The cave entrance was a small hole in the ground, barely seen from the surface due to it being covered by tallgrass. If not for [Mark] I would have traversed the tall grass for days and likely starved to death before I found it.

I watched the steady progress of the mimics with [Labyrinth Atlas] as they descended the deep cave entrance. The part of the map that used to be dark lit up as their scurrying paths diverged to illuminate the cave's entire tunnel system.

It was a multi-layered with many channels branching out from where the opening began, before leading to a central cavern below that was about a quarter of the entire grass field.

I was pleased to see that, much like a creature's burrow, the mimics did not exit through any other opening in the ground, which meant there was only one entrance.

Excited to see more, I peered inside the cave. The cave floor was dried grass, and it gave off a warm and dry feeling. Its walls were littered with glowing white crystals that jutted out of the cave walls.

It would have made a nice new cave home for the nestlings, if not for the tall grass above, that was infested with monsters.

From the numerous sounds and low growls coming from the grass, I knew many monsters shared this living space with the mimics. If not for their near invisibility they would have been picked off a long time ago.

If I were to move my snakes in here, we would be fresh meat for the starving.

Sylrin arrived soon after, and together we looked at the hole, trying to figure out if we should go inside. It was tempting, we would be like snakes in a cage full of chicks, but I had a better idea.

The rain had stopped and the inside of the cave was so temptingly warm and dry. It would be such a shame not to burn their grassy upholstery with some poison slime.

Hehehe…

But how to make him shoot?

A dragon's reverse scale was under their chin, the principle should be the same for drakes, right?

I stared at the lizard, who had stuck its head inside the hole and slithered over to tickle under his chin with my tail. The surprise encounter made Sylrin react violently.

With a single roar he shot out his [Poison Slime] and the area around the tall grass was quickly covered in purple slime that sizzled and melted the ground with black flames, releasing a noxious fume.

His slime was rather viscous and once it clung to a substance, it would continue to burn until the substance either melted or his flammable slime burnt off. I thought the inside the cave would be perfect for this, so I let Sylrin know my intentions.

The lizard immediately fixed his gaze at the cave and let out a deluge of slime below. This caught alight on the dry grass, spreading more noxious fumes further down the cave's system.

Satisfied with the results, I sealed the cave's opening with sands gathered via [Dimensional Box]. Now all that was left, was for the mimics to run out of air and return to the surface, where we would be waiting.

I delightfully watched as thin tendrils of black smoke seeped through the sands, getting thicker and thicker as more grass burnt below. Soon, I felt tremors of vibration coming from under the ground and a small hole opened up in the sands where an invisible face poked out.

Sylrin immediately fired another shot of [Poison Slime] stopping it from wriggling out forever.

But it wasn't the last mimic to try.

More and more frantically surged out of the mound in hordes and the blasted surface that already melted into purple soup, scorched their emerging bodies, staining them in purple slime that allowed me to track their movements.

I also noticed there was more than one type. The smaller mimics that had stats like this.

--------------

LV4 Novus Milia Pellis

Specie: Ailith Mutare

HP: 16/26 Defence: 10

MP: 11/16 Intellect: 10

SP: 21/32 Magic: 15

Attack: 19 Agility: 38

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These were mostly already weak from inhaling toxic smoke and died as soon as they were struck with my poison.

〚You have defeated LV4 Novus Milia Pellis〛

〚You have defeated LV4 Novus Milia Pellis〛

〚You have defeated LV5 Novus Milia Pellis〛

〚You have earned 39XP〛

I noticed another type of mimic that was much larger and jumped on their hind legs for greater agility while fleeing.

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LV10 Ivenium Milia Pellis

Specie: Ailith Mutare

HP: 28/52 Defence: 36

MP: 20/34 Intellect: 14

SP: 53/65 Magic: 30

Attack: 45 Agility: 76

--------------

They were much harder to catch and weren't weakened from smoke but that didn't deter me or Sylrin.

They gave far better XP and with their advantage of concealment gone – they made for easy pickings. Their defence was also poor, and I threw out compressed spheres of poison that tore through their bodies and they soon died as poison filled their wounds.

〚You have defeated LV10 Ivenium Milia Pellis〛

〚You have defeated LV8 Ivenium Milia Pellis〛

〚You have defeated LV9 Ivenium Milia Pellis〛

〚You have earned 81XP〛

We continued until the horde started to thin out, the lizard attacking the mimics with even more ferocity. Many stained corpses littered the ground and I counted 24 amongst my kills. I was fairly satisfied the amount was enough to gain an attribute, so I allowed the rest to flee.

But as I was collecting their bodies, I felt the ground beneath my body begin to shake. The lizard felt it too and we both stopped to look.

Suddenly, the sands beneath my scales tilted as a large tremor passed through the ground. I felt myself slip through wet ground as the grassy horizon took on a large dip. The smaller mimic lizards all fled instead of staying to fight and I quickly saw why.

A large hole had opened up in the ground swallowing a large section of the grass field into it like a sinkhole.

And where the tips of grass vanished under the ground, I saw a large pair of yellow eyes staring back at me.

They belonged to a humongous lizard about twenty feet in length with bright scaly blue skin that reflected any light that touched it. It would have been mesmerising to look at, if not that its luminous skin was covered in smoky tufts of grass and melted sands that smeared its body in purple slime.

Was that a mimic?

The creature's head and shoulders emerged from the sink hole with a loud roar that visibly shook the earth, and Sylrin and I shared a look.

My lizard seemingly did not want to disturb the monster further and was already backing away. And since I'd already collected the mimic corpses I needed, it seemed like a good choice as well.

However, the large mimic seemed to be having some difficulty getting out of the hole because of its size. So before it emerged fully, I aimed a compressed sphere of poison mixed with [Pain Toxin] at its eyes for good measure.

And it slashed across the mimic's face, tearing open a long scar.

Eh? It actually worked.

As the mimic screeched in pain, the colour of its blue skin changed, gradually fading until it was clear like glass, becoming near invisible like its peers.

I was surprised my attack actually worked. Unlike the smaller mimics that were weak, it was unexpected that my poison blade would cut its body. I'd only intended to blind it temporarily while we fled and didn't expect to cause any serious damage.

Unless… it wasn't nearly as strong as it looked!

I quickly appraised the massive lizard.

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LV25 Milia Pystall

Specie: Ailith Mutare

HP: 134/154 Defence: 112

MP: 250/280 Intellect: 68

SP: 110/140 Magic: 200

Attack: 130 Agility: 192

Skills

[Grip: LV7] [Bite: LV10] [Evasion: LV7]

[Night Vision: LV10] [Earth Tremor: LV10]

[????????? ?????: LV?] [????: LV?]

--------------------

Bah! It was big for nothing!

It seemed to be some variant of mimic. But what was with its size?

For something so weak, it was obnoxiously huge! It nearly fooled me for a minute there!

The large mimic, unaware of my mocking analysis, crawled out of the hole with surprising deftness. It shot out a globule of [Sticky Slime] at me and Sylrin, sweeping its claws across the field in a wide motion to try and knock us down.

However, its speed was nowhere close to mine. I slithered through its limbs, as its slime attack soared over my head, while Sylrin circled around it, appearing in its blind spot to take a bite out of its tail. The mimic's size clearly put it at a disadvantage when its prey was much smaller and faster.

Sylrin attempted to pull the massive creature down by its tail and I approached from its side, aiming at the soft flesh of its underbelly with another poison sphere. But the enraged mimic spun on its tail, flinging the lizard aside before bringing its head to face me.

With its fangs bared, it swept the ground, nearly catching my tail but I retreated backwards to get clear. Behind the mimic, I saw Sylrin had recovered and was already rushing back to continue attacking.

The frustrated mimic let out another roar, but this time it wasn't to release its slime. Its large body rose over the ground, crashing down to create massive tremors that opened up more sinkholes.

Caught up in its attack my footing collapsed in waves and I found myself free falling along with the sands of the grass field, down into the tunnels below.