The tunnels below were littered with many crystals that cast bright light over the large cave. But the scene was one of chaos.

The dry grass that covered the ground had burnt to crisp, making it difficult to see due to the black smoke in the air and poison slime everywhere.

Most of the tunnel entrances were clogged with the bodies of suffocated mimics, and it was hard to move without bumping into invisible obstacles. Fortunately, the noxious fumes did not seem to have any effect on me.

I collected their corpses along the way and some of the unusual light crystals as well, being careful to skip across parts of the tunnels that hissed with heat. It was difficult to see the top because of the smoke but I continued through to find the exit and began to climb out of the hole.

Near the surface, I spotted the trail left by the mimic's large body that had emerged from the hole.

It was currently fighting with Sylrin who ran up and down the length of its invisible body, blasting it with scorching slime that caused it to writhe in pain.

Sylrin's attacks were proving effective and the large mimic was about to fall. But there was another opponent waiting above. In the distance, I spotted the large shadow of a monstrous bird with inky black feathers and ominous red eyes.

I immediately appraised it and sucked in a sharp breath.

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LV45 Vossipiter

Specie: Ailith Ussilus

HP: 670/670 Defence: 485

MP: 320/320 Intellect: 156

SP: 526/526 Magic: 290

Attack: 509 Agility: 345

Skills:

[Herculean Strength: LV7] [Blindsight: LV6]

[Night Eye: LV8] [Acceleration: LV10]

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

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

It was as big as the mimic lizard as it was perched on the branch of a tree, spectating the battle with curiosity.

I knew the bird was just waiting for the opportune moment to swoop down to attack us and steal our kill. So, I quickly joined Sylrin, attacking the mimic with a combination of [Pain Toxin] and [Deadly Poison Attack].

The mimic retaliated by swinging its weight around, but it was far too slow. And although it was invisible, I could see its tail swing coming because of the amount of debris it dragged along.

And Sylrin, who had climbed on its back was in the best position to deal as much damage as possible. The giant mimic's head and shoulders sizzled from his [Poison Slime] attacks and the large beast was severely weakened.

I readied my compressed poison spheres and aimed them at it in a series of attacks that tore open its body, revealing its enormous form with the blood of its injuries.

Aiming to end it all quickly, I threw out another poison disc which struck its neck, tearing open a savage wound and the large beast staggered with a loud scream before falling with a tremendous crash.

〚You have killed LV25 Millia Pystall!〛

〚You have earned 150XP〛

In death, its outline quickly traced itself in blood and dirt.

And right on que, I heard a harsh guttural cry as the huge bird swooped down from the tree with a large gust of wind that flattened the grass field.

I immediately pulled the mimic's body into [Dimensional Box] and hurried back into the mimic's crystal cave. With no time to explain, I used [Coercion] on Sylrin, who was still catching his breath and instructed him to follow me.

Despite being tired and exhausted, my [Coercion] forced him to move with me and together we jumped into the tunnel below, barely avoiding getting disembowelled by the monster's talons.

The Vossipiter let out a loud cry of anger as we vanished below the ground. It tried to follow but its wingspan was three times the size of the hole and when it could not get in, it could only watch us disappear through the smoke.

I landed on something hard and felt the sizzle of [Poison Slime] on my scales. Ouch!

It felt sticky and with the heat and smoke, I felt like I was being roasted, but I was too exhausted to get up.

The lizard next to me didn't fare any better, he was immune to his own [Poison Slime] but landing on the ground like that had to hurt. I felt bad for using [Coercion] on him, but it was the only way I could make him move and save his life.

Nevertheless, he was mostly unhurt, he even yawned and stretched, seemingly at home amongst the heat and poison.

The enormous bird stuck its beak into the hole, screeching at us from above. Large gusts of winds blew down, clearing away the smoke that concealed us to reveal our shameless figures.

Seeing us, the bird monster only seemed to get more enraged, its incensed eyes flared, and its talons scraped the dirt from the cave's entrance to widen the gap.

I was worried it would break through so I forced myself to get up and retreated further into the cave to hide from view. Maybe if It didn't see us, it would give up.

The crystal cave was a lot bigger than I initially thought, and without the smoke to obscure my vision, I was able to explore the inside of the cave filled with a treasure trove of things.

Among an impressive array of bones, there were bronze and silver helmets with skulls still in them, armour and swords that were once shiny now rusted like relics from a bygone era.

It was becoming more apparent the Labyrinth was a cesspool of death, why anyone would choose to come here was a mystery to me.

There were even jewels the size of marbles in a variety of colours and bags of gold coins and Sylrin who was attracted to their colours, kept gnawing on the gold.

It seemed the mimics were like magpies, with a knack for collecting shiny things. Unfortunately, there were no books or scrolls among their strange collection. It would have been nice to find an adventurer's journal, but I guess I wouldn't be able to read them anyway.

Inside, there were even more of those white crystals, so I collected all that I could find and also some of the biggest jewels, coins, swords and armour that may prove useful in the future.

The monstrous bird was still biding its time, waiting for us to surface. Occasionally it would swoop down to screech at us from the cave's entrance, blasting away the sands with large gusts of wind and the tunnels boomed from its repeated assaults.

Cracks began to form in the walls and muddy water leaked through, slowly flooding the shiny artefacts. Before the entire cave went down, I had to find another way for us to escape.

I began to collect the sands with [Dimensional Box], quickly opening a new hole to the surface. The lizard and I activated our [Stealth] and slowly climbed out, reappearing on the surface in the furthest point from the monstrous bird.

And with the tall grass shielding us from view, we quickly fled in another direction.

Once we passed the grass field, Sylrin took the lead. He seemed to know the area very well, moving away from the widely spaced forest into much denser jungle and up a hilly line of trees. With no better alternative, I followed him and we quickly cleared the forest, emerging in a quiet stretch of forest that housed another massive cave.

It was a pretty steep climb but up here, there was no rain, and it was strangely warm. There weren't many creatures either and the place in itself was pretty hard to find. I rushed into the cave and saw the familiar corpse of a half-eaten spider, together with a mix of bones from other monsters, and the remnants of those silvery fish from the lake.

The cave was warm, I realised because most of its surface was covered in [Poison Slime] and it reeked of smoke. This had to be where Sylrin stayed all this while.

Once inside, he seemed at home, like he has been living here for a lot longer, maybe even before the hive incident. Perhaps he was born here?

It was very spacious and tall too – was this why he refused to come back with me?

What a snooty brat. My cave wasn't that small! Hmph.

I found a decent corner and went through my loot.

In total, I had collected over a hundred mimics, along with their boss. Sylrin had also fought well, and gained a level, so I split some with him. As for the large mimic, I took out its core and gave a quarter of the meat to Sylrin, and the rest would go to the nestlings.

Then I began to eat. With this many mimics I was hoping to get a new attribute and I was ecstatic when the system finally dinged.

〚Devour has reached maximum satiation for specimen『Milia Pystall』

Evolution tree of 『Ailith Mutare』has been unlocked. 〛

〚Would you like to acquire the attribute『Mimic』(Accept | Reject)〛

Ahh yes. Accept!

I felt a painful tingling sensation over my scales as if they were being roasted and I winced in discomfort.

Yet, it showed no sign of stopping even after a few minutes!

And then, I heard another ding.

〚You have consumed medium grade core〛

〚Status: Complete〛

〚Magic Ability: +30〛

〚Agility: +28〛

But I was in too much pain to be happy about it.

Unable to bear the scorching heat anymore, I ran out into the rain to cool myself and the rain acted like a cool salve over my body.

And I was actually thankful it was raining. If anything, it had saved me.

After a while, the pain finally stopped and I sighed in relief.

Excited, I tested out my new ability and watched with amazement as my vibrant metallic scales turned clear, and my body seemed to disappear.

Sylrin, who was watching me lazily, was stunned and jumped back warily.

And I was too thrilled to be bothered. Today's hunt was a great success!