Chapter 195: [195] Beneath Elven Skin

Ark immediately grabbed Olivia and pulled her back, distancing themselves from the body of the elf.

The corpse spasmed, once, twice... and then it shot up to its feet, the headless mess staring right at them.

"WHAT—?? WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK?!" Rodolph screamed once again, his eyes nearly popping out of his skull.

Blood was gurgling out of its neck, and something akin to laughter emerged from its throat, just before the body morphed.

Her skin bubbled as though compressed air was released within her. Flesh burst apart, bones jutted out in odd directions, and her spine twisted, each move creating sickening sounds that caused Olivia to gasp.

"What is going on?" She asked in disbelief.

"That thing is not human. It is a monster." Ark replied coldly.

"Well, no shit!"

From what Olivia could see, there was no doubt about it, but she was still very confused.

She summoned her axe, and stared at the monster in disgust. "How did you know?"

"There were many signs..."

Ark explained as he watched the monster’s body grow larger and larger, growing so big that it nearly towered over the trees.

"First of all, she said she was attacked by a manticore. Do you really think a manticore would leave behind any survivors?"

Olivia’s face paled with realization.

Manticores were some of the most vicious monsters you could come across. If you encountered one, it was either you killed it, or you were killed.

There were a lot of other reasons, like how he mentioned his dog tag and she seemed confused, and the state of the damaged carriage parts...

One monster was not capable of doing that type of damage.

So it was either she was attacked by multiple monsters that somehow decided to band together... or it was the job of one harrowing foe.

Ark was sure it was the latter.

A Mimic.

Mimics started off as cute, little monsters, but the more they consumed, the more they grew in both intelligence and size. Meaning a simple mimic could grow so large that it would be unrecognisable.

His final test had been the nail on the head...

Although Ark was already fifty percent sure she was not human, he needed to be a hundred percent certain.

Mimics could steal memory fragments from their hosts, but that did not mean they would gain their intelligence.

What did that mean? It meant they could only respond based on the memory of their victims, by mimicking their speech patterns, words and even emotions.

They were copy cats, they could not think on the same level as humans.

A normal human would have simply told him that his question was too difficult to answer, or that it was stupid. But to the mimic, the question was something it had to answer...

And when it could not find the right answer, its tiny little brain got overloaded.

Vwooooosh!

A rush of chilling wind suddenly gushed forward, rattling the trees behind them as the mimic rose to its full height.

It was nothing like the cute little treasure chest mimic you would often find in video games...

This mimic had a twisted form, and was appalling to look at. Its body was a mess of malformed, morbid limbs that hung off a lanky frame.

Limbs of giant spiders, humans, bears, and a host of other monsters mashed up together in strange patterns.

The mimic’s body was dark green and had a light sheen to it, as though it had been covered in oil, and multiple different types of tails shot out of its back, flailing in the air.

On top of the mass of nonsense sat the pretty head of the elf, the one he had crushed, now reformed, staring down at them with an inhuman smile on her face.

"P-please... I-I-I-I don’t want to die!"

"S-save me..."

"It hurts. It hurts."

"Blood... blood!"

And then a high pitched scream tore through her throat.

[Threat detected! Mimic, Level 23 x 1!]

Olivia staggered back, her face twisted with sadness and disgust. Ark held her shoulder reassuringly.

"Don’t let it get to you. It is just mimicking her final words."

It was a disturbing strategy mimics used to confuse their prey. If they were exposed, failing to blend in and kill the player in their sleep, then they would use this method.

"I know." Olivia said. "But... it sounds so real."

"We are going to use a duo formation. I will play the mage, you will be the forward, just the two of us. Think you can handle it?"

His summons were more than capable of handling the monster, but Ark felt it would be a good learning experience for Olivia.

She was bound to see a lot more horrifying things in the future, encountering them now would be helpful.

Olivia nodded with determination, then took in a breath, her fingers tightening around her axe.

"Yes."

"Here it comes..." Ark said as he flew back, abandoning her.

"Huh?"

Swish!

A claw that looked like it belonged to a giant mantis came flying at her head. Olivia ducked down just as it whipped past, sending her hair billowing in the trembling wind.

"You bastard!"

She swung her axe up, slamming it right into the claw.

Clang!

Her axe bounced over its surface, leaving only a minor dent. The claw was as thick as a block of steel!

The mimic swung the claw down once more, only that this time it used even more force. The floor caved open, the soil depressed, damaged and malformed.

But Olivia had jumped into a barrel roll just in time, stopping in front of its massive body and the mass of limbs that streamed towards her.

"Keep your disgusting hands off me!"

Lightning pulsed around her body, her green eyes growing intense as she fixed a glare on the head as it screamed out to her:

"DIE, DIE, DIE!"

"You’re the only one who is dying tonight!"

Swish!

Olivia’s body blurred with currents as she drew closer. In an instant, several limbs were cleaved of its body.

She had managed to dent the mantis arm, but it was still too tough to slice off in one go.

Black, putrid blood gushed out of the many wounds. They smelled like corpses, marinated in rotten eggs. Olivia felt like vomiting, but she had to keep her head up.

They were not done.

She raced back as multiple limbs extended like rubber bands, exploding into the floor where she had been, each limb leaving deep grooves in the floor as they tried to rip her apart.

And then when she had gained sufficient distance away from them, Olivia charged once again.

She jumped over a bear claw as it flew at her eyes. She braced herself and sliced down as a large hoof barreled forward. Her axe parted it from the center, splitting bone and flesh, as well as spewing blood to the sides as she advanced.

Olivia gagged at the stench, then let out a battle scream as she sliced off what remained of the limb, appearing in front of the mimic.

More limbs streaked forward from her side, but yellow lighting tore through them from behind her.

She lifted her axe, and was about to bring it down on the monster, when a monster head suddenly sprouted from its body in front of her, its maw wide open.

A ball of chaotic energy formed between its teeth, igniting the space, just before it released it with a deafening howl—