When I opened the chest, it was completely empty. At the same time, I thought I heard a click, like a hidden switch had just been triggered.
“The yellow chest is a trap! Get out of there, quickly!”
Wait…what!? It wasn’t gold?!
Crap. I needed to get out of here immediately.
But strangely, nothing shot out—no poison darts, no hidden spikes. Instead, a strange clattering noise began echoing from all around. It grew louder and multiplied. All the chests that had been glowing red—the mimics—were stirring.
And this… was the trap I had just triggered.
It seemed that what I had triggered was…
> Oi oi oi
> He opened all the chests!
> It’s over. All the mimics activated at once!
> That’s a formidable enemy!
> The old man can handle it.
> Strike first!
> But mimics have high fire resistance, right?
> Cremation might not do much damage.
> Watch out for instant-death magic.
> Even a normal attack could be fatal with the old man’s HP.
The 657 viewers watching live were spamming comments with advice, warnings, and explanations of the situation.
And yes… I was facing the biggest crisis of the day.
Within this graveyard-like chamber, there were roughly ninety-eight mimics. One hit from any of them, and it sounded like it would be game over instantly. The exit is not far, but the problem is that I am all the way in the far-right corner of the room. At the very least, I had to deal with the three mimics right in front of me that are already baring their jagged teeth and practically radiating murderous intent, before I could get out.
Satsuki-chan is still near the entrance, and there’s no way she could come to my aid immediately.
“Daishi-san! Just be extremely careful of the enemies’ attacks and make your way to the exit! One hit and you’ll probably die!”
Her voice rang out over the clattering of countless mimics, almost like it was trying to drown them out. Even though she isn’t that far away, it felt like she’s light-years from me.
“I’ll get over there as fast as I can! This many enemies is way too dangerous!”
If even an S-Rank explorer is panicking, then this is seriously bad.
Time to clear a path.
Fortunately, none of the mimics had attacked me yet. Even if they were highly resistant to fire, the sheer power of Cremation should at least stop them in their tracks. Rather than risk being hit while running blindly, attacking deliberately would give me a higher chance of avoiding damage.
Alright… here goes.
It’s okay. I can do this… I have to!
“Cremation!”
I visualized the skill in an instant, raised my staff, and activated it. In previous battles, this would have incinerated enemies or dealt severe burn damage without fail.
But this time…
“……Katakatakatakata!!!”
The mimics’ clattering only grew louder, turning the Treasure House into an unbearably noisy chaos. The three mimics directly in front of me blackened and stopped moving, but the further the mimics were from my position, the weaker the damage became. Worse, the partially damaged mimics became even more aggressive, and I could tell from here that they had now locked their sights entirely on me.
“Run to the exit quickly! Most of them are still alive!”
Satsuki-chan’s voice rang out, weaving through enemy attacks while she took down some of the weaker mimics, clearly worried about my safety.
I couldn’t help but glance at the blue-glowing chest that might be valuable, but there was no time to open it now.
For now, survival had to come first.
> Instant-death magic incoming!
> Run, run away quickly!
> Uwawawa
> This is bad!
> Can’t you do something using that [Retribution] thing?
> There’s no time to reach the exit! Just try it!
> Does he even have enough MP?!
> Just do it—NOW!”
The remaining mimics began to glow with a dark aura. They were probably casting an instant-death spell, and it would be unleashed in just a few seconds.
Even if I ran to the exit, I’d likely get hit—every surviving mimic had me squarely in their sights. Satsuki-chan is also fighting desperately to thin them out, but it probably wouldn’t be enough in time.
If the spell hit… it was game over.
No time to think.
I activated Retribution.
The wall of light was easy enough to visualize—I just had to hope it could block it.
Please… let my MP hold out!
“Retribution!”
Whoooosh!
“Katakatakata-ka…ta….”
The instant-death spell unleashed from the mimics’ mouths and the wall of light from my staff—Retribution—seemed to have erupted almost simultaneously.
“…”
Satsuki-chan’s hands froze mid-attack. She stood silently, frozen in place.
And I could feel it too—my senses were intact. Nothing hurt.
The mimics…
> Huh? Eh??
> What? How is this happening??
> They all turned back into normal chests, lol.
> Silence lol
> Unlike Cremation, Retribution is subtle, huh.
> So that means it reflected everything back?
> Mimics are supposed to be immune to instant-death, though.
> That’s how Retribution works—returns the cause.
> Retribution is way too OP, lol.
It seemed I had done something impossible by normal standards.
Yes. The swarm of mimics had their instant-death magic completely reflected by the wall of light I had desperately conjured—and they were now all frozen in place.
According to the viewers’ comments, mimics are immune to instant-death. So logically, being reflected shouldn’t have affected them at all. But my Retribution ignored that rule entirely and it even neutralized the threat.
Well, whatever—it worked out!
The important thing was… I survived.
Seriously… I thought I was dead for sure!
| 《 Daishi has leveled up! 》 |
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.
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