<~> Chapter 40I walked a little bit ahead of everyone else with my rge cymore ready. Now that I was aware of it I felt a small itch of arousal as I wielded the cursed swod, I hope this sword doesn't make me a battle junky, the st thing I need is to get horny by fighting things. roached the bookshelf but it held still, as we got closer though I noticed a haze of twisting magic around it that I nnized as [Mana Sense] kig in.

  I prepared [Melee Hex] as I took a thrust at the rge mimic. At the st moment it realized we were attag but it was too slow to avoid my strike. As soon as the hit ected, I activated [Melee Hex] and I could feel the magic gh. It had an obvious effe the monster because in its haste to avoid the attack, the rug it was standing on slid underh it and the bookshelf nded 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 ih, reflected the warm light of the hallway.

  I stepped forward to take aab at it but its form shifted into a giant boxy trunk, managing to dodge my thrust. Before it could run, rge gouts of fme 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 arrow into the wall.

  Thinking quickly I cast [Zone of Silenbsp;on the ground around it. Its scream muffled but was still audible despite the magic illusion. However, it was enough for everyoo let go of their ears and keep fighting. Bel shot a spsh of green liquid past my left side that started sizzling the wood like acid. Ma up the pressure by shooting anout of fme off the fiery wall into the creature's back.

  The moment the demon mimic stopped screaming I released the [Zone of Silenbsp;and sshed forward with an overharike. The sword sunk deeper into the wood than I expected and got stuck. I hesitated, almost sidering dropping my sword when an arrow with more velocity than I'd ever seen before flew from Torien's bow and smmed into the wood o where my sword had wedged itself. The force of the bst shattered a k 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 lu me again. The rge trunk covered in acid and fire wildly jumping in my dire frightened me but my sword instincts told me I could redirect this attack. I sidestepped and swung the rge sword at an angle, catg 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 pletely unload onto the vulnerable trunk. The mimic let out another ear pierg scream and it writhed as its body pletely went up in fmes and it y still.

  I took a deep breath and leaned against the wall behihe 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 st attack. I felt like I was slowly catg up to the instincts the swordsmanship skill had give I wasn't quite there yet.

  "It's dead." Mimi says quietly.

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

  Man 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 ainguished it.

  "[Status]"

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

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

  Unallocated Stat points: 10

  Karmiergy: 2140

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

  Special PassivesSightspeak[New] Special drop rate up

  Innate AbilitiesKarmiceKarma AwarenessKarmic ResonanceKarmic RetributionDominating AuthorityKarmic HypnotismSoultouched e Lv. 1

  Racial TraitsInfernal Heat Resistanfernal Cold ResistanceDarksightSexual Appetite Lv. 3Soultouor Physical Shapeshifting (Succubus)[New] Soulbound panions[New] Lubrig Saliva

  Titles[World Traveler - Hidden Title][in 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 o mimics I'm familiar with from fantasy games.

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

  "That feels better, I might o start w out and stretg a bit. I overextended myself a little in that st fight.

  Torien and Man pulled the dead trunk off a small pile of valuables. There was a small pile of gold s 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 o the sword on my waist. " 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." Man was scooping her s into a pou the side of her belt.

  Torien followed suit. "You keep that Lilith. The sve pany 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 apprehe 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 deerial," 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 o mimics, its magic for size is really effit."

  "Does that mean you 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 onlike gold that is usually just as valuable in raw weight."

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

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

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

  We started walking again. After another fifteen or so miorien 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 sihe mana tration is so high."

  "Does that mean we're going to run into another mimi the way?" Man 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 si was mostly feeding off of the ambient mana here."

  "Mmm," Torien gruhere seemed to be an unspoken tensioween Torien and Mimi but it's not like I could bme 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 knht?! I'm so curious about you now. I've been biting my tongue just to stop myself." Man suddenly cried out.

  I ughed, "Thank you toan, it means a lot to me that you two are trying to protect me the only way you . 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 dohing 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 get out of this p one piece though."

  "You ah," I said ughing.

  "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 ahis oruthfully. "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 ter if things go well."

  "Was that a secret?" Mimi asked.

  "Yes, though I don't bme you since you wouldn't have known aer 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 boo 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 Bel in on it?" Man asked.

  There was a small eep from her, it seems she was trying to blend into the walls and stay out of the versation. "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."

  Bel 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."

  Everyoarted ughing but I had felt a slight twist in my stomach. Bel 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 ge, we're tied together forever now, and I wouldn't abandon her if I could. I o let that feeling go.

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

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

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

  Saine

  Hello! We're getting pretty close to the end of the dungeon already! The chapter should be pretty exg, queue the boss music!

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