Tentatively, when Isagi turned and walked further away, that ancient battlefield cavern filled with various Goblin corpses and weapons, as well as the Fog Gate at the end, indeed slowly vanished as expected.
The corridor leading to the 5th Floor also reappeared.
Anya even actively ran over and back again, but nothing happened; obviously, this "Stage Boss" existed specifically for him.
So hateful.
To be honest, Isagi really felt the Dungeon was being a bit too hateful.
"Let's go, we're heading back to the 2nd Floor."
That was what Isagi thought.
It was quite obvious now that Floors 2 to 4 were likely viewed by the Dungeon as a "unified zone". Since there was a Fog Gate here, and a Fog Gate on the 3rd Floor, surely the 2nd Floor couldn't be empty, right?
So Isagi decided to go back and "lick the map" first, fully exploring the 2nd Floor before moving on.
Thus, the three quickly retraced their steps, and subsequently discovered that the decision to return was correct, because...
...
The Dungeon.
At the location marked on the Guild map, the end of Passage B4 in Area C on the 2nd Floor.
Looking at the two treasure chests sitting quietly in the distance within a small alcove, Isagi, Anya, and Lefiya all fell into deep thought.
In the dim cavern, faint fluorescence scattered about, and the surroundings were terribly quiet, without even the slightest sound of monsters.
But the more it was like this, the more it highlighted the abnormality of the situation before them.
As everyone knows.
When you suddenly see a treasure chest in a corner of the labyrinth, you absolutely must not run over and open it directly, because...
"It's a Mimic, nya!"
Even the dumbest one, Anya, could tell!!
"Eh, does that kind of monster really exist?"
"No, nya!"
Anya crossed her arms, speaking with righteous conviction.
She was telling the truth, because in her many years as an adventurer, the girl had never seen nor heard of any so-called Mimics; those were things that only existed in storybooks, nya!
Treasure chests do not exist in the Dungeon!!
There are particularly valuable rare items or materials, certainly. For instance, on the 1st Floor of the Dungeon, there is the extremely rare monster "Jack Bird", also known as the "Golden Chicken". Its drop item, "Jack Bird's Golden Egg", is worth one million Valis!
There is also the rare monster Infant Dragon, nicknamed the "Upper Floor Monster Rex", which only spawns in the Upper Floors and is quite valuable. In the Great Tree Labyrinth area on the 24th Floor, there are also Pearl Trees guarded by powerful "Tree Dragon" monsters, and so on...
As a seasoned veteran adventurer, Anya was sure she remembered correctly!
In the Dungeon, it is absolutely impossible for this kind of treasure chest—which looks flashy at a glance and definitely hides good stuff inside—to appear!
So—
"It must be a Mimic, nya!"
Both Anya and Lefiya had read those fairy tales. In ancient heroic legends, monsters that appear in labyrinths, looking like treasure but actually opening their giant mouths to swallow people whole as soon as they get close!!
Isagi thought so too.
But now the question was, is the chest on the left the Mimic, or is the chest on the right the Mimic?
The two chests were identical in appearance. Without a doubt, the Dungeon had done this intentionally; it was impossible to find any difference with the naked eye!
"Nya thinks it's the right one, nya w"
"It might also be the left one..."
Lefiya spoke uncertainly, ultimately looking toward the young man beside her.
Isagi remained silent.
Silently, he took out the hand crossbow strapped to his thigh, then fired a bolt at the chest on the right.
"Thwip!"
The compact hand crossbow was coated with poison, so after a flash of strange deep purple light, as the bolt hit directly, the originally quiet treasure chest on the right suddenly jumped up.
It literally jumped up.
Because both Anya and Lefiya saw a pair of long legs and a pair of long arms suddenly sprout from that treasure chest!
Those grayish-white hands and feet were excessively thin, yet very, very long, perhaps even exceeding two meters!
It was simply too weird!
The two girls rubbed their eyes, only to find that the Mimic with the long arms and legs was already running toward them.
Indeed, it was still very weird!!
Isagi, however, was already charging at this monster, blade in hand.
"Pa!"
The Mimic's whip-kick was as fast as lightning, landing right on the cave wall to the side and even kicking a deep crater into it.
Fortunately, Isagi seemed to have already grown accustomed to fighting high-speed monsters.
He dodged instantly, simultaneously raising his hand and bringing the blade down, causing a small blossom of blood to bloom on the Mimic's long grayish-white arm.
So hard!
He actually didn't cut through it.
However, Isagi quickly found the trick to dealing with this Mimic!
It doesn't use its hands!
Therefore, it only uses its two feet to perform left and right kicks.
In that case, since it can't use both feet to kick people at the same time, as long as he circled left when it lifted its right leg, and circled right when it lifted its left leg, he could kill this guy without taking a scratch!
Having rapidly mastered this key technique, Isagi didn't even let Lefiya provide magic support before he ended the battle.
And after killing this guy.
Its long legs and long hands actually turned into flying ash and vanished, subsequently reverting to the treasure chest from just before, falling heavily to the ground.
"Bang!"
Looks like there really is loot?
Isagi walked up and poked it a few more times with his weapon to ensure it had really turned into an ordinary treasure chest before opening it, and then he saw what was placed inside...
...
"Let nya open it, nya! Nya has 'Little Red Hands', nya!!"
You even know about 'Little Red Hands', you dumb cat?
Isagi turned his head and saw that Anya had already rushed in front of the other treasure chest with blinding speed and foolish optimism.
Since one was a Mimic, the remaining one must definitely be a real treasure chest, nya!
Watch nya pull out a super amazing treasure, nya!!
However...
"Chomp!"
Just as Anya was preparing to open the treasure chest, suddenly, the originally quiet box opened its "big mouth" and swallowed the cat-girl whole in an instant!!
"Nya?! What's happening?! It's so dark, so dark, nya!! Help, nya! Help, nya! Help, nya!!"
Isagi and Lefiya were dumbfounded.
Can't chew.
The Mimic simply couldn't chew Anya; it couldn't even break her defense.
What a sturdy body! Are Level 4 adventurers this terrifying?!
Good opportunity...
No, save the person first!
Watching Anya's pair of short legs flailing wildly in mid-air (a certain idiot cat-girl is only 1.5 meters tall, sad), Isagi and Lefiya couldn't care less about what the treasure chest before them had dropped, and hurriedly ran over to take down this second Mimic!
Thus, another "fierce battle" ensued...
...
After rescuing Anya.
Isagi finally retrieved the items from the two treasure chests. One was a shattered puzzle piece, looking like some sort of quest item.
And the other was a staff.
Isagi picked it up, then directly used his magic [Total Mastery] to read the "Combat Arts" possessed by this weapon, and soon discovered—
"Holy shit, a wheelchair!"
___
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