Chapter 96: The Mimic Part 1

Mimic: “Gorrrggggh!”

The Mimic made a sound like a roar that was underwater, as it leapt towards Nathan. After missing its first target, it immediately went for Nathan.

Nathan: “Whoa!”

Nathan barely dodged it, as it lunged at him trying to bite his head off. He was careful not to lose his passenger as he gained some distance. After he was out of range, the Mimic went dormant and remained completely still, as if what had transpired had never happened.

Nathan: “So that’s a Mimic…fricking scarier in person.”

Jasmine: “Dammit were trapped.”

Nathan: “What?”

Jasmine: “Now that it’s awake, it won’t let us go so easily. Whatever you do don’t look away, the moment you do, it will attack.”

Ash: “If you knew what it was why didn’t you say something?”

Jasmine: “I didn’t want to wake it, hence why I was telling you to stay ‘Quiet’.”

Ash: “Oh yeah, and shooting us with arrows would shut us up, did it occur to you that we might scream in pain?”

Jasmine pulled out her arrow and showed him the tip. A rune was edge into its head and the point pulsating purple.

Jasmine: “It has a silence spell edge into it, the moment it hit, the spell would go active. Also I was aiming for your feet, though I didn’t expect you two to dodge so easily. More than that, I’ve never seen anyone dodge a Mimics lunge so perfectly before.”

Nathan: “You thought that was perfect?”

Jasmine: “You still have all your limbs, so yeah.”

Ash and Nathan both grimaced upon hearing her speak. It was true that they dodged the attack, but that had to be the closest call they’ve ever had. It was almost instantaneous when it lunged at him, Nathan actually lost sight of it for a moment.

Nathan: “(Pry)”

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Mimic Level: N/A Type: Semi-Solid Being _________________________________________________________________________________________

HP: 1000/1000 MP: 0/0

Taking on the shape of various treasure chests, they lure curious and unsuspecting souls into their range to be devoured whole. It greedily hoards anything valuable and the more treasure it holds, the more extravagant the outer appearance.

ATK: 0 DEF: ∞

Abilities: Lunge, Bottomless Appetite.

Weakness: Susceptible to Poison

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Nathan: “(Are you kidding me?) So what, how are we supposed to escape this thing?”

Jasmine: “I……………… don’t actually know.”

Nathan: “What do you mean you don’t know.”

Jasmine: “I mean, I never seen anyone escape a Mimic.”

Ash: “No-one’s ever escaped one? Then how do you know so much about it?”

Jasmine: “I……. that doesn’t matter, I never seen anyone escape it while it was awake is what I’m saying.”

Ash: “What, you want us to stand here until it falls asleep.”

Jasmine: “I don’t know of any other way. As soon as we turn away from it, it will lunge. Once it’s has a target, it will never stop chasing it.”

Nathan: “The lets give it another target.”

Before Jasmine could inquire, Nathan lifted his hand and plants erupted from the ground. Uzy, as well as Snyare, shot up as so there was so many so that the mimic was no longer visible. A subtle ‘living forest’ had sprung up in front of them and Nathan had every plant attack the Mimic.

Jasmine: “Amazing, this is what you did last night, I never imagined you could create so many.”

Nathan: “No time. Run now, gawk later.”

Jasmine snapped out of her daze, with the sound of bullet fire, as she joined the two and beat a hasty retreat, getting as far away as possible from the Mimic.

_

_

Jasmine: “*Heavy breathing* Oh come on, can’t we take a short break?”

Nathan and Ash turned back to see Jasmine out of breath from sprinting, to jogging, to speed-walking they had all been doing for the past ten minutes.

Nathan: “No we need to keep moving, were not out-of-the woods yet. Pun intended.”

Ash: “(And he thinks my jokes were bad?)”

Nathan: “Are you sure this is the right way?”

Jasmine: “It’s not the same exact path I took, but yeah, we are still headed in the right direction.”

Nathan: “Okay, let’s go.”

Jasmine: “Why can’t we rest? We should be far enough away from the Mimic by now.”

Nathan: “No we’re not.”

Jasmine: “What?’

Ash: “It’s been following us for the last few minutes.”

Ever since Nathan and Ash had started running, no matter how far away from the Mimic they thought they were moving, their ‘Threat Detection’ had yet to cease its activation. Nathan thought his plants would be able to hold it off, but not long after they had run away, Nathan and Ash quickly notice, the sound of bullet fire had ceased. They hadn’t moved nearly far enough away, not to hear the seeds pelting the Mimic, and yet with the passing of the rain, the forest had grown eerily quiet.

Jasmine reluctantly started to walk again, she didn’t understand what was going on, but they seemed so sure. It’s just what they were saying didn’t match with the information she knew. A Mimic doesn’t usually track someone to this extent, unless of course certain conditions are met and from what she could tell, none of them fitted the conditions.

Nathan: “Do you think will be able to get back to your trail, once we get her back to Zane?”

Ash: “I don’t know, we’re completely off-course from the path I usually take. We could try to get back there, but will be traveling blind. Not to mention our stalker at the moment.”

Nathan: “Doesn’t matter, it’s no better than where we are now. Plus when it’s just us two, we can avoid the mimic much easier, no offense Jasmine.”

Jasmine: “It’s strange...”

Nathan: “Not really, if it was just us two, we could just stick to the trees.”

Jasmine: “No not that……..are you sure there is something following us?”

Boys: “Definitely.”

Jasmine: “Then whatever it is, I don’t think it’s the Mimic.”

Nathan: “What?”

Jasmine: “Mimic’s usually don’t attack unless someone gets within range. Also since we got away, I don’t think it will go through the hassle of chasing an enemy this far away, at least not for a meal.”

Ash: “Then you’re saying that it could necessarily pursue someone, if the conditions are met?”

Jasmine: “Yeah, but from what I can tell, none of us fit that condition.”

Nathan: “And what are these conditions?”

Jasmine looked them over one more time and then she was sure, they were not meeting the conditions. However, when she spoke, both the two knew that the Mimic was still hot on their trail.

Jasmine: “Treasure.”

Boys: “Treasure?”

Jasmine: “If there’s anything that a Mimic will chase you for, it’s definitely treasure.”

Nathan: “What like gold and jewels?”

Jasmine: “Well, obviously, but weapons, accessories, high grade potions, unique armors are all attractive to it. Anything at all with a high enough tier would definitely fit the bill, especially something from the legendary class. If we had things like that, it would absolutely chase you all through the dungeon and the more you have, the more obsessed the Mimic.”

Boys: “(Oooh, Shit.)”

Nathan and Ash began to sweat profusely. Everything she just mentioned, the two were currently carrying. From the massive of amount of high-tier equipment in their inventories or the clothes that they wore that had become a class that did not exist until now, not to mention the sword Nathan had strung over his back(Origin), they were basically mimic-fodder. Sure Ramol had some of what he had, but there was still a lot more in Nathan’s inventory.

Jasmine: “So whatever is chasing us is not the Mimic, still we should be careful of the other creatures that lurk in the forest. From where we are, if I remember correctly, from what Zane told about the flora, we should be right around their territory……….. what’s wrong with you two?”

Nathan and Ash faces were distorted in a way that made them look constipated.

Nathan: “Faster, we need to move faster.”

Ash: “Sorry about this girly.”

Jasmine: “Kya, what are you doing put me dowaaaaaaaah!?”

Ash and Nathan took off, not at full speed, but still quite fast. Nathan stuck his hand to his chest, holding Iris in place, as he sped through the woods; While Ash carried Jasmine in his arms. Jasmine tried to get them to stop, but to no avail. Although she had to admit being carried around like a princess wasn’t all that bad.

Jasmine: “Wait no, listen put me down, we need to go back.”

Nathan: “Oh no, back is definitely not the direction we need to go.”

Jasmine: “Forget the stupid Mimic, it’s not following, but if we keep going in this direction, we’ll end up with a bunch of ‘Broken Harts’.

Ash: “What are you even talking about right now?”

Nathan: “We’re running away from an enemy, not my first love after she rejected my confession, I worked so hard on for days, in front of all my friends and laughed at me for even attempting afterwards, so my sisters secretly beat her up a few days later in retribution and anybody who made fun of me.”

Ash: “Oddly Specific, I want to hear about it later.”

Jasmine: “N-Not that kind of heart, you idiots and that sounds really entertaining, I want to hear about it too.”

Just as she was about to explain, she saw several more shadows go by.

Jasmine: “Dammit, it’s too late, they’re here.”

In the next moment, a large animal leaped out of the brush at Nathan. Quickly brandishing his sword, he swung it just in time to slash at the creature. The creature cried out in pain, from having a part of his antler lopped off and smashed into the ground. Nathan and company stopped moving, now with the large creature blocking there path.

Nathan: “The hell…is that a deer?”

Jasmine: “Not a deer, it’s what I been trying to warn you about, we just entered the Broken Harts territory.”