Chapter 40

I walked a little bit ahead of everyone else with my large claymore ready. Now that I was aware of it I felt a small itch of arousal as I wielded the cursed sword. God, I hope this sword doesn't make me a battle junky, the last thing I need is to get horny by fighting things. We approached the bookshelf but it held still, as we got closer though I noticed a haze of twisting magic around it that I now recognized as [Mana Sense] kicking in.

I prepared [Melee Hex] as I took a thrust at the large mimic. At the last moment it realized we were attacking but it was too slow to avoid my strike. As soon as the hit connected, I activated [Melee Hex] and I could feel the magic go through. It had an obvious effect on the monster because in its haste to avoid the attack, the rug it was standing on slid underneath it and the bookshelf landed on its back. A gigantic mouth opened revealing all of the books on its shelves were just illusions. Its giant sharp teeth, half my height in length, reflected the warm light of the hallway.

I stepped forward to take another stab at it but its form shifted into a giant boxy trunk, managing to dodge my thrust. Before it could run, large gouts of flame appeared behind it and walled off the entire hallway before the magic crackled into a stable effect. I took a step back as Torien's arrow shot past me and thunked heavily in the wood of the trunk, deeply embedding itself into the creature. The monster screeched in a high pitch yell that unsteadied me and caused Torien to misfire her next arrow into the wall.

Thinking quickly I cast [Zone of Silence] on the ground around it. Its scream muffled but was still audible despite the magic illusion. However, it was enough for everyone to let go of their ears and keep fighting. Bella shot a splash of green liquid past my left side that started sizzling the wood like acid. Morrigan kept up the pressure by shooting another gout of flame off the fiery wall into the creature's back.

The moment the demon mimic stopped screaming I released the [Zone of Silence] and slashed forward with an overhanded strike. The sword sunk deeper into the wood than I expected and got stuck. I hesitated, almost considering dropping my sword when an arrow with more velocity than I'd ever seen before flew from Torien's bow and slammed into the wood next to where my sword had wedged itself. The force of the blast shattered a chunk of the wood to splinters freeing my sword in the process.

The mimic screeched in pain again, too overwhelmed by all of our attacks to do anything more than lunge at me again. The large trunk covered in acid and fire wildly jumping in my direction frightened me but my sword instincts told me I could redirect this attack. I sidestepped and swung the large sword at an angle, catching the outside of the trunk before my momentum redirected the mimic head first into the ground. Or well, if you could call it a head.

I stepped back for a moment to catch my breath and the three girls took the opportunity to completely unload onto the vulnerable trunk. The mimic let out another ear piercing scream and it writhed as its body completely went up in flames and it lay still.

I took a deep breath and leaned against the wall behind me. The fight wasn't as long and protracted as some of the ones from yesterday but I could tell I strained myself a little bit to make that last attack. I felt like I was slowly catching up to the instincts the swordsmanship skill had given me but I wasn't quite there yet.

"It's dead." Mimi says quietly.

[Your party has defeated a Demon Mimic][Black Cat has increased from level 4 to level 6][Swordsmanship has increased from level 33 to level 34]

Morrigan released the fire wall she had been maintaining and leaned against the wall opposite of me. After letting the mimic burn a bit longer she pulled the fire aspect mana out and extinguished it.

"[Status]"

Name: Lilith [Surname Undefined]Race: Succubus [Race Hidden - Displayed as Beastkin (Sheep)]Gender: FemaleClass: [Black Cat] Lv. 6Character Level: 24

Stat Spread:Strength: 50Vitality: 100Charisma: 10Luck: 20 (400)Finesse: 40 (70)Magic Control: 30 (40)Magic Force: 40

Unallocated Stat points: 10

Karmic Energy: 2140

Skills:Haggling Lv. 1Swordsmanship Lv. 34Illusion Magic Lv. 3Light Magic Lv. 2Light Manipulation Lv. 1Uuna Riding Lv. 13Linguistics Lv. 10Ritual Magic Lv. 3Drawing Lv. 8[New] Mana Sense Lv. 3

Special PassivesSightspeak[New] Special drop rate up

Innate AbilitiesKarmic BalanceKarma AwarenessKarmic ResonanceKarmic RetributionDominating AuthorityKarmic HypnotismSoultouched Connection Lv. 1

Racial TraitsInfernal Heat ResistanceInfernal Cold ResistanceDarksightSexual Appetite Lv. 3SoultouchMinor Physical Shapeshifting (Succubus)[New] Soulbound Companions[New] Lubricating Saliva

Titles[World Traveler - Hidden Title][Origin of Succubi - Hidden Title]

I stretched my shoulder a bit while walking towards the mimic's corpse. Disguised as a trunk, it does look a bit more like the common chest mimics I'm familiar with from fantasy games.

"Are you okay Lilith, do you need healing?" Bella placed her hand on me gently and I could feel a wave of relief wash over my body. I wasn't particularly hurt but the regenerating magic soothed the aches I had from overextending myself.

"That feels better, I might need to start working out and stretching a bit. I overextended myself a little in that last fight.

Torien and Morrigan pulled the dead trunk off a small pile of valuables. There was a small pile of gold coins with a blue gem mixed in. Not wasting any time Torien sorted them out into four even piles with the blue gem set aside.

"It looks like 4 gold each, plus whatever the value of this is," she said holding the gem out to me.

I took it and held it next to the sword on my waist. "Can you tell me what this is Mimi?"

"[Perfect Identify] says it's a blue sapphire grade B."

"I don't think there's a jeweler that would be able to appraise it in Traehall." Morrigan was scooping her coins into a pouch on the side of her belt.

Torien followed suit. "You keep that Lilith. The slave company would probably just take it from us rather than going through the trouble of having it appraised, sold, and given back to us. I'd rather you just have it."

I felt apprehensive but decided to roll with it. "Alright, if you think so."

Mimi spoke out loud to the group, "I'm actually a little surprised it had so little on it. Usually a demon mimic of that level would have more on it, even if what it had was only gold and gems."

"Why would it keep gold and gems inside of itself anyway? Wouldn't it be better off with more dense material," I asked.

"For some reason the magic we get from things are also increased by its value. That's part of why gold is so nice to mimics, its magic for size is really efficient."

"Does that mean you can live longer off of gold than anything else?"

"There are some exceptions but yes, gold is pretty high on the list. Items dense in magic are good too but we have to eat it all at once unlike gold that is usually just as valuable in raw weight."

Torien jumped in before the conversation kept going. "As interesting as all this is, we should probably keep moving. This is the third day of our expedition and we still have to walk back. We're already probably going to be late so the earlier we get back the better. The last thing we want is for them to think you ran off with the two of us." I suspected that wouldn't be an issue considering I still had some business with the slave traders in Traehall.

I looked down at Mimi on my belt. "How much longer till the boss room?"

"Not much longer, we're getting pretty close now."

We started walking again. After another fifteen or so minutes Torien broke the silence. "Do you know what the boss is like Mimi?"

"Nope! I only know where the boss door is because a lot of the demon mimics fight over the area since the mana concentration is so high."

"Does that mean we're going to run into another mimic on the way?" Morrigan asked.

"Probably not, the demon mimic we ran into likes that spot because that hallway blocks any other path to the boss room so it's easier for it to stop other demon mimics from siphoning in the area. Maybe it just didn't have a lot of stuff in its pocket dimension since it was mostly feeding off of the ambient mana here."

"Mmm," Torien grunted. There seemed to be an unspoken tension between Torien and Mimi but it's not like I could blame her.

"Torien, I just want to say thanks. I know there are a lot of mysteries surrounding us and I know the more you learn the more difficult it must be to hold back your questions—"

"Ugh! I know right?! I'm so curious about you now. I've been biting my tongue just to stop myself." Morrigan suddenly cried out.

I laughed, "Thank you too Morrigan, it means a lot to me that you two are trying to protect me the only way you can. I know it's not easy to keep your curiosity in check, the fact that you trust me enough to keep going along as if nothing happened, without even asking why, makes me thankful that Mirianna introduced us in the guild."

Torien smiled. "You've done nothing but help us out and make us feel like equals on this trip. I'm not going to lie and say I fully trust you or anything but I promise I'm not lying when I say you're the first person I've opened up to even half as much as Mori." Torien cracked her knuckles. "I'll trust you a lot more if we can get out of this place in one piece though."

"You and me both," I said laughing.

"PLEASE, at least tell me you're not actually a demon too! I have to know!"

I smiled wryly, luckily I was now able to answer this one truthfully. "I'm not a demon, I promise. Since Mimi revealed it anyway I'll reiterate that I'm a succubus. I'll tell you more about what that means later if things go well."

"Was that a secret?" Mimi asked.

"Yes, though I don't blame you since you wouldn't have known any better I guess. I should also mention that you'll be a secret too once we leave this dungeon. I don't really know how others will react to a talking, intelligent, former demon, shapeshifting monster, whether they're bonded to me or not."

"It doesn't help that the bonded part, is part of your secret." Torien added.

I sighed. "This sucks. I really just want to tell you girls everything."

"Is Bella in on it?" Morrigan asked.

There was a small eep from her, it seems she was trying to blend into the walls and stay out of the conversation. "I... Yes. I owe a lot to Lilith, even if we didn't share these secrets I would do anything for her."

Torien scratched the back of her head. "Okay wow, I didn't really expect things to be that serious between you two. I know you guys are goofy lovers but I didn't think you were that devoted."

Bella had a prideful smile, "I am. I belong to Lilith, heart and soul."

Torien made a gagging sound, "Enough of that love birds, I'm going to be sick."

Everyone started laughing but I had felt a slight twist in my stomach. Bella was clearly proud and the twins took it as a metaphor but the idea still made me feel a bit guilty. Her words were literally true. I brushed off the feeling. This isn't something I can change, we're tied together forever now, and I wouldn't abandon her if I could. I need to let that feeling go.

"Everyone! We're here!" Mimi excitedly exclaimed.

I was glad for the excuse to pull myself from my brooding. I looked up at a large intricately carved ornate looking door, reminiscent of the other one earlier in the dungeon. It was time to finally escape this place.

I put my hand on the door. "Lets get this over with girls."