Chapter 539 - Minion communication token

Hed, the huge velnar, is still alive, along with only about six more mercenaries. Of the technicians, only he and one thylarin remain; the rest are combat-oriented mercenaries who don’t seem to mind following Tess. One of the reasons might be that Group 4, with their combined powers, can fuck them all up, even if these mercenaries are of a higher level.

If they’re mimics, I have no idea why they’re still staying nearby, knowing where we’re heading. Maybe mimics are just dumb.

I expect an Elder Mimic to pop up from anywhere the entire time we head out of the front toward the defensive wall, but nothing of that sort happens. The rest of our trip—after a few more fights in the snowy area—becomes quite uneventful. Only when we reach about halfway to the wall does a segment of the web covering the area activate—a phenomenon I can only call a “highway” leading somewhere deep into lumoran territory.

That “highway” is high in the sky, part of the web, and through it a figure is pulled at incredible speed.

Right away, I grab Sophie’s shoulder and shake her to draw her attention away from her sister, then point at it.

“Observe it as well. I want to know what it does,” I tell her.

At first, it seems like she wants to complain, but when she notices the Absolute’s web activating in that way, her curiosity takes over.

If I’m right, that "highway" lets even those who can't fly move through the sky at incredible speed. Only one person emerges from it—crashing into the ground a few miles ahead in an explosion of earth, grass, and shattered trees.

Right away, that presence moves in our direction, and within seconds the lumoran stops near us. Black skin, white crystalline features on his neck, forehead, forearms, and legs. On his back, there is a single slim sword that I can sense pulsing—something akin to a beating heart.

[Bound Blade – lvl ???]

I estimate him to be over level 400 for sure. Similar in level to Serabeth or stronger.

Tess steps in front of us. “We—”

She pauses when the lumoran warrior lifts his hand.

“There is no need to talk until we confirm whether you are mimics or not. I’m here because my master sent me, and I’m looking for one person. A human male with one gray and one brown eye.”

“Did you meet Leth? That’s probably me.” I step ahead.

"I haven't received any unnecessary information. I simply follow my master's orders. It was Champion Owain who sent me here," he says, stepping closer and looking me up and down. “Eye color fits. There’s also that punchable face my master mentioned, so it should be you.”

Motherfucker.

Was it you, Leth, who told his master that?

“We will be leaving right away. If any of you raise your mana any higher than it is now, I will kill you. If you try to run away, I will kill you. If you don’t cooperate, I will kill you. If you give me a strong reason to think you are a mimic, I will kill you. Understood?”

His presence is overbearing, and that slim, long blade on his back seems to pulse in rhythm with his emotions.

So while everyone confirms understanding his words, I, as I tend to do, try to estimate if I could fight him if it came to it. The way he moves his body, the strength I feel from each movement confirmed by kinetic senses, the weight of his steps, that weapon as well.

The answer is probably no. For now.

Then, since he plans to lead us where we wanted to go anyway, we follow him without giving him trouble.

***

One week. That’s how long we are in quarantine after passing through the wall and then being teleported somewhere else, deep into lumoran territory, but unable to see much of it. Only our group is here so we have no idea what happened to the other mercenaries.

They don’t even give us the usual tests; instead, we already sit a week inside a huge cube that, on the inside, is covered in white metallic-like plating. There are no visible inscriptions, but constant frequencies are sent through the air. From what we’ve gathered, these frequencies hurt mimics or force them to reveal themselves, and the cube is something that can reveal even an Elder Mimic.

All of this is under Champion Owain, mostly handled by his disciple Jareth—the lumoran who brought us all here with that fancy sword on his back.

There must be a reason they believe this method of mimic detection still works, even after whatever information Leth likely shared. Well, it's mostly a Lumoran problem, but if they struggle to identify mimics, it’ll make this floor more challenging for us. Now that I think of it, wouldn’t that make the rewards better?

“Nat,” Min-Jae calls to me, and I leave my cubical—one of many placed inside the cube to give us some privacy.

“What?” I ask.

Using Sophie’s and the twins’ communication link here is impossible, so we talk like... like Easy difficulty people would.

“Did you also get a notification about the third wave?” he asks.

“Yup,” I say, walking by his side and stretching.

“It would be nice if we could sit here as long as possible for the highest reward.”

“Really? That would be boring. Plus, at some point, our inactivity will balance out our high wave count and reduce our rewards to shit.”

“That’s true.” He stops at our usual spot, and we wait for Maya while stretching.

This place also actively disrupts all outside-of-body mana, so after a week of only being able to do some training inside my body, I’m getting very frustrated. Sure, I can form an “evil pyramid” inside my stomach and do some training there and train some other stuff, but there are too many other things I wanted to do. Yes, I leveled up a bit, but this “quarantine” really, really pisses me off.

They also made me get rid of my crown. For a moment it was nice to watch them panic as I just removed it and let it destabilize before a few lumoran guards combined forces to get rid of all of that mana safely. I think that made them suspect I'm a mimic more than the others are suspected. They also took Fracture, and damn—I hope that thing eats them alive.

“Sorry I’m late, I was busy,” Maya comes running.

“Bullshit, there’s nothing to do,” I note.

Instead of answering me, she turns to Min-Jae. “Did he already say something about hoping Fracture would eat the lumorans?”

“Not yet.” Min-Jae shakes his head.

“Yes, yes,” I wave it off.

Maya smirks gleefully before taking a stance. Both Min-Jae and I follow her, getting into the same stance and then very slowly copying her movements. It’s something she learned from a lynthari swordmaster on the 4th floor, and then from some people on the 6th floor during the six months we were split. All sorts of techniques she likes to pick up.

I would say her fighting style is a mess—a Frankenstein’s monster combination of multiple styles she tries to etch into her muscle memory, then lets her instincts pick the “correct” moves during a fight.

It seems to be something Maya really enjoys. Out of the entire Group 4, she’s the most technical, while most of us are more like wild animals relying on instincts or on our stats and skills to pick up the slack.

Her way of movement isn’t something I truly want to mimic, as I prefer to “freestyle,” and I learned a lot from Whitey too—but Whitey never had any formal teachings; most of it is just pure aggression and instinct.

Still, I’m way too bored here and follow her lead, slowly moving my body in the way she shows. Footsteps, smooth movements, feints. We even pick up the wooden sticks the lumorans gave us and swing them the way Maya does, as if they were big swords like claymores.

Min-Jae seems to enjoy it a lot and is clearly better at it than me, showing that he and Maya must have done this often.

As I keep the "evil pyramid" inside my body and mimic Maya’s movements, I find my mind clearing up.

***

Biscuit is probably the happiest member of Group 4 at the moment, even after these days here. We’re getting plenty of food and water, and everyone is here. No one is leaving him, so he can pick any human to play with at any time.

He runs all over the place, he sleeps, he bites at our ankles, and—unable to talk—he woofs and barks more often than before.

I watch as he pulls on Lily’s hair while she laughs, lying on the ground and giggling, covering her face from his furious attacks.

After a while, I look at Izzy sitting next to me. “Fragment of Eternal Fire,” I say.

“I still don’t know.”

“Izzy, it’s been around ten days since you got it; you must know something.”

“I don’t know! I didn't have time to test it!” she says almost happily.

With a groan, I point at Noodle. “You, come here.”

As instructed, the white snake—about the size of an anaconda and currently unable to change its size—slithers closer and looks at me with its green eyes.

“What does that thing do?” I ask him as well.

He looks at me, otherwise unmoving.

I also lay back on the ground. What did I even expect?

As if sensing a moment of weakness, Biscuit comes rushing over and starts biting my hair, pulling on it while growling terrifyingly. Given how close to my face he is, I watch him do so and also notice the drool he leaves on my hair.

I don’t even have the energy to fight back and just let it happen.

Feeling the pulls on my hair, I close my eyes and continue my new training, attempting to expand my [Mana Domain] beyond the borders of my body, even though the effects of this weird cube we’re in disrupt it.

***

“Use minion communication token.”

Nothing happens.

I sigh, “Okay, okay, use Communication with your disciple for ten minutes token.”

The token disappears from my status after I use it. I only have to wait a few minutes for Vega to accept. I expect to hear her voice, but instead, I find myself somewhere else—something akin to my mind space. It seems like the dumbass cube cannot block the system. Well, obviously. Should I use Beyond Stay Token to escape it, the consequences and anger of the system be damned?

The place where I am is entirely white; there isn’t a single shape or other color, and even tapping my feet on the ground feels weird, as if I should be falling.

“Master?”

I turn around to face that voice.

A now probably seven-year-old half-demon girl stands there, her light brown hair still reaching her shoulders, with short, pointy black horns poking out from beneath it. Her blood-red eyes match Whitey’s. She’s wearing new clothes—entirely black—but they fit her well. I wonder where she stole them.

She looks a bit thin, so I ask, “Are you eating well, minion?”

The most powerful shin-kicker I know stands there for a moment, almost awkwardly, but slowly a smile blooms on her face as I open my arms. Laughing happily, she runs closer and stops in front of me, lifting her arms so I can grab her sides and pick her up. She nestles lower, pressing her head against my chest where my heart is. The familiar feeling of her pointy horns poking the bottom of my chin is there, too.

“Your heart got stronger!” she says happily. “But it’s still the Master’s heart. Calm, powerful—it has a beautiful rhythm.”

“I improved it a bit, minion, but this is nothing. By the time we meet again, it’ll be even stronger, and there might be two of them.”

“Two!?” she asks, shocked. “Is Master a genius!?”

Her voice sounds so excited, I can’t help but smile. The logic behind her words is simple: what could be better than a single powerful heart?

Two powerful hearts, obviously.

I bet she’s even cursing herself for not realizing it sooner or something like that. My minion is just that silly.

“I might be, minion. People often don’t appreciate me as they should.”

“They are dumb, weak humans!”

“Agreed.”

She presses her head against my chest more firmly, happily swinging her legs.

After listening for a minute, she looks up at me. “Will you really summon me during the second tournament?”

“I said I would, didn’t I? But, minion, the System might not give me the option to do so, so don’t consider it a done deal. Okay?”

“Sure! When are we killing the envious guy?”

“We?”

“We!” She shakes her head. “You are powerful but sometimes very silly! I chose you as my master and follow you because you are strong! For that, it means your enemies are mine.”

“I see. Well, probably not anytime soon. From who did you hear about Envy?” Carefully, I put her on the ground and sit down, a gesture she follows.

“That's his name? So lame. I heard about him from that creepy human woman. She said she’s protecting me from him.”

“Greed?”

“I’m not sure what you mean! But she said she’s the greediest person ever.”

“How did she look?”

“Red hair and weird yellow eyes. She had no heartbeat, too. Most likely the same sickness most humans have.”

“I told you, minion. Humans just usually aren’t born with things like a Demonic Heart.”

“Yes, because they are sick! Do you know that woman?”

“Yup.”

“You aren’t surprised.”

“Minion, your master is smart. He already suspected a lot of things.”

“Oooh…” She opens her mouth wide, then quickly closes it once she realizes it, nodding energetically.

"How's your training going, minion?" I change the subject.

"Very well! I’ve also been working hard on unlocking the secrets of the stone you sent me!"

"Good. Very good. And how do you like to fight currently?"

She tugs at her hair, thinking for a moment. "I use kinetic energy to defend and move, and mana to create daggers and make them sharper. Sometimes, I try to disrupt mana or create mana barriers."

"Projectiles?"

"Too boring! Fighting up close is more fun. I liked the way that scrawny, quiet human fought."

"Tacita," I remind her with a nod. "Not a bad way to go about things. And kinetic techniques?"

"Wraith Dance is fun, and there are a lot of monsters running away from me right now, so I use it the most to catch them."

"What a menace."

"Hehe," she grins and moves closer, her big red eyes gleaming as she looks at me.

I know she’s trying to manipulate me, but I let it happen. She immediately moves even closer, nestling against my chest. She pouts when I tap the tips of her pointy horns with a finger but doesn’t pull away. If she were a lynthari, I bet she’d be wagging her tail.

Checking the timer, we pass the rest of the time in quiet conversation, asking each other questions—most of them silly, but neither of us seems to mind.

Before our time runs out, I tell her once more, "Minion, if I’m able to summon you during the tournament, there’s a high chance the other attendees will be able to summon their disciples as well. Wouldn’t it be fun to spar with them?"

"I'll fuck them up!" she declares, her kind smile turning slightly demonic—still happy, but with that underlying aggressiveness all demons seem to possess.

"That’s my girl."

As the duration of the token ends, I reappear inside the damned cube.

In a better mood after the distraction with my cute disciple, I get back to training.

***

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