Chapter 99: The Mimic Part 4

Jasmine: “Dammit, run out already!”

Impact after impact bombarded against the large tree, for several minutes now, as the Mimic, seemed to fire off an un-exhaustible amount of weapons at Jasmine.

Jasmine ripped the two arrows out of her leg, wincing in pain as fresh blood poured from her wound. Grabbing a piece of cloth, she tied it tight to her wound effectively stopping the blood. Using the tree as cover, Jasmine had moved away and leaned on an adjacent tree. With the sudden bombardment of weapons, several had penetrated straight through the tree, like the first long sword, but soon enough the barrage ceased; either the mimic had ran out of usable weapons or just ones it was willing to relinquish. Across from her the tree that now resembled to be what looked be a spike-like torturing device from the dark ages which looked mad from the various weapons that was able to penetrate through it.

Fighting the pain in her leg, Jasmine stood up and readied herself to run. The last time she peaked around the corner, the arrow was just about gone. The magic arrow was taking much longer to be absorbed, because of the spell; the Mimic couldn’t absorb it as fast. However, the spell wouldn’t last much longer and soon the Mimic would be back to get her. However, within the last few minutes, she had devised a plan. She had exactly four magic arrows left, the spells embedded in them weren’t of any use right now, but all she needed was time.

The Mimic absorbed magic arrows slowly and while consuming them it remains immobile to focus on whatever it was consuming. Every deer it ate earlier was a slow and methodical process and now with the magic arrows she could get away. Only problem was, if she wanted the best delay, she would need to fire all the arrows at once that would require about a five second window of clear shots without the chance of being impaled by flying weapons.

Luckily for her, the tree that weapons were embedded in had taken enough damage as to be able to be knocked over with a fierce enough push. With her leg in the way it was she couldn’t run at it with her full strength, but if she lowered the amount of mana she placed into the magic arrows to activate them, to the bare minimum, she could infuse enough mana into a normal arrow giving it just enough power to help with knocking over the tree.

Jasmine: “Ugh, alright…here we go.”

Jasmine grabbed an arrow from her quiver and slowly infused it with mana. As she did, the arrow began to let off a faint glow and she casually ready her bow. With quick aim she fired the arrow at the tree and with a loud bang, it smashed into it, splintering what was left of the base.

*Creak**Crack**Crack*

The tree slowly began to fall over and as soon as it moved, Jasmine ran at it. She stepped down hard on her wounded leg, pain shot through her body, but it did not deter her; but it did weaken the impact of the blow to the tree, not to mention having to avoid the weapons that could impale her. However, she had accomplished what she wanted and the tree began to fall towards the Mimic, but at the same time, she also heard a sound of death.

*Goooorggghhh*

The spell had worn off and the Mimi was free once again, just in time to stop the massive tree falling towards it. With a wave of its claw-like hand, the Mimic fired another weapon up toward the tree, splintering it and careening it safely out its way, but that was fine; Jasmine was ready. As soon as she had a clear shot she would fill it with the last of her arrows and then bring it back to Zane. However at that moment something drew her attention, not just hers, but the Mimic’s as well.

An enchanting power, a power beyond anything else they had encountered or could think of. A power so overwhelming that even the strongest on the planet could do nothing but gawk at it. Jasmine felt this power once before. Half a year ago, this power shook the world and moved it into a new era.

Jasmine: “The Hero…………is in the dungeon!?”

The loud sound of the tree smashing to the ground, brought her out of her stupor and brought her back to her dire situation.

Jasmine: “Damn!”

A clear shot had already been gifted to her and she was late to fire. She quickly shot off her last desperate act of defiance and, lucky for her, the Mimic seemed to be still entranced by the Hero’s presence.

*Thud**Thud*

The arrows hit their target, activating on contact. The spells were nothing that could help, but with this she had occupied its time and with it still fixated on the Hero she had plenty of time to escape.

Jasmine: “Thank the heavens.”

She quickly turned to run, but the strangest thing happened; she couldn’t move. Then it came; a sudden pain from her side and looking down she was horrified to find yet another arrow, lodged in her, an arrow with a purple hue. She didn’t even have time to react before the gravity spell activated sending her smashing into the ground under an intense weight with all of the pain ensuing. She screamed internally, mostly because her face was now eating dirt and she couldn’t speak, at the crushing weight of the spell.

Jasmine: “(What? How? It’s not even paying attention?)”

Then she remembered that the Mimic fired something at the tree earlier, it must have been the arrow and from sheer bad luck or that the Mimic was aiming at her the whole time, it hit. Her luck had went from bad to worse, as the enchanting feeling from the Hero subsided. With that, the Mimics attention returned to her and slowly it began to approach her. Before it got to her, it methodically collected all of the weapons it had fired off.

*crack**crunch*

Jasmine: “GAAAGHH!”

Jasmine bones have finally given way and her ribs her caved into her lungs. Not only was she now in extreme pain, she couldn’t even breathe properly.

Jasmine, turning her head to the side, watched as the Mimic made its way over to her and with it; claw-like hands reached for her. However, instead of grabbing her it took the bag of antlers, her bow and quiver and anything else of value she was carrying.

Jasmine: “N-No.”

It swallowed everything and then looked back to down to the half-crushed girl on the ground, trying her best to lift an arm in an act of defiance. Another sickening crunch as more of her bones gave in to the extreme gravity. The Mimic than reached for the arrow and ripped out from her, ridding her of the arrow’s effects, before swallowing it as well.

It wasn’t out of mercy, it just wanted to add to its collection and even so, the girl below it didn’t have much longer to live. Seeing no point in wasting time, the Mimic turned and left, heading in the direction of the power it felt earlier.

Jasmine laughed a wheezing laugh as she watched the Mimic walk off leaving her to die. It didn’t even care enough to give her a swift death. If she had just heeded Nathan’s warning and given up on the antlers, she thought that she might not have ended this way. It was because of her stubbornness that she ended up in situations like this all the time.

Jasmine: “(Dammit it, I don’t have time for this, need to hurry.)”

She put those thoughts aside for now and with her last bit of strength she reached for the dagger she used to cut-up the Hart. Coincidently, it was the only thing the Mimic over-looked, also incredibly convenient for her. With it she could quickly put herself out of her misery. Though, for how convenient it was, when the Mimic snatched her stuff away, it knocked the dagger away as well. The knife was just out of reach and with her body, in the way it was, every inch toward it was agony.

In spite of that, she had no choice, so ever so slowly and agonizing, she inched herself towards the blade.

_

_

Nathan: “Since when……did this thing…..GROW LEGS!?”

Nathan dodged out of the way as the Mimic swiped at him, more accurately his sword. This was the Second Great-sword had Nathan pulled out of his inventory. The first one was absorbed by the Mimic, the second he went to cut one of its appendages off, since then he has been careful not to touch them. He was surprised to see these features, though he had wondered how the Mimic was getting around.

Nathan: “(It looks just like the Mimic from that one game that shall not be named. I hate that game.)”

Besides that, Nathan found the Mimic to be way more extravagant than it once was. The gold and red coloring had a dazzling sheen to it now and the bolts were now jewel-white; the hinges looked to have become actual gold. The antlers must have powered it up significantly compared to earlier.

He found that staying to higher ground was a good way to keep the Mimic at bay, he didn’t know why, but it never seemed follow him up, choosing rather to knock the trees down. This was a good way to avoid direct confrontation; however, he didn’t really need to fight it head-on as he was just baiting it to follow him. If his hearing was accurate, the way to get rid of the Mimic was up ahead.

This gave Nathan ample amount of time to aim and he didn’t waste any time.

Nathan: “Venom Burst.”

Nathan fired his magic attack, the amount was more then he intended, but that was all for the better. However, the next moment proved it futile.

Nathan: “What the hell?”

Nathan watched as the Mimic was hit point-blank with poison, but nothing happened. In fact the Mimic made a noise like it didn’t understand what Nathan thought he was doing with that attack, a sound of sympathy.

Nathan: “D-Don’t you pity me.”

The Mimic wiped away the poison it could, and licked at what was on its face.

That’s when it happened, the second its tongue retracted with the poison, the Mimic screamed and curled over in pain.

Nathan: “Huh!?”

After a moment of watching Nathan finally understood.

Nathan: “I have to get the poison inside of its mouth!?”

Nathan thought back to its description and it said it was invincible, but that only extended to the outer portion. That meant he could only hurt it when its mouth was open. This was bad news, because the only reason the Mimic ever opened its mouth was to eat. and earlier whenever Jasmine fired an arrow, it would immediately snap shut. So, in order to get a shot off, he would have to fire while it was about to eat him.

Nathan: “Dammit, and now that it knows I can do that it; will start being cautious.”

*Swoosh**Swish*

Nathan’s body sudden jerked forward and then backward again as two large objects whizzed passed him, nearly taking his head with it. Looking over he was surprised to find the Great-Sword he lost earlier and a large axe stuck in the tree behind him. Looking back down at the Mimic, he found that its palm was raised at him, prompting his [Threat Detection] to activate.

Nathan: “Oh no.”

Instincts took over and Nathan quickly leapt away, right as a series of arrows tore through the empty space he had just occupied, followed by that was a volley of random weapons the Mimic continuously fired from its palm.

Nathan: “Seriously, nice cheat move, you op’d sonuva, WHOA!”

Nathan continued to dodge, leaping around as a wave of weapons flew passed him. He kept dodging, until finally the weapons ceased to come at him. Looking down, Nathan found the Mimic had begun to recollect the things it had fired off, methodically absorbing everything it could get its hands on. Nathan realized that it must of ran out of things it could fire or what it was willing to. It wasn’t worried about being attacked, probably because it knew it couldn’t be hurt from the outside, this gave Nathan a great idea.

The Mimic had finished collecting most of the smaller weapons and then moved towards the larger ones. Just as it made it to its first weapon, Nathan appeared.

Nathan: “Yoink.”

Nathan touched his hand to the axe the Mimic wanted and stored it in his inventory. The Mimic made a shocked noise seeing the weapon disappear and even more, as Nathan darted to the next and making that one disappear too.

Nathan: “Finders keepers.”

What followed was a series of events, where the Mimic would reach for a weapon, only to have Nathan comically claim it before it could. The Mimic would attempt to fight him off, but it was futile, as long as Nathan was in range, he could send what he wanted into his inventory.

Nathan: “Too slow, nope, that one’s mine, denied.”

Slowly, but surely, the Mimics treasure was being taken from it. Due to it having no face its expression could not be displayed.

However, as its hoard was being depleted and the one responsible for taking its treasure from it was mocking it at the same time by dancing around it, laughing. It was in that moment the Mimic felt in insatiable rage. In the wake of this, the Mimic roared.