had taken the group an entire day to reach the second floor. I hoped that it would take them another day to reach the second. I watched eagerly, and they didn’t disappoint. Just like the day before, they moved forward slowly and methodically, looking in both directions as if a wrong step could be instant death. Each girl had a device in her hand to scan for the environment. As it turned out, Sandy had the one for monsters, so my rat king would be able to catch them by surprise.
I waited as they headed down the pathway. An hour passed, and then two. They finally passed the hidden alcove that the rat king was hiding in. Diamond walked right by it without warning them of anything. The plan was simple. He’d jump on the back of the girl in the rear and attack her. After slashing and biting her, the rat king would hide back in his alcove. This would cause the girls to move even slower. With luck, the fear of getting attacked from behind would slow them to the point it’d take several days to pass this corridor.
It was finally his moment to shine. He stepped out bravely behind the party, preparing to attack. That was the plan, but then the rat king tripped over his own feet. I didn’t know mobs could do that! As he fell, he involuntarily let out a noise.
“Squeak!”
The party all turned to look at him. Sandy wore the distinctly ugly face of Diamond who was irritated by someone else’s stupidity. As the girls all stared at the giant rat, the rat king seemed to freeze in terror, not knowing if it should run away now, or launch a fruitless attack.
“It’s a rat king!” One of the girls shouted.
“Run!” Shouted the leader. “Where there is a rat king, there is an army of rats!”
The girls turned and ran forward. Had there been traps on this level, they would have struck every one of them. Yet, that wasn’t the nature of this level. The girls ran shamelessly into the dark. The only one who didn’t go with them was Sandy, who stared as they disappeared with a flummoxed look on her face.
The group of screaming women didn’t slow down until they reached the end of the hallway. When they found the stairway leading down, they didn’t hesitate to head down it. My level which was supposed to take a day to beat was defeated in twenty minutes. Even Misty and Diamond didn’t beat that time.
Only when they came out on the third floor, making haggard breaths that could be seen in the chilly air did they finally stop fleeing.
“Rat kings are horrible! Do I have any rats on me? I feel something scratching at my back!”
“I can still feel them crawling all over me!”
“They got Sandy! Oh, gods… they must be eating her alive right now.”
“Should we go back and save her?”
“No! No… even if we could save her, would Sandy want to be saved after that?”
I listened in on the conversation with a flummoxed expression. Who would have expected this F-rank adventuring party to be terrified of rats? They reacted as if the rat king had already sent a hoard after them. They didn’t even wait to see if there was a single rat under his control. They just assumed that they were coming and ran.
“What do we do?” One of the girls asked. “We can’t go back! There could be countless rats between us and the exit.”
The leader nodded. “We’ve already gone too far. Our only choice is to continue onward and defeat this dungeon. Once the dungeon is dead, the surviving mobs are no longer bound to it. They’ll often run away. As long as we give it a few days, the rat king will have left the dungeon and it can be someone else’s problem.”
“What about Sandy?”
“She knew the risks… the same as all of us. We’ll collect her remains on the way out… if anything survives.”
By this point, Diamond had come to my side as a ghost and was watching them with just as much shock. Technically, we succeeded. They didn’t dare try to flee the dungeon. We also didn’t need to pretend Sandy was alive. However, we had also lost an entire level of time. As for the rat king who had caused this mess, he was hiding in his alcove and shaking, afraid of one of us coming to punish him.
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