Girl in the Box: Please tell me why I was reincarnated as a mimic monster!

I don't quite understand why the slime suddenly got angry. It just walked away on its own, probably heading towards where people are. I can hear footsteps now, so maybe there really are people. Oh dear, this is troublesome! I have to catch the slime quickly and prevent it from encountering humans, or they'll start fighting.

What? You don't believe me? Slimes really are like that; they can start a fight at the drop of a hat. I still don't understand what they're thinking.

"Eh...? Sister Li?"

Let's go take a look.

I coaxed Xiao into coming with me to stop the slime, since I couldn't stop it on my own. I chased after the slime's retreating figure, while Xiao, inexplicably tilting her head, slowly followed behind. At a corner, the slime stopped for some reason.

It seemed to have seen something and froze in its tracks...

Then, I saw that thing too...

The only light source in the cave was the soul grass, and even in this dim environment, I could make out what it was. A young man covered in blood was wiping away the blood from a young woman who was also covered in blood. The woman remained unconscious, and the young man used the leather we had left here to wipe away the blood, revealing her fair and delicate skin…

~~~~?!

In that instant, my brain exploded; there was just too much information for me to process.

Wait, wait, wait! If I'm not mistaken! A man and a woman are alone in a room, right?! Right?! And the woman is naked and unconscious! The man looks perfectly energetic! Are they about to do something... indescribable?! No! Wait!? Could it be that the man drugged her, brought her here, and then it became a fait accompli?! Unforgivable! No, no! Why are they covered in blood?! Maybe they didn't intend to do *that* here at all, right?!

Waaaaaaahh ...

Halfway through wiping, the young man suddenly stopped, picked up another, cleaner piece of leather, threw it at the girl, and then turned and sat down with his back to her. Hey! Are you even human?! Don't you even have a little reaction?!

Ugh... I need to calm down, there's just too much information...

For some reason, I suddenly felt a strong chill. When I came to my senses, the slime had already walked up to the young man, turned white, and unfolded several magic circles.

Whoa! What are you doing, slime?!

I frantically scooped up the slime and ran back home. Seeing Akatsuki still slowly approaching, I grabbed her without hesitation and pulled her along with me. So, you really shouldn't do these things in other people's houses…

Chapter 19 Explorers of the Duchy

"Wow, this is a maze."

The red-haired young adventurer strolled leisurely through the "Time Corridor" labyrinth, showing no sign of tension, and even rested his hands behind his head.

The adventurer, named Sevi, comes from the Duchy and has come here in search of answers to an unusual event he recently witnessed. He is searching for the caster of the unusual magic that appeared in the labyrinth not long ago.

"A slime capable of defeating the Flaming Mountain Elephant, and a strategic-level magic that suddenly appeared," Sevi muttered to himself. "Sounds interesting, especially the slime one..."

Savi had never heard of such a powerful slime, but he had seen some literature about slimes in the library some time ago.

Among them were records about the Slime King, but their credibility wasn't very high. They differed somewhat from the descriptions of slimes circulating here. However, this didn't deter his curiosity; he packed his things and slipped out early.

Despite his current lazy demeanor, he's actually incredibly excited. He can't wait to run into that slime and have a good, satisfying fight.

However, he did see some other things.

“Dragon ants…” Savi squinted at the monsters surrounding him.

Dragon ants are a group of ants with dragon bloodlines. They are usually the size of a toddler, but because of their large numbers, a direct encounter with one means certain death.

There are about a dozen dragon ants surrounding Servi now, and these are just the ones we can see so far; there may be more.

There are people all around me... Were they targeting me from the very beginning?

Savi stood still and looked around, his hand already on the hilt of the sword on his back, confirming the location of the dragon ants once again.

'Ten Choices'!

Click——!

Savi drew the sword from his back, its sharp blade gleaming with a cold light, and red magic appeared on his body, splitting into nine phantoms.

The phantoms and Savi scattered, each rushing towards a few nearby dragon ants. Caught off guard by the sudden attack, the dragon ants were simultaneously struck down by the three phantoms wielding their magic swords.

"Drink ah ah ah!"

Savi killed the nearest dragon ant with a single sword strike, then turned and threw a specially made dagger from his pocket, hitting one of the dragon ants in the eye.

Taking advantage of the dragon ant's frenzy caused by pain, the other phantoms immediately pounced and killed it. Only then did they truly react and immediately launched a counterattack.

For a moment, they were locked in a chaotic battle, but with Servi's strength, dealing with them would be a piece of cake.

In terms of skill, Phantom and Servi clearly have the upper hand. With just a little attention, they can seize the opponent's weakness and then turn the tables.

In just three minutes, Savi killed all the dragon ants. However, the phantoms were also almost all killed, so they didn't affect him much.

"There shouldn't be any missed kills, right? It would be troublesome if we let one go back." Savi counted the number of knives as he retrieved them. "Three, four. Alright, we've got all the knives back, and they don't seem to be damaged. Let's move on."

A few dragon ants wouldn't be enough to stop him, but considering the number of dragon ants present, there's probably a dragon ant nest nearby. These few dragon ants aren't a problem, but if a swarm of dragon ant soldiers arrived, the tables would turn.

It's best to avoid this situation now; he doesn't want to deal with an entire dragon ant colony by himself, even though it sounds like a lot of fun.

But there were things that were even more appealing to him than this.

It is said that after that strategic-level magical outburst, a large cursed zone appeared in the labyrinth, where an endless army of undead would appear, which was much more challenging than the dragon ants.

Moreover, he originally came to investigate this strategic-level magic. For various reasons, he came alone, and there's no doubt he'll be scolded when he gets back.

But this adventure is definitely worth it!

After roughly checking his belongings, he realized he had enough to wander around the maze for a few more days, and he should be getting close to that cursed zone soon.

I'm not going back unless I see something interesting. Pshaw, I'd get beaten to death if I didn't go back.

He wiped the knife and put it away while thinking about trivial things.

Soon after, he finally arrived at the cursed zone of the labyrinth, the place where strategic-level magic erupted.

What he saw was a dark red world. Through the blasted-open ceiling, he could see the sky outside, a sky completely different from the one outside.

Blood-red clouds, blood-red double moons, and a strong smell of blood. Then it started to rain, and even the rainwater was blood-red; in fact, it looked like blood itself.

Savi didn't go in; he didn't want to get covered in blood. Besides, monsters that could only be born in this unique environment were starting to appear.

The Headless Ghost Dog is a transparent, undead dog-like monster. Although it is described as having a human head, it does not actually have a head. Instead, it will directly slap off the visitor's head as a substitute.

The Substitute Grim Reaper, one of the higher-ranking monsters among the skeleton soldiers, wears a blood-red cloak, carries a massive bone scythe, and has crimson flames flickering in its empty eyes beneath the shadow of its hood. It's called the Substitute Grim Reaper because this monster's attacks can directly strip away the soul before severing the enemy's head.

These monsters are truly rare; they even appeared at the same time. Sevi could only name these two famous ones, and some others crawled out from underground, followed by the army of the undead.

"Heh... Trying to intimidate me with this kind of aura? Will you be able to?" Savi smiled with a hint of amusement. "I've seen my share of storms, but this is nothing to scare me."

Savi had seen this kind of scene many times before. Although he wasn't afraid, he wouldn't be foolish enough to rush in. In fact, he was currently preparing to run away. Fighting so many monsters was no joke; one wrong move and he could be swallowed up by them.

He slowly retreated until he disappeared from the monsters' sight. He didn't know why they didn't chase after him, but adventurers who had been there before said that these monsters never left the area.

Although it's dangerous, there are safe parts too, which is why this labyrinth is quite popular. Many adventurers use it to level up, while others die here; the situation here is rather complex.

Let's take a stroll around the area and look for clues about the spellcaster. We also need to find out why this place exists.

Savi turned around and headed towards other places that could lead to this area. He also made a plan to rush into the center to look for clues if there were none.

Chapter 20: Discovered Deep Within the Curse

"Cough cough..."

My consciousness was still hazy; my blood was everywhere, but it was almost indistinguishable on the dark red ground. It looked a little unsightly, especially considering it was something I had promised.

With difficulty, I raised my head and saw many thin, white bones in my dimly lit vision. I could also faintly hear a cracking sound, which was quite irritating.

Ha...anyone is fine...hurry up and come...

"I have absolutely no clue..."

Savi sat in an inconspicuous spot, stroking his chin, reflecting on the events of the journey. Information about the strategic-level magic was scarce; the people over there were probably still investigating the entry and exit records, and speculating on the caster was too slow.

"It's also possible that the caster hasn't left the labyrinth yet," Savi muttered to himself.

It is precisely because this possibility cannot be ruled out that Saiwei stayed here.

He could vaguely sense the residual magic power from that strategic-level spell. The magic power remaining in the air seemed to originate from one person. Who on earth possessed such abnormal magical power? This magical power was almost on par with that of a dragon.

“Could it be the Dragon King of Time?” Savi immediately shook his head. “Impossible. The Dragon King of Time wouldn’t create something like this for no reason. Besides, that Dragon King doesn’t like large-scale magic.”

Never mind... I'll go hide somewhere for a while.

Actually, while he was wandering around the maze, he found a very interesting place. At that time, he was wondering where it would lead, and out of curiosity, he moved all the stones blocking the way.

Then, he discovered a cave with signs of habitation. It was fairly tidy, but some parts were very messy, as if it had been deliberately left in disarray.

The living environment is quite good, and there are plenty of materials, equipment, props, and books. It gives the feeling that a spellcaster lives here.

"So much dust..." Saiwei fanned away the drifting dust with his hand. "It must have been a long time since he's been back. Let me rest for a while."

Savi found a relatively clean spot to sit and rest. When he looked up, he noticed that the cave ceiling was still lit by Soul Grass as a light source. Although it was faint, it was better than nothing.

Most mazes emit a weak magical light, so you generally don't need to bring a light source when entering a maze. Special rooms in a maze are different; they don't emit magical light, probably to help the maze's owner distinguish them.

As for why the dungeon's owner separates these rooms, it's because these rooms are generally used for special purposes; they could be trap rooms, treasure chest rooms, or even boss rooms. The layout of these rooms is arbitrarily placed by the dungeon owner. Compared to dungeons, dungeons have a more human touch.

He took out some jerky to gnaw on in order to replenish the energy he had consumed during this time. His magic power could only be restored naturally, so he needed to think carefully before using magic and skills.

But Savi relied on his fists and feet to fight his way through, so he didn't consume much magic power and could still be a little more unrestrained.

He glanced around at the layout of the cave, looking around at the piles of things; it looked like a warehouse.

Most of them were things he had seen before, but some of them were used in ways he couldn't understand, and some were things he didn't recognize at all.

"This place is really amazing," Saiwei exclaimed while chewing on the jerky in his mouth.

Sevi pulled out the latest map and marked the location of the cave. The experienced adventurers had already thoroughly explored this area; it no longer felt like navigating a maze. The most obvious feature was the large, carelessly painted area of ​​blood red—that was the so-called cursed zone.

This area is just a blood-red patch on the map, with no detailed explanations. I doubt anyone could just walk straight through it.

"I don't have any leads either..."

Although Sevi wanted to follow the traces of magic to find the caster, the caster's magic had been obscured by this damned, ominous blood aura, making it impossible to find. He had been wandering around the area for some time now, but still hadn't found a single clue worth mentioning. The only thing worth mentioning was this cave.

Does that mean I can only go to the center once?

For large-scale spells like this, there will definitely be magic circles or magical artifacts to stabilize the magic power. These things are basically used and then discarded. As long as these things can be found, one can more or less know the caster's magic attributes and casting habits. With just these things, a well-trained magic-hunting bee can find him.

However, since taking care of such things during adventures was something Sevier wasn't good at, he didn't bring them. Now it seems he suffered a loss as a result.

He stood up, left the cave, and blocked the entrance as he did so. He preferred to have this kind of place all to himself. Besides, the things inside were extremely valuable, the kind that were rare even in the national treasury. If it were anyone else, they would probably do the same.

He was about to step into that cursed area for the first time.

Da da da……

Footsteps...?

Is anyone there...? That's footsteps, right...? Great...

Whoever it is... please help me...

"Tsk!"

The continuous blood rain was extremely unsightly, but it was also uncomfortable to keep my eyes open like that, yet I had no choice but to keep them open.

call--!

Moreover, relying solely on the eyes is insufficient.

Hearing the sound of weapons being swung, Savi followed the sound, stabbed the skeleton soldier in the chest with his backhand, and then cleaved it in two with all his might.

puff puff!

Bone hands reached out from the ground, trying to grab Savi, but Savi took small steps away and then stepped back, crushing the hands. A weapon swung from behind made him crouch to dodge, simultaneously striking a skeleton soldier in front of him who was about to headbutt him.

"Chik!"

Savi transformed his magic into flames that erupted from his body, blasting the surrounding skeletons to pieces and temporarily halting the movement of some of them.

Taking advantage of the moment, he broke through from the direction with fewer skeletons and successfully escaped danger. But this was only the beginning; skeletons continued to crawl out from the surrounding area, trying to attack him.

Fortunately, those powerful monsters did not target him.

As he ran, he saw a strange place where countless skeleton soldiers were gathered, completely surrounding the area. Surprisingly, the skeleton soldiers didn't chase after him.

what's the situation?

As he moved a little closer, several skeleton soldiers rushed out to attack him, but of course, a few were no match for him. He drew his sword and sheathed it, instantly killing the skeleton soldiers.

He could see the skeleton soldier in the center constantly brandishing his weapon, showing no sign of leaving. He could vaguely sense that something was strange.

"——!?"

bump--!

A gigantic, icy blue hand suddenly emerged from the ground, and before Savi could dodge, he was flung into the air. Despite the extremely poor visibility in the rain of blood, he saw it.

In the center of those skeleton soldiers lay a dying girl, her body covered in fatal wounds; she would not survive if she was not treated quickly.