Chapter 127
Defeating a mimic was not very difficult. First of all, it depended on luck. At a time, a mimic could only copy one person. So, if a weaker person were chosen, defeating them would be very easy.
The second was the location. A mimic basically came from the shadow family. Dark and formless. So even when they take someone’s form, they don’t discard their properties. A mimic that could copy your abilities and also use shadow abilities was a tricky enemy to deal with.
So, as long as you weren’t in a dark space, and in an open one where light was in abundance, which meant during the day, then all was fine and dandy.
There were more, but these two were the ones to keep in mind the most.
Now, let us compare our situation with the conditions above. First, the mimic took the shape of someone who was very strong, although not completely. Me.
Second, we were in a dark place, which, although illuminated by stones, still had places where there was total darkness, such as the corners and behind the pillars.
In simpler words, we were fucked from every side.
Or, we would have been if that Mimic could have copied me fully. It hadn’t, so there wasn’t much to be worried about.
“Is that…?” Lucas looked at the mimic and then at me, and then back at the mimic.
“It’s a mimic. It can copy one person at a time and also their abilities.” I explained, giving cursory information that all of them needed.
“How do we fight it then?” Cassandra asked before she paused briefly and said, “You…”
She caught on quickly. To defeat the mimic, I would have to share the strategy of defeating me. Which idiot in the world would willingly give away his weakness?
She knew that, hence the tone and the look.
“Flank it from both sides,” I said.
Lucas and Cassandra moved at the same time while I buffed them.
[Fairy’s blessing]
[Target(s) stats have increased by 20 percent for ten minutes]
Cassandra and Lucas both felt the power up but didn’t stop at all.
The first to arrive before the mimic was Lucas, who swung his sword, only to meet a blade.
The mimic converted its arm into a shadow to create a blade. The mimic parried the sword strike with extreme precision, which left Lucas at a loss.
“Take a step back. Cassandra, attack.” I commanded, and Lucas stepped back just in time to avoid a counterattack, and Cassandra came in with an attack from behind.
Clang!
Too bad, the mimic predicted that movement and easily managed to block Cassandra’s attack.
[Fireball]
At the right moment, I threw the fireball I had created at the mimic while also touching Martha to activate another spell, details of which only she and I knew.
A mana shield appeared before the mimic which easily stopped the fireball, but created an opening which Lucas utilized.
The mimic nimbly moved to block that strike and counterattacked, but I protected Lucas with the same shield spell.
Cassandra also joined the fray, and both of them began to fight the mimic, displaying their prowess and techniques.
Compared to Cassandra, Lucas was an amateur when it came to fighting, but he was holding his own. Cassandra, on the other hand, was using proper techniques and expending half the energy to battle the mimic in every move as compared to Lucas, a clear sign of the difference in upbringing.
Well, they both had different starting points, and according to Zara, a commoner like Lucas was supposed to have limits.
I protected both of them from attacks from the mimic, and the mimic used the very same spells to cancel the attacks from our side.
But…
“Haha.” I couldn’t help but chuckle as the expression on the mimic’s face faltered a little. It flinched from the stoic expression as a bead of sweat appeared on its face.
It was using too much mana at once. Technically, it and I were using the same amount of mana, and even though it was weaker than I, it was still strong enough to trouble both of my companions.
But even then, without me joining, fighting both Cassandra and Lucas, along with my spells, wasn’t easy, even for a being that could copy me to that level.
It was getting tired, and soon enough, it would be easier to deal with.
One problem, though.
“Argh!” Lucas grunted as he was slashed for the seventh time. The seventh time I healed him, but his stamina was also going down fast.
Cassandra wasn’t getting hit as much as he was, but even she was getting tired from the battle. We had been fighting for ten minutes, after all.
Well, they had been fighting, and I was just spectating in the back and casting spells.
But now…
[Flame cannon]
[Flame cannon]
[Flame cannon]
[Flame cannon]
[Four spells of the same kind have been mixed and merged]
[Requirements for ‘Fire Wheel’ have been met]
The four baseball-sized fireballs in my hand began to spin rapidly. Since the fire wheel itself wasn’t a spell but a technique from the spell of flame cannon or fireball, the control depended on the one who used it.
One step wrong, and I could end up killing the other two.
Luckily for them, my control was superb.
Once the wheel in my hand had spun enough to gain momentum, I threw it at the mimic.
“Step away!” I yelled just in time, and both of my companions responded in time, moving away from the mimic, and the mimic had no choice but to take the wheel head-on.
[Mana burst]
Zoom!!!
A shockwave was emitted from the mimic, disrupting the mana in the surroundings, and the fire wheel was one of those things.
That was one of the best ways to stop the fire wheel. Disrupt the mana within. Of course, mana burst was…
“Haha.” I couldn’t help but laugh as the fire wheel was dispelled and the mimic was on one knee, panting hard.
I made my way to him, slowly stepping close to him as I said, “You may have copied me, but you can never be me.”
The mimic looked at me, eyes still expressionless, as it prepared another ‘Mana burst’, but even a blind idiot could tell it was weaker, way weaker than before.
“Well, as long as your focus is on me,” I murmured, but it was enough for it to hear. The mimic’s eyes widened, and it spun around with full force, but it was too late.
Martha appeared behind it as the stealth spell on her ended and embedded her dagger in the mimic’s heart.
“Ha!” I couldn’t help but scoff. The poor thing didn’t even have the chance to use its strongest power. The shadow.
That was why I kept using fire spells, even though light would have been more harmful against the mimic. But light was a concentrated element. The mimic could have countered it with a shield spell or a darkness spell.
The goal was to keep its surroundings illuminated so it wouldn’t utilize its strongest suit against us. The shadow element was a tricky one to deal with after all.
[The mimic has been defeated]
[EXP +100,000 EXP]
[Shop coins +100,000]
[The mimic core has been obtained]
[You can craft an equipment with the mimic core, which can copy the ability of a target]
[Conditions apply]
Of course, they apply. If a mimic’s core was that overpowered, everyone would be hunting them.
Well, that aside, it had been some time since I gained such a massive chunk of EXP. Not since I killed Ruthaven’s knights.
“Is it dead?” Cassandra asked, sheathing her sword.
If she didn’t know, then why was she putting her sword back?
“Yes,” I replied before giving her the mana crystal in my inventory. It was a C-rank mana crystal from one of the forest monsters. I wasn’t giving her a B-rank crystal after all, even if it was to keep her off my back.
“Is it all right to give me this?” Cassandra asked, but she didn’t deny, which meant she needed it, and she did, since she needed it to consolidate her core further.
She was somewhere around the fourth star, the beginning of it. I had helped her by fucking her a lot, but it was still just the beginning.
She needed a lot of mana to fill her core before she could even dream of advancing to the fifth star.
“Yes. I think you need this the most between us.” I replied.
“Alright.” Cassandra didn’t stand on ceremony and took the crystal, but she didn’t just shamelessly take it. “I will make sure to reimburse you all when we get out of here. I’m not the only one who killed the monster, after all.”
At least she was considerate enough.
But…
“I wouldn’t worry about that.” I said as the door to the next stage opened, and I said with a smile, “We’re about to get plenty for each of us.”
~~
I still haven’t gotten to the comments as I am very busy these days. I will get to them this Sunday, probably, if I had enough time.
