Chapter 68: Born with a “Mimic’s Blessed Body”

“Hey, hey, am I seeing things?”

Even the dwarf, whose mind was usually filled only with muscles and fine ale, voiced his disbelief.

As for Sasha and Susan, they were so stunned by the breathtaking scene before them that they were speechless.

“No, you probably aren’t.”

This expedition had been quite fruitful. The dwarf had obtained materials for forging a renowned sword in the deepest room of the Maze.

Susan had acquired several healing potions of intermediate grade or higher. I received a staff made entirely from Phoenixwood.

As for Sasha? She gained many new methods for disarming traps, though she was still not good at dealing with Treasure Mimics.

Despite sensing that the treasure chest ahead was saturated with magic, she went forward without hesitation to open it.

I had a pretty good idea why—she suspected the chest contained a bottle of Magic Potion.

Although such potions were useless for adventurers, for magicians they were invaluable.

Sasha happened to have a way to sell them to the Mage Guild. By the way, most magicians in this world are nobles, making such trades quite lucrative.

So she transformed into a “gambler,” repeatedly getting stuck by Treasure Mimics while constantly being pulled out by us. Her excellent Sense turned out to be more of a nuisance.

Or maybe, just like elves and dwarves are inherently incompatible, Sasha’s talent for being bested by Treasure Mimics was simply innate?

Back to the point: the view before our team was stunningly beautiful.

Unsurprisingly, it was all monsters, and rare or even super rare ones at that!

This was something no previous report had mentioned. From this vantage point, atop a large, faintly blue-glowing big mushroom, sat a delicate treasure chest.

What a headache. That spot was hard to reach, and I was starting to think I was addicted to opening chests—every time I saw one, I wanted to open it.

In a sense, without Sasha, I probably would have embarrassingly fallen victim to a Treasure Mimic.

“Susan, stop daydreaming. Is there a way for us to jump down?”

“There is! ‘Light as Swallow’!”

We still didn’t know how many supportive magics the priestess in our party could use, but having her around was undeniably convenient.

Our party jumped down before the Buff wore off, landing as lightly as a feather. It was truly an incredible feeling.

“All right, next we need to figure out how to reach that lake island.”

Once on the ground, I realized just how diverse the monster species here were. No—more than that—they even formed a subtle balance.

Thanks to past adventures traveling the world with them, I recognized nearly all the monsters except for the massive glowing mushroom on the lake island and the bouncing mushrooms along the shore.

“Susan, cast that spell again so we can jump across those ‘Lotus Leaves.’”

The Predator Lotus wouldn’t be triggered by anything too light, but common knowledge like that was useless to most people.

“Light as Swallow~”

“That big mushroom gives me a bad feeling. Are you sure it won’t attack?”

Timid Sasha detected the magic within that huge mushroom, but judging from the many adventurers around, it was likely a peaceful monster.

“Coward, if you’re scared you can stay here.”

Uzo mocked before jumping first onto a Predator Lotus. The number of lotus leaves was just enough for us to leap to the heart of the lake island.

If this dungeon wasn’t designed by some deliberate force, this wouldn’t be possible.

But why would it create something so convenient for adventurers? What benefit could it possibly gain?

“Hey! Stop daydreaming, Will, hurry over here!”

The dwarf’s shout snapped me out of my thoughts. It seemed these mysteries wouldn’t be answered anytime soon.

“Will, hurry, danger!”

Sasha’s warning came just as I noticed something wrong.

Terrible. Below the lotus leaf I was standing on was a massive shadow—clearly a large monster.

No fighting here. Jump to the island first!

Making the decision, my body moved—but when I was just two leaves away from the island, the monster struck.

A Hydra. Perhaps it was the apex predator of this underground lake. Unlucky me, with so many people around, it had singled me out.

“Falling Thunder!”

Empowered by my new staff, I unleashed a fourth-tier lightning spell, severing two of its heads. Hopefully, the monster knew to fear me—I was no mere prey.

Unfortunately, it was the opposite. The Hydra became even more ferocious.

“Will! We have no choice but to fight, Uzo.”

“Got it! Susan, give us some agility blessings!”

I was flung from the lotus leaf into the water. This wasn’t a place humans could fight. Surfacing, I swam with all my might toward the shore, though dodging the Hydra’s attacks was impossible.

Afraid? Not really. My teammates would surely buy me enough time. That trust was born from years of adventuring together.

Still… seeing the Hydra’s nine heads all intact meant a tough battle was ahead.

……

—————

[Water System]—This spawn point is convenient for farming, but the completely random appearance of freshwater monsters is a bit troublesome.

Though rare, the chance of a “big monster” appearing is not zero.

[Hydra]: Also known as the Nine-headed Serpent, it inhabits swamps and freshwater as a top predator. Its heads regenerate after being cut off, and only by severing all nine heads within a short time can it be killed.

By the way, even at a discounted price, summoning it costs 4,200 DP.

It’s a monster close to Level Forty, and because of its terrible traits, its strength rivals that of typical Level Forty monsters—not to mention fighting it in water.

Even the finest adventurer party would struggle in such a fight.

But don’t worry. Su Yao had anticipated this.

The soaked magician reached the shore; the dwarf warrior struggled to maintain balance on the lotus leaves; the thief continuously threw various hidden weapons; the priestess was healing the magician’s bitten calf.

It was wonderful—having an adventurer party with both a priestess and a magician was rare in this world.

Here it came—her last resort.

At the lake island’s edge, the Hydra was tangled up with the party when something unexpected happened: numerous thick white fungal tendrils sprouted from the shore, mixed with massive vines.

In an instant, they bound the Hydra tightly. But it wasn’t over yet—the vines climbed the Hydra’s nine necks all the way to its heads.

“Pft.”

The wooden tips simultaneously pierced all nine of the Hydra’s heads, and it ceased struggling.

The corpse was dragged under the root system of the Mushroom King, and before long, it was completely wrapped and vanished from sight.

The dumbfounded adventurer party stared at the scene in stunned silence.

The big mushroom had once again perfectly fulfilled its promise. The lake island remained safe.