Leth and I stop near one of the defensive lines. The web hanging in the sky becos more dense, and the scans beco more accurate. There’s even an exceptionally tall wooden wall with inscriptions, and I’m sure there are scouts or guards nearby, ready to rush in at speeds rivaling racing cars.
“Can you make it back from here?” I ask him.
After days of traveling, he seems tired but happy to stand on his feet. “I can. I know the protocols, and after a quarantine, they should let in. With all that’s happened, they’ll probably speak to even sooner, even if they suspect I might be a mimic. Then they will probably want to ask about what happened. I’ll ask to see Champion Owain and talk only to him.”
“Sounds good. Are you sure you aren’t a mimic? That would suck after all of this.”
“I… I don’t think so? Are you?”
“? The last thing I’m worried about is another dickhead in my mind.”
“What do you an?”
“Don’t sweat it. I’ll be going now.”
Before I can leave, he calls out to , “Assistant Nathaniel.”
“Yes?”
“Thank you, truly. Once I’ve spoken to Champion Owain, I’ll ask them to look for you… regarding your reward and… I hope your friends are fine.”
“Sure. See you later, level 7 technician Leth.”
With that, I propel myself high into the air before arching back toward my starting point. My senses expand as far as possible, I forgo more detailed scans, prioritizing sheer range over precision.
Right away, I move faster than I did with Leth and enjoy the wind passing by as I pierce the air. No matter how often I fly, I’ll always enjoy it.
POV Kim Min-Jae
I launch another projectile into the body of the lesser mimic and then pull it back, along with the hundreds more I’ve fired today. Each one boring new paths through the beast until the monster finally stops moving and the kill notification rings out in my mind.
Another one charges , but I use [Telekinesis] to pull my body out of the way and expand the gravitational field around .
The monster slows down, and my orbs slam through its body like the blast of a shotgun just before I pull them back to join the Hundreds continuing to orbit my body.
(Help Izzy,) Tess sends through the web.
After quickly locating her, I fly through the snow for a few monts and land next to her. A bit further away, Noodle has coiled himself around a mimic spawn—green, blue, and purple fla burning on his skin as he begins to eat the monster, despite how disgusting it looks.
At first, we were worried about him, given the way mimics tend to possess things, but anything that enters Noodle’s stomach doesn’t seem to be a cause for concern.
Izzy stands on a patch of dry land, having cleared an area the size of a football stadium around her, lting all the snow around her, and her new flas, combined into a single mass of green, blue, and purple, and flickering all around her.
When we fight, we almost always need to keep our distance from each other. That’s just how so of our abilities work, needing huge amounts of space to be used at their highest levels.
At first, I don’t realize what Izzy might need help with, but then I notice a Greater Mimic climbing out of the hole.
Fuck.
(Just hold it for a mont, Lily will be there soon! Biscuit should be sowhere nearby as well,) Tess sends as if reading my thoughts.
Given no other choice, I call to Izzy, (You tank and I snipe.)
(Sure!) she calls.
Her flas draw in tighter and intensify, taking the form of a massive snake that coils around her as if it were alive.
The Greater Mimic crashes against it, and I use my eyes to reach through the gravitational wavelengths I see, especially the ones closer to the monster. And then I grab them, giving them a pull, causing part of the monster’s body implodes in on itself, taking a good chunk of my mana with it. The fla snake attacks, targeting the fresh wound while I redirect my field to slow the monster.
As burns start to show on its skin, the mimic continues to charge. It’s incredibly tough and its body barely slows even as I hurl car-sized chunks of debris at it with all the force I can muster.
But even that brief mont of delay is enough to protect us until Lily finally cos soaring through the air and lands on it. And her giant axe flashes with gray mana as she cuts into the monster with ease, slicing through again and again, before it throws her away. A few tentacles reach toward her, but a gray mantle forms around her, and the tentacles disappear, disintegrating on contact.
(Yoo, the mana maniac is on his way. He caught one of the high-range mana frequencies we’ve been sending for him,) Dennis sends out of nowhere, speaking through the general link.
(Food!)
(Wanna bet he just asked if Nat was bringing us so food?) Maya says, sending a ssage of her own.
(Everyone focus! Sophie and Maya, finish off our Greater Mimic. Dennis and Aaron, help Lily, and Min-Jae and Izzy with theirs. Let’s get things cleared up before he gets here.) Tess orders, and we get back to fighting.
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POV Nathaniel
By the ti I land, the fight is over.
My grand entrance isn’t happening now, but at the sa ti, it’s always nice to see the corpses of Greater Mimics lying around. I’m sure they weren’t as powerful as the ones I killed with such ease, but group 4 seems to be doing alright. And much to my satisfaction, Lily is already looting the bodies for parts.
In comparison to the others, who are wearing layers of thick protective clothes, I’m thinly dressed, stuck in the sa shirt and pants I wore to my eting with Kyralon. I do not feel cold, and while it does put a huge strain on my mana supply, it’s only reasonable for this level of comfort.
For a mont, I examine these multicolored flas around Noodle and Izzy and head over to greet Tess, deciding to ask about the flas later.
Once Dennis adds to the link I begin to speak, (I think we’re going to want to fuck off as quickly as possible. I wouldn’t be surprised if a few Champion grade mimics decided to show up out of nowhere, at least if they have any left. And we need to find so place to fix up Fracture, It’s annoying having to keep it at bay all the ti. I swear, any longer and I’ll just sell it.)
(It’s nice to see you too, Nat,) Tess sends back, and I can hear amusent in her voice. (You had us worried for a mont there.)
(Just for a mont? What if I’ve beco a mimic?)
(You can still talk in the Community.)
(Would you really put it past the System to let a mimic imitate so perfectly that it can use the Community on this floor? The System could just prevent the mimic from reaching the 8th floor. Or it could simply remove it once all the attendees are dead.)
(Fuck, you must have been really popular at parties, Nat.) Maya jeers, smirking nearby, holding her wounded arm out for Lily, who imdiately gets to work healing it.
(I was never invited to any.)
(S-sa here!) Lily is quick to add.
(With your healing abilities, people will be falling over each other to invite you to many, many parties. Don’t worry, Lily.) Tess jokes, giving her a wink before turning to . (How much longer till we’re out of the second front?)
(Probably a day at your snail's pace? It’ll get warr soon and there will be less snow.)
(That’s good. Our equipnt and tents are being held together by wire and duct tape at this point and I don't want to waste a bunch of mana on keeping us warm while we fight mimics. Sophie, can you take Izzy and co with to check on the rest of the group? Everyone else, please show Nathaniel around. We’ll be heading out for the last push in thirty minutes.)
After that, she leaves, and I’m brought to one of the smaller tents we stole. There are three of them, the remaining two having been occupied by the other rcenaries, a few of whom are probably mimics.
(We aren’t killing other rcenaries just to be sure no mimics try to get the jump on us?) I ask.
Min-Jae is the first to answer, (Sophie keeps track of them, and when one moves too far away from us, Tess usually just snipes him. Even in this storm, I saw her throw her javelin over two miles and still kill the Mimic Spawn in one blow!)
After sitting down on a manabloc chair, Dennis groans with satisfaction, (Tess wants the lumorans to clear them out or kill them when they start running away. Her goal is to keep the true rcenaries alive in hopes of getting ahold of so valuable information or further rewards.)
(She should have been Greed. It would fit her,) I note.
Lily giggles, (She was offered Greed, Chastity, and Temperance back then, so you aren’t exactly far off.)
(Now that you ntion it, what other options did you get, Lily?) I ask.
(Lust!)
(Shut up, Dennis! I got Wrath, Charity, and Sloth.)
(Min-Jae?)
(Envy, Humility, and Greed.)
(What about the twin dickheads?)
(Fuck you, Nat. Both Aaron and I got Diligence, Patience, and Humility.)
(That’s three Blights and no Radiances. Good boys. And you, Maya?)
(Patience, Temperance, and Sloth.)
(All interesting. I got Pride, Greed, and Patience. By the way, what’s up with these blue, green, and purple flas Noodle and Izzy seem to have?)
Maya shrugs, (Noodle ate a guy with a Fragnt of Eternal Fire—whatever that ans. Noodle is Izzy’s bond, so they share so of their abilities. Izzy’s blue flas evolved or sothing under the effect of that fragnt, which is apparently also blue, green, and purple. Also, here.)
I grab the sword she is handing , the damaged arcane item I got from Beyond, the claymore known as Bloodthirst.
(You already got a new skill you wanted?)
Maya smiles proudly, (Yup, [Compounding]. The effects seem to be similar to Bloodthirst, but I can apply it to any of my weapons, and it works nicely with [Boost].)
(These skill nas are getting weirder and weirder,) I shake my head. (We have to test it later. It sounds cool. And take Bloodthirst back, it’s nearly fixed and at arcane grade. After you get it to Arcane, I’ll sell it in Beyond and give you a cut.)
(Sounds good!) There is no hesitation as she snatches it away.
“So, where is Biscuit?” I ask, pretending not to see the short tail wagging under one of the blankets nearby.
When I say his na, the speed of his wagging tail increases.
“Biscuit? Where are youuu?” I ask, still pretending not to see, ignoring the others as they roll their eyes.
I take a few steps and pass by the aforentioned blanket, only for it to be thrown aside as a corgi pup rushes out from underneath, biting into the cloth of my pants with his short, sharp teeth and starting to pull and jerk at the fabric to cause more damage.
“Oh my god. You got ! I was scared for a mont!”
(Food!)
“Yes, it’s terrifying!”
He finally lets go and barks, and I reach down to pick him up. Ever since he turned into a pup, he seems to act like one sotis. But it’s cute, so he can do whatever he wants.
While giving him the pets he deserves, I turn to the others, (We need to hold on for…) I check the tir, (around three weeks, and then we’ll get our own personal, walking, hydrogen bomb. Plus, I can probably get us so nice rewards for this thing I helped with, so we can bail to a safer place and take normal missions for a while.)
(What’s your plan?) Lily asks, taking a seat next to and reaching out to pet Biscuit. (Aren’t you worried about what Lissandra’s going to do?)
(A bit, but it’ll be fineee. I need to fix Fracture first. Then I want to see what Maya’s skill does. I want to see Noodle and Izzy’s Fragnt of Eternal Fire and experint so more. Once Lissandra arrives there won’t be much ti left until the second tournant anyways. So, who here thinks we can set a new record for enduring the most waves?)
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