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

“What did you say?” Aye’s smile grew even colder. “Old woman? Is that it? You should know that I’m just a young man in the tribe…”

Okay, let's end this topic!

Savi forcefully interrupted the conversation because Aye seemed to be deteriorating in some strange direction, almost like it was about to self-destruct; one wrong move and it might be gone.

"If I remember correctly, you're here to investigate the caster, right?" Savi asked. "So, you don't have time to talk to me about this kind of thing right now, do you?"

"Ha...that's true." Aye stopped self-destructing.

“Right?” Savi continued to guide her. “After being here for so long, I still haven’t figured anything out. The only thing of value is this cave.”

"You're trying to trick me into saying something, aren't you?" Aye smiled. "No, I don't have anything to tell you."

“Tsk…” Sai clicked his tongue. “I wasn’t trying to trick you. Everything I said was true. I knew nothing except the location of the incident.”

"...Pfft, how stupid." Aye covered her mouth and chuckled, her face full of mockery. "Didn't you even think about how to investigate properly? You just came here like this?"

"I had no choice, I was forced to do it." Saiwei slumped his shoulders helplessly.

In fact, Saiwei's sneaking out this time was very sudden. He suddenly found an opening, quickly packed his luggage and ran out. If he went back, he would probably be scolded again.

That's why Savi didn't carry much with him, only a sword and some clothes. Everything else was bought on the way, and the quality wasn't very good; the knife he threw was prone to missing its mark. His plan was practically nonexistent, and in fact, one of his reasons for sneaking out was simply to have some fun.

“I have some clues about the caster.” Aye picked up a book lying on the ground. “Sure enough… it’s an unfamiliar script.”

The book Aye was holding was a very exquisite picture book with bright colors, but Savi couldn't see anything wrong with it, so he picked up a book next to him and opened it to look at it.

"This is……?"

After seeing the contents, he realized what Ayer was talking about. The words written on the book were neatly arranged, and the paper was of a quality that no human could produce at present.

The key is the content of the book, which is written in a language that Saiwei has never seen before, and the illustrations in it are also things that Saiwei has never seen before.

It was a group of people dressed in black and wearing black round helmets, wielding strange weapons that appeared to be made of black iron, spitting out tongues of fire and knocking down people in the distance.

Hey... is this a weapon? I roughly estimated the distance, and bows and arrows are no match for this. At least a catapult or ballista would be comparable. But its portability is far inferior to this. What kind of weapon is this? And how powerful is it? ...

“I know you’re probably surprised right now, but I have to tell you that I’ve discovered something even more interesting.”

Aye snatched the book from Sevi's hand. He was engrossed in reading it and was about to complain about being disturbed when he saw the huge magic circle behind Aye. The text written on it, as one of the mediums, was the same as the text in the book.

“I’m a little surprised, why didn’t you notice these?” Aye asked.

“Who knew there was something like this here…” Saiwei retorted.

The magic circle was drawn on a huge black stone slab, which was very long, and its left and right sides were filled with things that the people of this world could not understand.

In Aye's view, it was the result obtained after the writer constantly verified, revised and refuted it, and there was also a piece of text that could be understood near the magic circle in the very center.

Hydrogen bomb magic—dumb box.

I won the lottery!

As Aye read the text, a beautiful smile curved her lips.

The one who performed the spell once lived here.

Meanwhile, the maze welcomes another group of unusual guests, and from this point on, the future of the maze begins to become uncertain.

"This is completely different from the maze I remember..." the hero Xia Que exclaimed.

"What is your impression of a maze?" asked Hao'er, who was walking beside her.

Beside them were several other people, the strongest fighting force the kingdom could currently send out. Just the presence of these brave warriors made the lineup for conquering the dungeon already quite impressive.

Not long ago, the king summoned Xia Que and told her that she was about to begin her adventure, and the first stop was the labyrinth "Corridor of Time".

According to the king, a dragon appeared in the labyrinth, killed Prince Pelle and his companions, and destroyed part of the labyrinth, creating a treacherous cursed zone.

To prevent future victims like Pelle from falling again, the king decided to send Summer Sparrow on a campaign to slay the dragon in the labyrinth. Summer Sparrow had no choice but to accept.

So how much of the king's words are true, and how much are false?

Hao'er knew perfectly well whether the king's words were true or false, but they were driven more by personal desire. He wanted to refuse on Xia Que's behalf, but he didn't have the right. So, he joined the dungeon-conquering team as Xia Que's mentor and partner.

"Hmm... I guess it's a place where it's easy to get lost?" Xia Que said ambiguously.

"It's actually quite easy to get lost here, brave warrior."

A voice without any intonation came from behind. The owner of the voice walked behind Xia Que, wearing a white Taoist robe, with black hair and regular features. When they first met, Xia Que had the illusion that she was seeing an immortal.

“Mo Yueya…” Xia Que subconsciously uttered his name.

"The most distinctive feature of the Time Corridor labyrinth is the passage of time," Mo Yueya said expressionlessly. "Time here sometimes moves fast and sometimes slow; we might suddenly accelerate to a certain point in time. So there are situations where you might accidentally go too far."

"Wouldn't that disrupt the judgment?" Xia Que asked, half-understanding.

"That's pretty much it."

After the explanation, Mo Yueya remained silent. Although somewhat aloof, Xia Que knew he was a good person.

Chapter 24 The Hero's First Battle

“Just as he said,” Hale continued, “the Dragon King of this labyrinth has a very strange temper, and it’s possible that you’ll encounter some terrible traps at any time.”

"Yeah, yeah, Xia Que, you have to watch your step. We don't have Hao Er's kind of weird intuition."

A dark-haired girl with wheat-colored skin spoke up from behind. Her name was Celia, one of their companions, and a magician, though her image was slightly different from Xia Que's. Shouldn't a magician be wearing clothes like Mo Yueya's robe?

Kelseria, however, was dressed in very revealing traditional clothing. According to her, her tribe could only unleash their full power when they wore such clothes.

“A trap…” Xia Que repeated.

Only when she heard the word "trap" did she begin to feel a sense of reality about this maze. Actually, the monsters here weren't very friendly either, for example... Ah, here they come.

The Chimera, known as a synthetic monster on Earth, stood before them. With a snake's head and tail, a chicken's head, a sheep's head, and a lion's head, it stared intently at Xia Que and her group.

"?!"

Startled by the enemy's strange posture, Xia Que instinctively took two steps back, only to bump into something. Looking up, she saw herself leaning against her master's chest.

"Calm down, Xia Que," Hao Er reminded her in a stern voice. "Think about what you've learned, and who you are."

"……I see."

Xia Que left Hao Er, took two steps forward, and faced the Chimera directly. This was something she had to face; in fact, she had faced it once before, only this time she was no longer as powerless as she had been then.

Take a deep breath...

Xia Que was trying her best to calm herself down, while Hao Er held up his spear behind her in a defensive stance. Mo Yueya calmly gathered her magic power. The others were also preparing. But the Chimera had no intention of waiting for them to be ready; monsters only follow their instincts.

The snake head on its tail spews out poisonous mist, which the chimera uses as cover as it charges toward the humans.

"Seria! Disperse the poisonous fog!"

"Great wind! Bless our heroic souls! May we achieve victory! 'Blessing wind'!"

Hale gave orders to his companions waiting in the rear. Seria, who was already prepared, chanted the incantation in one breath, releasing a blue wind to dispel the poisonous fog, and at the same time blessed her companions.

"Your Highness, the Black Knight! The blessing was successful!" Seria shouted to the person standing at the front of the group.

"Grateful!"

The giant puppet knight clad in black armor expressed his gratitude to Seria. He was the Black Knight, a powerful warrior whose appearance and gender were unknown.

Because he always wears black armor, he is known as the Black Knight by adventurers. It is said that the armor is just a magical puppet controlled by magic, and there is actually a person inside.

The shield-wielding black knight rushed to the front of the poisonous fog and used his shield to block the chimera that lunged out from it. Under normal circumstances, he would probably have been knocked away by the chimera, but now, with the protection of Seria's magic, taking the chimera's impact head-on was a piece of cake.

"Daxia Longque——!"

At this moment, the Great Xia Dragon Sparrow responded to the Summer Sparrow's call, and the cold air gathered in its hand, transforming into an ice-blue ring-pommel straight sword. Although the cold air was piercing, the blade was burning with blue, transparent flames.

"Master!" "Go!"

Xia Que looked at Hao Er, who responded to her and rushed towards the Chimera together.

"Haaah!"

Xia Que swung the Great Xia Dragon Sparrow, slashing across the chimera's side from the left, then slid beneath it to avoid the ram's head's impact. Hao Er, on the right, pulled up the sliding Xia Que and used the butt of his spear to knock unconscious the snake head that was chasing after Xia Que.

Using the force of Hao'er pulling her up, Xia Que unleashed a powerful upward slash with the Great Xia Dragon Sparrow. While her strength was insufficient to send the chimera flying, the Great Xia Dragon Sparrow's sharpness was enough to create a wound. The chimera, in pain, momentarily lost control of its power.

"Hit him!" Hale shouted at the Black Knight.

The Black Knight seized the opportunity, bracing his shield and ramming into the relaxed chimera, sending it flying, before dodging to the side. A dark shadow suddenly swept past where he had been standing and struck the chimera. But it failed to knock it away; the force seemed weak… or rather, it wasn't intended to hit the chimera at all.

What struck the chimera was a black spear, the tip of which was completely embedded in the chimera's ram head, which had already lost its life.

"Tsk...isn't that enough..."

The man who threw the black spear—Mo Yueya—was surrounded by three black spears, identical to the ones that killed the ram's head. However, the effect wasn't as good as he had imagined, so he clicked his tongue in disbelief. Strange images of black magical light formed around him; if he were wearing a black robe, they probably wouldn't be visible.

The chimera glared at the creature that had killed its ram-headed form, then its serpentine head bit the black spear, pulled it out, and tossed it aside. The black spear dissipated into black light and returned to Mo Yueya's side. He calmly grabbed a black spear and then made a move to throw it.

"hiss!"

The snake's head aimed at the predicted trajectory and spewed venom, but missed. The black spear flew from another direction, this time piercing the snake's head directly, venom and blood splattering everywhere. The black spear was still in Mo Yueya's hand, but the number of black spears floating around her had decreased.

“I never said I was going to pitch the middle one…” Mo Yueya looked coldly at Chimera.

The chimera, now devoid of its snake and goat heads, went berserk, charging recklessly at the Moon Raven with an aura that threatened to tear it to shreds. But at that moment, the brave Summer Sparrow suddenly landed from the sky on the chimera's back, firmly grasping its feathers, and raised its hand to sever the remaining head. However, the chicken head spun 180 degrees and thrust its sharp beak at Summer Sparrow.

"Eh?!"

Xia Que was startled and, in a moment of panic, used her Great Xia Dragon Sparrow to block the attack. However, due to her inferior strength, the Great Xia Dragon Sparrow was severed in two, and Xia Que was struck by its beak and fell off the Chimera. Fortunately, the Black Knight had already arrived when she jumped onto the Chimera and caught her.

Hale blocked the chimera's charge, and just as it was about to pounce, he ducked and aimed his spear tip at the chimera's heart. The butt of the spear wedged into the ground, and he quickly rolled away. The chimera fell to the ground, the spear against its heart piercing it with the ground as a fulcrum, leaving the chimera powerless to retaliate.

Only after confirming Chimera's death did Hale pull away his spear and run to Xia Que's side. Seria had already arrived at Xia Que's side to examine her, while Mo Yueya was calmly observing Chimera's corpse and gesturing with his hands.

"So I'm fine..." Xia Que said awkwardly.

“That won’t do,” Celia said firmly. “Let me see first. This is no joke, Lord Hero Summer Sparrow.”

Xia Que had no choice but to let Seria examine her entire body. Seria showed no sign of being evasive, and Xia Que couldn't refuse. To be honest, she still felt a dull ache in her chest. If she hadn't been wearing the breastplate, she probably would have broken a few ribs, at least that's what Xia Que thought.

She caught a glimpse of Hao Er walking towards her out of the corner of her eye.

"Master..." Xia Que hesitated, unable to finish her sentence.

"You're too naive." Hao'er angrily tapped her head. "The monster's counterattack is far more dangerous than you imagine. I know you didn't have battles and monsters like this in your previous world, but you need to adapt as soon as possible. Otherwise, it won't be like this next time."

"I'm sorry..." Xia Que was speechless.

Looking at his adorable apprentice, Hao'er couldn't stay angry anymore. Helplessly, he reached out and patted her head to comfort her.

Chapter 25 Chance Encounter

After checking on Xia Que, Celia was relieved to find that he was alright.

"Phew, that scared me to death." Seria couldn't help but wipe the sweat from her forehead. "My heart almost stopped when you got hit by the chimera, okay? Don't do such risky things."

"I'm sorry..." Xia Que felt ashamed.

Her performance was decent, but to be honest, it was just average—neither outstanding nor a drag on the team. However, her final action was too rash, almost costing her her life.

"It's alright, there's nothing we can do about it." The Black Knight waved his hand. "The world Your Highness lives in is different from ours, so it's normal that you're not good at this kind of thing."

“Black Knight, objectively speaking, this isn’t a matter of stance,” Mo Yueya said calmly. “No normal person would do this.”

He is absolutely right. Even a person who is used to peace will instinctively avoid danger rather than rush in and confront it head-on.

Even if Xia Que's Great Xia Dragon Sparrow is incredibly powerful, she still lacks experience, and besides, she can't even use magic.

"I'm so sorry, I just rushed in on impulse..." Xia Que could only apologize.

"But it's not that bad either."

Mo Yueya left the chimera's corpse with those words, after all, he wasn't there for adventure and didn't care about the materials on the chimera. He had already obtained the only thing he needed.

"Since everything's alright, let's keep going." Hale casually wiped his spear. "The dragon is probably somewhere around there, right?"

The place that Hale was referring to was the area blasted open by the slimes, known as the Blood Sea, or the Cursed Zone by adventurers, where some people have reportedly seen dragons.

And that's where they're headed. If the dragon's existence is confirmed, then they'll truly have to fight it. Hale's feelings were complicated; how could they possibly avoid this situation?

His feelings towards Xia Que were very complicated, because he was also the master, or more accurately, the mentor of the eleven heroes who had died.

He was also one of the witnesses to Xia Que's summoning ritual. At first, Xia Que was just an ordinary girl, but he never expected her to turn out like this.

To be honest, he wanted to avoid Xia Que becoming a hero in every sense of the word.

He gathered his thoughts and walked ahead into the depths of the maze. He probably didn't notice Xia Que's feelings, and Xia Que silently followed him.

"Wow, that's great," Celia said with a mischievous grin.

"It's alright as long as it doesn't bother you." Mo Yueya said something very practical.